Bigg Boss Winner Pallavi Prashanth Arrested For "Disturbing Peace"

Bigg Boss Telugu season-7 winner Pallavi Prashanth has been arrested by the police from Telangana's Hyderabad for allegedly disturbing peace near the Annapurna Studios after the announcement of his victory on Monday night, said the police on Wednesday.

According to the police, after the announcement of Prashanth as the winner, his fans thronged near the studio and vandalised the car of the reality show's runner-up, Amardeep Chowdhary.

"A case has been registered against Prashanth and his followers for unlawful assembly and vandalism," said Chandra Shekhar, Sub-Inspector, Jubihills Police Station.

Meanwhile, the Police have taken the accused to the Jubihills Police Station for further investigation.

More details are awaited.

On December 17, the Bigg Boss Telugu Season 7 concluded and Prashanth was declared the winner of the popular reality show.

However, the post-finale celebrations took an unexpected turn as Prashanth's fans thronged the studio and vandalised runner-up Amardeep Chowdhary's car, said the police.

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Pak Couple In Italy Kills Daughter For Rejecting Arranged Marriage, Jailed

A Pakistani couple was sentenced to life in prison by an Italian court on Tuesday for the 2021 murder of their daughter after she refused an arranged marriage.

Saman Abbas, 18, was living in Novellara near Bologna when she disappeared in May 2021, having rejected the previous year her family's demand that she marry a cousin in Pakistan.

A tribunal in Reggio Emilia in central Italy ruled that the parents ordered the murder, and that an uncle had strangled his niece.

The uncle was sentenced to 14 years after accepting a plea bargain, while two cousins were acquitted in an affair which shocked the country.

Abbas had denounced her parents to the police and social workers placed her in a shelter in November 2020.

But she visited her family in April 2021, planning to pick up her passport and start a new life with her boyfriend, whom her family disapproved of.

She disappeared soon after, and police, alerted by the boyfriend, raided the family home in May but the parents had already left for Pakistan.

The young woman was probably killed the night of April 30 to May 1, according to surveillance camera footage showing five people leaving the family home with shovels, crowbars and buckets, before returning two and a half hours later.

A year later Abbas's body was found in an abandoned farmhouse with a broken neck.

Her brother told police that he had overheard his father talking about the murder and that it was the uncle who had killed his sister.

The father, Shabbar Abbas, was arrested in Pakistan and extradited to Italy in August 2023.

The uncle, Danish Hasnain, was turned over by French authorities while the cousins were arrested in Spain.

The four men were present at the trial, but the mother, Nazia Shaheen, is still a fugitive.

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US' Colorado Court Disqualifies Trump From 2024 Presidential Primary Ballot

The Colorado Supreme Court on Tuesday disqualified former President Donald Trump from the ballot in the state's presidential election next year over his role in the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol by his supporters.

The ruling makes Trump the first presidential candidate in U.S. history to be deemed ineligible for the White House under a rarely used provision of the U.S. Constitution that bars officials who have engaged in "insurrection or rebellion" from holding office.

The court concluded that the U.S. Constitution bars the frontrunner for the Republican nomination in 2024 from appearing on the ballot because of his role instigating violence against the U.S. government.

The ruling applies only to the state's March 5 Republican primary, but its conclusion would likely also affect Trump's status for the Nov. 5 general election. Nonpartisan U.S. election forecasters view Colorado as safely Democratic, meaning that President Joe Biden will likely carry the state regardless of Trump's fate.

The case was brought by a group of Colorado voters, aided by the group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, who argued that Trump should be disqualified for inciting his supporters to attack the Capitol in a failed attempt to obstruct the transfer of presidential power to Biden after the 2020 election.

Trump's campaign called the court decision "flawed" and "undemocratic," and said it would be appealed.

"The Colorado Supreme Court issued a completely flawed decision tonight and we will swiftly file an appeal to the United States Supreme Court and a concurrent request for a stay of this deeply undemocratic decision," a spokesperson from the Trump campaign said.

Trump's campaign has condemned 14th Amendment challenges as an attempt to deny millions of voters their preferred choice for president.

The decision is a victory for advocacy groups and anti-Trump voters who have mounted several similar legal challenges to Trump's candidacy under section 3 of the 14th Amendment, which was enacted after the Civil War.

