Delhi

New Delhi, Aug 22 (PTI) With a record spike of 69,874 infections in a day, India's COVID-19 tally increased to 29,75,701, while the recoveries rose to 22,22,577 pushing the recovery rate to 74.69 per cent on Saturday, according to the Union health ministry data

The death toll climbed to 55,794 with 945 fatalities being reported in a span of 24 hours, the data updated at 8 am showed.

The COVID-19 case fatality rate has declined to 1.87 per cent, it said.

New Delhi, Aug 20 (PTI) The Left parties on Thursday hit out at the government over the decision to lease out three airports to the Adani Group, alleging that the move was a "loot of national assets" and would lead to an escalation of ticket prices.

The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved the proposal for leasing out airports at Jaipur, Guwahati and Thiruvananthapuram through public-private partnership (PPP).

New Delhi, Aug 20 (PTI) The Supreme Court on Thursday rejected the submission of activist-lawyer Prashant Bhushan that the arguments on quantum of sentence in the contempt proceedings in which he has been held guilty be heard by another top court bench.

A bench headed by Justice Arun Mishra gave assurance to Bhushan that no punishment will be acted upon till his review against the order convicting him in the case will be decided.

New Delhi, Aug 20 (PTI) Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu on Thursday remembered former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi on his birth anniversary, saying his contributions to the IT sector will always be remembered.

Born on this day in 1944, Gandhi served as the prime minister between 1984 and 1989.

"Remembering former Prime Minister Shri Rajiv Gandhi on his birth anniversary today. His contributions to IT sector will always be remembered," the Vice President Secretariat tweeted.

New Delhi, Aug 19 (PTI) The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday conducted multi-city searches in connection with a money laundering case filed against Tablighi Jamaat leader Maulana Saad Kandhalvi, trusts linked to the Jamaat and others, officials said.

They said various premises in Mumbai, Delhi, Hyderabad and a few other locations are being raided to collect evidence.

New Delhi, Aug 19 (PTI) Five ex-Congress MLAs of Manipur, who recently resigned from the state assembly and the party, joined the ruling BJP on Wednesday in the presence of Chief Minister N Biren Singh.

Welcoming them in the party, BJP general secretary and the party's pointsman for the northeast Ram Madhav said there is no threat to the Biren Singh government in Manipur now.

It will not only complete its tenure but will be reelected, he said.

New Delhi, Aug 19 (PTI) Several more Air India pilots have moved the Delhi High Court challenging the airline's decision to terminate their services from August 13 on wards.

Justice Jyoti Singh on Wednesday issued a notice to Air India Ltd on the four fresh pleas before her and sought the airline's response to them by next week.

The court also issued notice to the airline on the modification applications moved earlier by other pilots who had wanted directions to Air India to accept withdrawal of their resignations.

New Delhi, Aug 19 (PTI) Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday alleged that around two crore people lost their jobs in the last four months amid the coronavirus pandemic and asserted that the "truth about unemployment" cananot be hidden from the country.

Citing a media report, he said in a tweet in Hindi, "In the last 4 months, around 2 crore people have lost their jobs. The future of 2 crore families is in the dark. The truth about unemployment and destruction of the economy cannot be hidden from the country by peddling fake news and hatred on Facebook."

New Delhi, Aug 19 (PTI) President Ram Nath Kovind has accepted the resignation of Ashok Lavasa as Election Commissioner, a notification by the Ministry of Law and Justice said on Wednesday.

Lavasa had on Tuesday sent his resignation as Election Commissioner to the Rashtrapati Bhavan.

"...the President is pleased to accept the resignation tendered by Shri Ashok Lavasa, Election Commissioner with effect from the 31st August, 2020," the notification said.

Dubai, Aug 18 (PTI) Skipper Virat Kohli remained at the second position in the batting chart which has two more Indians in the top 10, but pacer Jasprit Bumrah slipped to the ninth spot among bowlers in the latest ICC Test player rankings issued on Tuesday.

Kohli held on to second spot with 886 points, while Cheteshwar Pujara (766) and Ajinkya Rahane (726) continued to remain static at the eighth and 10th positions respectively in the batting list, which is being headed by Australia's Steve Smith.