Wednesday, September 9, 2026
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Lebanon: Huge fire at Beirut Port weeks after deadly blast

New Delhi (NVI): A huge fire has broken out at Beirut’s port in Lebanon, triggering panic among residents traumatised by last month’s massive explosion that killed and injured thousands of people.

Thick black columns of smoke rose into the sky, as the blaze engulfed a warehouse storing oil and tyres. No casualties have been reported so far, according to media reports.

Firefighters are at the scene and helicopters have also been sent to help bring the fire under control.

Social media users posted video footage, which sparked alarm among Beirut residents only just recovering from the country’s deadliest peace-time disaster.

“Insane fire at the port, causing a panic all across Beirut. We just can’t catch a break,” Human Rights Watch researcher Aya Majzoub wrote on Twitter.

The August 4 explosion of hundreds of tonnes of ammonium nitrate fertiliser at the port killed more than 190 people, wounded thousands and ravaged large parts of the capital.

The blast sparked widespread outrage after it emerged authorities had been aware of the presence of the huge stockpile, and prompted the government to resign.

-CHK

Reports of villages in Arunachal Pradesh near LAC being vacated are fake: Army

Tawang, Arunachal Pradesh

New Delhi (NVI): The Indian Army today discarded the media reports which claimed that people living near the Tibet border in Tawang, Arunachal Pradesh, have vacated their villages amid the tensions between India and China along the LAC.

The Army clarified that the reports are fake and malicious. However, the Public Relations Officer, (PRO) Defence, Tezpur, asked people of Arunachal Pradesh and Assam not to pay any attention to such rumours.

“The news of vacation of villages near LAC are fake and malicious. The public of Arunachal Pradesh & Assam are advised not to pay heed to such rumours and get all news confirmed by authorities before retweeting it,” PRO, Defence, Tezpur tweeted.

The clarification from the PRO Defence comes amidst the ongoing border stand-off between India and China along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) at Ladakh.

Earlier on September 7, Chinese troops fired in the air while attempting to close in on Indian positions across the LAC in eastern Ladakh.

In addition to this, the Indian Army issued a statement, accusing the Chinese troops of blatantly violating agreements and carrying out aggressive manoeuvres.

India and China have been engaged in a standoff since April over the violations by the Chinese Army in multiple areas including the Finger area, Galwan Valley, Hot springs and Kongrung Nala.

-RJV

PM Modi, Abe welcome pact for reciprocal provision of supplies, services between forces

Prime Minister Narendra Modi along with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

New Delhi (NVI): Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Japanese counterpart, Shinzo Abe, during a telephonic conversation today, welcomed the signing of the agreement for Reciprocal Provision of Supplies and Services and said it would promote closer cooperation between defence forces on the ground.

India and Japan yesterday signed a key agreement – Reciprocal Provision of Supplies and Services – between the Indian Armed Forces and the Self-Defense Forces of Japan, which is expected to drive closer military cooperation and contribute to regional security.

The Acquisition and Cross-Servicing Agreement (ACSA) between Japan’s Self-Defense Forces and India’s armed forces was signed by Japanese ambassador Satoshi Suzuki and defence secretary Ajay Kumar in New Delhi.

The agreement will cover the reciprocal provision of supplies and services during joint exercises and training missions, UN peacekeeping operations, humanitarian relief operations, operations to cope with disasters in the territory of both parties or a third country, and evacuation of nationals of India and Japan from overseas in exigencies.

The supplies and services covered by the pact include food, water, transportation, including airlift, petroleum, clothing, communications and medical services, use of facilities, spares and components, and repair and maintenance services.

The agreement will remain in force for 10 years and will be automatically extended for periods of 10 years unless one of the parties decides to end it.

India has similar agreements with the US, Australia, France, Oman and Singapore.

Furthermore, the two leaders reviewed the status of ongoing cooperation, including the Mumbai-Ahmedabad High Speed Rail (MAHSR) project, under the framework of the India-Japan Special Strategic & Global Partnership.

