India

Lucknow, May 27 (PTI) The Uttar Pradesh government has extended the Essential Services Maintenance Act (ESMA) in the state, banning strikes in public services, corporations and local authorities under it, for a period of six months, an official spokesperson said on Thursday.

A notification to this effect was issued on Tuesday, he added.

The Act gives police the powers to arrest, without a warrant, anybody for violating its provisions.

Chandigarh, May 26 (PTI) A seven-year-old girl was allegedly raped and strangled to death by a 22-year-old youth in a village in Haryana's Palwal district, police said, adding the accused has been arrested.

The incident occurred on Monday when the girl's neighbour, Anand, lured her while her parents were not at home, took her to a nearby field and committed the crime, they said, adding he dumped the body in a pit.

When the girl's parents returned home and didn't find her, they lodged a missing complaint and her body was found.

Bengaluru, May 27 (PTI) Two more people were arrested in connection with a scam related to blocking beds meant for COVID patients in Bengaluru hospitals including private ones, police said.

The police have identified the accused as Yashwanth and Varun.

With the two arrests, the total number went up to 11, police said.

"Varun worked in the South zone war room helpline, who shared patient numbers with his friend Yashwanth. Yashwanth used to contact the patient and demand money," police said in a statement.

NEW DELHI, May 26 (NNN-PTI) – India’s COVID-19 tally crossed 27 million today, with 208,921 new cases added during the past 24 hours, said the federal health ministry.

Besides, as many as 4,157 deaths since yesterday morning took the death toll to 311,388.

There are still 2,495,591 active cases in the country. The number of daily active cases has been on the decline over the past few days, after a continuous surge since mid-Apr.

A total of 24,350,816 people have been cured and discharged from hospitals so far, across the country, according to the ministry.

New Delhi, May 26 (PTI) Facebook-owned WhatsApp has approached the Delhi High Court challenging the new IT rules for social media intermediaries requiring the messaging app to trace chats and make provisions to identify the first originator of information, the company's spokesperson said.

The new Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 were announced by the government on February 25 and it require large social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp to comply with the norms by May 25.

New Delhi, May 26 (PTI) Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday said the manufacturers of Sputnik V have agreed to supply the Russian anti-Covid vaccine to Delhi but its quantity is yet to be decided.

He also said that there were around 620 cases of black fungus or mucormycosis in the city, but there is a shortage of Amphotericin-B injections used in its treatment.

New Delhi, May 26 (PTI) Farmers agitating at three Delhi border points raised black flags, shouted anti-government slogans, burnt effigies and took out protest marches as they observed 'black day' on Wednesday to mark the completion of six months of their stir against the three Central agri laws.

A brief ruckus was also reported from the Ghazipur protest site where farmers burnt an effigy of the central government amid heavy police deployment.

New Delhi, May 25 (PTI) CISF chief Subodh Kumar Jaiswal was on Tuesday appointed as the new CBI director for two years, according to a Personnel Ministry order.

Jaiswal is a 1985-batch Indian Police Service (IPS) officer of Maharashtra cadre. He has also served as Maharashtra's director general of police in the past.

The Central Bureau of Investigation was working without a regular chief for over three months after Rishi Kumar Shukla completed his two-year tenure on February 3.

Dehradun, May 26 (PTI) The Indian Medical Association (IMA) has served a defamation notice on Ramdev for alleged disparaging remarks against allopathy and allopathic doctors, demanding an apology from him within 15 days, failing which it said it will demand a compensation of Rs 1,000 crore from the yoga guru.

Muzaffarnagar (UP), May 26 (PTI) Two newly elected village heads, who were recently jailed for violating prohibitory orders, have taken oath inside Muzaffarnagar district jail here, officials said on Wednesday.

They took the oath through CCTV camera on Tuesday in the presence of prison officials and panchayat members, Jailor Kamlesh Singh told PTI.

Meanwhile, Mandwada village head Faiz Mohammad was arrested for violating prohibitory orders and creating violence when he and his supporters took out a procession in the village on Tuesday, police said.