The big news: PM Modi denounces attacks on Kashmiris after Pulwama strike, and 9 other top stories
Other headlines: At least 80 people died in Assam after consuming spurious liquor, and Kejriwal will observe a hunger strike from March 1 for Delhi statehood.
A look at the headlines right now:
- ‘Our fight is for Kashmir, not against Kashmiris,’ says PM Narendra Modi: The Centre also asked states and Union territories to ensure the safety of Kashmiris, while 100 companies of paramilitary forces were deployed in Srinagar amid a massive crackdown, and separatist leader Yasin Malik was detained from his home in Srinagar on Friday night.
- Toll in Assam spurious liquor consumption case rises to 80, nearly 200 fall ill: Deputy Superintendent of Police Partha Protim Saikia said that a sample of the liquor had been sent for forensic investigation.
- Arvind Kejriwal announces indefinite fast from March 1 for full statehood for Delhi: Though the public votes for a government, it has no power, the chief minister said.
- In Uttar Pradesh’s Bhadohi, 13 killed and six injured in a blast: According to the police, firecrackers were illegally manufactured at the site of the explosion.
- Airports put on high alert after Air India’s Mumbai control centre gets a hijack threat: The Bureau of Civil Aviation Security directed the Central Industrial Security Force as well as all airlines to ramp up security measures.
- Apurvi Chandela clinches 10m air rifle gold medal at ISSF Shooting World Cup, sets new world record: The Indian started slow and was placed seventh after her first shot. She did not look back from that point.
- Activists urge TN government to ensure safe return of environmentalist S Mugilan: He went missing on February 15 after accusing senior police officials of orchestrating violence at the anti-Sterlite protests in Thoothukudi.
- Seven girls, including five witnesses in Muzaffarpur rape case, go missing from Bihar shelter home: The police have launched a search operation and are conducting raids at bus stops and railway stations to locate them.
- Government does not want to accept that there is an employment crisis, claims Rahul Gandhi: If the Congress is voted to power, it will provide the status of ‘martyr’ to those paramilitary personnel killed in the line of duty, added Gandhi. Earlier in the day, Modi had claimed his government had replaced UPA’s corruption with high growth rate and low inflation.
- Fire breaks out in parking lot of Aero India 2019, more than 300 cars gutted in blaze: Multiple fire tenders were deployed at the spot.