Breaking News, June 20

Enforcement Directorate (ED) has asked Congress leader Rahul Gandhi to join investigation for the fifth day on June 21 and record his statement in the National Herald money laundering case, officials said on Monday. Gandhi appeared for the fourth day of questioning on Monday, a day after he turned 52, and the session would continue.

The water supply situation in Delhi improved marginally on Monday but the production at treatment plants dependent on the Wazirabad pond remain affected due to very low water level in the Yamuna, Delhi Jal Board officials said. A normal quantity of water is being supplied to Delhi from Haryana through the Carrier Lined Canal (CLC) and the Delhi Sub Branch (DSB).

Five members of a family, all residents of Ludhiana, died in a road accident on Jalandhar-Amritsar national highway near Hamira village here on Monday, police said. Two other family members injured in the accident have been admitted to the civil hospital in Jalandhar and their condition was stated to be serious, they said.

A case has been booked against the members of the Ittehad-e-Millat Council (IMC) for violation of Section 144 during a protest held to demand arrest of Nupur Sharma, a senior police officer said on Monday. Sharma, a former spokesperson of BJP, has been in the eye of the storm since she made a remark against Prophet Mohammad during a TV debate. The case was registered on Sunday against the organisers of the protest held on the call of IMC Chief Maulana Tauqir Raza, police said.

Delhi reported 1,060 new Covid cases in a day and six deaths, the highest in around four months, as the positivity rate rose to 10.09 per cent, according to data shared by the city health department on Monday. This is the highest test positivity rate recorded in the capital since January 24 when 11.8 per cent of the people tested had turned out Covid positive.

A Dalit couple died after consuming poison in Shamli district, police said on Monday. Tinku (22) and Priti (19) had eloped from their houses on June 16 as their family did not approve their relationship. The couple on Monday consumed poisonous substances and ended their lives at Bharsi village in Kandhla area of Shamli district, they said.  

The Congress on Monday held a 'Satyagraha' here against the Centre's Agnipath scheme and questioning of Rahul Gandhi by the Enforcement Directorate, saying the government has "betrayed" the youth with the new military recruitment model and is indulging in "vendetta politics" by targeting the former party chief.

Sacked BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma skipped her appearance on Monday before Narkeldanga police station here, which had sent her a notice on the basis of an FIR filed by a local resident over her controversial remarks against Prophet Mohammed, an officer her said.

The 'Antim Ardas' (last prayers) of Savinder Singh, an Afghan Sikh man, who was killed in a terror attack on a gurdwara in Afghanistan, was held here on Monday. Singh's family members paid their tributes to the departed soul at Gurdwara Sri Guru Arjan Dev Ji in Tilak Nagar.

Eleven people were stranded for hours after a cable car was stuck mid-air at Parwanoo Timber Trail in Himachal Pradesh's Solan district, officials said on Monday. All of them were rescued after a six-hour-long operation, they said. Eleven people were stranded mid-air in a cable car at Parwanoo Timber Trail in Solan as rescuers began bringing them to safety one by one, a state disaster management official said.

A woman and two men were killed and two others injured after their car rammed into a truck parked roadside in Chhattisgarh's Bilaspur district on Monday, police said. The victims were headed from their native places in neighbouring Korba district to Bilaspur city in the car, they said.

Snapping a six-day losing run, equity indices settled in the green after a highly volatile session on Monday, with the Sensex climbing 237 points amid positive cues from European markets. The BSE benchmark gained 237.42 points or 0.46 per cent to settle at 51,597.84. During the day, it hit a high of 51,714.61 and a low of 51,062.93.

The rupee appreciated by 7 paise to settle at 77.98 (provisional) against the US dollar on Monday as crude oil prices retreated from elevated levels.

Monsoon covered the whole of Odisha on Monday, as heavy rain lashed several districts, the Met Department said. It also issued a 'yellow warning' for heavy rainfall in many districts over the next four days.

A patient in need of a kidney transplant died at the medical college hospital here on Monday, allegedly due to a four-hour delay in the procedure, prompting the state government to order a probe into the incident.

