Tuesday, April 28, 2026
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Avoid travel to China, Iran, Korea, Singapore, Italy: Harsh Vardhan

New Delhi (NVI): Hours after two more positive cases of coronavirus were confirmed in India, Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan advised citizens to avoid non-essential travel to China, Iran, Korea, Singapore and Italy.

“We are screening passengers coming from 12 countries, at present. Initially, universal screening was being done for passengers coming to India from China, Singapore, Thailand, Hong Kong, Japan and South Korea. Later, passengers from Vietnam, Malaysia, Nepal, Indonesia, Iran and Italy were also added,” the Union Health Minister said in a tweet.

The minister also confirmed the two new COVID-19 positive cases reported in Delhi and Telangana. He was addressing a presser at the Ministry of Health today after a meeting with Group of Minister on coronavirus.

Vardhan added that screening of passengers is being conducted at 21 airports, 12 major and 35 minor seaports.

“Around 5,57,431 passengers have been screened so far at airports and 12,431 passengers have been screened on minor and major seaports,” he said.

He also said that apart from 15 labs at NIV Pune, 19 more labs are expected to be functional soon.

The Ministry of Health also released a statement in connection with the two fresh cases reported in India.

“As the situation develops, the travel restrictions may be further extended to other countries,” the Ministry said.

Meanwhile, China reported 42 more deaths due to coronavirus today, even as there is a reduction in the pace at which people were dying from the virus there. The global death toll has exceeded 3,000 mark.

Worldwide, there have been almost 90,000 confirmed cases of coronavirus.

J&K to conduct security audit of departmental websites

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Mubashir Bukhari

Srinagar (NVI): In order to prevent cyber attacks, Jammu and Kashmir government is planning to conduct security audit of all the departmental websites before hosting them online.

According to the official documents accessed by NVI, Union Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology has asked all the Chief Information Security Officers (CISO) of states and union territories to regularly audit the government websites.

“All the government websites and applications are to be audited with respect to cyber security prior to their hosting. Auditing of these websites and applications has to be conducted regularly to check any attempt of hacking,” read a document.

Besides, the Union government has also formulated Crisis Management Plan to assist state and Union Territory government’s including Jammu and Kashmir in countering cyber attacks and ‘cyber terrorism’.

“Government has launched a Cyber Swachhta Kendra (Botnet Cleaning and Malware Analysis Centre). The centre is providing free tools to remove malicious programs,” according to the document.

Government has also empanelled 90 security organizations to support and audit implementation of Information Security Best Practices.

Around 44 mock drills have been conducted by government departments including finance, defence, power, telecom, transport, energy, space and information technology, to prevent cyber attacks.

Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) has also issued alerts and advisories regarding latest cyber threats from locations including Algeria, Brazil, China, France, Netherlands, North Korea, Pakistan, Russia, Serbia, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Tunisia, USA and Vietnam.

“It has been observed that attackers are compromising computer systems located in different parts of the world and use masquerading techniques and hidden servers to hide the identity of actual systems from which the attacks are being launched,” the document read.

A government official said all the departments were taking measures through their information technology team to secure their websites from hacking attempts.

“There have been many incidents when government websites have been hacked. All the departments are taking various measures to secure the department data on their websites,” he said.

Nirbhaya case: Execution of convicts deferred by Delhi court till further order

Supreme Court (File photo)

(Updating earlier story)

New Delhi (NVI): The hanging of four convicts in 2012 Nirbhaya gangrape case, that was scheduled to take place tomorrow, has been put off till further orders by a Delhi court here. This is the third time that the execution has been deferred.

The deferment of execution of death warrant was ordered by the Patiala Court judge. The court said that the death sentence cannot be executed tomorrow as the mercy petition of convict Pawan Kumar Gupta is pending before President. Gupta sent a mercy plea to President Ram Nath Kovind after the Supreme Court rejected his curative plea earlier in the day.

In his curative petition before the apex court, convict Pawan (25) claimed juvenility to seek commutation of sentence to life imprisonment.

The hanging of four convicts in the case — Akshay Thakur (31), Pawan Gupta (25), Vinay Sharma (26) and Mukesh Singh — was scheduled to take place tomorrow in Tihar Jail at 6 am

However, the latest development in the case comes after a Delhi court had refused to stay execution of death sentences of the four rape convicts in the case, earlier in the day.

A five-judge bench headed by Justice N V Ramana said no case is made out for re-examining the conviction and the punishment of the convict.

Pawan was the last death row convict in the case to move the apex court with his curative petition — the final legal remedy available to a person.

The Supreme Court has already rejected the curative petitions of the remaining three convicts.

On December 16, 2012, a 23-year-old woman was gang-raped and assaulted inside a moving bus in South Delhi by six persons, before being thrown out on the road. She later died on December 29, 2012, at a hospital in Singapore.

 

Modi wishes speedy recovery to Oli

New Delhi (NVI): Prime Minister Narendra Modi today wished a successful surgery and a speedy recovery to his Nepalese counterpart KP Sharma Oli.

The Nepal Prime Minister is to undergo his second kidney transplantation procedure this week.

“My dear friend @kpsharmaoli ji, wishing you a successful surgery and a speedy recovery. May Lord Pashupatinath bless you always with good health, happiness and a very long life. Look forward to your continued contribution to taking India-Nepal relations to new heights,” PM Modi said in a tweet.

The Nepal Prime Minister underwent a kidney transplant in India in 2007 after both his kidneys failed to function.  Since then, he has travelled abroad on several occasions for health-checkups and has undergone multiple rounds of dialysis.

