LIVE: UP govt's affidavit in SC on Hathras case a white lie, says Congress

Congress spokesperson Supriya Shrinate said the state government should not cover up the issue and present facts before the public.

1:30 PM

SSR family questions AIIMS' 'faulty' report, Dr Sudhir Gupta's conduct

A week after the AIIMS-Delhi submitted its report to the CBI in Bollywood actor Sushant Singh Rajput's death case to rule out murder, the legal team of Sushant's family has written to CBI Director Rishi Kumar Shukla to claim that the medico-legal report by the AIIMS medical board was "faulty". In the letter, the legal team represented by Varun Singh said: "I have been reading in the media about the forensic report submitted by the AIIMS to the CBI with regard to the opinion expressed by the agency in the matter of Sushant Singh Rajput's death on June 14. I have also seen some doctors on the AIIMS team come on TV and make statements with regard to the forensic examination done by the team."

1:21 PM

Farmers protesting on busy road in Sirsa evicted, Yogendra Yadav among those detained

Swaraj India party president Yogendra Yadav and nearly 100 farmers were taken into preventive custody in Haryana's Sirsa on Wednesday after a group of agriculturists agitating against the Centre's new farm laws were evicted by the police from their dharna site on a busy road. Besides Yadav, Haryana Kisan Manch chief Prahalad Singh was also taken into preventive custody and detained, Sirsa DSP Kuldeep Singh said. Singh said that farmers were holding dharna on a busy highway in Sirsa where the administration had not given them the permission.

1:12 PM

4 Afghan soldiers killed in Taliban car bomb attack in Helmand

Four Afghan soldiers were killed and three others injured in a car bomb attack that the Taliban radical movement carried out against a security post of the National Army in the southern Helmand province, Omar Zwak, a spokesman for the provincial governor, said on Wednesday. According to the spokesman, the attack took place at 11.00 p.m. local time on Tuesday (18:30 GMT). Zwak specified that the Taliban carried out this attack in the Yakhchal area of Greshk district. No group has taken responsibility for the attack so far.

1:05 PM

Airplane-size asteroid to cross Earth's orbit around 10.42 p.m.

An asteroid the size of a Boeing 747 airplane is set to cross the Earth's orbit at around 10.42 p.m. Indian Standard Time (IST) on Wednesday, according to NASA which expects that the space rock will not cause any harm to our home planet. As it crosses Earth's orbit, the near-Earth asteroid named 2020 RK2 will be about 38,30,238 kilometres from Earth. In terms of size, the asteroid is about 80 metres wide (which can be as big as Boeing 747) and travelling at 6.68km every second. Asteroid 2020 RK2 will be hurtling through space at a speed of 6.68 kilometres per second, which is the equivalent to 14,942 miles per hour.
 

Representative photo: Shutterstock

12:54 PM

BJP leaders laud Modi as he enters 20th year as elected govt head

BJP leaders on Wednesday heaped praise on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his leadership as he entered his 20th year without a break as the head of an elected government, including close to 13 years as chief minister of Gujarat. Party president J P Nadda said October 7, 2001, when Modi was sworn in as Gujarat chief minister for the first time, is a "milestone" in India's political history. Modi has since been notching up bigger victories and his popularity has only gone up, Nadda said on Twitter. The party also tweeted details of many of Modi's key schemes during his 19 years as the head of a government.

12:45 PM

Stubble burning picks up in Punjab

12:26 PM

BJP's Usha Vidyarthi joins LJP in Bihar

12:15 PM

Indian banks say govt interest waiver will add to costs, spark litigation

Indian bankers fear the government's decision to waive some interest payments on loans under a COVID-19 support plan will create unnecessary work for lenders and lead to more litigation, without providing much of a boost for the sagging economy. In an Oct. 2 filing with the Supreme Court, seen by Reuters, the government said it is amending a controversial clause in a relief plan that allowed distressed borrowers to skip repayments for six months but then charged them "interest-on-interest" on the delayed payments, putting them deeper in debt. The change will waive the compounded interest component on small business loans and some personal debts from March to August.

12:06 PM

Farmer protests: Rahul Gandhi leads charge against farm bills

Congress party flags and cut out of party leader Rahul Gandhi seen during a farmers rally, at Bhawanigarh in Sangrur on Monday.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi addresses the farmers in Sanur on Tuesday.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi addresses during a farmers rally, in Sangrur on Monday.

11:55 AM

Public places cannot be occupied indefinitely: SC on Shaheen Bagh stir

The Supreme Court on Wednesday said that occupying public places like Shaheen Bagh for protests is not acceptable and such a space cannot be occupied "indefinitely". The top court's verdict came on a plea against the anti-CAA protests which had led to blocking of a road in Shaheen Bagh in the national capital last December. A bench headed by Justice S K Kaul held that public places cannot be occupied indefinitely like during the Shaheen Bagh protests.

11:45 AM

Over 93,500 data science jobs vacant in India: Report

As India dreams to produce world-class tech solutions and products, over 93,500 data science jobs were vacant in the country at the end of August, a new report revealed on Wednesday. While the data analytics sector did witness a slight decrease in vacancies (from 109,000 vacancies in February), the demand has continued to be fairly consistent across key industry sectors, according to the study on jobs and hiring trends in analytics and data science domains by the edtech company Great Learning. Despite Covid-19, India contributed 9.8 per cent of the total global analytics job openings in August compared to 7.2 per cent in January this year.

 

11:33 AM

Rhea Chakraborty gets bail on personal bond of Rs 100,000

Rhea Chakraborty gets bail on personal bond of Rs 1 lakh. Court says, "Rhea should mark her presence for 10 days in police station after release, deposit her passport, not travel abroad without court permission & inform investigating officer if she has to leave Greater Mumbai"

11:28 AM

Rhea Chakraborty granted bail by Bombay HC

Bombay High Court grants bail to Rhea Chakraborty, rejects bail plea of her brother Showik Chakraborty. Narcotics Control Bureau had arrested them in connection with a drugs case related to #SushantSinghRajput death

 

11:10 AM

China has taken sudden turn toward 'gross aggression' against neighbours: US official

China has taken a sudden turn toward "gross aggression" against its neighbours, including India, and in the Indo-Pacific, a senior administration official said after the conclusion of the Quad ministerial in Tokyo, wherein the leaders vowed to coordinate in ensuring peace and stability of the strategically vital region. The foreign ministers from the Indo-Pacific nations known as the Quad group - the US, Japan, India and Australia - met in Tokyo on Tuesday in what was their first in-person talks since the coronavirus pandemic began. The meeting took place in the backdrop of China's aggressive military behaviour in the Indo-Pacific, South China Sea and along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh.

 

11:02 AM

Hathras protest: Case registered against Delhi AAP MLA Kuldeep Kumar

Case registered against Delhi AAP MLA Kuldeep Kumar under Epidemic Act, said Hathras Superintendent of Police. He had announced on 29th September that he had tested positive for COVID19 and on 4th October he posted videos of his visit to #Hathras, Uttar Pradesh.