Breaking News, Aug 3 | HIGHLIGHTS

AIMIM MP Asaduddin Owaisi says, "They have a brute majority. We had beforehand that this is an unconstitutional Bill. This Bill is against India's basic structure. Supreme Court had ruled against it earlier. I believe that when this goes to the Supreme Court, the Court will see this...Every party has their own strategy. We sat there and opposed the Bill."

Congress MP Manickam Tagore says, "We could understand the fear of Union Home Minister Amit Shah against I.N.D.I.A. alliance...He was only speaking about politics rather than Bill. He was not answering the questions raised by I.N.D.I.A. alliance partners who had genuinely asked about federal politics and democratic institutions by which he is taking over the power of Delhi Govt. He didn't answer, we were not convinced about his answer. So, all the I.N.D.I.A. alliance walked out of the Lok Sabha..."

A terrorist associate was detained on Thursday under the stringent Public Safety Act (PSA) in Jammu and Kashmir's Kishtwar district, police said. The detained associate, Abdul Karim Butt, is the brother of hardcore A++ category terrorist and Hizbul Mujahideen commander Jahangir Saroori, they said. Police said Butt was put behind bars in order to safeguard public peace and national security. 

A 35-year-old man on Thursday allegedly hacked to death his wife and her lover with an axe after he saw them together in a village in Gwalior district in Madhya Pradesh and then absconded, a police official said. Efforts are on to arrest Murai Baghel, Dabra Sub Divisional Officer of Police (SDOP) Vivek Kumar Sharma told PTI.

Opposition BJP in Karnataka on Thursday took strong exception to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah for taking his "entire cabinet" to New Delhi, before the Congress high command, terming it "unprecedented" and "undemocratic", and insult to the people of the state, who have elected this government with a huge majority. Questioning whether the cabinet is reporting to Congress high command, senior BJP leader and former Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai alleged that Siddaramiah is a weak leader, compared to his earlier stint as the Chief Minister.

Haryana | An under-construction underpass near Dhanwapur railway cross number 26 in Gurugram collapsed this evening

The health condition of former West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya has improved considerably and he is "doing fine", doctors treating him said on Thursday. The 79-year-old CPI-M leader is on intermittent non-invasive ventilatory support and is alert, they said.

The Sikkim government on Thursday asked all its citizens to hoist the national flag at their houses and offices from August 13-15 as part of the nationwide 'Har Ghar Tiranga' campaign. "In this nationwide campaign, an appeal is made to all citizens of Sikkim to join in the celebration of the Har Ghar Tiranga campaign by hoisting the national flag at their houses, offices, etc, from August 13 to 15," a culture department release said.

In a bid to enhance passenger convenience, the Delhi Metro on Thursday extended the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) option for payments at ticket vending machines and counters across its network. The initiative aims at streamlining ticketing services and providing a digital and seamless mode of travel, the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) said in a statement.

A fire broke out in Greater Noida on Thursday after leakage of gas from an IGL pipeline allegedly due to an unauthorised excavation at an open site, officials said. The fire was reported around 3 pm in the Beta 2 police station area and has been doused, Chief Fire Officer Pradeep Kumar Choubey said.

Hours before a planned mass burial of Kuki-Zomi people killed in Manipur’s ethnic violence, the high court on Thursday ordered that the status quo be maintained at the proposed burial site in Churachandpur district, while ITLF, an apex tribal body, said it was postponing the funeral service plans by seven days following requests from the Union home ministry. Meanwhile, 17 people were injured in clashes as Army and RAF personnel fired tear gas shells in Kangvai and Phougakchao areas in Bishnupur district on Thursday to stop a procession from proceeding to the proposed burial site violating restrictions on gatherings, officials said.

The Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) has arrested a senior technician of state-run power distributor MSEDCL and a middleman for demanding and accepting a bribe from a power consumer in Maharashtra’s Palghar district, an official said on Thursday.

