6 Indians Onboard Bus That Fell Down Ravine In Mexico, 17 Killed: Report

At least 17 people died in western Mexico when a passenger bus plunged off a highway into a ravine in the early hours of Thursday, a state official said, adding that 22 more had been injured but were in a stable condition.

The rescue has been "extremely difficult", said Jorge Benito Rodriguez, the security and civil protection secretary for Nayarit state, as the ravine was some 50 meters (164 ft) deep.

Fourteen adults and three children were killed, he said, adding it was not clear what had caused the bus, carrying about 40 passengers towards Tijuana, to go off the road.

Earlier on Thursday, Nayarit's Civil Protection and Firefighters had shared photos of ambulances lining the highway and uniformed officials in the ravine below, as first respondents worked to move the passengers from the site.

The bus, part of the Elite passenger line, crashed near Barranca Blanca on the highway outside state capital Tepic, the officials said.

A source from Nayarit's firefighting service said six Indian citizens had been aboard the bus.

Neither the bus company nor Mexico's migration institute immediately responded to a request for comment.

Just last month, another bus crash in the southern state of Oaxaca left 29 people dead, and in February, another bus carrying migrants from South and Central America crashed in central Mexico, killing 17.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

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Missing Kashmir Soldier Found, Cops Say He'll Be Interrogated

An Armyman who went missing in Jammu and Kashmir's Kulgam last week has been found, police said today.

Rifleman Javed Ahmad, belonging to the Jammu and Kashmir Light Infantry regiment, will be interrogated after his medical checkup, they added.

#Missing Army jawan has been recovered by Kulgam Police. Joint #interrogation will start shortly after medical checkup. Further details shall follow: ADGP Kashmir@JmuKmrPolice

— Kashmir Zone Police (@KashmirPolice) August 3, 2023

"Missing Army jawan has been recovered by Kulgam Police. Joint #interrogation will start shortly after medical checkup. Further details shall follow: ADGP Kashmir," tweeted Kashmir Zone Police.

The police are trying to ascertain the circumstances behind the Armyman's July 29 disappearance, which triggered massive searches by the security forces.

The 25-year-old soldier had stepped out of his house to buy some items from the market after which he was reported to be missing. He was on leave and was to join duty in a few days. The Alto car which he was driving was found near the market.

It was suspected that terrorists may have kidnapped the soldier and his family had appealed that the captors release him safely.

In the past, several soldiers at home on leave were kidnapped and killed by terrorists in the area.

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High Court Order On Gyanvapi Mosque Survey Likely Today: 10 Facts

1. The ASI survey was ordered by the Varanasi district court on July 21, based on a petition by four women who claimed it was the only way to determine whether the landmark mosque was built after razing a Hindu temple. The mosque is located right next to the iconic Kashi Vishwanath Temple. 
2. The ASI had started a survey on July 24, but it was stayed within hours by the Supreme Court after the mosque committee approached it. The mosque committee had argued that the structure is over a thousand years old and any digging might destabilise it, leading to its collapse. The committee had also argued that any such survey is in violation of existing laws around religious places. 
3. The centre had, however, assured the Supreme Court that the survey will not alter the structure in any way and stressed that "not a brick has been removed nor is it planned". Solicitor General of India Tushar Mehta had said the survey plan includes only measurement, photography and radar studies.
4. The court allowed the petitioners to approach the Allahabad High Court to challenge the order. After hearing the matter for two days, July 26 and 27, the high court had reserved its judgment for today.
5. The Gyanvapi mosque had hit headlines in 2021 after a group of women approached a lower court in Varanasi for permission to worship Hindu deities in the Gyanvapi complex on all days of the year. 
6. In April last year, the court ordered a video survey of the complex based on this petition. When the survey was conducted in May, a structure was discovered that the petitioners claimed was a 'shivling'. 
7. The mosque management committee, however, said the structure was part of a fountain in the 'wazukhana', which is an area filled with water where people wash their hands and feet before praying. Keeping the sensitivity of the issue in mind, the Supreme Court had ordered the sealing of the 'shivling' area the same month. 
8. In September last year, the Varanasi district judge, to whom the case had been transferred by the Supreme Court, dismissed a challenge by the mosque committee, which argued that the women's request to worship Hindu deities inside the complex premises was not maintainable. 
9. In May this year, the Allahabad High Court also dismissed the committee's petition on maintainability. 
10. Located in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's constituency, the Gyanvapi mosque is one of several mosques that some believe were built on the ruins of Hindu temples. It was one of the three temple-mosque disputes, besides Ayodhya and Mathura, which the BJP had raised in the 1980s and 1990s.

