Three killed, several injured in two UAE restaurant blasts

Mumbai: The final rites of Ratan Naval Tata - the industrialist with a heart of gold - were performed with full State honours at a Mumbai crematorium this afternoon.

Home Minister Amit Shah was among the many high-profile dignitaries on hand to pay their final respects to Mr Tata; he stands in for Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is en route to Laos to attend the ASEAN-India and East Asia summits. Mr Modi last night hailed Mr Tata as a "an extraordinary human being".

Mr Shah was accompanied by Union Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal, and Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and his deputies, Devendra Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar.

Earlier today  Ratan Tata lay in state, wrapped in the national flag, at the National Centre for Performing Arts in Nariman Point, before his body was transported to the crematorium in Worli, a distance of 12 km.

Thousands lined the streets to bid goodbye to one of their own, an unassuming Mumbai-born and bred 'chhotu' who transformed the Tata brand into a global powerhouse.

And the country's most powerful politicians were joined by its most influential celebrities - actors and sportspersons - and the country's richest, including the Ambanis and the Adanis, in paying their respects.

Maharashtra has announced a day of mourning as a mark of respect for a business leader and philanthropist admired in India and abroad for his simplicity, sincerity, and humanity.

Ratan Tata's contributions to the industrial and development sectors, to the economy and to the lives of tens of thousands of men and women, are too many to count.

Some, perhaps, deserve mention, such as the 'revenge' purchase of luxury brands Jaguar and Land Rover, which heralded India's arrival on the global automotive stage, and his commitment to the welfare of dogs, exemplified by the ₹ 165 crore hospital in Mumbai.

But his death unquestionably marks the end of an era; he was, perhaps, the last of his kind, someone who, despite fabulous privilege, never appeared to flaunt his wealth.

Indeed, Mr Tata could never be found on a list of billionaires simply because he donated the vast majority - 60 to 65 per cent, if some sources are to be believed - of his income.

Ratan Tata died at Mumbai's Breach Candy Hospital late last night at the age of 86.

He was admitted Monday but, as was his nature, played down any fuss, declaring he was undergoing routine age-related medical check-ups. "There is no cause for concern. Thank you for thinking of me..."

Hours later, just as discreetly and quietly, the Tata family broke the news.

"It is with a profound sense of loss that we bid farewell to Mr Ratan Naval Tata, a truly uncommon leader whose immeasurable contributions have shaped not only the Tata Group but also the very fabric of our nation," the group's Chairperson, N Chandrasekaran, said.

As the news spread the outpouring of grief underlined Mr Tata's stature, but it was a fellow industrial titan, Anand Mahindra, who best captured the emotions of 145 crore Indians.

"I am unable to accept..." he said.

New Delhi: The Congress on Tuesday afternoon filed a formal complaint with the Election Commission regarding a delay in publishing the leads and results of the Haryana poll. In a brief letter the opposition party said that between 9 and 11 am there was "an unexplained slowdown in updating of results".

"As you can imagine this allows bad faith actors to spin out narratives that undermine the process. You can see examples of it already playing out on social media. Our fear is also that such narratives can then be used by these mala fide actors to influence processes where counting is still underway, i.e., in most of the counting centres," the Congress told the Election Commission.

"We request you to issue immediate directions to your officials to update the website with true and accurate figures, so that false news and malicious narratives can be countered immediately."

Minutes earlier the Congress' Jairam Ramesh said, "... we hope the Election Commission will answer our questions. The results of 10-11 rounds are out... but only four to five rounds are updated on the site." He also flagged those "trying to build pressure by sharing outdated and misleading trends..."

The Congress had raced into an early lead in Haryana as postal votes were counted, only for the BJP to stage a thrilling comeback late morning as ballots were opened. The ruling party then raced into a lead of its own, which it has held since; at noon the BJP held 48 seats - two over the majority mark.

Early celebrations at the Congress' Delhi HQ ground to a halt as the party - which is set to win the first Jammu and Kashmir election in a decade - contemplated a third straight defeat in Haryana.

The party's senior leader in the state - Kumari Selja, who is also in the Congress' chief ministerial race - told NDTV the Election Commission will "have to answer" the question posed.

 "Why is the counting going slowly? It was fine during the Lok Sabha election... so why is the counting going slowly now? It is the responsibility of the EC to tell the world why counting has slowed," she said.

Mr Ramesh, however, insisted the party remains confident.

"There is no need to be disheartened..." he told ANI, "Mind games are being played. There is no need to be disheartened. We are going to get the mandate. Congress will form the government."

The BJP's Sudhanshu Trivedi responded swiftly, declaring the complaining meant the Congress had "accepted defeat". "If Congress has started pointing fingers at Election Commission then we should understand they have accepted defeat..." he told reporters, "Per current trends I feel we are moving to an important win and Congress has started taking precautionary measures for future defeat."

The Congress had made similar complaints in June, when votes were being counted for the general election. Then Mr Ramesh implied the poll panel may have received "orders" to slow down counting.

In that case he had flagged apparent delays in publishing results for seats in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, which account for over 120 seats between them and in which the ruling BJP (and its ally, the Janata Dal United) was facing a tough challenge from the Congress-led INDIA bloc and its allies. 

Moscow, Oct 4: Russia's Foreign Ministry said on Friday that a decision to remove the Taliban from a list of terrorist organisations had been "taken at the highest level", the state TASS news agency reported.

The decision needs to be followed up with various legal procedures in order to make it a reality, President Vladimir Putin's special representative on Afghanistan, Zamir Kabulov, was quoted as saying.

Putin said in July that Russia considered Afghanistan's Taliban movement an ally in the fight against terrorism.

Russia has been slowly building ties with the Taliban since it seized power in Afghanistan in August 2021 as U.S.-led forces withdrew after 20 years of war but the movement is still officially outlawed in Russia.

No country has formally recognised the Taliban as the country's legitimate leadership, although China and the UAE have accepted its ambassadors.

Russia added the Taliban to its list of terrorist organisations in 2003. Removing it would be an important step by Moscow towards normalising relations with Afghanistan.

The Taliban's acting foreign minister Amir Khan Muttaqi said in a speech in Moscow that recent decisions by Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan to remove the former insurgents from a list of banned groups was a welcome step.

"We also appreciate the positive remarks by the high-ranking officials of the Russian Federation in this regard and hope to see more effective steps soon," he said.

In separate comments on Friday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Moscow was convinced of the need to maintain "pragmatic dialogue" with the current Afghan government.

"It is obvious that it is impossible to solve problems or even discuss an Afghan settlement without Kabul," Lavrov said.

"Moscow will continue its course on developing political, trade and economic ties with Kabul," he added, speaking at a meeting in Moscow with Muttaqi and representatives of neighbouring countries.

While he did not mention the Taliban by name, he praised the current Afghan leadership for its efforts to curb drug production and fight Islamic State, which is outlawed in Russia.

Muttaqi said that countries in the region should cooperate against the Islamic State, which he said had established training centres outside Afghanistan.

Lavrov said the United States should return confiscated assets to Afghanistan and the West should acknowledge responsibility for the post-conflict reconstruction of the country.

Lavrov also called for an increase in humanitarian aid to Afghanistan, and said Russia would keep sending it food and essential goods.

Russia has a troubled history in Afghanistan, where the Soviet army invaded in 1979 to support a pro-Moscow government but withdrew 10 years later after sustaining heavy casualties at the hands of mujahideen fighters.

Russia and its post-Soviet neighbours have suffered recurrent attacks from Islamist militant groups linked to Afghanistan - most recently in March, when 145 people were killed in an attack claimed by Islamic State at a concert hall near Moscow.