Kejriwal announces Rs 1 cr compensation for slain IB official

Arvind Kejriwal

New Delhi (NVI): Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal today announced Rs 1 crore compensation to the family of Intelligence Bureau (IB) official Ankit Sharma, who was killed in northeast Delhi violence.

“Ankit Sharma was a brave IB officer. He was brutally murdered in the riots. The country is proud of him. The Delhi government has decided that his family will be given an honorarium of Rs 1 crore and job to one of his family members. May his soul rest in peace,” Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal tweeted today.

As per media reports, Sharma, a resident of Chang Bagh in north east Delhi was brutally stabbed to death furing the violence. He was woring as a security assistant in IB. He went missing on Tuesday and his body was later found in drain on Wednesday morning.

Around 46 people have been killed in the violence which swept northeast Delhi area last week. Reports said that violence took place as anti and pro CAA protesters clashed with each other.

First positive cases of coronavirus reported in Delhi, Telangana

New Delhi (NVI): One positive case of COVID-19 has been detected in Delhi and Telangana each, the Ministry of Health said in a statement today.

“The person from Delhi has a travel history from Italy, while the one from Telangana has a travel history from Dubai. Further details of his travels are being ascertained,” the Ministry said adding that both the patients are stable and being closely monitored.

With this, total five positive cases of COVID-19 have been reported in India till now.

Union Minister Harsh Vardhan, held a press conference today and said that screening of passengers is being conducted at 21 airports, 12 major seaports and 65 minor seaports, in order to prevent the virus from spreading.

He said that under the Government’s travel advisory, existing visas including e-visas will remain suspended for China and Iran. As the situation develops, the travel restrictions may be further extended to other countries also, media reports quoted him as saying.

Budget Session resumed today

Opposition parties
File Photo

New Delhi (NVI): The second half of the Budget Session of Parliament resumed today during which the government is expected to push its legislative agenda.

Bills relating to surrogacy and resolution of disputed tax are expected to come up during the House proceedings.

The Medical Termination of Pregnancy (Amendment) Bill, 2020 and The Mineral Laws (Amendment) Bill are also expected to be introduced.

The first half of the Budget Session began on January 31 with an address by President Ram Nath Kovind. The Union Budget was presented on February 1 by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.

Finance Bill 2020, Aircraft (Amendment) Bill and The Direct Tax Vivad Se Vishwas Bill were among the legislation introduced in the first half that concluded on February 11.

The Budget Session is scheduled to conclude on April 3.

SC on Article 370 cases

quota

New Delhi (NVI): The Supreme Court today refused to refer the issue of scrapping Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir to a larger bench.

A five-judge constitution bench headed by Justice NV Ramana will continue to hear the batch of petitions of Article 370.

Referring to the two earlier judgments – Prem Nath Kaul versus J&K in 1959 and Sampat Prakash versus J&K in 1970- the apex court said that they were not related to each other and dealt with different issues and hence no larger bench is required.

The Central Government scrapped Article 370 in August last year, ending special provisions accorded to Jammu and Kashmir and bifurcating it into the Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh.

At least 23 petitions have been filed in the Supreme Court challenging the central government’s decision.

 

Coronavirus: Global death toll exceeds 3,000

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New Delhi (NVI): China has reported 42 more deaths due to coronavirus, even as there is a reduction in the pace at which people were dying there before. The global death toll has exceeded 3,000 mark, reports in foreign media said.

Iran has announced 11 more deaths from coronavirus, bringing its death toll to 54 – the most outside China.

The number of people infected in Italy – the centre of the outbreak in Europe – jumped to 1,694, while the number in France increased to 130, according to media reports.

Meanwhile, South Korea has reported 476 new cases, bringing the total number of cases to 4,212. There have been a total of 26 deaths.

Countries including Qatar, Ecuador, Luxembourg and Ireland all confirmed their first cases over the weekend, and Indonesia followed on Monday.

The number of people killed worldwide by the coronavirus has exceeded 3,000, as China reported 42 more deaths.

More than 90 per cent of the total deaths are in Hubei, the Chinese province where the virus emerged late last year.

Worldwide, there have been almost 90,000 confirmed cases, with the numbers outside China growing faster than inside China.

Meanwhile, a charter flight from WHO’s Eastern Mediterranean Regional Office’s logistics hub in Dubai is headed to Tehran, carrying 7.5 metric tons of medical supplies and protective equipment to support over 15,000 health care workers.

WHO EMRO tweeted: “A charter flight from @WHOEMRO ’s logistics hub in Dubai is headed to #Tehran, IR Iran carrying 7.5 metric tons of medical supplies & protective equipment to support over 15,000 health care workers, as well as 1,000 #COVID19 screening tests, enough to screen nearly 100,000 people.”

Delhi violence: Death toll mounts to 46

New Delhi (NVI): The death toll in northeast Delhi violence rose to 46 today after four more bodies were bought to Ram Manohar Lohina hospital last evening.

38 have been reported dead at the Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital, three at Lok Nayak Hospital, four at Dr Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital and one at Jag Parvesh Chander Hospital.

On Sunday, four bodies were fished out from the drains in Gokalpuri and Shiv Vihar areas of the violence-affected northeast Delhi.

In another news, false rumors of violence created panic among residents in West Delhi last evening. DMRC shut seven metro stations after the rumors spread, as a security measure. However, all seven stations were reopened within an hour.

Police said that no violent incidents had taken place, all are requested to keep calm.

Meanwhile, Delhi Police has said it has registered 254 FIRs in northeast Delhi violence so far.

Violent clashes broke out in the northeast district on February 23 evening that continued for 3 days before the rampaging mobs could be controlled.

The violence was triggered by protests over the amended citizenship law (CAA).

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