Punjab’s powerful cabinet minister Rana Gurjit Singh has submitted his resignation from the Congress government in the state led by Chief Minister Amarinder Singh following allegations of corruption and money laundering against him.

The resignation is yet to be accepted by the Chief Minister, sources in the government said.

Rana Gurjit, who is the Irrigation and Power Minister, has courted controversies in the past few months in the multi-crore sand mining auctions done in the 10-month-old Amarinder Singh government.

The minister and his son were recently issued summons by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) following allegations of money laundering abroad.

The billionaire minister, who has business interests in liquor and sugar manufacturing, is considered close to the Chief Minister.

A team of police officers from Visakhapatnam who came to the house of deceased student, Sreyash, assured the parents and the public that stringent action would be taken against those who were suspected to be behind the alleged ragging-related death.

It needs mention that Sreyash a boy from Bamra was allegedly a victim of ragging in his school in Visakhapatnam. He had been admitted to a private hospital at Bhubaneswar where he died.

Ragging apart, the school authorities are also being blamed for remaining callous.

The four-member team of police officers from Visakhapatnam led by Mr K Laxman Murty asked the details of the incident to the parents of Sreyash and the later apprised them everything including disclosing three names of his classmates.

They also explained the precarious condition in which they found their son in the hostel wearing just an inner wear and a T-Shirt. “My son did not receive any medical attention there,” said Mr Sailesh Kesharwani and Mrs Laxmi Kesharwani, the father and mother of Sreyash.

They also handed over a video clip of their son in the school hostel. “Action, as deemed fit and legal, will be taken against the school authorities too,” said Mr Murty to the parents and people who were keenly interested in the visit of the team to Bamra to collect information from the ground.

Sreyash’a parents after finding him in critical condition in the school hostel, brought him to a hospital in Visakhapatnam, then to IGH Rourkela and finally shifted to Bhubaneswar where he breathed his last.

However, feeling the gravity of the situation and sentiment of the people due to the untimely death of a meritorious student, both Andhra Pradesh and Odisha police have taken the matter seriously assuring action against the culprits.

The Central Council of the Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO) on Monday recommended suspending the recognition of Israel.

The council, which convened in the West Bank city of Ramallah for two days, issued a final statement recommending the PLO and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas suspend the recognition of the state of Israel until Israel recognises the independent state of Palestine on 1967 borders and calls off the decisions to annex east Jerusalem.

Salim al-Za’noun, speaker of the Palestinian National Council, the legislative body of the PLO rejected US President Donald Trump’s declaration of recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and the transfer of his country’s embassy to the city, Xinhua reported.

“The immediate goal is the independent state of Palestine, which requires moving from the status of authority and self-rule to the status of the sovereignty of the state of Palestine with East Jerusalem as its capital on the 1967 borders,” the statement read.

Trump announced the recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and the transfer of his country’s embassy to it on December 6, sparking the anger of the Palestinians and Arabs as well as heated international reactions.

The Palestinians want to have the eastern part of Jerusalem as the capital of their future state, while Israel insists that a unified Jerusalem, including its eastern part which it occupied in 1967, is its eternal capital.

Jerusalem is one of the final status issues for Palestinian-Israeli negotiations which have been stalled since 2014 after nine months of US-sponsored talks without progress to resolve the decades-old conflict.

The Palestinian statement said the US decision “makes it lose its eligibility as a mediator and sponsor of the peace process, and will be a partner in this process only after the cancellation of President Trump’s decision on Jerusalem.”

The council stressed the “rejection of any proposals or ideas for transitional solutions or interim stages, including the so-called state with temporary borders and the refusal to recognise Israel as a Jewish state.”

It also called for the formation of a unity government “to strengthen the political partnership and unity of the Palestinian political system.”

A 32-year-old married woman was allegedly raped by a youth Biju Janata Dal (BJD) activist at the ruling party’s block office in Dasarathpur here. The alleged accused, Chandrakanta Mohapatra, raped the woman after calling her to the party office on the pretext of providing her with a house under the Biju Pucca Ghar Yojana.

