INDIA

  On Wednesday, India marked it's 357th day since the government implemented a nationwide lockdown to help curb the novel coronavirus pandemic. India recorded 28,903  new COVID-19 cases, registering more than 20,000 cases for the seventh day in a row, taking the infection tally past 1.14 crore, the Union health ministry said. The total cases in the country rose to 1,14,38,734,while the death toll increased to 1,59,044. The total active caseload has increased to 2,34,406. The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 1,10,45,284. Globally, more than 12.03 crore people have been infected by the coronavirus and 27.88 lakh have died so far. India has begun the second phase of the vaccination drive in which everyone above 60 years of age and those over 45...

The Karnataka State Board of Auqaf has issued a circular dated March 9 to all the masjids and dargahs in the state, banning the use of loudspeakers between 10 pm and 6 am during Adhaan. The circular read “it is observed that increasing ambient noise level around many masjids and dargahs due to generator sets, loudspeakers and public address systems have deleterious effects on human health and the psychological well-being of the people. With the objective of maintaining the ambient standards of noise, “ Noise Pollution (Regulation and Control) Rules, 2000 are in effect”. The area comprising not less than 100 meters around hospitals, educational institutions and courts have been declared as silence zone. The board said in its circular that “if anyone used sound amplifier, sound-emit...

The Central Bureau of Investigation filed a corruption and criminal conspiracy case against 17 Indian Army personnel including five Lieutenant Colonels and two Major-ranked officers and six others in a recruitment scam at several Service Selection Board centres, Hindustan Times reported. On Monday, CBI Spokesperson R C Joshi said that the agency carried out raids at 30 locations across 13 cities including the Army’s Base Hospital in Delhi Cantonment Area, residences of several accused in Bhatinda, Kapurthala, Kaithal, Palwal, Lucknow, Bareilly, Gorakhpur, Visakhapatnam, Jaipur, Guwahati and Jorhat. Among the officers named in the CBI FIR are Lt Col MVSNA Bhagwan, Lt Col Surender Singh of 31 SSB centre North, Lt Col YS Chauhan of 6 Mountain Division Ordnance Unit, Lt Col Sukhdev Arora...

On Tuesday, India registered 24,492 new coronavirus cases, taking the overall count to 1,14,09,83. The country’s toll rose to 1,58,856, with 131 deaths reported in 24 hours. Active cases went up by 4,170 to 2,23,432. The number of recoveries reached 1,10,27,543. Reportedly, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had called a meeting on Wednesday, 17th March. He will be meeting all chief ministers to discuss a surge in coronavirus cases in several parts of the country. He is also expected to review India’s vaccination drive. This will be the first meeting between the prime minister and chief ministers since India launched its inoculation drive. On Monday, Maharashtra recorded 15,051 cases, pushing the state’s overall tally to 23,29,464. While this was slightly lower than the cases registered a ...

Days after an aircraft-shaped balloon with PIA (Pakistan International Airlines) written on it, that fell in Jammu’s Bhalwal area was recovered by JK Police on Tuesday another similar balloon was recovered by police last week on March 9, after it landed in Sotra Chak village of Hiranagar sector of Jammu. As per reports Locals saw the balloon in Sotra Chak village and informed the police. On receiving the information, the Rajbagh police team in Jammu reached the spot and seized the balloon. The matter was under police investigation.

Jammu Kashmir Lt Governor Manoj Sinha on Sunday paid obeisance at the famous holy cave shrine of Mata Vaishno Devi in Reasi district, an official spokesperson said. Sinha also reviewed the facilities put in place by the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board (SMVDSB) for facilitation of the visiting pilgrims and took stock of various ongoing and upcoming infrastructure development projects, he said. Accompanied by Chief Executive Officer, SMVDSB Ramesh Kumar, he said Sinha visited the holy cave and paid obeisance at the sanctum sanctorum. He prayed for peace, progress and prosperity in Jammu Kashmir, the spokesperson said. Sinha, who is also the chairman of the SMVDSB, directed the CEO Shrine Board for completion of all the ongoing projects within envisaged timelines to further augm...

Irshad Hussain   As the Muslim ummah is up in arms against Waseem Rizvi's derogatory remarks about Holy Quran, his younger brother broke the ice and released a video message, where he claims that his brother has lost his mental balance. In this video, he is heard saying that, "Woh kabi nimaaz hee nahi padta, na woh roze rakhta hai." (He never offers Namaz nor does he observes fasting). His brother further said that he doesn't have any affinity with his family. "He has lost his mental balance completely," the younger brother said in a video message. Rizvi's brother said that he does not understand that mind behind his brother's provocation where he crosses all limits and line of respect and opinion. All schools of thought are demanding time-bound action against him an...

The Jammu Kashmir police have booked three persons in the Rajouri district for allegedly uploading objectionable photographs of a woman on social media sites. According to police, a woman from Draj village in Kotranka sub-division of Rajouri lodged a complaint against three persons at police station Budhal for uploading her objectionable photographs on social media sites. Budhal police took notice of the complaint and booked all three persons who were named in the complaint about uploading objectionable photos of the woman on social media sites. Police officials said all that three persons are residents of Draman village of Kotranka. When contacted with SHO Budhal, Mastaj Chowdhary said that a case under IT section 67 has been registered at police station Budhal and an investig...

A 12-year old boy was mercilessly beaten by right wing activists after he drank water from a temple in Ghaziabad area of Uttar Pradesh. This hate crime captured on videom where a Hindu man can be seen hitting the Muslim boy because he entered the premises of Dasna Devi temple to drink water. Mohammed Zubair, co-founder of Alt news had shared the video on his twitter account and had tagged Ghaziabad police. Shringi Yadav who was assaulting the boy first asked the person shooting the video to ensure that his and the boy’s face should be clearly visible in the video. He then went on to ask the boy his name and his father’s name (both Muslim names) after which he asks the boy why he entered the temple and the boy simply responded that he went there to drink water and he was immedia...

Hindi Actress Kangana Ranaut, often gripped by controversies has now been caught in yet another legal battle after an author accused her of copyright violations on Friday. Ashish Kaul, the former Group Executive Vice President of Zee Network has claimed that the actress has announced the movie Manikarnika Returns: The Legend of Didda without his knowledge. He says that he has exclusive copyrights to the life story of Didda. Kaul, who wrote Didda: The Warrior Queen of Kashmir, claimed that he had sent an e-mail containing an excerpt about Didda to Ranaut. Later, she used it to announce a movie without his permission. "The description of Didda as identified by Kangana Ranaut to promote her film is identical to what is set out in my book," Kaul told Indian Express. He had filed a ...