Breaking News, March 17 | LIVE UPDATES

A fresh plea was filed in the Supreme Court on Thursday challenging the Karnataka High Court verdict which dismissed the petitions seeking permission to wear a Hijab inside the classroom saying Hijab is not a part of the essential religious practice in the Islamic faith. The petition has been filed by one Sajeeda Begum, who had also sought to get herself impleaded as a party in the proceedings related to Hijab ban before the Karnataka High Court. The top court on Wednesday said that it would list other pleas on the issue for hearing after Holi vacation.

Indian-American public health expert Dr Ashish Jha will take over as President Joe Biden's COVID-19 Response Coordinator next month, the White House announced on Thursday. Biden's COVID-19 coordinator Jeff Zients and his deputy Natalie Quillian are leaving the administration next month, it said.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday handed over a government job certificate to deceased IB officer Ankit Sharma's brother Ankur Sharma, the Chief Minister's Office said. Ankit Sharma was an Intelligence Bureau officer killed during the riots in northeast Delhi. Ankur Sharma has been posted in the education department of the Delhi government, the CMO said in a tweet in Hindi.

A day after assuming office, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Thursday urged officials to turn the state into a frontrunner. Addressing his maiden meeting after taking oath, Mann urged the top officials of the state's civil and police administration to discharge their duties as public servants in the letter and spirit.

Aromatic Tea, an Assam-based startup, has launched a CTC tea named after Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to "honour his valour and courage" in the face of Russian invasion. 

Notwithstanding the geopolitical crisis created by the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict, India is making steady progress as it recovers from the third wave of pandemic though downside risks remain, the Reserve Bank said in an article on Thursday. Observing that India's macroeconomic fundamentals remain strong, the article in the RBI Bulletin on 'State of the Economy' said, "unfolding global developments nevertheless pose downside risks in terms of spillovers." It further said that the ongoing geopolitical crisis has heightened the uncertainty clouding the global macroeconomic and financial landscape even as the world economy struggles to recover from the pandemic.

Two quacks were arrested and their clinics sealed after they failed to produce their medical license and allegedly misbehaved with government officials, police said on Thursday. The accused Jitender and Naresh Sharma had been running health clinics illegally in Jalalabad under Thana Bhawan police station limits, they said. On Wednesday, a team from the health department led by chief medical officer Dr Sushil Kumar raided the two clinics and got them sealed. Police said the Jitender and Naresh also misbehaved with the health department team.

A priest attached to the Syrian Orthodox Church in Pathanamthitta district was arrested for allegedly misbehaving with a 17-year-old girl on Thursday, police said. The Women's Police Station officials took into custody 34-year-old Pondson John, the priest attached to the Orthodox Church at Koodal, from his residence. According to a police official, the arrest of the priest has been recorded and the remaining procedures are on. The arrest was based on a complaint of a school girl who confided to her friend about the incident. Her friend, in turn, informed the school authorities. Later, the school authorities informed the local Child Line officials who got in touch with the local police, who after a preliminary probe took the priest into custody. According to the complaint, the teenager was taken for counselling to the residence of the priest on March 12. Under the pretext of counselling, the priest misbehaved with the young girl.

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The global coronavirus caseload has topped 463.6 million, while the deaths have surged to more than 6.05 million and vaccinations to over 10.73 billion, according to Johns Hopkins University. In its latest update on Thursday morning, the University's Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) revealed that the current global caseload and the death toll stood at 463,663,236 and 6,057,996, respectively, while the total number of vaccine doses administered has increased to 10,736,470,041. The US continues to be the worst-hit country with the world's highest number of cases and deaths at 79,631,708 and 968,329, according to the CSSE. The second worst hit country in terms of cases is India (42,998,938 infections and 516,072 deaths), followed by Brazil (29,488,777 infections and 656,231 deaths). The other countries with over 10 million cases are France (23,946,847), the UK (20,059,335), Russia (17,196,841), Germany (17,821,440), Turkey (14,623,028), Italy (13,563,466) and Spain (11,260,040), the CSSE figures showed.

The Bulandshahr district court in Uttar Pradesh has approved sedition charges against 36 accused in the 2018 Siyana violence case. The incident, which occurred due to rumours of cow slaughter, led to the brutal death of a police inspector and a civilian. The main accused, Yogesh Raj, a Bajrang Dal member, has been in jail ever since the Supreme Court stayed the Allahabad High Court's order granting him bail. The apex court had said it "cannot let lynching over cow slaughter go on". Additional sessions judge (ADJ) Vineeta Vimal, in her order, said, "It has been confirmed from the police investigation that the accused were part of an unruly mob with weapons. They arrived at the spot with an aim to disturb peace. The court allows Section 124-A (sedition) in the charge sheet and trial will take place accordingly." The orders were shared with all the accused who pleaded 'not guilty'.

The Union government has not yet paid GST dues of Rs 26,000 crore to Maharashtra and if the state gets this money it would be very helpful, Minister of State for Finance Shambhuraj Desai told the state Legislative Council on Wednesday. Responding to a discussion on the Budget in the upper house, Desai said the payment of Goods and Services Tax dues by the Centre was pending since 2019. "If the Union government pays the dues on time, it would be helpful for the state to address other issues," he said. He also claimed that the state government has succeeded in checking "financial leakages" in some schemes.

A court in Odisha's Kendrapara district sentenced a 49-year-old man to life imprisonment on Wednesday for killing a villager who tried to save his wife from a rape attempt by the convict eight years ago. Kendrapara district and sessions judge Gopal Chandra Behera found Rangadhar Biswal guilty of murder and molestation. The court, besides awarding Biswal life sentence, slapped a fine of Rs 10,000 on him. On March 28, 2014, Biswal had molested and tried to rape the woman when she moved out of home to attend to nature's call.

Former Congress councillor Ishrat Jahan walked out of Tihar Jail here on Wednesday evening after she was granted bail in the northeast Delhi riots conspiracy case. A senior jail official said that Jahan, who was lodged in Mandoli Jail, was released on Wednesday around 7.45 PM. A Delhi court had on Monday granted bail to Jahan in the case concerning the larger conspiracy behind the North East Delhi riots of February 2020. Jahan, along with several others, has been booked under the anti-terror law Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) - in the case for allegedly being the "masterminds" of the February 2020 riots, which had left 53 people dead and over 700 injured.

The Samyukta Kisan Morcha on Wednesday said it has no relation with the two farm organisations that contested the elections in Punjab and accused them of using its name. It also threatened to initiate disciplinary action against those who participate in the events organised by the two organisations. The SKM is the umbrella body of the farmer unions, who had spearheaded the year-long agitation against the Centre’s farm laws, which were withdrawn last year. In a meeting of the SKM in January, it was decided that any farm union associated with the umbrella body that forms a party in the Assembly elections will not remain in the Samyukta Kisan Morcha, a statement issued by the SKM said.

More than 1,600 children aged between 12 and 14 years were vaccinated on Wednesday in Chhattisgarh against coronavirus on day one of the inoculation drive covering the age group, an official from the health department said. The COVID-19 vaccination for 12-to-14-year-olds began in all district hospitals in the state and the drive is targeted to cover 13.21 lakh beneficiaries in the newest age bracket that has been brought under the nationwide immunization campaign, he said. On the opening day of the drive, as many as 1,618 children were administered the first shot of Corbevax vaccine manufactured by Hyderabad-based Biological E in the state, he said.