- Gold smuggling case: Secretariat employee books rooms for accused
Thiruvananthapuram: It has come to light that a secretariat employee booked the flat opposite to the Secretariat for the accused in the gold smuggling case. The employee is identified as Arun. He booked the room claiming that he was a staff working under Sivasankar. Key accused Swapna Sureshs husband Jayasankar also was involved in the discussions of the smugglers. The Customs officials received crucial information after interrogating Sivasankar on Tuesday. They made it clear that Sivasankar ha…
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- Sachin Pilot says he is not joining BJP
New Delhi: "I am not joining the BJP," Sachin Pilot said on Wednesday, asserting that he had worked hard to defeat the saffron party and bring the Congress back to power in Rajasthan. Pilot told PTI that some leaders in Rajasthan were trying to fuel speculation that he is joining the BJP and he would like to categorically state that he was not doing so. His remarks come a day after the Congress sacked him as Rajasthans deputy chief minister and the partys state unit president. Two loyalists o…
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- COVID-19: India records highest single-day spike of 29,429 cases
New Delhi:India recorded the highest single-day spike of 29,429 coronavirus cases and 582 deaths in the last 24 hours, pushing the tally to 9,36,181 cases with a death total of 24,309, the Health Ministrys data stated on Wednesday. On Tuesday, the country had crossed the grim nine lakh mark, adding over a lakh cases within three days. India had crossed the eight lakh cases on July 11. According to Health Ministry data, as many as 5,92,031 patients have recovered, almost twice the number of act…
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- Central government green signals manufacturing of Hydrogen fuelled vehicles
Thiruvananthapuram: Central government has given permission for the manufacture of Hydrogen fuelled vehicles. Central government has issued a draft notification for the manufacturing of Hydrogen fuel cell vehicles. The final order would be released by July end. The major drawback of electric vehicles is that it takes 4-5 hours for the battery to be charged. However, the batteries of Hydrogen Fuel cell vehicles can be charged within minutes, similar to fuelling the petrol and diesel vehicles. Hy…
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- No signs of rehabilitation in BSNL even after 9 months of announcement
Thrissur: Even though BSNL announced rehabilitation package 9 months ago, the company is still how it used to be. No one in the company knows when 4G facility, one of the biggest attractions in the package, will be made available. Although the maintenance of land phones has been given to external contractors, the consumers still donot gain from it. The various programmes announced to increase the revenue of the company are also moving at a snail's pace. The only thing implemented properly is th…
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- Kerala Plus Two, CBSE Class 10 results today
Thiruvananthapuram: The higher secondary and vocational higher secondary results will be declared on Wednesday. The Kerala board plus two results would be announced by Education Minister C Raveendranath at 2 pm. Students can obtain the results from the mobile app PRD Live and websites: www.keralaresults.nic.in www.dhsekerala.gov.in www.results.kite.kerala.gov.in www.kerala.gov.in www.prd.kerala.gov.in Meanwhile, Centra Board of Secondary Education will also announce the Class 10 results o…
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- Gold smuggling: Customs quizzes CM's former principal secretary Sivasankar for 9 hrs
Thiruvananthapuram: In connection with the gold smuggling in diplomatic baggage at Thiruvananthapuram airport, the Cusoms interrogated the chief ministers former principal secretary M Sivasankar for nine hours. The quizzing started on Tuesday at 5.30 in the evening and continued till Wednesday at 2.15 in the early morning. After this, the Customs officers dropped him at his house in Poojappura. It is learnt that important information was collected during the interrogation. The Customs came to k…
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- Abide by COVID-19 guidelines: HC to parties, associations
Kochi: The Kerala High Court on Tuesdaydirected political parties and associations in the state to strictly abide by COVID-19 guidelines issued by the Central as well as state governments while organising protest gatherings. A division bench, comprising Chief Justice S Manikumar and Justice Shaji P Chaly directed the government to take preventive measures to ensure that no political party or association violates the directives issued by the governments and judgements of the Supreme Court.…
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- Rameez sent money for wood trade in name of mask exporting
Kochi: Gold smuggling case accused Rameez sent the money for wood trade from South Africa to Dubai in the name of exporting masks. About 2 lakh masks were sent in a foreign naval ship that came to repatriate their citizens stranded in Kochi due to lockdown. The masks were exported using a hastily issued bill. It is suspected that the money for wood trade was sent along with this. The Customs obtained these details after interrogating Rameez who is already in custody. They also came to know abou…
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- Maharashtra Congress suspends Sanjay Jha for 'anti-party' activities
Mumbai: In an abrupt development, Maharashtra Congress President Balasaheb Thorat on Tuesday suspended former party spokesperson Sanjay Jha for "anti-party activities". Shri Sanjay Jha has been suspended from the Congress Party with immediate effect for anti-party activities and breach of discipline. pic.twitter.com/TaT0gWbCc7 — Maharashtra Congress (@INCMaharashtra) July 14, 2020 Jha, who was the Congress spokesperson and was known for his outspokenness, was sacked as the party spokesman…
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- Higher officials involved in gold smuggling to be trapped in 'call connect'
