Kathua temple rape: Petition filed seeking urgent hearing against torture on social activist

New Delhi, May 22: India on Friday recorded its biggest spike in COVID-19 cases with 6,088 new cases and 148 deaths reported in the last 24 hours, taking the tally of coronavirus cases in the country to 1,18,447, as per the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW).

Out of the total cases, 66,330 are active cases and 3,583 have succumbed to the infection.

As many as 48,533 patients have been cured/discharged and one migrated till date.

Maharashtra continues to remain the worst-affected state with 41,642 cases, followed by Tamil Nadu (13,967 cases), Gujarat (12,905 cases), and Delhi (11,659 cases).

While Rajasthan has confirmed 6,227 cases of which 3,485 people have recovered while 151 patients are dead, Madhya Pradesh reported 5,981 cases including 2,843 patients recovered and 270 patients dead.

Uttar Pradesh has 5,515 COVID-19 positive cases.

In Kerala, which reported the first COVID-19 case, 690 people have been detected positive for coronavirus.

Ladakh has confirmed 44 coronavirus cases, 1,449 people have infected by the virus in Jammu and Kashmir.

Singapore, Mar 23: Oil prices fell at the open in Asia on Monday after a trillion-dollar Senate proposal to help the coronavirus-hit American economy was defeated and death tolls soared across Europe and the US.

US benchmark West Texas Intermediate initially tumbled more than three percent but then pulled back some ground to trade 1.5 percent lower, at $22 a barrel.

Brent crude, the international benchmark, fell 4.9 percent to $25 a barrel.

Prices have fallen to multi-year lows in recent weeks as lockdowns and travel restrictions to fight the virus hit demand, and top producers Saudi Arabia and Russia engage in a price war.

The latest drop came after a trillion-dollar Senate proposal to rescue the US economy was defeated after receiving zero support from Democrats, and with five Republicans absent from the chamber because of virus-related quarantines.

The bill had proposed funding for American families, thousands of shuttered or suffering businesses and the nation's critically under-equipped hospitals.

Coronavirus deaths soared across Europe and the United States at the weekend despite heightened restrictions.

The death toll from the virus -- which has upended lives and closed businesses and schools across the planet -- surged to more than 14,300 Sunday, according to an AFP tally.

AxiCorp chief markets strategist Stephen Innes said that "total demand devastation" had set it.

"Oil markets collapsed out of the gate this morning as prices react... to stringent containment lockdown measures," he said.

New delhi, Feb 10: The Supreme Court on Monday upheld the constitutional validity of the SC/ST Amendment Act, 2018, and said a court can grant anticipatory bail only in cases where a prima facie case is not made out.

A bench headed by Justice Arun Mishra said a preliminary inquiry is not essential before lodging an FIR under the act and the approval of senior police officials is not needed.

Justice Ravindra Bhat, the other member of the bench, said in a concurring verdict that every citizen needs to treat fellow citizens equally and foster the concept of fraternity.

Justice Bhat said a court can quash the FIR if a prima facie case is not made out under the SC/ST Act and the liberal use of anticipatory bail will defeat the intention of Parliament.

The top court's verdict came on a batch of PILs challenging the validity of the SC/ST Amendment Act of 2018, which was brought to nullify the effect of the apex court's 2018 ruling, which had diluted the provisions of the stringent Act.