Delhi

New Delhi, Sep 5 (PTI) India's COVID-19 infection tally sprinted past 40 lakh, just 13 days after it crossed 30 lakh, with a record 86,432 cases being reported in a day, while recoveries have surged to 31,07,223 on Saturday pushing the recovery rate to 77.23 per cent, according to the Union Health Ministry.

The total coronavirus cases mounted to 40,23,179, while the death toll climbed to 69,561 with 1,089 people succumbing to the disease in a span of 24 hours, data updated at 8 am showed.

New Delhi, Sep 3 (PTI) Twitter on Thursday said the account linked to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's personal website was hacked, and it has now been restored.

"We're aware of this activity and have taken steps to secure the compromised account. We are actively investigating the situation. At this time, we are not aware of additional accounts being impacted. Advice on keeping your account secure can be found here," a Twitter spokesperson said in an emailed statement.

The compromised account has about 2.5 million followers.

New Delhi, Sep 2 (PTI) India has joined the group of top 50 countries in the global innovation index for the first time, moving up four places to the 48th rank and keeping the top position among the nations in central and southern Asia.

New Delhi, Sep 3 (PTI) Under pressure for weeks over its handling of hate speech, Facebook on Thursday said it has banned BJP politician T Raja Singh from its platform and Instagram for violating its policy on content promoting violence and hate.

"We have banned Raja Singh from Facebook for violating our policy prohibiting those that promote or engage in violence and hate from having a presence on our platform, a Facebook spokesperson said in an emailed statement.

New Delhi, Sep 3 (PTI) Amid a raging controversy over Facebook's alleged political bias and interference in India's democratic process, the social media giant has told the Congress that it is non-partisan, denounces hate and bigotry in all forms and strives to ensure that its platforms remain a space where people can express themselves freely.

New Delhi, Sep 2 (PTI) Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the state of the economy, rise in COVID-19 cases and "external aggression" at borders, alleging that India is reeling under "Modi-made disasters".

His attack comes after official data showed on Monday that the country's economy suffered its worst slump on record in April-June, with the gross domestic product (GDP) contracting by 23.9 per cent as the coronavirus-related lockdown weighed on the already declining consumer demand and investment.

New Delhi, Sep 2 (PTI) The government on Wednesday blocked 118 more mobile applications, including popular gaming app PUBG, terming them prejudicial to the sovereignty, integrity and defence of the nation.

The banned apps include Baidu, Baidu Express Edition, Tencent Watchlist, FaceU, WeChat Reading and Tencent Weiyun, besides PUBG Mobile and PUBG Mobile Lite, according to an official statement.

All these banned apps have Chinese links, sources said.

New Delhi, Sep 2 (PTI) The Union Health Ministry said on Wednesday that 54 per cent of the COVID-19 cases reported in India are in the age group of 18-44 years, while 51 per cent deaths are among people aged 60 and above.

Presenting an analysis of COVID-19 cases and mortality on the basis of age, it also said that 36 per cent of the fatalities reported are in the age group of 45-60 years, 11 per cent in the age group of 26-44 years and 1 per cent each among people aged 18-25 years and those below 17 years.

New Delhi, Sep 1 (PTI) A strike called by a section of Ola and Uber drivers here on Tuesday had no major impact as passengers said they did not face any hassle in booking the cabs.

A section of drivers associated with the two cab aggregators went on a strike to demand a fare hike and a moratorium on loan repayment.

Kamaljeet Singh Gill, the president of the Sarvodaya Drivers Association of Delhi said that nearly 250 drivers gathered at Mandi House here to raise their demands but police dispersed them.

New Delhi, Sep 2 (PTI) The Enforcement Directorate (ED) arrested alleged hawala dealer Naresh Jain on Wednesday in a money laundering probe linked to hawala transaction deals worth multiple crores, officials said.

They said Jain has been placed under arrest under sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) and will be produced before a local court here.

Over 600 bank accounts and overseas transfers of over Rs 11,000 crore are under the scanner of the agency in this case.