Live: RIL's Q4 consolidated PAT rises 22.5% YoY to Rs 16,203 crore

Live: Reliance Industries on Friday reported its Q4 results.

12:48 PM

Sri Lanka lost around 1 million taxpayers since 2019 tax cuts, says finance minister Sabry

Sri Lanka lost around 1 million taxpayers in the last two years after the Gotabaya Rajapaksa regime announced sweeping tax cuts in 2019 in its bid to spur growth, Finance Minister Ali Sabry has revealed, as the island nation faced an unprecedented economic crisis, PTI reported.

 

These tax cuts were introduced in November 2019 in keeping with President Rajapaksa's election pledges.

12:34 PM

SC collegium recommends names of CJ of Gauhati HC, Guj HC judge for elevation

The Supreme Court collegium headed by CJI N V Ramana has recommended to the Centre the names of Chief Justice of Gauhati High Court Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia and Gujarat High Court Judge Justice Jamshed B Pardiwala for elevation as judges in the top court, an official statement said on Friday, PTI reported.

 

The recommendations, if accepted by the Centre, would ensure that the apex court would regain its full strength of 34 judges and Justice Pardiwala would go on to become the CJI for over two years.

 

The Supreme Court Collegium has recommended elevation of the following Chief Justice/Judge of the High Courts, as Judges in the Supreme Court: 1. Mr. Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia, Chief Justice, Gauhati High Court, (Parent High Court; Uttarakhand); and 2. Mr. Justice J B Pardiwala, Judge, Gujarat High Court, said the collegium's resolution posted on the apex court website.

12:18 PM

Rajasthan to see more power cuts as electricity demand soars

In view of the high electricity demand than the availability, the Rajasthan government has decided to go in for more power cuts, days after providing a breather by reducing the scheduled daily outage, PTI reported.

 

The state government had reduced the scheduled power cut timing from May 1 but has again decided to cut power across the state as per the schedule announced on April 28.

 

Essential services will be exempt from power cuts, an official statement said.

11:51 AM

Asian Games 2022 postponed: Report

11:34 AM

PM Modi speaks on ‘vocal for local’ mantra

11:31 AM

India's top health experts question WHO report on excess Covid deaths, term it untenable

Questioning the modelling methodology used by WHO to estimate 4.7 million deaths in India due to Covid or its impact, top health experts have expressed disappointment over the global health body's "one-size-fits-all" approach to arrive at the figure, PTI reported.

 

ICMR Director General Balram Bhargava, NITI Aayog Member (Health) V K Paul, AIIMS Director Randeep Guleria and NTAGI's COVID-19 Working Group Chairman Dr N K Arora on Thursday rejected the WHO report as "untenable and unfortunate".

 

In its report released on Thursday, WHO estimated that nearly 15 million people were killed either by the coronavirus or by its impact on the overwhelmed health systems in the past two years, more than double the official death toll of six million.

11:05 AM

Self-reliant India is our path as well as our resolve: PM Modi

10:58 AM

Every Indian should be proud of the world’s optimism and trust for India: PM Modi

10:57 AM

SpaceX brings 4 astronauts home with midnight splashdown

SpaceX brought four astronauts home with a midnight splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico on Friday, capping the busiest month yet for Elon Musk's taxi service, AP reported.

 

The three U.S. astronauts and one German in the capsule were bobbing off the Florida coast, near Tampa, less than 24 hours after leaving the International Space Station. NASA expected to have them back in Houston later in the morning.

 

NASA's Raja Chari, Tom Marshburn and Kayla Barron, and the European Space Agency's Matthias Maurer, embraced the seven astronauts remaining at the station, before parting ways.

 

10:22 AM

Pakistan rejects Jammu & Kashmir Delimitation Commission report

Pakistan's Foriegn Ministry has summoned India's Charge d'Affaires here and handed a demarche conveying Islamabad's categorical rejection of the Delimitation Commission report, PTI reported.

 

The Delimitation Commission has been tasked by the Indian government to redraw the boundaries of assembly and parliamentary constituencies in Jammu and Kashmir.

 

The three-member panel, headed by Justice (retd) Ranjana Desai, on Thursday signed the final order on redrawing the assembly constituencies of the Union Territory.

10:07 AM

Thane district reports 23 new Covid-19 cases

With the addition of 23 coronavirus positive cases, the infection count in Thane district of Maharashtra mounted to 7,09,132, an official said on Friday, according to PTI.

 

These cases were reported on Thursday.

 

As the virus did not claim anybody's life during the day, the death toll in the district remained unchanged at 11,893, he said, adding that the COVID-19 mortality rate is 1.67 per cent.

10:02 AM

Rahul Gandhi attacks Centre over WHO Covid death toll

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday attacked the government over a WHO report which claimed that there were 4.7 million Covid deaths in India, saying "science does not lie, Prime Minister Narendra Modi does", PTI reported.

 

Gandhi also demanded that the government should support the families that have lost loved ones by giving them the mandated Rs four lakh compensation.

The WHO on Thursday stated that 14.9 million people were killed either by COVID-19 directly or due to the pandemic's impact on health systems and society.

 

According to the report, there were 4.7 million Covid deaths in India, which is 10 times the official figures and almost a third of Covid deaths globally.

9:46 AM

ED raids locations in Jharkhand MGNREGA fraud case

The ED on Thursday conducted raids at multiple premises, including that of Jharkhand mining secretary, in connection with a money laundering case linked to alleged embezzlement of Rs 18 crore MGNREGA funds in Khunti district of the state, officials said, according to PTI.

 

The searches are being carried out under provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) at 18 premises in Jharkhand, Bihar and West Bengal.

 

They said the premises of IAS officer and Jharkhand mining secretary Pooja Singhal are also being covered as part of the action.

9:38 AM

West Bengal govt asks private schools to stop offline classes amid harsh summer

The West Bengal government has asked all private schools in the state to stop offline classes from May 7 and switch over to the online mode due to the extreme summer conditions, a school education department official said on Friday, PTI reported.

 

Principal Secretary to the school education department, Manish Jain asked the private schools to hold online classes if they do not wish to advance the vacation time from May 2 as stipulated in a department notice in April.

 

"The private schools should not conduct in-person classes in school buildings now in the interest of students as they are falling sick in the extreme heat conditions. Also they should not take any unilateral decision against the statement of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on this issue," the official quoted Jain as saying at a meeting with private about 30 schools' authorities here.

9:26 AM

Don't patronize us: India's envoy to UN tells Dutch Ambassador

India's Permanent Representative to the UN, T.S. Tirumurti engaged in a Twitter spat with the Dutch Ambassador to the UK and Northern Ireland, Karel van Oosterom over New Delhi's abstention from voting at the General Assembly against Russia's war in Ukraine, IANS reported.

 

In a tweet late Thursday, Oosterom said: "You should not have abstained in the GA. Respect the UN Charter."

 

To this, Tirumurti replied: "Kindly don't patronize us Ambassador. We know what to do."