The kidney, which was harvested from a 34-year-old brain dead donor in Ernakulam, was brought to the state capital on Sunday evening, hospital sources said.

However, the transplant surgery was allegedly delayed for around four hours.

Two people were killed in a roadside bomb blast that hit a car in central Kabul on Sunday, fueling terror in the violence-hit capital.

The incident occurred near Pul-e-Khwaja Baghra in Kabul's 15th district, said Police Spokesperson Khalid Zadran, reported Pajhwok Afghan News.

The bomb pounded over the vehicle, killing the two civilians seated inside. An investigation team has been convened to probe the encounter and its perpetrators.

The blast comes a day after an explosion at a Sikh Gurudwara in Kabul, killing at least two civilians and injuring seven others, Pajhwok Afghan News reported.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi who is on a two-day visit to Karnataka, inaugurated the Centre for Brain Research at the Indian Institute of Science in Bengaluru on Monday.

PM Modi was welcomed by BJP workers and supporters on his arrival in Bengaluru.

The Centre is developed as a one of its kind research facility and focuses on conducting vital research to provide evidence-based public health interventions to manage age-related brain disorders, according to PMO.

Floods and resultant landslides in Assam have claimed 71 lives this year so far. The state of Assam has been facing floods and landslides for eight days starting from June 13.

In the last 24 hours, 33 districts viz Bajali, Baksa, Barpeta, Biswanath, Bongaigaon, Cachar, Chirang, Darrang, Dhemaji, Dhubri, Dibrugarh, Dima-Hasao, Goalpara, Golaghat, Hailakandi, Hojai, Jorhat, Kamrup, Kamrup (M), Karbi Anglong West, Karimganj, Kokrajhar, Lakhimpur, Majuli, Morigaon, Nagaon, Nalbari, Sivasagar, Sonitpur, South Salmara, Tamulpur, Tinsukia and Udalguri district has reported floods.

At least three Naxals, including a woman, were gunned down in an encounter that broke out between police and Naxals in the Kadla village of Madhya Pradesh's Balaghat district on Monday.

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan shared this information about the encounter on his Twitter handle.

"The killed Naxals were identified as their divisional committee member Nagesh, carrying a reward worth Rs 15 lakh, and area commanders Manoj and a woman, Rame, both carrying a reward of Rs eight lakh each," the Chief Minister tweeted.

India gained three spots in the global ranking on median mobile download speed, reaching 115th position with recording 14.28 Mbps in May which is slightly better than 14.19 Mbps speed in April, a new report showed on Monday.

India also improved its global ranking for overall fixed median download speeds, from 76th in April to 75th in May, according to network intelligence and connectivity leader Ookla.

However, India's performance in median download speeds on fixed broadband witnessed a slight dip, from 48.09 Mbps in April to 47.86 in May.

Around 13 people were injured when a private double-decker bus overturned here, police said on Monday.

The incident took place on Sunday night when the bus was on its way to Punjab from Gonda, Superintendent of Police (city) Akhand Pratap Singh said.

"Around 13 passengers got seriously injured. They were admitted at the medical college," Singh said, adding that the bus driver fled from the spot.

A  probe has been initiated into the fire in a Delhi-bound SpiceJet aircraft after take-off from Patna and two other air incidents, involving the IndiGo and SpiceJet flights, a senior official of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said on Monday.

On Sunday, a Delhi-bound aircraft of the SpiceJet airlines carrying 185 passengers caught fire soon after taking off from the Patna airport and made an emergency landing minutes later.

East China's Jiangxi Province on Monday issued a red alert for floods, as local hydrological stations registered water in local rivers at warning levels.

The heavy rain that lashed Jiangxi has brought the first floods this year in Changjiang River and Xiuhe River in the province, according to the provincial hydrological monitoring center, reported Xinhua.

The newly inaugurated main tunnel of the Pragati Maidan Integrated Transit Corridor project here was thrown open for traffic on Monday, officials said.
For a few days, the tunnel will open for traffic from 8 am to 8 pm on a trial basis, they said.