The ruling BJD here has dubbed it as a conspiracy by political opponents. Though the incident reportedly took place on 11 January at 9 p.m, it came to the fore after the victim filed an FIR with Mangalpur police station today.

Basing on the reports, police registered a case under section 342, 294 and 376 of Indian Penal Code against the accused. According to the complaint, Chandrakant Mohapatra who happens the brother of BJD leader and Jajpur district unit BJD president, Saroj Mohapatra, called the victim over mobile phone to come to the party office at Dasarathapur for completion of some formalities in order to avail a house under the Biju Pucca Ghar scheme on Thursday night at about 8.15 p.m. “When I reached the BJD party office, Chandrakant called me into the office.

I went into office room where only Chandrakant was present. Then he asked me to sit on the bed of that room. The accused touched me inappropriately and misbehaved with me at the office. As I tried to escape from the spot, he assaulted and raped me,” the woman alleged in her complaint.

He had also threatened her of dire consequences if she disclosed the incident to any body, she alleged. Mangalpur police registered a case and started an investigation.

“We have recorded statements of the victim before the magistrate. Besides, medical examination of the victim has been conducted at the district headquarters hospital today,” said Shaik Akbar Ali, inspector-in-charge of Mangalpur police station.

No arrest has been made as the accused has fled from the village. When contacted, Jajpur district unit BJD president, Saroj Mohapatra said, “It is purely political. The opponents are trying to blame us”.

A fire mishap occurred at Essar steel plant’s iron grinding plant here today. No one was injured in the blaze. Sources said that the fire broke out around 12. 45 PM at the iron grinding plant of this Essar steel plant where pellets which are critical raw material and fines are used in all iron making processes.

Four fire tenders of IFFCO, PPL, IOCL and Kujang fire station were pressed into service to douse the fire. Unconfirmed reports, however, indicated that more than 25 labourers who were at work, were rescued. Several labourers ran for safety.

Kujang Fire Officer Mr Biswajit Mohanty informed ‘ labourers were wielding the hot metal near the grinding plant site when a piece of hot metal fall on rubber lining of the conveyor and caught fire. A senior Essar official said that “we summoned fire brigade of nearly all industrial units after a fire broke out at our plant site.

The fire was doused before it could go out of control. There has been no major damage to the site. The damage to property has not yet been estimated.

The production in the plant has been shut down and all efforts are being taken to restore production. A team is examining the loss of damage and the exact cause of fire mishap’. It may be recalled that the plant site has had four fire accidents since 2011.

The first in 2011 led to damage to property worth one crore while in 2012, two persons including a fire brigade personnel sustained burn injuries in the fire at the electric substation in the plant premises.

Again in 2014, another major fire mishap took place in the construction site in Essar plant site and the next year there was a similar mishap at the blast furnace of the plant.

Former champions Maria Sharapova and Angelique Kerber turned on the style to sweep into the Australian Open second round today, but it was curtains for lanky Canadian Milos Raonic.

With temperatures heating up in Melbourne, the two Grand Slam winners wasted little time on court.

Sharapova, still working her way back from a 15-month ban for taking the performance-enhancing substance meldonium, showed glimpses of the tennis that made her a five-time major winner.

The 2008 Melbourne Park champion, now ranked 48, battled past Germany’s Tatjana Maria 6-1, 6-4 and will next play either 14th seed Anastasija Sevastova of Latvia or American Varvara Lepchenko.

“I cherish these moments. I love it here,” said the Russian, who returned from her drugs ban in April last year.

“It’s been a couple of years and I wanted it to be really meaningful to me.”

Fellow former world number one Kerber, who won the tournament in 2016, was also impressive in dismissing Anna- Lena Friedsam 6-0, 6-4.

“2017, I have said goodbye already, I am not looking back,” she said after a forgettable last season that saw her relinquish

It was a sunny Tuesday morning here with the minimum temperature recorded at 9.1 degrees Celsius, two notches above the season’s average, the Met Office said.

