RIVANCH

Thiruvananthapuram : With coronavirus cases surging, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Friday said community transmission has occurred in two coastal hamlets of Poonthura and Pulluvila in Thiruvananthapuram, even as 791 people tested positive for COVID-19 in the state, taking the count to 11,066. An "unprecedented situation" was prevailing in the coastal region of Thiruvananthapuram, with the infection spreading fast, he said and announced that a total lockdown will be enforced in these areas from tomorrow. Of the positive cases, 532 people have been infected through contact and there has been 133 recoveries today,Vijayan told reporters. The number of those presently under treatment is 6,029. Of the infected, 135 people had come from abroad and 98 from other states. "The source of infection of as many as 42 people is not yet known," Vijayan, said. With regard to Thiruvananthapuram district, which accounted for 246 cases, only two had come from abroad and 237 ha...

Filmmaker and Yash Raj Films (YRF) chairman Aditya Chopra on Saturday, 18 July, recorded his statement with the Mumbai Police in connection with actor Sushant Singh Rajput death case, an official said. Police have sought information about a contract signed between Rajput and YRF from Chopra who visited Versova police station this morning and left after four hours, the official said. The Chhichore actor, 34, was found hanging at his apartment in Mumbai on 14 June. No suicide note was found from the spot by the police. The police are investigating allegations that professional rivalry, besides clinical depression, drove the actor to suicide. Police are also trying to understand the reason behind Rajput ending his contract with YRF, the official said. Earlier, the police had recorded the statement of YRF's casting director Shanoo Sharma . The police had recorded statements of 34 persons, including Rajput's family members and close friends like actors Rhea Chakraborty and...

The Consortium of Medical, Engineering and Dental Colleges of Karnataka (COMEDK) has decided to reschedule UGET 2020, which was slated to held on 1 August. The new date for UGET will be announced in due course. "We have learnt from the media and also through our agency that the proposed test cannot be conducted in a few states wherein government have announced lockdown of entire state and some states have announced lockdown of a few of its districts," said the COMEDK in a notification . The exam conducting body added that many applicants have informed it that they would not be able to attend UGET on 1 August due the coronavirus lockdown in their state or district. The number of COVID-19 cases is also increasing in Karnataka. The exam was to take place in two shifts, first from 9 am to 12 noon and the second shift from 2 pm to 5 pm. Undergraduate Entrance Test (UGET) is conducted for admission to BE or BTech courses in colleges affiliated to the Karnataka Professional Coll...

Srinagar : Security forces in Jammu and Kashmir have inputs about terrorists planning to carry out an attack on Amarnath Yatra, an Army officer said on Friday, but asserted that "systems and resources" were in place to ensure that the annual pilgrimage goes on unhindered. The officer said it was only befitting that Friday's encounter, in which three terrorists, including a self-styled commander of the Jaish-e-Mohammad, were gunned down, took place just four days before the yatra is set to commence on 21 July. "There are inputs that terrorists would try their best to target the yatra, but we have got our systems and resources in place to ensure that it goes on unhindered and peacefully," Brigadier Vivek Singh Thakur, Commander, Two Sector, said in a press conference in south Kashmir. "We remain committed to ensure Amarnath Yatra will be conducted peacefully without any hindrance and the security situation will continue to remain under control," he sa...

Last year on 5 August, when India mainstreamed its state of Jammu and Kashmir by taking away special status under Article 370, liberal western media erupted with war cries. An unending stream of articles started appearing, targeting India and nationalist Hindus. None of those pieces took into account that India as a sovereign nation is entitled to grant a part of its territory equal, not inferior, status under law. Or that Article 370 was a tool to egg on separatism and Islamic terrorism in Kashmir. Or that it impinged on the rights of women, Dalits, migrant labourers, and even LGBTQIA persons. After relentlessly attacking India in its op-eds, when The New York Times  approached India’s nationalist government’s ideological anchor organisation, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), it was met with scorn. On being told that it never carries the other view,  NYT apparently agreed to carry a piece by RSS ideologue Manmohan Vaidya. But senior RSS leaders say that when the piec...

Three members of a family were killed when Pakistani troops shelled various forward areas and civilian places along the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir's Poonch district on Friday, prompting the Indian Army to give a befitting reply, officials said. "At around 2120 hours on Friday, Pakistani Army initiated unprovoked ceasefire violation by firing with small arms and resorting to shelling of mortars along the LoC in Gulpur sector of Poonch district," a defence spokesperson said. Pakistan's army also shelled heavily the hamlets along the LoC in Khari Karmara sector, officials said. A shell landed on a house in Karmara village in which Mohd Rafiq (58), his wife Rafia Bi (50) and son Irfan (15) died on the spot, they said, adding that some houses have been damaged and a few people injured. "The Indian Army is retaliating befittingly," the officials said. Firing and shelling between the two sides were going on when the last report came in. from ...

Registration for admission to the Delhi University will close today at 5 pm. The admission process for DU began on 20 June. The university had extended the last date for registration from 4 to 18 July. Those who want to apply for undergraduate, postgraduate, MPhil and PhD programmes can do so by visiting the official website of the DU at du.ac.in . The last date for registration was pushed back because of the delay in declaration of CBSE Class 12 results. According to NDTV , more than four lakh students have registered for UG courses and over 1.5 lakh have applied for PG courses so far. More than 29,000 have registered for MPhil and PhD admissions. DU has also decided to allow candidates to edit their online application form after the last date for the registration. Those who want to register will be required to pay a one-time application fee. The registration fee for merit-based courses is Rs 250. Candidates from SC/ST/PwD/EWS category will have to pay a fee of Rs 100. How to r...