LIVE news updates: Gunfight broke out between millitants and security forces in J&K

A gunfight broke out on June 21 between security forces and holed-up militants in Jammu and Kashmir's Kishtwar district, police said.

This is a developing story

The Biju Janata Dal (BJD) and Bharatiya Janata on Friday announced candidates for by-elections to three Rajya Sabha seats of Odisha.

BJD president Naveen Patnaik declared party's IT Cell Chairman Amar Patnaik and spokesperson Sasmit Patra as party's nominees for the Upper House of Parliament.

Patnaik also announced his support for retired IAS officer Ashwini Baishnab, the BJP candidate from Odisha.

A massive hailstorm caused extensive damage to standing crops including horticulture, besides uprooting trees and electricity poles, in many parts of Pulwama district of Jammu and Kashmir, officials said.

"A massive hailstorm has wrecked havoc in horticulture and agriculture fields of Pulwama district. Joint teams will be sent for damage assessment and relief first thing tomorrow," an official of the district administration said.

The officials said while it was difficult time for the farmers, the administration will do whatever can be done for helping the affected people.

Congress leader Ashok Chavanhas accuses BJP-ShivSena activists of ‘looting’ grants intended for fodder camps by giving an inflated number of cattle, in Mumbai

After a dismal performance in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, more bad news for Congress comes from Jharkhand, where it can win only around 26 out of 81 seats in the assembly elections due later this year, says a party internal survey.

According to a senior party leader, the internal survey says the Congress will again have to sit in opposition as it will fall short of a majority by over 15 seats.

The Congress had won six seats in the 2014 Assembly elections in the state.

A suicide note, reportedly discovered from the spot, claimed that she was suffering from acute depression.

Mortal remains of three IAF personnel who died in a plane crash in Arunachal Pradesh earlier this month, were consigned to flames at their native places in Punjab and Haryana on Friday.

Flight Lieutenants Mohit Garg (27), Ashish Tanwar (29) and airman Pankaj Sangwan were among the 13 people on board the AN-32 aircraft that had crashed on June 3, about 30 minutes after taking off from Jorhat in Assam.

While Mohit belonged to Samana in Punjab's Patiala, Ashish hailed from Palwal district in Haryana.

Airman Pankaj Sangwan belonged to Sonipat in Haryana.

Their mortal remains were consigned to flames with full state honours at their native places.

A court in Mumbai on Friday posted, for Monday, its decision on the anticipatory bail plea filed by Binoy Kodiyeri, son of Kerala CPI-M state Secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan, in the rape case filed against him in the city.

As the case came up at the Dindoshi Court at Mumbai, Binoy Kodiyeri's counsel Ashok Gupta argued this was a cooked-up case and an attempt to blackmail his client, while the prosecution, opposing the bail, said all the required evidences are there and have been produced before the court.

After hearing the arguments, the court said it would deliver its ruling on Monday.

According to the United Nations 2018 report worldwide, 61.7 million people affected by natural hazards, extreme weather was responsible for most death toll by disaster type.

The Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) has sent a letter to the Centre for "failing" to invite it to the meeting called by the prime minister to discuss 'one nation, one election' issue.

The INLD, which is led by former Haryana chief minister O P Chautala, said that in the past too this issue was discussed and the party was invited to participate in the exchange of views or asked to submit its views in writing.  "Being a responsible political party we have without fail responded to such communications. However, this time INLD learnt of such a meeting with the Prime Minister from the media and was surprised to note that even though other regional and state parties were invited, the INLD had not been extended the same courtesy," a party statement quoting the letter said here Friday.

The INLD reminded that the subject equally concerns the states and therefore, by extension it means that regional parties are an equal stakeholder in this proposed change.

Tamil Nadu Deputy Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam on Friday asked the Central government to sanction Rs 1,000 crore to his state to augment irrigation structures in drought-prone areas like the one extended to Maharashtra.

Panneerselvam, who also holds the finance portfolio, was speaking at the pre-budget meeting of state Finance Ministers chaired by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in New Delhi.

He requested the Central government to extend special package assistance of Rs 1,000 crore under the Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana (PMKSY) to augment irrigation structures in drought-prone areas to address agrarian distress and drinking water crisis, similar to the allocation made to Maharashtra.

