9:35 AMThane records 116 new COVID-19 cases; active tally at 809
With the addition of 116 coronavirus positive cases, the infection count in Thane district of Maharashtra grew to 7,33,893, a health official said on Friday.
With these cases recorded on Thursday, there are now 809 active cases in the district, he said.
The death toll remained unchanged at 11,927 as no fatality linked to the infection was recorded during the day, and the recovery count stood at 7,21,794, the official added.
9:10 AMResidents of Hyderabad to get free water supply up to 20,000 litres
In a step to fulfil poll-promise in Telangana, the state government is providing 'free' water supply to all domestic consumers up to 20,000 litres (20KL).
Domestic-Slum, Domestic-Individual, Domestic- Multi Storeyed Building(MSB)/Bulk connections are eligible for 20 KL (20000 litres) free water supply.
The government said that Domestic-slum connections are not required to fix meters for availing the scheme, however, Domestic-individual, Domestic-MSB/Bulk connections shall get "Functional Meters Fixed" to their connections for scheme eligibility.
9:03 AMPM Modi to launch India's first international bullion exchange in Gujarat today
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit India's first International Financial Services Centre (IFSC) at the Gujarat International Finance Tec-City (GIFT City) near Gandhinagar on Friday.
During his visit, Modi will launch 'India International Bullion Exchange (IIBX)', the country's first international bullion exchange, the Gujarat government said in a release.
This exchange will facilitate efficient price discovery with the assurance of responsible sourcing and quality, apart from giving impetus to the financialisation of gold in India, a statement by the IFSC Authority said.
8:56 AMInstagram to roll back its recent changes amid strong criticism
After experiencing strong criticism, Meta-owned Instagram has decided to roll back some recent changes to the product, including a full-screen home feed and temporarily reduce recommended posts.
According to TechCrunch, the photo-sharing platform's head Adam Mosseri revealed the news in an interview with Platformer and said Instagram will phase out a test that turned users' home feeds into a TikTok-like full-screen experience that prioritised video in the coming weeks.
The report also mentioned that it will temporarily reduce the number of recommended posts users see as it plans to improve and rework its algorithms.
8:54 AMIndia logs 20,409 new coronavirus cases, 47 deaths in a day
Active cases: 143,988 (Net increase: -2,335)
Deaths: 526,258 (Net increase: 47)
Cured: 43,309,484 (Net increase: 22,697)
Total cases: 43,979,730 (Net increase: 20,409)
Total vaccination: 2,036,046,307 (Increase over previous day: 3,863,960 )
8:42 AMPM Modi to inaugurate much-awaited NSE-SGX Gift Connect today
After being deferred by over a fortnight, the National Stock Exchange International Financial Service Centre (IFSC) SGX Connect is set to be launched on Friday by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
With this, the NSE and Singapore Exchange (SGX) are set to bring SGX Nifty trading at Gujarat International Finance Tec-City (GIFT City). The inauguration, which was supposed to happen on July 15, was postponed due to flood situation in Gujarat.
The NSE IFSC-SGX Connect, which has been in the works for over four years, will route trading in Nifty derivatives contracts that take place in Singapore to India through the Gift City IFSC. Both the Nifty and the Bank Nifty contracts are very popular on the Singapore bourse and account for 16 per cent of the derivatives contracts traded at SGX. The move is part of steps taken by Indian bourses towards curbing the exports of domestic capital markets.
8:41 AMFormer Congress leader Siraj Mehndi accuses Sonia Gandhi of not 'giving time to party workers'
Former MLC and suspended Congress leader Siraj Mehndi joined Nationalist Congress Party on Thursday. Soon after his joining, he hit out at the Gandhi family including interim president Sonia Gandhi alleging that they do not give time to the party workers for meetings.
Earlier, Mehndi was appointed as the national president of the NCP's Minorities Department.
"Congratulations to Siraj Mehdi on being appointed as the Chairman of Minority department of NCP. My best wishes to him to serve and solve issues of the minority section of our society. I am sure he will work with great zeal and enthusiasm to strengthen the party," NCP chief Sharad Pawar tweeted.
8:41 AMUkrainian parliament adopts draft law on special status for Polish citizens
The Ukrainian parliament has adopted a draft law to grant special status to Polish citizens in Ukraine, a parliament member said.
The presidential proposal on granting special status to Polish citizens in Ukraine was supported by 283 lawmakers in the 450-seat Assembly, Yaroslav Zheleznyak wrote on Telegram on Thursday.
