Breaking News, August 2 | LIVE UPDATES

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi arrived in Goa on Wednesday night on a private visit, a senior party office-bearer said. Gandhi arrived at the Dabolim airport around 11 pm, he said.

He will be in the coastal state till Thursday afternoon, the Congress functionary added. There is no official engagement of the Congress leader during his stay, he said.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his wife, Sophie Gregoire Trudeau, announced Wednesday that they are separating after 18 years of marriage. The two said in statements posted on Instagram that they made the decision after “many meaningful and difficult conversations.” A statement from the prime minister's office said both have signed a legal separation agreement. 

The couple were married in 2005. They have three children, 15-year-old Xavier, 14-year-old Ella-Grace and 9-year-old Hadrien. “They remain a close family and Sophie and the prime minister are focused on raising their kids in a safe, loving and collaborative environment,” the statement from his office said.

Congress appoints Screening Committees for election bounds states of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Telangana.

Gaurav Gogoi to be the Chairman of Rajasthan's committee, Jitendra Singh to the Chairman of Madhya Pradesh's committee, Ajay Maken to be the Chairman of Chhattisgarh's committee and K Muraleedharan to be Chairman of Telangana's committee.

Maharashtra occupies third position in atrocities against women and 17th in terms of harassment of children, Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said on Wednesday. Speaking in the legislative assembly, he said, on average, 90 per cent of women who went missing are found.

He said Operation Muskan was launched in 2015 to locate missing children, and over the years, 35,000 to 40,000 children have been rescued and united with their families. Fadnavis said the state government is following up with the Centre for approval of the Shakti Act which provides stringent punishment for crimes against women and children.

Directorate of Revenue Intelligence, Lucknow rescued 330 babies of Indian Roofed Turtles and Indian Tent Turtles, both of which are protected species under Schedule 1 of Wild Life (Protection) Act 1972, from residential premises in Unnao, Uttar Pradesh. 

After the initial seizure under the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 the case was handed over to Forest Department, Unnao, UP for further investigation. One person nabbed.

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman after the 51st GST Council meeting says, "The council in its last meeting had taken a decision about taxing, all the betting, gaming related activities, casinos, horse racing, online games... It was decided that all of them will be taxed at 28% GST at face value."

"The Governor is doing only what he is supposed to do," says BJP leader Rahul Sinha on West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee's remark against Governor CV Ananda Bose for his decision to set up an anti-corruption cell.

The Kerala Police has brought back fugitive Sony Poulose, facing an Interpol Red Notice in a case of alleged rape and trespass, from the UAE after a successful operation coordinated by the CBI and authorities of that country, officials said Wednesday. 

In a statement, the CBI said its Global Operation Centre, in close coordination with Interpol National Central Bureau (NCB) in the UAE and the Kerala Police, led to the return of a Red Notice subject. 

The National Central Bureau of a country is the nodal organisation for all matters related to the Interpol, including the fugitives and data sharing. In the case of India, the NCB is the CBI.

A woman was killed and at least 17 persons were injured after two balconies - one each on the first and second floor - of a seven-storey building collapsed on them in Gujarat's Bhavnagar city on Wednesday, officials said. The incident occurred around 11.50 am, Bhavnagar Municipal Commissioner N V Upadhyay said.

An alert has been sounded in Saharanpur, Shamli and Muzaffarnagar districts of Uttar Pradesh bordering Haryana in the wake of communal violence in the neighbouring state, a senior police official said on Wednesday. Checking is also being conducted in areas along the Haryana-Uttar Pradesh border to keep an eye on anarchic elements, Deputy Inspector General (DIG), Saharanpur Range, Ajay Kumar Sahni told PTI.

Two people died and over 60 others fell sick after allegedly consuming contaminated water in a village in Chitradurga district of Karnataka, police said on Wednesday. According to senior officials, police are also investigating allegations of poisoning. Police said that on Monday evening, they received information from the district hospital that several residents from Kavadigarahatti village were being rushed to the facility for treatment after they developed severe symptoms of vomiting and diarrhoea.

The Congress on Wednesday alleged that the manner in which the forest bill has been "bulldozed" in Parliament reflects the Modi government's mindset and the "vast gap that exists between its global talk and domestic walk" on issues of environment, forests and tribal rights. The Rajya Sabha passed The Forest (Conservation) Amendment Bill, 2023, after a brief debate, amid protests by opposition members and a walk out by them over the Manipur issue.

The Bombay High Court on Wednesday said the Mumbai civic body ought to have a more serious deterrent against those who set up pandals during festivals and cause damage to roads and footpaths. A division bench of Chief Justice D K Upadhyaya and Justice Arif Doctor said it was of the opinion that if a serious deterrent was imposed, then it would be effective and then those erecting pandals would have to adhere to the conditions that no damage should be caused to public roads and footpaths.

Police have registered an FIR against several unidentified persons for allegedly raising "anti-national" slogans during a rally in Poonch district of Jammu and Kashmir, officials said on Wednesday.
The slogans were incidentally raised at a rally by Gujjars and Bakerwals, held on Tuesday in the border district against a bill introduced in the parliament last week for the grant of Scheduled Tribe status to the Pahari community.

