LIVE: Lankan Prez Gotabaya Rajapaksa headed to Saudi Arabia, says report

Live news upedates: Sri Lanka President Gotabaya Rajapaksa is headed to Saudi Arabia via Singapore

12:30 PM

US striving for reshaping global food market, drive Russia out of it: Russian Embassy

The US accusations that Russia is making obstacles for transporting grain from Ukraine are baseless and just an attempt to reshape the global food market, by driving Russia out of it, the Russian Embassy to the United States said.

"Our country is not hampering [grain] exports. It is the Ukrainian party that have mined the Black Se waters ... We are regarding such statements as a sign of the intensified US efforts to reshape the global agricultural market by driving Russia out of food trade," the embassy said in a statement.

The diplomatic mission also stressed that the US is using unilateral sanctions to block Russian trade cooperation with foreign nations and ruin the supply chains.

12:26 PM

Satyendar Jain's wife skips ED summon on health grounds

Poonam Jain, the wife of Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain, who was summoned by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to join the probe on Thursday in connection with a money laundering case under PMLA, won't appear before the agency on medical grounds.

Last Friday, the ED had asked Poonam Jain to join the investigation on July 14.

Satyendar Jain is currently lodged in Tihar Jail in connection with the money laundering case after the court rejected his bail application.

On July 1, the ED had arrested Vaibhav Jain and Ankush Jain, the two associates of the Health Minister.

12:24 PM

Foundation stone for south India's first nano urea plant to be laid today

The foundation stone for Indian Farmers Fertiliser Co-Operative Ltd's (IFFCO) Rs 350 crore nano urea (liquid) plant near here would be laid on Thursday.

 

"South India's first nano urea plant foundation will be laid in Bangalore on July 14 with an investment of around Rs 350 crore," IFFCO said.

 

IFFCO said it has planned to set up another eight plants across the country with a capacity of 34 crore bottles (500 ml) per annum.

12:22 PM

Opposition up in arms against 'unparliamentary words' report usage

Several senior members of Parliament have lashed out at the report of the Lok Sabha Secretariat which has released a list of words that has been designated as "unparliamentary."

The list comes just ahead of the monsoon session of Parliament that begins on July 18.

Usage of many words - such as 'corruption', 'corrupt', 'Jumlajeevi', 'tanashah', 'Dictator', 'black' and 'Khalistani' are among those that have been banned.

Senior members of Parliament including Jairam Ramesh Derek O'Brien and Randeep Surjewala Priyanka Chaturvedi have questioned the intent behind such a notification.

12:21 PM

Sri Lanka parliamentary Speaker yet to receive President's resignation

Sri Lanka's parliamentary speaker is yet to receive President Gotabaya Rajapaksa's resignation letter, local media reported.

Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena said that he has not yet received President Rajapaksa's resignation.

The resignation letter has not been sent because the President has not yet reached his destination, Daily Mirror reported quoting informed sources.

11:48 AM

Virat Kohli needs some 'extra chances', says Ashish Nehra

India's star cricketer Virat Kohli is going through a long patch of poor form. Kohli, one of the finest all-format batsmen in modern day cricket, has been struggling with the bat for almost two years.

 

Kohli, 33 has not scored a century since November 2019, when he scored 136 against Bangladesh in Kolkata. Recently, Kohli failed to produce a big knock in the fifth Test Match against England. Kohli scored 11 and 20 runs in the two innings as England won the test by 7 wickets.

 

Former fast bowler Ashish Nehra now has backed Virat Kohli to get some chances due to his performances in the past.

11:44 AM

ONDC to be gradually expanded to more cities: Piyush Goyal

The presence of open network for digital commerce, a Unified Payments Interface-type protocol, will be gradually expanded to more cities after the successful launch of its pilot phase, Union Minister Piyush Goyal has said.

 

Open network for digital commerce (ONDC) is a set of standards for voluntary adoption by sellers or logistics providers or payment gateways. The objective is to democratise the fast-growing e-commerce sector in the country to help small retailers and reduce the dominance of online retail giants.

 

It provides small retailers the freedom to choose any logistics player and seller platform based on different parameters like location and rates.

 

11:39 AM

Pushpa Kamal Dahal 'Prachanda' to visit Delhi on Friday

Chairman of Nepal's CPN (Maoist Centre) Pushpa Kamal Dahal 'Prachanda' is scheduled to visit India on Friday.

