REGIONAL

The Supreme Court on Friday agreed to list after Dussehra vacation the pleas challenging the Centre's decision to abrogate provisions of Article 370 which had given special status to Jammu and Kashmir. A bench comprising Chief Justice Uday Umesh Lalit and justices Indira Banerjee and S.Ravindra Bhat took note of the submissions of a counsel that the pleas were assured to be listed after the summer vacation but they could not be listed. “We will certainly list that," the CJI said. On April 25 this year, a bench headed by the then CJI N.V.Ramana, since retired, had agreed to consider listing after the summer vacation the pleas challenging the Centre's decision to abrogate provisions of Article 370. The pleas were then mentioned by interveners Radha Kumar,academic and author and Kapi...

Weather department on Friday forecast mainly dry weather in Kashmir division and isolated light rain and thunder in Jammu division in next 23 hours. A meteorological department official here told GNS that isolated to scattered light rain and thunders were expected during the subsequent two days. Regarding the minimum temperature, he said, Srinagar recorded a low of 13.7°C against 13.3°C on the previous night. The temperature was 0.9°C above normal for the summer capital during this time of the year, he said. Qazigund recorded a low of 15.0°C against 11.0°C on the previous night. The temperature was 4.5°C above normal there, he said. In Pahalgam, the mercury settled at 9.6°C against 7.8°C on the previous night and it was 3.4°C above normal for the south Kashmir resort, he said. ...

Inhabitants of Munawarabad road and its adjacent areas here have expressed resentment against the authorities for failing to repair the Munawarabad Chowk to Khayam Chowk road stretch, terming it to be a reason for immense hardships. Talking to the news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO), the locals said that it has been years together that the pivotal road stretch that leads to a known private hospital has been left on God’s mercy. “We are facing immense hardships as the road has developed massive potholes, causing huge inconvenience to the commuters, especially those who visit the hospital on a regular basis,” Fayaz Ahmad, a local resident told KNO. He said that the concerned authorities seem least concerned over the sufferings of local populace here as the macadamization of the ...

A soldier allegedly shot himself dead in South Kashmir's Anantnag district on Thursday evening. An official told the news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO) that the soldier posted with Army's 1 RR shot himself dead with his service rifle at High Ground in Annatnag. He said that the reason behind soldier taking this extreme step was not immediately, however, investigation has been started in this regard—(KNO)

Bhat Yasir The body of a minor boy was recovered from the Moli Nag Behak forest area in Uri of north Kashmir’s Baramulla district, hours after he was taken by a wild animal. Officials told The Kashmiriyat that on Thursday, a boy identified as Ali Hussain (7) son of Abbas Hussain was with the family in the forest area when a leopard attacked and vanished into the dense forest area along with the 7-year-old. The family raised a hue and cry but could not save him from the clutches of the beast. Later a police party also reached the spot and started massive searches along with the locals and family. During the searches, the body of the minor was found in the dense forest area. An official of the wildlife department confirming the incident said that the teams of wildlife and Poli...

Six days after a minor girl was killed by a leopard, a wild animal on Thursday picked up and took along a 7-year-old boy from Moli Nag Mehak forest area of Dhani Syedian Uri in north Kashmir’s Baramulla district this evening. According to reports reaching GNS, the boy identified as Ali Hussain (7) son of Abass Hussain was with the family in the forest area when the the wild animal attacked him and vanished into dense forest area along with him. The family raised a hue and cry but could not save him from the clutches of the beast. Later a police party also reached the spot and started massive searches along with the locals and family. A police official confirmed the incident and told GNS that efforts are underway to find out the boy. He said that animal is suspected to be a leopard. (...

The Waqf Board has identified the land for the much-needed cancer hospital in Kashmir at Eidgah area of Srinagar with Chairperson Darkshan Andrabi saying that the foundation stone of the hospital is likely to be laid by Union Home Minister Amit Shah soon. Talking exclusively with the news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO), Andrabi said that the cancer hospital was set to come up near Hazrat Sultanul Arifeen (RA) shrine, but the Department of Archaeology didn’t allow the construction of a building there. However, she said that a huge chunk of Waqf land, which is near about 650 kanals in Eidgah is available. “The encroachment will be removed and 60-80 kanals of land will be kept for the cancer hospital so that the poor and needy people will get some respite,” she said, adding that it ...

Over 200 garbage lifting small-size trucks called ‘Hooper’ are lying untouched for the past six months in the Srinagar Municipal Corporation (SMC) owned yard near Aloochi Bagh area of uptown Srinagar. These trucks had been procured by SMC to lift the solid waste material from the interiors of Srinagar city, but due to the non-availability of drivers, these vehicles have not been used for the required services and are lying where they were parked six months ago. Insiders at SMC told news agency Kashmir News Trust that authorities are pressurizing the Ward Officers to identify those ‘Sweepers’ who can drive these vehicles so that they can be used to lift garbage from different wards of Srinagar city. Sources added that not a single ‘Sweeper’ has shown a willingness to drive these sm...

The much-awaited 500-bed Children Hospital in Bemina area of Srinagar will be made functional from September 26, officials said here on Thursday. An official told the news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO) that all machinery and other equipment have been shifted to the hospital and it will be made functional from Monday. He said that machinery and all equipment have been installed at the hospital so that the patients won't suffer. “From Monday 10 am, OPD and admissions at GB Panth will be closed and at the same time, admission of patients will start at Children hospital Bemina,” he said. Notably, work on the hospital was initially started in 2013 but the then chief minister Mufti Muhammad Sayeed gave an extension in October 2015 and laid the foundation stone for a 500-bedded M...

Climate change that is a long term shift in patterns of temperature and weather has affected quality and even quantity of the fruit crop in Kashmir, experts said. As per news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO), due to the heat wave, the farmers whose livelihood is dependent on the horticulture are very much worried as they are unable to understand what to do at what time. Experts believe that the effects of climate change are likely to increase in the coming time and there is a need to take adaptability measures to lower the effect of climate change. Dr Aamir Hussian Bhat, a lecturer of Environmental Science at GDC Hadipora Baramulla told KNO that due to climate change the chances of damage to crops due to untimely snowfall, hailstorm, cloudburst, heavy rains have increased thereb...