With communal clashes claiming six lives in parts of Haryana close to Delhi, the Supreme Court Wednesday ordered enhanced deployment of security personnel in sensitive areas and a crackdown on hate speech but refused to stop the proposed rallies by VHP and Bajrang Dal in the NCR. Observing that hate speeches vitiate the atmosphere, a bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and S V Bhatti also ordered installation of CCTV cameras in vulnerable places. “We hope and trust that the state governments, including the police authorities, will ensure that there are no hate speeches against any community and there is no violence or damage to properties. Wherever required, adequate police force or paramilitary forces will be deployed,” the bench said.

A Haridwar-based seer has filed a police complaint against Samajwadi Party leader Swami Prasad Maurya for describing Badrinath as originally being a Buddhist monastery. In his complaint filed at the Kotwali police station in Uttarakhand's Haridwar on Tuesday, Swami Achyutanand Teerth claimed that the former Uttar Pradesh minister's remarks had hurt Hindu sentiments. "It has even hurt me personally," he said.

Goa Information Technology and Culture Minister Rohan Khaunte on Wednesday said his both departments were keeping a close watch on social media accounts which indulged in defaming the coastal state. Talking to reporters, Khaunte said Chief Minister Pramod Sawant has already ordered the cyber crime cell to conduct an investigation into such accounts and take action. These social media account holders may be coming to Goa with "not so good intentions" or after being paid by someone to defame the state, the minister said. “We don't know why they are doing it,” said.

A court in Gujarat's Surat city on Wednesday awarded death sentence to a 23-year-old man for the rape and murder of a two-year-old girl in February. Additional sessions judge Shakuntala Solanki handed down the capital punishment to accused Yusuf Ismail and also asked the state government to pay a compensation of Rs 10 lakh to the kin of the victim.

West Bengal Governor C V Ananda Bose on Wednesday inaugurated an ‘anti-corruption cell’ at the Raj Bhavan here, amidst protests by the ruling TMC of this being an "intrusion" into day-to-day administration which was the responsibility of the state government. Bose, who said that such an initiative would help common people forward their complaints to competent authorities, dismissed the TMC’s allegation, and said the cell would not “infringe on others’ turf”.

Another overground worker of terror outfits has been detained under the Public Safety Act in Jammu and Kashmir's Rajouri district, police said on Wednesday. Mohd Altaf is the fifth overground worker to be detained in the border district in the past two months under the stringent administrative law that allows detention without charge or trial for up to two years in some cases, a police official said.

Lok Sabha was adjourned for the day on Wednesday as opposition members continued with their protests on the Manipur issue even as Speaker Om Birla, upset at the repeated disruptions in the House, skipped the proceedings. As the House assembled for the post-lunch session, the opposition members trooped into the well of the House and raised slogans demanding a statement from Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the situation in Manipur, which has been roiled by months-long ethnic violence.

One more cheetah has died at the Kuno National Park in Madhya Pradesh, making it the sixth adult feline to have died since March, according to a statement from the Madhya Pradesh Forest Department on Wednesday.

The National Investigation Agency has arrested another accused in a case related to an ISIS-inspired car bomb blast at Tamil Nadu's Coimbatore last year, an official said on Wednesday. The prime accused in the case, Jamesha Mubeen, was killed when the car laden with an improvised explosive device (IED) went off in front of the ancient Arulmigu Kottai Sangameshwarar Thirukovil temple at Eswaran Kovil Street, Ukkadam, in Coimbatore on October 23, 2022.

A Delhi court on Wednesday reserved for August 4 its order on the anticipatory bail application of Congress leader Jagdish Tytler in a case related to the killing of three people in Pul Bangash area here during the 1984 anti-Sikh riots. Special Judge Vikas Dhull reserved the order after hearing arguments from the counsel appearing for Tytler and the CBI.

Opposition bloc INDIA on Wednesday suggested that President Droupadi Murmu nominate two Manipuri women from different communities to the Rajya Sabha to help rectify the "grievous harm" inflicted on women of the state. Trinamool Congress leader Sushmita Dev made the suggestion when a delegation of the opposition bloc met the President and urged her to ask Prime Minister Narendra Modi to address Parliament on the situation in strife-torn Manipur.

An American woman, who had arrived in India recently and was staying at an ashram near here, was allegedly gangraped by two men. The accused men were caught on Wednesday and an FIR under various sections, including 376D (gangrape) and 376(2)(n) (repeatedly raping same woman), of the IPC, was registered against them, police said.

Bahujan Samaj Party leader Mayawati on Wednesday slammed the Haryana government for failing to contain the violence in the state, claiming it proves that like Manipur, the law and order machinery in the northern state is in tatters. Referring to the attack on a Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) procession in Nuh, she said if the state government was not in a position to provide security to the yatra, it should not have been allowed.

Four workers were trapped after the inner wall of an under-construction well here caved-in, police said on Wednesday. The incident took place on Tuesday evening at Mhasobachi Wadi village in Indapur tehsil of Maharashtra's Pune district when the well construction work was going on, an official said.

