Live: UK opens up Covid booster dose to those over 30s in Omicron fight

Latest live news: Health ministry says 27 districts need to be 'monitored very closely' for coronavirus positivity rates.

10:53 AM

Pakistan promoting terrorism in India: Rajnath Singh

Pakistan promoting terrorism in India. Indian foiled Pakistan's plans in 1971 and now we are working towards eliminating terrorism from the root, says Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, according to ANI. 

9:48 AM

India logs 7,774 new cases of Covid-19

India recorded 7,774 new cases of Covid-19 and 306 deaths due to the disease in a day, said the health ministry on Sunday. The country’s total Covid-19 cases increased to 34.69 million and deaths to 475,434.

9:37 AM

Magnitude five quake strikes eastern Japan

An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of five struck eastern Japan on Sunday, public broadcaster NHK said. The epicentre of the earthquake was the southern part of Ibaraki prefecture, east of the capital Tokyo, Reuters reported NHK as saying.

9:32 AM

India Covid-19 update

India recorded 7,774 new cases of Covid-19 in 24 hours, said the health ministry on Sunday

9:19 AM

India sees drastic drop in wildlife crime incidents

Incidents of wildlife crime have come down drastically in the country in the current year, owing to the stringent measures adopted by the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau (WCCB).

 

According to the data accessed by IANS, there has been a drop of 127 per cent this year in comparison to 2020. As per the data available with WCCB, provided by state forest and police authorities, a total number of 281 wildlife crime cases were registered this year. In 2020, they stood at 601 and a year before in 2019, at 805.

9:18 AM

Delhi air quality improves marginally, moves to poor category

The air quality in the national capital marginally improved and moved to the 'poor' category on Sunday morning.

 

The System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting And Research (SAFAR) portal of the Ministry of Earth Sciences reported an air quality index (AQI) of 256. The area near IIT Delhi logged an AQI of 266, the T3 terminal of the airport reported an AQI of 290, Lodhi Road area reported an AQI of 249.

9:02 AM

Twitter says it's probing hacking of Modi's account

A Twitter spokesperson said the website had probe the hacking of Prime Minister Modi's account and found "there're no signs of any other impacted accounts at this time, according to ANI.

8:49 AM

Encounter in J-K's Pulwama, terrorist killed: Police

An unidentified terrorist was killed on Sunday in an encounter with security forces in Pulwama district of Jammu and Kashmir. Security forces were on a search operation in Baragam area of Awantipora in the south Kashmir when they were fired upon and shot back, PTI quoted an unnamed police officer as saying.

 

8:34 AM

Modi to speak on bank deposit insurance

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will Sunday noon speak in Delhi at a function celebrating "path-breaking reform" that increases insurance for bank deposits from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 5 lakh, his office said. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and central bank governor Shaktikanta Das will attend the function called 'Depositors First: Guaranteed Time-bound Deposit Insurance Payment'.

8:24 AM

BJP to launch protests, says Mamata neglecting farmers

The BJP said on Saturday the Mamata Banerjee government in Bengal was ignoring farmers in distress and it would starts in Singur in Hooghly district, PTI reported. It was 14 years ago in Singur that Banerjee launched protests against land acquisition for the Tata group’s small car project. Those protests and the Nandigram movement against a chemical hub to create political support that won her elections and win her power in 2011 assembly polls.

8:08 AM

Chopper crash: Bodies of all remaining 10 armed forces personnel identified

The bodies of all the remaining 10 armed forces personnel killed in the IAF chopper crash near Coonoor were positively identified and six of them were handed over to their families, military officials said on Saturday.

 

The armed forces personnel whose bodies were identified and then sent to their home towns in IAF aircraft are Junior Warrant Officer (JWO) Pradeep, Wing Commander P S Chauhan, JWO Rana Pratap Das, Squadron Leader K Singh, Lance Naik B Sai Teja and Lance Naik Vivek Kumar. Read more

6:56 AM

Nagaland group asks Amit Shah to withdraw statement on civilian killings

Konyak Union, a group representing tribal people in Nagaland, said Union Home Minister Amit Shah has made "misleading" statement in Parliament about soldiers killing civilians. Shah had said the killings on December 4 in Mon district happened because the soldiers had mistaken villagers as militants.

 

6:27 AM

Govt will continue General Rawat’s reforms: Modi

The government would finish the military reforms General Bipin Rawat was carrying out, said Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday as he called the death of India’s Chief of Defence Staff "a great loss to every patriot". General Rawat, his wife and 11 others died after their military helicopter crashed in Tamil Nadu on Wednesday.