A 22-year-old man was arrested Friday for alleged trying to rape a teenage girl at nearby Mettupalayam, police said.

Anish, a welding mechanic, entered the house of the girl, studying in ninth standard, when she was alone and attempted to sexually abuse her, the police said.

When he made advances, the girl screamed and ran out of the house, and the man fled the scene.

The girl narrated the incident to her parents, who lodged a complaint with the all-woman police and the mechanic was arrested. A case under POCSO Act has been registered against him

The Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh has dismissed a Jailor and a Deputy Jailor from service for dereliction of duty.

Jailor Uday Pratap Singh of Baghpat was sacked for laxity in duty. In his tenure, dreaded gangster Munna Bajrangi was shot dead inside the jail in July last year by another inmate Sunil Rathi.

The murder of Munna Bajrangi had sent shock waves in the state. Bajrangi had been brought to Baghpat from Jhansi for a court hearing and was shot dead inside the jail.

Cutting across party lines, most Rajya Sabha members Friday supported a private member's bill, which proposed to provide reservation to Other Backward Classes (OBC) in Lok Sabha and state Assemblies to ensure proportionate representation.

V Vijaysai Reddy of the YSR Congress party moved a private member's bill. The Constitution (Amendment) Bill, 2018 (insertion of new articles 330A and 332A) proposes to ensure a proportionate representation to OBC in representative bodies -- House of the People and the Legislative Assemblies of the State.

Water starved Chennai is all set to get some relief as Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K Palaniswami Friday said 10 million litres would be transported from Jolarpet in Vellore district by train to augment supply.

This initiative will be carried on for six months and Rs 65 crore has been set apart for the purpose, he said.

Chennai Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board has been allocated Rs 158.42 crore for water distribution here, he said.

Other state agencies, including the Tamil Nadu Water Supply and Drainage Board, have been provided Rs 108.32 crore to ensure water supply in other parts of the state, he said addressing a press conference here at the Secretariat.

Sixteen persons have been arrested in Bhatpara in West Bengal's North 24 Parganas district, but not in connection with Thursday's violence that claimed two lives, police said on Friday.

"Sixteen persons have been arrested in relation to various cases. However, no arrests have been made in relation to Thursday's bombing and firing," a senior officer of the newly-inaugurated Bhatpara police station said.

On Friday morning, miscreants hurled a bomb in Kakinara amidst imposition of prohibitory orders and additional police reinforcement.

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Friday refused to say anything over the deaths of 124 children caused by Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES) in Muzaffarpur district.

The Chief Minister has yet to break his silence over deaths of so many children from AES.

Mediapersons repeatedly tried to put questions to him in connection with the matter, but Nitish Kumar ignored them and refused to say anything while on his way to his vehicle after attending an event here. He has, earlier too, refused to say anything on the issue.

After facing flak for the spread of hate speech on its platform in countries experiencing conflict, Facebook has introduced new measures to remove content and accounts that violate its policies and limit the number of forwards on Facebook Messenger in some places.

In Myanmar, Facebook has started to reduce the distribution of all content shared by people who have demonstrated a pattern of posting content that violates its Community Standards.

If it proves successful in mitigating harm, Facebook may roll out this method in other countries as well, the social networking giant said in a statement on Thursday.

The geo-political tension in the Middle East seems to be taking heavy toll on international flights to and from India.

In the wake of ongoing tensions between US and Iran, American carrier United Airlines has suspended its flight between New York/Newark and Mumbai from Friday evening.

"(The flight) UA48 (New York/Newark-Mumbai) has been cancelled," the airline said in a statement

The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) on Friday asked the CBI to submit a status report, within four weeks, regarding its investigation against the human rights group Lawyers Collective and its President Anand Grover.

The NHRC direction came after it received two communications -- one from Henri Tiphagne, a rights activist associated with Human Rights Defenders' Alert, HRDA-India, and from Maja Daruwala, Senior Advisor of Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative who expressed grave concern over the criminal cases filed against Lawyers Collective.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) registered a FIR on June 13 under the Foreign Contribution (Regulations) Act (FCRA) and the Indian Penal Code (IPC) on June 13 after getting a Home Ministry report.

