Breaking News, July 1

The European Union's executive arm on Friday pledged to draft an emergency plan this month aimed at helping member countries do without Russian energy in the wake of the Kremlin's war in Ukraine. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the initiative would build on EU moves to ditch Russian coal, oil and natural gas and would complement a bloc-wide push to accelerate the development of renewable energy such as wind and solar power.

The Rajasthan government on Friday night suspended Udaipur Additional Superintendent of Police Ashok Meena. The suspension order issued by Joint Secretary (Police) of the home department Jagveer Singh does not mention any reason of the action.

A man was found killed with his head smashed with a boulder in Nagpur district of Maharashtra, police said on Friday. The deceased was identified as Aakash Ramesh Fender, a resident of Gharpal village in district Yavatmal, whose body was found in a nullah on Butibori-Takalghat Road near here on Thursday, they said.

Auto-rickshaw and taxi fares in the national capital are soon going to see a hike as the proposal to increase the three-wheeler charges for every kilometer will go up by Rs 1.50 while the base fare for traveling in taxis will rise by Rs 15, officials said on Friday. The proposal to hike the fares has been approved in principle and is likely to come up for cabinet approval in the next meeting, they added.

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has appealed against the British's government decision last month to order his extradition to the US. The appeal was filed Friday at the High Court, the latest twist in a decade-long legal saga sparked by his website's publication of classified US documents. No further details about the appeal were immediately available.

The BSE Sensex pared most of its losses to end modestly lower on Friday, pressured by a sharp decline in index heavyweight Reliance Industries after the government imposed an export tax on petroleum products.

 Honda Cars India Ltd (HCIL) on Friday reported a 64 per cent increase in domestic sales at 7,834 units in June 2022. The company had registered 4,767 units in domestic sales in the same month last year, HCIL said in a statement.

The government has imposed export restrictions on petrol and diesel by directing exporters to supply a specified quantity in the domestic market, a move aimed at ensuring adequate availability within the country.

Russian missile attacks on residential areas in a coastal town near the Ukrainian port city of Odesa early Friday killed at least 19 people, authorities reported, a day after Russian forces withdrew from a strategic Black Sea island.

Leading stock exchange BSE on Friday said it has partnered with Vidarbha Chamber of Commerce & Industry for deepening the commodity markets in the country. The partnership aims to facilitate cooperation between BSE and physical markets in areas such as knowledge sharing, education and training, events as well as to explore all areas of mutual interest, the exchange said in a statement. "Taking financial literacy to the remotest part of the country will help industry participants understand the various facets of the formal economy. This MoU is an affirmation and recognition of our efforts to bring physical market participants to the exchange platform and continuing our sustained campaign," BSE CBO Sameer Patil said.

A revenue officer was caught red-handed by the Anti-corruption Bureau (ACB) while taking a bribe of Rs 1.5 lakh from a tout for issuing documents of a plot of land here, officials said on Friday. Ashok Sharma was arrested on Thursday night and Rs 9 lakh were also recovered from the tout, Raman Gupta’s possession, they said. The ACB received a complaint against Sharma and his associates for demanding a bribe of Rs 25 lakh for issuing fard (document of lands), they said. In his complaint, the complainant said he had applied for issuance of fard in respect of a land, situated at Mawa Karora area of Akhnoor, in the name of his wife before then Patwari (revenue official) Ravinder Bhagat.

With Maharashtra in its kitty, the BJP has consolidated its position in the north-western region and now has set it eyes on southern states especially Telangana where it is holding its national executive starting Saturday. This will be the first physical meeting of the BJP's key decision-making body outside the national capital after a gap of five years and the third in a southern state after coming to power in 2014. The BJP is holding its national executive in Hyderabad after a gap of 18 years. To give further push to the party's efforts to expand its base in the southern states including new catchment area Telangana, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will hold a massive rally on July 3 in Hyderabad. The rally is expected to be based on the theme of local culture and tradition. The BJP's national executive meeting is being held in Hyderabad at a time when the party is trying to make further inroads in the state, whereas the K Chandrashekar Rao-led ruling TRS is working to cobble an alliance to challenge the saffron party at the national level.

At least one in every five households in West Bengal faced “some food crisis” during the lockdown period in the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, but the situation could have been worse had the state government not come up with free distribution of food grains through an augmented PDS mechanism, according to a report released by Nobel laureate Amartya Sen-led Pratichi (India) Trust. The study, "Staying Alive –COVID 19 and Public services in West Bengal", said that the reporting of food crisis by households belonging to the Scheduled Tribes (ST) community of the state was “higher” as compared to other social groups. "According to the findings of this study, one out of five households faced some food crisis. The duration of the crisis varied between 4 and 240 days. A majority of these households suffered for about 60 days," the report said.

