New Delhi, June 30 (PTI) French Defence Minister Florence Parly has written a letter to her Indian counterpart, Rajnath Singh, condoling the death of 20 Indian soldiers in Galwan Valley, and offering to visit India to boost bilateral strategic cooperation, French diplomatic sources said on Tuesday. Referring to the death of the soldiers, Parly conveyed to Singh in the letter on Monday her "steadfast and friendly" support along with that of the French armed forces in thes

New Delhi, June 30 (ANI): Amid the ongoing border tension between China and India following the June 15 standoff, the Indian newspapers and websites are not accessible in China.   Though Chinese newspapers and websites continue to be accessible in India, people in China can only access the Indian media websites with Virtual Private Network server. The Indian TV channels also can be accessed through IP TV as of now. And ExpressVPN has not been working in the Communist state f

New Delhi, June 30 (PTI): The recovery rate of COVID-19 patients in the country is fast approaching 60 per cent, with the Union health ministry attributing it to collective and focussed efforts of the Centre and states for containment and management of the pandemic.   As on date, there are 1,19,696 more recovered patients than COVID-19 active cases.   The number of active COVID-19 cases stands at 2,15,125, while 3,34,821 patients have been cured/discharged. A tota

Srinagar, June 30 (IANS) Jammu and Kashmir Director General of Police (DGP) Dilbagh Singh on Tuesday said 48 terrorists have been killed in anti-terror operations in the month of June.   Speaking to reporters in the border district of Poonch in Jammu, Singh said security forces have led many anti-terror operations in which a number of terrorists and their commanders were eliminated.   Giving details, he said 128 terrorists have been killed during this year so far.

Patna, June 30 (IANS) A wedding ceremony has proved to be one of the worst cases of COVID-19 super spreader in Bihar due to which over 100 persons got infected and the bridegroom died two days after the marriage.   It took the administration a lot of time and effort to detect and break the chain. A total of 369 persons took part in the wedding event, said the officials.   A health department official said 79 persons, who attended the wedding event together on Mond

New Delhi, June 30 (IANS) In a big relief to train passengers, the Indian Railways has resumed bookings of Tatkal tickets for all 230 special trains from June 29, a service that was stopped in the wake of the novel coronavirus pandemic.   The Railways had suspended passenger, mail and express trains during the nationwide lockdown from March 25.   A senior Railway Ministry official said here that the public was made aware on May 31 that the Tatkal quota facility co

New Delhi, June 30 (IANS) Even as the doctors and the researchers worldwide are working round the clock to find the medicine for the novel coronavirus (Covid-19), Prime MInister Narendra Modi on Tuesday chaired a high-level meeting to review the planning and preparations for vaccination against the pandemic, as and when it is available. He also highlighted four guiding principles that will form the foundation of this national effort.   In a statement the government said, the

New Delhi, June 30 (IANS) Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday extended Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY) for another five months till the end of November to help the poor in view of the upcoming festivals like Diwali and Chhath.   The Prime Minister made the announcement in his sixth address to the nation in four months since the novel coronavirus or COVID-19 pandemic broke out and started getting out of hand.   "Keeping needs of expenses o

New Delhi, June 30 (IANS) India recorded a spike of 18,522 cases in the last 24 hours, pushing the total tally of Covid-19 cases to 5,66,840, with the number of fatalities inching closer to 17,000-mark, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said on Tuesday.   Maharashtra, Delhi and Tamil Nadu constitute more than 60 per cent of the total Covid-19 cases in the country.   Maharashtra has 1,69,883 cases, followed by Tamil Nadu (86,224) and Delhi (85,161) cases to

NEW DELHI`, June 29 (Reuters) - The political leader of Tibetans in exile on Monday urged India to take a more prominent role in resolving the Tibetan issue with China, an appeal that could further inflame tensions between the two Asian giants.   India and China are locked in their most serious political crisis in years after a deadly clash between soldiers on their disputed Himalayan border which has reignited long-standing differences between the world's two most popul

