Delhi Pollution News Live Updates: As Delhi-NCR chokes, schools shut, JNU goes online as AQI hits ‘severe’

A stampede at a middle school in China’s northwestern Xinjiang region has left 14 people injured, according to local authorities.

The incident occurred at around 3:25 pm (7:25 am GMT) on Monday at the No. 8 Middle School in Kashgar, a statement on a social media account affiliated with the city government said.

A student fell in front of a door as pupils were moving between a dormitory and a teaching building, “causing a stampede”, the statement said, without giving further details.

It said three people were “seriously injured and are being treated with all-out efforts”.

A further 11 people were “lightly injured and are being kept in hospital for observation”.

French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday hailed the United States’ decision allowing Ukraine to fire US-supplied long-range missiles into Russia as it fights Moscow’s invasion.

“It was a decision that was a totally good one,” Macron said in Brazil, on the sidelines of a G20 summit also attended by US President Joe Biden, who made the policy change.

“I understand it was also triggered by a grave change in the conflict which shouldn’t be underestimated, which is the entry of North Korean troops alongside Russia on what is European soil,” he told journalists.

Macron added that Russia was “the only power making an escalation in this conflict today” with the North Korean mobilization. “So it’s really a sudden change in this war that led to the Americans’ decision.”

Donald Trump on Monday nominated former congressman Sean Duffy to be transportation secretary and oversee a huge federal portfolio of infrastructure spending and transit regulations.

As the incoming Republican administration promises a swath of spending cuts, Trump in a statement praised Duffy’s advocacy in congress for “fiscal responsibility.”

Still, with the leader of the Department of Transportation tasked with overseeing major infrastructure upgrades and maintenance, the president-elect said Duffy, from Wisconsin, worked with Democratic colleagues in Congress on a major road and bridge project.

And as the Trump administration seeks to slash regulations, the incoming president said Duffy would eliminate racial diversity programs for pilots and air traffic controllers.

Democratic Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs said on Monday she is willing to work with President-elect Donald Trump’s new administration on border security issues like stopping fentanyl trafficking but not in areas that she said could harm Arizona families such as mass deportation. Hobbs travelled to the Arizona-Mexico border on Monday to trumpet her state’s National Guard work helping crack down on smuggling of the deadly synthetic opioid into the US through Nogales, Arizona. More than half of all border seizures of the drug are made in Nogales.

“Border security was a core issue of the Trump campaign,” Hobbs told reporters as vehicles moved behind her. “I look forward to having conversations with the incoming president about Arizona’s needs, including border security and the work we’ve done here to build these partnerships that are actually producing results and how we can continue those partnerships under his administration.”

But, she added, there are Arizona families who “are worried about threats from the Trump administration as well”.

A U.S. Senate Judiciary subcommittee overseeing technology issues will hold a hearing Tuesday on Chinese hacking incidents, including a recent incident involving American telecom companies.

The hearing to be chaired by Senator Richard Blumenthal will review the threats “Chinese hacking and influence pose to our democracy, national security, and economy,” his office said, adding the senator plans “to raise concerns about Elon Musk’s potential conflicts of interest with China as Mr. Musk becomes increasingly involved in government affairs.”

Musk, the head of electric car company Tesla, social media platform X and rocket company SpaceX, emerged during the election campaign as a major supporter of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump. Trump appointed him as co-head of a newly created Department of Government Efficiency to “slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures, and restructure Federal Agencies.”

A total of 43,020 voters have been deleted from the electoral rolls in Mumbai after the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, according to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC).

Of the total deletions, 26,429 voters were removed from Mumbai City, while 16,591 were from the suburbs. The deletions were carried out under Form 7, which allows voters to apply for removal due to various reasons, including duplication and voter status changes.

This observation comes after the completion of the voter list revision process following the general elections of 2024.

The Maharashtra Assembly elections will take place on November 20, and votes will be counted on November 23.

Meanwhile, the campaign ended on Monday for Maharashtra and the second phase of Jharkhand assembly polls, as well as 15 assembly by-poll seats, with voting due to take place on November 20.

The United States has clarified to Bangladesh that it does not support government involvement in violent crackdowns on peaceful protests.
This statement follows a recent clash between members of the Hindu community and law enforcement forces in Bangladesh’s port city of Chittagong, triggered by a Facebook post criticising ISKCON.

When questioned about the reported crackdowns on protests and the situation of minorities in Bangladesh, US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller reiterated that the US supports the right to peaceful protest and opposes any government engagement in violent responses to such demonstrations.

“I’m not going to speak to private diplomatic engagements from here, but we have made it clear to the government of Bangladesh, as we do to countries around the world, that we support the right to peaceful protest and that no government should engage in violent crackdowns on peaceful demonstrations,” Matthew Miller stated during a press briefing.

An Israeli airstrike slammed into a densely populated residential area in Lebanon’s capital near key government and diplomatic buildings late Monday, killing at least five people as the U.S. pressed ahead with cease-fire efforts.

Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency said two missiles hit the area of Zoqaq al-Blat neighborhood – where local U.N. headquarters and Lebanon’s parliament and prime minister’s office are located.

Since late September, Israel has dramatically escalated its bombardment of Lebanon, vowing to severely weaken the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militant group and end its barrages in Israel that the militants have said are in solidarity with Palestinians during the war in Gaza.

The U.S. has been working on a cease-fire proposal that would remove Israeli ground forces from Lebanon and push Hezbollah forces far from the Israeli border. Lebanon’s Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, a Hezbollah ally who is mediating for the militants, is expected to meet with U.S. envoy Amos Hochstein in the Lebanese capital on Tuesday. The White House has not confirmed Hochstein’s visit.

Amid worsening air quality in the national capital, Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) has decided to conduct classes online until November 22, citing severe pollution and hazardous AQI levels in Delhi and the NCR.

In Haryana, the Office of the Deputy Commissioner, Gurugram, announced that, as per directives from the Director of Secondary Education Haryana and after assessing the Air Quality Index (AQI) situation, all physical classes up to the 12th standard in Gurugram district will remain suspended from November 19 to November 23, 2024, or until further notice.

Air quality has deteriorated in several cities, including Mumbai, Delhi, and parts of northern India, reaching severe levels and raising concerns about health risks.

Meanwhile, in the national capital, the Supreme Court on Monday directed Delhi and NCR states to strictly implement GRAP Stage IV anti-pollution measures, as the AQI remains in the “severe” category.