“The sky will be mainly clear during the day with mist in the morning,” an India Meteorological Department (IMD) official told IANS.

The humidity at 8.30 a.m. was 73 per cent. The maximum temperature is likely to hover around 25 degrees Celsius.

Meanwhile, at least 18 trains were cancelled, 24 delayed and six rescheduled due to fog in several parts of northern India.

The maximum temperature on Monday settled at 23.6 degrees Celsius, four notches above the season’s average and the minimum temperature was recorded at 6.4 degrees Celsius, one notch below the average.

The minimum temperatures dropped again in Jammu and Srinagar cities on Tuesday due to nightlong cloud cover, sending down chilly wind from snow-clad mountains, the Met Office said.

At minus 19 degree Celsius, Kargil town recorded the lowest minimum temperature in Jammu and Kashmir on Tuesday followed by Leh at minus 13.8 degree Celsius, a Met department official said.

Chilly winds blowing into the Kashmir Valley from snow-topped mountains have added to the severity of “Chillai Kalan”, the 40-day long period of harsh winter that will end on January 30.

The weather office has forecast further drop in night temperatures in Jammu region, Kashmir Valley and the Ladakh region during the next two to three days.

“The minimum temperature was 3.8 degrees Celsius in Jammu city on Tuesday while it was minus 4.9 degree Celsius in Srinagar city.”

“Chilly winds blowing into Kashmir Valley and the plains of the Jammu region have added to the chill factor during the night while days are fairly warm in Jammu these days due to clear sunshine.

“Pahalgam recorded minus 6.6 degree Celsius and Gulmarg minus 6 degree Celsius as the night’s lowest temperature today.

“Katra town recorded 7 degrees Celsius, Batote 3.8 degrees Celsius, Bannihil minus 2 degree Celsius, Bhaderwah and Udhampur both recorded 0.6 degree Celsius as the minimum temperatures on Tuesday,” an official of the Met department said.

The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS)-backed Seemanta Chetana Mancha is focusing on creating mass awareness among people living in border areas to prevent antinational activities, infiltration, cattle smuggling and smuggling of counterfeit currency notes in north Bengal.

The RSS and the Mancha have planned to jointly worship ‘Bharat Mata’ (Mother India) in a big manner in the bordering areas of the region for the first time on 26 January.

The Mancha especially focuses on issues relating to the Indo-Bangladesh borders across the country, while it also emphasises on the China border at Nathula in Sikkim and tries to generate a sense of patriotism among the masses there, RSS office bearers have said.

“We work on education, health, employment, and development of the people in bordering districts to strengthen relations, security of civilians and spread awareness on national security in north Bengal, as the region shares borders with Bangladesh and the China border is located nearby,” organising secretary of the Mancha, Jagannath Senapati, said here today.

A senior functionary of the Mancha said that ‘Bharat Mata’ would be worshipped in the bordering areas of north Bengal for the first time as mega events on 26 January this year. “North Bengal has become a safe corridor for anti-national elements. We have formed district-wise teams and this year we have planned to organise the worship in a bigger manner.

Patriotic songs will be sung, and discussions held on patriots who sacrificed their lives for the country, while volleyball and kabbadi matches will be held as part of the continuous mass awareness programmes.

People should understand patriotic values,” he said. An RSS leader said that route marches on the occasion of the birth anniversary of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose on 23 January will be organiseed in all the districts of north Bengal to instill a sense of patriotism among the people.

India shares more than 4,096 km of borders with Bangladesh, out of which, 23 % (around 1000 km) is unfenced. West Bengal shares 2,217 km of the border, while still 940 km fall in north Bengal.

As traffic congestion in front of City Center, a popular shopping mall in Siliguri, on National Highway-31, grows by the day, the Public Works Department (PWD) has said it will coordinate with the shopping complex over the eviction of illegal encroachment outside it near Uttarayon.

