Nadia: Union home minister Amit Shah in a conversation with BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari during the 152nd birth anniversary celebrations of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur Ji in Nadia, West Bengal. (PTI Photo)

Mayapur/Kolkata: Politics surrounding SIR took a back seat to spiritual reflection as home minister Amit Shah travelled Wednesday to Mayapur in Bengal’s Nadia, the cradle of Bhakti movement, for a pre-poll Matua outreach focused on highlighting the community’s contribution towards what he called “unification of Hindu society”.Shah lavished praise on social reformers like Matua Mahasangha founder Harichand Thakur and his son Guruchand Thakur and the Vaishnavite saint Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati, whom he described as the bridge between the Bhakti movement and “modernity”. “Harichand and Guruchand Thakur, and Matua society as a whole, took the idea of social welfare forward,” he told a gathering, highlighting their campaign against untouchability and promotion of education and gender equality within the community.Shah, a guest at the 152nd birth anniversary of Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati, said he was in Mayapur not as the home minister but as a devotee of the founder of 64 Gaudiya maths (monasteries) in India and abroad.Conveying PM Modi’s “Hare Krishna” greeting to those attending the event, Shah said, “Whenever foreign guests visit Modiji, he presents them a copy of the Bhagavad Gita. The epicentre of Bhakti movement was in Nadia and will spread in the days to come. I am sure we will be able to send the message of Viksit Bharat and Sanatan (dharma) to the world.”Sources said Shah’s visit was crucial to BJP’s relationship with Matua Mahasangha, an influential community in large parts of southern WB, ahead of polls later this year. But party functionaries in Bengal insisted that the HM didn’t want politics to creep into his message of solidarity with the community.

United Nations (File photo)

India was among more than 100 countries and international organisations that condemned Israel’s ongoing efforts to consolidate control over the West Bank in a joint statement at the UN, saying such measures violated international law and undermined the ongoing efforts for peace and stability in the region.India endorsed the statement late on Wednesday, just before the deadline for joint condemnation lapsed. The statement comes ahead of PM Narendra Modi’s visit to Israel next week, during which he’s also likely to address the Israeli Parliament.“We strongly condemn unilateral Israeli decisions and measures aimed at expanding Israel’s unlawful presence in the West Bank,” the statement said. “Such decisions are contrary to Israel’s obligations under international law and must be immediately reversed,” it said.It strongly opposed any form of annexation. “We reiterate our rejection of all measures aimed at altering the demographic composition, character and status of the Palestinian Territory occupied since 1967, including East Jerusalem,” it added.

Each base houses 16-25 personnel

NEW DELHI: In the aftermath of the Pahalgam terror attack in J&K, CRPF has set up 43 temporary operating bases across the UT, each housing 16-25 personnel who will track and eliminate terrorists holed up in the higher reaches, security officials said on Wednesday.The temporary bases, 26 of which are located in the Kashmir division and 17 in the Jammu division, sit at a height of 6,000 feet and above. CRPF troops, accompanied by a few J&K Police personnel, use these bases for a few days at a time to launch search and assault operations against terrorists who usually use ‘dhoks’ (mud and stone huts) as temporary hideouts, awaiting instructions from their Pakistan-based handlers to execute terror attacks.CRPF has procured special equipment for these temporary bases, like tactical boots, winter jackets, sleeping bags and satellite phones.There are about two local terrorists and around 100 foreign terrorists active at present, according to data.The first set of such temporary bases were established by CRPF in April 2025 along the Pahalgam-Tral-Harwan axis, immediately after the April 2025 terrorist attack in Pahalgam. CRPF and other security forces had used one such base to zero in on the hideout of the three Pahalgam attackers, all Pakistanis, near the Dachigam area in Srinagar. All three terrorists were eliminated in Operation Mahadev in July 2025.Prior to the Pahalgam terror attack, the Pakistani terrorists had taken shelter in a dhok near the tourist site in Baisaran where they would gun down 25 tourists. The terrorists escaped into the surrounding forest soon after the attack. The security forces had to scour the forests for months before they could track their location.

