Highlights: Separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani passes away

Kerala on Wednesday reported another spike with 32,803 new Covid-19 cases even as health experts said the high rate of positivity triggered by Onam festivities will continue till the second week of September. Read more

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which is fighting elections for the first time in Uttar Pradesh, will go solo in all 403 assembly constituencies of the state, the party’s UP in-charge Sanjay Singh said on Wednesday. Read more

A case has been registered against Maharashtra BJP chief Chandrakant Patil, Pune city mayor Murlidhar Mohol, BJP city president Jagdish Mulik and other BJP workers for violating Covid guidelines during a protest on Monday demanding the reopening of temples in Maharashtra, news agency ANI reported on Wednesday.

Terrorists on Wednesday hurled a grenade at Police post in Sherbagh in Anantnag, news agency ANI reported. No injuries or deaths have been reported so far. More details awaited.

Union health and family welfare minister Mansukh Mandaviya on Wednesday held a telephonic conversation with the chief ministers of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka and reviewed the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) situation in these states, according to a statement by the health ministry. Read more

Telangana's caseload of Covid-19 climbed to 658,376 on Wednesday after 322 new cases were reported. Three more patients died and 331 recovered, taking the cumulative count of deaths and recoveries to 3,876 and 648,648 respectively. The active cases stand at 5,852.

The Manarashtra government will set up a state council which will work to reduce the impact of climate change highlighted by the United Nations body IPCC and suggest measures to meet future challenges, according to an official statement. The statement added that the council will be headed by chief minister Uddhav Thackeray.

Iran's foreign ministry said on Wednesday that talks aimed at reviving the country's nuclear agreement with world powers will likely not resume for another two to three months.

"We are not seeking to flee the negotiation table and the... government considers a real negotiation is a negotiation that produces palpable results allowing the rights of the Iranian nation to be guaranteed," foreign minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said in an interview on Tuesday.

At least 13 people were killed in rain-related incidents in the past 24 hours as downpour continued to pound various parts of the country, data released by the Union home ministry said. Read more

Kerala on Wednesday saw another high in its daily tally of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) after 32,803 new infections were reported in the last 24 hours, according to the state health department's bulletin. As many as 173 patients died and 21,610 recovered from the viral disease, taking the cumulative count of deaths and recoveries to 20,961 and 3,838,614 respectively. The active cases stand at 229,912.

With a view to ramp up vaccination against the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) in India, appointments on CoWIN can now be booked via Google. Taking to Twitter, Union health minister Mansukh Mandaviya said the health ministry took another significant initiative to enhance access to vaccines. Read more

Mullah Amir Khan Motaqi, the head of Taliban's commission for guidance and encouragement, said on Wednesday the negotiations with tribal elders and leaders of Panjshir failed, news agency ANI reported citing Afghan media. Read more

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday hit out at the Centre by saying that it earned ₹23 lakh crore from the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the last seven years, adding the Centre is selling India's assets.

"Modi ji keeps saying that GDP is rising, Finance Minister says that GDP is showing an upward projection. I then understood what does it mean by GDP. It means 'Gas-Diesel-Petrol'," Gandhi added.

Delhi deputy chief minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Manish Sisodia announced on Wednesday that the AAP will take out the Tiranga Sankalp Yatra in Uttar Pradesh.

Addresing a press conference, Sisodia said, "The BJP government call themselves nationalists but they have not done enough for the people who live under the flag. They have done corruption with mid-day meal money which was meant to feed school children. The Uttar Pradesh government is insulting the people of the country by not providing adequate healthcare. "We will visit every village of UP during our Tiranga Sankalp Yatra."

Rujira Banerjee, the wife of Trinamool Congress national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee, on Wednesday expressed her inability to appear before the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in New Delhi in connection with the coal pilferage scam. Read more

The Enforcement Directorate on Wednesday submitted its chargesheet in the Narada sting case, news agency ANI reported. Four leaders of the Trinamool Congress (TMC)- Firhad Hakim, Madan Mitra, Subrata Mukherjee, Sovan Chatterjee, have been named in the chargesheet and they have been summoned.

Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath on Wednesday ordered the removal of Firozabad's chief medical officer (CMO) after children died due to a suspicious viral fever in the city. Read more

Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officer JP Mohapatra has been appointed as the chairman of the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), news agency ANI reported on Wednesday.

The Netherlands' foreign minister Sigrid Kaag said on Wednesday that the country will move its Kabul embassy to Qatar after the recent takeover of Afghanistan by the Taliban. "I've asked his excellency very kindly agree to the relocation of the Netherlands embassy from Kabul to Doha," Kaag told journalists after meeting her Qatari counterpart in Doha.

West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee said on Wednesday that from Thursday, all banks in the state will function till 5pm.

At least 10,000 to 15,000 Pakistani terrorists were in Afghanistan as part of a full-scale invasion, planned and supported by Pakistan, Ashraf Ghani had told US President Joe Biden during their last phone call on July 23, weeks before the fall of Kabul and the Ghani government. Read More

In Ghaziabad, five people die due to electrocution on Rakesh Marg. Angry residents blocked the road

Schools reopen in Tamil Nadu for classes 9 to 12, starting today. "We are happy to see students physically after so long. Students have been asked to follow Covid guidelines," says Nirmala, a teacher