Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal today inaugurates the Plasma Bank for the treatment of Covid-19 patients. The facility has been set up at Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences, New Delhi.

Human Resources Development Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank and Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan today jointly launched Drug Discovery Hackathon through video conferencing.

Uttar Pradesh Government will launch a special campaign today for door to door medical screening in all districts of Meerut division which are having large numbers of Corona positive patients.

BSNL today cancelled the tender for 4G network upgradation and expansion amidst complaints by homegrown companies demanding a fresh tender.

National Doctor's Day is being celebrated today. The day is celebrated on July 1 every year to thank the doctors and physicians for their relentless service to humanity. The theme of this year's Doctors Day is 'Lessen the mortality of COVID 19'.

The Centre has declared the entire Nagaland as disturbed area for a further period of six months till December-end.

This was the second expansion of the MP Cabinet. Of these, 20 were appointed as cabinet ministers while 8 were  ministers of state.

The new ministers were administered the oath of office and secrecy by Governor Anandiben Patel at the Raj Bhawan in Bhopal in the presence of Chief Minister Shivraj and many other senior leaders and central ministers.

Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan had earlier inducted five ministers to the Cabinet in the month of April.

Researchers said on Wednesday it is the largest rocky planet ever discovered and would be the first planetary core ever found, offering a unique opportunity to better understand the interiors of gas giants like Jupiter, the largest planet in our solar system.

The planet, called TOI-849b, orbits a star a bit smaller and cooler than the sun, located 730 light years from Earth. A light year is the distance light travels in a year, 5.9 trillion miles (9.5 trillion km).

Gas giants are composed of a solid core surrounded by a vast atmosphere mostly of hydrogen and helium.

Its diameter of 27,000 miles (43,500 km) is a bit less than Neptune, the smallest of our solar system’s four gas planets, but much larger than Earth’s 7,900 miles (12,700 km). It orbits extremely near its star - much closer than our solar system’s innermost planet Mercury is to the sun - and travels 10 times more quickly than Earth, completing an orbit every 18 hours.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had announced it on 13th of March this year. Ministry of Finance in a statement said, Reserve Bank of India will provide funds for the Scheme by subscribing to government guaranteed special securities issued by the Trust. The total amount of such securities issued outstanding shall not exceed 30 thousand crore rupees at any point of time. The Central Government will provide an unconditional and irrevocable guarantee to the special securities issued by the Trust.

The Scheme will remain open for three months for making subions by the Trust. The period of lending by the Trust will be for a period of up to 90 days. The financing would be used by the NFBCs and HFCs only to repay existing liabilities and not to expand assets.

This facility is a part of the Central Government and RBI’s efforts to alleviate the concerns of the market participants on the availability of funds to the sector.

Any NBFC including Micro-finance Institutions registered with RBI and any HFC registered with the National Housing Bank complying with the given  conditions will be eligible to raise funding from the said facility. 

The move comes as part of the series of tough measures that the Trump Administration has been taking in the last few days, including designating Huawei and ZTE as national security threats and President Donald Trump signing of the Uighur Human Rights Policy Act.

Describing China as one of the world's most unfree countries, United States Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Wednesday said that a day earlier the Chinese Communist Party implemented its draconian national security law on Hong Kong in violation of commitments that it made to the Hong Kong people and to the United Kingdom.

He said, the United States is deeply concerned about the law's sweeping provisions and the safety of everyone living in the territory, including Americans.

The UN’s most powerful body voted unanimously on Wednesday to adopt the resolution after the United States and China resolved a lengthy dispute over mentioning the World Health Organization.

Germany’s UN Ambassador Christoph Heusgen, the Council President for July, announced the result, calling it a sign for hope for all people currently living in conflict zones around the world.

The resolution backs UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres’ March 23 call for global ceasefires to tackle the pandemic and demands an immediate cessation of hostilities in all conflicts on its agenda which include key conflicts in the Middle East, Africa and elsewhere.

The resolution, sponsored by France and Tunisia, states that these measures do not apply to military operations against the Islamic State and Al-Qaida extremist groups and their affiliates. 

The 109 OD Pairs have been formed into 12 clusters across the Indian Railway network. Each train will have a minimum of 16 coaches. The project will entail private sector investment of about 30 thousand crore rupees.
 
