HIGHLIGHTS

These are the top stories at 9.30 pm: Nation DEL85 LD SINOINDIA India, China agree to resolve outstanding issues expeditiously: MEA after fresh diplomatic talks on border standoff New Delhi: India and China on Thursday agreed to resolve outstanding issues in an "expeditious manner" and in accordance with the existing agreements and protocols, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said after the two sides held a fresh round of diplomatic talks to resolve the border standoff in eastern Ladakh.

These are the top stories at 9.30 pm: Nation DEL85 LD SINOINDIA India, China agree to resolve outstanding issues expeditiously: MEA after fresh diplomatic talks on border standoff New Delhi: India and China on Thursday agreed to resolve outstanding issues in an "expeditious manner" and in accordance with the existing agreements and protocols, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said after the two sides held a fresh round of diplomatic talks to resolve the border standoff in eastern Ladakh. LGD30 SC-4THLD BHUSHAN-CONTEMPT SC grants time to Bhushan till Aug 24 to tender unconditional apology, rejects deferment plea New Delhi: The Supreme Court Thursday granted time till August 24 to activist-lawyer Prashant Bhushan to reconsider his “defiant statement” refusing to apologise and tender “unconditional apology” for contemptuous tweets against the judiciary and rejected his submission that quantum of punishment be decided by another bench.

DEL86 SURVEY-3RDLD CITIES RANKING Swachh Survekshan: Indore gets cleanest city tag for 4th year in a row; Surat 2nd, Navi Mumbai 3rd New Delhi: Indore was adjudged India's cleanest city for a fourth straight year while Surat and Navi Mumbai grabbed the second and third positions respectively, as the Centre announced the results of its latest annual cleanliness survey on Thursday. DEL11 VIRUS-LD CASES Record spike of 69,652 COVID-19 cases, India's virus tally crosses 28-lakh mark New Delhi: India's COVID-19 caseload went past 28 lakh with a record single-day spike of 69,652 infections, while the recoveries increased to 20,96,664 on Thursday pushing the recovery rate to 73.91 per cent, according to the Union Health Ministry data.

DEL80 LD PAR-FACEBOOK Facebook row: BJP MP Dubey seeks Tharoor's removal as par IT panel head; Rathore accuses Cong MP of 'undermining' committee's work New Delhi: BJP MP Nishikant Dubey on Thursday demanded removal of Shashi Tharoor as the parliamentary committee on Information Technology chief while his party colleague Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore accused the Congress leader of "undermining" the panel's work, marking a sharp escalation in the ruling party's attack on the opposition party MP over the Facebook row.  DEL34 MEA-JAISHANKAR Multilateralism did not rise to occasion when it was most in demand: Jaishankar New Delhi: Multilateralism did not rise to the occasion when it was most in demand, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said on Thursday while referring to the "unprecedented" challenge thrown up by the coronavirus pandemic in diverse areas globally. BOM9 CG-RAHUL-ECONOMY Modi govt destroyed unorganised economy in last 6 years: Rahul Raipur: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Thursday accused the Narendra Modi government of decimating the unorganised economy, comprising farmers, labourers and small businesses, in the last six years of its rule, and said that the country will not be able to generate jobs in the coming period as a result of that.

DEL28 AVI-DGCA-AUDIT DGCA starts special safety audit of all Indian airlines New Delhi: The DGCA has started a special safety audit of all Indian airlines, around two weeks after the plane crash in Kerala's Kozhikode in which 18 people were killed, a senior official of the aviation regulator said on Thursday. MDS24 ISRO-CHANDRAYAAN2 Chandrayaan-2 completes a year around Moon, adequate fuel for 7 more years: ISRO Bengaluru: India's second lunar mission Chandrayaan-2 completed one year in orbit around the moon on Thursday and all instruments are currently performing well and there is adequate onboard fuel to keep it operational for about seven more years, space agency ISRO said.

Business DEL55 BIZ-RBI-MPC MINUTES RBI Guv for keeping monetary arsenal dry for judicious use in future: MPC minutes Mumbai: RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das has emphasised that although there is headroom for further monetary policy action, the "arsenal" has to be kept dry and used judiciously for promoting growth which has been hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the MPC minutes released on Thursday. DEL91 BIZ-LDALL GMAIL-DISRUPTION Gmail service restored after global outage New Delhi: Gmail service, which suffered a global outage for hours on Thursday, has now been restored, according to Google. Foreign FGN49 US-DNC-HARRIS-LDALL NOMINATION Kamala Harris scripts history as she accepts Democratic Party's nomination for US vice-president Washington: Kamala Harris, who scripted history in US politics as she became the first Indian-American and Black woman to get a major party's vice presidential nomination, has assailed President Donald Trump's "failure of leadership" that has cost "lives and livelihoods." By Lalit K Jha FGN44 US-DNC-OBAMA-LD COMMUNITIES Sikhs, Muslims made to 'feel suspect' for their worshipping, says Obama as he slams prez Trump New York: Minority communities like Sikhs and Muslims have been made to "feel suspect" for the way they worshipped, former US president Barack Obama has said as he tore into Donald Trump's presidency and warned American voters that his administration would "tear our democracy down" to get re-elected. By Yoshita Singh PTI HDA