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Influencer Who Starved To Death Claimed She Didn't Drink Water For 6 Years

Russian influencer Zhanna Samsonova, fondly known as Zhanna D'Art, died at the age of 39. 

Ms Samsonova - who survived entirely on a raw vegan diet - reportedly died of starvation. 

A friend, living a floor above Ms Samsonova, expressed her fear of “finding her lifeless body in the morning.” Despite Ms Samsonova's friend convincing her to seek treatment, the influencer “didn't make it.”

Here are five facts about vegan influencer Ms Samsonova:

- Ms Samsonova was on an all-raw vegan diet for at least a decade. She used to promote a raw vegan diet and urged her followers to embrace the lifestyle.

- The 39-year-old used to consume jackfruit, durian, fruits, seeds, sprouts, fruit juices, and smoothies.  Ms Samsonova also used to share recipes and tips.

- Ms Samsonova's mother, in conversation with New York Post,  said that her daughter died of a “cholera-like infection.” In addition, she believed that Ms Samsonova had succumbed to exhaustion and the stress placed on her body by an all-vegan diet.

- As per her Instagram bio, Ms Samsonova was “Raw food Creation by Zhanna D'art Chef.”

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Raw food Creation by Zhanna D'art (@rawveganfoodchef)

- She once said, “Eating a healthy diet is not about strict limitations, staying unrealistically thin, or depriving yourself of the foods you love. Rather, it's about feeling great, having more energy, improving your health, and boosting your mood.”

Ms Samsonova also said that she didn't drink water for six years. 

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Rs 25 Crore Worth Of Cash, Jewellery Seized In Raids On Pawan Munjal

Foreign and Indian currencies and gold and diamond jewellery worth about Rs 25 crore apart from "incriminating" documents were seized after raids on Hero MotoCorp executive chairperson Pawan Kant Munjal and some others, the Enforcement Directorate said on Wednesday.

The federal agency raided the residence and offices of the 69-year-old billionaire businessman, the promoter of India's largest two-wheeler automobiles manufacturer, in Delhi and neighbouring Gurugram apart from that of some other entities on Tuesday as part of a money laundering investigation against them.

It did not elaborate on the exact amount of seizure made from each of those raids.

While the automobile company did not offer an immediate comment, it had said on Tuesday that they were "extending all cooperation" to the ED.

Foreign and Indian currencies and gold and diamond jewellery (including foreign origin gold) worth about Rs 25 crore apart from "incriminating" documents, hard disks and mobiles were seized from the residential and business premises of Munjal, Hemant Dahiya, K R Raman, Hero MotoCorp Limited and Hero Fincorp Limited, the agency said.

The ED case, registered under various sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), stems from a charge sheet of the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI), an investigation arm of the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC), filed before a Delhi Court under section 135 of the Customs Act (evasion of duty or prohibitions).

The DRI prosecution complaint was filed on charges of "carrying, attempting to export and illicit export of prohibited items i.e. foreign currency" against P K Munjal, a third party service provider company called SEMPL and individuals identified as Amit Bali, Hemant Dahiya, K R Raman and some others.

The ED said Salt Experience and Management Pvt. Ltd. (SEMPL) "illegally exported foreign currency equivalent to about Rs 54 crore to various countries during the period 2014-2015 to 2018-2019 which was ultimately used for personal expenses of P K Munjal." SEMPL, it alleged, got issued foreign exchange to the tune of about Rs 14 crore in the name of its officials/employees like Hemant Dahiya, Mudit Aggarwal, Amit Makker, Gautam Kumar, Vikram Bajaj and Ketan Kakkar over and above the annual permissible limit of USD 2,50,000 in various financial years.

SEMPL has also drawn foreign exchange/travel forex card in huge amount in the name of other employees who didn't even travel abroad, it said.

"Investigation found that one of the key associate of P K Munjal managed to illegally export approximately Rs 40 crore worth of foreign currency for meeting the expenses of P K Munjal during his personal or business foreign trips," it claimed.

Hero MotoCorp became the world's largest two-wheeler manufacturer in 2001 in terms of unit volume sales in a calendar year and has maintained the title for the past 20 consecutive years.

The company has a presence across 40 countries in Asia, Africa, and South and Central America.

