Author: Indmedia

Nigel Farage has said the UK is a “complainants’ society”, as he faces ongoing questions about both his and his party’s funding.Speaking to the BBC ahead of the party’s annual conference this week, the Reform UK leader said a “whole ecosystem” didn’t want “new kids on the block succeeding”.It comes after a summer dominated by headlines about the party’s finances and £5m he received from a party supporter before the last election.Farage said he expects it “won’t be too long” before he is interviewed as part of the ongoing parliamentary investigation into whether he should have publicly declared the sum…

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Mumbai civic body is recycling discarded footwear from festival crowds MUMBAI: The massive crowds that throng Lalbaug-Parel during Ganesh idol arrival processions have left behind not just garbage but nearly four metric tonnes of footwear.BMC in a first has tied up with an NGO to refurbish the discarded shoes, sandals and slippers and distribute them among needy school children, including residents of tribal areas.The initiative has been undertaken by the BMC’s F-South ward as part of its efforts to manage the waste generated during the Ganesh festival.Officials said the collected footwear would be handed over to the Green Sole Foundation…

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Tamil Nadu chief minister C Joseph Vijay CHENNAI: The CB-CID cybercrime wing has registered a case after an AI-generated deepfake video of Tamil Nadu chief minister C Joseph Vijay appeared on Facebook and other social media platforms.The video showed a person resembling Vijay speaking in Hindi and asking people seeking financial assistance to contact a specific WhatsApp number. The social media centre of the state police alerted the CB-CID cybercrime wing about the video. Subsequently, a cybercrime wing police inspector attached to the CB-CID was assigned to check the video.Based on the report, the CB-CID registered a case on Wednesday.…

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Bhubaneswar: Against the backdrop of allegations of donation misappropriation at the Ram Temple in Ayodhya, the Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA), Puri, on Wednesday made public the deity’s bank balance, revealing deposits of around Rs 1,912 crore till now.In a written statement, the govt-run SJTA said the temple’s finances are managed with the highest standards of transparency, supported by systematic accounting practices and regular audits. SJTA’s chief administrator Arabinda Kumar Padhee asserted that robust mechanisms are in place to ensure accountability and public trust.According to the SJTA, the shrine generates revenue from multiple sources, including devotees’ donations and offerings, earnings…

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A 53-hour blockade ends with assurances and talks Silchar: Truck drivers in the Barak Valley called off their indefinite “steering-down” strike at around 11 pm on Tuesday, after 53 hours, following assurances from the Mizoram administration that it would address the alleged harassment of Assam drivers and restrictions on sand-laden trucks. The decision paved the way for the resumption of goods traffic along NH-306.The breakthrough came after a prolonged meeting at Dholai police station involving senior administrative officials from Assam and Mizoram, representatives of the relevant departments and leaders of truckers’ unions.Union representatives said the Mizoram administration had assured them…

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File photo of MLA Gopal Krishna Belur Shivamogga: Congress MLA Gopal Krishna Belur Tuesday issued a 15-day ultimatum to Sagar tahsildar R Pratibha to streamline taluk administration, warning that she could face transfer if operations did not improve.The confrontation unfolded during a review meeting in Sagar, where the MLA objected to the officer’s style of functioning. A video of Belur warning the tahsildar has since gone viral on social media and drawn criticism from various quarters.During the meeting, the legislator specifically took exception to Pratibha’s practice of videographing crackdown operations on her mobile phone and sharing the footage with mediapersons.…

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Pune: Swargate police on Monday detained two boys, aged 17, for allegedly possessing a country-made pistol and two bullets, collectively worth Rs40,000.The two boys, residents of Dias Plot, were found sitting with the weapon near Mutha Right Bank Canal, close to Swargate. A team comprising assistant inspector Swapnil Shelke and police constable Sagar Kekan detained them on a tip-off.Shelke said, “Alankar police had earlier detained one of the boys for possessing a sharp weapon. He used it to damage vehicles parked on a road. The other boy was earlier detained by Parvati police in an attempted-murder case.”Shelke said, “The two…

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Kaithal MLA Aditya Surjewala Chandigarh: Congress MLA Aditya Surjewala on Tuesday trained his guns on the BJP govt over the 26-day strike by sanitation and sewer workers and the proposed parallel power distribution licence for Gurgaon and Nuh, accusing the Nayab Singh Saini dispensation of reneging on its commitments and paving the way for “backdoor privatisation”.Raising the sanitation workers’ issue during Zero Hour, Surjewala said cities across Haryana had turned into “heaps of garbage” as workers continued their strike for the 26th day. He claimed govt had agreed in writing on May 13 to 17 demands of the workers, but…

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Retired Air Marshal Jeetendra Mishra was appointed the first CEO of the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust LUCKNOW: The Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust’s first chief executive officer (CEO), Retired Air Marshal Jeetendra Mishra, emerged after a nearly two-month selection process that began with 5,585 applications and involved multiple rounds of scrutiny, online interactions and face-to-face meetings in Ayodhya.The search committee, constituted on July 6, submitted its 75-page report to the Trust on September 1, along with a panel of three recommended candidates. The Trust subsequently selected Mishra for the post.Ram Mandir CEO selection: Key numbers at a…

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