This is the first initiative of private investment for running passenger trains over Indian Railways network. Majority of trains will be manufactured in India and the private entity will be responsible for financing, procuring, operation and maintenance of the trains. Trains willl be designed for a maximum speed of 160 kmph. There will be a substantial reduction in journey time.
 
The objective of this initiative is to introduce modern technology rolling stock with reduced maintenance, reduced transit time, boost job creation, provide enhanced safety, provide world class travel experience to passengers, and also reduce demand supply deficit in the passenger transportation sector.
 
The concession period for the project will be 35 years. The Private Entity will pay to Indian Railways fixed haulage charges, energy charges as per actual consumption and a share in Gross Revenue determined through a transparent bidding process. These trains will be operated by the Drivers and Guards of Indian Railways.

They include Wadhawa Singh Babbar, a key leader of Babbar Khalsa International, Lakhbir Singh, a Pakistan-based Chief of terror organisation International Sikh Youth Federation and Ranjeet Singh of Khalistan Zindabad Force.

Home Ministry said in a release that these individuals are involved in various acts of terrorism from across the border and from foreign soil. It said they have been relentless in their nefarious efforts of destabilizing the country, by trying to revive militancy in Punjab through their anti national activities and through their support to and involvement in the Khalistan Movement.

The Central Government had amended the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967 in August last year to include the provision of designating an individual as a terrorist. Prior to this amendment, only organizations could be designated as terrorist organizations.

Home Minister Amit Shah during the debate in Parliament last year on the amendment to the  Act had strongly expressed NDA Government’s commitment to firmly fight the menace of terrorism and had unequivocally reaffirmed the nation’s resolve on this matter.

By invoking the amended provision, in September last year, the Central Government designated four individuals as terrorists. They are Maulana Masood Azhar, Hafeez Saeed, Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi and Dawood Ibrahim.
 

Union Minister Nitin Gadkari said government will ensure that Chinese companies are not be entertained in various sectors like MSMEs.

He said this is a step towards making India self reliant. 

The Minister said permission  for road construction will not be given to joint ventures that have Chinese partners.

He also said that a policy will be out soon banning Chinese firms and relaxing norms for Indian companies to expand their eligibility criteria for participation in highway projects.

India on Wednesday declared nine Khalistani terrorists in designated terror list under the provisions of the Unlawful Activities Prevention, UAPA Act. "Reinforcing the commitment to strengthening national security and Modi Government’s policy of zero tolerance to terrorism, Union Home Ministry under the leadership of Home Minister Amit Shah today declared nine individuals as designated terrorists under provisions of UAPA Act," said an official release.

"These individuals are involved in various acts of terrorism from across the border and from foreign soil. They have been relentless in their nefarious efforts of destabilizing the country, by trying to revive militancy in Punjab through their anti-national activities and through their support to and involvement in the Khalistan Movement," added the release.

The terrorists are 

1. Wadhawa Singh Babbar: Pakistan based Chief of terrorist organization, “Babbar Khalsa International”.

2. Lakhbir Singh: Pakistan based Chief of terrorist organization, “International Sikh Youth Federation”.

3. Ranjeet Singh: Pakistan based Chief of terrorist organization, “Khalistan Zindabad Force”.

4. Paramjit Singh: Pakistan based Chief of terrorist organization “Khalistan Commando Force”.

5. Bhupinder Singh Bhinda: Germany based key member of terrorist organization, “Khalistan Zindabad Force”.

6. Gurmeet Singh Bagga: Germany based key member of terrorist organisation, “Khalistan Zindabad Force”.

7. Gurpatwant Singh Pannun: USA based key member of Unlawful Association, “Sikh for Justice”.

8. Hardeep Singh Nijjar: Canada based Chief of “Khalistan Tiger Force”.

9. Paramjit Singh: United Kingdom-based Chief of terrorist organization, “Babbar Khalsa International”.

As soon as the powerful Standing Committee meeting of the ruling party started at the PM's official residence at Baluwatar yesterday, former prime minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal 'Prachanda' slammed Oli for the remarks he made on Sunday.
 
Mr Prachanda said, the Prime Minister's remarks that India is conspiring to remove him was neither politically correct, nor diplomatically appropriate. He said, such a statement by the Prime Minister may damage Nepal's relations with the neighbour.
 