Hero MotoCorp said on its official website that "over the past 10 years, the company has rapidly expanded its capacity, geographic footprint, customer touch points and R&D capabilities to emerge as a truly global brand." The automobile giant and Munjal were also raided by the Income Tax Department in March last year as part of a tax evasion investigation.

The Central Board of Direct Taxes, the administrative authority for the I-T department, had then said that during these searches, the taxman found alleged illegal business expenses of over Rs 800 crore and records showing that Rs 60 crore worth "unaccounted" cash used to purchase land in Delhi and the role of some shell (dubious) companies.

The automobile company had then said in a regulatory filing that it was a "law-abiding corporate, with robust internal financial controls" and its "financial statements are duly audited". 

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Economists Say That The 'Great Resignation' Is Over. Explain Why

Since the pandemic, millions of employees across the world left their jobs, disrupting the workforce. According to a BBC report, 47 million people quit their jobs in the US in 2021, and 50 million more in 2022, according to data from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). The trend of mass resignations was ultimately given a term in 2021 called 'the Great Resignation' by organisational behaviour professor Anthony Klotz.

Workers cited a lot of reasons for quitting like, a desire for more flexibility, money, or benefits, or to leave toxic company culture.

However, the 'great resignation,' appears to be ending, economists say. According to New York Times, the rate at which workers voluntarily quit their jobs has fallen sharply in recent months, normalising to pre-pandemic figures.

''Looking at the overall resignation numbers, and seeing they're back to 2019 levels, I think we can say it's over. It's not just a simple start-and-stop, of course, but it does seem that we're at the tail of it,” said Anthony Klotz, now a professor of management at University College London's School of Management.

He said that the impact of the current economic instability on the labour market could be a reason. Fears of AI taking away our jobs could also be another reason.

''Even if you want to quit your job, you look out at the market [now] and think, ‘maybe I shouldn't. The economy has slowed down, there are layoffs in the headlines, warnings in the headlines that AI is going to take all of our jobs – it all makes people think twice before they quit a job,'' he added.

Another expert said that many people have shifted from less desirable industries to more sought-after ones, called the 'Great Reshuffle' and are now comfortably settled in their new roles. Others have stopped quitting because of the more flexible nature of jobs. In addition, many companies are now taking employee well-being seriously and also making workplaces more inclusive and diverse. 

However, studies show that there are still plenty of ongoing workforce engagement problems for employers to worry about. 

Though employees are not putting in their papers, they are practicing something called ''Quiet Quitting.'' The trend of simply doing the bare minimum expected at work took off on TikTok in 2022 and clearly resonated with young people. The trend has frustrated managers, with some reportedly concerned about their employees slacking off. 

However, experts say that 'quiet quitting' could be a "great liberation" in response to the 'great resignation'. People are rejecting overwork and burnout and choosing balance and joy. They are establishing boundaries so their identity and self-value are not tied to their work productivity.

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Illegal For Minor To Be In Live-In Relationship, Says Allahabad High Court

The Allahabad High Court has observed that a person below the age of 18 cannot be in a live-in relationship and this would be an act not only immoral but also illegal.

A bench of Justices Vivek Kumar Birla and Justice Rajendra Kumar made the observation in a recent judgment dismissing a petition filed by Ali Abbas, a 17-year-old boy, and his live-in partner Saloni Yadav, 19.

"There are several conditions for a live-in relation to be treated as a relation in nature of marriage and in any case, a person has to be major (above the age of 18 years), although he may not be of marriageable age (21 years). Hence, a child cannot have a live-in relationship and this would be an act not only immoral but also illegal," the bench observed.

"An accused who is below 18 years of age cannot seek protection on the ground of having a live-in relationship with a major girl and thus, he cannot seek quashing of the criminal prosecution against him as his/her activity is not permissible in law and is thus illegal," the bench added.

The petitioners in their joint petition had requested the high court to quash the FIR lodged against the boy under IPC sections 363 and 366 for allegedly abducting the girl with an additional prayer not to arrest the boy in the case. The FIR was lodged by the family members of the girl.

The court observed that if this is permitted, this would amount to putting premium on an illegal activity and thus would not be in the interest of society.

"We are not inclined to put a seal of approval on such legally impermissible activities," it said.

The court further noted that a person below the age of 18 years is considered to be a child and such a child cannot have a live-in relationship.

Such a relationship "has not been given any protective umbrella under any law of the land" except that two major persons have the right to live their own lives and to that extent, their personal liberty is to be protected, the court added.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

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