A sheriff's deputy in North Carolina is facing criminal charges after authorities said he led a group of armed people to the wrong home in a search for a missing girl. New Hanover County District Attorney Ben David said Friday that Jordan Kita, who worked in the New Hanover Sheriff's Office, will be charged with trespassing and breaking and entering. Kita led an armed group May 3 to the home of Dameon Shepard, a senior at Laney High School in Wilmington, according to James W. Lea, a lawyer for Shepard's family who is preparing a civil lawsuit. The all-white group tried unsuccessfully to force its way into the home of Shepard, who is black, news outlets reported. Kita was looking for Lekayda Kempisty, a 15-year-old girl who was reported missing earlier that day. She was later found safe. In its effort to find Lekayda, Kita's group was searching for someone named Josiah who used to live next door. Shepard told news outlets that he repeatedly tried to point out to the group that they had

Nearly a month after recovering from the coronavirus, actor Zoa Morani says she has donated her blood plasma to do her bit in helping the patients currently suffering from the novel virus. The actor, who was quarantined and kept under medication in April, also urged those who have recovered from COVID-19 to donate their plasma. "Donated my blood today for the Plasma therapy trials at Nair hospital. It was fascinating! Always a silver lining I suppose. The team there was so enthusiastic and careful. There was a general physician on standby just incase of emergency and the equipment brand new and safe (sic)," Zoa wrote on Instagram on Saturday. She thanked the doctors for taking care of her and hoped patients benefit from the donation. "All #Covid19 recovered people can be a part of this trial, to help others covid patients recover! I hope this works #IndiaFightsCorona. They even gave me a certificate and Rs 500. Wont lie, I felt super cool today (sic)," she added. Zoa, along with her ..

Only 200 of the 403 MLAs will be able to sit inside the Uttar Pradesh Assembly if social distancing norms are implemented in the House as there are not enough seats, Speaker Hriday Narayan Dixit said. However, Dixit is "optimistic" and feels that by the time the next sitting of the Legislative Assembly is convened the situation will improve. "At present, the House is not in session. The Monsoon Session of the UP Legislative Assembly should be held some time in August and I am optimistic that by then the situation would have changed," the speaker told PTI in an interview. When asked to elaborate, Dixit said, "If we adhere to social distancing and leave one seat vacant, we will not have enough seats. There are 403 MLAs. Already there are not enough seats for everyone." "There is a shortage of 10-12 seats. The work goes on as (generally) 10-12 (members) are absent. In these circumstances, if one seat is left vacant then not more than 200 MLAs will be able to sit," he said. On being asked

Several NGOs working in the disability sector are facing severe financial crunch as most of the funds and donations they would earlier get has been diverted towards tackling the COVID-19 crisis. Prashant Verma, general secretary, National Association for the Blind, says he could just pay 65 per cent salary to his employees in the last two months due to financial crunch and if no fresh donations are made he does not have any money to pay his 120 staff members this month. "We feel as if we are at the end of the line," he told PTI. Verma said his organisation used to get grants from many companies under Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and even from individuals, especially during March as it was the end of the financial year. "But this year we didn't get any money. Some of the companies, which even committed to us, are saying that this time they have to think about their own survival. Many individuals (who earlier donated) don't have money to support us. A lot of the money is ...

Most private schools are not elite at all, contrary to public perception, and the Right to Education Act will let them run amok at the expense of the public education system, writes E S Ramamurthy.

The India Together editorial

The disconnect between civil society and government has led to successive generations of policy and implementation failures. The India Together editorial.

Manjari Singh reports on the opening of the Lucknow branch of Sheroes Hangout, a café run and managed by acid attack survivors under the guidance of the humanitarian organisation “Stop Acid Attacks”

A number of factors have combined to keep farmers in the country growing wheat and rice, instead of fruits and vegetables which would fetch much higher returns, writes Richa Govil.

The issue of parental authority to resort to corporeal punishment on children is a matter still hotly debated in large sections of our society writes Shankar Jaganathan.

Kalpavriksh - LEAD India, paperback, Rs.100 / U.S. $10
Related Article: The Road to Destruction

Unworkable policies conjured up in the guise of 'necessity' and 'national interest' merely perpetuate the discrimination women and girls endure, says Kalpana Sharma.

If a woman, or a group of women, does well in any sport in India, it is despite the State and the establishment and not because of it. Their achievements therefore are that much greater than of those who are pampered and feted, even for failing continuously, says Kalpana Sharma.

Legislatures around the country are invoking privilege on all sorts of issues, even as the political parties condemn each other's actions to limit press freedom. Sevanti Ninan reports.

New ideas and initiatives are emerging from the liaison between the press and the advertisers. Advertorials and advertising features are manifestations of this relationship, says Deepti Mahajan.

In the immediate aftermath of the 26 December tsunamis, many bloggers visited the affected areas. Their eyewitness accounts brought the horrors of the devastation to distant audiences and were instrumental in garnering widespread relief support, writes Rasika Dhavse.

Are bloggers just like journalists? The jury is still debating, but clearly bloggers are filling some voids in mainstream journalism, and connecting to net-savvy citizens in an exciting fashion. Blogs are not about to destroy conventional media, but they are making an impact, notes Darryl D'Monte.

We usually wake up to their existence when they don't turn up for work. And the first response is annoyance, because of the inconvenience caused to us. Films like Lakshmi and Me open our eyes to the plight of people who hold up our homes, writes Kalpana Sharma.

Eight months before the upcoming WTO ministerial of December 2005, prominent economists are closing ranks to dwarf sustained criticism of agricultural subsidies in developed nations. Devinder Sharma asserts that the continued undermining of food self-sufficiency in developing nations is economic lunacy.

Dynamo Dresden placed their entire squad into a 14-day quarantine on Saturday, just a week from the restart of the Bundesliga season, after the club reported two more cases of coronavirus.

Low-performers usually look for a boss who will treat every employee equally. A boss who doesn’t know who is doing what, where, why, when or how, a boss who doesn’t keep track and ignores performance problems.

There exists no evidence to support the popular view that pirates wore a black patch over one eye.

All those Apple fans out there in India waiting desperately to lay there hands on the next iPhones -- iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus -- can now pre-order the new smartphones.

The move came as more nations review restrictions on blood donations imposed during the 1980s HIV/AIDS crisis, with some countries imposing blanket bans, some waiting periods after gay sex, and others - like Italy - having no limitations at all.

The distortions in the US president's statements emerged over the past week alongside his relentless bragging about the US testing system, which failed in the crucial early weeks and remains globally subpar.

Why is every alternate person in rural India above the age of 40 blinded by cataract when only one in five in cities has the disease?

Gynaecologists have noticed a sharp spike in cases of menstrual complications among young women who are repeatedly using OTC EC and abortion pills.

Scientists have developed a "molecular condom", which they claim is a vaginal gel to help protect women from contracting HIV during sexual intercourse.

Blood clots, which are responsible foir killing many people every year, can now be treated without needles, i.e by oral medication.

The health department has directed that social distancing is the only effective way to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus, but it is impossible to do so in prisons as they have more prisoners than their prescribed capacity, he said in a statement.

Indian Hindi and Urdu poetry has time and again narrated horror stories of how the society turns a blind eye towards the dying poor. News18 has compiled a collection of ten such pieces of literature to depict the present condition of migrant workers.

As many as 567 foreign attendees of the congregation held in Delhi's Nizamuddin area in March, will be handed over to the police.

Sania Mirza took to social media to post a picture with her son Izhaan.