Beijing, December 3 (PTI): China on Thursday played down its plan to build a major dam in the lower reaches of the Brahmaputra river in Tibet, saying there is no need to have "any anxiety over the project and Beijing will continue to have "good communication" with lower riparian states - India and Bangladesh. China's plan to build the dam over Brahmaputra river, reportedly at Medog in Tibet, which borders Arunachal Pradesh, was disclosed by Yan Zhiyong, chairman o

New Delhi, December 3 (PTI): Amidst reports that China plans to build a major dam on the Brahmaputra, India on Thursday said it "carefully monitors" all developments relating to the river, and that it intends to remain engaged with China on the issue of trans-border rivers to safeguard its interests. The Brahmaputra river, known as the Yarlung Tsangpo in China, originates from Tibet and flows into Arunachal Pradesh and Assam. At a media briefing, External Affairs Minist

New Delhi, December 3 (PTI): India and Bangladesh are expected to hold their Director General-level border talks in Guwahati later this month, the first time the biannual meeting will be held outside Delhi, official sources said. The 51st edition of these high-level talks will be held between the Border Security Force (BSF) and its counterpart Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) beginning December 22. Discussions on curbing a variety of border crimes and enhancing cooperation between the

Northeast has three of India's Top 10 police stations Imphal/Itanagar, December 3 (IANS):  Northeast has three of India's Top 10 police stations with Manipur securing the top spot, besides Arunachal Pradesh at third and Sikkim at seventh, according to the 2020 rankings announced by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on Thursday. The police stations were selected on the basis of their performances, including the manner in which their personnel dealt with crime agains

He might visit Manipur and Nagaland before leaving the region, but that is not finalised yet, a RSS leader tells IANS Guwahati, December 3 (IANS): Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat has reached Guwahati to kickstart his seven-day visit to the northeastern states during which he is scheduled to meet the selected pracharaks of seven northeastern states, an RSS leader said. The RSS leader said that Bhagwat, who arrived in Guwahati on Tuesday evening, would stay he

Aizawl, December 3 (PTI): Mizoram's COVID-19 tally mounted to 3,881 on Thursday as 12 more people tested positive for the infection, a health official said. Eight fresh infections were detected in Aizawl, two in Lawngtlai and one each in Lunglei and Kolasib districts, he said. Twelve more people were cured of the disease, taking the state's recovery count to 3,584, the official said. The recovery rate among the coronavirus patients in the state stands at 92.35 per cent, h

Newmai News Network Shillong | December 3 An under trial prisoner (UTP), who escaped from police custody on November 26, was again arrested on December 2 from Tura in West Garo Hills district of Meghalaya, police said. West Garo Hills Superintendent of Police, Dr MGR Kumar said Johnstar R Sangma was arrested this afternoon after a police team received inputs about his presence in Tura. Sangma had escaped from police after feigning to not respond to treatment following a bout of

Newmai News Network Imphal | December 3 Maptihel Dam affected people have threatened to impose bandh on Imphal-Ukhrul and Imphal-Kamjong roads alleging the government’s failure to disburse pending rehabilitation packages. If the state government fails to release the pending "economic livelihood rehabilitation package" and RR programme on or before December 5, bandh will be imposed from December 7 to 10, JAC against Force Construction of Mapithel Dam and Mapithel Da

Newmai News Network Imphal | December 2 Manipur Chief Minister Chief Minister N Biren Singh today laid the foundation stone for the long awaited four-lane Irang RCC Bridge on Wednesday apart from inaugurating the Irang Bailey bridge constructed by the Indian Army at Toubam village in Noney district.  Irang RCC Bridge will be constructed at an estimated cost of Rs 49.31 crore by NHIDCL while the Bailey bridge was assembled by the 52nd Engineering Regiment of the Indian Army

Shillong, December 2 (PTI): Meghalaya's demand to implement Inner Line Permit (ILP) in the state has met with stiff opposition from a Congress MLA in Assam, who said the 1873 legislation will result in harassment of bona fide Indian citizens visiting the hill state. Kamalakhya Dey Purkayastha, who met and submitted a letter to Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma on Tuesday, said the system, if enforced in Meghalaya, will obstruct regular movement of people from nearby states. An o

