Breaking news highlights: Assam to be placed under new Covid rules from June 28

The Assam government on Saturday issued new guidelines to curb the spread of the Covid-19 disease which will be in effect from June 28, 5am.

Britain’s health minister Matt Hancock resigned on Saturday after admitting he broke Covid-19 guidance by kissing and embracing an aide in his office. Read more

Britain’s health minister Matt Hancock has resigned after he admitted breaking Covid-19 guidelines by kissing and embracing an aide in his office. His resignation letter to UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson was published by Downing Street.

The Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) on Saturday issued an order allowing banquet halls for marriages with 50 people. It also allowed gyms to open from Monday.

The Assam government on Saturday directed all the districts to notify areas where the Covid-19 positivity reached more than 10 cases in the last seven days as total containment zones, reported PTI.

Defence minister Rajnath Singh will visit Ladakh on Sunday for three days. During his visit, the defence minister will inaugurate infrastructural projects constructed by the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) and will also interact with troops deployed in the region, the Union minister’s office informed on Saturday.

Activist and Sivasagar MLA Akhil Gogoi met his mother and other family members on Saturday at his residence in Jorhat. Gogoi was granted two day parole by an NIA court on Friday. He was arrested under the UAPA during the anti-CAA protests in Assam.

Chandigarh administration on Saturday said 35 samples were detected with variants of concern of the 50 sent for sequencing to Delhi. 50 random samples of Chandigarh residents for May and June were sent to NCDC lab, Delhi for whole genomic sequencing. Out of these, variants of concern detected in 35 samples. One Alpha variant, 33 Delta variants and one Delta plus variant in the samples, the administration said, reported ANI.

Tamil Nadu deputy director of health Arjun Kumar on Saturday informed about one death from the Delta Plus variant of Covid in the state. The state health department has frequently sent Covid test samples to Pune lab to identify the new Delta variant of Covid 19. Among these, a patient aged 34 – who died on April 21 in Madurai – is now verified to have contracted Delta Plus variant, Kumar said, reported ANI.

Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Saturday said Covid-19 is under control in the state and in this situation, it is not justified to impose a corona curfew on Sunday. Not even one positive case has been reported in 35 districts, active cases stand below 1,000. Positivity rate has dropped to 0.06%, he added.

Maharashtra on Saturday reported 9,812 new Covid-19 cases, 8,752 recoveries and 179 deaths in the last 24 hours.

Total cases: 6,026,847

Total recoveries: 5,781,551

Death toll: 120,881

Active cases: 121,251

Karnataka on Saturday reported 4,272 new cases, 6,126 discharges and 115 deaths, according to the state health bulletin.

Active cases: 105,226

Total recoveries: 2,691,123

Death toll: 34,654

Atleast three civilians were injured in a grenade attack by militants on a CRPF party at Barbar Shahin Srinagar on Saturday, according to ANI.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday held a meeting on the progress of Covid-19 vaccination drive, via video conferencing, reported ANI.

The head of epidemiology at ICMR Dr Samiran Panda on Saturday said only 49 cases of Delta Plus variant of Covid-19 have been reported from 10 states, which does not indicate the inception of the third wave of Covid. Calling it the onset of the third wave would be misleading, Dr Panda added.

Former Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh’s PA Kundan Shinde and PS Sanjeev Palande remanded to ED custody till July 1.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) appointed Bhabesh Kalita and Sharda Devi as presidents of its Assam and Manipur units respectively.

The ministry of defence has a list of 209 items including cruise missiles, next generation corvettes, tank engines and towed artillery guns which have been placed under negative import list to boost Atmanirbhar Bharat programme of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Read More

A Delhi court on Saturday granted interim protection from arrest to gangster-turned-activist Lakha Sidhana in connection with his alleged involvement in violence which ensued at the Red Fort here on Republic Day.