A man and a woman have been killed in separate incidents of attack by wild elephants in Chhattisgarh's Jashpur district, forest officials said on Thursday. In the first incident, a herd of elephants attacked local resident Jagmohan (53) in Jurgum village under Bagicha forest range on Wednesday night when he was treating his ailing bull at home, an official from Jashpur forest division said. The bull also died in the incident, he said.

The Odisha government has alerted the districts in the Mahanadi delta area as it apprehends a "medium" flood in the river system following heavy rains for three consecutive days in the state due to a deep depression in the Bay of Bengal, an official said on Thursday. The administration has estimated that 9.5 lakh cusec of water will flow at Mundali near Cuttack by Thursday evening, up from 8.28 lakh cusec at about 12 noon, water resources department chief engineer Bhakta Ranjan Mohanty told reporters.

In a shocking incident, an elderly couple was allegedly stabbed to death by their son at their residence in the district, police said on Thursday. Krishnankutty (78) and his wife Sarada (68), were found lying in a pool of blood at their house in Parumala village near Thiruvalla this morning, they said. The couple's son, Anil Kumar (45), was picked up from the crime scene soon after he committed the murder. His arrest was recorded later.

Three men died after a water tank from a four-storey building collapsed on them near Shivajinagar bus stand here, police said on Thursday. The deceased have been identified as Arul (40), Kota Nageshwar Rao (32) and Karan Thapa (32), they said. According to the police, the incident took place around 10.30 pm on Wednesday when some people were standing near a street food vendor whose pushcart was on the footpath adjacent to the building.

The BJP alleged on Thursday that Rajasthan has become the "rape capital" of India under the government of Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and asserted that he has no right to remain in the post. BJP MP Ranjeeta Koli, who comes from the Dalit community, said the state has been known for its tradition of respect for women. But it has been reduced to "rapist Rajasthan", she alleged.

A 22-year-old Indian student working as an Uber Eats driver in Australia was killed after his bike collided with an SUV in Sydney, a media report said. Akshay Deepak Doultani, a Mumbai native pursuing a master's degree in Australia, died in a crash last week in New South Wales while working as a food delivery driver, the Australia Broadcasting Cooperation reported on Wednesday. Doultani received a scholarship for a master's degree in finance at Macquarie University and came to Australia in February.

India logged 77 fresh COVID-19 infections on Thursday while the number of active cases increased to 1,533 from 1,482 the previous day, according to Union health ministry data. With the fresh infections, the country's COVID-19 caseload has climbed to 4,49,95,802. The death toll stood at 5,31,918, the data stated.

One worker was killed and six others injured after a girder launcher fell on them during the construction of a high-speed rail corridor for the upcoming bullet train project near Karjan town in Gujarat's Vadodara district on Thursday, officials said. The incident occurred near Kambola village in the morning, they said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will lay the foundation stone for the renovation of the Darshan Nagar and Bharat Kund Railway Stations here on Sunday. Faizabad Member of Parliament Lallu Singh said under the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) scheme, the Ministry of Railways has released Rs 20 crore and Rs 16 crore for the development of Darshan Nagar and Bharat Kund Railway Stations.

The High Court of Karnataka has ordered the issuance of notice to the state government on a petition challenging the mandatory teaching of Kannada as a language in CBSC/CICSE schools. Twenty parents of children studying in such schools have petitioned the HC against the Kannada Language Learning Act 2015, The Kannada Language Learning Rules 2017 and the Karnataka Educational Institutions (Issue of No-Objection Certificate and Control Rules) 2022 by which learning Kannada as first, second or third language is mandatory for students.

The Delhi High Court on Thursday listed for hearing on August 7 a plea for virtual production of separatist leader Yasin Malik from jail in connection with the NIA's plea seeking death penalty for him in a terror funding case. The application by the jail superintendent was adjourned after a bench of Justices Siddharth Mridul and Anish Dayal, which was scheduled to hear the request, did not assemble.  

