LIVE news: Parliament monsoon session from Sept 14 to Oct 1, say reports

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The upcoming Monsoon Session of Parliament is likely to begin from September 14 in which 18 sittings are expected in each of the two Houses that would conduct their proceedings without any off day, said media reports.

The Supreme Court on Tuesday reserved the verdict on the quantum of sentence to be given to advocate Prashant Bhushan, convicted for contempt of court for his tweets against the judiciary. A bench comprising Justices Arun Mishra, B.R. Gavai and Krishna Murari reserved the verdict after a detailed hearing on the matter.

In another news, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) filed a chargesheet in a special court against 19 people including Masood Azhar, the chief of banned terror group Jaish-e-Mohammed, for planning and carrying out a deadly suicide attack on a CRPF convoy that left 40 personnel dead in Pulwama, South Kashmir, in 2019.

A five-storeyed building collapsed in the Raigad district of Maharashtra on Tuesday. So far, nine persons have been rescued after the Tarek Garden building in Mahad, around 170 km from Mumbai, came tumbling down on Monday evening. Eighteen residents are still missing and rescue operation is underway, police said. 
 

Stay tuned for the latest news of the day
 

3:01 AM

United States: Governor declares emergency after police shooting of Blake

Wisconsin's governor declared a state of emergency Tuesday after some protesters vandalised businesses and set dozens of buildings on fire in a city where police shot a Black man multiple times, apparently in the back in view of his children.
 

The shooting of Jacob Blake on Sunday in Kenosha was captured on cellphone video and ignited new protests over racial injustice in several cities, just three months after the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police touched off a wider reckoning on race.
 

Blake's father, also named Jacob Blake, told the Chicago Sun-Times that his son is paralysed from the waist down and has "eight holes" in his body. The elder Blake said he didn't know if his son's paralysis was permanent.
 

Wsconsin Gov. Tony Evers called for protesters to be peaceful, while also saying the National Guard presence would be doubled from 125 to 250 in Kenosha after crowds destroyed dozens of buildings and set more than 30 fires on Monday night.
 

"We cannot allow the cycle of systemic racism and injustice to continue,” said Evers, who is facing mounting pressure from Republicans over his handling of the unrest that has followed the shooting.
 

2:35 AM

Delhi Assembly panel to summon Facebook officials on hateful content issue

A Delhi Assembly panel on peace and harmony decided on Tuesday to summon Facebook officials as it initiated proceedings over complaints about the social media giant's alleged "deliberate and intentional inaction to contain hateful content" in India, an official statement said.

 

The development comes in the backdrop of a report published in the Wall Street Journal recently, citing interviews with unnamed Facebook insiders to claim that one of its senior India policy executives intervened in internal communication to stop a permanent ban on a BJP MLA from Telangana after he allegedly made communally charged posts.

2:34 AM

After US, Facebook plans to launch news service in UK, India, Brazil

Facebook Inc said on Tuesday it plans to launch its news service in the United Kingdom, Germany, France, India and Brazil in the coming months, after having introduced the feature in the United States last year.

 

The social media giant’s news service currently pays U.S. publishers for content and has original reporting from more than 200 outlets, including thousands of local news organizations.

2:33 AM

Ant Group files for HK-Shanghai IPO; first-half profit rises 1,000%

Billionaire Jack Ma’s Ant Group filed for an initial public offering in Hong Kong and Shanghai to bankroll its expansion in financial services and bolster its lead as China’s large­st online payments platform.

 

The company will issue no less than 10 per cent in new shares of its total capital, according to its filing with the Shanghai excha­nge.

 

The financial technology powerhouse reported profit of 21.9 billion Chinese yuan ($3.2 billion) on total revenues of 72.5 billion yuan in the first half of the year, according to the exchange filing. That represented a more than 1,000 per cent jump in profits from the same period a year ago, when the company raked in 1.9 billion yuan. Revenues were also up significantly, climbing about 38 per cent from the 52.5 billion yuan the firm made in the first half of 2019. The simultaneous listing could mark one of the biggest debuts in years, and even top Saudi Aramco’s record $29 billion IPO, a person familiar has said.

1:47 AM

Two-wheelers merit GST rate revision, says FM Nirmala Sitharaman

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday said the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council would look into the auto industry’s demand for lowering the tax rate on two-wheelers, which are now taxed at the highest slab rate of 28 per cent. The assurance came during an interaction she had with members of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).

 

“Since two-wheelers are neither a luxury nor a sin product, they merit a rate revision. Consequently, this will be taken up with the GST Council,” the CII quoted Sitharaman as saying.