 

The visit is taking place soon after a high-level Chinese delegation visited Kathmandu and held talks with the president, prime minister and leaders of the major political parties including the Nepali Congress, CPN-UML, Maoist Center and among others.

 

Led by Liu Jianchao, the head of the International Liaison Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, the high-level Chinese delegation met with different communist party leaders and urged them for party unification.

11:28 AM

'Jumlajeevi', 'dohra charitra', 'snoopgate' declared unparliamentary

Words like 'jumlajeevi', 'dohra charitra', 'baal buddhi', and 'Snoopgate' have been declared 'unparliamentary' in both the Houses -- Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha.

A new booklet by the Lok Sabha Secretariat lists out unparliamentary words and expressions. These include 'anarchist', 'Shakuni', 'tanashah', 'taanashahi', 'dictatorial', 'Jaichand', 'Khalistani', 'vinash purush', and 'khoon se kheti' as unparliamentary and would be expunged if used during debates or otherwise in both the Houses.

The booklet has further listed words like 'dohra charitra', 'nautanki', 'dhindora peetna', 'nikamma' and 'behri sarkar' as unparliamentary expressions.

11:16 AM

Prez polls: NDA nominee Droupadi Murmu to meet MPs, MLAs in Mumbai today

The National Democratic Alliance's presidential election nominee Droupadi Murmu will meet the ruling alliance MPs and MLAs here on Thursday as part of the campaign to seek support for her candidature.

 

The meeting is scheduled at a suburban hotel, before which a luncheon has been organised with the parliamentarians and legislators, sources said.

 

Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis will welcome Murmu on her arrival at the airport in Mumbai.

 

11:06 AM

Fresh batch of over 5000 pilgrims leaves Jammu camp for Amarnath shrine

Amid tight security, another batch of over 5,000 pilgrims on Thursday left the Bhagwati Nagar base camp here to offer prayers at the 3,880-metre-high holy cave shrine of Amarnath in south Kashmir Himalayas, officials said.

The 15th batch comprising 5,449 pilgrims left in a convoy of 201 vehicles for the twin base camps of Nunwan-Pahalgam and Baltal in the early hours, they said.

The officials said 1,666 pilgrims including 536 women and 43 children heading for Baltal in 61 vehicles were the first to leave the Bhagwati Nagar camp around 3.20 am, followed by the second convoy of 140 vehicles for Pahalgam, carrying 3,783 pilgrims including 702 women, 103 sadhus and 54 children at around 4.20 am.

10:56 AM

US approves eye drops that could replace reading glasses

The US has approved a new type of eye drop which they say could eliminate the need for reading glasses.

The FDA (Food and Drug Administration) recently approved the use of an eye drop designed to improve age-related near-vision, reports Express.co.uk.

Called Vuity, the drop is applied to each eye once a day and starts working within 15 minutes of application. The makers say each drop lasts for at least six hours.

As per the report, the drug is a formulation of a well-known compound known as pilocarpine.

10:55 AM

FSIB recommends Rajkiran Rai G as NaBFID MD

Financial Services Institutions Bureau (FSIB) has recommended former Union Bank of India managing director Rajkiran Rai G as the head of the newly set-up Rs 20,000-crore NaBFID.

The headhunter for state-owned banks and financial institutions selected the managing director for National Bank for Financing Infrastructure and Development (NaBFID) after interviewing five shortlisted candidates on July 13.

"Keeping in view their performance in the interface, their overall experience and the extant parameters, the Bureau recommends Rajkiran Rai G for the position of MD in NaBFID," FSIB said in a statement.

10:46 AM

$2 billion agricultural park project in India to be announced at I2U2 summit

A $2 billion project for agricultural parks in India is likely to be announced at the first I2U2 Leaders' Summit, which begins on Thursday with a focus on food security challenges. The project will be funded partly by the UAE with technical expertise provided by Israel and with support from the US private sector, a senior White House official said.

The proposed virtual summit of India, Israel, UAE, and the USA dubbed "I2U2" is being projected as the Quad for West Asia. I2U2 is aimed to encourage joint investments in six mutually identified areas such as water, energy, transportation, space, health, and food security.

10:37 AM

Arunachal reports 45 new COVID-19 cases, highest single-day spike in fortnight

Arunachal Pradesh's COVID-19 tally rose to 64,792 on Thursday as 45 more people tested positive for the infection, the highest single-day spike in a fortnight.

The single-day recovery, however, surpassed the fresh infections as 51 people were cured of the disease.

Arunachal Pradesh had reported 35 cases on the previous day.