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The Union Home Ministry on Saturday issued the Unlock 4 guidelines under which metro trains will be allowed to resume services from September 7 in a graded manner, while political, social and religious congregations of up to 100 people will be permitted from September 21. However, schools, colleges, educational and coaching institutions will remain closed for students till September 30, with some relaxations for students of classes 9 to 12. In a significant directive, the Home Ministry said that state governments shall not impose any local lockdown outside the containment zones without prior consultation with the central government. The ministry said that states and Union Territory governments may permit up to 50 per cent of teaching and non-teaching staff to be called to the schools at a time for online teaching or tele-counselling and related work. Students of classes 9 to 12 may be permitted to visit their schools in areas outside the containment zones only on a voluntary basis for...

Over 30 organisations in India, working in the field of biodiversity conservation, have come together to host a national event on various aspects related to butterflies starting September 5, one of its organisers said on Saturday. During the event named 'Big Butterfly Month: India 2020', which will continue till September 20, various activities like online workshops on butterflies, photography and videography contests and butterfly count, will be held, he said. “Butterfly experts, enthusiasts and organisations across the country are joining hands for this first of its kind event in India,” said Parag Rangnekar, president of Goa- based Foundation for Environment Research and Conservation (FERC), which is the co-ordinating the programme, said. “As part of this event, activities like butterfly count, online workshops on butterflies, contests on butterfly photography and videographgy, will be held across India,” he added. Rangnekar said, “More than...

Indian-origin Senator Kamala Harris, the Democratic Party's vice-presidential candidate, has pledged to rejoin the Paris climate agreement and re-enter the Iran nuclear deal to restore “our place in the world” and win back the “trust and support” of the US' Asian and European allies if her party wins the November presidential election. Harris, 55, is the running mate of Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden. At a virtual fundraiser on Friday, she was asked how a Biden-Harris administration would restore the trust and support of our European and Asian allies. In response, Harris slammed President Donald Trump and pledged to rejoin the Paris agreement on Climate Change and strengthen and re-enter the Iran nuclear deal. Joe Biden and our administration is gonna have a massive job to repair the damage done by Donald Trump and his administration, and to restore our place in the world, she said. In 2017, Trump announced his decision to withdraw from t...

Colleges and universities cannot award degrees to students without conducting final-year or final-term examinations, the Supreme Court said on Friday, upholding a decision by the University Grants Commission (UGC) that called for completing the evaluation process across the country by September 30. At the same time, the court made it clear that states were empowered to take decisions under the Disaster Management (DM) Act, 2005, to postpone final-year or final-semester exams beyond the September-end deadline. It allowed states to approach UGC for new dates that have to be communicated to them “at the earliest”. The ruling by a three-judge bench headed by justice Ashok Bhushan is significant because it appears to have established finality as far as holding exams for final-year and final-term students are concerned. A large section of students protested UGC’s July 6 order mandating the exams — online, offline or by using a combination of both — and states such as Delhi and Maharashtra an...

The Centre has allowed airlines to operate flights to Kolkata from Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Pune and Nagpur September 1 onwards on a limited basis. Flights from these six airports to Kolkata have remained suspended since July 6 after the state government requested so, citing high Covid-19 case-loads in these cities. For the first two weeks of September, flights from these cities have been allowed to fly on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays, while for the third and fourth weeks, flights will be allowed to operate on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Airlines are yet to announce their flights schedules to Kolkata from these places. Other flights to Kolkata will continue to operate as per schedule. However, an exception will be on September 7, 11 and 12, when the state government has announced complete lockdown, due to which no flights will be operated to Kolkata and Bagdogra airports. With the Union government asking states to relax curbs on inter-state travel, governments have st...

The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) that is probing Rhea Chakraborty and three of her acquaintances under several sections of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, is set to arrest two suppliers of ‘bud’, the dried flower of the marijuana plant that sells for nearly Rs 5,000 per gram, a senior official has told The Indian Express. Sources said the two suppliers have been detained, with contraband, and are likely to be arrested Saturday, as the NCB investigates the “demand” and “supply” of drugs linked to the case in which Chakraborty has been booked. Chakraborty is also facing cases filed by the CBI and Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with the death of fellow actor Sushant Singh Rajput. An official said, “The suppliers will be placed under arrest on the charge of possessing narcotics. We will be questioning them to find out who all they supplied the contraband to and what was Rhea’s role in this.” Chakraborty’s lawyer Satish Maneshinde had earlier said in...

Chadwick Boseman, the man who brought “Black Panther” to life, has died. The actor has been battling colon cancer since 2016 and died at home with his family and wife by his side, according to a statement posted on his Twitter account. He was 43, his publicist Nicki Fioravante said in a statement. “A true fighter, Chadwick persevered through it all, and brought you so many of the films you have come to love so much,” the statement said. “From Marshall to Da 5 Bloods, August Wilson's Ma Rainey's Black Bottom and several more, all were filmed during and between countless surgeries and chemotherapy.” The statement said the role of King T'Challa was the “honor of (Boseman's) career.”