Kochi: The call details are the major evidence to trap the higher officials involved in the gold smuggling case. The NIA and the Customs are after those whom the accused contacted during the crisis. Even after tracing the suspects, the probe team did not arrest them in order to know whom the accused are contacting for help. The Customs also denied help from the police due to this reason. The probe teams have highlighted the phone data in the documents submitted in the court as well. The probe…
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- Missing Intelligence report on Swapna Suresh; investigation begins
Thiruvananthapuram: The intelligence report that cited Swapna Suresh's alleged criminal background has gone missing. Swapna, who maintained close contact with top officials including the Chief Minister's Principal Secretary, used to visit the secretariat regularly. She also secured a consultancy appointment in the space park that comes under the IT department. Police intelligence claimed that it found out details about how a person involved in criminal cases was appointed in a key position and…
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- Trump administration rescinds international students visa policy
Washington: The Trump administration has agreed to rescind its July 6 rule, which temporarily bared international students from staying in the United States unless they attend at least one in-person course, a federal district court judge said on Tuesday. The U-turn by the Trump administration comes following a nationwide outrage against its July 6 order and a series of lawsuits filed by a large number of educational institutions, led by the prestigious Harvard University and Massachusetts Insti…
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- Kerala reports highest ever 608 COVID-19 cases on Tuesday; 396 through contact
Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala reported a record 608 new COVID-19 cases on Tuesday, the highest number reported in the state, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said in a press meet here. He was speaking to the media after the COVID review meeting. Out of the total COVID positive cases, 201 were reported from Thiruvananthapuram. 396 developed the disease through contact. Meanwhile, 181 patients have recovered from the disease in the last 24 hours. Out of the total cases, 130 came from abroad, 68 came…
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- 53 contracted COVID-19 from 2 in Thooneri; CM warns of community transmission
Thiruvananthapuram: Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan expressed concern over the increase in COVID-19 cases through contact with untraceable sources. He demanded that people across the state should stay vigilant. He alerted that Kerala is facing stage 3 of COVID-19 and that the next phase is community transmission. He was addressing the media after the COVID-19 review meeting here. The Chief Minister informed that the health department failed to trace the source of the virus among 26 out of the…
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- Kerala facing stage 3 of COVID-19 outbreak; stage 4 will be critical: CM
Thiruvananthapuram: Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan stated that Kerala is facing the third stage of COVID-19 outbreak. He noted that according to the World Health Organisation (WHO) there are four stages of COVID-19. “As per the guidelines of WHO, the COVID-19 transmission has four stages. In the first stage, there will be no cases. The second stage is sporadic which means people who have travel history will spread the disease. The third phase is the spread of the disease centred in some area…
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- Swapna phoned KT Jaleel; call list proves links between Sivasankar and Sarith
Thiruvananthapuram: In the controversial gold smuggling case, the probe team has recovered the phone call details of accused Swapna Suresh and Sarith. The phone call details have proven that the duo contacted former principal secretary M Sivasankar. The phone call details from April 20 to June 1 were recovered. The call records revealed that key accused Sarith phoned Sivasankar 9 times from April 20 to June 1. The former IT secretary also phoned Sarith back 5 times. The duration of one of the…
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- Panniyankara in Kozhikode declared COVID-19 containment zone; Thiruvannoor removed
Kozhikode: District Collector S. Sambasiva Rao declared Panniyankara region (ward 37 of Kozhikode corporation) as COVID-19 containment zone on Tuesday. On the other day, the district authority had declared Thiruvannoor region as a containment zone. But after the district surveillance officer informed that COVID-19 patients are Panniyankara natives, the district authority removed Thiruvannoor from the list of containment zones. The district authority ordered that people can seek the help of war…
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- Over 600 suspected COVID-19 cases in Chellanam; allegations of govt hiding actual figures
Kochi: The West Kochi Coast Protection Committee has raised concerns over the increasing number of COVID-19 cases at Chellanam where community transmission is suspected. In a letter to the Chief Minister, the committee informed that Chellanam in Ernakulam is facing a critical condition over the pandemic. Committee convenor TA Dalphin reported that the situation in Chellanam is more critical than the official reports. He alleged that the preventive measures taken to control the disease in the re…
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- Swapna and Sandeep escaped to Varkala two days before triple lockdown in TVM
Thiruvananthapuram: Diplomatic baggage gold smuggling case accused Swapna Suresh and Sandeep Nair had escaped to Varkala two day before triple lockdown was implemented here in the city. It is learned that the two stayed in a resort in Varkala for two days. Some people within Swapna's circle of friends helped the two. After hiding inside the private resort for two days, the two received money for escaping to Bengaluru and soon moved out of the state. On learning that Swapna and Sandeep had come…
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