 

The Council, slated to meet on Thursday, has the single-point agenda of compensation to states, but sources familiar with the developments said the meeting on September 17 might take up the two-wheeler rate issue to spur sales ahead of the festive season. Read more

 

10:21 PM

Death toll rises to 13 in building collapse incident in Raigad, Maharashtra

10:20 PM

CISF takes over security of Statue of Unity in Kevadia, Gujarat

10:13 PM

Don't make Prashant Bhushan 'martyr' by punishing him, his lawyer urges SC

Seeking ‘judicial statesmanship', senior advocate Rajeev Dhavan on Tuesday urged the Supreme Court not to make Prashant Bhushan a 'martyr' by punishing him for contempt over his tweets criticising the judiciary after the activist-lawyer rejected fresh suggestions from the court for an apology.
 

As the top court reserved its verdict on the sentence to be awarded to Bhushan, Justice Arun Mishra, who presided over a three-judge bench, at the fag end of the nearly three hour-long hearing also asked why he cannot seek an apology and what was wrong in using this word. Justice Mishra is demitting office on September 2.
 

Dhavan, representing Bhushan, suggested that the top court recall the August 14 verdict convicting him for contempt of court and not impose any sentence and urged it to not only close the case but also to bring an end to the controversy. He said it is the duty of all of us to make responsible criticism and this court can only survive on responsible criticism.
 

Attorney General K K Venugopal requested the court to forgive Bhushan with a message that he should not repeat this act.

10:12 PM

Heavy rain likely to batter south Bengal, weather may improve from Thu afternoon: Met dept

Heavy rain is likely to lash South Bengal districts over the next two days under the influence of a low-pressure system over the north Bay of Bengal, a senior Met department official said.
 

The system, which lay centred near the West Bengal- Bangladesh shores, will trigger downpour on Wednesday in the coastal districts of South 24 Parganas, Kolkata, North 24 Parganas, Howrah, Hooghly, East and West Bardhaman, Midnapore and Jhargram, Regional Met Director G K Das said.
 

The low-pressure area is then expected to move northwestwards gradually, causing heavy showers in the interior south Bengal districts of Jhargram, Purulia, Bankura, East and West Bardhaman, he said.
 

The weather is likely to get better from Thursday afternoon with the low-pressure system set to move away from the state, Das said.
 

Fishermen have been advised not to venture into the sea till August 27.

10:11 PM

Need to identify dual-use technologies that can be used for military applications: Army Chief

Army Chief Gen MM Naravane on Tuesday pitched for carrying out a reality check on military technologies that are required to be fielded operationally in the Indian context.
 

He said the Indian armed forces will have to pay adequate emphasis on the available "disruptive technologies" that have dual use and are being driven by commercial entities and innovations.
 

Addressing a seminar organised by the Army, Gen Naravane said that an overarching national mission to identify the needs and congruence of products into military applications must form the modernisation strategy for the armed forces.
 

His comments came in the backdrop of the defence ministry's renewed emphasis on ensuring self-reliance in defence manufacturing.

10:10 PM

Another regional party emerges in Assam to take on BJP-led govt

A new regional party emerged in Assam on Tuesday to take on the BJP-led government in the next year's assembly elections.
 

The party, named Sanjukta Anchalik Dal, Asom, was formed at a public convention organised by social organisation Anchalikatabad Suraksha Mancha in Tezpur that was attended by several prominent citizens, including National Award-winning filmmaker Jahnu Barua, sources said.
 

The name of the party was decided after several hours of intense closed-door discussion after the public convention, a source who attended that meeting said.

10:05 PM

Congress panel to start hearing grievances of Rajasthan's disgruntled MLAs next week

Days after the Rajasthan crisis ended, a three-member central panel set up by the Congress to address issues of disgruntled MLAs including Sachin Pilot met here for the first time on Tuesday and decided to start from next week the process of redressing their concerns.
 

Sources said the new AICC general secretary in-charge for Rajasthan Ajay Maken would also visit four divisional headquarters of the state starting Sunday in the first phase and would hear out senior leaders, office-bearers of the party's state unit, former and present legislators and ex-MPs.
 

The aim of the visit is to strengthen and reorganise the party at the block and district level.
 

During the meeting, it was decided that the process of redressing concerns of disgruntled leaders will start from next week.
 

They are also learnt to have discussed the modalities of going about resolving pending issues of all factions in the state Congress.
 

The panel would also help evolve a mechanism to ensure better coordination between the government and the party as well as between all factions of leaders in Rajasthan.
 

Some of the disgruntled legislators are also eyeing a come back in the government and some may be adjusted in the reorganised party in Rajasthan.

9:55 PM

Govt allows PSUs to clear goods imported by them through Customs, pay duty later

9:53 PM

JEE (Main) and NEET (UG) exams will be held on the dates announced earlier

8:59 PM

Union Minister Kishan Reddy's personal website hacked

Union Minister of state for Home G Kishan Reddys personal website has been hacked and city police have been informed about it, an official in his office said on Tuesday. The site -- "http://kishanreddy.com" -- was hacked on August 15 and has been down since then, he said.

 

"It was his personal website which has all the details of his programmes and activities with regard to his constituency. The site was hacked on August 15. We have informed the Hyderabad City Police about this, the official told PTI.