Today’s Top News Headlines and Latest News at 10:30 am on 2 May 2023

Top national news: Banks and payment operators have reported online payment frauds of Rs 1,750 crore in the seven months ended March 2023 even as online transactions picked up substantially in the last several months. According to data from the Reserve Bank of India, the fourth quarter ended March 2023 witnessed payment frauds of over Rs 800 crore under the new format of fraud reporting. While the month of March saw 2.25 lakh transactions involving Rs 333 crore payment frauds, comparable data for the same period in the previous year is not available. However, when compared to the volume of transactions involving Internet and mobile apps, the fraud amount is not very significant but shows the system's vulnerability.

Meanwhile, saying that it was “unbelievable” that “a few names of some community” came up during the investigation into the Poonch terror attack that killed five soldiers, the Army has, in a statement, asked people to keep away from “such type of incidents and activities in the future”, and to “inform and assist the Army” in case they notice any suspicious movement. The statement came a day after the Director General of Jammu and Kashmir Police, Dilbagh Singh, announced that six residents, who had allegedly provided food, shelter and transportation to those involved in the terror attack, had been apprehended.

The Punjab Police Monday formed a five-member Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe into the reasons and fix accountability for the leakage of toxic gas in Ludhiana’s Giaspura locality Sunday after inhaling which 11 people died. The police also warned the officials at the Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB) that if they don’t cooperate and help them in reaching the culprit, they will be booked in the FIR registered in the case. Tragedy struck the thickly populated Giaspura Sunday morning when 11 people, including five from one family and three from another, died allegedly after inhaling toxic gas, suspected to be Hydrogen Sulphide. The area, dotted with industries and residences, is largely inhabited by migrants from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.

In IPL 2023 news: Gujarat Titans maintained their 100 per cent record of winning all away matches in IPL 2023, catapulting themselves back to the top of the points table after beating Kolkata Knight Riders at the Eden Gardens on Saturday evening. KKR, who have won only one game this season at home, was sent into bat after a 45-minute delayed start due to rain and a wet outfield. Young Afghanistan wicketkeeper-batter Rahmanullah Gurbaz set the stadium alight with a brilliant knock of 81 off 39 balls, but the lack of support from the other end meant the home team would end up with 179/7. GT romped home with seven wickets in hand and 13 balls to spare.

In other news: Chief Minister Pramod Sawant on Monday said that maximum crimes in Goa are committed by migrant labourers, and appealed to contractors and employers to obtain a “labour card” before engaging them for work in the state. At a Labour Day programme organised at Shram Shakti Bhavan in Panjim, Sawant said, “Every migrant labourer working in Goa should possess a labour card. We promised this in the budget… about providing labour cards. After committing a crime here, migrant labourers return to their state and it becomes difficult to catch them. If we see the ratio… maximum… 90% of the crimes in Goa are done by migrant labourers. Be it from Bihar, Uttar Pradesh or from other areas."

Moving on to top international news: The White House estimated on Monday that Russia’s military has suffered 100,000 casualties in the last five months in fighting against Ukraine in the Bakhmut region. White House national security spokesperson John Kirby told reporters the figure, based on U.S. intelligence estimates, included more than 20,000 dead, half of them from the Wagner group. The Bakhmut offensive has stalled and failed, he said.

In news from Sudan: As foreign states wind down their evacuations from Sudan, the United Nations warned of a humanitarian “breaking point” with no let up in fighting between rival military factions despite a supposed ceasefire extension. Hundreds of people have been killed and thousands wounded over 16 days of battles since long-simmering tension between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) erupted into conflict on April 15. There seems little prospect of a quick resolution to the crisis, which has unleashed a humanitarian disaster, damaged swathes of the capital Khartoum, risked drawing in regional powers and reignited a simmering conflict in the Darfur region.

Lastly, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said Sunday that Turkish intelligence forces killed Islamic State leader Abu Hussein al-Qurashi in Syria. “This individual was neutralised as part of an operation by the Turkish national intelligence organisation in Syria yesterday,” Erdogan said in an interview with TRT Turk broadcaster. Erdogan said the intelligence organisation had pursued Qurashi for a long time. Syrian local and security sources said the raid took place in the northern Syrian town of Jandaris, which is controlled by Turkey-backed rebel groups and was one of the worst affected in the Feb. 6 earthquake that hit both Turkey and Syria. The Syrian National Army, an opposition faction with a security presence in the area, did not immediately issue any comment.