Parachute demo triggers false alarm in US Capitol

HT Daily News Wrap

UK PM Boris Johnson to hear India’s stand on Ukraine conflict, Parachute demo triggers a false alarm in US Capitol, Former President Donald Trump walks out of Piers Morgan interview & other top news in this bulletin.
The Ukraine crisis will figure in British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s engagements during his two-day visit beginning Thursday though the focus will be on keeping the Indo-Pacific free from coercion and giving a push to a bilateral free trade pact. Johnson will start his visit in Gujarat, where he is scheduled to visit the Gujarat Biotechnology University and a factory, and interact with top business leaders, and then travel to New Delhi, where he will hold talks with his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi on Friday. While the Russian invasion of Ukraine and its fallout on the world order is set to figure in Johnson’s interactions with Indian interlocutors, people familiar with the matter said the British prime minister will take the same line that foreign secretary Liz Truss had during her visit last month – that the UK is not in the business of lecturing or telling other countries what to do. Johnson is expected to set out the British position on Ukraine and hear the Indian side so that there is a better understanding of each other’s positions, the people said. “There will be discussions on the long term consequences of the Ukraine crisis. For its part, the UK supports the freedom of Ukraine,” one of the people said, adding Russia’s behaviour will decide the future course of action in the crisis. Former US President Donald Trump appeared to have stormed out of an interview after British television host Piers Morgan pressed him about the results of the 2020 presidential election. In a 30-second advert for Morgan’s new show, which will air on Rupert Murdoch’s Talk TV and Fox Nation on April 25, Trump appears to get agitated when the presenter tells him that the election was “free and fair” and that “you lost”. “Only a fool would think that,” the Republican leader replies. At the beginning of the dramatic clip, Trump tells the controversial broadcaster: “I think I’m a very nice man. Much more honest than you, actually.” When Morgan confronts him for not being able to produce “hard evidence” to back his baseless claims of widespread electoral fraud in 2020, Trump says “I don’t think you are real”. In what promises to be the “most explosive interview of the year”, Trump asks Morgan to “finish it up” and “turn the camera off” before he appears to walk off the interview. Election strategist Prashant Kishor on Wednesday met Congress president Sonia Gandhi and gave a detailed presentation on various issues that needed to be addressed to strengthen the party, leader privy to the meeting said requesting anonymity. The meeting, held at the Congress chief’s residence in Delhi, was also attended by party leaders, including Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and KC Venugopal, besides chief minister of Rajasthan Ashok Gehlot and Chhattisgarh CM Bhupesh Baghel. “He (Kishor) has become a brand within the country,” Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot told reporters before attending the meeting. “It will be good if his experience is used in uniting the opposition and in fighting the NDA government of PM (Narendra) Modi and there is need to do so…,” Gehlot said, noting that this is not the first time the advice of experts like him is being taken. A Congress leader privy to the meeting said Kishor discussed at length various steps to be taken to increase the party’s presence, need of coalition and communication strategies. The U.S. Capitol was briefly evacuated Wednesday evening after police said they were tracking an aircraft “that poses a probable threat,” but the plane turned out to be a military aircraft with people parachuting out of it for a demonstration, officials told The Associated Press. The alert to evacuate the Capitol came shortly after 6:30 p.m. The aircraft, a single-engine plane, was reported to be circling around Washington after taking off from Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, two people familiar with the matter. The people said the aircraft did not report taking off and did not have appropriate clearance. The people were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity. The plane was carrying members of the U.S. Army’s Golden Knights, who then parachuted into the Washington Nationals’ baseball stadium for a pregame demonstration. Nationals Park is a little more than a mile away from the U.S. Capitol. A 42-year-old BJP member, identified as Jitu Chaudhary, was shot dead on Wednesday in east Delhi’s Ghazipur area, police said. Police said the incident took place around 8.15pm. The patrolling staff of Ghazipur police station noticed a gathering outside his residence. Jitu Chaudhary was found lying on the road in front of his house with gunshot wound. Jitu Chaudhary was the secretary of BJP’s Matur Vihar district unit. He was shifted to a nearby hospital by the people where he was declared brought dead, police said. Deputy Commissioner of Police (East) Priyanka Kashyap said that a case under appropriate sections has been registered and police are searching for the killers. A crime team inspected the scene of the crime and found a few empty cartridges and other important evidence, she said. Police are scanning the CCTV footage and have asked eyewitnesses to come forward to help them figure out the sequence of events, she added.