Top stories on 14th September in a capsule
Amarnath Yatri mastermind and Lashkar commander Abu Ismail killed
Lashkar Commander Abu Ismail who is suspected to have planned the attack on Amarnath Yatris killing 8 of them in July 2017 was gunned down by security forces on Thursday in a covert operation in Nowgam district of Srinagar, J&K, media reports said. The operation to eliminate Ismail began around 4:15pm and lasted for only three minutes in which the forces managed to eliminate another terrorist as well, both of whom were holed up inside a house, the police officials involved in the attack added. Ismail's death is a huge success for the security officials and is the seventh Lashkar commander to be eliminated this year. Ismail has reportedly been involved in a number of attacks on police forces and had entered the valley after Burhan Wani's death.
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India, Japan 'Zero-tolerance' for Pak based terror groups Al-Qaida, JeM, LeT
Post the inauguration ceremony of India's 1st bullet train project, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Japanese PM Shinzo Abe promised to strengthen their cooperation against groups like Al-Qaida, ISIS and Pakistan-based JeM, LeT and affiliates on Thursday. Japan has provided a loan of Rs. 88,000 crore with an interest of 0.1% for the project which is expected to be completed by 2022. The leaders have also signed a MoU on international academic and sports exchange between Sports Authority of India and Nippon Sports Science University. Furthermore, Modi also urged the Japanese business community to ‘open maximum number of Japanese restaurant chains in India’.
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The cost of India's 1st bullet train and the fare
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Japanese Counterpart Shinzo Abe on Thursday marked the foundation of the bullet train in India. The total cost for executing this ambitious project is 1,10,000 crores ($17 billion). The passenger capacity of the bullet train is 750 and the price for a seat would be equal to the fare of the Rajdhani Express AC-2 tier seat, which is approximately 3000-3500 rupees. India has taken a loan of rupees 88,000 crores (81% of the total product cost) from Japan with an interest rate of 0.1% i.e. merely 88 crores. The loan is for the duration for 50 years with a grace period of 15 years.______________________
Shiv Sena, Congress criticise bullet train ahead of launch
Hours after the high profile bullet train project inauguration, the Congress has termed the Ahmedabad-Mumbai high-speed metro as an "election bullet train" and PM Modi’s campaign strategy before the upcoming Gujarat Assembly polls. Th party also accused the government of "completely abdicating its responsibility" from the safety concerns of the passengers travelling by Indian railways, while focusing on one project. The project launched on Thursday was also criticized by the NDA ally Shiv Sena in an editorial column in their mouthpiece 'Saamana'. The editorial said that, “At least Rs. 30,000 crore would have to be shelled out by the Maharashtra government. "We are getting a bullet train without asking for it. We do not know exactly which problem will the bullet train solve,” the editorial added.______________________
Ryan school murder case: Bombay HC rejects Pintos’ bail plea, SIT detains school gardener
The Bombay HC rejected the petition for an anticipatory bail for Augustine Francis Pinto, his wife and son. The HC has asked them to submit their passports to the court by 9 pm. Gurgaon Police’s Special Investigation Team (SIT) detained the school gardener, Harpal Singh, noting he is a key witness in the school boy murder case.. Reportedly, Ashok was masturbating when the Pradhyuman walked in and used the knife to slit his throat. Last moments of the child captured on CCTV camera suggests that he crawled out of the bathroom, but since the knife blow severed his wind pipe, he could not scream.______________________
Rohingya Muslims: India starts ‘Operation Insaniyat’ for relief
India begins the ‘Operation Insaniyat’ on Thursday, to fly down with food and relief for Rohingya Muslim refugees in Bangladesh amidst the Myanmar Army and the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army(ARSA) conflict. The first consignment was flown to Chittagong by an Indian Air Force plane later on Thursday evening. However, the Centre, in an affidavit, told Supreme Court that Rohingya Muslims are a threat to national security and that they cannot stay in India. According to the UN, around 40,000 Rohingya Muslims have settled in India, and nearly 16,000 of them have received refugee documentation.______________________
Priyanka calls Sikkim a ‘troubled with insurgency’ state, apologizes later
Priyanka Chopra faced heavy backlash from social media users after she referred to Sikkim as a state "troubled with insurgency" in her recent interview to ET Canada, at the Toronto International Film Festival. In the interview, while promoting her North Eastern film production Pahuna: The Little Visitorsat, she claimed “Sikkim is a small state in the North East of India which never had a film industry or anyone who made films from there.” Madhu Chopra, her mom also has apologized to the Sikkim government. The actress however apologized to the Sikkim government, for her comments.______________________
