Prime Minister Narendra Modi today expressed concern over a rise in COVID-19 cases in parts of the country and called for "quick and decisive" steps to stop the "emerging second peak". In a virtual interaction with chief ministers over the pandemic situation and the ongoing vaccination drive, PM Modi said in states like Maharashtra, Punjab and Madhya Pradesh the number of COVID cases has seen a rise while nearly 70 districts in the country have seen an increase in the positivity rate by over 150 per cent of late. "Most of the COVID-affected countries in world had to face several waves of Corona. In our country too, cases have suddenly started increasing in some states...CMs have also expressed concern...Test positivity rate in Maharashtra & MP is very high and number of cases also rising," PM Modi said.
The Bombay High Court asked the Mumbai police today that since the latter claimed to have adequate evidence against Republic TV and its Editor-in-Chief Arnab Goswami in the alleged TRP scam, why had they not named them as accused in the case. A bench of Justices S S Shinde and Manish Pitale directed Special Public Prosecutor (SPP) Shishir Hiray to inform the court by Thursday whether the police plan to proceed against Goswami and Republic TV. It also asked Hiray to tell the court how much time were the police likely to take to complete the investigation into the case.
One Group Captain has lost his life after a MiG-21 Bison aircraft of the Indian Air Force was involved in a fatal accident on today morning, said the Indian Air Force. "A MiG-21 Bison aircraft of IAF was involved in a fatal accident this morning, while taking off for a combat training mission at an airbase in central India. The IAF lost Group Captain A Gupta in the tragic accident. IAF expresses deep condolences and stands firmly with the family members," the Indian Air Force said. A Court of Inquiry has been ordered to determine the cause of the accident, the IAF said.
What can be termed as a new twist in the Antilia bomb scare case, the National Investigating Agency (NIA) today confirmed Mumbai Police officer Sachin Vaze's presence outside Mukesh Ambani's residence on the day the explosives-laden SUV was found. According to the CCTV footage, a man covering his head with a large handkerchief was spotted outside Antilia. And, NIA has said it was indeed Vaze, who was trying to hide his identity by wearing baggy clothes and a head-scarf. The NIA further added that Vaze was wearing an oversized kurta-pajama and not a PPE coverall, to hide his body language and face.
Dropping for the fourth straight session, equity benchmark Sensex tumbled 562.34 points today following losses in index majors Reliance Industries, HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank amid a weak trend in global markets ahead of the US Federal Reserve's policy outcome. After a volatile session, the 30-share BSE index tanked 562.34 points or 1.12 per cent to close at 49,801.62. The broader NSE Nifty slumped 189.15 points or 1.27 per cent to 14,721.30. ONGC was the top loser in the Sensex pack, declining around 5 per cent, followed by NTPC, Sun Pharma, SBI, IndusInd Bank, Bajaj Auto, PowerGrid and Reliance Industries. On the other hand, ITC, Infosys, TCS and HDFC were among the gainers.
