India

New Delhi, Jul 12 (PTI) Retail inflation increased marginally to 3.18 per cent in June over the previous month, mainly due to rise in food prices, according to official data.

The retail inflation based on the Consumer Price Indiex (CPI) stood at 3.05 per cent in May and 4.92 per cent in June 2018.

New Delhi, Jul 12 (PTI) The Supreme Court Friday took note, on its own, of the "alarming rise" in the number of rape incidents against children and said it will pass directions to ensure a "concerted" and "clear" national response against such acts.

A bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi said it has decided to take "suo motu" (on its own) cognisance of various reports of news papers and portals on rising incidents of child rape.

Ahmedabad, Jul 12 (PTI) Congress leader Rahul Gandhi Friday claimed that the BJP uses "money power" and "intimidation" to topple governments and accused the saffron party of doing the same in Karnataka.

Sixteen MLAs including 13 from the Congress, have resigned and two Independents have withdrawn support to the 13-month-old Congress-JD(S) coalition government in the southern state.

New Delhi, Jul 12 (PTI) The CBI has booked former Arunachal Pradesh chief minister Nabam Tuki for alleged corruption in awarding contracts worth Rs 3.20 crore for a government project in 2003, officials said Friday.

The agency has alleged that Tuki, then minister of consumer affairs and civil supplies in Arunachal Pradesh, had colluded with his brother Nabam Tagam to siphon off illegal gratification received for the contracts given to develop two parking places in Nirjulee and Naharlagun in the state worth Rs 61.43 lakh and Rs 2.60 crore.

Srinagar, Jul 12 (PTI) A total of 13,004 pilgrims paid obeisance at the naturally formed ice lingam in the cave shrine of Amarnath on Friday, officials said.

With this, the number of pilgrims who have visited the shrine in south Kashmir Himalayas has crossed 1.5 lakh, they said.

"On the 12th day of the ongoing Shri Amarnathji Yatra, 13,004 yatris paid obeisance at the holy cave. Till date, 1,57,062 yatris have had the darshan of the Shivling," a spokesperson of the Shri Amarnath Ji Shrine Board said.

Guwahati, Jul 12 (PTI) With the death of three more patients, the Japanese Encephalitis in Assam rose to 71, a National Health Mission (NHM) bulletin said here Friday.

The number of registered positive JE cases also increased to 334 from 306 on Thursday.

Of the three fresh deaths reported, two were from Dibrugarh and one from Goalpara district, said the NHM bulletin.

Giving the cumulative figures for JE/AES (Acute Encephalitis Syndrome), the bulletin said there were 165 deaths and 1,280 cases reported since January.

New Delhi, Jul 12 (PTI) India and Russia held high-level talks here to elevate bilateral cooperation to the next level in the field of space, including assistance in India's maiden human space flight mission 'Gaganyaan', according to Ministry of External Affairs.

National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and Dmitry Rogozin, Director General of Russia's space agency ROSCOSMOS, led the two sides in the meeting held Thursday.

Baharampore (WB), Jul 12 (PTI) A block-level leader of the Trinamool Congress (TMC) was shot dead by unidentified gunmen in Murshidabad district in West Bengal on Friday, the police said.

The incident occurred at Pradipdanga village under Hariharpara police station limits when the TMC leader, identified as Safiul Hasan, was travelling in a car.

The assailants blocked the car, dragged Hasan out and gunned him down, police said.

Noida (UP), Jul 12 (PTI) Two persons have been arrested for allegedly duping people by fraudulently selling government land to them claiming those to be private property, police officials said here Friday.

The two accused were members of a gang which had in April two plots of land belonging to the Noida Authority to individual buyers in Ghaziabad and Hapur districts, they said.

Lucknow, Jul 13 (PTI) Welcoming the Uttar Pradesh Law Commission-drafted Bill against lynching, BSP supremo Mayawati Saturday pitched for a stringent, pan-India legislation to arrest the spread of this "dreadful disease".

In a statement issued by the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) here, Mayawati said, "Mob lynching has emerged as a dreadful disease (bhayanak bimari) across the country, and the loss of lives in it is a matter of serious concern."