The upcoming project for widening of the National Highway-31 will need eviction of the illegal establishments around the shopping mall area, PWD officials said.

“We have served notices to the encroachers (who have set up shop there) as part of the proposed plan of widening the NH-31 after it gets a final nod.

We will evict the shops and temporary structures in and around the areas. There are many encroachers there, while we will act against them once the project gets a final approval,” said an official of the department.

Asked who granted them permission to set up their shops there, a vendor said, “We have a person who looks after all these issues and grants space to us, and we pay accordingly. We do not have any link with the shopping mall authorities.”

A management level official at City Center, Mahesh Pradhan, too said, “We do not have anything to do with the vendors outside the shopping complex.

It is the work of the Highway authorities to see who does what on the roads.” It may be mentioned here that much of the blame for the traffic congestion outside the mall, especially during weekends, is being laid on the said encroachment as well as the not-so-properly-managed bus stop and the traffic point at City Center.

Meanwhile, asked about the illegal encroachment contributing to the ongoing traffic problems on NH-31, Siliguri Metropolitan Police (SMP), Commissioner, Sunil Kumar Choudhary, said he will look into the matter.

“Apparently the shopping complex does contribute to the traffic congestion on NH31, and we will investigate the matter and act accordingly,” Mr Choudhary said.

Indian-origin actor Aziz Ansari, who has been accused of sexual misconduct by a woman with whom he went on a date last year, has responded to the claims saying the two engaged in “sexual activity, which by all indications was completely consensual”.

The 34-year-old actor’s statement comes after a 23-year- old Brooklyn-based photographer recounted a date with him that she called “the worst night of my life” in an interview.

“In September of last year, I met a woman at a party. We exchanged numbers. We texted back and forth and eventually went on a date.

“We went out to dinner, and afterwards we ended up engaging in sexual activity, which by all indications was completely consensual,” Ansari said in a statement given to People magazine.

The “Master of None” actor further said a text by the woman, named as ‘Grace’ in the article, said that she felt uneasy with how things transpired the night before and responded to her privately as he was “concerned” about her.

“The next day, I got a text from her saying that although ‘it may have seemed okay,’ upon further reflection, she felt uncomfortable. It was true that everything did seem okay to me, so when I heard that it was not the case for her, I was surprised and concerned. I took her words to heart and responded privately after taking the time to process what she had said,” he said.

Ansari, who became the first man of Asian descent to win Golden Globe recently for his performance in the Netflix show, added he supported the movement that has given women a chance to speak up about the injustice they have been subjected to till date.

“I continue to support the movement that is happening in our culture. It is necessary and long overdue,” he said.

In the interview, the woman vividly described how she exchanged numbers with Ansari at the 2017 Emmy Awards after- party and went on a date with him on a bar on the banks of the Hudson river, which escalated quickly to a sexual encounter at his apartment.

The woman said she voiced her hesitation explicitly during their encounter.

She said she “used verbal and non-verbal cues to indicate how uncomfortable and distressed she was”. The woman added that her reticence to engage in the act was “ignored” by the actor.

Grace alleged Ansari called her a cab when she wanted to leave and texted her the next day.

She shared a screenshot of the alleged conversation, in which she said, “Last night might’ve been fun for you, but it wasn’t for me. You ignored clear non-verbal cues; you kept going with advances.”

To this the actor allegedly replied, “I’m so sad to hear this. All I can say is, it would never be my intention to make you or anyone feel the way you described. Clearly, I misread things in the moment and I’m truly sorry.”

Grace said she decided to come forward with the incident after she saw Ansari wearing a Time’s Up pin at the Golden Globe Awards last week, where he won best comedy actor in a TV series.

“It took a really long time for me to validate this as sexual assault. I was debating if this was an awkward sexual experience or sexual assault. And that’s why I confronted so many of my friends and listened to what they had to say, because I wanted validation that it was actually bad,” she said in the interview.

Key Indian equity indices opened at fresh highs during the early morning trade session on Tuesday.

