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Good evening! Here are the top stories in your evening news bulletin.
Supreme Court’s rap over Corbett tiger reserve: The Supreme Court on Wednesday criticised former Uttarakhand forest minister Harak Singh Rawat and ex-divisional forest officer (DFO) Kishan Chand for allowing illegal construction and felling of trees in the Corbett tiger reserve. The Court took a grim view of how the work for the Pakhro tiger safari was started at Corbett due to collusion by the then DFO Chand and Rawat which led to massive felling of trees of construction of permanent structures. The bench said, “This is a classic case to show how the public trust doctrine has been thrown into the dustbin. It shows how nexus between politician and bureaucrat led to heavy damage to the environment.” The Court restrained from directing any action as CBI probe is pending in the matter as the Court hoped that law will take its own course. The Court further stated that the state cannot escape its responsibility of restituting the damage caused to the environment and its duty to restore the harm caused.
PM Modi meets Sandeshkhali women: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday met the women victims of sexual assault in Sandeshkhali village of West Bengal. “They put forward their ordeal and PM heard them patiently like a father figure. The victims were very emotional with the fact that PM understood their pain,” sources in the Bharatiya Janata Party told HT. Sandeshkhali, a village in North 24 Parganas has been on the boil after several women accused local Trinamool Congress leader Sheikh Shahjahan and his aides of sexually assaulting them. The 40-year-old TMC leader, also known as ‘Bhai’ by his supporters, was arrested last week. Prior to his rally in Barasat, PM Modi had hit out at Mamata Banerjee over Sandeshkhali. “Whatever happened in Sandeshkhali is a matter of shame. The TMC government is trying to protect the person responsible for this. However, they have received a setback from the high court as well as the Supreme Court… The storm of Sandeshkhali will reach every part of West Bengal,” he had said.
Know about Kolkata’s underwater metro: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday inaugurated India’s first underwater metro section in Kolkata. He also took an underwater metro ride with school students in the City of Joy. The prime minister was welcomed by a huge crowd upon his arrival at the Esplanade metro station. The people were seen chanting ‘Modi Modi’ and ‘Jai Shri Ram’. Modi also laid the foundation stone of multiple connectivity projects worth ₹15,400 crore. The Kolkata Metro’s Howrah Maidan-Esplanade section, is the country’s first underwater transportation tunnel. It has the deepest metro station in India, the Howrah metro station at 30 metres. The 4.8 kilometres stretch between the Howrah Maidan and Esplanade is a vital segment of the East-West Metro corridor. It connects key areas including the IT hub Salt Lake Sector V. According to the Metro Railway, the 4.8-km stretch of East-West Metro from Howrah Maidan to Esplanade has been built at a cost of ₹4,965 crore.
What’s next for Nikki Haley? Former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley’s refusal to concede to Republican challenger Donald Trump has demonstrated that she does not like losing. In the Super Tuesday primaries, Haley managed to dash Trump’s dreams of sweeping all 15 states by capturing Vermont. However, she has not revealed any information regarding her future plans. While sources close to Haley stated that she has no intention of pulling out immediately after a series of severe defeats, Trump claimed in his victory speech at the Mar-a-Lago resort that his triumph would “unify the party and this country”. Haley, who spent Super Tuesday at home in South Carolina, had told a gathering in Richmond, Virginia: “This is not about a future political party or a political career or anything. The reason I’m doing this is for my kids, and your kids and grandkids.” Speaking to Telegraph, Haley’s former staffer said that she would discuss her future plans with her family members, including her children and husband Michael Haley. “That’s the first thing she’s going to do – to talk to those people who are closest to her about what the future looks like,” said her ex-aide Rob Godfrey.
Who is Bill Gates’ girlfriend? Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and his girlfriend Paula Hurd attended the pre-wedding celebrations for Anant Ambani and Radhika Merchant together. The couple have been in a relationship following Bill Gates’ divorce from Melinda French Gates in August 2021. In February 2023, a report claimed that their relationship was “widely known” but Paula “Hurd had yet to meet Gates’ kids.” Before confirming their relationship, Bill Gates and Paula Hurd were seen together at several events- Laver Cup in September 2022 and Australian Open in January 2023. But two years after Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates announced that they were divorcing after 27 years of marriage, his relationship with Paula Hurd was confirmed. The billionaire told the BBC that he planned to find love again after his divorce. He had then said, “Sure, I’m not a robot.” Paula Hurd was married to Mark Hurd, CEO of software company Oracle, for 30 years, until his death in October 2019. She graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a bachelor’s degree in business administration in 1984 after which she worked in sales and alliance management at the software company NCR (National Cash Register). After this she worked as a developer and organizer of “memorable” event experiences for personal, corporate and charitable occasions.
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