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has filed a criminal defamation case against Delhi Deputy CM Manish Sisodia for levelling “baseless” corruption charges against him in connection with the supply of PPE kits at "higher than market rates" to National Health Mission authorities during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, Sarma’s advocate said on Friday. The case has been registered in the court of chief judicial magistrate, Kamrup Rural on Thursday and listed on July 22 for initial deposition by the complainant, he said.

A special court in Maharashtra's Thane district has sentenced a man to six years of rigorous imprisonment for sexually assaulting a nine-year-old girl. Additional sessions judge and special judge (POCSO) V V Virkar on Thursday found Ganesh alias Ganya Maikrao Sadavarte guilty of charges under provisions of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act. The accused was sentenced to six years of rigorous imprisonment and a fine of Rs 10,000 was imposed on him.

Mild tremors were felt for the third day in a week at a few places in Sullia taluk of Dakshina Kannada district in the small hours of Friday, official sources said. Tremors were also felt at the same time in three places in neighbouring Kodagu district. People of Chembu, Peraje and Karike in the district felt the tremors early in the morning. The quake measured 2.5 on the Richter scale, as recorded by the National Centre for Seismology. Local people in Sullia said they were woken up from their sleep at around 1.15 am by a loud noise accompanied by the earthquake. The tremor lasted five seconds, they said.

Additional Director General of Police Mukesh Singh on Friday reviewed security arrangements of the ongoing Amarnath Yatra along the Jammu-Srinagar national highway and directed the officers to prioritise convenience and safety of the pilgrims during convoy movement. Singh, who was accompanied by other senior police officers, moved with the yatra convoy from Jammu to Lambar at Banihal in Ramban district, officials said. The ADGP interacted with pilgrims and representatives from the civil administration at langar locations. They expressed satisfaction at the security arrangements and with the facilities, they said. The district police chiefs of Jammu, Udhampur and Ramban also accompanied Singh and briefed him about the road opening parties and security arrangements, they said.

Two persons were arrested from here on Thursday night for conspiring the brutal beheading of a tailor, a senior police official said. Tailor Kanhaiya Lal was killed Tuesday afternoon by two cleaver-wielding men, Riaz Akhtari and Ghouse Mohammad, who posted a grisly video of the crime online claiming responsibility for the “beheading”. Both the accused were arrested in Rajsamand hours after the crime. “Two persons have been arrested. They were co-conspirator of the murder of Kanhaiya and they are being interrogated,” the official said on Friday. The arrested accused were identified as Mohsin and Asif. The case is being investigated by National Investigation Agency (NIA) with support of the Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) and Special Operations Group (SOG) of the Rajasthan Police. 

The Supreme Court on Friday castigated suspended BJP leader Nupur Sharma for her "disturbing" remark against Prophet Mohammad, saying it has led to unfortunate incidents in the country. The court said the remark was made either for cheap publicity, political agenda or some nefarious activities. While refusing to entertain Sharma's plea for clubbing of FIRs lodged in various states against her for the remark, a vacation bench of Justices Surya Kant and JB Pardiwala allowed her to withdraw the plea. “These remarks are very disturbing and smack of arrogance. What is her business to make such remarks? These remarks have led to unfortunate incidents in the country…These people are not religious. They do not have respect for other religions. These remarks were made for cheap publicity or for political agenda or some other nefarious activities”, the bench said during the hearing. 

The Pakistan government has steeply hiked petroleum prices to implement the tough preconditions set by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to revive the stalled USD 6 billion bailout package for the cash-strapped country. Prices of all petroleum products went up by about Rs14-19 per litre after the decision came into effect from midnight on Thursday. According to a notification issued by the finance ministry, the government imposed a Rs 10 per litre petroleum levy on petrol and Rs 5 each on high-speed diesel (HSD), kerosene and light diesel oil (LDO). As a result, the per-litre price of petrol has been increased by Rs 14.85, HSD by Rs 13.23, kerosene by Rs 18.83 and LDO by Rs 18.68.

The government on Friday slapped an export tax on petrol, diesel and jet fuel (ATF) shipped overseas by firms like Reliance Industries Ltd, and imposed a windfall tax on crude oil produced locally by companies such as ONGC and Vedanta Ltd. The government imposed a Rs 6 per litre tax on export of petrol and ATF and Rs 13 per litre tax on export of diesel, finance ministry notifications showed. Additionally, it levied a Rs 23,250 per tonne additional tax on crude oil produced domestically. The levy on crude, which follows record earnings by state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) and Oil India Ltd (OIL) and private sector Cairn Oil & Gas of Vedanta Ltd, alone will fetch the government Rs 67,425 crore annually on 29 million tonnes of crude oil produced domestically.

Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut on Friday said he will appear before the Enforcement Directorate (ED) officials here later in the day in connection with an alleged money laundering case. Taking to Twitter, Raut said he will appear before the agency at noon. "I will be appearing bfore the ED tody at 12 noon. I respect the Summons issued to me and it's my duty to co-operate with the Investigation agencies.I appeal Shivsena workers not to gather at the ED office.Don't worry !" Raut said in his tweet.

Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Friday charged that the BJP government has created two Indias, one for the rich and one for the poor. He cited media reports to say that while the Adani group would acquire Holcim's stake worth USD 6.38 billion in Ambuja Cement and ACC without any tax, millions of poor children will now need Aadhar IDs to access their right for a nutritious meal. "Two Indias:Rich 'mitron' spoon-fed thousands of crores through tax exemptions and loan waivers. Poor children need Aadhar to get nutritious meals at Anganwadis," Gandhi said on Twitter. The Congress has been criticising the BJP government over the widening gap between the rich and the poor in the country. 

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday greeted people on the occasion of the 'Rath Yatra' of Lord Jagannath, wishing that everyone is blessed with good health and happiness. "Greetings on the special day of Rath Yatra. We pray to Lord Jagannath for his constant blessings. May we all be blessed with good health and happiness," he tweeted. He also shared what he had spoken about the Rath Yatra and the importance of a yatra in our culture during the recent Mann Ki Baat radio broadcast.  The prime minister also greeted everyone, especially the vibrant Kutchi community spread across the world, on the auspicious occasion of Ashadhi Bij.  "May this coming year bring peace, happiness and good health in everyone's lives," Modi said. Ratha Yatra is a festival associated with Lord Jagannath and is celebrated on the same day the Kutchi community of Gujarat celebrate their new year. 

A 50-year-old man jumped in front of a train at Moolchand station of Delhi Metro's Violet Line, police said on Friday. The incident took place on Thursday. Police received information at 5.04 pm that a person got injured at Moolchand metro station. The person identified as Mahendar jumped when a train reached platform number 1, a senior police officer said. The injured was sent to AIIMS Trauma Centre, where doctors said he was unfit for statement, police added. The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) had tweeted to alert commuters in the evening, “Delay in services from Kashmere Gate to Badarpur Border due to a passenger on track at Moolchand. Normal service on all other lines.” Violet Line connects Kashmere Gate in Delhi and Raja Nahar Singh (Ballabgarh) in Haryana. 

President Ram Nath Kovind on Friday greeted people on the occasion of the 'Rath Yatra' of Lord Jagannath, and prayed for happiness, peace and prosperity of all. The nine-day yatra (pulling of chariots) of Lord Jagannath will begin later on Friday in Odisha’s Puri. Similar yatras will be taken out in other parts of the country. “Hearty congratulations and best wishes to all the countrymen on the auspicious occasion of Rath Yatra of Lord Jagannath. I wish that with the blessings of Mahaprabhu Jagannath, there should be happiness, peace and prosperity in everyone's life,” Kovind tweeted in Hindi. 

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The 145th Rath Yatra of Lord Jagannath commenced on Friday morning in the city amid tight security as lakhs of devotees from across the state are flocking the route to catch a glimpse of the deity and witness the religious extravaganza. Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel performed the 'Pahind Vidhi' - a symbolic ritual of cleaning the way for the chariots using a golden broom before the start of the Rath Yatra. After the ritual, the chariots of Lord Jagannath, his brother Balbhadra and sister Subhadra embarked on the annual yatra from the 400-year-old Jagannath temple in the Jamalpur area.

Chinese President Xi Jinping officiated the swearing-in ceremony of Hong Kong's new leader John Lee on Friday as the city marked the 25th anniversary of its return to Chinese rule after being pulled in recent years under much tighter Communist Party control. Lee, a former security official who oversaw the crackdown on dissent in the city since 2019 pro-democracy protests, pledged to uphold the city's mini-constitution, the Basic Law, and bear allegiance to Hong Kong. He also pledged to be accountable to the central government in Beijing.

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Three pilgrims to the Amarnath cave shrine were injured when their vehicle skidded off the Jammu-Srinagar national highway and turned turtle in Ramban district on Friday morning, officials said. The tempo-traveller, which was carrying pilgrims to Kashmir from Jammu, met with the accident near the Sherbibi area in Banihal, they said. Kundan Kumar (59) from Uttar Pradesh, Vivek (10) and Anita Gupta (49) from Chhattisgarh were undergoing treatment in Banihal hospital, the officials said. They were to visit the cave shrine in the south Kashmir Himalayas on July 3.

