LIVE: SC to hear plea against tenure extension of ED director on Friday

Live news updates: Besides Gokhale, the spokesperson of the TMC, others have also filed petitions challenging the tenure extension and the enabling amended law in this regard in the top court.

12:01 PM

Cong MP's remark on President Murmu triggers protest in LS

The Lok Sabha on Thursday witnessed noisy scenes after BJP members strongly protested against Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury's remark on President Droupadi Murmu, leading to adjournment of the proceedings till 12 noon.

As soon as the House met at 11 am, Union Minister Smriti Irani accused Chowdhury of disrespecting Murmu by calling her 'Rashtrapatni'.

Irani claimed that Chowdhury has disrespected the entire tribal community, women, poor and the downtrodden by his remark.

12:00 PM

Apple ropes in Lamborghini executive to help boost EV programme

With an aim to boost its electric autonomous vehicle programme, tech giant Apple has onboarded a veteran Luigi Taraborrelli of car maker Lamborghini, media reports say.

According to Taraborrelli's LinkedIn profile, the executive appears to have left Lamborghini in May, TechCrunch reported citing Bloomberg.

Taraborrelli has worked at Lamborghini for nearly 21 years, most recently leading the development of chassis and vehicle dynamics.

11:44 AM

Task force to be set up to provide guidance to govt on tackling monkeypox

A task force on monkeypox will be constituted to provide guidance to the government on expansion of diagnostic facilities and explore emerging trends related to vaccination for the disease, official sources said on Thursday.

The decision was taken at a high-level meeting held on June 26 at the level of principal secretary to the prime minister to review the ongoing public health preparedness and response initiatives against the spread of monkeypox, the sources told PTI.

India has so far reported four cases of monkeypox, with three from Kerala and one from Delhi.

11:37 AM

PM Modi to chair NITI Aayog's Governing Council meeting on August 7

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will chair NITI Aayog's Governing Council meeting on August 7, where issues related to agriculture, health and economy will be discussed, official sources said on Thursday.

The Council, the apex body of NITI Aayog, includes all chief ministers, lieutenant governors of Union Territories, and several union ministers.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is the chairman of NITI Aayog.

11:19 AM

5G spectrum auctions enter Day 3; 10th round of bidding underway

India's 5G spectrum auctions entered Day 3 on Thursday with tenth round of bidding for airwaves that would power lag-free connectivity and ultra-high speed internet. On Wednesday, the auctions garnered Rs 1.49 trillion as aggressive bidding across multiple bands by players like Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel sustained the tempo, and pushed the sale over to the third day.

 

As many as five rounds of bidding were conducted on Wednesday, and Telecom Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said "good competition" was seen in almost all bands on offer.

 

Vaishnaw expressed happiness at the response received for the coveted 700 MHz band, which did not find any takers in the last two auctions held in 2016 and 2021.

10:43 AM

VVDN Inks Contract with C-DAC to Manufacture India's first indigenously designed HPC server

VVDN Technologies, a global provider of engineering, manufacturing and digital services and solutions, today announced that it has signed a contract with Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC), a premier R&D organization of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), for manufacturing of India's first indigenously designed High Performance Computing (HPC) servers 'RUDRA,' in presence of the Hon'ble MeitY Secretary, Shri Alkesh Kumar Sharma.

The 'RUDRA' HPC servers, designed by C-DAC, will be manufactured by VVDN under National Supercomputing Mission and is planned to be used in C-DAC's 'PARAM' series of Supercomputers. A wide spectrum of sectors, including High Performance Computing (HPC) systems, hyperscale data centres, edge computing, banking & commerce, manufacturing, oil & gas industry and healthcare, can benefit from the indigenously-built server.

10:42 AM

Some suspended MPs spend night in open beside Gandhi statue in Parliament

Braving mosquitoes and the heat, some of the suspended MPs like CPI's Santosh Kumar, AAP's Sanjay Singh spent the night beside the Gandhi statue in Parliament complex.

TMC's Dola sen and Santanu Sen were present on the site till post midnight

With no permission for a tent granted by the authorities, five MPs slept under the sky as a protest against the suspension of 24 MPs, 20 from Rajya Sabha and four Congress members from Lok Sabha.

10:41 AM

Chhattisgarh: No-trust motion against Congress govt defeated

The no-confidence motion moved by the opposition BJP against the Congress government in Chhattisgarh, where polls are due next year, was defeated by voice vote in the state Assembly on Thursday.