"Vehicular movement in the tunnel started today morning. Traffic police and well as PWD officials will keep a close watch on the movement of vehicles to ensure that everything goes smoothly," a senior official of the India Trade Promotion Organisation (ITPO) told PTI.

Commuters welcomed the opening of the tunnel.

Burglars broke into a private bank in Jammu and Kashmir's Kathua district and decamped with over Rs 1 crore cash, police said on Monday.

The incident took place in the Hatli Morh area on the intervening night on Sunday and Monday. The burglars tied the security guard of the bank with a rope, they said.

Senior Superintendent of Police (Kathua) R C Kotwal told PTI that an investigation has been launched into the matter. 

China reported 14 locally transmitted confirmed COVID-19 cases, including four in Beijing and 10 in Shanghai in the past 24 hours, according to the National Health Commission's report Monday.

A total of 10 local asymptomatic carriers were newly identified in six provincial-level regions, Xinhua News Agency reported citing the municipal health commission.

As of Sunday, 95 COVID-19 patients were discharged from hospitals after which the recovered person tally reached 219,215, the National Health Commission said in its Monday report.

Twenty Indian fishermen were released from the Malir District Jail, Karachi in and were sent to Lahore by bus from where they will be handed over to Indian authorities through the Wagah border.

Their travel expenses were borne by the Edhi Foundation, and they were also given clothes, ration, essentials and cash as gifts as well, The Express Tribune reported.

They had been arrested for violating maritime boundaries and were released after completion of their sentences.

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has predicted heavy rain in Chennai and the adjoining districts on Monday.

On Sunday night, heavy downpour inundated several parts of the state capital, including the Nungambakkam and Meenambakkam localities.

An upper air circulation caused the steady spell of rain which started only as a drizzle on Sunday evening that later turned into heavy showers.

About 42,28,157 people impacted, out of which 1,86,424 people are taking shelters in 744 relief camps. Total 71 people have lost their life due to flood and landslide in this season: Assam State Disaster Management Authority 

Delhi's minimum temperature dropped to 23.6 degrees Celsius on Monday, five notches below the season's average.

The relative humidity at 8.30 am was 77 per cent.

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has predicted generally cloudy skies for the day with light to moderate rain and thundershowers accompanied with gusty winds of around 30-40 kmph.

The country's largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki India on Monday announced opening of bookings for the upcoming new version of its compact SUV Brezza.

The new Brezza, to be launched at the end of the month, will come with features such as electric sunroof along with an array of sophisticated new-age tech, comfort, convenience and connected features, the company said in a statement.

It will also have a next generation powertrain with 6-speed automatic transmission option, it added without disclosing details.

Pakistani police arrested a Sindh lawmaker belonging to the former Prime Minister Imran Khan-led Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) party from his apartment over a sexual harassment case, local media reported. The arrest took place on Sunday morning. The provincial party leadership lambasted at the arrest of the PTI's member of the Sindh Assembly. They termed the FIR and the arrest as 'suspicious'.

PTI's Sher Zaman said 'fake' cases were being registered against party leaders to stop their public protests. Moreover, former Sindh governor Imran Ismail said the MPA had been arrested on a 'suspicious and fake' FIR.

While speaking with Pakistan's local media outlet, the Dawn, South-SSP Asad Raza said that PTI lawmakers Khurram Sher Zaman and Haleem Adil Sheikh approached the Boat Basin police for lodging an FIR pertaining to the kidnapping of their colleague.

However, they were told that their party Member of the Provincial Assembly (MPA) had been arrested in a sexual harassment case that took place in Keamari.

The US is considering whether to extend a Trump-era waiver that would allow certain officials of the Taliban-led government in Afghanistan to continue to travel abroad, the media reported.

According to the 2020 Doha Agreement signed between the US and the Taliban, the extension of the travel ban exemption will end on Monday.

India reported 12,781 fresh Covid cases in a span of 24 hours, which is a marginal decline from the previous day's count of 12,899, the Union Health Ministry said on Monday.

In the same period, the country has reported 18 more Covid deaths, taking the nationwide death toll to 5,24,873.