Senior leaders Madhav Kumar Nepal, Jhalanath Khanal, Vice chairman Bamdev Gautam and spokesperson Narayankaji Shrestha also asked Prime Minister Oli to provide evidence of his accusation and asked him to quit.

It also includes 15 thousand 709 crore collected on import of goods and Cess is seven thousand 665 crore rupees.
 
The GST collections for April was 32 thousand 294 crore rupees which was 28 per cent of the revenue collected during the same month last year. In May, 62 thousand nine crore rupees was collected out of which was 62 per cent of the revenue collected during the same month last year.
 
The GST collections for the first quarter of the year is 59 per cent of the revenue collected during the same quarter last year. Our correspondent reports, however, a large number of taxpayers still have time to file their return for the month of May, 2020.

At present, a total of 200 services are being run, out of which 130 services are running between Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT) and Kasara/Karjat/Kalyan/Dombivali/Thane on main line and 70 services are running between CSMT and Panvel on harbour line.
 
150 more services will be added to the existing services making the total to 350 services. The number of services may be modified as per the requirement to ensure social distancing norms. AIR correspondent reports that considering the State Government's request to allow some more employees in essential services to travel by suburban local trains, railways have decided to add 150 more services from today.
 
These trains will halt at major stations only and will cater to the essential staff permitted to travel by select suburban services. The categories instructed by the Ministry of Home Affairs include defence personnel and employees of Central Government, Income Tax, GST and Customs and Department of Posts, along with employees of Nationalised Banks, Mumbai Port Trust, Judiciary and Raj Bhavan.
 
Only these employees are permitted to travel in these select suburban services. To ensure social distancing in the coaches, unlike its seating capacity to accommodate about 1,200 persons, only about 700 are to be allowed per train.

The blast was triggered by a gas leak, Tehran Deputy Governor Hamid Reza Goudarzi told state television.

State TV showed the moment of an explosion after the initial blast started a huge blaze, as well as emergency services responding to the incident.

Ten women and three men died in the explosion, Deputy Health Minister Iraj Harirchi said on the TV.

A fire touched off by the blast has been extinguished, Jalal Maleki, the Tehran Fire Department spokesman said on state TV.

The clinic, which had 25 employees inside at the time of the blast, primarily carries out minor surgery and medical imaging, Harirchi said.

Last week, an explosion occurred close to a sensitive military site near Tehran which the defence ministry said was caused by a leaking tank at a gas storage facility. No deaths or injuries were reported.

Speaking to the Russian state-run ZVEZDA News Agency about terrorism in Myanmar, General Hlaing said that international cooperation was vital to suppress terrorist organisations in cases where strong forces are behind them.

The Army Chief was in Moscow last week to attend the 75th anniversary of the Russian Victory in the second World War.

Military spokesperson Brigadier General Zaw Min Tun was quoted by Irrawady that the Military Chief was referring to Arakan Army (AA) and Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA). Myanmar government has labelled both the groups as terrorist organisations.

Experts have pointed out that the sophisticated arms recovered from the separatist groups active in Arakan and other conflict prone areas of Myanmar are often found to be made in China.  Ex-military officer and political researcher Dr. Aung Myo was quoted by Irrawdy that most of the weapons currently used by the AA came from China.

Myanmar-China watchers have pointed out that Myanmar has long harboured suspicion of China’s role in its subnational conflicts due to close linkages between these groups and China at multiple levels.

The scheme announced in the wake of COVID- 19 pandemic, provides  free food grains to  the people and its  extension will  cost over  Rs. 90 thousand crore. Addressing the nation Tuesday evening, PM Modi said, 80 crore people will get free ration for five more months.  

PM  Modi said, if one  looks at the death rate due to corona, India is still in a very stable situation  in  the fight against COVID- 19 as compared to other countries. The Prime Minister added that timely decisions and measures like lockdown have saved many lives.

PM Modi, however, said  ever since unlock one started, people have shown negligence urging  people to take all necessary precautions for fighting Coronavirus. He said during lockdown, rules were strictly followed but now governments, local administration and citizens again have to show similar caution.  

He stressed the need to have a special focus on containment zones.The Prime Minister asked  everyone to follow health guidelines saying  be it head of village or Prime Minister, nobody is above rules.  

