Delhi

New Delhi, Jul 30 (PTI) Army Chief Gen MM Naravane on Friday held a telephonic conversation with his Nepalese counterpart Gen Purna Chandra Thapa, focusing on bilateral military and defence cooperation in the backdrop of evolving security scenario in the region.

Officials said the talks focused on ongoing military cooperation between the two countries as well as ways to further expand it.

New Delhi, Jul 30 (PTI) The Supreme Court will next week hear a plea by senior journalists N Ram and Sashi Kumar seeking an independent probe by a sitting or a retired judge into the Pegasus snooping matter.

A bench headed by Chief Justice N V Ramana on Friday took note of senior advocate Kapil Sibal's submissions that the petition, which has been numbered after filing with the apex court registry, needed an urgent hearing in view of its wide ramifications.

New Delhi, July 30 (PTI) High tariffs faced by domestic exporters in the European Union and the UK as compared to zero duty access given by these countries to nations like Bangladesh and Cambodia are affecting India's exports performance, Parliament was informed on Friday.

Minister of State for Textiles Darshana Jardosh also said that the textile industry has been hugely affected due to the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic.

New Delhi, Jul 30 (PTI) Google removed 71,132 pieces of content in May and took 83,613 removal actions in June following user complaints, the company said in its monthly transparency reports released on Friday.

In addition to reports from users, Google also removed 6,34,357 pieces of content in May and 5,26,866 in June as a result of automated detection.

New Delhi, Jul 30 (PTI) New Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai is scheduled to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi here on Friday.

This is his first visit to the national capital after taking over as chief minister of the state.

Bommai is also planning to meet Home Minister Amit Shah, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh as well as BJP national president J P Nadda.

Bommai, who was elected as the new leader of the BJP legislature party on Tuesday, following B S Yediyurappa's resignation, took oath as chief minister on Wednesday.

Mumbai, Jul 30 (PTI) The Shiv Sena on Friday asked the Centre to take strict action on apps demeaning and targeting women.

In a letter to Union Information Technology Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, Shiv Sena Rajya Sabha MP and spokesperson Priyanka Chaturvedi said such nuisance cannot be tolerated.

She said some months ago a Youtube channel conducted a "live auction" of women from a particular community, with ratings being given on the basis of physical appearance and derogatory comments being uploaded.

New Delhi, Jul 29 (PTI) Air India has sold its 115 properties for Rs 738 crore since 2015 to offset its debt, Minister of State for Civil Aviation V K Singh said on Thursday.

According to the decision of Air India Specific Alternative Mechanism (AISAM) in 2018, disinvestment-bound Air India has been monetising its immovable assets to offset its debt. The carrier had a debt of around Rs 60,000 crore as on March 2019.

New Delhi, Jul 28 (PTI) Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday welcomed President Joe Biden's strong commitment to strengthen the India-US strategic partnership when US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called on him.

"Good to meet US Secretary of State @SecBlinken today. I welcome President Biden's strong commitment to strengthen the India-US Strategic Partnership, which is anchored in our shared democratic values and is a force for global good," Modi tweeted.

New Delhi, Jul 28 (PTI) Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) president Sharad Pawar met RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav on Wednesday.

"Met with an old colleague Lalu Prasad Yadav ji and enquired about his health. Was very happy to meet Lalu ji after a long time," Pawar tweeted in Hindi.

Yadav's daughter and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) MP Misa Bharti was also present during the meeting.

Pawar and Yadav were ministers in the United Progressive Alliance-1 and the UPA-2 governments.

New Delhi, Jul 29 (PTI) India on Thursday said it has a steadfast policy to support a sovereign, democratic and peaceful Afghanistan and it is in touch with various stakeholders within and outside Afghanistan including regional and international partners.

The comments by the Minister of State for External Affairs V Muraleedharan in Rajya Sabha came a day after India and the US strongly pitched for an immediate intra-Afghan peace process to end the violence in Afghanistan and find a political settlement.