Breaking News Live: Air marshal SP Dharkar assumes charge as vice chief of air staff

The International Monetary Fund said the Bank of Japan should stay data dependent and continue to gradually raise policy rates in line with inflation data, but is on track to bring price increases back to its 2% annual target.

"Our advice is that the BOJ should continue to be data driven and to gradually raise the policy rate over its policy horizon, if the inflation forecasts bear out that this is the right way forward," IMF spokesperson Julie Kozack told a regular news briefing.

The Union Cabinet on Thursday approved conferring the status of classical language to Marathi, Pali, Prakrit, Assamese and Bengali languages. The decision was taken at a meeting of the Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

"This is a historical decision and this decision goes very well with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the NDA government's philosophy of taking ride in our culture, taking pride in our heritage and taking pride in all the Indian languages and the rich heritage that we have," Information and Broadcasting Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said at a cabinet briefing.

The classical languages serve as a custodian of Bharat's profound and ancient cultural heritage, embodying the essence of each community's historical and cultural milestone, the government said.

The Government of India decided to create a new category of languages as "classical languages" on October 12, 2004 declaring Tamil as classical language and thereafter Sanskrit, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam and Odia languages were given classical language status.

A government statement said that a proposal from the Maharashtra government in 2013 was received in the ministry requesting classical language status to Marathi, which was forwarded to the Linguistics Experts Committee (LEC). The LEC recommended Marathi for classical language.

The assembly elections are due later this year in Maharashtra and this was a major poll issue in the state.

Nepal signed an agreement with Bangladesh on Thursday to export 40 megawatts of hydroelectricity annually via India as the Himalayan nation seeks to tap into its snow-fed rivers to power its economy.

Nepal currently has installed capacity of more than 3,200 megawatts from over 150 projects, with over 200 more projects under construction.

"We are moving from the bilateral power trade to a trilateral framework, opening avenues for sub-regional and regional cooperation in the energy sector," Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) chief Kul Man Ghising said at a signing ceremony.

The agreement was signed with the Bangladesh Power Development Board and India's NTPC Vidyut Vyapar Nigam, which will facilitate access to transmission lines.

Under the agreement, Nepal will export 40 megawatts of electricity to Bangladesh from mid-June to mid-November over five years.

A start date for transmission has not been specified yet. The electricity will be sold at 6.4 US cents per unit.

Nepal would earn about $9.2 million a year, NEA spokesman Chandan Kumar Ghosh said.

Air Marshal SP Dharkar, an accomplished fighter pilot with 3,600 hours of flying experience, on Thursday assumed charge as Vice Chief of the Air Staff. He succeeds Air Chief Marshal Amar Preet Singh who became the Chief of Air Staff on September 30.
Air Marshal Dharkar has flown various types of fighter jets and trainer aircraft and commanded a MiG-27 squadron.

He is an experienced qualified flying instructor, fighter strike leader and instrument rating instructor.

Commissioned in the fighter stream in 1985, he is an alumnus of Rashtriya Indian Military College (RIMC), National Defence Academy (NDA), Defence Services Staff College and the US Air War College.

He has commanded a frontline fighter unit and served as the first Director General of the Defence Space Agency.

Air Marshal Dharkar was serving as the Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief of the Eastern Air Command prior to taking over as Vice Chief of Air Staff.

He has also served as the assistant Chief of the Air Staff (Training) at the air headquarters.

A French suspected jihadist close to the brothers behind the 2015 massacre at satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo was set Thursday to hear his verdict on terror charges.

Peter Cherif, 42, has been on trial since mid-September for "belonging to a criminal terrorist association" while fighting for Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) in Yemen from 2011 to 2018.

During that time he is suspected of training his Paris childhood friend Cherif Kouachi, who along with his brother Said perpetrated the January 7, 2015 massacre at Charlie Hebdo's offices in the French capital -- for which AQAP later claimed responsibility.

The first of a string of attacks carried out by radical Islamists that hit France in the late 2010s, the 12 killings shocked the world and led to an international outpouring of political and popular support under the motto "Je suis Charlie" ("I am Charlie").

Peter Cherif is also accused of being part of a criminal gang that held three French aid workers hostage for five months in Yemen in 2011.

Prosecutors asked the court Wednesday to sentence him to life in prison, with no possibility of release before 22 years.

The accused declined to answer questions throughout most of the trial.

Ryanair said passengers had to be taken off one of its flights at Brindisi in southern Italy on Thursday morning after fumes were seen outside of the plane.
"Flight FR8826 from Brindisi to Turin was delayed this morning after cabin crew observed fumes on the outside of the aircraft," Ryanair said in a statement. "Passengers were disembarked without incident and returned to the terminal by bus," it added.

Cabinet likely to approve two schemes for farmers, Krishi Vikas Yojana and Krishi Samvardhan Yojna

The airport in Russia's southwestern city of Kazan was temporarily closed for flights on Thursday, the RIA news agency cited the aviation watchdog as saying.
Such closures in Russia usually indicate ongoing or expected Ukrainian drone attacks.

Soldiers pursuing suspicious vehicles on a highway in Mexico opened fire, resulting in the deaths of six migrants, the defense ministry reported on Wednesday. The patrol discovered 33 migrants from various countries, including Egypt, Nepal, Cuba, India, and Pakistan, though the nationalities of those killed were not specified.

This incident occurred on the same day Claudia Sheinbaum was inaugurated as Mexico's new president, pledging to uphold human rights and prevent security forces from engaging in repression.

The two soldiers involved in the shooting have been removed from their duties while an investigation is conducted. According to a statement, the patrol was following a vehicle that appeared to be fleeing at high speed, accompanied by two flatbed trucks commonly used by criminals.

A Montana man was convicted on Wednesday for threatening to assault former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy after expressing anger that the government had not shot down a Chinese spy balloon passing over his city. Richard Rogers, 45, from Billings, made the threat during a barrage of over 100 calls to McCarthy's office within just 75 minutes on February 3, 2023, following the Pentagon's acknowledgment of the balloon's presence, which was later shot down off the Atlantic Coast.

A 12-person federal jury also found Rogers guilty of two counts of making harassing phone calls: the calls to McCarthy's office and an additional 150 calls he made to an FBI tip line in 2021 and 2022. During these calls, Rogers frequently used vulgar and obscene language.

The presidential office of the Dominican Republic announced an "immediate" plan to deport up to 10,000 migrants per week, enhancing border enforcement amid ongoing conflict in neighboring Haiti. While the announcement did not specifically mention Haitians, they have constituted the majority of deportees in recent years.

If enacted, this plan would significantly escalate deportations, following over 200,000 Haitian migrants being forcibly returned last year, according to UN data. The statement from the president's office cited slow progress and "limited" results from a U.N.-backed security mission aimed at helping Haitian police regain control of the capital from armed gangs.

SBI Chairman C.S. Setty announced that the bank aims to open 600 branches in the current fiscal year to capitalize on business opportunities in emerging markets, such as large residential townships. In the previous fiscal year, SBI opened 137 branches.

Anil Ambani's Reliance Group announced the launch of a new company focused on investing in Bhutan's renewable energy sector. The initiative will kick off with the development of 1.2 gigawatts of solar and hydropower projects, potentially involving investments of up to $1 billion. The new entity, Reliance Enterprises, has been jointly established by Reliance Infrastructure and Reliance Power. The group will collaborate with Bhutan's sovereign commercial and investment entity, Druk Holding and Investments, for these projects.