Outages across Delhi after later evening rain, storm
New Delhi, May 21 (PTI): Several parts of the national capital faced outages as a late Wednesday evening rainy storm pummelled the city.
The thunderstorm, accompanied by a hailing, caused power disruption in parts of the city, primarily due to falling of trees and their branches on electricity cables, said a spokesperson of BSES discoms BRPL and BYPL.
"BSES Operations and Maintenance teams are on a high alert, with Quick Response Teams promptly deployed to attend to complaints. In most cases, power supply is being restored swiftly," he said.
In a few pockets, however, restoration is taking longer than usual primarily due to the damage caused to electricity infrastructure, he said.
"As a precautionary measure we had to temporarily switch off power supply in certain areas to prevent electrocution and ensure public safety. The safety and well-being of citizens remains the highest priority for us," he said.
Power supply in parts of Bawana, Narela, Jahangirpuri, Civil Lines, Shakti Nagar, Model Town, Wazirabad, and Dhirpur in north Delhi was affected, TPDDL said in a statement.
"To ensure public safety, electricity supply had to be temporarily suspended in certain areas as a precaution to prevent electrocution," it said.
"Tata Power-DDL's Operations and Maintenance teams are maintaining a high state of readiness, with Quick Response Teams (QRTs) swiftly addressing service complaints," it said.
Power restoration is proceeding quickly in most of the affected areas, it added.
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South African police arrest suspect in mass shooting that killed 12, including 3 children
Johannesburg (AP): A 32-year-old suspect has been arrested in connection with a mass shooting which claimed the lives of 12 people including three children at an unlicensed pub earlier this month, South African police said on Monday.
The man is suspected of being one of the three people who opened fire on patrons in a pub at Saulsville township, west of South Africa's capital Pretoria, killing 12 people including three children aged 3, 12 and 16.
At least 13 people were also injured during the attack, whose motive remains unknown.
According to the police, the suspect was arrested on Sunday while traveling to Botlokwa in Limpopo province, more than 340 km from where the mass shooting took place on Dec 6.
An unlicensed firearm believed to have been used during the attack was recovered from the suspect's vehicle.
“The 32-year-old suspect was intercepted by Limpopo Tracking Team on the R101 Road in Westenburg precinct. During the arrest, the team recovered an unlicensed firearm, a hand gun, believed to have been used in the commission of the multiple murders. The firearm will be taken to the Forensic Science Laboratory for ballistic analysis,” police said in statement.
The suspect was arrested on the same day that another mass shooting at a pub took place in the Bekkersdal township, west of Johannesburg, in which nine people were killed and 10 wounded when unknown gunmen opened fire on patrons.
Police have since launched a search for the suspects.
South Africa has one of the highest homicide rates in the world and recorded more than 26,000 homicides in 2024 — an average of more than 70 a day. Firearms are by far the leading cause of death in homicides.
The country of 62 million people has relatively strict gun ownership laws, but many killings are committed with illegal guns, according to authorities.
According to police, mass shootings at unlicensed bars are becoming a serious problem. Police shut down more than 11,000 illegal taverns between April and September this year and arrested more than 18,000 people for involvement in illegal liquor sales.