Maharashtra's ex-HM Anil Deshmukh & minister Nawab Malik move Supreme Court challenging the Bombay High Court order rejecting their pleas to vote in MLC elections on June 20. Their counsels seek urgent hearing, Supreme Court likely to hear the matter today at 12 pm.

Tamil Nadu State Board Public Exams results declared. 93.76% pass percentage recorded for Higher Secondary (Standard 12th) and 90.07% for SSLC (Standard 10th): Department of Government Examinations, Tamil Nadu

Parts of Maharashtra are likely to receive heavy rainfall on Monday morning, the Regional Meteorological Centre of Mumbai said.

"Generally cloudy sky with moderate rain in city and suburbs. Possibility of heavy to very heavy rainfall at isolated places," the weather agency informed in its daily bulletin.

NIA today carried out searches at multiple locations in Jammu & Kashmir, in a terror attack case: Sources

Rupee surges 9 paise to 77.96 against US dollar in early trade

The number of active Covid cases in Lucknow have crossed the 500-mark after a gap of nearly four months.

In Uttar Pradesh the number of cases has gone past the 2500-mark.

At least 89 more persons have tested positive for the infection in the past 24 hours, while 62 patients recovered in the same period, taking the active cases to 505.

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma will hold a meeting with the Deputy Commissioners (DCs) and the Sub-Divisional Officers (Civil) - SDOs on Monday to review the flood situation and disaster preparedness.

Taking to Twitter, he wrote, "In wake of ongoing situation of floods & to review preparedness, will connect with my cabinet colleagues, DCs and Civil SDOs on June 20, 9.30 am onwards from my office via VC."

The Indian Army continued flood relief operations for the fourth consecutive day, informed officials on Sunday. The relentless relief operations in inclement weather conditions have been carried out in seven districts of Assam.

Australia's Deputy PM & Minister for Defence, Richard Marles will visit India from 20-23 June. 

“I am looking forward to meeting with my counterpart, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, & holding our first bilateral Defence Ministers’ Meeting," he said. 

During the visit, he will also meet External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar and engage national security and defence policymakers and personnel.

The Iraqi Health Ministry has reported 13 cases of cholera, mostly in the semi-autonomous region of Kurdistan.

As many as 13 cases of cholera were reported on Sunday.

Of the 13 cases, 10 were detected in the Kurdish province of Sulaymaniyah, one in neighbouring Kirkuk province, and two in the southern province of al-Muthanna, according to a Ministry statement.

In a bizarre incident, a man in Uttar Pradesh's Kanpur district locked up his son and daughter-in-law after an altercation and then fired indiscriminately when the police came to rescue them.

Three police officers, including a sub-Inspector and a home guard, were injured in the incident, police officials said on Monday.

The accused Ram Kumar Dubey, a share trader, lives in Shyam Nagar with his wife Kiran Dubey, elder son Siddharth, latter's wife Bhawna and physically challenged daughter Chandni.

As Europe scrambles to wean itself off Russian oil and gas and tries to confront Russia for its use of energy to blackmail European countries, the EU signed in Cairo last Wednesday a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Egypt and Israel, aimed at using the energy potential of Eastern Mediterranean to cover the shortfall in energy supplies to Europe.

It should be noted that in the wake of the war in Ukraine, Gazprom- the Russian energy giant-has halted gas flows to Poland and Bulgaria and has drastically reduced supplies to Germany, Italy and France.

Orange alert has been issued for Mumbai, Palghar, Thane, Raigad, Ratnagiri and Sindhudurg, today: Regional Meteorological Centre, Mumbai

A magnitude 6.0 earthquake shook Taiwan on Monday morning. There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries. The quake struck at 9:05 am at a depth of 6.8 kilometres in Hualien county, halfway down the east coast of the island, Taiwan's Central Weather Bureau said.

It was felt across most of the island of 24 million people including to the north in Taipei, the capital. It was also felt across the Taiwan Strait in mainland China's Fujian province, Chinese state broadcaster CCTV said. 

