Breaking News, August 2

Several farmer bodies on Tuesday decided to call off their proposed agitation on August 3 after Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann accepted most of their demands, including clearing pending payments of sugarcane farmers.

A group of unidentified persons attacked his car at a signal in Katraj area here on Tuesday evening, rebel Shiv Sena MLA and former Maharashtra minister Uday Samant claimed. Samant, one of the 40 Sena MLAs who support Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, was here to attend Shinde's programs in the district, a source close to him said.

Two men were held for allegedly extorting Rs 9 lakh from a lawyer here in connivance with three policemen, arrested earlier, police on Tuesday said. The two, arrested on Monday, were produced in a city court on Tuesday and were taken on one-day police remand, they said. Police also recovered Rs 3 lakh in cash from their possession.

The government on Tuesday evening cut the windfall tax on diesel and ATF in line with softening international petroleum product prices but raised the duty on domestically produced crude oil. While the tax on export of diesel was cut to Rs 5 per litre from Rs 11, that on jet fuel (ATF) was scrapped, an official notification showed.

A major landslide occurred near Koti bridge in Himachal Pradesh's Chamba district on Tuesday evening, the state disaster management department said.

Madhya Pradesh on Tuesday logged 164 new cases of coronavirus, taking their total count to 10,50,226, but no fresh death linked to the infection was registered in the state, a health department official said. The COVID -19 toll remained unchanged at 10,756, he added.

Akasa Air on Tuesday said it would fly daily direct flights on the Chennai-Mumbai route from next month onwards as its gears to launch its commercial operation in the country later this week. The flights between Chennai and Mumbai sector would commence from September 15, a company statement said.

The Jharkhand High Court on Tuesday sought the FIR registered against advocate Rajeev Kumar, who has been arrested by the Kolkata Police in an extortion case.

Chhattisgarh on Tuesday reported 595 new COVID-19 cases at a positivity rate of 5.13 per cent, taking the tally to 11,67,016, while the death toll increased by three to reach 14,070, an official said. The recovery count rose to 11,49,586 after 713 people recuperated from the infection during the day, leaving the state with 3,360 active cases, he said.

The Mumbai police have arrested a 29-year-old man for allegedly posing as a woman on Facebook and extorting money from a man, an official said on Tuesday.

A woman died and at least 50 people took ill due to diarrhoea after apparently eating contaminated food in Odisha's Balasore district, an official said on Tuesday.

The CBI has booked two former senior officials of Delhi Metro - Executive Director Prashant Rao and Deputy General Manager Madan Pal - for alleged graft in giving contract for Fibre Optical Transmission Systems to a private company, officials said.

Two persons were arrested from Uttar Pradesh in connection with the murder of a woman in Bhiwandi town of Maharashtra's Thane district, police said on Tuesday. The police on Monday apprehended Satyam Suresh Singh (24) and Avdesh Shyamsingh Shiaghar (35) from Rasulabad in Uttar Pradesh, senior inspector Madan Ballal of Narpoli police station said.

Serum Institute of India CEO Adar Poonawalla Tuesday said his firm is conducting research to find a vaccine against monkeypox as cases rise in the country.

The India lawn bowls team bagged a historic gold medal at the Commonwealth Games on Tuesday, a day after getting the country hooked to the rarely-followed game with their inspiring show.

A 20-year-old girl was allegedly raped by her classmate who gave her an intoxicating drink in the Jagatpura area here, police said on Tuesday. The girl, a resident of Madhya Pradesh, lodged a complaint against her classmate Dheeraj Sharma (22), Kho Nagorian SHO Manohar Lal said.

Assets worth Rs 3.35 crore of G C Gowramma, a former corporator from an Azad Nagar ward in Bengaluru, have been attached under the anti-money laundering, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) said Tuesday.

Amid ruckus by opposition BJP members in Jharkhand Assembly, demanding a debate on corruption, Speaker Rabindra Nath Mahato on Tuesday suspended four legislators of the saffron camp till August 4, a day prior to the conclusion of the ongoing monsoon session.

The stage is set for senior Congress leader Siddaramaiah's 75th birthday bash here on Wednesday, amid some unease within the party about the event, with a section of the party men perceiving it as a promotion of "personality cult", ahead of Assembly polls.

In view of the outbreak of lumpy skin disease in cattle in many districts of Rajasthan, state animal husbandry minister Lalchand Kataria will hold a meeting with district-level officers on Wednesday.