The decision reverses a ruling by a lower court judge who found Trump engaged in insurrection by inciting his supporters to violence, but, as president, Trump was not an "officer of the United States" who could be disqualified under the amendment.

A lawyer for Trump argued that the riot at the Capitol was not serious enough to qualify as an insurrection and that Trump's remarks to his supporters in Washington that day were protected by his right to free speech. The lawyer contended that courts do not have the authority to order Trump removed from the ballot.

Advocates have hoped to use the case to boost a wider disqualification effort and potentially put the issue before the U.S. Supreme Court.

The U.S. Supreme Court's 6-3 conservative majority includes three Trump appointees.

The Colorado court said the ruling is stayed until Jan. 4, 2024, to allow for appeals.

"The court's decision today affirms what our clients alleged in this lawsuit: that Donald Trump is an insurrectionist who disqualified himself from office under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment based on his role in the January 6th attack on the Capitol, and that Secretary Griswold must keep him off of Colorado's primary ballot. It is not only historic and justified, but is necessary to protect the future of democracy in our country," said CREW President Noah Bookbinder.

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War With Hamas Rages On, Haryana Looks To Send 10,000 Labourers To Israel

Struggling with a high unemployment rate, the Haryana government has released an advertisement recruiting 10,000 construction workers who will be sent to Israel, a country that has been locked in a war with Hamas for over two months and faces an acute shortage of labourers. 

The advertisement has been criticised both by some workers and the opposition, who have slammed the state for considering sending Indians to a "warzone". It was posted just a day after the Ministry of External Affairs informed Parliament that no discussions have been held with Israel regarding a possible replacement of Palestinian construction workers with Indians.

The Haryana government has, however, defended the move, saying that the aim was to ensure that travel agents cannot fleece people by offering them jobs in other countries and that there is no compulsion for labourers to go to Israel if they are not comfortable doing so.

According to the health ministry in Gaza, at least 19,600 people - most of them women and children - have been killed in Israeli attacks on the strip of land since October 7, when Hamas launched a multi-pronged attack on the Jewish country, killing around 1,200 civilians. Around 240 people had also been taken hostage.

Employment Dilemma

The advertisement, which appeared in some newspapers on December 15, was issued by the Haryana Kaushal Rojgar Nigam, a state public sector company. It comes at a time when Haryana has the highest unemployment rate in the country, according to data from the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE), and Israel is facing a massive shortage of construction workers because of the cancellation of work permits of around 90,000 Palestinians.

The unemployment rate in Haryana was 2.9 per cent in 2013-14 (when the Congress was in power), which increased to 9 per cent in 2021-22.  As of July 31, 2023, 5.44 lakh unemployed youth have been registered with employment exchanges in the state

Data from the CMIE, released in January this year, showed that, at 37.4 per cent Haryana had the highest unemployment rate in India, compared to the national unemployment rate of 8.3 per cent. Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar of the BJP has dismissed the CMIE data and pointed to recruitments in the Staff Selection Commission and Haryana Public Service Commission, among others, to buttress his claims of providing employment. 

The Punjab and Haryana High Court order last month, which struck down a 2020 law providing 75% reservation in private jobs to residents of Haryana, has also opened up the Khattar government to criticism over youth not getting employment.

'Give Us Jobs Here'

A worker from Kurukshetra said the government should give them jobs in India. "Israel is involved in a war, why is the government sending us there? The government keeps saying that our country is becoming wealthy," said Chandan, a construction worker. 

The opposition has also trained its guns on the BJP-led government in Haryana.  "Everyone knows Israel is a warzone. The state government should give our youth jobs in Haryana itself," said Congress MLA Neeraj Sharma. 

Government's Take

The Haryana government has pointed out that its aim was to prevent cheating and people don't have to go to Israel if they don't want to. 

"This is a unique initiative by the government, which will ensure that travel agents can't fleece people. We receive complaints about that every day. There is no compulsion to go to Israel, it's only for people who want to go," said Haryana Education Minister Kanwar Pal Gujjar. 

In response to a query by Congress MP KC Venugopal, Minister of State for External Affairs V Muraleedharan had told the Rajya Sabha on December 14 that the Centre has not held any discussions with Israel regarding a possible replacement of Palestinian labourers with Indian workers.