The House witnessed a stormy debate over the no-confidence motion as the opposition members targeted the Congress government over its infighting, Income Tax raids in the state, alleged corruption cases and non-fulfilment of its poll promises.

The treasury benches rejected the charges, claiming the opposition failed to come up with any concrete issues.

10:40 AM

Buffett company discriminated against Black homebuyers

A Pennsylvania mortgage company owned by billionaire businessman Warren Buffett's company discriminated against potential Black and Latino home buyers in Philadelphia, New Jersey and Delaware, the Department of Justice said on Wednesday, in what is being called the second-largest redlining settlement in history.

Trident Mortgage Co., a division of Berkshire Hathaway's HomeServices of America, deliberately avoided writing mortgages in minority-majority neighbourhoods in West Philadelphia like Malcolm X Park; Camden, New Jersey; and in Wilmington, Delaware, the Justice Department and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau said in their settlement with Trident.

As part of the agreement with the government, Trident will have to set aside USD 20 million to make loans in under served neighbourhoods.

10:16 AM

India logs 20,557 new Covid cases, 44 fatalities in a day

India added 20,557 new coronavirus infections pushing the total tally of COVID-19 cases to 43,959,321, while the active cases increased to 146,323, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Thursday.

 

The death toll climbed to 526,211 with 44 new fatalities, the data updated at 8 am stated.

 

The active cases comprise 0.33 per cent of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate was recorded at 98.47 per cent, the ministry said.

 

An increase of 1,297 cases has been recorded in the active COVID-19 caseload in a span of 24 hours.

 

According to the ministry, 203.21 crore doses of Covid vaccine have been administered in the country so far under the nationwide vaccination drive.

 

 

10:12 AM

PM Modi on Gujarat visit, to launch dairy plants

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate a milk powder plant and interact with women cattle- rearers in Gujarat's Sabarkantha district on Thursday.

The state Assembly elections are due by this year-end.

PM Modi will inaugurate a Rs 305 crore milk powder plant of the Sabarkantha District Co-operative Milk Producers' Union Ltd, also known as the Sabar Dairy, located near Himmatnagar town in Sabarkantha, a government release said.

The state-of-the-art plant at the Sabar Dairy has the capacity to produce 120 metric tonnes of milk powder per day.

10:11 AM

J-K highway blocked due to mudslides, shooting stones in Ramban

The strategic 270-kilometres Jammu-Srinagar national highway was blocked on Thursday due to mudslides and shooting stones in Ramban district early Wednesday, leaving hundreds of vehicles stranded, officials said.

The debris struck the only all-weather road linking Kashmir with the rest of the country at Mehaar, Cafeteria Moore and Pantiyal areas, thereby blocking the highway, they said.

"People are advised not to travel on Jammu-Srinagar highway without confirmation", a traffic police advisory said.

9:51 AM

Gujarat court likely to pass order on bail pleas of Teesta Setalvad, Sreekumar

A court in Ahmedabad is likely to pass an order on Thursday on the bail applications of activist Teesta Setalvad and former DGP R B Sreekuamr arrested for allegedly fabricating documents to frame innocent people in 2002 riots cases.

The two accused have denied allegations made against them by a Special Investigation Team (SIT), formed to conduct a probe into the case.

On Tuesday, the court had deferred its order on the bail pleas till Thursday.

Setalvad, and former Indian Police Service (IPS) officers Sreekumar and Sanjiv Bhatt, were arrested by the Ahmedabad crime branch last month under sections 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating) and 194 (giving or fabricating false evidence with intent to procure conviction for capital offence) of the Indian Penal Code.

9:48 AM

Design finalised for Lata Chowk in Ayodhya

Lata Chowk, dedicated to the late legendary playback singer Lata Mangeshkar, will come up in Nayaghat on the Ayodhya bypass road.

Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, while reviewing the development of Ayodhya, finalised the design of the Chowk.

To be developed with a budget of Rs 10 to 12 crore, the design of the Chowk has been finalised after holding an open competition.

The Ayodhya Development Authority (ADA) shortlisted the designs submitted by 56 creative minds from 13 different states.

9:47 AM

Thane records 141 new COVID-19 cases; active tally over 800

Maharashtra's Thane district has reported 141 new cases of coronavirus, taking its infection tally to 733,777, a health official said on Thursday.

These new cases were recorded on Wednesday, he said, adding that the district currently has 829 active COVID-19 cases.

The COVID-19 death toll in Thane remained unchanged at 11,927.