The Supreme Court on Tuesday dismissed appeals in the 2002 death case of actress Prathyusha, ruling out murder and affirming Gudipalli Siddhartha Reddy’s conviction for abetment of suicide. Reddy moved the apex court to challenge his conviction for abetment of suicide, while Pratyusha’s mother appealed against the reduction of his sentence. A Bench of Justices Rajesh Bindal and Manmohan held that overwhelming ocular and medical evidence established death due to poisoning, rejecting allegations of strangulation and rape. The court upheld the finding that abetment (of suicide) was proved, dismissed the plea seeking enhancement of sentence, and directed Reddy to surrender within four weeks, bringing closure to the 23-year-old legal battle.

What happened?Prathyusha was a young Telugu-Tamil actress whose career was on the rise in the early 2000s. In February 2002, the 22-year-old died after consuming pesticide in Hyderabad. She was reportedly in a relationship with Gudipalli Siddhartha Reddy, which faced opposition from his family. The prosecution maintained that the two consumed poison together in a suicide pact, but while Reddy survived, Prathyusha died on the way to the hospital. Reddy was later sentenced to five years’ imprisonment for abetment of suicide and one year for attempting suicide, which was later reduced to two years by the Andhra Pradesh High Court.

JALANDHAR: Alleging corruption in Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee, former Akal Takht jathedar and current Darbar Sahib head granthi Giani Raghbir Singh accused the Badal family of “patronising corrupt elements in the Sikh body”, and urged a Sarbat Khalsa be called to “free SGPC”, reports IP Singh.He claimed he was pressured to issue a statement during the Tarn Taran bypoll that the pronouncement from Akal Takht in Dec 2024 was made under pressure from RSS and BJP but that he refused to tell such a “big lie”.Giani Raghbir was Akal Takht jathedar when SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal was declared ‘tankhaiya’. At a press meet Wednesday, Giani Raghbir alleged land was being “sold by unscrupulous elements”.Giani Raghbir said that Sikh organisations should come together to call a Sarbat Khalsa and take action to protect sanctity of their religious institutions and heritage. Former Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee president Paramjit Singh Sarna said SGPC and Akal Takht jathedar should take prompt action.

Trucks are lined up along Interstate 80 during a storm on Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2026 in Truckee Calif. (AP Photos/Brooke Hess-Homeier)

Crews recovered the bodies of eight backcountry skiers and continued searching for one missing after an avalanche near California’s Lake Tahoe, authorities said on Wednesday, calling it the “deadliest” US avalanche in nearly 50 years. According to Shannan Moon, sheriff of Nevada County, the mission has shifted from rescue to recovery. Six others from the guided three-day trip were rescued on Tuesday in the Sierra Nevada mountains during a powerful winter storm.All the skiers carried emergency beacons, though it was unclear whether they had avalanche air bags. The six survivors sheltered in place in below-freezing temperatures and located three of the deceased. Rescuers reached them by snowcat to within 2 miles, then skied in to avoid triggering another slide. One survivor remained hospitalized Wednesday, Moon added.‘It overtook them rather quickly’ “Someone saw the avalanche, yelled avalanche, and it overtook them rather quickly,” said Capt. Russell Greene of the sheriff’s office. The eight victims were found close together; three were guides. Their bodies have not yet been removed due to dangerous conditions.The avalanche is the deadliest in the US since 1981, when 11 climbers died on Mount Rainier in Washington. An average of 25 to 30 people die in America in avalanches each winter, according to the National Avalanche Center.(With AP inputs)

BENGALURU: A 27-year-old staffer with a private sector bank located on Dr Rajkumar Road succumbed to injuries after a speeding Bullet motorbike rammed into her opposite the bank on Monday. The deceased was Yogeshwari, a resident of Kempegowda Layout, Laggere. The motorist, identified as Deepak from Ulsoor, is undergoing treatment at a hospital for his head injuries, police said.

According to police, the accident occurred around 1 pm when Yogeshwari was crossing the road and Deepak rammed into her. “Yogeshwari and a few other colleagues often bought their lunch from an eatery opposite the bank. Similarly, on Monday, Yogeshwari was crossing the road holding the lunch packet in her hand. Deepak, who is a student, was riding at high speed and rammed into Yogeshwari,” an investigating officer said.Both sustained head injuries and were shifted to a nearby private hospital. “However, Yogeshwari succumbed around 9 pm. A case of causing death due to negligence was booked against Deepak,” police said, adding, “We will take a statement from Deepak once he recovers from injuries.”