According to market observers, consumer durables, capital goods and IT stocks witnessed healthy buying.

At 9.16 a.m., the wider Nifty50 of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) traded 16 points or 0.15 per cent higher at a new high of 10,757.55 points.

The barometer 30-scrip Sensitive Index (Sensex) of the BSE, which opened at 34,877.71 points, traded at a fresh level of 34,903.28 points — up 59.77 points or 0.17 per cent — from its previous session’s close.

The Sensex has touched a new high of 34,936.03 points during the intra-day trade so far.

The BSE market breadth was bullish as 818 stocks advanced as compared to 342 declines.

On Monday, easing inflation, coupled with an optimism surrounding quarterly corporate earnings, pushed the key indices higher, with the NSE Nifty50 index crossing the 10,700-mark for the first time.

The Nifty50 rose by 60.30 points or 0.56 per cent to close at a fresh level of 10,741.55 points, while the Sensex closed at a record high of 34,843.51 points — up 251.12 points or 0.73 per cent.

Gorkha Jan Mukti Morcha (GJMM) leader Binoy Tamang today labelled Morcha leader Bimal Gurung as a man with “double standards.” According to him, while Mr Gurung claimed he did not express his desire to hold talks with chief minister Mamata Banerjee, in reality, he did make such statements.

“Bimal Gurung’s lies have come out in the open, as he claimed two days back that he did not make statements saying that he is willing to talk to the state government. He maintained that the newspapers published false reports.

However, we have a video of the statement he gave to the Press in Delhi that day (11 January), and where he has said that he was ready to talk with the state government for the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration since long,” Mr Tamang said in the statement he released late in the evening.

“To a question thrown at him by the media on whether he was willing to sit for a meeting with the state government for a solution to the Hill problems, he has replied that he is ready since long and that useless displays will not bring in a solution.

He has also said that it is only dialogues that can solve problems. He has further said that the GTA was formed by the Centre, state and the Hill leaders, and whatever problems that arise must be solved by talks among the three parties,” Mr Tamang added.

The release further gave instances of Mr Gurung being “double-faced, which was also seen previously where he has betrayed the people.”

“This way, Gurung has not worked for the benefit of the people, but only tried to save his chair and himself. It is not only the common people that he is fooling, but he has also been fooling the people in his own camp, as very recently, a statement was issued by a youth leader saying that Gurung had not made any statement regarding his wish to hold dialogue with the state government, Mr Tamang said.

Amish Tripathi, a master of mythological fiction titles, has vouched for Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s forthcoming controversial movie Padmaavat, saying it celebrates Rajput bravery and projects India’s culture in a positive way.

Tripathi watched the movie in a pre-release screening here on Monday.

“It is a film which celebrates Rajput bravery. It honours Rani Padmavati. And it says positive things about our culture. I think it is one of Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s finest films,” he tweeted.

The Bhansali Productions and Viacom18 Motion Pictures movie is slated to release on January 25. It features Deepika Padukone, Ranveer Singh and Shahid Kapoor in a story based on Padmavat, an epic “revered work of fiction” by Sufi poet Malik Muhammad Jayasi.

Shobha Sant, CEO, Bhansali Productions, thanked Tripathi for his “honest opinion”.

The rupee weakened by 12 paise to 63.61 against the US dollar in opening trade at the interbank foreign exchange on Tuesday after concerns over trade deficit ballooning to a three-year high.

Trade deficit or the difference between imports and exports was USD 14.88 billion in December, up about 41 per cent year-on-year, as crude oil and gold import bill inflated, the commerce ministry data showed.

Dealers attributed the rupee’s fall to dollar’s strength against some other currencies overseas but a higher opening in the domestic equity market capped the fall.

Yesterday, the rupee had strengthened by 14 paise to close at a fresh one-week high of 63.49 against the US currency on sustained dollar selling by exporters amid record rally in domestic equities.

Meanwhile, the benchmark BSE Sensex rose by 92.52 points or 0.26 per cent to 34,936.03 in early trade.