The rupee dived 14 paise to close at 69.58 against the US dollar on Friday, pressured by firming crude oil prices amid intensifying geopolitical tensions in the Gulf region.

A broad sell-off in the domestic equity markets also kept sentiment at a low ebb, forex traders said.

At the interbank foreign exchange (forex) market, the domestic currency opened sharply lower at 69.75 against the dollar. However, it recouped some losses to finish at 69.58, registering a fall of 14 paise.

The rupee had settled at 69.44 against the US dollar Thursday.

A whopping 64 per cent of Indians do not want influx of refugees into India, feeling they come only for economic reasons, a survey says.

The survey says that while 65 per cent Indians want victims of war and persecution to be given shelter in India and other parts of the world, at least 64 per cent are averse to mass influx of refugees into India.

The opponents of refugees want Indian borders to be closed for them.

"This dilemma stems from India having to grapple with uninhibited exodus into the eastern border, which has been a strain on the resources," said Parijat Chakraborty, Country Service Line Leader, Public Affairs, Customer Experience and Corporate Reputation, Ipsos India, which carried out the research.

Providing much-needed relief from the scorching summer, the southwest monsoon finally on Friday made onset on the Odisha coast, triggering rainfall in different parts of the state.

Indin Meteorological Department's senior scientist Mrutyunjay Mohapatra said that the monsoon will further advance into Odisha in the next three days.

Mohapatra, who will take charge as IMD Director General on August 1, said that within the next 72 hours, the entire state will experience rainfall.

In a huge relief UPSC aspirant who was not allocated Indian Revenue Service in Civil Services examination, 2017, Delhi High Court has held that persons professing Sikh religion belonging to 'Jat' community in the State of Rajasthan (except Bharatpur & Dhaulpur Districts) are entitled to get Backward Class Certificate.

Enlistment of backward class for purpose of reservation is religion-neutral: Delhi High Court

In a bid to curb the spread of hateful and racist comments on its platform, Google-owned YouTube is experimenting with hiding comments on videos by default and the test has gone live in India.

The new feature, being experimented on Android for now, hides the comments that are displayed below the video unless a viewer taps the "Comments" button.

"We are testing a few different options on how to display comments on the watch page. This is one of many small experiments we run all the time on YouTube and we'll consider rolling features out more broadly based on feedback on these experiments," a YouTube spokesperson told IANS on Friday.

Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Friday demanded that the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) be reviewed keeping in view public interest and welfare.

It becomes difficult for any elected government to work due to prohibition on even small work when the MCC is in effect. It should be reviewed in view of public interest and public welfare, Gehlot wrote in a letter to Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora Gehlot, in the letter, expressed the need to minimise the duration for which the poll code is effected and sought a review of its various provisions.

He said the implementation of code of conduct for a long time obstructs states to discharge their constitutional obligations, causing policy paralysis.

The Odisha Council of Higher Secondary Education (CHSE) on Friday announced the Class 12 board results of Arts, Commerce and Vocational streams.

The total pass percentage in the Arts stream stood at 65.89, Commerce stream 70.26 and vocational courses 52.62.

School and Mass Education Minister Samir Ranjan Dash declared the results at Gita Govinda Bhawan here.

A total of 2,31,150 students had appeared for the exam in the Arts stream. Of this, 1,52,323 students cleared the exam, including 57,442 boys and 94,881 girls.

The Uttar Pradesh Police said on Friday it had arrested four men from Greater Noida and claimed to have busted six fake firms allegedly involved in a fake e-way bill racket amounting to Rs 60 crore.

The accused have been identified as Rajiv Kumar, the mastermind, Vipin, Satendra and Nitin Bansal, who allegedly generated e-way bills (GST related challans to transport consignments) of over Rs 615 crore by using the fake companies.

"In 2018, the GST department had identified six fake firms in Greater Noida following which a complaint was made to the police. Later the case was transferred to us," said Raj Kumar Mishra, Deputy Superintendent of Police, Special Task Force (STF).

Delayed monsoon and a sharp surge in crude oil prices over two straight sessions pushed the Sensex to finish over 400 points lower on Friday. Index heavyweights like HDFC and Reliance Industries contributed most to the fall.

Crude oil rose another 1.5 per cent on fears of a US military attack on Iran that
would disrupt flows from the Middle East, which accounts for over 20% of
the world's oil output.

Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, surged over 5% on Thursday over renewed tensions in the Middle East after Iran shot down a US drone.

The Tamil Nadu government plans to transport 10 million litres of water daily by rail from Jolarpettai in Vellore district to meet the water needs of parched Chennai.

Announcing this on Friday, Chief Minister K.Palaniswami welcomed Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan's offer to supply water to Tamil Nadu.

Vijayan's office had on Thursday offered to supply 20 lakh litres of drinking water to neighbouring Tamil Nadu by train. Palaniswami said the state government had written to Kerala requesting whether it could release 20 lakh litres of water per day.

A case has been registered against a 32-year-old man from Bhiwandi in the district for allegedly giving triple talaq, prohibited by law, to his wife, police said on Friday.

Police have also booked him and his three family members for allegedly harassing his wife for dowry. The woman lodged a complaint with Bhoiwada police on Thursday.

In the complaint, she alleged that her husband Aamir Mukhtar Aamir Momin divorced her around two months back by uttering the word 'talaq' thrice, Thane police spokesperson Sukhada Narkar said.

A couple, abducted by unidentified gunmen from Jammu and Kashmir's Anantnag district on Thursday, were shot and injured before being released on Friday, police said.

Police sources said the gunmen shot and injured Mudasir Ahmad Makroo and his wife Nusrat after the couple had been abducted from Arwani village on Thursday evening.

"Both have been shot in their legs. They have been shifted to hospit al where attending doctors described their condition as stable. Police has taken cognizance of the crime," a police source said.

Coimbatore: Indian Air Force Squadron leader H Vinod's mortal remains taken for last rites in Sulur. He lost his life in AN-32 aircraft crash in Arunachal Pradesh on June 3

Reporters covering Union Minister & LJP chief, Ram Vilas Paswan's filing of nomination for Rajya Sabha as an NDA candidate, at Bihar Legislative Assembly, forced out of Returning Officer's room by security personnel after CM objected to them leaning on the officer.

The Delhi Government on Friday asked the Centre to enhance the allocation of its share in the Central Taxes to at least Rs 6,000 crore against Rs 325 crore being released to the city for the past 18 years.

Delhi Finance Minister Manish Sisodia placed the demand before Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman during a pre-Budget consultation with Finance Ministers of states ahead of the Central Budget on July 5.

"(I) demanded Rs 6,000 crore for Delhi. From the past 18 years, Delhi is getting only Rs 325 crore. Delhi pays Rs 1.5 lakh crore as tax to the Centre. Other states are getting 42 per cent of their share," Sisodia tweeted in Hindi.

MP Asaduddin Owaisi asked in Parliament whether the Government has taken note of the issue of fake news and if so, the number of cases of fake news which have came to the notice of the Government so far.

The Parliament stated that the Press Council of India (PCI) received 447 complaints regarding fake news in 2018-2019 and the Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology has taken note of media reports about spread of fake news, misinformation/disinformation on Internet particularly using WhatsApp platform.

Monitoring is done through a system of self-regulation by the News Broadcasting Standards Authority (NBSA) and the National Broadcasting Association (NBA) and the Broadcasting Content Complaints Council (BCCC) of the Indian Broadcasting Foundation (IBF).

The NBA has also formulated a Code of Ethics in broadcasting standards. The NBSA had issued an advisory dated 12.05.2016 to its members that manufacturing, drawing, tailoring and tutoring or creating any kind of false or fake news or an attempt to do so will be considered as a serious misconduct on the part of the broadcaster, irrespective of whether any „feed‟ or „report‟ so generated/created is aired or not

BJD, on mortal remains of Naik Ajit Kr Sahoo reportedly wrapped in party flag: BJD has enormous respect towards martyrs. Matter that has come to our notice is extremely unfortunate and we strongly condemn it. Party will find out who is responsible for this and take action against them.

Naik Ajit Kumar Sahoo lost his life after sustaining injuries in an IED blast in Pulwama on June 18.

More than 200 people in Madhepura have become sick due to food poisoning. The case was reported from Kumaragarh Police Station area. The food that was the root cause of people falling sick was served at a banquet reports News18.

