A 70-year-old retired railway clerk and his 27-year-old mentally challenged daughter were allegedly held captive and starved in their own house for five years.

KANPUR: A 70-year-old retired railway clerk and his 27-year-old mentally challenged daughter were allegedly held captive and starved in their own house for five years by their domestic help couple in UP’s Mahoba district. The chilling case of cruelty came to light after the man, Omprakash Rathore, died.Some of his relatives, who reached the house on Monday after receiving news of Rathore’s death, were shocked by the scene there and called police. Rathore’s body had considerably shrunk, indicating he could have died a few days ago. His daughter was found in a dark room, looking skeletal. Rathore’s body was sent for autopsy, while his daughter was admitted to a hospital.

Mahoba SP Vandana Singh said the postmortem report stated the cause of death to be chronic lung disease.“The deceased’s daughter was said to be mentally disabled and was found very weak at the scene. Family members have made allegations against the two domestic help. Investigation has revealed these two had been taking care of the deceased and his daughter for the past eight years,” she said.Rathore, his brother Amar Singh said, hired the couple as domestic help after his wife’s death in 2016 to take care of him and his daughter. However, driven by the greed to grab his property, the duo pushed him to death, he alleged. The couple gradually took over the entire house and confined the father and daughter to the ground floor rooms, while they lived comfortably on the upper floor.Singh alleged that the couple never allowed any relative to visit Rathore and his daughter, saying the two did not want to meet anyone.Relatives claimed that the couple had access to the bank accounts of the deceased and had even put their own nameplate on the house.Police, however, said the initial probe had revealed that Rathore’s family members had never made any attempt to take care of him and his daughter.“The allegations made by the relatives are being investigated. Action will be taken based on that,” said an officer.

The US department of health & human services has announced that they will cut all the child care payments to the state of Minnesota. “We have frozen all child care payments to the state of Minnesota. We have turned off the money spigot and we are finding the fraud,” HHS said in a statement. “You have probably read the serious allegations that the state of Minnesota has funneled millions of taxpayer dollars to fraudulent daycares across Minnesota over the past decade.”In a post on X, deputy secretary Jim O’ Neil said that they have have activated the defend the spend system for all ACF payments. Starting today, all ACF payments across America will require a justification and a receipt or photo evidence before the money being sent to a state.“We have frozen all child care payments to the state of Minnesota. We have turned off the money spigot and we are finding the fraud,” HHS said in a statement. “You have probably read the serious allegations that the state of Minnesota has funneled millions of taxpayer dollars to fraudulent daycares across Minnesota over the past decade.”In a post on X, deputy secretary Jim O’ Neil said that they have have activated the defend the spend system for all ACF payments. Starting today, all ACF payments across America will require a justification and a receipt or photo evidence before the money being sent to a state.“Alex Adams and I have identified the individuals in @nickshirleyy’s excellent work. I have demanded from @GovTimWalz a comprehensive audit of these centers. This includes attendance records, licenses, complaints, investigations, and inspections,” he wrote. “We have launched a dedicated fraud-reporting hotline and email address at https://childcare.gov Whether you are a parent, provider, or member of the general public, we want to hear from you,” he added.This came as YouTuber Nick Shirley posted a video exposing the Minnesota fraud as he found out a learning center that received $4 million in state funds, but there was no activity in the center and even the signboard misspelled ‘learning’ and ‘learing’. In the video, a woman was seen yelling not to open the gate of the learning center as she feared that it was ICE. Shirley asked the woman whether she thought he or the other man were immigration agents and identified himself as an online commentator.“Go away. You’re not welcome here. Shame on you,” the woman told Shirley.

