Feb 9 News Live: Bomb scare at over 10 Delhi schools; search ops underway

Bomb scare at over 10 Delhi schools; search ops underway

At least 10 schools in the national capital received bomb threat emails on Monday, triggering massive security movement, the Delhi Fire Services (DFS) said.

According to the DFS, emergency calls were received from multiple educational institutions across different parts of the city in the morning hours, following which fire tenders and bomb disposal teams were rushed to the locations.

"A total of 10 schools received bomb threats today. Fire service teams immediately reached the premises. Checking is underway," a DFS official said. The schools were evacuated as a precautionary measure.

Bomb detection and disposal squads, along with dog squads, are carrying out extensive searches. 

Tension grips Manipur's Ukhrul after militants set ablaze several houses

Armed militants allegedly torched several houses in Manipur's Ukhrul district, as tensions simmered in the area after a Tangkhul Naga community member was “assaulted” by a group of people, officials said on Monday. Two tribal groups had on Sunday evening engaged in intense stone pelting at Litan village in the district, prompting the administration to clamp prohibitory orders, they said.

Around midnight on Monday, several houses of Tangkhul Naga community members were set on fire at Litan Sareikhong, allegedly by Kuki militants. A few houses of those belonging to the Kuki community were also torched in a nearby area, the officials said.

Tangkhul is the largest Naga tribe in Manipur. Litan Sareikhong is a Kuki village. "The damages are being ascertained, and the situation remains tense," a district official told PTI.

Video footage doing the rounds show armed men setting fire to houses and vehicles in the village, and militants wearing camouflage firing with sophisticated weapons in the air.

France's former culture minister resigns over Epstein-linked tax fraud probe

France's former Culture Minister Jack Lang has resigned as head of a Paris cultural centre over alleged past financial links to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein that prompted a tax investigation.

He is the highest-profile figure in France impacted by the release of Epstein files on January 30 by the US Department of Justice. He is known for his role as a culture minister under Socialist President François Mitterrand in the 1980s and 1990s.

Lang, 86, was summoned to appear at the French Foreign Ministry, which oversees the Arab World Institute, on Sunday, but he submitted his resignation. The Foreign Ministry confirmed his resignation Saturday evening.

He “is very sad and deeply hurt to be leaving a position he loves,” his lawyer Laurent Merlet said Sunday on RTL radio. “He put the interests of the Arab World Institute first,” Merlet said, adding that his client denied the allegations and called them inaccurate.

UP businessman's son ploughs speeding Lamborghini into people in Kanpur; six injured

At least six people were injured on Sunday after a speeding Lamborghini, allegedly driven by the son of a prominent tobacco trader, rammed into pedestrians and two-wheelers on the VIP Road in Kanpur's upscale Gwaltoli area, police said.

"The accident occurred around 3.15 pm near Rev-3 Mall when the luxury car, reportedly driven by Shivam Mishra, the son of businessman K K Mishra, went out of control and ploughed into people standing along the roadside and several vehicles, triggering panic in the area," DCP (Central) Atul Kumar Srivastava said.

Eyewitnesses said the car first hit an auto-rickshaw and then crashed into a parked Royal Enfield motorcycle, flinging its rider nearly 10 feet into the air. The car mounted the motorcycle's front wheel and dragged it for some distance before hitting an electric pole and coming to a halt.

One of the injured, Taufiq, a resident of Yamunaganj, was thrown several metres and suffered serious leg injuries, police said. Others sustained fractures and bruises.

Angry locals gathered at the spot and surrounded the car, forcing the driver to remain inside. Witnesses alleged that private bouncers accompanying the accused tried to push back the crowd and behaved aggressively, escalating tensions.

Suspect in shooting of senior Russian general detained

Russian authorities said Sunday that the man suspected of shooting a deputy chief of Russia's military intelligence agency in Moscow was detained in Dubai and handed over to Russia, and they alleged he was working on behalf of Ukraine.

Lt. Gen. Vladimir Alekseyev was hospitalised after being shot several times Friday by an assailant at an apartment building in northwestern Moscow, Investigative Committee spokesperson Svetlana Petrenko said. The attack followed a series of assassinations of senior military officers that Russia has blamed on Ukraine.

The Federal Security Service (FSB) said a Russian citizen, Lyubomir Korba, was detained in Dubai on suspicion of carrying out the shooting. In a statement on its website, FSB said it had also identified two “accomplices,” one of whom was detained in Moscow and another who “left for Ukraine.” Russia's Investigative Committee said Sunday on Telegram that Korba arrived in Moscow in December “on instructions from Ukrainian intelligence services to commit a terrorist attack.” Asked about the shooting, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Friday it would be up to law enforcement agencies to pursue the investigation but described it as an apparent “terrorist act” by Ukraine intended to derail peace talks.

Israel's security cabinet approves measures to strengthen control over West Bank

Israel's security cabinet on Sunday approved measures that aim to deepen Israeli control over the occupied West Bank and weaken the already limited powers of the Palestinian Authority.

The office of far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich in a statement announced the decisions that would make it easier for Jewish settlers to force Palestinians to give up land, adding that “we will continue to bury the idea of a Palestinian state.” Yonatan Mizrachi, a researcher with the Israeli anti-settlement watchdog group Peace Now, called the decision “very significant.” He said the decision still requires approval by Israel's top commander for the West Bank.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in a statement called the decision “dangerous” and an “open Israeli attempt to legalise settlement expansion” and land confiscation. He called for the United States and UN Security Council to intervene immediately.

Jordan's foreign ministry condemned the decision, which it said was “aimed at imposing illegal Israeli sovereignty” and entrenching settlements.

Storm Marta kills at least 4 in Morocco as country battles floods

Flash floods caused by a storm in northern Morocco killed at least four people as the country struggled with days of heavy rain and water releases from overfilled dams that forced mass evacuations, local authorities said Sunday.

Three children — a girl and two boys aged 2 to 14 — and a man in his 30s died in a car that was swept away in a village near Tétouan, about 270 km north of the capital Rabat, according to a statement from the Interior Ministry citing local authorities. Another person remains missing.

Local authorities said they will open an investigation into what happened. The flash floods were caused by a storm system known as Marta, which moved into Morocco over the weekend and dumped up to 92 mm of rain on some northern cities, Houssine Youabed of Morocco's General Directorate of Meteorology told The Associated Press. Storm Marta also reached neighbouring Spain and Portugal.

Days earlier, another storm, Leonardo, hit northern Africa and the Iberian peninsula. In Morocco, it overfilled dams and rivers, damaging homes and crops, triggering minor landslides and forcing more than 1,50,000 people to evacuate.

Truck carrying passengers crashes in northern Nigeria, killing at least 30 people

A truck carrying passengers crashed in northern Nigeria because of reckless driving, killing at least 30 people and injuring several others, authorities said Sunday.

The trailer was driving along a highway in Kwanar Barde town in Kano's Gezawa local government area when it lost control, according to a statement from the Kano governor's office.

Road accidents are frequent in Africa's most populous country, in part due to poor road conditions and lax enforcement of traffic laws. The truck involved in the latest accident was carrying some passengers and goods towards Gujungu town in Kano when it crashed early Sunday morning.

Those injured, many of them with serious injuries, are receiving medical care in different hospitals, according to the statement issued by Sunusi Bature Dawakin Tofa, spokesman for Kano Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf. “The governor described the incident as heartbreaking and a great loss not only to the affected families but to the entire people of Kano state,” the statement added.