After consuming the food, children and the elderly started falling sick. They were rushed to a Kumarkhand PHC and other nearby hospitals. At present the victims have all been stated to be out of danger.

A 3 member delegation of BJP, including SS Ahluwalia, Satya Pal Singh, VD Ram to visit West Bengal's Bhatpara tomorrow. A clash had broken out between two groups of miscreants on June 20.

44 people died in bus accident in Banjar area of Kullu district yesterday; Chief Minister Jairam Thakur has ordered a magisterial inquiry into the incident.

The Special Task Force (STF) of West Bengal Police seized fake Indian currency notes (FICN) with a total face value of ₹2 lakh, a senior officer said on Friday.

Based on prior information, the officers intercepted two persons Mohammad Saleem (30) and Shahbaz Siddiqui (28) near Lindsay Street in central Kolkata on Thursday night. Both of them are residents of Nagpur.

"FICN amounting to ₹2 lakh face value, consisting of 100 notes of ₹2,000 have been seized from his possession," officer said.

The National Investigation Agency on Friday filed a charge sheet before a Delhi court against 10 suspects in a case involving a terror module in Delhi and Uttar Pradesh's Amroha.

The charge sheet was filed before Additional Session Judge Ajay Kumar under various provisions of Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act against accused including the alleged leader Mufti Mohammed Suhail, a mufti in a seminary in Amroha.

The court has put the matter for consideration on July 4.

Suhail along with Delhi resident Mohammad Faiz had formed a terror module inspired by the ISIS and called it Harkat-ul-harb-e-Islam, the agency said.

Ravi Shankar Prasad after Triple Talaq Bill 2019 introduced in Lok Sabha: Rights of Muslim women will be protected. It is about justice and empowerment of women.

Union Law and Justice Minister and BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad after Triple Talaq Bill 2019 introduced in Lok Sabha: People have chosen us to make laws. It is our work to make laws. Law is to give justice to the victims of Triple Talaq.

Lok Sabha: Voting for introduction of Triple Talaq Bill 2019 in Lok Sabha today was held through paper slips as the new MPs have not yet been allotted division number that allows them to vote using polling machine.

A bill banning Triple Talaq was tabled in the Lok Sabha on Friday.

The bill, tabled by Union Law and Justice Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, will outlaw the practice of instant Triple Talaq.

"People elected us to make laws and it is our duty to do so. Law is to give justice to the victims of Triple Talaq," the Minister said.

Four members of a family were brutally murdered in Gujarat’s Banaskantha district by a moneylender over the non-payment of ₹21 Lakh. The accused scribbled the reason for his actions on the walls of the victims’ house, reported News18.

The incident came to light after neighbours saw Ukabhai Patel and his family lying in a pool of blood on Friday morning at their house in the Banaskantha district.

Sources said that throats of all four members were slit using sharp-edged weapon. Police have reached the spot and have launched a probe into the murder.

Police are looking for a motorist who slapped a female employee at a toll plaza in Gurugram after she stopped him from passing without paying the toll tax on Friday.

Police said the incident took place at the Kherki Daula toll plaza and was captured on CCTV camera. The man is seen slapping the woman before escaping.

A police officer said teams had been formed to arrest the accused.

The death toll from severe heatwave rose to 101 in Bihar, an official data showed on Friday. However, unofficially the heatwave has claimed more than 250 deaths across a dozen districts.

According to the State Disaster Management Department website, 101 deaths have been recorded till 11 a.m. on Friday. Of these, Aurangabad recorded 48 deaths, Gaya 39 and Nawada 14.

Death were also reported from Patna, Begusarai, Arwal, Jamui, Bhojpur, Buxar, Rohtas districts where temperatures hovered above 49 degrees Celsius since last week.

The death toll in the house collapse incident in Rajouri district of Jammu and Kashmir has risen to two with one of the six injured persons, an infant, succumbing to injuries, police said on Friday.

The newly built concrete double-storey house of one Mohammad Zakir suddenly collapsed at Devlian village in Kalakote area of the border district on Thursday, killing one of the family members, identified as Gafoor Hussain (35), the police said.

Six other family members -- Zakir's five children aged between 12 and 17 years and Hussain's one-year-old son Adil Hussain -- were rescued in a serious condition and shifted to hospital where the infant succumbed to injuries late on Thursday, a police official said.