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Mohammad Kausar Hasan Majidi, the President of Kanpur-based Sufi Khanqah Association, in Uttar Pradesh has reportedly received a phone call threatening of dire consequences for condemning the Udaipur incident and launching a tirade against Sunni Islamic organisation 'Dawat-e-Islami', police said. Majidi had lodged a complaint at Juhi police station, seeking a probe into the activities of Dawat-e-Islami in Kanpur.  He had also condemned the Udaipur incident in a TV debate after which he was threatened with dire consequences by an unidentified caller on his mobile phone. The police said they are looking into Majidi's complaint in connection with the matter.

A Navy investigation released on Thursday revealed that shoddy management and human error caused fuel to leak into Pearl Harbor's tap water last year, poisoning thousands of people and forcing military families to evacuate their homes for hotels. The investigation is the first detailed account of how jet fuel from the Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility, a massive World War II-era military-run tank farm in the hills above Pearl Harbor, leaked into a well that supplied water to housing and offices in and around Pearl Harbor. The report listed a cascading series of mistakes from May 6, 2021, when operator error caused a pipe to rupture and 21,000 gallons of fuel to spill when fuel was being transferred between tanks. The fuel spilled into a fire suppression line, sat there for six months and then spilled again when a cart rammed into it on November 20.

READ FULL STORY HERE

Public schools in Texas would describe slavery to second graders as "involuntary relocation" under new social studies standards proposed to the state's education board. A group of nine educators submitted the idea to the State Board of Education as part of Texas' efforts to develop new social studies curriculum, according to the Texas Tribune. The once-a-decade process updates what children learn in the state's nearly 8,900 public schools.

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British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will host New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern in London on Friday for talks on security and boosting bilateral ties. The meeting comes after both leaders attended the NATO summit in Madrid this week. Johnson's office said he and Ardern will discuss security challenges facing the Indo-Pacific region and the situation in Ukraine. They are also expected to discuss tackling online disinformation and deepening bilateral trade ties as well as agree on new measures to boost the two countries' ties in scientific research.

The UN Security Council adopted a resolution Thursday extending an arms embargo on armed groups in Congo, which is facing an upsurge in violence in the mineral-rich east, with Russia, China and its three African members abstaining. Congo's government has repeatedly called for the lifting of a requirement that it give advance notice of any shipments of arms and military supplies as well as military assistance it receives to the Security Council committee monitoring sanctions on the country. The requirement was eased in the French-drafted resolution that was adopted by a vote of 10-0. The five countries that abstained backed Congo and wanted the requirement lifted.

COVID-19 vaccines greatly reduced the number of cases of severe COVID-19 for everyone regardless of their body size, according to a study of 90 lakh adults in England published in The Lancet Diabetes and Endocrinology on Friday. Vaccine effectiveness was similar for those with a higher body mass index (BMI) and of a healthy weight, but slightly lower in the underweight group, who were also the least likely to have been vaccinated, the researchers said. In a further analysis of vaccinated people only, among the fewer COVID-19 cases recorded, people of very low and very high BMI were more likely to experience severe disease than vaccinated healthy weight people, they said. "Our findings provide further evidence that COVID-19 vaccines save lives for people of all sizes," said study lead author Carmen Piernas from the University of Oxford, UK.

The US Supreme Court on Thursday agreed to hear a case that could dramatically change the way elections for Congress and the presidency are conducted by handing more power to state legislatures and blocking state courts from reviewing challenges to the procedures and results. The justices will consider whether state courts, when finding violations of their state constitutions, can order changes to federal elections and the once-a-decade redrawing of congressional districts. The case probably will be argued in the fall. "This case could profoundly alter the balance of power in states and prevent state courts and agencies from providing protections for people's right to vote," said Rick Hasen, a law professor at the University of California, Irvine. "There's a wide range of ways the court could rule on this. Taken to its extreme, it would be a radical reworking of our system of running elections."

Shiv Sena leader Eknath Shinde on Friday said not only his colleagues in the Assembly but also Maharashtra is happy that "Balasaheb Thackeray's Shiv Sainik has become the chief minister". He thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah among others for reposing confidence in him. Backed by the BJP, Shinde on Thursday took oath as the chief minister of Maharashtra with the support of a breakaway faction of Shiv Sena MLAs and Independents. After taking the oath in Mumbai, Shinde returned to Goa at midnight to meet his colleagues who had supported him in rebelling against Uddhav Thackeray. Interacting with reporters at the Goa Airport, he said Maharashtra could see this day because of his 50 MLAs.