Breaking News, July 6

RJD chief and former Bihar CM Lalu Prasad Yadav arrived at AIIMS, Delhi late on Wednesday for treatment. Lalu was flown to Delhi in an air ambulance, a couple of days after falling critically ill.

The Rajasthan cabinet on Wednesday decided to give government jobs to the sons of Kanhaiya Lal who was hacked to death inside his shop in Udaipur.
The state cabinet also removed salary anomalies of state employees, approved a policy for issuing government advertisements to news websites, and formed the Rajasthan College Education Society for better management of new state colleges.

Amid a fall in global prices, the government on Wednesday directed edible oil manufacturers to further cut the maximum retail price (MRP) of imported cooking oils by up to Rs 10 per litre within a week, and maintain a uniform MRP of the same brand of oil across the country. As India imports more than 60 per cent of its edible oil requirement, retail prices came under pressure in the last few months taking cues from the global market. However, there has been a correction, resulting fall in global prices.

The Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the 1984 anti-Sikh riots cases has arrested two other accused who were allegedly part of a mob that had set a house ablaze during the violence, which had left 127 people dead here. The SIT has so far arrested 13 people in connection with the violence that took place following the assassination of the then prime minister Indira Gandhi by her Sikh bodyguards in Delhi.

Russian shelling killed at least seven people in Ukraine over the past 24 hours and wounded 25 more, Ukrainian officials said Wednesday. The country's presidential office said Russian forces targeted cities and villages in southeast Ukraine, with most civilian casualties occurring in Donetsk province, where Russia stepped up its offensive in recent days.

Congress leader Tarvinder Singh Marwah, who was an MLA for three terms in the Delhi assembly, joined the BJP here on Wednesday and slammed his former party's leadership for allegedly ignoring longtime members and promoting courtiers. Speaking to reporters at the BJP headquarters, Marwah was unsparing in his attack on the Congress leadership and cited a few incidents to slam Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, whom he derisively referred to as "queen" and "king". He also urged the members of G23, a ginger group within the Congress which seeks overhaul of the party's organisational apparatus, to join the BJP. All thee members of the Gandhi family, which also includes Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, have been promoting their favourites, he alleged, citing the list of Congress members recently elected to Rajya Sabha. Marwah, a Congress MLA between 1998-2013, also took a swipe at the party over the new appointments in its media department.

The Bombay High Court has upheld the conviction and life sentence imposed on a man for killing his 20-year-old girlfriend in a hotel room in 2008 and then attempting to commit suicide. Terming the incident as “a case of gruesome murder of a girl at the hands of her boyfriend”, a division bench of Justices Prasanna Varale and Shrikant Kulkarni noted that the 19 injuries found on the victim's body clearly indicated the way the accused had planned to eliminate her. The High Court had passed the order on June 27 and a copy of the same was made available on Wednesday.

In the end, it was the case of ministers being briefed incorrectly about the appointment of a member of Parliament known for misconduct to an important government post that proved too much for Rishi Sunak, the first Indian-origin politician to hold the high UK Cabinet office of Chancellor of the Exchequer. While Sunak does not mention the now-suspended former Deputy Chief Whip Chris Pincher by name in his withering resignation letter, the tone makes clear that British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s late admission of error in appointing Pincher was simply the last straw.

Aviation regulator DGCA on Wednesday issued a show cause notice to SpiceJet following eight technical malfunction incidents in the last 18 days. "The review (of incidents) transpires that poor internal safety oversight and inadequate maintenance actions (as most of the incidents are related to either component failure or system related failure) have resulted in degradation of the safety margins," the notice stated. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has given SpiceJet three weeks to respond to the notice. "Financial assessment carried out by DGCA in September 2021 has also revealed that the airline is operating on 'cash-​and-carry' (model) and ​s​uppliers/​a​pproved ​v​endors are not being paid on a regular basis leading to shortage of spares and frequent invoking of MELs (minimum equipment lists)," it stated. The DGCA said SpiceJet has failed to "establish a safe, efficient and reliable air services" under terms of Rule 134 and Schedule XI of the Aircraft Rules, 1937. Reacting to the DGCA notice, Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia asserted that passenger safety was paramount.

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The Supreme Court on Wednesday stayed the Madras High Court order which restrained passing of any unannounced resolutions in the meeting of the AIADMK general and executive councils concerning the issue of single leadership of the party. A vacation bench of Justices Dinesh Maheshwari and Krishna Murari issued notices on the plea of former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami challenging the Madras High Court order. "Notice be issued to respondents, returnable in two weeks… In view of the facts and circumstances of case and subject matter of litigation and high court orders, it is considered appropriate that operation and effect of order June 23, 2022 shall remain stayed," the bench said. The high court division bench had held an extraordinary sitting past midnight and passed the order at 4 am on June 23.