DEHRADUN: The family of Anjel Chakma, the young Tripura native killed in Dehradun earlier this month, pushed back sharply against the city police chief’s public dismissal of racial slurs as a motive behind the murder – a claim central to the family’s version of events and backed, they say, by the firsthand account of Anjel’s brother, Michael, who witnessed the attack. Momen Chakma, Anjel’s uncle and among the first relatives to arrive in the city after the assault, said the police were choosing to ignore the words of the only eyewitness. “Michael is not just a family member, he’s the complainant in the case. He was there when it happened. The incident lasted minutes – how do you expect anyone to stop and film something like that?” he told TOI Tuesday. “Instead of listening to the person who saw it unfold, they are issuing public statements without even completing the investigation.“ Faced with mounting questions, Dehradun SSP Ajai Singh clarified Tuesday that Michael’s complaint only mentioned “casteist slurs”. He said, “The family stayed in Dehradun until Dec 27 but did not mention racial slurs to the police…If they want to share additional information, we are open to including it in the probe.”If the family of Tripura native Anjel Chakma is saying this (racial slurs motive behind the murder) now, we are not aware of it. However, the case is still under investigation,” Dehradun SSP Ajai Singh said. Police were gathering all possible evidence to build a strong case before filing the chargesheet, he added. Dehradun police, citing ethnic background of some of the accused, had said they found no indication of racial provocation in the case. The family, still grieving, called this “premature and deeply dismissive”. Anjel, 24, and his younger brother Michael, were in Dehradun when they were allegedly attacked by a group of six men after objecting to their disruptive behaviour. According to Michael and other family members, the attackers shouted racial slurs – words like “chinki”, “Chinese”, and “momo” – before turning violent. Michael sustained injuries, and Anjel later died of his wounds. “It’s not just about one word or one insult,” Momen said. “It’s about whether our voices are even considered valid when we speak.” SSP Singh had on Monday pointed out that two of the six accused were from Manipur and Nepal, which, he said, made a racial motive unlikely. That reasoning has since triggered public criticism, particularly from members of North-East civil society and activists familiar with the region’s complex ethnic and linguistic diversity.

NEW DELHI: When questions are raised about the safety of any food article, India’s food regulator will now ask for proof, not promises. From what a product contains and how much Indians actually eat to whether it’s safe over time, every claim will have to be backed by data to assess its safety. From Jan 1, 2026, Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has made it mandatory for all submissions seeking a food safety review or changes in food standards to follow a single, standardised format supported by scientific evidence. The move comes after the regulator found that many past requests lacked basic data or a uniform structure, making proper risk assessment difficult. The new rule does not trigger an automatic re-examination of all foods already in the market. It applies only when a stakeholder approaches FSSAI seeking a scientific risk assessment – either for introducing a new product or reviewing an existing one. In such cases, the burden of proving safety will rest with the applicant. Under the new format, submissions must spell out nutritional information, how much Indians consume the product, results of toxicological studies, and evidence on safe intake limits, along with allergy risks and supporting scientific studies. The data will be reviewed by FSSAI’s Science and Standards Division and assessed by expert panels, which will decide whether a product can be cleared, continued, restricted or subjected to tighter limits.

Proof needed, not promises

Officials say the sharper focus on Indian eating habits is crucial as packaged foods become more common and overseas data may not reflect real exposure. “This is an important step to protect public health. Earlier, many foods were approved using limited or incomplete information. Since Indian food habits, portion sizes and sensitivities are very different from those in other countries, asking for proper proof about long-term safety, how much people eat and possible allergy risks helps make food rules more practical, science-based and safer for Indian consumers,” said Anjali Bhola, dietician at National Cancer Institute, Jhajjar, All India Institute of Medical Sciences. FSSAI has also assured stakeholders that data submitted for risk assessment will be treated as confidential and used only for scientific evaluation and policy decisions. For consumers, the message is simple: when food safety is questioned, evidence will now decide what stays on the plate.

Tatiana Schlossberg, the youngest granddaughter of President John F. Kennedy, died on Tuesday from cancer at age 35, the JFK Library Foundation announced.She left behind two small children, New York Post reported.“Our beautiful Tatiana passed away this morning,” the JFK Library Foundation posted on its Instagram page, signed by “George, Edwin and Josephine Moran, Ed, Carolina, Jack, Rose and Rory.”“She will always be in our hearts.”In a personal essay published in the New Yorker last month, the mother of two revealed that she had less than a year to live after being diagnosed with myeloid leukaemia with rare mutation.“Maybe my brain is replaying my life now because I have a terminal diagnosis, and all these memories will be lost,” the daughter of Caroline Kennedy, 67, and Edwin Schlossberg, 80, heartbreakingly wrote.Schlossberg described how doctors discovered the cancer just hours after she gave birth to her second child in May 2024.In a personal essay published in the New Yorker last month, Tatiana Schlossberg (far right) revealed that she had less than a year to live after being diagnosed with myeloid leukaemia with rare mutation.“Maybe my brain is replaying my life now because I have a terminal diagnosis, and all these memories will be lost,” the daughter of Caroline Kennedy, 67, and Edwin Schlossberg, 80, heartbreakingly wrote.She spent the past 18 months in treatment, receiving a bone-marrow transplant, chemotherapy and blood transfusions. The rare mutation with which Schlossberg was afflicted, Inversion 3, was usually seen in older patients.Schlossberg, who graduated from Yale and had a Master’s degree from Oxford, previously worked as a journalist at The New York Times and published her first book in 2019.She had been married to urologist George Moran, whom she met as an undergrad at Yale, since 2017.They had two children: son, Edwin, 3, and a daughter, 19 months.

