LIVE news updates: All the people trapped were rescued from Mumbai MTNL building fire

All 84 people stuck on the terrace of the MTNL Building have been rescued safely.

The Ghaziabad district administration has launched a Kanwar yatra management app that will provide details of all the facilities along the kanwar routes from Haridwar to Ghaziabad.

District Magistrate (DM) Ajay Shankar Pandey said the app contains the details of rest rooms, clinics, eateries and police stations along the route on National Highway (NH)-58 and Chaudhary Charan Singh Kanwar Marg on Upper Ganga Canal.

The Commissioner of Meerut division has also launched another such app on similar lines which has all the necessary details at the Commissionerate level.

CM HD Kumaraswamy clarifies his position on Floor est to Speaker RameshKumar, says Floor Test cannot take place today

Fire broke out in a telephone exchange building in Mumbai Monday, civic officials said.

Fire broke out at the MTNL exchange building at S V Road in suburban Bandra in the afternoon, fire brigade sources said.

Fire engines have been rushed to the spot, an official said, adding there were no reports yet of anyone being injured in the incident.

14 fire tenders are present. People trapped in the building are being evacuated, approximately 100 people are reportedly trapped

A total of 25,75,318 metric tonne salt was produced in the seven districts of the state during 2018-19, Rajasthan Industries Minister Parsadi Lal Meena said on Monday.

Replying to a question during Question Hour in Rajasthan Assembly, Meena tabled the salt production figures received from the salt commissioner's office.

A total of 25,75,318 metric tonne salt was produced in Ajmer, Churu, Jaipur, Jaisalmer, Jodhpur, Nagaur and Barmer districts, Meena said.

Iran has detained 17 people on charges of spying for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) of the USA and sentenced some of them to death, said the Intelligence Ministry on Monday

The Ministry's Director-General for counter-intelligence said the 17 "professional spies" were working on behalf of the CIA throughout the last year, Fars news agency reported.

"The spies were employed in sensitive and vital private sector centres in the economic, nuclear, infrastructural, military and cyber areas where they collected classified information," the official said in a statement cited by the Iranian media.

Floods continue to ravage 12 districts in Bihar in which 102 people have lost their lives so far and nearly 72 lakh people have been affected.

In Muzaffarpur, Darbhanga and many other areas people have taken shelter on roads.

The situation is getting worse due to the incessant rainfall in Nepal and Terai region.

An official of the State Disaster Management Department of the Bihar government said on Monday that 12 districts of the state including Shivhar, Sitamarhi, Muzaffarpur, east Champaran, Madhubani, Darbhanga, Saharsa, Supaul, Kishengaj, Araria, Purnia and Katihar have been gravely affected by the floods.

In these 12 districts 133 relief centres have been started in which 1,14,921 people have taken shelter and 776 community kitchens are being run.

An Indian has been arrested in Nepal for duping several gullible Nepalese youths of millions of rupees on the pretext of providing them jobs in Malta.

Rahul Pandey, 23, who hails from Gautam Buddhanagar, made Rs 6.57 million from different people as visa processing fee and security deposit, said the Kathmandu Metropolitan Police Circle.

He was arrested on charges of cheating different people on the pretext of sending them to Malta for attractive jobs.

Gold prices touched a new high of Rs 35,970 per 10 gram in the national capital after gaining Rs 100 on Monday due to continued buying from jewellers, according to the All India Sarafa Association.

Silver also followed the suit and gained Rs 260 to Rs 41,960 per kg due to fresh buying from industrial units and coin makers.

"Today's (Monday) gold price of Rs 35,970 per 10 gram is the highest till date," said Surendra Jain, vice-president of All India Sarafa Association.

Traders attributed the rise in gold prices to strong demand from local jewellers. Besides, the decline in equity markets also aided the rally in the precious metal as investors moved towards safe-haven assets like gold.

The National Medical Commission (NMC) Bill which seeks to replace the 63-year-old Medical Council of India (MCI) to reform the medical sector in India, was introduced in Lok Sabha on Monday.

The Bill, introduced by Health Minister Harsh Vardhan, also seeks to repeal the Indian Medical Council Act 1956, stating that the Council set up under it was corrupt. It has been alleged that the process by which the MCI regulated medical colleges was flawed.

The new Bill has the provision for making national standards in medical education uniform by proposing that the final year MBBS exam be treated as an entrance test for PG and a screening test for students who graduated in medicine from foreign countries. This exam will be called the National Exit Test (NEXT).

The injection of the Chandrayaan-2 into the Earth orbit marks the successful accomplishment of the first phase of the ambitious mission that will take about 48 days to land on the Moon surface.

The launch took place at the end of a 20-hour countdown that started at 6.43 p.m Sunday after Indian Space Research Organisation scientists rectified the glitch that prompted them to call of the earlier launch.

The three-component Chandrayaan-2 comprising an orbiter, a lander and a rover will undergo 15 crucial manoeuvres before landing on the moon, expected by the first week of September, ISRO said.

Billed as the most complex and prestigious mission undertaken by the ISRO since its inception, Chandrayaan-2 will make India the fourth country to soft land a rover on the lunar surface after Russia, the United States and China.