Mobile internet and SMS services in Nuh and some other places in the state, which were suspended till August 5, have been restored for three hours from 1 pm on Thursday, officials said. The Internet curbs had been imposed to prevent any disturbance to the peace and public order in the wake of the communal clashes. Besides Nuh, the services were snapped in Faridabad, Palwal and the territorial jurisdiction of sub-division Sohna, Pataudi and Manesar of Gurugram district.

The opposition alliance INDIA will not attend the meeting called by Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar on Thursday afternoon to end the logjam in the House over the Manipur issue, sources said. The opposition believes that a statement by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and a comprehensive discussion on Manipur, which has been roiled by months-long ethnic violence, are non-negotiable, they said.

Altogether 17 people were injured in clashes as the Army and RAF personnel fired tear gas shells at Kangvai and Phougakchao area in Bishnupur district on Thursday, officials said. The district magistrates of Imphal East and Imphal West also withdrew curfew relaxations earlier announced, imposing the restrictions during the day on top of night curfew throughout the Imphal valley.

The National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) resumed on Thursday the rescue operation at the site of an under-construction well where four workers are feared trapped after a cave-in in Maharashtra’s Pune district, an official said. The incident occurred at Mhasobachi Wadi village in Indapur tehsil on Tuesday evening.

Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar will meet floor leaders of all parties on Thursday in an effort to end the logjam in the House over modalities of discussing the Manipur issue. The proceedings of the Rajya Sabh have been disrupted as opposition parties are insisting that the listed business should be suspended under Rule 267 and discussion on Manipur should be taken up. The government on its part has agreed for a short duration discussion under Rule 176 of the Rajya Sabha.

The Uttar Pradesh BJP on Thursday welcomed the Allahabad High Court order allowing an ASI survey on the Gyanvapi mosque premises and said the exercise will bring out the truth. This is an issue related to the faith of crores of people, BJP state president Bhupendra Singh Chaudhary said in a tweet in Hindi.

The 32nd batch of Amarnath Yatris with over 1,100 pilgrims Thursday left the base camp here for the holy cave shrine in south Kashmir Himalayas amid tight security arrangements, officials said. Over 4.3 lakh devotees paid obeisance at the 3888-metre high shrine since the commencement of the Yatra on July 1, the officials said.

A mosque was set on fire while a short circuit apparently triggered a blaze in another in Haryana's Nuh district, police said on Thursday. No one was injured in the incidents that took place around 11:30 pm on Wednesday, they said. While one of the mosques is located near Vijay Chowk, the other is near a police station. Both mosques suffered some damage.

The Allahabad High Court on Thursday dismissed a petition filed by the Gyanvapi committee challenging a district court order directing the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) to conduct a survey to determine if the mosque was built upon a temple.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, who is on a private visit to Goa, had a dinner with party MLAs from the coastal state the previous night, a party leader said on Thursday. In the 40-member Goa Assembly, the Congress has three MLAs.

A Qatar Airways flight from Doha to Kozhikode was diverted to Thiruvananthapuram airport on Thursday due to bad weather, airport sources said. The flight landed at Thiruvananthapuram airport at 3:10 AM and left for Kozhikode at 5:18 AM, they said.

An earthquake of 4.3 magnitude hit Andaman and Nicobar Islands in the early hours of Thursday, the National Center for Seismology said. There was no immediate report of any loss of life or damage to property, an official said.

Ambuja Cement on Thursday announced acquisition of Sanghi Industries at an enterprise value of Rs 5,000 crore. In a statement, it said the acquisition will be fully funded through internal accruals.

The Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) officials have raided a residential premises in Navi Mumbai township of Maharashtra and arrested three Bangladeshi nationals for illegally staying in the country, police said on Thursday.

The Kuki-Zo community will hold a burial service for 35 people who died in the ethnic strife in Manipur at Lamka town in Churachandpur district on Thursday, a tribal organisation said. The Indigenous Tribal Leaders Forum (ITLF) is organising the burial programme at the Tuibong peace ground.