Speaking at a Digital Conference on the topic 'Doing Business with Bangladesh' organised by CII on Monday, he said that since 2014, the bilateral relation with Bangladesh has seen major developments like the ratification of land boundary agreement, settlement of maritime boundary and other agreements on connectivity.

India has also implemented the agreement to supply 1076 MW of power to Bangladesh and issued 7.4 million visas to Bangladesh nationals.

In a tweet, the Minister said that India Bangladesh cooperation stands out as an example for the region. He said that Bangladesh is the largest trading partner of India in South Asia. It is also the largest development partner with a project portfolio of dollar 8 billion at uniquely concessional terms.

High Commissioner of India to Bangladesh Riva Ganguly Das said that the multimodal connectivity between the two countries provides opportunity to elevate business ties. She noted that Bangladesh railways had increased its monthly allocation of freight trains to Indian railways by approximately thirty-three percent for the month of June which was very positive.

Bangladesh High Commissioner to India Muhammad Imran, mentioned that the India Bangladesh bilateral relationship today touches almost every aspect of activity including political, trade, investment, security, border, water management, power, cultural exchanges and others.

Speaking at the Conference, Sirazul Islam, Executive Chairman, Bangladesh Investment Development Authority (BIDA) pointed out that Energy, Transport and Logistics were emerging as promising sectors for India Bangladesh economic cooperation.

Rajesh Jha/ Dhaka

Security forces launched a cordon and search operation at Waghama in Anantnag district in south Kashmir Tuesday morning after receiving specific information about the presence of terrorists in the area. 

This is second encounter in Anantnag district in as many days. Three terrorists were killed in the gun battle with security forces at Khulchohar area of the district on Monday.

US announced the decision hours after China said it would curb visas to some Americans heading to Hong Kong, itself a tit-for-tat response to a US move.

United States has been leading a global uproar over a national security law approved by China, which Hong Kong activists say would destroy the city's freedoms.

"We can no longer distinguish between the export of controlled items to Hong Kong or to mainland China," Pompeo said in a statement. "We cannot risk these items falling into the hands of the People's Liberation Army, whose primary purpose is to uphold the dictatorship of the CCP by any means necessary," he said, referring to the Chinese Communist Party.

The State Department last year approved $2.4 million in defense sales to Hong Kong, of which $1.4 million worth were actually sent, including firearms and ammunition for law enforcement, according to official figures.

The Commerce Department simultaneously said it was revoking its special status for Hong Kong. It will now treat the financial hub the same as China for so-called dual-use exports that have both military and civilian applications -- and which are highly restricted when sought by Beijing.

China promised autonomy for Hong Kong before Britain returned the territory in 1997 but wants no repeat of massive and sometimes destructive protests that rocked the territory last year.

"It gives us no pleasure to take this action, which is a direct consequence of Beijing's decision to violate its own commitments under the UN-registered Sino-British Joint Declaration," Pompeo said.

President Donald Trump's administration has already declared that Hong Kong is no longer autonomous in US eyes and has been rolling out a series of measures in response. On Friday, the State Department said it was restricting visas for an unspecified number of Chinese officials seen as responsible for infringing on the autonomy of the Asian financial hub.

In response, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said Monday that the US "scheme... to obstruct the passage of the Hong Kong national security law will never prevail."

"To target the US's above wrongful actions, China has decided to impose visa restrictions against American individuals who have behaved egregiously on matters concerning Hong Kong," Zhao said.

While outlawing acts of subversion, secession, terrorism and colluding with foreign forces, the legislation will allow China's security agencies to set up shop publicly in the city for the first time.

Britain, the European Union and the United Nations rights watchdog have all voiced fears the law could be used to stifle criticism of Beijing, which uses similar laws on the authoritarian mainland to crush dissent.

In Washington, some US lawmakers fear that Trump will take primarily symbolic action on Hong Kong, preferring to prioritize trade concerns that could affect his re-election campaign.

Last week, the US Senate unanimously approved a bill that would impose mandatory economic sanctions against Chinese officials, Hong Kong police -- and banks that work with them -- if they are identified as hurting the city's autonomous status.

Zhao, the foreign ministry spokesman, warned that the US "should not review, advance or implement relevant negative bills concerning Hong Kong, even less impose so-called sanctions on China, otherwise China will firmly take strong countermeasures."

