News Highlights: IMA sends legal notice to Ramdev over his alleged statements against allopathy

Farmer leader Balbir Singh Rajewal on Saturday blamed the Union government for not resuming talks, claiming that farmers never denied having a dialogue over the central farm laws. (PTI)

. Two people were killed and several wounded in a shooting in the US city of Minneapolis late Friday, police said.

Local law enforcement said one man was left in a critical condition following the attack in the downtown area of the city, which was where George Floyd was murdered by a police officer in May 2020. (AFP)

. Egyptian mediators held talksto firm up an Israel-Hamas cease-fire as Palestinians in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip began to assess the damage from 11 days of intense Israeli bombardment. A 130-truck convoy carrying urgently needed aid was headed to Gaza. (AP)

. An Egyptian diplomat says two teams of Egyptian mediators are in Israel and the Palestinian territories to continue talks on firming up a cease-fire deal - and securing a long-term calm.

The diplomat said Saturday discussions include implementing agreed-on measures in Gaza and Jerusalem, including ways to prevent practices that led to the latest fighting. (AP)

. Cyclone Yaas is likely to intensify into a “very severe cyclonic storm” and cross the Odisha and the West Bengal coasts on May 26, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said on Saturday.

A low pressure area formed over the east-central Bay of Bengal and the adjoining north Andaman Sea on Saturday.

While a low pressure area is the first stage of formation of a cyclone, it is not necessary that all low pressure areas will intensify into cyclonic storms. ( PTI )

. One person was killed and four were injured in a stabbing late Friday night in Amsterdam and police said they arrested a suspect nearby.

In a statement early Saturday, police said the team investigating the attacks is “keeping all options open, but at the moment has no direct indication of a terrorist motive.” ( AP )

. Two Uttar Pradesh Police constables and a homeguard have been charged with murder of a 17-year-old boy who died here after being beaten up for "violating" the ongoing Covid-19 curfew in the state, officials said on Saturday.

They have been booked under Indian Penal Code section 302 (murder), they said.

Constables Vijay Chodhury and Simavat have been suspended and homeguard Satyaprakash has been sacked, police said. ( PTI )

. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh will chair a meeting with Group of Ministers (GOM) and all State Education Ministers on upcoming Board Examinations tomorrow. ( ANI )

. A remote-controlled Chinese motorised rover drove down the ramp of a landing capsule on Saturday and onto the surface of the Red Planet, making China the first nation to orbit, land and deploy a land vehicle on its inaugural mission to Mars.

Zhurong, named after a mythical Chinese god of fire, drove down to the surface of Mars at 10:40 a.m. Beijing time (0240 GMT), according to a post on the rover's official Chinese social media account. ( Reuters )

. World soccer was put on notice by FIFA president Gianni Infantino on Friday to imagine — and maybe expect — big changes to its international competitions in the coming years.

FIFA agreed to study whether the men's and women's World Cups could be played every two years instead of four, with Infantino asking out loud if they could alternate with continental championships to fill the calendar with annual national-team tournaments. ( AP )

. Canada has extended the ban on direct flights from India and Pakistan by one more month until June 21 in a bid to arrest the spread of new variants of the Covid-19, according to an official announcement.

The ban on flights from India and Pakistan was extended as the previous 30-day ban, first imposed on April 22, was set to expire on Saturday, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) News reported.

Cargo flights, however, will be permitted in order to maintain shipments of essential supplies, such as vaccines and personal protective equipment, it said on Friday.

. Police have arrested a man for allegedly cheating a trader and seized from him stolen sugar worth Rs. 6.59 lakh from Mira Road in Thane district of Maharashtra, an official said on Saturday. The accused, Mohammad Saeed Sayyed, was arrested on Friday by Mira Bhayandar-Vasai Virar police following a complaint lodged by the trader. ( PTI )

. Ladakh was hit by an earthquake of magnitude 3.6 on the Richter scale at 8.27 am today: National Center for Seismology (NCS)

. Three were arrested in the Ranhola area near Delhi for their alleged involvement in illegal cattle slaughtering. Police recovered one vehicle, and knives from the accused. Further raids are underway, ANI reported.

. At least 3 people were killed and 27 others injured after a series of earthquakes jolted Yangbi Yi Autonomous County in China's Yunnan Province on Friday, local authorities said.

The quake was felt in all 12 counties and cities of the Dali Bai Autonomous Prefecture, with Yangbi being the worst hit, Yang Guozong, the ruling Communist Party of China (CPC) chief of the prefecture, said. ( PTI )

. The Duke of Cambridge Prince William has blamed BBC failings over its interview with Princess Diana, his mother, for making her paranoia worse and introducing more problems in his parents' relationship. After an inquiry found the BBC fell below its standards, Prince William said he was "most saddened" Diana never learned she had been deceived, the BBC reported.

. An FBI employee has been indicted on charges that she stored classified documents and other national security information at home over the course of more than a decade, the Justice Department said Friday.

Kendra Kingsbury, 48, is accused of having unauthorized possession of a broad swath of sensitive government documents, including materials that describe sources, methods and operations and that contain information about operatives such as a suspected associate of Osama bin Laden.

. US President Joe Biden has said that there is no shift in the commitment of his administration towards the security of Israel but insisted a two-state solution that includes a state for Palestinians remains the only answer to that conflict.

Biden’s comment comes a day a ceasefire was announced between Israel and Hamas negotiated by Egypt following a 11-day war that caused a lot of casualties and infrastructure damage in Gaza.

. President Joe Biden on Friday said he and South Korean President Moon Jae-in remain “deeply concerned” about situation with North Korea, and announced he will deploy a new special envoy to the region to help refocus efforts on pressing Pyongyang to abandon its nuclear weapons programme.

. In 2003, I was detailed to attend a course at Lucknow. Called the Medical Officers Junior Command Course, it was a refresher course for doctors of the Armed Forces. I remember, there were a few classes on the geopolitics of the region and, in particular, the unreliable behaviour of our western neighbour.

. A series of strong earthquakes rattled northwest and southwest China, leaving at least two people dead, local officials and seismologists said early Saturday.

. Personal data of around 45 lakh passengers were hacked in a major cyberattack on Air India's data processor of passenger service system, handled by technology provider SITA.

News Highlights: IMA sends legal notice to Ramdev over his alleged statements against allopathy

Toolkit case: Chandigarh BJP protests for second day against FIR (PTI)

IMA sends legal notice to Ramdev over his alleged statements against allopathy (ANI)

Kolkata port taking preparatory measures for cyclone Yaas (PTI)

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