Delhi

New Delhi, Jan 10 (PTI) India's COVID-19 caseload rose to 1,04,50,284 with 18,645 infections being reported in a day, while the recoveries have surged to 1,00,75,950, according to the Union Health Ministry's data updated on Sunday.

The death toll reached 1,50,999 with 201 more people succumbing to the disease in a span of 24 hours, the data updated at 8 am showed.

New Delhi, Jan 8 (PTI) India on Friday said its Ambassador in Beijing has taken up with the Chinese Vice Foreign Minister the issue of 39 Indian sailors stranded on two cargo ships in Chinese waters and requested early approval for crew change for Indian crew members aboard the two vessels.

Citing coronavirus-related restrictions, Chinese authorities have not allowed the ships, MV Jag Anand and MV Anastasia, to either dock or go for a crew change for months.

New Delhi, Jan 7 (PTI) The government has cleared eight hydropower projects of 144 MW on the Indus river and its tributaries in Ladakh, the highest so far, sources in the Jal Shakti Ministry said on Thursday.

At present, there are several small projects, with a collective capacity of 113 MW on Indus in Ladakh, and the new projects will have much more capacity than those constructed so far, a senior official added.

New Delhi, Jan 7 (PTI) Indian economy is estimated to contract 7.7 per cent in 2020-21 compared to 4.2 per cent growth in the previous fiscal, mainly on account of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

As per the first advanced estimates of the national income released by the National Statistical Office (NSO) on Thursday, there was contraction in almost all sectors with the exception of agriculture.

New Delhi, Jan 7 (PTI) Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday urged the Centre to extend the ban on flights between India and the UK till January 31 in view of the extremely serious COVID situation in that country.

The Centre has decided to lift the ban and start UK flights. In view of the extremely serious situation in UK, I would urge central government to extend the ban till January 31, Kejriwal said on Twitter.

New Delhi, Jan 6 (PTI) The National Commission for Women (NCW) has sought immediate intervention of the UP police in the matter of the alleged gangrape and murder of a 50-year-old woman in the state's Badaun district.

The Commission has also said it will send its member to probe the incident.

The woman, employed as an anganwadi worker, was gangraped and brutally murdered allegedly by a priest and his two aides in Budaun district of Uttar Pradesh, police said on Wednesday.

New Delhi, Jan 6 (PTI) A Delhi court has refused to direct the police to forthwith supply to advocate Mehmood Pracha a copy of the video footage of the search conducted at his premises last month.

Advocate Pracha, who is representing some of the accused in the north-east Delhi riots cases, had approached the sessions court against an order passed by a magisterial court.

New Delhi, Jan 6 (PTI) A man, who was awarded death sentence for his alleged involvement in a case in which four persons including two minor children were killed, has been acquitted by the Supreme Court which said it was not safe to rely on the version of a minor witness who was five-year-old at the time of incident.

New Delhi, Jan 6(PTI) The Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) Board on Wednesday approved the fund for procurement of 1,000 low floor air-conditioned CNG buses which will boost public transport in the national capital.

New Delhi, Jan 7 (PTI) Amid tight security, thousands of farmers on Thursday started their tractor-march from protest sites -- Singhu, Tikri and Ghazipur borders -- against the three agriculture laws.

Bharati Kisan Union (Ekta Ugrahan) chief Joginder Singh Ugrahan said that farmers participated in the march with over 3,500 tractors and trolleys.

According to the protesting farm unions, this is just "rehearsal" for their proposed January 26 tractor parade that will be move into the national capital from different parts of Haryana, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh.