Grenade explosion @ Bus Stand In Jammu, 18 Injured

18 people have been injured in a powerful grenade explosion at the main bus stand in Jammu this afternoon. The bus stand is in the heart of Jammu city. Bus drivers and conductors are series injured.

Grenade was placed under a bus, the police said. It is unclear if there were people inside the bus. "Police is working on all the leads. We are collecting evidence and we will hunt them down," a police officer told reporters.

Seen in Visuals showed security personnel guarding the area as a large number of locals gathered around the site of the blast. As Police have cordoned off the area. Sniffer dogs were brought in to scan the site. Injured have been taken to hospital.

Explosion in Jammu - which is not far from the International Border - comes amid an increase in tension along the border with Pakistan.

Source: https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/explosion-inside-bus-at-bus-stand-in-jammu-injuries-reported-2004007

Firing at LOC

Seen heavy shelling and firing by Pakistani troops are being reported along the Line of Control (LOC) in the border town of Rajouri in Jammu and Kashmir. As this is the third case of the violation of ceasefire in the day, defence officials said.

Officials said that at around 10:30 am, Pakistani troops resorted to heavy shelling with artillery or heavy arms and firing of small arms along the Line of Control  in Nowshera and Sunderbani sectors in Rajouri, around 159 km from Jammu city.

Schools and other educational institutions within 5 km distance from the LoC in Rajouri and Pooch districts are closed. As The Indian Army is firing in retaliation, the army said.

Second round of exchange of fire between the two countries in 12 hours. Indian and Pakistani armies exchanged heavy fire across the Line of Control (LoC) in  Rajouri district till 4:30 this morning, the the Defence Ministry said.

Many heavy fire exchanges took place Rajouri's Nowshera and Krishna Ghati sector of Poonch on Tuesday too. A soldier was injured in the Rajouri firing.

Source:https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/heavy-shelling-firing-by-pakistan-along-line-of-control-in-jammu-and-kashmirs-rajouri-army-retaliate-2003427

Benefits of Amla

• Is a powerful antioxidant

• Treat diabetes

• Treat heart disease

• Treat eye problems

• Reduce stress

• Relieve constipation

• Promote strong bones, teeth and nails

• Treat gastritis

• Improve eyesight

• Maintain liver health

• Increase red blood cell count

Ambur in alert | Leopard attack

Ambur: People in areas close to Ambur in Vellore district are in a state of fear following an attack by a leoprad in which a calf died. Place Arangal Durugam is the locality next to Ambur, Vellore district, where a farmer called Palani and his wife Geetha live.

Couple does farming on a piece of two acre land and they have cattle too. Last night, a leopard had attacked the calf in the backyard and killed it. This morning, on seeing the dead calf, Palani informed the forest department officials.

Opon receiving the information, team comprising of the forest department officials and veterinary doctors reached the spot and did a post-mortem of the dead calf. Forest department officials have already been keeping a close watch in Ponna Palli and Abigiripattarai areas and are armed with two cages to capture two leopards roaming in those areas.

This attack on the calf in the Arangal Durugam area, has created a panic among the people in the locality. People living in these parts say the movement of leopards has increased in the area in the past few days.

While Entering the villages from the forests, the leopards hide behind the bushes or agricultural gardens and hunt sheep and cattle. Recently, forest department officials tried capturing a leopard hiding in the sugarcane fields in the Chinnanguppam village in Nagaleri division next to Vaniyambadi.

Earlier Leopard chased some 300-odd people gathered there. One person was bitten by the big cat. Following this, the forest department officials have camped-in the locality and are rigorously engaged in capturing the leopard.

Gurgaon Topped World's Most Polluted City, Says Study

Gurgaon in the National Capital Region or NCR is the world's most polluted city according to data released by IQAir AirVisual and Greenpeace, a non-profit organization. India, as per new report published today, dominates the ranking, with 15 out of the 20 cities, with worst pollution.

As Out of the 10 cities with highest pollution, seven are in India, while one is in China and two are in Pakistan. Among the Indian cities are Gurgaon, Ghaziabad, Faridabad, Bhiwadi, Noida, Patna and Lucknow. The other three are Hotan in China and Lahore and Faislabad in Pakistan.

Next is Delhi at number 11 on the pollution chart.

The Data for report has been sourced from public and government websites collected in real-time and in cases where real-time was missing, "queries were performed to collect historical data when it becomes available."

Focus of the study, as per the report, is the aggregate of Particulate Matter (PM) 2.5, which has been recorded in real-time in 2018. Research say exposure to PM2.5 pollution increases the risk of lung cancer, stroke, heart attack and respiratory diseases, including asthma symptoms among all age groups.

As per new report, based on a study of 3000 cities, said that 64 per cent exceeded the World Health Organisation's annual exposure guideline for PM2.5 and just in South Asia, 99 per cent of the cities exceeded the WHO's safe standard exposure of 10 micrograms/cubic metre annually.

As China made an remarkable improvement since 2013, when its capital Beijing topped the pollution charts but according to the new study, the country's pollution levels have gone down by 40 per cent.

Encounter in Jammu & Kashmir's Pulwama, 2 Terrorists killed

Encounter broke out in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama between security forces and terrorists this morning. Two terrorist were killed in ongoing operation. As police had information about the presence of two terrorists hiding in a house in Pulwama's Tral.

