Breaking News, July 2 | HIGHLIGHTS

Gurugram, Haryana | Union Minister Anurag Thakur meets cricketer Shikhar Dhawan as a part of ‘Sampark se Samarthan Maha Abhiyan' campaign.

"Congress fought election in Telangana by compromising with BRS...we will not ally with BRS or Congress...He (Rahul Gandhi) is going overboard and speaking, just because they won one election in Karnataka...": Union Minister G Kishan Reddy.

West Bengal: Central Forces carry out route march in East Medinipur ahead of the upcoming panchayat polls in the state.

Srinagar: IAF ALH Mk III helicopter rescued two injured civilian mountaineers from Thajiwas Glacier, one of whom had suffered multiple fractures, hypothermia & other injuries. Faisal Wani & Zeeshan Mushtaq were spotted by the ground party in an inhospitable glacier where the helicopter had no landing field and a low hover operation was resorted to. The entire operation was over in an hour. Air Force Station Srinagar was in charge of the entire operation from where the helicopter was launched and the operation was controlled: PRO (Defence) Srinagar.

Manipur | Curfew will be relaxed on 3rd July from 5 am to 6 pm in all areas of Imphal West district.

Manipur | Keeping in view of Union Home Minister Amit Shah's deep concern to restore peace and harmony in the State and alleviate the plight of people in general, United People's Front and Kuki National Organisation have decided to lift the blockade at Kangui (Kangpokpi) on NH2 with immediate effect to ensure uninterrupted supply of essential commodities in the State. The decision was taken after wide ranging consultations with Civil Society Organisations, village chiefs, youth and women leaders on several occasions: UPF spokesperson Aaron Kipgen and KNO Spokesperson Seilen Haokip.

Telangana | "We spoke about uniting the country during the Bharat Jodo Yatra. The entire country supported the Yatra showing that they do not support the spread of hatred and violence but uniting the country. Khammam is Congress' stronghold and the people have always shown their support. The people here understand our ideology...Telangana was a dream, the dream of the poor, farmer and labourer. For 9 years TRS tried to crush this dream. Now the TRS has changed its name to BRS- BJP Ristedar Samithi...," says Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in Khammam.

Manipur CM Biren Singh inspects the on-ground situation at the hills adjoining Bishnupur-Churachandpur today.

At least three "village volunteers" were killed and five others injured in an exchange of fire with unidentified gunmen in Manipur's Bishnupur district, police said on Sunday. The incident took place in Khoijumantabi village late on Saturday night when the "village volunteers" were guarding the area in a makeshift bunker, a police officer said.

We will work to strengthen the party again. MLAs and all senior leaders will sit together to decide about any action against the rebel leaders. Being the president, I had appointed Praful Patel and Sunil Tatkare but they did not follow their responsibilities. Therefore, I have to take some action against them: NCP chief Sharad Pawar

We have all the numbers, all MLAs are with me. We are here as a party. We have informed all seniors also. The majority is given importance in a democracy. Our party is 24 years old and young leadership should come forward: Maharashtra Deputy CM Ajit Pawar.

The country is progressing under the leadership of PM Modi. He is also popular in other countries. Everyone supports him and appreciates his leadership. We will fight the upcoming Lok Sabha and Assembly elections with them (BJP) and that is why we have taken this decision: Maharashtra Deputy CM Ajit Pawar

Maharashtra CM Eknath Shinde says "Now we have 1 Chief Minister and 2 Deputy Chief Ministers. The double-engine government has now become triple engine. For the development of Maharashtra, I welcome Ajit Pawar and his leaders. Ajit Pawar's experience will help strengthen Maharashtra."

Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar has backing of 40 NCP MLAs & 6 NCP MLCs, says sources.

Ajit Pawar changes his Twitter bio as Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra. Several NCP leaders including Ajit Pawar extended support to the NDA govt in Maharashtra today.

NCP leader Ajit Pawar sworn in as deputy chief minister of Maharashtra.

