New Delhi, Jul 20: Former Delhi Chief Minister and senior Congress leader Sheila Dikshit passed away here on Saturday.
Dikshit was the longest-serving Chief Minister of Delhi, having served in office for 15 years from 1998.
The 81-year-old was appointed as the president of Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee earlier this year, in the run-up to the Lok Sabha elections.
Jun 12: The global number of COVID-19 cases has increased to over 7.5 million, while the death toll was nearing 421,000, according to the Johns Hopkins University.
As of Friday morning, the overall number of cases stood at 7,500,777, while the deaths increased to 420,993, the University's Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) revealed in its latest update.
The US continues with the world's highest number of confirmed cases and deaths at 2,022,488 and 113,803, respectively, according to the CSSE.
In terms of cases, Brazil comes in the second place with 802,828 infections.
This was followed by Russia (501,800), the UK (292,860), India (286,605), Spain (242,707), Italy (236,142), Peru (214,788), France (192,493), Germany (186,691), Iran (180,156), Turkey (174,023), Chile (154,092), Mexico (133,974), Pakistan (125,933) and Saudi Arabia (116,021), the CSSE figures showed.
Regarding fatalities, the UK continues in the second position after the US with 41,364 COVID-19 deaths, which also accounts for the highest number of fatalities in Europe.
The other countries with over 10,000 deaths are Brazil (40,919), Italy (34,167), France (29,349), Spain (27,136) and Mexico (15,944).
Dirbrugarh, Feb 4: Three persons, including two BJP activists, have been arrested for allegedly attacking the residence of Union minister Rameswar Teli during anti-CAA protests in Assam, police said on Monday.
The house of Teli, Union Minister of State for Food Processing, in Upper Assam's Duliajan town was attacked on December 11 during the statewide stir against the contentious Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019.
"Based on CCTV footages, Debajit Hazarika, Vicky Sonar and Arup Kahar were arrested. We had picked them up on Sunday," Dibrugarh Superintendent of Police, Sreejith T told PTI.
A total of 18 persons have been arrested so far for allegedly attacking Teli's house, he said.
"These three persons were also involved in pelting stones on a police party during protests in Duliajan," Sreejith said.
A BJP source confirmed that Debajit Hazarika and Vicky Sonar are party activists.
Family members of the accused have given statements to the police on the arrested persons' alleged role in violence and attacking Teli's house, sources said.
When contacted, Teli said, "I do not know for what reasons they were apprehended. But if police arrested them after proper investigation, then there must be some truth. The trio stays near my house. They always attended my programmes with their families."
A total of 88 people have been arrested so far from Dibrugarh district for their alleged involvement in violence during protests against the Act.
New Delhi, Jul 30: India's gold demand in 2020 is expected to fall to the lowest level in 26 years with domestic bullion prices hitting a record high and as falling disposable incomes could curtail retail purchases, the World Gold Council (WGC) said on Thursday.
Lower demand by the world's second-biggest bullion consumer could limit a rally in global prices, which hit a record high earlier this month, although it could also reduce India's trade deficit and support the ailing rupee.
"Fast rising gold prices could act as headwinds," said Somasundaram PR, the managing director of WGC's Indian operations.
Local gold futures have jumped 35% so far this year after rising a quarter in 2019.
India's gold consumption in the first half of 2020 plunged 56% on-year to 165.6 tonnes. Meanwhile, the coronavirus-triggered lockdown also slashed demand by 70% in the June quarter to 63.7 tonnes, the lowest in more than a decade, the WGC said in a report published on Thursday.
Millions of Indians have lost their jobs or taken a pay cut after the country imposed a lockdown on its 1.3 billion people to curb the spread of the virus that has infected more than 1.5 million Indians.
Consumption is generally high during the June quarter due to weddings and key festivals such as Akshaya Tritiya, but lockdown restrictions kept shoppers indoors this year.
The weak demand in the first half could drag down India's gold consumption in 2020 to the lowest since 1994, when demand stood at 415 tonnes, Somasundaram said, adding that it is still difficult to provide an estimate for full-year demand as the coronavirus crisis is still unfolding.
"Indian demand has previously jumped as much as 300 tonnes in a quarter. Latent demand could come out in the second half," Somasundaram said.
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