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The 22nd Summit of the Council of Heads of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization Member States (SCO-CoHS) is set to commence on Friday in Samarkand, Uzbekistan after two years of the Covid-19 pandemic. Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in Samarkand on Thursday evening to take part in the SCO Summit. During the summit, the leaders are expected to review the activities of SCO and discuss prospects for future cooperation. Uzbekistan is the current chair of SCO 2022 and India will assume the rotational annual presidency of the SCO at the end of the Samarkand Summit.

After waiting for seven decades for the fastest moving wild animal cheetah, India will finally receive the first batch from South Africa by Friday afternoon. A special Jumbo Jet Boeing 747 plane, having all arrangements for specially housing eight cheetahs for 16 hours journey to Rajasthan capital Jaipur, landed in Namibia capital Windhoek on Thursday.

The Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology Rajeev Chandrasekhar will visit India's first lithium cell manufacturing facility at Tirupati, Andhra Pradesh on Friday.

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Word liberation is wrong. Hyderabad was and will remain an integral part of India: Owaisi

The word liberation is wrong. Hyderabad was and will remain an integral part of India. It should be celebrated as Integration Day, said AIMIM Chief Asaduddin Owaisi on BJP to celebrate 'Telangana National Liberation Day' on September 17

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PM Modi leaves historic Uzbek city of Samarkand after attending SCO summit

Prime Minister Narendra Modi left Uzbekistan's historic city of Samarkand on Friday after attending the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit and holding bilateral talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

The SCO held its first in-person summit in Samarkand in Uzbekistan after two years. The summit also saw the participation of Chinese President Xi Jinping, Putin, Raisi and Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif among other leaders from the Central Asian countries.

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22 dead in UP as heavy rains cause wall collapses, damage house

Heavy overnight rains in Uttar Pradesh Friday led to the deaths of at least 22 people, including nine labourers who were buried alive under the debris when an under-construction wall in the state capital collapsed on their huts.

The only survivor in the Lucknow incident, where a portion of the boundary wall of an Army enclave collapsed following rains, was a man, named Golu, who made the call to police from under the rubble.

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PM Narendra Modi met Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev in Samarkand

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Akasa Air aims to operate over 250 flights per week on nine domestic routes by October

Newly-launched carrier Akasa Air is aiming for over 250 flights per week operating over nine domestic routes by the second week of October, the airline said on Friday as it announced entry in the highly-competitive Delhi market.

The airline, founded by late stock market investor Rakesh Jhunjhunwala along with aviation industry veteran Vinay Dube, launched its operations on August 7 with a flight to Ahmedabad from the financial capital.

Since then, it has expanded the route network to Chennai, Kochi, Bengaluru.

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Sessions court sentences Vadgam MLA Jignesh Mevani,18 others to six months in jail

Ahmedabad Sessions court on Friday sentenced Vadgam MLA Jignesh Mevani and 18 others to six months in jail for holding a protest near Gujarat University in 2016. The court granted bail to all 19 persons, next date of hearing is October 17.

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IndiGO aircraft grounded at Kanpur airport due to a technical snag

An IndiGO aircraft bound to Indore grounded at Kanpur airport due to a technical snag. An alternate aircraft has been arranged for passengers, reports ANI

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Fire engulfs 42-storey building in China; no deaths reported

A massive fire sent flames and black smoke pouring Friday from a 42-storey skyscraper in central China belonging to the country's largest telecoms operator, but no casualties were reported, officials said.

Dozens of floors burned in the China Telecom building in the city of Changsha, the capital of central Hunan province. The city's fire department said it sent 280 firefighters who were able to quickly extinguish the blaze on the 218-metre (720-foot) building.

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All obsolete laws will be abolished soon in Haryana: Chief Secretary

Haryana Chief Secretary Sanjeev Kaushal on Friday said that 20 of the 56 obsolete laws identified in the state have been repealed and asked the officials to work on scrapping of the remaining others.

Kaushal was presiding over a meeting regarding the repeal of obsolete laws and acts, according to an official statement.

The repealing of these laws was done following the recommendations of Haryana State Review Committee.

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SC Summit: PM Modi and Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan hold bilateral talks

PM Modi and Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan hold bilateral talks on the sidelines of the SCO summit in Uzbekistan

 

The two leaders discussed ways to deepen bilateral cooperation in diverse sectors: PMO

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Textile ministry clears 23 strategic research projects worth around Rs 60 crore

Ministry of Textiles on Friday cleared 23 strategic research projects worth around Rs 60 crore in the areas of specialty fibres, sustainable textiles, geotextiles, mobiltech and sports textiles. These strategic research projects fall under flagship programme ‘National Technical Textiles Mission’

 

Among these projects, 12 projects of speciality fibres having application areas in agriculture, smart textiles, healthcare, strategic application and protective gears and four projects from sustainable textiles having application area in agriculture and healthcare sector cleared.

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PM Modi true follower of Ambedkar: Former president Ram Nath Kovind

Former president Ram Nath Kovind on Friday said Prime Minister Narendra Modi is a true follower of B R Ambedkar and is working towards turning the social reformer's vision into a reality.

Kovind also listed out initiatives of the government in the fields of education, labour welfare, women empowerment, building a self-reliant country and the reading down of Article 370 of the Constitution with respect to Jammu and Kashmir, and said these steps were in congruence with Ambedkar's vision.

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Centre should do positive things instead of 'harassing' everyone with CBI and ED: Delhi CM Kejriwal

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Friday said he has failed to understand what the liquor scam was about, and advised the Centre to do positive things for progress of the country instead of "harassing" everyone with CBI and ED.

His remarks came amid raids by the Enforcement Directorate at 40 locations across the country in connection with alleged irregularities in implementation of Excise Policy 2021-22 of the AAP government in Delhi.

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13 killed in wall collapse incidents in Uttar Pradesh amid heavy rains

Heavy rains brought down walls in parts of Uttar Pradesh on Friday, killing 13 people including nine labourers who were buried alive under the debris in the state capital.

The state government has announced financial assistance of Rs 4 lakh to the families of the deceased. In Lucknow, an under-construction boundary wall of an Army enclave collapsed following overnight rains, leaving nine labourers dead and one injured, police said.

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PM Modi true follower of B R Ambedkar, says Former President Ram Nath Kovind

Former president Ram Nath Kovind on Friday said Prime Minister Narendra Modi is a true follower of B R Ambedkar and is working towards turning the social reformer's vision into a reality.

Kovind also listed out initiatives of the government in the fields of education, labour welfare, women empowerment, building a self-reliant country and the reading down of Article 370 of the Constitution with respect to Jammu and Kashmir, and said these steps were in congruence with Ambedkar's vision.