Today’s Top News Headlines and Latest News at 8:30 pm on 1 March 2024

Beginning today's evening bulletin with the top national news: At least five people were injured after an explosion at Rameshwaram cafe in Bengaluru’s Whitefield area today. The injured, including one woman, were shifted to a nearby hospital. Speaking to The Indian Express, owner of The Rameshwaram Cafe, Brookfield, Divya Raghavendra Rao claimed "it is not a cylinder explosion." She said, quote, "We have given access of all our CCTV cameras to the police. The bomb squad is also in the restaurant to identify the cause. We are cooperating with the law enforcement agencies," Unquote. Karnataka Home Minister Dr G Parameshwara spoke to senior police authorities and took stock of the situation.

Next up: Kicking of BJP’s Lok Sabha campaign in West Bengal, Prime Minister Narendra Modi today took a swipe at the ruling Trinamool Congress over the recent Sandeshkhali protests saying he is "ashamed to see that the leaders of the opposition INDIA bloc are silent on the atrocities reported against women in the area." Addressing a rally in West Bengal’s Arambagh, Modi said, quote, "The entire country was reeling with anger after what the TMC has done to the sisters of the area. Sandeshkhali incidents are a matter of shame. For nearly 2 months, the prime accused was not arrested," Unquote. His remarks come a day after TMC leader and Sandeshkhali strongman Shahjahan Sheikh was arrested early on Thursday.

The India Meteorological Department has forecast a harsh summer, with above normal maximum temperatures likely to prevail during March to May period over the entire country. The Met office has forecast that the duration of heatwave conditions shall be longer than usual, contributing to the overall warm conditions during the summers this year. One of the primary drivers of the higher than normal temperatures is the prevailing El Nino conditions. El Nino is the warmer than normal sea surface temperatures recorded over the equatorial Pacific Ocean. It has been prevailing since last year and at present, the global models indicate that El Nino conditions shall prolong till May before it dips to El Nino Southern Oscillation neutral conditions.

In news from South: The BJP today took a dig at Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin by wishing him in Mandarin on his 71st birthday on X (formerly Twitter). This comes a couple of days after a newspaper advertisement to mark the launch of India’s second spaceport at Kulasekarapattinam in Tamil Nadu carried the image of a rocket with a Chinese flag. The advertisement was commissioned by TN Fisheries Minister Anitha Radhakrishnan to highlight the role of DMK leaders in bringing the project to the state. Following the BJP’s criticism, the DMK minister downplayed the entire incident and said it was a small mistake on the part of the designer.

The All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam has dared the BJP to field Union Minister of External Affairs S Jaishankar and Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman from Tamil Nadu for the Lok Sabha elections if the saffron party really thinks the two have grown in Tamil Nadu. On the sidelines of the birth anniversary of former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister the late J Jayalalithaa, AIADMK’s deputy general secretary K P Munusamy said at Krishnagiri on Thursday that BJP had been doing all groundwork for making former Tamil Nadu BJP president L Murugan to contest in the Lok Sabha polls but decided against it and made him their Rajya Sabha nominee from Madhya Pradesh because they knew they can’t win here.

Moving on: IPS officer Anurag Agarwal has been appointed as the head of Parliament security. Currently an inspector general in CRPF, the 1998-batch officer of the Assam-Meghalaya cadre has been appointed as joint secretary (security) for three years. His appointment order was issued by the Lok Sabha Secretariat on Thursday. The post of JS (Security) had been lying vacant since October 20 after the then joint secretary Raghubir Lal went back to his cadre. The post of JS (Security) is traditionally held by an IPS officer.

Shifting focus to international news: Thailand has replaced its Ambassador to WTO Pimchanok Vonkorpon Pitfield from AbuDhabi following a strong protest lodged by India on her contentious comment on New Delhi’s rice procurement programme. A top government official today said that Pitfield has been asked to report back to Thailand after the 13th ministerial conference (MC), which has entered the fifth day of talks. She has been learnt to have replaced the Thai foreign secretary. India has expressed strong disappointment over Pitfield’s remarks during a consultation meeting on Tuesday accusing New Delhi that India’s rice procurement programme at MSP for the public distribution system is not for people but for capturing the export market.

And lastly: India’s Ambassador to Japan today reaffirmed New Delhi’s solidarity with the quake-hit Ishikawa Prefecture and thanked its governor for extending assistance to the Indian community there. As per reports, the 7.6 magnitude earthquake, which struck Japan’s northernmost peninsula of Noto on January 1, killed 241 people, 15 of whom died due to indirect causes. Ambassador Sibi George today met the Governor of the Ishikawa Prefecture, where the Noto peninsula is located, and expressed condolences for the loss of lives caused by the earthquake. The Indian Embassy in Japan had set up an emergency control room for Indians who wanted any assistance following the series of strong earthquakes that jolted the country’s western coastline.

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