Live updates: BCI slams Prashant Bhushan, says no one can't ridicule SC

Live news updates: Indian athletes produced a sensational show in Birmingham, claiming 61 medals, including 22 gold, 16 silver and 23 bronze

11:25 PM

Security tightened in Kashmir ahead of Independence Day

Security has been beefed up in Kashmir ahead of Independence Day celebrations with drones, snipers and policemen in plain clothes deployed for surveillance and vehicles being checked at several places, according to officials.

Police and paramilitary forces have been deployed in strength at many places in the city and elsewhere in the Valley to thwart any attempts by militants to disrupt the celebrations, officials said on Saturday.

11:01 PM

Salman Rushdie on ventilator, likely to lose an eye; suspect charged with attempted murder

Salman Rushdie was on a ventilator with damaged liver and may lose an eye after the Mumbai-born controversial author was stabbed in the neck and abdomen by a man who apparently sympathised with Shia extremism and Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

Rushdie, who faced Islamist death threats for years after writing "The Satanic Verses", was stabbed by a 24-year-old New Jersey resident identified as Hadi Matar, a US national of Lebanese origin, on stage on Friday while he was being introduced at a literary event of the Chautauqua Institution in Western New York.

9:44 PM

Delhi reports 2,031 new cases, 2,260 recoveries, and 9 deaths

9:23 PM

ATF price fall would benefit aviation sector: Scindia

The dip in the air turbine fuel (ATF) price and the continuation of this trend will benefit the aviation sector, Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia said on Saturday.

He said the fall in the ATF rates will have a good impact on airlines under pressure.

8:19 PM

'Vibhajan Vibhishika Smriti Diwas': JP Nadda to participate in silent march on Sunday in Delhi

BJP national president JP Nadda to participate in a silent march tomorrow on the occasion of 'Vibhajan Vibhishika Smriti Diwas' from Jantar Mantar to Connaught Place's A Block, ANI reported.

7:25 PM

BCI raps Prashant Bhushan, says no one has authority to ridicule SC, its judges and judiciary

The Bar Council of India has slammed activist-lawyer Prashant Bhushan for his recent reported remarks against the judiciary in a webinar, saying no one has the authority to ridicule the Supreme Court and its judges and the Lakshman Rekha' should not be crossed by lawyers.

In a press statement, BCI chairperson Manan Kumar Mishra alleged that people like Bhushan "are misusing the fundamental rights of freedom of speech and expression" and indulging in anti-India tirade.

7:07 PM

Will apprise Centre of demand to restore old pension scheme: HP CM to govt employees

Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur on Saturday assured protesting government employees that he would apprise the Centre of their demand to restore the old pension scheme, an official spokesperson said.

A delegation of the New Pension Scheme Employees Association (NPSEA) called on the chief minister and put forward their various demands.

6:09 PM

Kerala CM lashes out at ED, charges central agency of trying to destroy KIIFB

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Saturday made a scathing attack on the Enforcement Directorate saying its move against the Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board (KIIFB), the government's special purpose vehicle (SPV), was to scuttle the development programmes initiated by them and thereby check the progress of the state.

While speaking in a party programme here, he said it was with the funds received through the KIIFB that the development programmes are now implemented in the state.

5:25 PM

403 new Covid cases in Odisha

Odisha's Covid-19 tally rose to 13,22,183 on Saturday as 403 more people, including 48 children, tested positive for the infection, a health bulletin said.

The Covid-19 death toll remained at 9,154 as there was no new death. Fifty-three other patients have died due to comorbidities so far, the health department said.

5:20 PM

Airtel gets shareholders' nod for re-appointment of Gopal Vittal as managing director for 5 years

Bharti Airtel's shareholders have approved the re-appointment of Gopal Vittal as managing director of the company for a period of five years with effect from February 1, 2023.

Over 97 per cent of total votes polled were in favour of the resolution, and the same "has been passed with requisite majority", the telco said in a regulatory filing on the outcome of its Annual General Meeting (AGM).

4:41 PM

TMC youth wing protest against ED & CBI near state BJP headquarters

4:17 PM

CCI approves merger of HDFC Bank, HDFC Ltd

Fair trade regulator Competition Commission of India (CCI) has approved the merger proposal of HDFC Bank and its parent HDFC Ltd.

The proposed combination envisages the merger of HDFC Investments and HDFC Holdings with HDFC Ltd in the first step and subsequently, the merger of HDFC Ltd into HDFC Bank.

4:00 PM

CCI clears acquisition of ACC, Ambuja Cements by Adani Group

The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has given its approval for the acquisition of Holcim's stake in Ambuja Ltd and ACC Ltd by the Adani Group.

In a tweet on Friday, the watchdog said it has approved the "acquisition of the stake in Holderind Investments, Ambuja Cements and ACC by Endeavour Trade and Investment".

 

3:33 PM

Spending on health, education can't be freebies: Tamil Nadu CM Stalin

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin on Saturday said the expenditure incurred by the government on education and health cannot be construed as freebies and stated such measures were being extended to the poor and those living in the fringes.

He also took an apparent swipe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi for opposing freebies but said he did not want to talk much about it as "it will become politics."

3:10 PM

Rajiv govt decision to ban Rushdie's book was justified, taken for law & order reasons: Natwar Singh

K Natwar Singh, who was a Union minister in the Rajiv Gandhi government that banned Salman Rushdie's controversial book "The Satanic Verses", strongly defended the decision on Saturday asserting it was taken "purely" for law and order reasons.

 

With focus back on Rushdie's book in the wake of the attack on him in New York, Singh, who was the minister of state for external affairs when the book was banned in 1988, said he was part of the decision and had told the then prime minister the book could cause serious law and order problems as feelings were running very high.

 

Singh (91) rejected as "rubbish" the charge by critics the Rajiv Gandhi government's decision to ban the book was driven by appeasement towards Muslims.

 

"I don't think it (the decision to ban the book) was wrong because you see it had led to law and order problems, particularly in Kashmir. In other parts of India also there was disquiet," Singh told PTI.