Silchar (Assam), December 2 (IANS): In a tragic road accident, at least five college students were killed on the spot and one was critically injured at Cachar in southern Assam on Wednesday, the police said. According to the police, the mishap occurred while an Alto vehicle and a truck collided head-on at Kalain in Cachar district. The critically injured student was taken to the Silchar Medical College and Hospital. The six victims, students of Nabin Chandra College of Badarpu

New Delhi, November 30 (IANS): After the Bihar defeat in which the Congress was found to be the weakest link in the Grand Alliance, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has started taking stock of poll preparedness in the states where the party is likely to go with an alliance partner. Last week Rahul Gandhi took stock of the West Bengal poll preparedness and on Monday he held a meeting with Assam and Tamil Nadu Congress leaders. He took feedback from the leaders about the alliances. Sou

Newmai News Network Imphal | November 30  Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh recovered from COVID-19 as his latest test results returned negative for the virus on Monday, officials said. The Chief Minister was tested positive for COVID-19 when his swab sample was subjected to testing for the virus on November 15. Since then, he was under home isolation at his official residence in Imphal. His latest swab sample was tested at the Virus Research and Diagnosis Laboratory

Guwahati, November 30 (IANS): Considering the improved COVID-19 situation, the Assam government has decided to reopen elementary schools -- Nursery to Class 6 -- from January 1, Education and Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said on Monday. He said that the government has also decided on limited reopening of the hostels of colleges and universities for final year students and for residential students of Class 10 and 12 from December 15. Assam had reopened educational instituti

COVID-19 deaths toll rise to 281 with eight deaths, infection tally crosses 25,000-mark Newmai News Network Imphal | November 30 Serosurveillance study on COVID-19 prevalence in Manipur started on Monday. The state Health authority has started the serosurveillance study on COVID-19 prevalence in four districts –Churachandpur, Imphal West, Kakching and Ukhrul districts. The Health authority is targeting to collect 4,600 samples, in the ratio of 60:40 of valley (Im

(AIDS Day Special) Agartala/Aizawl, November 30 (IANS): The status of HIV/AIDS epidemic in north-eastern states of India is indeed alarming, said a report by the National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO). The AIDS-related mortality per 1,00,000 population in India was estimated to be the highest in Manipur (36.86), followed by Mizoram (28.34), Nagaland (26.20), Andhra Pradesh (21.76), Puducherry (15.33), Meghalaya (11.08) and Telangana (10.79), the NACO report added. Union Min

Dharamsala, November 30 (IANS): Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama's second autobiography 'Freedom in Exile' has been translated into Assamese by eminent writer Yeshe Dorjee Thongchi, a recipient of the Padma Shri, the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) said on Monday. Published by Bhaskar Dutta Baruah, the Assamese version of the book is titled 'Prabasat Mukta'. First published in 1991 in the US, 'Freedom in Exile' as explained by the spiritual

Shillong, Novenber 29 (IANS): After lying low for months, an apex body of over 17 organisations are intensifying their agitation for an Inner Line Permit (ILP) system across Meghalaya to keep the hill state out of Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) purview. The Confederation of Meghalaya Social Organisations (CoMSO) has been spearheading the agitation since last year for the introduction of ILP in the remaining part of the state. It resumed its stir from Friday with the organisati

Newmai News Network Imphal | November 29 The All Tribal Students’ Union, Manipur (ATSUM) on Sunday threatened to resort to ‘drastic forms of agitations’ against the non-holding of elections to the Autonomous District Councils (ADCs) in the hill districts of Manipur. The extended terms of the six ADCs covering all the hill districts of the state are due to expire November 30. Questioning why the ADC elections are not being held, SR Andria, the general secreta

Newmai News Network Imphal | November 29 Out of the 223 injecting drug users (IDUs) tested during International Testing Week in Manipur, 36% of them were found to be positive with hepatitis C virus (HCV), Community Network for Empowerment (CoNE) revealed in a statement on Sunday. With such a high positivity rate recorded among the drug users community, it is high time the government create more awareness so that more people could come out for HCV testing, the statement observed.