South Africa reached 90/2 in their second innings after bowling out India’s first outing for 307 runs on the third day of the second cricket Test at the SuperSport Park here on Monday.

AB de Villiers (50) and Dean Elgar (36) were at the crease for South Africa, who have a lead of 118 runs over the visitors after the latter conceded a 28-run first-innings lead despite a stellar 153 from their captain Virat Kohli.

De Villiers and Elgar put together an unbeaten partnership of 87 as bad light and rain disrupted majority of the post-tea session.

Earlier in the day, Kohli registered his 21st century in Test cricket with his knock, that featured 15 fours, rallying the Indian innings which resumed Monday’s play 183/5.

Kohli, who was the last Indian wicket to fall, forged a crucial 71-run partnership for the seventh wicket with Ravichandran Ashwin (38) to stabilise the innings.

The partnership helped India to recover from the early loss of overnight batsman Hardik Pandya (15), who ran himself out. The Baroda all-rounder wanted to take a single off pacer Kagiso Rabada with a tap to mid-on but Kohli refused and the former ran back only to see a direct throw from Vernon Philander catch him short of the crease.

Before the run out, Kohli completed his century with a tap to mid-wicket for a single off Lungisani Ngidi to get to his three-figure mark before running back after an overthrow.

Kohli continued from where he left on Sunday’s unbeaten knock of 85. He stamped his authority over the Proteas bowlers and kept on punishing the bad balls.

Ashwin played a stroke-filled knock of 38 in 54 balls. He supported Kohli perfectly at the other end to put pressure on the opponents.

Just when things seemed good in the middle for India, Ashwin was dismissed through a poor shot selection off Philander, edging it to Faf du Plesis at the second slip. At this moment, India were 280/6, still 55 runs behind South Africa’s first innings of 335.

Mohammad Shami (1) then came in the middle and survived only seven deliveries. He failed to fend off a rising delivery from Morne Morkel, managing only an edge to Hashim Amla at first slip.

Morkel made Ishant Sharma (3) his third victim. He threw down a barrage of bouncers. One of the bouncers forced Ishant to meet the ball with his bat. And the ball went straight at Aiden Markram at short-leg.

Kohli, while trying to pace up the innings at his end, was then caught by de Villiers at long-on off Morkel to end the Indian innings.

The hosts began their second innings on a disastrous fashion. With only three runs on the board, pacer Jasprit Bumrah pegged back South Africa with two quick wickets of in-form Aiden Markram (1) and experienced batsman Hashim Amla (1). Both Proteas batsmen were adjudged leg before wicket.

Afterwards, Elgar and de Villiers resurrected the innings. Elgar survived some nervy moments with outside edges and inside edges not going to the Indian fielders.

Rain interrupted play for an hour. And when the match resumed, luck continued to favour Elgar. At his personal score of 29, the left-hander edged a delivery from Bumrah. But wicket-keeper Parthiv Patel let it go, thinking it was first slip fielder Cheteshwar Pujara’s catch.

At the other end, de Villiers played a dominating knock. A batsman of high pedigree, de Villiers struck six fours as he had answers to whatever Ishant, Bumrah and Ashwin bowled at him.

Later, due to bad light, umpires decided to suspend the match for a while before taking the final call of ending the day’s play.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the commencement of the work of an oil refinery in Rajasthan’s Barmer district on Tuesday and also address a public rally there.

“Looking forward to visiting Rajasthan. Will attend a programme to mark the commencement of work for the Rajasthan Refinery at Pachpadra, in Barmer and will also address a public meeting,” Modi said in a tweet.

“The Rajasthan refinery will be the first in the state, which is blessed with immense oil and gas reserves. This refinery will benefit Rajasthan, especially the industrious youth of the state,” he said.

The project, a Joint Venture of Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd. and Rajasthan government, is worth over Rs 43,000 crore.

The foundation stone for the refinery was laid by then Congress President Sonia Gandhi on September 22, 2013.