A fire swept through an apartment building in an older neighbourhood of Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, killing at least 16 people and injuring another nine.

The state-linked newspaper The National cited a statement from Dubai Civil Defence provided by the city-state's Dubai Media Office for the death toll.

It said the blaze happened on Apr 15 in Dubai's Al Ras neighbourhood, a tightly knit warren of streets and alleys home to one of its oldest neighbourhoods.

Al Ras is also home to the Dubai Spice Market, a major tourist attraction near Dubai Creek.

The government statement did not offer a cause, but appeared to hint at a problem in the five-story apartment building leading to the deaths.

The CBI has summoned Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in connection with the excise policy scam case on April 16.

The central probe agency has already arrested former Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia in connection with the case.

It is alleged that the Delhi government's excise policy for 2021-22 to grant licences to liquor traders favoured certain dealers who had allegedly paid bribes for it, a charge strongly refuted by the AAP.

The policy was later scrapped.

AAP on alleged that the CBI summoned Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal as he spoke about the Adani issue and asserted that such notices will not deter their fight against corruption.

Addressing a press conference, AAP Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh said the CBI summon was a conspiracy to arrest CM Kejriwal.

The Rajasthan Police has arrested two of the eight accused wanted in the alleged abduction and murder of two Muslim men from Bharatpur in Rajasthan by suspected cow vigilantes in Haryana.

Inspector General of Police (Bharatpur) Gaurav Srivastava said that the accused Monu Rana alias Narendra and Gogi alias Monu were detained from an isolated hilly area in Dehradun.

The accused involved in the case have connections with Bajrang Dal as well as other organisations including Haryana Gau Raksha Dal.

Nasir (25) and Junaid alias Juna (35), both residents of Ghatmeeka village in Rajasthan's Bharatpur district, were allegedly abducted by cow vigilantes on February 15.

Their bodies were found inside a burnt car in Loharu in Bhiwani in Haryana on the morning of February 16.

On February 17, one of the accused Rinku Saini was arrested and based on his disclosure and other evidence collected by the police, eight others were identified and teams were sent to several states in search of them.

The other six accused, each carrying a cash reward of Rs 10,000 each, are still absconding and being sarched.

Apart from them, the police have issued notices to several other suspects including office bearers and members of Haryana Gau Raksha Dal but no one has turned up.

In July last year, the Supreme Court had stayed criminal proceedings against the 30 accused Army personnel as the state police did not obtain the required sanctions for prosecution from the Centre.

The Centre’s legal sanction is required to initiate any proceeding against security forces personnel for their actions while discharging duties under section 197(2) of CrPC and section 6 of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA).

On December 4, 2021, six local coal miners in a pick-up van in Tiru-Oting area of Mon district were killed by soldiers of 21 Para Special Forces of the Indian Army who mistook them as militants. Protestors then set fire to Army vehicles which prompted the soldiers to open fire again, killing seven more civilians.

On December 5, locals entered a camp of the Assam Rifles in the district headquarters of Mon and one more person was killed after security forces fired in retaliation at the protestors.

The incidents once again gave rise to the demand for the removal of the AFSPA from Nagaland with civil societies conducting several protest rallies across the state at the time.

A special investigation team (SIT) headed by the Nagaland inspector general of police probed the case and on March 24, 2022 had sought sanction for the prosecution of the accused from the defence ministry.

Thirty members of the Special Force Operation team including one Army officer were named by the SIT's chargesheet in the case on May 30, 2022.

The probe which preceded the charge sheet had found that the Special Force Operation team had not followed the Standard Operating Procedure and the Rules of Engagement and resorted to indiscriminate and disproportionate firing leading to the immediate killing of six civilians and grievous injury to two more.

An FIR filed by the Nagaland Police had said that the Army’s 21 Para Special Force “blankly opened fire” with the “intention to murder and injure civilians”.

References to freedom fighter and India's first education minister Maulana Abul Kalam Azad have been removed from the new class 11 political science textbook by the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT).

As part of its "syllabus rationalisation" exercise last year, the NCERT, citing "overlapping" and "irrelevant" as reasons, dropped certain portions from the course including lessons on Gujarat riots, Mughal courts, Emergency, Cold War, Naxalite movement, among others from its textbooks.

The rationalisation note had no mention of any changes in class 11 political science textbook.

The NCERT has, however, claimed that no curriculum trimming has taken place this year and the syllabus was rationalised in June, last year.

In the class 11 political science textbook's first chapter, titled 'Constitution - Why and How', a line has been revised to omit Azad's name from the constituent assembly committee meetings.

The revised line now reads, "Usually, Jawaharlal Nehru, Rajendra Prasad, Sardar Patel or BR Ambedkar chaired these Committees."

In the tenth chapter of the same textbook, titled "The Philosophy of the Constitution", the reference to Jammu and Kashmir's conditional accession has also been deleted.

"For example, the accession of Jammu and Kashmir to the Indian union was based on a commitment to safeguard its autonomy under Article 370 of the Constitution," says the dropped paragraph.

Last year, the Ministry of Minority Affairs had discontinued the Maulana Azad Fellowship, which was launched in 2009, and provided financial assistance for five years to students from six notified minorities.

The portions referring to Gujarat riots have also been dropped from class 11 sociology textbook, months after NCERT removed the reference to the 2022 communal violence in two class 12 textbooks.

President of the All India Muslim Personal Law Board Maulana Rabe Hasni Nadvi died after a prolonged illness.

Senior executive member of the board Maulana Khalid Rasheed Farangi Mahali told PTI that Maulana Rabe Hasni Nadvi died at the Lucknow-based Islamic Educational Institute Nadwatul Ulama (Nadwa).

Mahali said Nadvi had been brought to Lucknow from his ancestral home in Raebareli four days ago as he was suffering from pneumonia.

He is survived by three daughters.

Nadvi has been the president of the All India Muslim Personal Law Board for the last 21 years.

A massive hunt was underway  on Apr 13 to nab the assailants behind the killing of four soldiers at the Bathinda Military station even as the base reported the death of another personnel due to gunshot wounds.

The Army said the death of the soldier on Apr 12  afternoon has no connection with the firing incident.

The Army said the soldier was immediately evacuated to the military hospital, but he succumbed to his injuries. The soldier had returned from leave on April 11.

However, a senior official said it could be a case of accidental firing as well.

The deceased was identified as Laghu Raj Shankar.

The Bathinda military station is one of the largest Army bases in the country and it comprises a significant number of operational units of the force

China won't sell weapons to either side in the war in Ukraine, the country's foreign minister said  on Apr 14 , responding to Western concerns that Beijing could provide military assistance to Russia.

China has maintained that it is neutral in the conflict, while backing Russia politically, rhetorically and economically at a time when Western nations have imposed punishing sanctions and sought to isolate Moscow for its invasion of its neighbour.

Qin Gang is the highest-level Chinese official to make such an explicit statement about arms sales to Russia. He added that China would also regulate the export of items with dual civilian and military use.