News18.com Daybreak | 39 Indians Dead in Mosul, Disruptions in Parliament and Other Stories You May Have Missed
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Fighting off their tears, family members of the 39 people whose deaths in Mosul, Iraq, were confirmed by external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj, slammed the government for keeping them in the dark for so long. Several relatives of the killed workers said they were not informed about their loved ones by any government authority. “What do we say now?” asked a dejected Sarwan, whose 31-year-old brother Nishan was among those killed.
Meanwhile, Swaraj has cited protocol to explain why she had informed the Parliament about the deaths of 39 Indians in Mosul before letting their families know.
Two teenage girls from Chhattisgarh's Koriya district were allegedly confined and raped by nine men for over a fortnight. The girls, aged 17 and 15 years, were rescued by the police on Monday from a spot near Bijuri railway station in neighbouring Madhya Pradesh.
While Lok Sabha elections may be a year away, the Upper House of Parliament will see an electoral battle. The elections and counting of votes for 58 Rajya Sabha seats, which fall vacant in April, will take place on Friday. We crunched the state-wise numbers to show what the Rajya Sabha will look like after Friday.
Anguished over disruptions in the working of the Rajya Sabha, Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu cancelled a dinner he was to host for members of the Upper House on Wednesday.
The Karnataka government's proposal to consider Lingayats as a separate religion got a further push when one of the oldest Lingayat mutts in Karnataka endorsed the state government move. The Siddaganga mutt in Tumkur — one of the oldest religious mutts of the community with significant influence on its members — said that it welcomes the recommendation made by the Siddaramaiah government.
In a sudden development, Congress social media head Ramya Divyaspandana’s mother has raised the banner of revolt against the party ahead of the state Assembly election. Ramya’s mother Ranjitha has demanded Assembly ticket for herself from Mandya constituency and a suitable party post for her daughter. She has warned the party that she will contest as an independent if the ticket is not given to her.
When four people got married in one of the remotest corners of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands recently, the sight gave hope to 120 odd members of a dwindling tribe in the region that is on the verge of extinction. Dugong Creek, in Andaman and Nicobar Islands, witnessed two weddings and a rare chance at life.
The world's last male northern white rhino has died, the Kenyan conservancy taking care of it said, leaving only two of its subspecies alive in the world. Sudan was being treated for age-related complications that had affected his muscles and bones and also gave him extensive skin wounds. But did you know, the rhino had been put under 24-hour armed guard in the Kenya game conservancy where he breathed his last? Watch it here.
Mukti Bhawan won the award for the Best Film, Ratna Pathak Shah won the Best Actor (Female) Award, Irrfan Khan won the Best Actor (Male). In case you have missed the News18 REEL Movie Awards—India’s first and only movie awards that recognise and reward New Age Cinema and its artists, here’s a roundup.
On reel
A tiny wildlife sanctuary in northeastern India has reported a jump in the number of one-horned rhinoceroses. The supervisor of Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary's rhino census says there are now 102 living in the park, up from 93 during the last count, in 1993.