In the wake of some Union ministers and MPs testing positive for Covid-19 following the commencement of the monsoon session of Parliament, opposition parties and the government on Saturday arrived at a consensus to curtail the scheduled session after passage of important bills.

The special cell of Delhi Police has arrested a Chinese woman and a Nepalese man, besides freelance journalist Rajeev Sharma, and claimed to have busted an espionage ring. All three have been booked under the Official Secrets Act (OSA) for allegedly passing sensitive information to Chinese intelligence.

National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Saturday busted a Pakistan-sponsored, al-Qaida module operating out of West Bengal and Kerala, arresting nine persons for planning to carry out terrorist strikes in India in the near future with sophisticated weapons arranged by an al-Qaida handler, Hamza, based in Peshawar, Pakistan.

In what is certain to further destabilise Indo-Pak relations, Pakistan has denied visa to Indian diplomat Jayant Khobragade, rejecting his appointment as India's charg d'affaires in Islamabad.

A total of 17.1% of the teaching posts in government schools are lying vacant at present. In terms of absolute number, the largest vacancies are in Bihar (2.7 lakh) followed by Uttar Pradesh (2.1 lakh). Percentage-wise Sikkim with 57.5% vacancies has the highest vacancies, followed by Jharkhand, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.

Amid determined resistance to the three farm sector-related bills by Congress and others, government managers remained confident of the passage in the Rajya Sabha on Sunday of the troika of legislations aimed at liberalising trade in agricultural commodities.

The government on Saturday introduced three new Bills to amend and consolidate labour laws with an eye on expanding the social security net to include migrant and gig economy workers, while also seeking to provide greater flexibility to businesses to hire and fire employees.

Documents, internal inquiry reports of the NCERT submitted to the ministry of education (MoE), transcripts of phone conversation, and messages (copies of which are with the TOI) reveal that the council sat on a whistleblowers alert for five days. It initiated action only after the intervention of secretary of MoE (then called HRD ministry).

Acting on inputs received during his public outreach since taking charge last month, J&K lieutenant governor Manoj Sinha on Saturday unveiled a Rs 1,350-crore economic package to ensure more money in people's pockets and help the fledgling Union Territory's beaten-down business sector bounce back quickly and create jobs.

India reported more than 94,000 fresh Covid-19 cases and 1,145 deaths from the virus on Saturday, even as testing numbers from across the country showed a sharp decline over the past two days.

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) issued a 'red alert' for extremely heavy rainfall for Kerala's three districts on Saturday, while dry weather conditions prevailed in Delhi for the eleventh consecutive day. The Met Department said low-pressure brewing over the Bay of Bengal is likely to trigger rainfall across West Bengal from Sunday.

The legendary Sunil Gavaskar on Saturday said two-time World Cup-winning captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni's popularity in India has exceeded the level of fandom even the great Sachin Tendulkar and Virat Kohli enjoy in the cricket-crazy nation.

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The phase-III human clinical trial of the Covid-19 vaccine developed by Oxford University and being manufactured by the Serum Institute of India (SII) will begin at the Sassoon General Hospital in Pune next week. Dean of the state-run Sassoon General Hospital Dr Muralidhar Tambe told this to PTI on Saturday.

The ongoing monsoon session of Parliament is likely to be curtailed and may end by the middle of next week in view of the threat of the Covid-19 spread among parliamentarians, official sources said on Saturday. In a meeting, most political parties favoured curtailment of the session, which started on September 14 and was scheduled to conclude on October 1.

The Army has finally begun the screening of women officers who can be granted permanent commission in 10 of its branches, in accordance with the Supreme Court directive in February to end gender bias in the 13-lakh strong force. The `Special No 5 Selection Board constituted to screen short-service commission (SSC) women officers, who can serve for a maximum of 14 years, for grant of permanent commission (PC) in the Army began its work earlier this week.

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The two of them have handed over their phones to CCB for investigation

Stay updated with Times of India to get live score updates, ball by ball commentary of 1st match in IPL 2020 between Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings.

Check CSK vs MI IPL live score updates, scorecard, ball by ball commentary, live streaming and highlights on Times of India.