The new legislation adopted on Thursday allows Polish citizens to legally stay in Ukraine for 18 months after the adoption of the law, Zheleznyak said.
8:36 AMUN General Assembly enshrines access to clean, healthy environment as universal human right
The UN General Assembly has adopted a resolution declaring access to clean, healthy and sustainable environment a universal human right.
Adapting a similar resolution from the Human Rights Council in 2021, the resolution passed on Thursday, with 161 votes in favour and eight abstentions, calls on states, international organisations, and businesses to take more steps to ensure a healthy environment for all.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres welcomed the "historic" decision and commended the member states for coming together against the triple planetary crisis of climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution, Xinhua news agency reported.
8:35 AMAkhilesh comes out in support of Cong President Sonia Gandhi
In a surprising political development, Samajwadi Party (SP) President Akhilesh Yadav has come out to support Congress Interim President Sonia Gandhi.
Akhilesh, while talking to reporters on Thursday evening, said that the Enforcement Directorate (ED) summoning Sonia Gandhi was "an attempt by the Bharatiya Janata Party government at the Centre to threaten the Opposition by putting pressure on it".
This is the first time that the SP President has openly spoken in support of Congress leaders.
He said, "No one would have imagined that the top Congress leader would be summoned by ED someday. Summoning her is a part of BJP's policy of "divide and rule" for which it is pressuring the Opposition leaders to create a rift."
8:35 AMHealth Ministry urges 14 States, UTs to expedite completion of new medical colleges
The Centre on Thursday urged 14 states to accelerate the utilisation of central funds and exponentially expedite the completion of new medical colleges attached to existing District/ Referral hospitals approved under the Centrally sponsored scheme for early commencement of the Under Graduate courses.
The concerning slow progress of these projects was strongly highlighted by Rajesh Bhushan, Union Health Secretary, as he reviewed the progress with Health Secretaries and Directors (Medical Education) of 14 states and UTs through video conference (VC) on Thursday. 157 new medical Colleges have been sanctioned under this scheme since 2014, in three phases so far.
The states/UTs that participated in the review meeting were Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Jharkhand, Jammu and Kashmir, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Odisha and Punjab.
8:34 AMPakistan: Heavy rains claim over 111 lives, damage over 6,000 houses in Balochistan
The recent spell of monsoon rains, which started on June 1 has claimed as many as 111 lives in Balochistan, the Chief Secretary of the country, Abdul Azai Aqili revealed on Thursday.
Addressing a press conference, Aqili said that heavy downpour in the province completely tore down 6,077 houses and partially damaged more than 10,000 homes -- and these are just the official statistics, the News International reported.
He further said that 16 dams sustained minor or major damages during the rains, while crops and gardens stretching over two acres of land were also harmed.
8:32 AMArgentina names economy 'super minister' as crisis deepens
Argentina's government announced the appointment of an economic super minister Thursday, the third economy minister in less than a month as the country struggles with high inflation and a slumping currency.
Sergio Massa, the head of Congress' lower house, the Chamber of Deputies, will lead a new ministry that combines the current Economy, Productive Development, and Agriculture ministries, President Alberto Fernndez's government said.
The appointment comes only a few weeks since the left-leaning Silvina Batakis was tapped as economy minister after the more moderate Martn Guzmn abruptly quit, saying he wasn't getting political support in dealing with Argentina's economic woes.
8:30 AMTwitter warns against governments ramping up demands for user details
Twitter warned Thursday that governments around the globe are asking the company to remove content or snoop on private details of user accounts at an alarming rate.
The social media company revealed in a new report that it fielded a record number of legal demands nearly 60,000 during a six-month period last year - from local, state or national governments that wanted Twitter to remove content from accounts or reveal confidential information such as direct messages or user locations.
We're seeing governments become more aggressive in how they try to use legal tactics to unmask the people using our service, collect information about account owners and also using legal demands as a way to try and silence people, Yoel Roth, the head of Twitter's safety and integrity, said in a conversation broadcast on the site Thursday.
8:25 AMCommonwealth Games 2022 officially declared open
The 22nd Commonwealth Games kicked off in spectacular fashion with a stunning opening ceremony at the Alexander Stadium in Birmingham on Thursday.
Despite the challenges posed by COVID-19, the Queen's baton did not miss a single day or territory during its journey to Birmingham.
Taking five months to build and standing 10m high, the raging bull is pulled along by female chain-makers. In the 19th century, women worked long hours in hot and cramped outhouses for hardly any pay making chains, which led to a famous strike for better conditions.
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