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"Women Not Given Enough Time To Speak In Parliament": BJP MP

(Video Credit: Sansad TV)

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86 Dead, 96 Injured As 5.9 Magnitude Earthquake Hits China: Report

At least 86 people were killed in an overnight earthquake in China's northwest Gansu province, state media reported on Tuesday.

Another 96 were injured in the province after the strong, shallow earthquake struck, state news agency Xinhua said, citing the provincial earthquake relief headquarters.

According to Xinhua, nine people were also killed and 124 injured in the city of Haidong in the neighbouring province of Qinghai.

The quake caused significant damage, including collapsed houses, and sent people running into the street for safety, the agency said. Rescue work was under way early Tuesday.

The quake, which was logged as magnitude 5.9 by the US Geological Survey, struck in Gansu province near the border with Qinghai province, where Haidong is located.

Xinhua reported the quake as magnitude 6.2.

Power and water supplies were disrupted in some local villages, Xinhua said.

Fallen ceilings and other debris could be seen in videos posted on social media.

The earthquake struck at a depth of 10 kilometers (six miles) at 11:59 pm local time Monday (1559 GMT), according to the USGS, which revised the magnitude downward after initially reporting 6.0.

Officials launched an emergency response and dispatched rescue personnel to the area just after the quake, and provincial leaders were also en route, Xinhua reported.

According to USGS, the quake occurred some 100 kilometers (60 miles) southwest of Gansu province's capital, Lanzhou, and was followed by several smaller aftershocks.

Earthquakes are not uncommon in China. In August, a shallow 5.4-magnitude earthquake struck eastern China, injuring 23 people and collapsing dozens of buildings.

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Mahua Moitra Moves Court Against Move To Oust Her From Official Residence

Trinamool Congress leader Mahua Moitra, who was recently expelled from the Lok Sabha, approached the Delhi High Court on Monday challenging cancellation of her government accommodation and asking her to vacate the house by January 7, 2024.

The petition, which is likely to be listed for hearing on Tuesday, urged that the Directorate of Estates' December 11 order be set aside or, in the alternative, Moitra be allowed to retain possession of the accommodation till the results of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections are declared.

Moitra was held guilty of "unethical conduct" and expelled from the Lok Sabha on December 8, 2023 for allegedly accepting gifts from businessman Darshan Hiranandani and sharing her user ID and password of the Parliament website with him.

She has already challenged her expulsion in the Supreme Court after the Lok Sabha adopted the report of its ethics committee recommending her ouster. The case is listed for hearing on January 3, 2024.

In her plea before the high court, she said the Directorate of Estates' order has been issued following her expulsion from the Lok Sabha.

"The impugned order is premature as the validity of the petitioner's expulsion is pending adjudication before the Supreme Court of India," Moitra's petition said.

"In such circumstances - where whether the petitioner is an 'unauthorised occupant' at all is under adjudication before the highest constitutional court of the land - the respondent no. 1 (Directorate of Estates), as an executing authority, cannot initiate proceedings under the Public Premises (Eviction of Unauthorised Occupants) Act 1971 for evicting the petitioner.

"It is only once the petitioner's claim over rightfully occupying the government accommodation is duly adjudicated, does the question of the estate office's/ respondent no. 1's jurisdiction arises," the plea said.

Moitra said she was elected to the Lok Sabha for the first time from Krishnanagar constituency in West Bengal in the 2019 general elections and her party has chosen her as its candidate from there for the 2024 LS polls as well.

Since the expulsion from the Lok Sabha does not disqualify her from contesting elections, she will be running again and will need to focus her time and energies on her constituents, it said.

"Instability in accommodation, however, would pose a significant impediment to the petitioner's ability to host and engage with party members, parliamentarians, fellow politicians, visiting constituents, key stakeholders and other dignitaries, which is essential, especially in the lead up to a general election," the plea said.

She said she is living alone in Delhi and has no other place of residence or alternative accommodation here and, if evicted from her government accommodation, she will have to fulfil the duties of campaigning while also trying to find a new residence.

"This will place an onerous burden on the petitioner. Thus, in the alternative, the petitioner prays that she be allowed to continue residing in her current house till the results of the 2024 General Elections. In the event that the petitioner is so allowed, she will readily undertake to pay any charges that may be applicable for the extended period of stay," the petition said.

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