More than 300 verified mobile phone numbers, including of two serving ministers, over 40 journalists, three opposition leaders and one sitting judge besides scores of business persons and activists in India could have been targeted for hacking through an Israeli spyware sold only to government agencies, an international media consortium reported on Sunday.

None of them had anything to do with the violence at Bhima Koregaon, where they were not even present, points out Aakar Patel.

Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari objected to Roy's elevation, arguing that the MLA, who had crossed over to the ruling Trinamool Congress last month after winning the polls on a BJP ticket, cannot be considered a legislator of the saffron camp.

BJP's Adhikari said that an opposition MLA is usually appointed as the PAC chairperson following the norm, but the TMC misused that rule to appoint Roy as its chairman.

Fire service officials and witnesses said the blaze broke out on Thursday evening and tore through the factory at the Rupganj area of Narayanganj.

'Coupled with e-filing procedures it would really enhance the ability of the judiciary to provide speedier justice.'

After Chanda and Deepak Kochchar, the Kudvas are the second power couple in the financial world to come under the regulatory glare.

'We are only amplifying the voice of scientists and experts. We are gathering information by talking to experts and are sharing it. If the government chooses to ignore that, what can we do?'

Hectic political activities continued for the second consecutive day in the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party in Karnataka on Thursday, as party's national general secretary in-charge of the State Arun Singh started meeting leaders and legislators individually, in the backdrop of speculations over replacing Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa.

Indications are that Modi will have words of encouragement for Stalin, and the meeting is likely to be much less acrimonious than critics of either would want it to be. notes N Sathiya Moorthy.

The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) has approved the resolution plan of Twin Star Technologies -- a promoter entity of the Vedanta Resources group -- for the Videocon group. But it has pointed out that the successful resolution applicant is "paying almost nothing" as the amount offered is only 4.15 per cent of total outstanding claim. It noted the hair cut for all the creditors is 95.85 per cent and suggested to both committee of creditors (CoC) and the successful applicant an increase in the payout.

The Reserve Bank has revoked the deposit-taking status of Dewan Housing Finance (DHFL), the first financial services firm to go for bankruptcy proceedings, and has reclassified it as a non-deposit taking housing finance company, before approving the Piramal group's bid to take over it towards the end of the resolution process. The revelation comes in the June 7 NCLT Mumbai order that has approved the Rs 35,250-crore bid for the once second largest mortage lender by Piramal Capital & Housing Finance, forcing over 65 per cent haircut on the creditors and just Re 1 to its NCD holders to whom it owes more than Rs 45,000-crore. On the 14th page of the 86-page NCLT order by HP Chaturvedi and Ravikumar Duraisamy, it says DHFL no longer is a deposit taking NBFC but a non-deposit taking one.

Pakistan's National Assembly has passed a government-backed bill that will provide the right of appeal to Indian death-row prisoner Kulbhushan Jadhav, according to a media report.

With the talks between the Centre and the agitating farmer unions stalled since January, Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar on Wednesday expressed readiness to resume the dialogue to resolve their objections to the three new agri laws, but the unions remained adamant on their demands for a repeal of the legislations and a legal guarantee on the minimum support price.

In this pandemic, why can't we have multiple locations for various disciplines, all of it then merged into a virtual convergence called the Olympics instead of one massive event in one city, asks Shyam G Menon.

The standing committees have not been holding their sittings due to the severe second wave of COVID-19.

Japan's Asahi Shimbun, an official partner of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, called for the Summer Games to be cancelled in an editorial

The Congress on Monday deferred the election to the post of party president till the COVID-19 situation improves and decided to set up a group to assess losses in the recent assembly polls, with party chief Sonia Gandhi saying it has to put its house in order by facing reality and drawing lessons from the 'serious setbacks'.

India is in the midst of its biggest crisis since Independence. It is a national emergency and begs to be dealt with. Politics can wait. Lives need to be saved. We need to vaccinate India at a pace faster than any country in the world, asserts Ramesh Menon.

Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad announced Adhikari's name as leader of the BJP legislature party in the assembly after a meeting of the legislators at the party's Hastings office.

In a statement after the apex court verdict, Thackeray said, "With folded hands, we request the prime minister and the president to take an immediate decision on Maratha quota."

Octogenarian shooter Chandro Tomar, nicknamed 'Shooter Dadi', died on Friday after battling COVID-19.

Nothing is certain as Tokyo's postponed Olympics hit the 100-days-to-go mark on Wednesday

'Mamata is synonymous with Bengal, its culture, language, traditions.'

The Tokyo organising committee plans to reserve an entire hotel located a few kilometres away from the athletes' village

As fresh Covid-19 cases continued to increase, the Tamil Nadu government on Thursday announced reintroduction of curbs like permission only for 50 per cent seating capacity in cinemas and ban on select activities effective April 10, to help prevent the spread of the virus.

Shrug off the yoke of the imperialism of Delhi. That is why the DMK manifesto offers what it offers: The promise that Tamil Nadu will, one day, become an independent republic, notes Aditi Phadnis.

The Rajya Sabha on Wednesday approved the bill giving primacy to Delhi's Lieutenant Governor (L-G) over the elected government after high drama in the House that saw uproar by the opposition and a walkout by MPs of parties like the BJD, SP, Congress and the YSRC.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday alleged that 'Bhatija (nephew) and company' had swindled central funds sent for Amphan relief and said that probe will be ordered into it and culprits will be booked after the Bharatiya Janata Party comes to power in West Bengal.

There is a perception getting built inside the government that big technology companies -- a common term used for firms like Facebook, Google, Twitter, Amazon and the like - are becoming very powerful and present multiple threats to entire nations and their citizens today. The digital ecosystem is replete with CSAM (child sexual abuse material), fake news, drug trade, radicalisation, trolling among other social vices. Given the network effect that these platforms have, it is important to ensure that these platforms are not misused.

Back of the envelope calculations put government expense on each of the new schemes promised by the DMK and the AIADMK at tens of thousands of crores. But then, neither party has said how they are going to also address the mounting debt burden either, says N Sathiya Moorthy.

'There is no animosity among us. We are one family.'

Our precipitous decline is being noticed and recorded abroad with alarm. It is strange that within India we are carrying on as if it is business as usual, observes Aakar Patel.

It is mystifying how the NSE, a near-monopoly, gets protection, as the February 24 episode shows, when it is competition and accountability that should be the regulatory objective, says Debashis Basu.

A devastating fire at a multi-storeyed building in Kolkata that claimed nine lives turned into the epicentre of a political slugfest on Tuesday, with the Trinamool Congress government and the Bharatiya Janata Party pointing accusatory fingers at the Railways and the state administration respectively, even as the bereaved families grieved at the loss of their near ones.

'I could have joined the BJP in 2014, the doors were open.' 'I stayed on with the TMC, a party I was involved with since its very inception.' 'But today enough is enough.'

The saffron party, which had witnessed unprecedented growth in terms of vote share and mass base over the last few years, had opened its doors wide for leaders from other parties as part of its poll strategy, but that did not go down well with many senior leaders, who had once locked horns with the newbies from rival camps, sources in the BJP said.

Speaking at the Conservative Political Action Committee in Orlando, Florida on Sunday, the 74-year-old leader, who left the White House on January 20, stopped short of announcing to run for the president in 2024, although he gave enough indications that he is moving in that direction.

'The TMC has become a private limited company.'

Replying to the general discussion on Budget in Lok Sabha, she said the former Congress chief was creating fake narratives but does not have patience to listen to replies on allegations levelled against the government.