Hong Kong was upended by seven straight months of protests last year, initially sparked by an eventually abandoned plan to allow extraditions to the mainland. But they soon morphed into a popular revolt against Beijing's rule and widespread calls for democracy.

He asked suggestion from the Shipping Industry representatives to prepare a robust ecosystem for ship repairing facilities to transform India in a ‘Ship Repair Hub’.

The minister stressed upon the aspects of upskilling expertise of Indian service engineers, enhancing the yard capacity and maintaining the supply of required spare parts which are manufactured indigenously.

Reiterating the vision of Aatma Nirbhar Bharat, Mr. Mandaviya called for innovation in the Ship Repairing Facilities with world-class Infrastructure.

Electronics and IT Ministry said in a release that these apps were banned in view of information available they are engaged in activities which are prejudicial to sovereignty and integrity of the country, defence of the country and security of state and public order.

The banned apps include TikTok, Helo and WeChat.

Over the last few years, India has emerged as a leading innovator when it comes to technological advancements and a primary market in the digital space.

At the same time, there have been raging concerns on aspects relating to data security and safeguarding the privacy of 130 crore Indians. It has been noted recently that such concerns also pose a threat to sovereignty and security of the country.

The Ministry of Information Technology has received many complaints from various sources including several reports about misuse of some mobile apps available on Android and iOS platforms for stealing and surreptitiously transmitting users’ data in an unauthorized manner to servers which have locations outside India.
 

In the meanwhile, Coronavirus registered a fresh high on Monday with 4014 positive cases being reported from the country. Bangladesh also reported 45 deaths and 2053 recoveries over the same period. According to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS), the death toll in the country has gone up to 1783 and the number of people infected by Coronavirus is now 1,41,801. The country has tested a total of 7,48, 034 samples since March 8 when the first Corona positive case was detected in Bangladesh.

Corona claimed another high profile victim with the Defence Secretary of Bangladesh Mohsin Chowdhury succumbing to Coronavirus in Dhaka on Monday.

Expressing the resolve to fight Coronavirus, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina announced in Parliament on Monday that the government will soon be recruiting 2000 more doctors and 4000 nurses to strengthen the COVID-19 treatment facility in the country.

The curfew was in effect from 12 midnight until 4 am daily which has been lifted from today. The country is fast recovering from the crisis with only 361 active cases of COVID under treatment. 

The count of recoveries stands at 1,661 cases among 2,033 infections while the country has seen 11 deaths. Srilanka has seen almost a thousand cases from a navy base during the past two months while recent cases are mostly among returnees from foreign countries.
 
Meanwhile, Civil Aviation Minister Prasanna Ranatunga has said that the complete reopening of airports may be delayed due to the increased number of registrations to arrive in the country.
 
Previously the government had targeted to reopen the airports from August 01 for tourists. The minister said, the date of complete reopening may be postponed to after August 15 or towards the end of August.

The  newly developed web portal will facilitate the applicants in submitting their proposals online for seeking Security Clearance from Defence Ministry  for undertaking Power Projects and RSEE activities.

Ministry of Defence in a statement said, the Online System will establish an effective, speedy and transparent mechanism to process these proposals. The Ministry had earlier launched a similar portal for grant of NOC for aerial survey.

The Ministry said, it accords security clearances to various Government and private organisations for power projects in areas nearby defence installations and also RSEE activities in the Indian Territorial Waters and Exclusive Economic Zone  for applications received through different Ministries.  

To ensure ease of business and transparency in issuing NOC for such projects, the Ministry developed the online application portal with the assistance of National e-Governance Division, Bhaskaracharya Institute for Space Applications and Geo-informatics and National Informatics Centre.
 

The Health and Family Welfare Ministry said, a total of 19 thousand 459 new cases of Covid-19 have been reported in the country within 24 hours taking the total number of cases to five lakh 48 thousand 318. In a single day, 380 deaths have been reported taking the nationwide toll to 16 thousand 475. Presently, the total number of active corona cases in the country is two lakh 10 thousand 120.

Meanwhile, the Indian Council of Medical Research, ICMR said that one lakh 70 thousand 560 tests of corona virus samples were conducted by the various laboratories in the country within 24 hours. So far, 83 lakh 98 thousand 362 tests have been conducted.