Services were affected on a section of the Delhi Metro's Yellow Line on Friday due to technical issues, the DMRC said.

The Yellow Line connects Samaypur Badli in Delhi to Huda City Centre in Gurgaon.

In its tweet, the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation said that "slow movement of trains from Kashmere Gate towards Rajiv Chowk".

There was also delay in service from Central Secretariat towards Vidhan Sabha, it tweeted.

However, the services resumed on the stretch around 11.30 am.

A day after clashes erupted between two groups in Bhatpara in North 24 Parganas district of West Bengal, the situation remained tense with prohibitory orders in force and huge police deployment in the area, officials said on Friday.

As many as 16 people were arrested in connection with the clashes, a police officer said.

Expressing concern, Governor KN Tripathi said, "Not only in Bhatpara but in the entire state, there is a need to keep peace." Shops and markets remained shut in Bhatpara and Jagaddal areas, where internet services have been temporarily restricted.

Amidst imposition of prohibitory orders and additional police reinforcement North 24 Parganas district's Kankinara in West Bengal, miscreants on Friday hurled a bomb and escaped.

Eyewitnesses saw two bike-borne miscreants throwing a crude bomb before fleeing.

Shops in the area remained shut while tension prevailed among the residents. They complained that there were hardly any police picketing last night despite government's intervention.

A five-year-old boy suffocated to death allegedly after he was accidentally trapped inside his father's car while playing at a village in Muzaffarnagar district of Uttar Pradesh, police said on Friday.

The minor, identified as Mohd Zaid, died on Thursday after he accidentally locked the doors of the car parked outside his house in Sikri village and was unable to come out of the vehicle, they said.

The boy was found unconscious in the car, hours after he went missing. He was rushed to a hospital where doctors declared him dead, police said.

Special NIA Court allows exemption application of BJP MP Pragya Singh. She had sought exemption from appearing before the court on the grounds of ongoing Parliament session.

The Supreme Court on Friday refused to extend the schedule of counselling for filling up as many as 603 vacant seats in post-graduate medical and dental courses in deemed universities and private colleges.

A vacation bench of justices Deepak Gupta and Surya Kant disposed of a plea by the Education Promotion Society of India, a registered group of over 1,300 educational institutions of the country, seeking to extend the counselling to facilitate admission on vacant seats.

The top court had earlier said that the question is not whether it has power to do it but whether it should allow the deemed universities and colleges to fill up their vacant seats by making an exception to the set schedule of admissions.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Friday paid tributes to five of the 13 air-warriors, who lost their lives in the AN-32 crash in Arunachal Pradesh on June 3. Air Chief Marshal B.S. Dhanoa was also present at the ceremony held at the Palam Technical area

Catching fellow passengers unawares, Karnataka Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy on Thursday night boarded an express train to Yadgir town for his village stay in the states northern district on this weekend, an official said.

"Instead of flying by a chartered aircraft or a helicopter, Kumaraswamy boarded Karnataka Express from the city main station to reach Yadgir on Friday morning for his village stay at Chandraki near Gurmitkal in the district to reach out the rural people," the official told IANS.

The rupee on Friday fell 28 paise to trade at 69.72 against the US dollar in early trade following foreign fund outflows and rising crude prices after Iran said it had shot down a US military drone.

Subdued sentiments in domestic equity markets also influenced the trading pattern in the currency market, forex traders said.

Kollam MP NK Premachandran to present a private member bill on Sabarimala issue in the parliament on Friday

A fresh bill to make instant Muslim divorce or "triple talaq", which got stalled in the upper house of parliament and lapsed, is expected to be introduced in the Lok Sabha on Friday.

The Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill, 2019 will replace an ordinance issued in February by the previous BJP-led National Democratic Alliance government.

A massive fire broke out on Friday at a furniture market near Kalindi Kunj Metro station in New Delhi, officials said.

There were, however, no reports of casualties, Delhi Fire Services said.

The death toll due to a road accident in Himachal Pradesh's Kullu district has increased to 44, officials said on Friday.

A total of 73 passengers were on board when an overloaded private mini bus skidded off the road and fell into a deep gorge near Banjar, some 50 km from Kullu town, on Thursday. Passengers were also sitting on its rooftop.