HIGHLIGHTS

These are the top stories at 9:30pm: NATION DEL75 VIRUS-2NDLD HEALTH MINISTRY India definitely not in community transmission stage: Govt New Delhi: India is definitely not in the community transmission stage of COVID-19 spread, the government asserted on Thursday, even as cases and deaths continued to mount with the country recording the highest single-day spike of 9,996 new infections and 357 fatalities. DEL65 SINOINDIA-LADAKH-MEA India, China maintaining engagements to resolve eastern Ladakh row at earliest: MEA New Delhi: India and China are maintaining military and diplomatic engagements to peacefully resolve the eastern Ladakh row at the earliest, the Ministry of External Affairs said on Thursday.

DEL87 MEA-MALLYA-EXTRADITION India asks UK not to consider any request for asylum by Vijay Mallya New Delhi: India on Thursday said it has asked the UK not to consider any request for asylum by fugitive businessman Vijay Mallya as there appeared to be no ground for his persecution in the country. DES41 DL-VIRUS-DEATHS-MCD MCD claims 2,098 people died of COVID-19; govt claims death panel working impartially New Delhi: Senior leaders of the three BJP-led municipal corporations on Thursday claimed that over 2,000 COVID-19 deaths haven taken place in Delhi, while the official tally stands at 984 till Wednesday.

DEL81 CBI-PNB-LD FRAUD CBI registers separate cases against 3 firms for defrauding PNB of over Rs 125 crore New Delhi: The CBI on Thursday conducted searches at multiple locations in the country after registering three separate cases against two Nagpur-based companies and a Bhubaneswar-based firm pertaining to loan frauds in the Punjab National Bank totalling over Rs 125 crore, officials said. CAL22 AS-LD OIL-FIRE Assam CM orders high-level probe into OIL well blaze, fire on periphery put out Guwahati: Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal on Thursday ordered a high-level inquiry into the circumstances that led to a blowout at a gas well of Oil India Limited (OIL) in Tinsukia district and the subsequent fire, a day after the bodies of two firefighters were found in a wetland abutting the site, officials said. DEL92 HRD-2NDLD RANKINGS NIRF: IIT Madras best edu institution in country; 7 IITs in top 10, IISc and JNU best universities New Delhi: IIT Madras, IISc Bengaluru and IIT Delhi bagged the top three positions among the educational institutions in the country in the HRD Ministry's National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) rankings announced on Thursday.

BOM16 MH-LD MONSOON Monsoon arrives in Goa, coastal and south Maharashtra Mumbai: The southwest monsoon arrived in Goa and parts of south and coastal Maharashtra on Thursday and was likely to advance further in the next two days, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said here. BUSINESS: DEL76 BIZ-CEA-LD RATING-AGENCIES India's fundamentals demand much better rating, GDP growth to decline this year: CEA New Delhi: The government on Thursday virtually rejected rating actions by international agencies, saying India's fundamentals demand a much better sovereign rating and the country's willingness and ability to repay debt is gold standard.

DCM91 BIZ-LD SBI-FUNDRAISE-STAKE SALE SBI set to raise Rs 1,523 cr via stake sale in SBI Life; board yet to decide on fundraising New Delhi: State Bank of India (SBI), the country's largest lender, will divest over 2 per cent stake for at least Rs 1,522.50 crore in its subsidiary SBI Life to comply with the minimum public shareholding (MPS) norms, and will also decide on raising long-term fund up to USD 1.5 billion through bonds. LEGAL: LGD19 SC-LD TELECOM DUES SC asks DoT to reconsider Rs 4 lakh cr claim on PSUs, says demand impermissible New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday ordered the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) to reconsider seeking Rs 4 lakh crore in past dues from non-telecom PSUs such as GAIL, saying raising such a demand using its verdict on dues of telecom companies was "totally impermissible".

LGD29 DL-HC-LD VIRUS TESTING Delhi heading towards being 'corona capital' of India: HC on spike in COVID-19 cases New Delhi: The national capital is fast heading towards becoming the "corona capital" of the country, observed the Delhi High Court while expressing concern over the spike in COVID-19 cases and directed that all private hospitals equipped with labs to test for coronavirus and having ICMR sanction be permitted to conduct the test. FOREIGN: FGN19: NEPAL-INDIA-OLI Nepal will get back land from India through dialogue: PM Oli Kathmandu: Nepal's Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli has said that his government will seek a solution to the Kalapani issue through diplomatic efforts and dialogue on the basis of historical facts and documents.

FGN16: UK-NIRAV Nirav Modi remanded in custody till July 9 by UK court London: Fugitive diamond merchant Nirav Modi, fighting extradition to India on charges over the nearly USD 2 billion Punjab National Bank (PNB) fraud and money laundering case, was remanded in further custody until July 9 by a UK court on Thursday..