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12:34 PM

McCarthy offers deal to end standoff in House speaker fight

The contours of a deal that could make Republican leader Kevin McCarthy the House speaker have begun to emerge after three grueling days and 11 failed votes in a political spectacle unseen in a century.. It has left Republicans in disarray and exposed anew the fragility of American democracy.

 

The House will be back at it Friday, with Republicans trying to elect their new House speaker — this time, against the backdrop of the second anniversary of the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol. The attack was an unimaginable scene of chaos that shook the country when a mob of President Donald Trump's supporters tried to stop Congress from certifying his election defeat.

11:46 AM

India deploys platoon of women peacekeepers in UN mission in Abyei

India, among the largest troop-contributing countries to UN peacekeeping, is deploying a platoon of women peacekeepers in Abyei, the country's largest single unit of female Blue Helmets in a UN mission since 2007.

The move heralded India's intent of increasing significantly the number of women in peacekeeping contingents.

India is deploying an all #women's platoon of peacekeepers as part of our battalion to the UN Mission in #Abyei @UNISFA_1. This is the single largest deployment of women #peacekeepers in recent years. Good wishes to the team! India's Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador Ruchira Kamboj tweeted Thursday, along with a photo of the contingent.

10:54 AM

Active Covid-19 cases decline to 2,503, death toll at 530,714,

India logged 228 new coronavirus infections, while the active cases declined to 2,503, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Friday.

 

The Covid case tally was recorded at 44,679,547.

 

The death toll stands at 530,714, with four deaths. Two deaths were reconciled by Kerala while one death each was reported from Bihar and Uttarakhand in last 24 hours, the data updated at 8 am stated.

 

The daily positivity was recorded at 0.11 per cent while the weekly positivity was pegged at 0.12 per cent.

 

10:30 AM

Govt to release first advance economic growth estimates for FY23 on Friday

The National Statistical Office will release the first advance estimates of economic growth for 2022-23 on Friday evening, three weeks ahead of presentation of General Budget in Lok Sabha on February 1.

 

The first advance estimates of national income for 2022-23 is significant because the data is used for preparing the Budget of the central government for next financial year of 2023-24.

 

Earlier last month, the Reserve Bank of India had lowered the country's GDP (gross domestic product) growth forecast to 6.8 per cent for the current fiscal from 7 per cent earlier, on account of continued geopolitical tensions and tightening of global financial conditions.

10:30 AM

Bharat Jodo Yatra resumes second phase of Haryana leg from Sanoli-Panipat

The Bharat Jodo Yatra resumed its journey from Sanoli-Panipat Road here on Friday morning on the first day of the Haryana leg's second phase.

 

The Rahul Gandhi-led yatra re-entered Haryana on Thursday evening from Uttar Pradesh. After the night halt, the yatra began from the Sanoli border in Panipat.

 

Several senior Congress leaders from Haryana joined Gandhi for the yatra.

 

Gandhi left for Delhi on Thursday night to meet his ailing mother, former Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda had said. He returned in the morning to join the yatra.

10:14 AM

Andaman BJP leaders urge Rajnath for better air connectivity

BJP leaders of Andaman and Nicobar Islands have urged Defence Minister Rajnath Singh for better air connectivity between the archipelago and other parts of the country.

 

Singh met them during his visit to Union territory on Thursday.

 

At the meeting, the party's Andaman and Nicobar Islands president Ajoy Bairagi expressed concern over the steep airfares from Port Blair to other parts of India, and how tourism was getting affected because of less number of flight services due to the runway upgradation work.

 

10:14 AM

AP govt inviting Musk, Cook, Bezos for Investors Summit in Vizag

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Apple CEO Tim Cook, Tesla CEO Elon Musk, Google CEO Sundar Pichai, Microsoft Executive Chairman and CEO Satya Nadella are on the invitees list of the Andhra Pradesh government for its Global Investors Summit (GIS) to be held in Visakhapatnam on March 3 and 4.

 

Fifteen Union Ministers, 15 Chief Ministers, 44 global industrialists, 53 Indian industry bigwigs and ambassadors of various countries are being invited for the two-day event on which the Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy government is betting big to attract large-scale investments into the state.

10:13 AM

Nitish's country-wide yatra to forge Oppn unity likely after Bihar budget session

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar hinted that his proposed country-wide tour for forging Opposition unity to take on the BJP in the next Lok Sabha polls may take place after the budget session of the assembly next month.

 

Kumar had earlier said several times that he was working hard to unite the Opposition parties ahead of the 2024 elections.

 

The JD(U) leader ended his ties with the BJP-led NDA in August last year and formed an alliance government with the RJD and the Congress in Bihar.

10:13 AM

Census to be further delayed, say officials

The exercise to carry out the decennial census has been further postponed -- at least till September 30, officials said.

 

The housing listing phase of the census and the exercise to update the National Population Register (NPR) were scheduled to be carried out across the country from April 1 to September 30, 2020, but were postponed due to the COVID-19 outbreak.

 

10:13 AM

Congress thanks SC for stay on U'khand HC order for removal of encroachments from railway land in Haldwani

The Congress has thanked the Supreme Court for staying the directions of Uttarakhand High Court regarding the removal of encroachments from 29 acres of railway land in Haldwani.

 

The move has brought relief to thousands of people facing the imminent threat of demolition of their houses in winter.

 

The apex court on Thursday stayed the high court order after observing it to be a "human issue", saying 50,000 people cannot be uprooted overnight.

10:13 AM

War in Ukraine at a critical point right now: President Biden

The war in Ukraine is at a critical point right now, US President Joe Biden said Thursday as the US and Germany announced additional support for Ukraine.

 

"Right now, the war in Ukraine is at a critical point. We have to do everything we can to help the Ukrainians resist Russian aggression. And Russia is not attempting to slow up. The actions they're taking are as barbaric as they were a year ago, and they're not letting up at all," Biden told reporters during a Cabinet meeting.

10:12 AM

McCarthy fails for 3rd long day in GOP House speaker fight

For a long and frustrating third day, divided Republicans left the speaker's chair of the US House sitting empty Thursday, as party leader Kevin McCarthy failed again and again in an excruciating string of ballots to win enough GOP votes to seize the chamber's gavel.

 

Pressure was building as McCarthy lost seventh, eighth and then historic ninth and 10th rounds of voting, surpassing the number it took the last time this happened, 100 years ago, in a prolonged fight to choose a speaker in a disputed election.