The NIA on Saturday ordered attaching of a property of Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorist Irshad Ahmed Reshi, who was arrested by the agency in connection with an attack on a CRPF Group Centre in south Kashmir in 2017. The property, which is a house, is in the name of Irshad Reshi's father Nazir Ahmad Reshi in Pulwama district of Jammu and Kashmir.

The Delhi Police on Saturday said arrested freelance journalist Rajeev Sharma was passing sensitive information about India's border strategy and Army deployment to Chinese intelligence. He was contacted by Chinese Intelligence agents in 2016. Sharma was also in contact with some Chinese intelligence officer, the police officer said.

The Narcotics Control Bureau arrested Sushant Singh Rajputs aide Samuel Miranda and two others in the drug case related to the actors death. The accused have reached out to the Bombay High Court on Friday informing that they did not have the possession of contraband drugs. They also added that no evidence has been found suggesting that they had supplied drugs to Rajput.

Moderate thunderstorm with lightning is very likely over isolated places across the country during the next 12 hours, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said on Saturday afternoon. Thunderstorms with lightning are expected to occur over Odisha, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Telangana, and Andhra Pradesh among other places.

The CBI has filed a supplementary chargesheet against British National Christian Michel James and businessman Rajeev Saxena in the AgustaWestland chopper scam. In its final report filed before Special Judge Arvind Kumar, the CBI has named both alleged middlemen Michel and Saxena, and 13 others.

The Epidemic Diseases (Amendment) Bill, 2020 was introduced by Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan in the Upper House on Saturday to replace an ordinance issued by the government in April.

West Bengal has become home to illegal bomb-making and the state administration cannot escape its accountability for the alarming decline in law and order, governor Jagdeep Dhankhar said on Saturday. The governor's comments came after the NIA arrested nine terrorists associated with a Pak-sponsored module of the al-Qaida from several locations in West Bengal and Kerala.

Accusing the BJP government of not listening to the farmers, Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Saturday said that the central government seems eager to get its illionaire friends into the agriculture sector.

The Covid-19 tally of Andaman and Nicobar Islands rose to 3,631 on Saturday as 27 more people tested positive for the infection, a health official said.

For the second consecutive day, Taiwan's air force scrambled jets after as many as 19 Chinese aircraft crossed the midline of the Taiwan Strait. Despite the Taiwan Ministry of Defence urging the PRC to exercise restraint and refrain from escalating tensions, China's two H-6 bombers, eight J-16 fighters, four J-10 fighters and four J-11 fighters had crossed the midline.

The National Education Policy 2020 sets a vision to implement an equitable and vibrant knowledge society by providing quality education that meets the requirement of the 21st century, said President Ram Nath Kovind on Saturday. He further said that the NEP would discourage the habit of rote learning among the students and overemphasising grades that cause stress.

Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha on Saturday announced a relief package of Rs 1350 crore for Jammu and Kashmir in a bid to boost the business and the other ailing sectors that have suffered huge losses for several years in the newly formed Union Territory (UT). While addressing a press conference at Raj Bhawan, LG Sinha said: This was just a beginning and much more was in the offing.

Four of the disputed areas are in Asapila, Longzu, Bisa and Majha in Upper Subansiri district where the Chinese PLA has already built a road through Bisa from one point of the LAC to another, a top defence source said.

The Rajya Sabha on Saturday passed the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (Second Amendment) Bill, 2020, whereby fresh insolvency proceedings will not be initiated for at least six months starting from March 25 amid the coronavirus pandemic.

India's parliament session that began this week is likely to be cut short after 30 lawmakers were found infected with the coronavirus, two senior parliament officials said, as the number of cases in the country rose to 5.3 million. The Indian parliament met for the first time in six months on September 14 and was to function until Oct. 1, but the two officials said its duration could be reduced by a week.

Waqf board does not have the power to act as a judge in disputes regarding religious rights of Muslims, the Kerala high court has held. It is the waqf tribunal that has adjudicatory powers and the waqf board can only act regarding maintenance of waqf properties, the court said.

India's Covid-19 case tally crossed 53-lakh mark with a spike of 93,337 new cases and 1,247 deaths in the last 24 hours, according to the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Saturday.

India has overtaken the United States to register the highest number of COVID-19 recoveries in the world, informed Union Health Ministry on Saturday. The total recoveries in the country crossed 42 lakh.