Both the Prime Ministers also expressed appreciation for the support provided to resident citizens in each other’s countries during the COVID-19 pandemic and agreed that such efforts must be continued to sustain the strong people-to-people ties between the two countries.

PM Abe, while explaining his decision to step down, expressed “gratitude for the friendship and the relationship of trust” built with Modi and noted the memories from their mutual annual visits. Modi expressed his appreciation for all the efforts by Abe and recalled the time they spent together.

In addition to this, the two leaders made it clear that the change of leadership in Japan wouldn’t affect the overall arc of bilateral relations.

-CHK

Over 350 Kashmiri students, 80 Pak nationals allowed to cross over via Attari

New Delhi (NVI): Over 350 Kashmiri students studying in Pakistan and 80 Pakistani nationals including over 50 Hindus, who were stranded in the country during Covid-19 lockdown, were allowed to cross over via Attari Wagah border in Amritsar today.

The Pakistan government had requested the Indian government for the return of these people. The deadline for these people to cross over was set as 5 PM.

A police official posted at the Integrated Check Post (ICP), Attari said that they have received details of 354 students studying in different colleges and universities in Pakistan. The academic session of these Kashmiri students is likely to commence from September 15.

Apart from that, 80 Pakistani nationals who were stranded in different states in India were also allowed to cross over via Attari-Wagah border, he said. These include 21 from Rajasthan, 17 from Maharashtra, 13 from Delhi, 15 from Chhattisgarh, 8 from Madhya Pradesh, 2 from Gujarat, Punjab and UP each. “These 80 people are those who were stranded here during lockdown.” he said.

The police officer informed that total of 434 people are crossing over to Pakistan today. He further said that around 400 Indian nationals stranded in Pakistan were also scheduled to return on September 7 but the date has been changed to September 15.

-ARK

California skies glow orange as wildfire rages across western US

The view east from San Francisco's Embarcadero.

New Delhi (NVI): Residents of San Francisco and several other cities across the US’ West Coast awoke to eerie orange skies after clouds of smoke from multiple nearby wildfires blocked all sunlight and triggered a downpour of ash and soot.

San Francisco, Oakland and Berkeley were blanketed in orange to rust-tinted skies as strong winds continued to carry smoke and ash from the wildfires to the northern parts of California, according to media reports.

While the sky was tinted a light yellow on Tuesday, it darkened to a deep orange by the next morning.

Fires have ravaged the state in the past month, burning at least 2.5 million acres (1 million hectares) of land. A heatwave at the weekend provided perfect conditions for an eruption of new and dangerous blazes across the state.

Three people were found dead on Wednesday evening in Butte County, where the North Complex fire – one of more than two dozen in California – has spread at a ferocious rate.

The fire, in Northern California, has been burning for more than three weeks before high winds and soaring temperatures helped it surge back again this week, crossing about 25 miles (40 kilometres) of mountainous terrain to destroy scores of homes.

The spread and speed of the hurtling flames are defying the efforts of rescue teams.

Three of the five largest fires in California’s history are burning now and more than 14,000 firefighters are overwhelmed.

The recent wildfires have caused a 25-day stretch of unhealthy air quality in the San Francisco Bay Area, setting a new record in the region. The record was previously set in 2018, when plumes of smoke from the devastating Camp Fire caused a sharp decline in air quality for 14 straight days.

This is the fourth year of a climate-crisis fire season amplified in duration, scale, and intensity, and it is already worse than the last three in most respects.

It comes on the heels of unprecedented heat throughout most of California, with temperatures most of us never expected – 121F (49.4C) in Los Angeles County last week.

_CHK

Centre issues revised SOPs on conducting exams during pandemic

JKBOSE results: Girls Outperform Boys in Class 10 Results in Jammu Division
Representational image

New Delhi (NVI): The Union Health Ministry today issued revised standard operating procedure (SOP) on preventive measures to be followed while conducting examinations to contain the spread of the virus.

