Live: Sri Lanka has to 'get out of crisis', says new PM Wickremesinghe

Live news updates: From crisis in Sri Lanka and Ukraine, to the political developments back home and more, catch all the live updates on latest news here

7:33 PM

Centre asks states to be prepared for monsoon to avoid losses

The Centre on Wednesday asked state governments to be prepared during the monsoon so that losses due to natural disasters such as floods, cyclones, and landslides can be minimised, PTI reported. In his address during the annual conference of relief commissioners and secretaries of departments of disaster management of various states and Union Territories, Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla stressed the need for building up capacities and response reflexes to ensure round the clock preparedness throughout the year.

10:06 PM

Worldwide coronavirus cases cross 517.16 mn: Reuters

More than 517.16 million people have been reported to be infected by the novel coronavirus globally and 6,653,721​ have died, according to a Reuters tally. Infections have been reported in more than 210 countries and territories since the first cases were identified in China in December 2019.

7:23 PM

TV ad volumes 3 pc in Jan-March: Monitor

Indian advertising on television channels declined by around 3 per cent to 443 million seconds in the January-March quarter as against the year-ago period, said a monitoring agency on Thursday. Advertising volumes declined despite an increase in the number of advertisers to 4,259 during the first quarter of the current calendar year as against 4,175 in the year-ago period, the Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) said. 

5:00 PM

Delhi Police serves notice to Rajasthan CM's aide in phone tapping case

The Delhi Police Crime Branch has served a fresh notice to Lokesh Sharma, Officer on Special Duty (OSD) to Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot, asking him to appear before it on Saturday for questioning in a phone tapping case. The phone tapping controversy erupted in Rajasthan in July 2020. Audio clips of alleged telephonic conversations, apparently between Union Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat and Congress leaders surfaced amidst a rebellion against Gehlot by his then deputy Sachin Pilot and 18 party MLAs supporting him.

4:46 PM

Rajya Sabha elections for 57 seats on June 10

Elections will be held on June 10 to fill 57 Rajya Sabha seats from 15 states falling vacant due to the retirement of members on different dates between June and August, the Election Commission said on Thursday. Prominent among those retiring are Union minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, Congress leaders Ambika Soni, Jairam Ramesh and Kapil Sibal, and BSP's Satish Chandra Misra.

4:18 PM

Many Sri Lankans flee Colombo as crisis persists

Many Sri Lankans thronged buses in the main city Colombo on Thursday to return to their hometowns during a brief relaxation in curfew, imposed after the prime minister quit and went into hiding and President Gotabaya Rajapaksa warned of anarchy, Reuters reported. The island nation is battling its worst economic crisis since independence. Violence erupted on Monday after supporters of former Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, the president's elder brother, attacked an anti-government protest camp in Colombo, Reuters reported.

3:52 PM

Live: RBI intervenes to defend rupee, likely sold $700 mn dollars

The Reserve Bank of India likely sold $700 million dollars to prop up the rupee on Thursday as it plunged to a record low, according to three traders, amid broad based selling in Asian currency markets. The rupee fell as much as 0.5% to 77.63 to the dollar, its second record low in less than a week. The central bank intervened both in the spot and the futures market when the rupee hit 77.55-77.60, the traders, who did not want to be identified, told Reuters.

3:50 PM

Jharkhand govt suspends mining secretary arrested in laundering case

Jharkhand mining secretary Pooja Singhal earlier arrested and remanded to the custody of the ED in a suspected money laundering case was suspended by the Jharkhand government on Thursday, an official said. The ED had produced her before a special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court of Prabhat Kumar Sharma after two consecutive days of questioning by the central probe agency on Tuesday and Wednesday, PTI reported.

3:02 PM

Gyanvapi mosque: Court rejects plea to change official, survey to be completed by Tuesday

A district court here on Thursday rejected the plea to change the court-appointed advocate commissioner for conducting a video survey of the Gyanvapi-Shringar Gauri complex and appointed two additional advocate commissioners to assist him.

The court also directed for completion of the survey by May 17 and submission of its report, Abhay Nath Yadav, who is representing the Gyanvapi mosque management committee, said.

The court of Civil Judge (Senior Division) Ravi Kumar Diwakar, which had also heard the matter relating to the opening of the two basements located inside the mosque complex for videography, delivered the verdict after hearing the arguments of both the sides.

2:59 PM

NSE scam: Court denies bail to Chitra Ramkrishna, Anand Subramanian

A special CBI court here on Thursday refused to grant bail to former NSE head Chitra Ramkrishna and former employee Anand Subramanian, who were arrested by the probe agency in connection with the NSE co-location case.

 

The special CBI judge of the Rouse Avenue court dismissed their bail applications after hearing the submissions.

 

Both Ramkrishna and Subramanian, currently lodged in Tihar Jail under judicial custody, have been charge-sheeted under various sections of the IPC.

 

The co-location scam denotes how some of the brokers, who in the co-location facility offered by the NSE, could place their servers within the stock exchange premises giving them faster access to the markets, had in connivance with insiders abused the algorithm and the facility to make windfall profits.

 

The CBI has been probing the case since May 2018.