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7:12 PM

Farmers protest across Punjab to demand compensation for losses caused by floods

Farmers in Punjab held dharnas in many places on Friday to demand adequate compensation for losses suffered during the recent floods.The farmers had gathered in Amritsar in response to a call from the Samyukt Kisan Morcha and organised a protest in front of the deputy commissioner's office to press for fair compensation.

6:12 PM

Monsoon likely to start retreating from northwest India by Sept 25: IMD

Typically, the southwest monsoon makes its onset over Kerala by June 1 and covers the entire country by July 8. It starts retreating from northwest India around September 17, withdrawing entirely by October 15.

5:44 PM

Amazon Prime Video to roll out ads across multiple countries in early 2024

Amazon Prime Video will next year join streaming rivals in rolling out ads and introducing a higher-priced ad-free tier, as the industry grapples with a slowdown in subscriber growth since the pandemic. The U.S. tech giant said on Friday ads will be introduced in the U.S., the UK, Germany and Canada in early 2024, followed by France, Italy, Spain, Mexico and Australia later in the year.

5:34 PM

Indian Potash sees no Canada supply hit amid row, hopes to extend deal

Indian Potash does not expect supplies of Canadian potash to be affected by the diplomatic row between the India and Canada, its managing director said on Friday, and hopes to extend a contract with Canadian supplier Canpotex beyond the end of September. India is a leading fertiliser importer to support its vast agriculture sector, which employs about half of its 1.4 billion people and accounts for nearly 15% of its $3 trillion economy.

4:35 PM

Will speak to CM Shinde, Fadnavis on muslim quota in education: Ajit Pawar

Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar on Friday said he will discuss a five per cent quota in educational admissions for the Muslim community with Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis. The then Congress-led government had, in 2014, provided five per cent reservation to the Muslims in admissions to educational institutions when it introduced a quota in jobs and education for the Maratha community. But the subsequent BJP-Shiv Sena government dropped the Muslim quota when it brought in a legislation to provide reservation to the Marathas.

4:15 PM

Gold prices plunged by Rs 170 to Rs 60,000 per 10 grams in Delhi

Gold plunged by Rs 170 to Rs 60,000 per 10 grams in the national capital on Friday amid fall in precious metal prices in overseas markets, according to HDFC Securities. In the previous trade, the yellow metal had settled at Rs 60,170 per 10 grams.

3:51 PM

'China issued invalid visas to three Indian athletes for Asian Games'

India on Friday strongly protested China's decision to issue invalid visas to some of its athletes for the Asian Games, India's foreign ministry said in a statement, a day before the competition begins in Hangzhou. The three athletes, competing as wushu fighters from the state of Arunachal Pradesh, were issued stapled visas instead of stamped ones, according to India's foreign ministry. India does not accept stapled visas as valid. Wei Jizhong, chairman of Olympic Council of Asia's ethics committee, told reporters that China did not refuse entry to the athletes.

 

3:10 PM

Confident of 6.5% growth in FY24 despite symmetric risks: Finance Ministry

The finance ministry on Friday exuded confidence that the country will achieve 6.5 per cent growth in FY24 on the back of improved corporate profitability, private capital formation and bank credit growth, notwithstanding the risks of rising crude oil prices and monsoon deficit.

1:57 PM

Ruling TMC hails high court relief to Abhishek, Oppn reserves comments

The ruling Trinamool Congress on Friday hailed a Calcutta High Court judgement granting relief to party leader Abhishek Banerjee, by ruling against coercive action by the Enforcement Directorate while conducting its probe into the state's school jobs scam.

Opposition Congress and ruling CPI(M) reserved comments on Calcutta High Court's order about TMC leader Abhishek Banerjee but the TMC hailed the judgements.

1:44 PM

SC issues notice on plea seeking FIR against TN Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin

The Supreme Court on Friday sought responses from the Tamil Nadu government and its minister Udhayanidhi Stalin on a plea seeking an FIR against him for his "eradicate Sanatan Dharma" remark.

A bench of Justices Aniruddha Bose and Bela M Trivedi issued notices on a plea filed by B Jagannath seeking an FIR against the Tamil Nadu minister on grounds that the remarks are akin to hate speech and that the top court had in similar matters passed several directions, including registration of FIR.

1:23 PM

Govt aims to meet 70% of country's IT hardware need through local production in 3 yrs: MoS IT

The government aims to meet up to 70 per cent of the country's IT hardware requirement through local production in the next three years and reduce dependency on imports from non-trusted sources, Minister of State for Electronics and IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar said on Friday.

Speaking to reporters, Chandrasekhar said Ministry of Electronics and IT will share a draft of IT hardware import rules with industry players later in the day as it looks to curb dependence on supplies from non-trusted sources

12:55 PM

Women's reservation bill be implemented immediately: Rahul

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday demanded that the women's reservation bill be implemented immediately and alleged that the government does not want to do this while distracting from the demand for caste census.

The Women's reservation bill is a good thing, but two "footnotes" of census and delimitation have been attached, Gandhi told a press conference here a day after the women's reservation bill was passed by Parliament.

12:37 PM

Nari Shakti Vandan Bill proclamation of new India's commitment: PM Modi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said that the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam is not an ordinary law but a proclamation of New India's democratic commitment.

PM Modi was addressing the Nari Shakti Vandan-Abhinandan Karyakram at Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) headquarters in Delhi.

12:28 PM

AP court extends remand of Chandrababu Naidu in Skill Development scam till Sept 24

A court here on Friday extended the judicial remand of TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu in the case pertaining to AP Skill Development Corporation scam till September 24.

Additional Advocate General Ponnavolu Sudhakar Reddy told PTI that the special court for Anti-Corruption Bureau here extended the former Chief Minister's remand by two days.

12:18 PM

SC to hear pleas on marital rape in mid-October

The Supreme Court on Friday said it would list pleas on the issue of marital rape for hearing in mid-October. The pleas raise the legal question of whether a husband enjoys immunity from prosecution for the offence of rape if he forces his wife, who is not a minor, to have sex.

A bench comprising Chief Justice D Y Chandarchud and Justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra took note of the submissions of lawyer Karuna Nundy that the pleas needed to be heard.