At least 45 people have been injured in an unprecedented violence at a Hong Kong railway station as a rampaging mob armed with metal rods assaulted pro-democracy protesters as well as passengers indiscriminately.

No police officer was in sight as dozens of men -- dressed in white shirts and suspected to be triad gangsters -- stormed into Yuen Long MTR station late on Sunday night by forcing open closed entrances and attacked a group of pro-democracy protesters who were returning from a rally in the centre of Hong Kong.

The masked men hurled objects at the protesters -- dressed in black -- and travellers alike and also assaulted members of the public, including journalists with wooden rods and metal sticks, the South China Morning Post reported.

Footage posted on social media of the midnight violence showed the men violently attacking anyone dressed in a black T-shirt on platforms and inside train carriages. Black is the colour of choice for demonstrators engaged in the pro-democracy protests that have been recently sweeping over Hong Kong.

Two 'kanwariyas' drowned while taking a bath in the Ganga river in Uttar Pradesh's Budaun district on Monday, police said.

Divyam Saxena (23), Aman Gupta (22) and Devendra (30) slipped into deep water while bathing at Ataina ghat in Usaihata area, they said.

Devendra was saved by the locals but the others drowned. Their bodies were later fished out and sent for post-mortem, police said.

Nine people were killed due to lightning strikes in various districts of Uttar Pradesh, officials said on Monday.

One person was killed each in Banda and Chitrakoot districts, three died in Hamirpur and four were killed in Jalaun district on Sunday afternoon, the officials said.

Shyamlal Yadav (19) was killed in Banda's Bhahua village in Baberu area, while Bhagwandeen Kori (45), Ghunnu Pal (70) and Ramashray (46) were killed in Hamirpur, Superintendent of Police Banda Ganesh Saha said.

He said the other deceased were identified as Sushil (8), killed in Chitrakoot and Puranpal (33), Shobharani (50), Shivadhar Singh (40) and Mahadev (60), killed in Jalaun.

Setting in place India's bid to return to the moon, the Indian space agency's heavy lift rocket, the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle-Mark III (GSLV-Mk III), carrying the 3,850 kg Chandrayaan-2 spacecraft, blasted off from the Sriharikota spaceport on Monday afternoon.

At exactly 2.43 p.m., the Rs 375 crore GSLV-Mk III rocket began its ascent into space from the second launch pad at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) here.

Karnataka Assembly Speaker K.R. Ramesh Kumar on Monday told Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy to face by evening the floor test to prove majority in the House after the debate on the confidence motion ends.

"As decided on Friday, I will put the confidence motion for vote today (Monday)," Kumar said when the Chief Minister requested him for time till Wednesday, saying that the Supreme Court was yet to decide on the state's ruling allies' July 19 petition asking for clarification and modification of its July 17 (Wednesday) order.

The Supreme Court had on Wednesday allowed the Speaker to take a decision on the resignations filed by 15 rebel MLAs at his own time, emphasising that he cannot be told to take a decision in a time-bound manner. But the apex court also added that the MLAs too cannot be compelled to attend the Assembly.

Before the inconclusive debate on the motion resumed in the House, albeit a hour late, opposition BJP members also urged the Speaker to conduct the trial of strength after the debate by the end of the day.

Former Australian tennis player Peter McNamara has died from cancer at the age of 64. McNamara, who formed a succesfull doubles pair with compatriot Paul McNamee, reached a career ranking high of number 7 in 1983.

The Melbourne-born star died on Monday. While he is best remembered for his doubles partnership with McNamee, McNamara beat American great Jimmy Connors and Czech legend Ivan Lendl to win two of his five singles titles.

As a singles player in Grand Slams, McNamara reached the semi-finals of the Australian Open in 1980, the quarter-finals of Wimbledon in 1981 and the French Open last eight in 1982. "Hard to believe that after 50 years of friendship Macca is gone... you lived life to the full mate and will be missed by your loved ones and many more...a toast to the great times mate," McNamee tweeted on Tuesday.

Three persons were arrested on Monday for thrashing a national-level sportsperson in Uttar Pradesh' Baghpat, police said.

The Sunday incident came to light after the accused posted the video on the social media. In the viral video, four people were seen thrashing the national-level shooter.

The victim, Devansh Rana, told reporters here: "When I was going for some work, they (accused) stopped me and started beating me. They said that I have threatened their friend. They were beating me and recording it. Later on, they made the video viral."

Political parties have responded positively to the proposed move to extend the ongoing session of Parliament and a decision will be taken shortly, a senior BJP leader said.

"The consultation process should conclude in a day or two. The session could be extended for a week to take up important bills," he said.

A Rajya Sabha member from the ruling party said that the House could discuss and pass a maximum of six bills in the next four days while the government has listed as many as 18-19 bills.

"For taking up more bills, the session needs to be extended. As private members' bills are taken up on Friday, there are effectively only three full days left for business," he said.

Two youths have been arrested for allegedly sexually assaulting an 11-year-old girl after taking her to a vacant building complex on the pretext of showing her a movie at a cinema hall here, police said on Monday.