Opposition bloc INDIA on Wednesday submitted a memorandum to President Droupadi Murmu over their demand for Prime Minister Narendra Modi's statement in Parliament on the Manipur issue. They also demanded that the prime minister visit the strife-torn state to restore peace.

Security has been beefed up at sensitive places in the national capital in the wake of violence in some districts of neighbouring Haryana, the Delhi Police said on Wednesday. The Haryana Police on Tuesday said that mobs killed a cleric in a late-night attack on a mosque, torched an eatery and vandalised shops as communal violence that began in Haryana's Nuh spilled over into neighbouring Gurugram, taking the death toll to five.

Security forces on Wednesday arrested two "hybrid terrorists" of Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) outfit from Baramulla district of Jammu and Kashmir, police said. Acting on a tip off, security forces established a mobile vehicle check point at Azadgunj in Baramulla town.
The two suspects tried to flee after noticing the checkpoint, a police official said.

A batch of 984 pilgrims left the Bhagwati Nagar camp here on Wednesday for the twin base camps in Kashmir to undertake the onward journey to the 3,880-metre-high Amarnath cave shrine. Over 4 lakh devotees have so far paid obeisance at the shrine since the beginning of the 62-day-long annual pilgrimage on July 1. The yatra will conclude on August 31. Of the 984 pilgrims in this smallest batch to leave the Bhagwati Nagar camp, 498 are performing the yatra through the traditional 48-km Pahalgam track in the Anantnag district while 486 are heading for the 14-km Baltal route in Ganderbal district, officials said. With this, over 1.41 lakh pilgrims have left the Jammu base camp for the valley. The yatra is scheduled to conclude on August 31.

A portion of the protection wall of a housing society collapsed in Maharashtra's Thane city in the wee hours of Wednesday, civic officials said. No one was injured in the incident which took place at the housing society located in Panchpakhadi area, Thane Municipal Corporation's disaster management cell chief Yasin Tadvi said. The 10x8 feet portion of the nine-year-old compound wall collapsed at around 1 am on Wednesday, he said, adding the remaining portion of the protection wall was in a precarious state. After being alerted, local firemen and the disaster management cell team rushed to the spot and carried out work to clear the debris, the official said.

The BJP has alleged a scam of crores of rupees in the name of panic buttons in buses in the national capital, while the AAP dispensation claimed all safety measures were functioning properly. Following media reports that the Anti-Corruption Bureau is carrying out an audit of panic buttons, Delhi BJP president Virendra Sachdeva on Tuesday said the Delhi Transport Department has done a scam of crores of rupees in the name of panic buttons. Leader of opposition in the Delhi Assembly Ramvir Singh Bidhuri said a delegation led by Sachdeva would meet the lieutenant governor and submit a memorandum regarding this "multi-crore panic button scam".

Opposition leaders will meet President Droupadi Murmu today (August 2) to raise the Manipur issue after their demand for the prime minister's statement in Parliament followed by a comprehensive discussion on the violence in the state remained unfulfilled. Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge had sought time from President Murmu on behalf of the opposition parties to discuss the Manipur issue, and the President has granted time to them on Wednesday at 11.30 am, party leaders said on Tuesday (August 1). The delegation will also include 21 MPs of the opposition Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) who visited Manipur on July 29-30. The opposition is demanding a statement by Prime Minister Narendra Modi followed by a discussion under Rule 267 after suspending all other House business, while the ruling dispensation wants a short-duration discussion on Manipur which will be replied to by Union Home Minister Amit Shah.

Mumbai police has arrested two members of a so-called `Bol Bachchan' gang which targeted jewellers from Ajmer in Rajasthan, an official said on Tuesday. The accused, identified as Altaf Fakir Husain (40) and Jabir Ali Talib Hussain (38), both residents of Madhya Pradesh, had committed similar crimes in Chennai, Bengaluru, Kolkata, Delhi and Hyderabad, he said.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Tuesday announced its third list of office-bearers for the "state of Delhi". Mohinder Goyal has been appointed as the state president of the party's trade wing, whereas Akhilesh Pati Tripathi was named the state president of Purvanchal wing. The AAP has appointed Pankaj Gupta as the state president of youth wing and Sarika Chaudhary the state president of women wing. According to the notice by the AAP, Sanjeev Nasiar has been appointed the state president of legal wing. The party has also appointed Dinesh Bhardwaj as state president of sports wing.

The BJP on Tuesday alleged a scam of crores of rupees in the name of panic buttons in buses in the national capital, while the AAP dispensation claimed all safety measures were functioning properly. Following media reports that the Anti-Corruption Bureau is carrying out an audit of panic buttons, Delhi BJP president Virendra Sachdeva said that the Delhi Transport Department has done a scam of crores of rupees in the name of panic buttons. Leader of opposition in the Delhi Assembly Ramvir Singh Bidhuri said that a delegation led by Sachdeva would meet the lieutenant governor and submit a memorandum regarding this multi-crore panic button scam. He demanded that Transport Minister Kailash Gahlot resign from his post taking moral responsibility till the investigation is going on.