Five persons were killed in two road accidents involving heavy vehicles in Chhattisgarh’s Korba district, police said on Sunday. The first accident took place on a newly-constructed bridge under Darri police station area around 1.30 am on the intervening night of Saturday and Sunday, a senior official said. Three men were killed when their speeding car overturned after hitting a cow and colliding with a heavy vehicle on the bridge, he said. The victims Yash Goyal (28), Rupesh Goyal (28) and Deepak Singh were travelling to Darri from Korba town, the official said.

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Sunday said the party's blueprint for a "new dawn" in Telangana is ready and that 3.8 crore people of the state want change. He also said that the Congress is proud of its collective leadership in Telangana. The remarks came ahead of the party's grand public meeting in the district where Rahul Gandhi will sound the poll bugle in the state. Assembly elections in the state are slated in the next few months. "3.8 Crore people of Telangana want change. Shri Rahul Gandhi's #TelanganaJanaGarjana grand rally shall be voicing their shared aspirations, today," Kharge said on Twitter.

Two persons were killed when two buses of the Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST) collided and then one of them hit an auto-rickshaw in Mumbai on Sunday, police said. The accident took place at 1.45 am on a slippery road near Aarey flyover on the Western Express Highway, they said. Mumbai has been receiving rains since the past one week, making roads slippery. An official from Vanrai police station said both the BEST buses were heading to Ghatkopar depot from Poisar depot when the driver of the vehicle moving ahead applied brakes.

Emergency personnel and the acting police commissioner were at the scene of a mass shooting in Baltimore early Sunday morning, police said. The Baltimore Police Department confirmed there has been a mass shooting in the 800 block of Gretna Avenue. The number of victims was not immediately provided. Acting Commissioner Richard Worley was at the scene of the shooting, police said.

Diesel sales dropped in June as the arrival of monsoon cut demand in the agri sector and reduced vehicular movement, preliminary industry data showed. Demand for diesel, the most consumed fuel in the country -- accounting for about two-fifths of the total demand, fell 3.7 per cent to 7.1 million tonnes in June compared to the year-ago period. Diesel had soared 6.7 per cesalesnt and 9.3 per cent in April and May, respectively, as agriculture demand picked up and cars yanked up air-conditioning to beat summer heat. Month-on-month sales were almost flat compared to 7.09 million tonnes of diesel consumed in May.

Drugs worth nearly Rs 12 crore were seized on Sunday and three traffickers nabbed by police in Kamrup district, an officer said.
Assam Police's Special Task Force (STF) Deputy Inspector General Partha Sarathi Mahanta said acting on a tip-off, the Kamrup district police led by Additional SP Kalyan Pathak launched an operation against trafficking of the consignment. "Three couriers were carrying the narcotics from Guwahati to Dhubri in an SUV during early hours. They intercepted the vehicle at Palasbari and seized 50 soap boxes containing as many packets of heroin, weighing 700 gm," Mahanta told PTI.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has expressed its desire to field candidates in all 60 assembly constituencies and two Lok Sabha seats in Arunachal Pradesh in the general elections next year. AAP state unit general secretary Toko Nikam told reporters that the party is committed to providing free water, electricity, medical facilities till Rs 10 lakh and world class education if they come to power in the northeastern state in 2024.

The Uttar Pradesh government plans to use eight rivers as inland waterways to improve connectivity and transportation of goods, especially bulk cargo such as foodgrains and fertilisers. Senior state government officials said the Yamuna, Gomti, Assi, Ghaghra, Rapti Betwa, Chambal and the Varuna rivers will be used as waterways to transport goods and people. The move is in line with the BJP-led Centre's Maritime India Vision 2030 that envisages increasing the share of inland water transport to five per cent by 2030. Work on achieving the target has already started. The Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath-led Uttar Pradesh government aims to provide the plan with a shot in the arm, the officials said.

India has logged 53 new coronavirus infections, while the active cases have declined to 1,490, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Sunday. The death toll was recorded at 5,31,907, the data updated at 8 am stated. The Covid case tally was recorded at 4.49 crore (4,49,94,281) The national COVID-19 recovery rate has been recorded at 98.81 per cent, according to the health ministry website.

The Navi Mumbai police have registered a case against a man for allegedly kidnapping a 21-year-old woman with an intention to marry her, an official said on Sunday. The accused, from Koparkhairne area in Navi Mumbai, allegedly threatened the woman on Thursday and kidnapped her, the official from said. The woman's family members approached the police after being unable to find her.