With heavy rains disrupting normal life in coastal areas and Malnad region of Karnataka, Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Wednesday said rescue works have been taken up on priority and directions have been issued to take up relief work immediately. The rains have caused damages to houses, buildings, electric poles and properties in affected areas, also rivers have swollen due to the downpour, inundating agricultural fields and low lying areas.

A fresh batch of nearly 6,000 pilgrims left Bhagwati Nagar base camp here on Wednesday under tight security arrangements to visit the holy cave shrine of Amarnath in south Kashmir Himalayas, officials said. A total of 5,982 pilgrims of the eighth batch left in two separate convoys, nearly six hours behind schedule, after authorities reviewed its decision to suspend the yatra for the day owing to inclement weather, they said. While 3,363 pilgrims, including 665 women, 75 sadhus and 17 children left in a convoy of 131 vehicles for Nunwan-Pahalgam base camp around 9.50 am, another convoy carrying 2,619 devotees including 556 women and 49 sadhus, left in 78 vehicles for Baltal base camp around 10.30 am, officials said.

The national capital will host 'Delhi Shopping Festival' from January 28 to February 26 next year and it will be the country's biggest such event, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal announced on Wednesday. The festival will have guests from the country as well as abroad to experience Delhi, its culture, food and shopping and the event will generate thousands of employment opportunities, he said. Kejriwal also said the government is in talks with hotels and airlines to provide special packages to those who want to visit Delhi at the time. "It will be the biggest shopping festival of India and we will make it the biggest in the world in the coming years. Delhi will be decked up as a bride and there will be heavy discounts on products," he said during an online briefing.

If religious freedom is a true American right, then it must apply to all, not just the conservative Christians arguing against the right to abortion. When the United States Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, removing the right for all citizens to an abortion, Twitter exploded. Among the many declaiming against the decision were numerous tweets from Jewish Amercians announcing that, in stripping away the constitutional right to an abortion, the Court also stripped away religious freedom for American Jews.

A day after Kerala Minister Saji Cheriyan triggered a political row with his remarks against the Constitution, the opposition Congress UDF on Wednesday staged protests in the state assembly demanding his resignation following which the Speaker MB Rajesh adjourned the House for the day. As soon as the House proceedings began, the opposition members trooped into the well of the House raising slogans seeking the resignation of Cheriyan.

Leaving the Ashneer Grover controversy behind, fintech platform BharatPe has closed one of the highest growth quarters in its history, facilitating over Rs 3,600 crore in loans in the first quarter (April-June period) of FY23. This is a growth of 112 per cent over the last quarter. BharatPe said it also reached an all-time high of $18.5 billion in annualised total payment value (TPV) -- a growth of 50 per cent over the last quarter. "Post a successful FY22 that we closed with a 3 times growth in merchant loans, 2.5 times growth in payments and a 4 times jump in revenue, BharatPe has recorded its' best ever quarter in Q1, FY23," said Suhail Sameer, CEO, BharatPe. "We are on an incredible growth journey, driven by a huge shift in behaviour towards digital payment modes, rise of UPI and the increased acceptance of new-age fintech products," he added.

Citing a CAG report which said the Delhi government was running in profit, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday said the numbers were the "biggest proof of its honesty". AAP's honesty has deprived the opponents of their sleep, he said. The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report tabled in the Assembly on Tuesday said the Delhi government has had a revenue surplus from 2015-16 to 2019-20. It, however, mentioned that the Delhi government was able to maintain the revenue surplus largely because the pension liabilities of its employees were being borne by the central government and the Delhi Police's expenditure was borne by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs.

The Ferozepur-Shipki La National Highway-5 has been blocked for traffic at Jhakri in Rampur Bushar tehsil here on Wednesday, a National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) official said. The highway has been blocked since 2 am as the flow of water increased in Broni nullah during heavy rains which also brought the debris on to the road, NHAI executive engineer KL Suman said. Efforts are on to clear the highway for traffic by removing the debris as soon as possible, he added. 

The national capital witnessed a warm and humid morning on Wednesday as the city's minimum temperature was two notches above the normal, even as the weather office predicted light rain in the city. The minimum temperature was 29.4 degrees Celsius, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said. "There will generally be cloudy sky with possibility of light rain during the day," an official said. The weather office said the relative humidity at 8.30 am was 74 per cent and that the maximum temperature during the day is likely to hover around 37 degrees Celsius.