The government said it has banned 59 Chinese mobile apps 'which are prejudicial to sovereignty and integrity of India, defence of India, security of state and public order'.   New Delhi, June 29 (PTI): Amid the border tensions between India and China, the Indian government has banned 59 mobile apps, terming them prejudicial to sovereignty, integrity, defence of the country.   In an official statement, the IT Ministry said it has received many complaints from

New Delhi, June 29 (IANS) The Congress on Monday attacked the central government over the daily increases in the prices of petrol and diesel for over three weeks, saying that the government was "fleecing" the people in this manner.   The opposition party also said that people from different sections of society and those rendered jobless were struggling to survive the economic ruin unleashed by the anti-people policies of the Modi government.   "The

New Delhi, June 29 (IANS) As India continued to be the fourth worst hit among 213 countries infected by COVID-19 with 2,10,120 active cases and 16,475 deaths, Union Health Ministry on Monday said the recovery of infected patients shows "encouraging results".   "The recovery rate continues to steadily improve. It has reached 58.67 amongst COVID-19 patients today," said Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHF).   It further said that the diff

New Delhi, June 29 (IANS) Amid tension at the borders, top Indian and Chinese military delegations will meet for the third time in the next two days in Chushul in Leh district, sources said.   "This time the talks will be held in Chushul on the Indian side. The last two meetings were held in Moldo on the Chinese side," said sources, adding that the agenda of the meeting would be to take forward the proposals made by both the countries for disengagement.  

New Delhi, June 29 (IANS) As expected, the twin-jet Rafale combat aircraft would be delivered to the Indian Air Force by July end, top defence officials said, adding that France, at the very beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, informed India of this delivery date.   "French company Dassault Aviation is expected to deliver the much awaited twin-jet combat aircraft Rafale by July end," a senior IAF officer said.   "It would inform us of the deliver

Hyderabad, June 29 (IANS): Telangana Home Minister Mohammed Mahmood Ali has tested positive for COVID-19.   He was admitted to a private hospital in Hyderabad on Sunday night. Health officials described his condition as stable.   Ali had participated in Haritha Haram, a plantation programme, with top police officials on June 25.   He is the first minister to be found infected by Coronavirus.   So far three members of State Legislative Assembl

New Delhi, June 29 (IANS): Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Monday again took a swipe at the Central government for the rising fuel prices and urged people to join the campaign against it.   The former Congress party chief took to Twitter to show his resentment and stated, "Come and join #SpeakUpAgainstFuelHike campaign." This came after the state-run oil marketing companies raised the prices of petrol and diesel on Monday, a day after there was no hike in rates tha

Lucknow, June 29 (IANS): Nearly 7.97 lakh students in the Uttar Pradesh - known as the Hindi heartland - have failed in Hindi in the UP Secondary Board examinations for class 10 and 12, the results of which were announced on Saturday.   According to the Board officials, around 2.70 lakh students failed to secure passing marks in Hindi in Intermediate, while 5.28 lakh students in High School failed in their Hindi paper.   Around 2.39 lakh students of High School an

New Delhi, June 29 (IANS) India on Monday witnessed a spike of 19,459 cases in last 24 hours, pushing the total tally to 5,48,318, according to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.   The country continued to be the fourth worst hit among 213 countries, with 2,10,120 active cases and 16,475 deaths. A total of 3,21,722 people has recovered and been discharged from hospitals. The recovery rate is 58.56 per cent among the COVID-19 patients.   According to the He

New Delhi, June 28 (ANI): India and China will hold talks every week in the Working Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination meeting to discuss the ongoing aggression by the People's Liberation Army in the Eastern Ladakh sector and find ways for de-escalating the tensions there.   "It has been agreed upon that the WMCC meeting would be held every week to discuss the issue of Chinese aggression in Eastern Ladakh. The Indian side in the talks includes representativ