Manipur Governor Anusuiya Uikey has urged women of the state to restrain from blocking security forces on the roads. Appealing for peace, Uikey said on Saturday that she was deeply shocked and disheartened about the ethnic clash, which is still continuing. The governor's statement came after the forces reported several incidents of road blockades in the strife-torn state during security operations. "I, from the bottom of my heart further appeal to you all, especially mothers and sisters, to restrain from blocking security forces on the roads as they are discharging their responsibilities for the safety of the people of the state," she said.

A fresh batch of 4,903 pilgrims left the base camp here on Sunday to join the annual pilgrimage to the 3,880-metre high cave shrine of Amarnath in south Kashmir Himalayas, officials said. With this, a total of 12,807 pilgrims have so far undertaken the pilgrimage since June 30 when Lt Governor Manoj Sinha flagged off the first batch. Over 8,000 pilgrims offered prayers at the shrine on the first day of the 62-day yatra which commenced from both the twin tracks - the traditional 48-km Nunwan-Pahalgam route in Anantnag district and the shorter but steep 14-km-long Baltal route in Ganderbal district – on Saturday.

Over 1,300 camps under the 'Jagananna Suraksha' programme were conducted across Andhra Pradesh on Saturday for resolving people's grievances, the state government said. Government employees, volunteers, and people's representatives interacted with the complainants on a "massive scale and issued tokens after registering their complainants", according to an official statement. These camps will be held for a month in 15,004 wards and village secretariats across the state.

The body of a 17-year-old boy was found floating in Mumbra creek in Thane district of Maharashtra on Saturday, three days after he fell into a swollen nullah in Diva town and washed away, a civic official said. The boy fell into the nullah on June 28 night amid a heavy downpour. Personnel of the Fire Brigade and regional disaster management cell searched for him after the incident but in vain.

At least 13 more bodies of the June 2 Balasore train accident kept at AIIMS Bhubaneswar were handed over to their family members on Saturday, official sources said. Of the 29 bodies identified using DNA sampling, six were handed over to their families on Friday and 13 on Saturday, a railway official said. “On the basis of DNA test results and with coordination with AIIMS Bhubaneswar, Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) and GRP, 13 bodies of the Bahanaga train accident victims have been handed over to the kin of the deceased on Saturday,” the railway official said.

As many as 88 people have lost their lives in road accidents on Samruddhi Expressway in Maharashtra, including 25 on Saturday as a private bus caught fire after hitting the divider, since it was partially thrown open last December, an official said. Road hypnosis is cited as one of the causes of the accidents on the six-lane wide access-controlled expressway, the state highway police official said. Highway hypnosis or driving hypnosis is a condition when the driver zones out while driving a vehicle without remembering what occurred in that specific period.

Two Indian-origin people, including a former Pfizer employee, have been charged with insider trading by federal authorities for their scheme to reap illicit profits by trading on information about the results of a COVID-19 medicine's clinical trials by the pharmaceutical giant. Amit Dagar, a former Pfizer employee, and his close friend and business partner Atul Bhiwapurkar were charged on Thursday by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for their scheme to reap illicit profits through insider trading. In a parallel action, the US Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York also announced criminal charges against the duo.

A 15-year-old girl, who was allegedly kidnapped from her village here on June 25, was rescued on Saturday from a railway station and the accused arrested, police said. The girl's mother had lodged a missing complaint on Friday, stating that her daughter had gone missing on June 25 when she had gone to a bank leaving her alone at home, Aurai Circle Officer (CO) Umeshwar Prabhat Singh said. The complainant said that after five days from June 25, she came to know that her daughter was seen with a person named Govinda, he said.

With heavy rains lashing Palghar district of Maharashtra for the third consecutive day on Saturday, several villages in Wada taluka are cut off from the district headquarters as key bridges are submerged and some rivers are in spate, officials said. No casualties or damage to properties has been reported, a senior District Disaster Control Cell official told PTI. Surya, Pinjale, Deherje, Vaitarna and Gargai rivers have crossed the danger limits due to the continuous downpour, he said.