India

Bareilly (UP), Aug 10 (PTI) At least 56 inmates of two prisons in Bareilly of Uttar Pradesh have tested positive for COVID-19, officials said.

"Reports of 51 inmates of central jail and five inmates of district jail have been found positive for COVID-19" District Surveillance Officer, Ashok Kumar said.

New Delhi, Aug 10 (PTI) Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Monday stepped up his attack on the Centre over the draft environment impact assessment (EIA), saying it must be withdrawn to stop "environmental destruction".

Gandhi alleged that the aim of EIA 2020 draft was clear -- "loot of the nation".

Lucknow, Aug 9 (PTI) The condition of Samajwadi Party (SP) patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav is improving, Medanta Hospital director Rakesh Kapoor said on Sunday.

Yadav was admitted to the hospital on Friday, following an infection in the urinary tract. He was tested for COVID-19 and the results were negative.

"His condition is improving. He is responding to the treatment," Kapoor told PTI.

The hospital director had earlier said the 80-year-old SP leader also underwent ultrasound, blood and urine tests.

Lucknow, Aug 9 (PTI) Over 800 villages in 20 districts of UP have been hit by flooding and several rivers are flowing above the danger level, the relief commissioner's office said Sunday.

As 802 villages in Ambedkar Nagar, Ayodhya, Azamgarh, Bahraich, Ballia, Balrampur, Barabanki, Basti, Deoria, Gonda, Gorakhpur, Khiri, Kushinagar, Maharajganj, Mau, Pilibhit, Pratapgarh, Santkabir Nagar, Siddharthanagar and Sitapur districts have been affected.

Of these, 428 villages have been disconnected with other areas, the office said.

Mumbai, Aug 10 (PTI) As many as 77 new species of butterflies have been found in the ecologically sensitive forest of Matheran hill station near Mumbai during a study conducted there over the last eight years, according to the Bombay Natural History Society.

With this, the total number of butterfly species in the Matheran forest has now gone up to 140, city-based Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS) scientist Mandar Sawant said.

Muzaffarnagar (UP), Aug 10 (PTI) A man has been arrested for allegedly sexually harassing a 10-year-old girl in Uttar Pradesh's Shamli district, police said on Monday.

Vicky who was absconding was arrested in Kairana police station area on Sunday evening, an officer said.

The girl was sexually harassed when she was on her way to a shop on July 22, police had said.

Panaji, Aug 10 (PTI) Maharashtra BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis on Monday said the COVID-19 situation in his state was serious and it accounted for 42 per cent of all deaths nationwide due to the infection.

Fadnavis, leader of opposition in the Assembly in the neighbouring state, was in Goa to pay a courtesy visit to Chief Minister and party colleague Pramod Sawant.

Speaking to reporters here, Fadnavis said the Maha Vikas Aghadi government in Maharashtra must increase testing and set up more isolation facilities.

Gandhinagar, Aug 10 (PTI) In a bid to stem the spread of COVID-19, the Gujarat government on Monday increased the fine for not wearing mask in public places to Rs 1,000 from the present Rs 500.

The decision came after the Gujarat High Court in its order last month asked the government to collect a minimum fine of Rs 1,000 from those found without mask in public places.

In the wake of the rising number of coronavirus cases in the state, the high court had observed that "masks are logically the best defense individuals have against COVID-19".

Srinagar, Aug 10 (PTI) Shah Faesal, who resigned from the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) and floated the Jammu and Kashmir People's Movement (JKPM) last year, has resigned as its president, the party said on Monday.

Faesal had dropped a hint about stepping away from politics on Sunday as he edited his personal details on Twitter, removing the reference to his political affiliations.

Mangaluru, Aug 10 (PTI) A newborn baby girl was found abandoned in a garbage bin near the district mother and child hospital in Udupi, about 55 kms from here, on Monday morning, police sources said.

The baby, spotted by civic workers, has been admitted to the hospital.

The condition of the infant is stable, the sources said.

A case has been registered and investigations to find out the person who abandoned the baby have begun.

CCTV cameras in the area are being examined, the sources added.