SRINAGAR: In a move to curb the spread of anti-national propaganda, a designated NIA court in Srinagar on Tuesday issued a proclamation against three Kashmiris, in an FIR registered by the Counter Intelligence Kashmir (CIK). Investigators have established their alleged role in propagating content deemed prejudicial to the sovereignty and integrity of India. The court directed them to appear before it by Jan 31, 2026.The proclamation was issued against Mubeen Ahmad Shah, Azizul Hassan Ashai alias Tony Ashai, both residents of Srinagar, and Rifat Wani of Kupwara. All three have been living outside India for a long period.Mubeen Shah, former president of Kashmir Chamber of Commerce and Industry, is a prominent Kashmir-born businessman who was detained a day before the abrogation of Article 370. He was released from Agra jail in Dec 2019. He subsequently left the country.The CIK, in a statement, described the court ruling as a major crackdown on anti-national propaganda and secessionist misinformation. “These elements were masquerading as news portals, journalists and freelancers, while in reality weaponizing social media platforms such as Facebook, X (formerly Twitter) and WhatsApp to create, upload and circulate fake, motivated, exaggerated, secessionist and out-of-context content,” the CIK statement said.The deliberate objective of this digital misinformation campaign was to incite street violence, disrupt normal life, damage public property, disturb public order and fuel mass unrest, thereby promoting anti-national sentiments and advancing a secessionist agenda aimed at creating disaffection against the Union of India, the statement added.Despite being declared absconders, the accused are notorious for their continued hostile activities and remain highly active on social media platforms, where they persist in peddling false, fabricated and provocative content with the intention of inciting large-scale violence and destabilizing public order in the union Territory of Jammu & Kashmir, it added.

Arjun Erigaisi (Photo by FIDE/Lennart Ootes)

NEW DELHI: India had a proud moment at the World Rapid and Blitz Chess Championships as Arjun Erigaisi delivered a double medal performance on Tuesday in Doha, Qatar.The 22-year-old chess star won bronze medals in both the Rapid and Blitz events. With the medals, he also became the first Indian player to register podium finishes at both events since Viswanathan Anand won the Rapid section and finished third in Blitz back in 2017.

This came after he had already won a bronze in the Rapid section earlier in the tournament. Winning medals in both formats at the same championship is very rare and shows the player’s consistency. However, the result could have been even better for the Telangana-born Grandmaster. On Tuesday, Arjun faced Nodirbek Abdusattorov in the semifinals of the World Blitz Championship. Abdusattorov won the first two games, while the third game ended in a draw. As a result, Arjun had to settle for the bronze medal, while five-time World Champion and top-ranked chess player Magnus Carlsen and Abdusattorov moved on to play the final, where Carlsen’s astute end-game manoeuvres eventually earned him a coveted win over Abdusattorov with a 2.5-1.5 score. Subsequently, Carlsen clinched the Blitz gold here as well after becoming champion in the Rapid section on Sunday. On the other hand, Bibisara Assaubayeva of Kazakhstan became the Women’s World Blitz Champion.Despite the disappointment at the end, Arjun’s overall performance in the Blitz Championship was impressive. On both occasions, Arjun came very close to reaching the final and fighting for the championship title.He topped the Swiss segment of the Blitz tournament with a strong score of 15 points out of 19. But perhaps luck was not in his favour.Still, the bigger picture remains very positive. Arjun Erigaisi finished third in the Blitz event and added another bronze medal to his tally, meaning he has wrapped up his final tournament of the year, the World Rapid and Blitz Championships, with two bronze medals.While the ending may have been painful for him and his fans, as the result could’ve been better, Arjun’s performance showed that he belongs among the world’s best.ALSO READ: World champion at 7 in her first international event; ‘nervous’ while meeting PM Modi: How Pragnika Lakshmi became a chess prodigy