The minister will hold a video conference with officers from districts on August 3 on lumpy disease, an official spokesperson said.

Tonk district in Rajasthan recorded the highest 9 cm rainfall in a 24-hour period ending at 8.30 am on Tuesday, officials said. Another spell of heavy rains is expected in the state from Wednesday, the weather department said.

Delhi's first monkeypox patient has been discharged from the LNJP Hospital, senior officials said on Tuesday. The 34-year-old man, a resident of west Delhi, had tested positive last month. Fourteen of his contacts, including the doctor who first treated him, were quarantined but none of them developed symptoms, officials said.

The Mumbai Police probing the criminal intimidation case against Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut is awaiting the original audio recorded by the woman complainant and will submit it to the forensic science laboratory in Kalina to identify the caller, an official said on Tuesday. A First Information Report (FIR) was registered against Raut on Sunday under various sections of the Indian Penal Code including insulting the modesty of the woman on a complaint lodged by a witness in a money laundering case being probed by the Enforcement Directorate, claiming she was threatened.

The Karnataka High Court has sent a drug addict to undergo de-addiction treatment in any of the “recognised hospitals for treating and rehabilitating persons addicted to alcohol or other drugs,” and stayed a case pending against him under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act.

Two BJP candidates are set to enter the Uttar Pradesh legislative council as the nomination paper of Samajwadi Party's Kriti Kol was on Tuesday rejected on the grounds of her age. During scrutiny, the nomination paper of the SP candidate was not found valid and rejected as she is 28-years-old and does not fulfil the required age criterion of minimum 30 years for entering the House, Election Officer Brijbhushan Dubey told PTI.

The Karnataka High Court has issued notices to the union and state government over the alleged detention of Sri Lankan citizens in the central prison at Parappana Agrahara here. A Public interest litigation (PIL) on behalf of 25 persons was filed by the Karnataka State Legal Services Authority (KSLSA), which was heard by the division bench headed by the Acting Chief Justice Alok Aradhe on Monday.

Assam Transport Minister Parimal Suklabaidya has emphasised the need to check over-speeding of vehicles in the state, maintaining that 70 per cent of accidents occur due to rash-driving. He called for intensified road safety awareness programmes, especially in rural areas, an official release said.

The minimum temperature in Delhi settled at 25.8 degrees Celsius on Tuesday as the weather office forecast generally cloudy sky with light rain later in the day. The city recorded a relative humidity of 84 per cent at 8.30 am, according to the data shared by the India Meteorological Department (IMD).

Assam registered a sharp spike in COVID-19 cases as 508 people tested positive for the virus in the last 24 hours, 448 more than the previous day, taking the overall coronavirus tally in the state to 7,39,514, a National Health Mission (NHM), bulletin said. The new cases were detected from 7,549 samples tested for the virus during the day with the positivity rate of 6.73 per cent, it said on Monday.

California's governor has declared a state of emergency to speed efforts to combat the monkeypox outbreak, becoming the second state in three days to take the step. Gov.Gavin Newsom on Monday said the declaration will help the state coordinate a government-wide response, seek more vaccines and lead outreach and education efforts on where people can get treatment and vaccines.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday put 'tiranga' as the display picture of his social media accounts and urged people to do the same as part of a collective movement to celebrate the Tricolour. In his Mann ki Baat radio broadcast on Sunday, Modi had said the 'Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav' is turning into a mass movement and urged people to put 'Tiranga' as the profile picture of their social media accounts between August 2 and 15.

Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Monday said the civil society and voluntary organisations have an important role in working for underprivileged people and understanding their basic needs. Addressing a workshop organised at the Birla Auditorium here to take the benefits of the state budget to the common man, Gehlot said important steps such as RTI, RTE, MGNREGA and the food security scheme were initiated in the country only after taking suggestions from the civil society.

Arrested West Bengal minister Partha Chatterjee has been "non-cooperating" with sleuths of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) as he has "not replied" to most of their questions in connection with the probe into a school job scam, an officer of the central agency said on Monday. The suspended Trinamool Congress leader has "remained silent most of the time" during the questioning about a conspiracy that he referred to while speaking to journalists at ESI Hospital at Joka where he was taken for a medical check up, the ED official said.

A youth jumped into the Yamuna river here allegedly after failing to get a government job, police said here on Monday. In a note left by Karmaveer Singh on his WhatsApp status before jumping into the Yamuna on Sunday night, he purportedly wrote that he could not get a government job, hence committing suicide, police said.