India

New Delhi, Jun 27 (PTI) After Air India, Britain's Cairn Energy PLC plans to target assets of state-owned firms and banks in countries from the US to Singapore as it looks to ramp up efforts to recover the amount due from the Indian government after winning an arbitration against levy of retrospective taxes.

A lawyer representing the company said Cairn will bring lawsuits in several countries to make state-owned firms liable to pay the USD 1.2 billion plus interest and penalties that are due from the Indian government.

Srinagar, Jun 26 (PTI) Senior Congress leader Saifuddin Soz on Saturday said the abrogation of Article 370, which accorded special status to Jammu and Kashmir, was a big mistake by the Centre.

"While the Home Minister Shri Amit Shah is free to say what he said recently on our internal autonomy as enshrined by Article 370 of the Constitution of India, the fact remains that the abrogation of the said Article unilaterally is a very big mistake on the part of the Union of India," Soz said in a statement.

Lucknow Jun 26 (PTI) The Samajwadi Party on Saturday sacked the presidents of its 11 district units with immediate effect, the party said here on Saturday.

In a statement, SP's state unit president Naresh Uttam said presidents of Gorakhpur, Moradabad, Jhansi, Agra, Gautam Budh Nagar, Mau, Balrampur, Shravasti, Bhadohi, Gonda and Lalitpur districts have been removed with immediate effect.

The action has been taken on the directives of the party president Akhilesh Yadav, he added.

Jammu, Jun 27 (PTI) Two explosions, within a gap of five minutes, rocked the high security technical area of Jammu airport in the early hours of Sunday, officials said.

The first blast, which took place around 1.45 am, ripped off the roof of a building at the technical area of the airport manned by the Air Force. The second one was on the ground

There were no immediate reports of casualties.

NEW DELHI, June 26 (Xinhua) -- As farmers' protest in India against the three contentious farm laws on Saturday entered the eighth straight month, thousands of farmers from Haryana and Punjab embarked on a march towards Chandigarh, officials said.

The farmers from Haryana will enter Chandigarh, the capital of the two neighboring states, from the Panchkula side, and those from Punjab have arrived after breaking police barricades and facing water cannons.

NEW DELHI, June 26 (Xinhua) -- Director of India's premier health institute, All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in New Delhi Dr Randeep Guleria said Saturday that mixing doses of two different vaccines may improve their efficacy against COVID-19 mutations.

Guleria said some data suggested that mixing COVID-19 vaccines could generate better immunity or more antibodies and is a "definite possibility" but more information is needed before a decision can be taken.

Guleria made the comments during an interview with a local television news channel NDTV.

New Delhi, Jun 25 (PTI) After Prime Minister Narendra Modi recalled the "dark days" of Emergency and called for strengthening the country's democratic spirit, the Congress hit back alleging India is under "Modi-gency" for seven years where institutions have been undermined and democracy trampled.

Congress general secretary and chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala also said the time has come when people rise in unison to assess the "annihilation of the very foundation of democracy in India by an arbitrary Modi regime".

New Delhi, Jun 26 (PTI) Senior BJP leaders, including Union ministers Amit Shah and Rajnath Singh and party president J P Nadda, held a meeting here on Saturday.

The meeting, held at the party headquarters, was attended by several other senior leaders, including those handling organisational charges, sources said.

The ruling party leaders have been holding deliberations for some time over a number of issues, ranging from the COVID-19 vaccination exercise to various governance and political matters.

Kanpur: Jam in front of Hallet hospital will not end before a fortnight. It could be more but it is yet not defined. The barricading has been put on there. This problem has occurred due to the ongoing work on the metro rail project.

The metro project is underway these days in the city. Slightly turning via medical college the metro rail will pass through the gate of the medical college.

Mumbai, Jun 26 (PTI) Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut on Saturday said that work is on to bring all opposition parties together at the national level, and this alliance will be incomplete without the Congress.

He said that the Congress will play an important role in the alliance that aims to provide a strong alternative to the present dispensation.