The revised guidelines by the Health Ministry asked all universities, educational institutions, examinations conducting authorities and examination centre to make arrangements for the safety of students. Also, it asked the students to adhere to the social distancing norms and use face cover masks to contain COVID-19 spread.

“Only those examination centres which are outside the containment zone shall be allowed to function. The staff/examinees from containment zones shall not be permitted,” said the revised SOP.

Such examinees should be given an opportunity to undertake the examination through other means or the Universities/Educational Institution/Agency may consider appropriate measures in this regard, it added.

The guidelines advised the universities to avoid overcrowding at any examination centre on any day. “Educational institutions should have adequate room capacity to ensure proper seating arrangement for examination,” it said.

Meanwhile, appropriate arrangements for personal protection gears such as face covers, masks, and hand sanitisers shall be made available by centres to the staff as well as students as per requirements.

There should be enough entry and exit gates for students and staff shall be ensured to avoid overcrowding and maintain social distancing of a minimum of 6 feet, when queuing up for entry and inside the centre as far as feasible, the SOP stated.

In the revised guidelines the ministry asked that, all staff that is at high risk (older employees, pregnant employees and employees who have medical conditions) shall not be deployed for invigilation or conduct of examination.

“Such staff should preferably be deployed in tasks not requiring direct contact with the students,” it added

The guidelines further said, institutions may adopt contact-less processes like OR code, online forms, digital signatures for the examination.

Also, for the transportation purposes of students, vehicles need to be sanitised and mandatory hand hygiene needed to be practised, it said. The guidelines ordered that only asymptomatic staff and students shall be allowed to enter the exam centres and that too after thermal screening.

Apart from this, the ministry prohibited spitting and advised them to install and use the Aarogya Setu App.

-RJV

SC extends interim order on loan moratorium till September 28

New Delhi (NVI): The Supreme Court today ordered interim extension of loan moratorium till September 28, directing banks not to tag any loans as non-performing till further directions.

The apex court adjourned the case for the last time, granting the Centre, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and banks two weeks to work together and file a concrete reply on their stand on waiving of interest charged during the moratorium period.

A three-judge bench of the apex court, headed by Justice Ashok Bhushan, asked the Centre to file a detailed affidavit and posted the matter for further hearing after two weeks.

The apex court will continue hearing in the case on September 28.

The three-judge bench took on record the submissions made by the solicitor general Tushar Mehta, representing the Centre. It noted that the government at the highest level was considering all the issues in this batch of plea related to loan moratorium.

The order also noted that an expert committee had been constituted to look into all the issues and action will be taken by the government.

Senior lawyer Kapil Sibal, appearing for an association named CREDAI, submitted that the downgrading of borrowers is continuing, which must be protected now, and sought an extension of the loan moratorium and a stay on downgrading and interest levy.

-CHK

Retest mandatory for symptomatic patients who are negative in antigen test: Centre

COVID
Representational image

New Delhi (NVI): The Union Health Ministry today urged all States to conduct mandatory retesting of all symptomatic negative cases through the RT-PCR test, to curb the spread of COVID-19.

In a statement, the Ministry of Health said it has noted that in some large states, symptomatic negative cases tested by Rapid Antigen Tests (RAT) were not being followed up by RT-PCR testing.

The ministry said that the guidelines of ICMR as well as the Health Ministry clearly state that two specific categories of persons— all symptomatic negative cases of RAT, and all asymptomatic negative cases of RAT that develop symptoms within 2 to 3 days of being tested negative — must necessarily be retested through RT-PCR tests.

“In this background, the Health Ministry and ICMR have jointly written to all the States/ UTs and urged them to ensure that the all symptomatic negative cases of RAT are mandatorily retested using the RT-PCR test,” the statement said.

The ministry stated that the retesting was necessary to ensure that such symptomatic negative cases do not remain untested and do not spread the disease among their contacts.