The duo, aged between 23 and 25, and the minor live in the same locality. One of them worked as a delivery rider with an online food aggregator, the police said.

The accused lured the girl and her eight-year-old cousin last Saturday, saying they would show them a movie. Instead, they took them on their motorcycle to a building complex in Saidabad area that had been lying vacant, according to the police.

The Indian and Pakistan Army exchanged heavy fire on the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir's Rajouri district on Monday.

Defence Ministry spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Devender Anand said here: "In early morning hours on Monday, Pakistan initiated unprovoked cease fire violation with firing of small arms and shelling with mortars along LoC in Sunderbani Sector of Rajouri district.

"The Indian Army retaliated befittingly," he added.

President Ram Nath Kovind has given assent to a key bill of Uttar Pradesh that will pave the way for reintroduction of the provision of anticipatory bail, revoked during the Emergency in 1976, officials said Monday.

Barring Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand, all other states in the country have the provision of anticipatory bail.

"The president has given assent to the Code of Criminal Procedure (Uttar Pradesh Amendment) Bill, 2018," a Home Ministry official said.

With the presidential assent, the provision of applying for an anticipatory bail in Uttar Pradesh has been restored after over four decades.

A farmer was killed by unidentified persons over a suspected land dispute in Palamau district, police said Monday.

The incident occured at Dulsulma village under Satbarba police station limits on Sunday night.

The assailants slit the throat of 45-year-old Nageshwar Singh, said Deputy Superintendent of Police, Bhola Prasad Singh.

Yukiya Amano, the International Atomic Energy Agency's director general, has died at 72, the agency announced Monday.

The Secretariat did not give a cause of death for Amano, or say when he died. The agency said he was planning to write soon to the agency's board of governors announcing his decision to step down.

It released part of that letter, in which Amano he praised the agency for delivering "concrete results to achieve the objective of 'Atoms for Peace and Development' plan." He added that he was "very proud of our achievements and grateful" to IAEA member states and agency staff.

Udayveer Barsola, Spokesperson of Khera khap in Jind district: The Khap took the decision to do away with the poison of caste system. We suggested to people to not use caste as surnames, instead use their village names as their surnames.

With more than 7.2 million people affected by the floods in Bihar, the local weather department on Monday warned of heavy rainfall in the next two days that may worsen the situation, officials of the state disaster management department said. According to officials, half a dozen districts of flood-hit north Bihar are likely to receive 90 mm to 135 mm of rainfall in the next 24 hours.

At least four persons have been arrested by the police for assaulting a Muslim man in Maharashtra's Aurangabad on Friday. Investigating Officer Madhukar Sawant said the accused will be produced in court on Monday. According to the police, Imran Ismail Patel, 27, who works at an eatery in Muzaffarnagar locality here, was returning home on his motorcycle shortly after midnight on Friday, when he was stopped by the group of men at the Hudco corner.

The Supreme Court will conduct a hearing on a plea challenging the delay in the elevation of Justice Akil Kureshi as Chief Justice of the Madhya Pradesh High Court in the first week of August. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta informed the court that the matter concerning Justice Kureshi' a elevation was still under consideration and sought two weeks time to place the Centre's response before the court.

Asaduddin Owaisi says he is not at all surprised or shocked by BJP MP Pragya Thakur’s statement ‘not elected to clean toilets’. He says it is “very unfortunate. She has openly opposed the PM’s Program”.

The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed a PIL seeking directions to implement sexual harassment committees in religious institutions. A PIL was moved in the apex court seeking extension of its Vishakha guidelines to religious places, including 'ashrams', 'madrassas' and Catholic institutions, to check the rampant rise in sexual exploitation of women in such places.

The filling of the liquid oxygen in cryogenic stage is completed and the filling of liquid hydrogen is in progress. The launch is set to take place at 2.43 pm IST.

Karnataka Speaker, KR Ramesh says, In your speeches today, make sure that dignity of Assembly is kept alive. These are time stalling tactics being used. It harms the image of Assembly, Speaker and also image of you as MLAs.

Lok Sabha has been adjourned till 2 pm after paying tributes to former Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit & Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) MP, Ram Chandra Paswan.

Karnataka Speaker KR Ramesh Kumar has called rebel lawmakers on Tuesday at 11am after request by coalition to disqualify them

People gather to witness the launch of Chandrayaan 2 from Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota which is scheduled at 2.43 pm.

Sensex down by 304 points, currently at 38,032.18; Nifty down by 100 points, currently at 11,318.95

BJP MLAs leave from Ramada Hotel for Vidhana Soudha, Bengaluru. HD Kumaraswamy government will face floor test in the Assembly on Monday

National-level shooter Devansh Rana thrashed in Bagphat, Uttar Pradesh. The shocking video of shooter’s assault goes viral. The video shows 4 people assaulting Devesh. 3 assailants arrested after the video goes viral.

Fire breaks out on the 4th floor of Kidwai Bhawan at Janpath Road. 8 fire engines are on the spot. More details awaited.