Author: Purshottama Chakarvati

At least 40 people were killed on Sunday when an aircraft of domestic carrier Yeti Airlines crashed in Pokhara in Nepal, a Nepal aviation authority official said.”Rescue operations are on,” said Jagannath Niroula, spokesman for Nepal civil aviation authority. “Weather was clear.” Local television showed thick black smoke billowing from the crash site as rescue workers, and crowds of people gathered around the wreckage of the aircraft. There were 72 people on the twin-engine ATR 72 aircraft operated by Nepal’s Yeti Airlines, including two infants, four crew members, and 10 foreign nationals, said airline spokesman Sudarshan Bartaula. Hundreds of rescue…

SINGAPORE/NEW DELHI: Russia is sending more crude oil produced in the Arctic region to China and India, and at steeper discounts, after Europe slammed its doors shut on Russian supplies last month, trade sources and data show.Arctic grades Arco, Arco/Novy Port and Varandey do not normally head East but are now finding new homes further afield after the European Union, G7 nations and Australia introduced a price cap on Russian oil in December, on top of an EU embargo on Russian crude by sea. Sellers are selling the Russian crudes at bigger discounts as they absorb higher shipping costs. In…

India’s Supreme Court has put on hold the demolition of more than 4,000 homes that were allegedly encroaching on land belonging to the railways in Haldwani town in Uttarakhand. “There cannot be uprooting of 50,000 people overnight. There has to be segregation of people who have no right on the land and the need to rehabilitation while recognising the need of the railways,” the top court said in its order on Thursday. On December 20, an order passed by the high court of the northern state declared 4,365 houses adjacent to the railway line in Haldwani’s Banbhulpura colony “illegal” and…

India have now overtaken China in terms of number of visitors to Singapore. Indian tourists are the second highest number of visitors arriving in Singapore. Prior to Covid-19 pandemic, China had the highest number of tourists visiting the island nation, according to the news agency ANI. A total number of 612,300 visitors from India arrived Singapore till November 2022, as per Singapore Tourism Board (STB) data. They also stay the longest with an average length of stay of 8.61 days compared with an average of 5.19 days. For comparison, Indonesians on average stayed 4.66 days, Malaysians for 4.28 days and…

India’s top court has given temporary relief to thousands of people who were facing forced eviction from their homes in Uttarakhand state. The top court put on hold an earlier high court order and said a “workable solution” must be found. Government officials have alleged that the affected people have encroached on land that belonged to Indian Railways. In December, the state high court asked railway authorities to clear the land after giving them a week’s notice. But residents have been protesting, saying they have nowhere to go. Reports say around 50,000 people would have been homeless if the high…

Manjunath Olekar, 67, was preparing his gun to fire celebratory shots during the party at his home in Shivamogga city on Saturday. But the gun misfired and a bullet hit Vinay U, 34, who was standing next to him. The police have started an investigation into the incident. The practice of firing shots in the air to mark weddings and other special occasions is common in many parts of India – these often lead to accidental deaths and injuries. Police officials have said that Olekar, who had a licensed gun, had allegedly used it in previous years as well to…

The tech giant said this in a filing to an Indian appeals tribunal, the report said. The tribunal will hear Google’s appeal against the penalty on Wednesday. In October, the Indian regulator fined Google 13bn rupees ($157m; £131m) for using its Android platform to dominate the market. The Competition Commission of India (CCI) had accused Google of entering into “one-sided agreements” with smartphone makers to ensure the dominance of its apps. India fines Google $161m for unfair practicesReuters reported that according to the filing made to the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT), Google said that the CCI’s investigations unit…