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A girl, who was sleeping by the roadside in Dhali, Shimla died due to a landslide following heavy rainfall here. Two others injured and admitted to a hospital: Shimla Police. 

Floodwaters had inundated or were threatening the homes of 85,000 people around Sydney on Wednesday as rivers started to recede and the heavy rains tracked north of Australia's largest city. While rain was easing across Sydney, several waterways including the Hawkesbury-Nepean rivers system on Sydney's northern and western fringes remained at major flood levels, Emergency Services Minister Steph Cooke said. Emergency responders knocked on doors overnight in the towns of Singleton and Muswellbrook, in the Hunter Valley north of Sydney, to order residents to evacuate, she said.

Two local militants surrendered before the security forces during an encounter in Kulgam district of Jammu and Kashmir on Wednesday, police said. The encounter had started at Hadigam area of the south Kashmir district during the night, the police said. However, the militants surrendered before the forces on the appeal of their parents and police.

Authorities announced on Wednesday (July 6) that due to inclement weather along both the routes, Amarnath Yatra will remain suspended for the day. Due to inclement weather along both Baltal and Pahalgam routes, no movement of pilgrims will be allowed from either side towards the cave shrine today, officials said, adding that the pilgrims will not move towards the Valley from Jammu. The situation will be reviewed later, they added.

Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Jairam Thakur to be the Chief Guest on the 87th birthday of Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama, today

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A Caribbean court ruled Tuesday that a law in Antigua and Barbuda that criminalises sex between men is unconstitutional. The Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court found that “the selection of an intimate partner is a private and a personal choice." The ruling also said the twin-island nation's 1995 Sexual Offenses Act “offends the right to liberty, protection of the law, freedom of expression, protection of personal privacy and protection from discrimination on the basis of sex.” The ruling comes after a gay man who works at Antigua's Ministry of Health and a local group called Women Against Rape Inc. asked that the law be found unconstitutional.

A 35-year-old Muslim community religious leader hailing from Afghanistan was shot dead by a group of four unidentified persons in Yeola town of Maharashtra's Nashik district on Tuesday, police said. A possible motive behind the murder was not immediately known. The incident took place in the evening at an open plot in the MIDC area of Yeola town, around 200km from Mumbai, the police said. The deceased, identified as Khwaja Sayyad Chishti, was popularly known as 'Sufi Baba' in Yeola, an official said. He was shot with a firearm in the forehead by the attackers, following which he died on the spot, the official said. After killing Sufi Baba, a citizen of Afghanistan, the assailants seized an SUV used by him and fled the spot, he said. An offence of murder was registered at the Yeola police station and a hunt was on to nab the killers, the official said. 

The gunman who attacked an Independence Day parade in suburban Chicago fired more than 70 rounds with an AR-15-style gun that killed at least seven people, then evaded initial capture by dressing as a woman and blending into the fleeing crowd, police said Tuesday. A spokesman for the Lake County Major Crime Task Force told a news conference that the suspected shooter, who was arrested late Monday, used a high-powered rifle “similar to an AR-15" to spray bullets from atop a commercial building into a crowd that had gathered for the parade in Highland Park, a close-knit community on the shores of Lake Michigan that has long drawn the rich and sometimes famous. More than 30 people were wounded in the attack, including one who died Tuesday, task force spokesman Christopher Covelli said.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken will see his Chinese counterpart this week at a meeting of foreign ministers from the Group of 20 bloc of nations that will likely exacerbate splits over Russia's war in Ukraine. While strained US-China ties will be the focus of Blinken's talks with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, the broader G-20 gathering in Indonesia of leading industrialised nations will almost certainly be overshadowed by the Ukraine conflict and its effect on global food and energy security. And, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will be there, marking the first time that he and Blinken will be in the same room, let alone the same city, at the same time in nearly six months.

Canada is going to throw out about 13.6 million doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine because it couldn't find any takers for it either at home or abroad. Canada signed a contract with AstraZeneca in 2020 to get 20 million doses of its vaccine, and 2.3 million Canadians received at least one dose of it, mostly between March and June 2021. Following concerns in the spring of 2021 about rare but potentially fatal blood clots from AstraZeneca, Canada focused on using its ample supplies of the mRNA vaccines from Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna. In July 2021, Canada promised to donate the rest of its procured supply, about 17.7 million doses. But in a statement Tuesday, Health Canada said that despite efforts to meet that pledge, 13.6 million doses have expired and will have to be thrown out.