Target house has been razed to ground. Also mobile internet services have been suspended in the town

Earlier it was in Pulwama that over 40 CRPF soldiers were killed in a terror attack on February 14. Pakistan-based terror group Jaish-e-Mohammed claimed responsibility for the attack. Following, Indian fighter jets destroyed Jaish's biggest training camp in Pakistan's Balakot. Also on February 20, four soldiers, including an officer, and a policeman were killed in an encounter with terrorists in Pulwama. Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorist, believed to be a key conspirator in the Pulwama terror attack, was shot dead in the 12-hour encounter.

Source: https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/pulwama-encounter-terrorist-killed-in-encounter-in-jammu-and-kashmirs-pulwama-2002675

Exports duty to be waived off by US

* Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) programme allows duty-free entry of 1,784 products from India into the US

* Exporters of textiles, engineering, gems and jewellery and chemical products benefit the most from this.

US has decided to withdraw duty benefits on $5.6 billion worth of exports from India by May this year, blaming the trade barriers created by the Indian government, after negotiations for a trade package fell through.

GSP programme allows duty-free entry of 1,784 products from India into the US, benefitting exporters of textiles, engineering, gems and jewellery and chemical products.

As "India has implemented a wide array of trade barriers that create serious negative effects on United States commerce. Despite intensive engagement, India has failed to take the necessary steps to meet the GSP criterion," the office of the United States Trade Representative said in a statement.

US secretary Wilbur Ross recently raised concerns regarding new trade barriers created by India, hinting at the stringent e-commerce rules that affected US companies such as Amazon and Walmart-owned Flipkart.

India's Commerce secretary Anup Wadhawan said disproportionate demands from the US led to the collapse of talks even though India was ready for greater market access in agricultural products to the US.

Last year in April, USTR announced that it was reviewing the GSP eligibility of India, after the US dairy industry and the US medical devices industry requested a review of India’s GSP benefits, given India’s alleged trade barriers affecting US exports in these sectors. Total US imports under GSP in 2017 was $21.2 billion, of which India was the biggest beneficiary with $5.6 billion, followed by Thailand ($4.2 billion) and Brazil ($2.5 billion).

Chennai Metro phase 2 map released about 118.9km project

The Chennai Metro Rail Limited (CMRL) on Saturday officially released maps of its ambitious 118.9km phase-2 project that will connect far-flung suburban areas with core localities of the city through three corridors.

As CMRL has released two maps- one is 52km corridor - (Madhavaram to CMBT and from Madhavaram to Sholinganallur linking the eastern part of the city including the IT hub at OMR), other of the entire phase with three corridors. Construction work for the 52km corridor will begin before the end of this year. It comprises 128 stations.

Three corridors of the phase include Madhavaram to Sipcot, Lighthouse to Poonamallee and Madhavaram to Sholinganallur. The estimated cost of the project is Rs 69,000 crore.

While many changes were made to the alignment and to the names of the stations, one of the corridors initially planned to link localities from Lighthouse to CMBT was later extended up to Poonamallee to link high passenger traffic areas like Porur and Iyyapanthangal.

Currently, the soil test is underway for the 52km corridor and a 10km corridor - from Lighthouse to Vadapalani. As Compared to the 45km phase-1, phase-2 will have smaller stations to cut down cost and land required for construction.

Abhinandan Returned home safely

Indian Air Force (IAF) pilot Abhinandan Varthaman captured by Pakistan after his plane crashed on the other side of LOC while on a mission, Pakistani officials handed him safely to IAF officials today at the Wagah-Attari joint check. Inspite of time release exceeded by Pakistan.


Medical Test at Wagah: Commander has undergone medical test in Wagah border took time to release.

Procedure Wing Commander have to undergo: Commander Abhinandan will be directly taken to Indian Air Force Intelligence Unit as soon as he arrives.  He will be made to take several medical tests to gauge his fitness levels.  Scans will also be conducted to check if he has been bugged by the Pakistani army. Pilot will need to undergo psychological tests too. Since he has been captured by the enemy and lived through traumatic situations, defence establishment will explore possibilities of him being tortured to illicit national security secrets from him.

Border to Delhi: Commander Abhinandan will be taken to Amritsar after his return to India through the Wagah-Attari border. Later, he will be flown to Delhi in a special plane. His family is waiting for his return in Delhi.

Ceremony cancelled: Wagah border will be out of bounds for the public today to ease pilot's hand over to Indian authorities to avoid tensions.

Request Denied: India's request to Islamabad that it wants IAF pilot Abhinandan Varthaman to be sent back via aerial route and not through the Wagah land border, denied by Pakistan. Pakistan communicated to India that he will be only returned through the Attari-Wagah border.

As Pakistani PM Imran Khan’s announcement on Thursday to release the IAF pilot came as a surprise amid escalating tensions between the 2 nuclear-armed countries after an intense aerial confrontation. PM Khan in his parliament speech called the IAF pilot’s release “a gesture of peace.”

China on Friday welcomed Pakistan's decision to release the Indian Air Force pilot and encouraged the two countries to engage in more counter-terrorism cooperation and dialogue for the regional peace and stability, news agency PTI reported.

Source: https://www.news18.com/news/india/abhinandan-return-live-last-minute-paperwork-at-wagah-attari-border-delays-wing-commanders-return-2052197.html

US to reward $1 million to track down Osama bin Laden’s son

United States Thursday announced a $1 million reward for tracking down Hamza bin Laden, son of slain al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, according to a report in the New York Times.

“Hamza bin Laden is the son of deceased former AQ leader Osama bin Laden and is emerging as a leader in the AQ franchise,” AFP quoted a statement by State Department, referring to Al Qaeda.