Individuals, real estate companies and government agencies in Uttar Pradesh's Lucknow can now purchase sand and river sand directly from stockists for construction work in monsoon.

The Mining Department portal 'Mine Mitra', that will be to be launched soon, will enable direct buying and selling from July this year.

As mining and excavation in river basins is suspended in monsoon, the retail rates of sand and river sand shoot up during this period.

French President Emmanuel Macron's alliance got the most seats in the final round of the parliamentary election on Sunday, but it lost its parliamentary majority, projections show.

The projections, which are based on partial results, show that Macron's candidates would win between 200 and 250 seats — much less than the 289 required to have a straight majority at the National Assembly, France's most powerful house of parliament.

Witnesses in Ethiopia said Sunday that more than 200 people, mostly ethnic Amhara, have been killed in an attack in the country's Oromia region and are blaming a rebel group, which denies it.

It is one of the deadliest such attacks in recent memory as ethnic tensions continue in Africa's second most populous country.

“I have counted 230 bodies. I am afraid this is the deadliest attack against civilians we have seen in our lifetime,” Abdul-Seid Tahir, a resident of Gimbi county, told The Associated Press after barely escaping the attack on Saturday.

Gunmen attacked two churches in rural northwestern Nigeria, killing three people, witnesses and a state official said, weeks after a similar attack in the West African nation left 40 worshippers dead.

The attack in Kajuru area of Kaduna State targeted four villages, resulting in the abduction of unspecified number of residents and the destruction of houses before the assailants managed to escape, locals said.

It wasn't immediately clear who was behind the attack on the Kaduna churches. Much of Nigeria has struggled with security issues, with Kaduna as one of the worst-hit states. At least 32 people were killed in the Kajuru area last week in an attack that lasted for hours across four villages.

A Delhi-bound IndiGo flight from Guwahati returned to Guwahati airport due to a suspected bird hit after the takeoff on Sunday. All passengers were accommodated on another flight to Delhi and the aircraft was inspected.

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) National President JP Nadda on Monday will meet senior leaders of the Communist Party of Vietnam Nguyen Van Nen (Member of the Politburo of the Communist Party of Viet Nam and Secretary, Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee) at BJP Head Office in the national capital.

The meeting is scheduled for 12 noon on Monday.

This meeting is the continuation of the BJP's outreach program "Know BJP" through which the BJP President is interacting with foreign dignitaries.

Union Minister Jitendra Singh on Sunday reviewed the Amarnath Yatra preparation and arrangements with district administration Ramban.

During the review meeting, Singh emphasized that a dashboard must be prepared for the Yatris for the real-time information related to weather forecasts, highway updates, number of Yatris arriving, traffic updates etc.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will embark on a two-day visit to Karnataka on Monday to inaugurate and lay the foundation stone of multiple rail and road infrastructure projects worth over Rs 27,000 crore.

According to the Prime Minister's Office, at around 12:30 pm on Monday, the Prime Minister will visit the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) Bengaluru, where he will inaugurate the Centre for Brain Research (CBR) and will lay the foundation stone of Bagchi-Parthasarathy Multispeciality Hospital.

The Ministry of Home Affairs will hold a National Conference on Cyber Safety and National Security (Cyber Apradh Se Azadi - Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav) at Vigyan Bhawan in the national capital on Monday.

According to the Ministry of Home Affairs, Union Minister Amit Shah will be the Chief Guest at the conference.

As many as 45 protestors were arrested in connection with the Secunderabad Railway Station violence.

Addressing the media, Government Railway Police (GRP) said that the agitators have damaged railway property worth around Rs 20 crore and claimed that a "big conspiracy" by army recruitment coaching centres.

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has expressed grief over the death of 17 persons in lightning and thunderstorm and announced an ex-gratia of Rs 4 lakh for the family members of each of the victims.

Jammu and Kashmir: A terrorist was killed following an encounter that started in the Chatpora area of Pulwama at midnight. Search going on

Multiple people, including police officer, shot at intersection in Washington, D.C., at or near the site of a Juneteenth music concert