Haryana home and health minister Anil Vij takes a dig at farmers protesting against the three contentious laws, saying they make a new programme every day to keep their agitation alive. “They (farmers) are sitting at the borders for months now. They’re disappointed. So, to keep their agitation alive, their leaders make a new programme everyday. Today, they have spoken about submitting a memorandum at Raj Bhawan. This keeps happening,” said Vij as per ANI report.

Nagpur Police detain former Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis during OBC quota protests, reports ANI

Azad sa’ab (Ghulam Nabi Azad) had spoken on behalf of all of us that we don’t accept this timeline. We don’t accept delimitation, election, statehood, we want delimitation, statehood and then election. If you want to hold polls, you’ll have to restore statehood first, says Omar Abdullah

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday reviewed projects as well as a detailed plan for the development of Ayodhya and to promote the temple town as a global religious tourism site presented by Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath. Read More

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi tweets in suport of farmers’ protest. “It’s simple. We, Satyagrahis, are with the Annadata,” he tweeted in Hindi.

The tweets comes as farmers have called for a “tractor rally” on completion of seven months of the ongoing protest.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has said people who are fully vaccinated will have to continue wearing masks, follow social distancing and other safety measures to contain the spread of the more deadly and contagious Delta variant of the coronavirus, which is spreading rapidly across the globe. Read More

Dawood Ibrahim’s brother Iqbal Kaskar is being sent back to judicial custody of MCOCA court, Thane after interrogation. ANI reported. “We had some inputs & wanted to question him. We asked the court for his 2-day remand. We haven’t arrested him. Probe on,” MA Jain of NCB said as per report,

ED has summoned former Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh today at its office for questioning, in connection with an alleged money laundering case.

Bharatiya Janata Party’s national president JP Nadda has called a meeting of senior party functionaries at the party headquarters at 11 am, news agency ANI reported. Union Home Minister Amit Shah to also participate in the meeting, it also reported.

India on Saturday recorded as many as 48,698 fresh cases of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) and 1,183 new deaths, according to the Union health ministry dashboard at 8am. With this, the country’s total infection tally was pushed to 30,183,143 and the death toll neared the grim milestone of 40,0000.

Bangladesh will impose a nationwide ‘hard lockdown’ starting Monday for seven days in a bid to stem the dramatic spread in daily Covid-19 cases.

Enforcement Directorate (ED) arrested personal assistant Kundan Shinde and personal secretary Sanjeev Palande of former Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh, in connection with an alleged money laundering case registered against Deshmukh.

Former policeman Derek Chauvin was sentenced to 22 and a half years in prison on for the murder of African American George Floyd.

A shootout among suspected drug cartel gunmen left 18 people dead Friday in Mexico, news agency AFP reported quoting an government official.

The gunfight happened in a remote area of northern Zacatecas state, said Rocio Aguilar, a spokeswoman for the state government.

Intelligence agencies have alerted Delhi police and other agencies that Pakistan-based ISI proxies may sabotage the proposed farmers’ stir on June 26, news agency ANI reported.

The United States on Friday released a report on unidentified flying objects to characterise the potential threat posed by them. The report showed that the government was only able to explain one of the 144 cases of unidentified flying objects reported by military planes with “high confidence”.

No Covid-19 vaccination took place at the centres of Nagpur Municipal Corporation yesterday, due to unavailability of vaccines, according to news agency ANI. “We’re hearing govt making records in vaccination but on the ground, there is no vaccine. The governments should ensure its availability,” said a local.

Less than three months before his deadline for the removal of all troops, US President Joe Biden met Afghan leader Ashraf Ghani and said that Afghans had to determine their own fate even as they face a mounting offensive by Taliban insurgents. “The partnership between the United States and Afghanistan is not ending,” Biden said.

External affairs minister S Jaishankar reached Greece on Saturday morning and was welcomed by his counterpart Nikos Dendias. “Greece is an important partner in our broader EU engagement. Look forward to our formal talks tomorrow,” tweeted EAM Jaishankar.