“This will also ensure early detection and isolation/hospitalization of such false negatives,” it added.

In the joint letter, it has also been reiterated that while the RAT is being used to increase access and availability of testing in the field, RT-PCR remains the gold standard of COVID tests.

Furthermore, the ministry also urged the states and Union Territories to urgently establish a monitoring mechanism in every district (a designated officer or a team) and at the State level to follow up such cases.

These teams shall analyse details of RAT conducted on a daily basis in the districts and state and ensure that there are no delays in retesting of all symptomatic negative cases, the statement said.

“The aim of States, UTs should be to ensure that no potentially positive case is missed out,” it added.

The states and UTs have also been advised by the ministry to undertake an analysis on a regular basis to monitor the incidence of positives during the RT-PCR tests conducted as a follow up.

-RJV

PM launches flagship scheme, e-Gopala app for farmers

modi
Prime Minister Narendra Modi. (file photo)

New Delhi (NVI): Prime Minister Narendra Modi today launched Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana (PMMSY) along with mobile app e-Gopala which will provide marketplace to farmers for livestock.

PM Modi through video conferencing also launched several other initiatives in the fisheries and animal husbandry sectors in Bihar.

After the launch, the Prime Minister interacted with farmers focusing on the livestock and fisheries sector.

The PMMSY is a flagship scheme for focused and sustainable development of the fisheries sector in the country with an estimated investment of Rs 20,050 crores for its implementation during a period of 5 years, as a part of the ‘AtmaNirbhar Bharat’ package.

This is the highest ever investment in the fisheries sector, according to the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO).

Out of this, an investment of about Rs 12,340 crores is proposed for beneficiary-oriented activities in Marine, Inland fisheries and Aquaculture and about Rs 7,710 crores investment for fisheries infrastructure.

Moreover, the PMMSY aims at enhancing the fish production by an additional 70 lakh tonne by 2024-25 and reduce the post-harvest losses from 20-25 per cent to about 10 per cent. The scheme will also increase the fisheries export earnings to Rs 1,00,000 crore by 2024-25.

During the launch, PM Modi said, “People engaged in pisciculture will benefit largely from this scheme. It is our aim that in the next 3-4 years we double our production and give fisheries sector a boost.”

Meanwhile, the e-Gopala App is a comprehensive breed improvement marketplace and information portal for direct use of farmers.

At present, no digital platform is available for farmers in India, managing livestock including buying and selling of disease free germplasm in all forms, availability of quality breeding services and guiding farmers for animal nutrition, treatment of animals using appropriate medicine. However, the e-Gopala app will provide solutions to farmers on all these aspects.

-RJV

2 JeM militants held in J&K’s Kupwara; arms, ammo recovered

Terrorist arrested
Representational image

Abid Bashir

Srinagar (NVI): Two Jaish-e-Mohammad terrorists were arrested by Jammu and Kashmir Police today and arms and ammunition were recovered from them, besides cash worth Rs seven lakh.

A police official said that they received a specific lead about two Jaish militants who hailed from Sopore area of north Kashmir’s Baramulla district and were supposed to visit Kupwara to recruit youth into militancy.

“Police and Army established nakas at different locations in the district and intercepted a car (Eon –JK05G-0872) near FCI Godown at Drugmullah, Kupwara,” the police official said.

He said that two militants were identified as Waseem Irshad Gabroo of Arampora, Sopore and Mehraraj-Ud-Din Wani of Badshah Masjid, Sopore. “The duo were travelling in a car,” the official said.

He said that arms and ammunition include AK-47 rifle, along with one magazine, two grenades, 30 AK-47 rounds. Rs 7 lakh cash was also recovered from the car.

A case under Indian Arms Act, and sections 13,18, 19, 39 of UAPA has been registered at police station Kupwara. “A special investigation team (SIT) has been constituted to probe the actual role of the duo,” the official added.

-ARK

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