Yellow alert declared in 5 districts of Kerala
A month after Kerala was hit by heavy rainfall and floods that caused havoc in the state the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) on Sunday has announced that heavy rains are predicted in five districts of the state on September 25 and 26. The office of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan took to Twitter on Monday said, “Yellow alert has been issued for Pathanamthitta, Idukki and Wayanad districts for September 25. In addition, a yellow alert has been issued for Palakkad, Idukki, Thrissur and Wayanad districts for September 26.” Additionally, the Kerala CMO has also instructed the State Disaster Management Authority and district authorities to be on alert and take necessary precautions. Kerala had seen heavy rains, flood and landslides during the monsoon since the beginning of June, till the last week of August, disrupting normal life in at least 12 out of 14 districts and killing 488 people in its wake.
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Two ailing ministers dropped from Manohar Parrikar cabinet in Goa
Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar, on Monday, dropped two ailing ministers, Francis D'Souza and Pandurang Madkaikar from his cabinet. The development comes at a time when Chief Minister Parrikar is undergoing treatment for a pancreatic ailment at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in New Delhi. D'Souza is currently admitted at a hospital in the USA, while Madkaikar, who had suffered a brain stroke in June, is undergoing treatment at a hospital in Mumbai. The two would be replaced by BJP lawmakers Nilesh Cabral and Milind Naik who will be sworn-in later this evening. Nilesh Cabral is a BJP lawmaker from South Goa district’s Curchorem seat while Milind Naik represents the district’s Mormugao seat. Naik was the power minister in the previous Laxmikant Parsekar-led cabinet.
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Sterling Biotech Nitin Sandesara flees to Nigeria without paying Rs 5,000 crore to banks
Owner of Gujarat-based Sterling Biotech Nitin Sandesara, the prime accused behind Rs 5000-crore bank fraud and money laundering case, who had reportedly been arrested in Dubai last month, is no longer in the UAE. Top sources in the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and Enforcement Directorate (ED) told The Times of India that Sandesara and his family members, including brother Chetan Sandesara and sister-in-law Diptiben Sandesara, are believed to be hiding in Nigeria. This makes it difficult to bring him back to India as the government has not signed an extradition treaty or a Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty with Nigeria. The ED had registered a money laundering case against Sterling Biotech and its promoters, the Sandesara brothers, last October, taking cognizance of a CBI FIR on charges of alleged corruption. The family has been absconding ever since.
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Highways blocked in Himachal due to rainfall, cloudburst
At least eight people were killed in Himachal Pradesh as heavy rainfall disrupted normal life in parts of North India. Hundreds, including school students, remained stranded across the state after incessant rainfall for the third consecutive day, triggering landslides and snapping over 200 road links, officials said. Army has been called at several places in Himachal, Jammu and Kashmir and Manali to rescue stranded people. Authorities opened the gates of four dams including Larji, Pandoh and Sanan in Mandi and Chamera in Chamba which worsened the situation downstream. Punjab government has asked all schools to stay shut tomorrow.
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Maldives election: the will of the people has spoken, says Ibrahim Mohamed Solih
President of the Maldives, Abdullah Yameen, on Monday, accepted defeat in elections, after declaring victory for opposition presidential candidate Ibrahim Mohamed Solih over incumbent Abdulla Yameen, who had developed close ties with China during his five years in power. The Maldives Foreign Ministry said Monday that Maldivian Democratic Party candidate Solih had won the majority of votes based on a provisional count, but that official results would be confirmed within one week. Many opposition politicians in the Maldives have been jailed under Mr. Yameen, and the US and European Union had threatened sanctions before the vote if the democratic situation did not improve. Supporters of Mr. Solih took to the streets in celebration overnight.
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