India

Dehradun, Jul 3 (PTI) The Uttarakhand BJP legislature party will meet on Saturday afternoon to elect its new leader, a day after Tirath Singh Rawat resigned as chief minister after a less than four-month stint.

Ending days of speculation about a change of guard in the state, Rawat on Friday handed over his resignation letter to Governor Baby Rani Maurya past 11 pm, hours after returning from Delhi where he was summoned by the top BJP leadership on Wednesday.

NEW DELHI, July 2 (Xinhua) -- India's death toll due to COVID-19 pandemic crossed the 400,000-mark on Friday, said the federal health ministry.

As many as 853 people died in the past 24 hours, taking the country's death toll to 400,312.

Besides, 46,617 new cases since Thursday morning took the total tally to 30,458,251.

There are still 509,637 active cases in the country, with a decrease of 13,620 during the period.

New Delhi, Jul 3 (PTI) Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday described as "landmark" the decision to include retail and wholesale trade as MSMEs, which will allow traders the benefits of priority sector lending, and said his government is committed to empowering the community.

Union Minister Nitin Gadkari had on Friday announced the inclusion of retail and wholesale trade under MSMEs (micro, small and medium enterprises) as per which the traders will now get the benefit of priority sector lending under RBI guidelines.

Mumbai, Jul 3 (PTI) Superstar Aamir Khan and producer-director Kiran Rao on Saturday announced their decision to get divorced after 15 years of marriage, saying they were ready to start a new chapter as co-parents and family for each other .

They will continue to work as collaborators on movies, their NGO Paani Foundation and other professional projects, the couple said in a joint statement.

Jabalpur, Jul 3 (PTI) A 35-year-old man allegedly axed his father and wife to death after he found them in a compromising position at their house in a village in Jabalpur district of Madhya Pradesh, police said on Saturday.

Santosh Lodhi killed his father Aman Lodhi (65) and wife Kavita (32) with an axe at their house in Gokalahar village, about 50 km from the district headquarters, on Friday night, additional superintendent of police (Rural) S S Baghel said.

Kanpur: Whether it is the day, noon, evening or night power cuts are a widespread or broad problem for the power consumers either living in city areas or Jajmau area.

Complaints are not scant in this regard. The power disruption effects after slight relief of every other cut. The KESCO officers save their skin by saying about higher consumption during these hotter days of summer.

New Delhi, July 1 (PTI) The Delhi High Court Thursday granted interim protection till July 5 to a woman who claimed that she and her family are facing life-threats and being witch hunted by the UP police, media and vigilante groups after her wilful conversion from Hinduism to Islam.

Justice C Hari Shankar asked Delhi Police to take appropriate steps to protect the woman till the matter is heard by the regular bench, noting that the petitioner is a young woman who has expressed apprehension regarding her security.

Mumbai, July 1 (PTI) The Mumbai police on Thursday registered a new First Information Report against eight persons for holding fake COVID-19 vaccination camps for a private firm, an official said.

This is the 10th FIR registered in Mumbai after a racket which held bogus or unauthorized vaccination camps for housing societies and private firms came to light last month.

The latest case relates to such camps held for Inter Gold company, the police official said.

Thane, July 1 (PTI) A 55-year-old school teacher here got a shock of his life when he received a call earlier this week from the Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC) that his death certificate was ready and he should come and collect it.

When Chandrashekar Joshi, a city resident, went to the TMC office, he was allegedly told by an official that as per the data received from the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), he had `died' on April 22, 2021.

Mumbai, Jul 2 (PTI) Legendary actor Dilip Kumar, who has been admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) of a city hospital here, is stable, his family friend Faisal Farooqui said on Friday.

The 98-year-old screen icon was taken to the suburban Khar-based Hinduja Hospital, a non-COVID-19 facility on Tuesday, to "address medical issues" related to old age after he complained of "breathlessness".