Gadag (Karnataka), March 14: At least seven school girls had to be hospitalised after a gang of miscreants threw chemical colour on them while celebrating Holi in Lakshmeshwar town of Gadag district of Karnataka on Friday.

According to preliminary information, four of the seven school girls are in critical condition. They are complaining of breathing problems and chest pain. They have been shifted to Gadag Institute of Medical Sciences (GIMS), while the remaining girls are being treated at the local government hospital in Lakshmeshwar.

The incident has sparked outrage among the people and the parents of the victims have rushed to the hospital. Considering the seriousness of the matter, the police have started searching for the gang of miscreants.

According to the police, the school girls were waiting for the bus to go to school to take the exam at the bus stand near Suvarnagiri Tanda in Lakshmeshwar town.

Sources said a gang of miscreants came on bikes, stopped near the bus stand and started throwing colours on them. Meanwhile, the school bus arrived and the girls boarded it. The miscreants followed the bus on bikes and entered the bus and specifically targeted seven schoolgirls and poured chemical colours on them.

Preliminary investigations revealed that the chemical colours thrown by the miscreants contained cow dung, eggs, phenol and colour mixed together. The girls unknowingly swallowed some amount of the mixture, causing them to experience breathing problems and other symptoms.

The students fell sick and were immediately rushed to a hospital for treatment.

The scenes at the hospital were heartbreaking, with the girls suffering from breathing problems and severe chest pain. Senior police officials rushed to the hospital and assured the parents that strict action would be taken against the culprits.

The accused managed to escape on bikes and the police are gathering information from locals and other passengers on the school bus to nab them. More details are expected to emerge as the investigation progresses. The authorities are yet to issue any official statement on the matter.

New Delhi, March 14: Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal on Friday on Friday said that he “had a forward-looking discussion with US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer on a mutually beneficial Bilateral Trade Agreement” between India and the US.

“Our approach will be guided by ‘India First’, ‘Viksit Bharat’ and our Comprehensive Strategic Partnership,” Goyal posted on X along with a photo of his meeting Greer.

Goyal had previously met Greer and US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick during his visit to the US last week. This followed US President Donald Trump and PM Narendra Modi’s talks on negotiating the first tranche of a mutually beneficial, multi-sector Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA) by the fall of 2025.

The two leaders resolved to deepen the US-India trade relationship to promote growth that ensures fairness, national security, and job creation. To this end, the leaders set a bold new goal for bilateral trade – “Mission 500” – aiming to more than double total bilateral trade to $500 billion by 2030.

US Trade Secretary Lutnick said recently that he was keen to negotiate a broad-based trade agreement with India, taking into account the entire trade relationship rather than individual products.

Meanwhile, the government has informed the Parliamentary Standing Committee on External Affairs that India has not made any commitment to reduce tariffs on goods imported from the USA.

In a briefing on the issue, Commerce Secretary Sunil Barthwal told the Parliamentary committee that negotiations between India and the US were still ongoing and that no trade agreement had been finalised.

The Commerce Secretary’s clarification came in the wake of US President Trump’s statement that India has agreed to bring “way down” its tariffs on US goods.

Barthwal said: “One cannot go by the US President’s claims and on media reports as the bilateral trade agreement talks between the two nations are still on. India has not committed to anything on trade tariffs to the US.”

He also made it clear that India’s interests were of paramount importance and would be taken care of during the trade negotiations.

Barthwal said that India was in favour of increasing bilateral trade with the USA but would not indiscriminately lower tariffs, especially in sectors crucial to its domestic economy.

“India prefers to negotiate tariff reductions bilaterally rather than multilaterally to ensure national interests are upheld,” Barthwal told the committee.

Trump’s ‘America First’ policy has the potential to disrupt world trade as the US President has accused trading partners of unfair practices and threatened to impose punitive tariffs on a large scale. He has accused India of levying massive tariffs on US goods.

Moscow, March 14: President Vladimir Putin supported the US ceasefire proposal ‘in principle’ but also sought some clarifications and put some conditions. This has raised questions on the hopes of an early end to the Russia-Ukraine war.

In February 2022, the Russian army launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Russia called its 2022 invasion a ‘special military operation’ designed to “liberate Ukraine from Nazism” and prevent NATO expansion.

On Washington’s ceasefire agreement, Putin said that many important issues need to be resolved and any agreement should address the root causes of the conflict.

Putin told media in the Kremlin, “We agree with the proposals to end hostilities. The idea itself is correct, and we certainly support it.”

The Russian President said, “But we believe that the pause should be such that it leads to long-term peace and eliminates the root causes of this crisis.”

Putin said that many issues need to be clarified. He thanked Trump for ending the war.

On Tuesday, after more than eight hours of talks with Ukrainian and US officials in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, Kiev announced its acceptance of the ceasefire proposal.

Meanwhile, Russia on Thursday claimed that its army has retaken control of Sudja, the largest city occupied by Ukraine in the Kursk region. Moscow’s claim is a big blow to Ukraine, which wanted to use this city as a ‘bargaining chip’ in ceasefire talks.

According to the report of Russian state news agency TASS, the announcement came after US special envoy Steve Witkoff arrived in Moscow on Thursday.

In August last year, thousands of Ukrainian troops occupied about 1,300 square (500 square miles) kilometers of Russia’s Kursk region. Kiev said this was an attempt to gain leverage in future talks and force Russia to withdraw from eastern Ukraine. However, in recent days the Russian army has achieved significant success in this area.

According to the Russian army, due to the rapid advance in the last few days, Ukraine has less than 200 square km (77 square miles) of area left in Kursk.