Breaking News, April 9

The vaccination drive against COVID-19 in Mumbai will take place only in government and civic centres on April 10 and 11 and not in any private hospital, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation said on Friday.

The vaccination drive at private hospitals will resume once more vaccine doses are made available, it added.

West Bengal: Election Commission transfer IC Bhangore Shyam Prasad Saha to Police Directorate, Bhawani Bhawan, Alipore

Amid rising cases of COVID-19 in Uttarakhand, the state cabinet on Friday decided to impose a night curfew in Dehradun from 10 pm to 5 am and close all schools from class 1 to 12 till April 30 in parts of Haridwar, Nainital and the state's winter capital.

The night curfew will be in force in the whole of Dehradun from 10 pm to 5 am, Cabinet Minister and state government spokesman Subodh Uniyal told reporters.    

Nepal's Minister for Foreign Affairs Pradeep Kumar Gyawali on Friday called his Indian counterpart S Jaishankar and requested him to facilitate the supply of the vaccine against the COVID-19.

The Rajasthan government on Friday extended night curfew in 10 urban areas till April 30 and its timing, amid a spike in COVID-19 cases in the state.

The night curfew timing will be from 8 pm to 6 am in nine urban areas of Ajmer, Alwar, Bhilwara, Chittorgarh, Dungarpur, Jaipur, Jodhpur, Kota and Abu Road and markets will close by 7 pm, while in Udaipur, the curfew will be there from 6 pm to 6 am and markets will close by 5 pm, according to an order.
Earlier, the night curfew timing was from 10 pm to 6 am and it was till April 19.

A day ahead of the 10-day "corona curfew" coming in to effect in some district centres of the state, the Karnataka government said on Friday factories,
companise and organisations that have night shifts can continue to do so, but employees have to report at the work place before 10 pm.

It also has given exemptions to health and emergency services and also to vehicles providing essential services, among others.

Prince Philip, husband of Queen Elizabeth II passes away at 99

Night curfew imposed in Moradabad from 10 pm to 6 am. The order comes into effect from tonight and will continue till April 16. 

PM Modi addressed the public during a book release event of Hindi translation of 'Odisha Itihaas'.

• Today's public representatives might get surprised to know that the party from which he (Harekrushna Mahatab) became the CM, is the same that he opposed during the Emergency and went to jail. He was a rare leader who went to jail for the nation's freedom as well as to save its democracy.
• The book has been published in the year when the nation is celebrating Azadi Ka Amrut Mahotsav. This yr also marks 100 yrs of the incident when Harekrushna Mahtab left college and joined in the freedom struggle. When Gandhi ji started Dandi Yatra, he led the movement in Odisha.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah addressed a press conference in West Bengal. Here are the highlights from his presser:

• In the three phases, BJP has got unprecedented support from the people of Bengal. As per our estimation, BJP will win between 63 to 68 seats in the three phases. 

• The way TMC has appealed to minority voters to come together and vote for the TMC says that their minority vote bank is also slipping away.

• When CAPF is deployed for poll duty, it doesn't come under the jurisdiction of the Home Ministry. It comes under Election Commission.

• The frustration of TMC is very much evident from their action and speeches. I haven't seen such a leader or CM in my life who give statements to 'gherao CRPF'. Is she pushing the people towards anarchy? I don't understand. 

• Sonar Bangla Abhiyan will begin from Kolkata. Kolkata will remain the 'City of Joy' and we will also work to transform it into 'City of Future'. We will make a Rs 22,000 crore Kolkata Development Fund for infrastructural strengthening.

• We will build a Central University and an AIIMS in North Bengal. We will work on granting Scheduled Tribe status to Gorkha communities.

• The information on vaccine shortage is not right. All states are being provided adequate number of vaccine doses.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi to release Hindi translation of the book 'Odisha Itihaas' written by 'Utkal Keshari' Harekrushna Mahtab, at an event in Delhi shortly. 

Chhattisgarh CM Bhupesh Baghel takes his first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine at Pt Jawahar Lal Nehru Memorial Medical College in Raipur.

A ruckus erupted at a theatre in Jogulamba Gadwal, Telangana as the audience vandalised theatre after the screening of a movie of actor and Jan Sena chief Pawan Kalyan was stopped due to a technical glitch. 

India reported 1,31,968 new COVID-19 cases, 61,899 discharges, and 780 deaths in the last 24 hours, as per the Union Health Ministry.

• Total cases: 1,30,60,542
• Total recoveries: 1,19,13,292
• Active cases: 9,79,608
• Death toll: 1,67,642
• Total vaccination:  9,43,34,262

25,40,41,584 samples tested for COVID-19 up to April 8, 2021. Of these 13,64,205 samples were tested yesterday, as per the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR). READ FULL STORY...

Election Commission of India issues notices to CM and TMC leader Mamata Banerjee asking her to explain her stand by April 10, regarding her statements against Central Forces on March 28 and April 7. This is the second notice issued to her by Election Commission.

An Air India Express flight made a precautionary landing at Kozhikode today after pilots detected a fire alarm from cargo. With 17 passengers onboard, the flight was scheduled for Calicut-Kuwait. 

BJP released a list of candidates for UP Zila Panchayat polls in the state. Sangeeta Sengar, the wife of former BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar who is a convict in the 2018 Unnao rape case, also contests the polls.

One person was killed and at least six others were wounded in a shooting at an industrial park in Bryan, Texas, said police. Police in Bryan city of Texas are searching for a suspect after the shooting incident, reports CNN. 

Odisha's COVID-19 Vaccination In-Charge Bijay Panigrahi said, "700 vaccination centers could not work for two days due to vaccine shortage. With the stock we've, we can continue vaccination for two days (till April 9) and we expect to get vaccines within two days."

Andhra Pradesh State Election Commission conducted panchayat polls on Thursday in two villages of Kotia, Koraput in Odisha over which both the state's stake claim. "Villagers have requested us to provide security so that they can vote freely," an officer of Andhra Pradesh Police said.

Koraput District Collector Abdaal M Akhtar said, "Section 144 of CrPC was imposed in the two villages after cases of COVID-19 were found there. Only 15% voting was recorded in the villages."