HIGHLIGHTS

These are the top stories at 9.30 pm: Nation MDS26 TL-2NDLD FIRE 9 killed in major fire in Telangana's Srisailam hydel power plant Hyderabad: A major fire in the Srisailam hydroelectric plant located on the Telangana-Andhra Pradesh border left nine people dead, most of them engineers, and three seriously injured, with thick smoke hampering rescue operations for over 12 hours,officials said on Friday. DEL35 VIRUS-EC-LD ELECTIONS Polls amid pandemic: Voters to get gloves, polling booths to have thermal scanners New Delhi: Voters will be provided gloves while using EVMs and COVID-19 patients in quarantine will be allowed to vote at the last hour of the polling day, according to broad guidelines issued by the Election Commission on Friday for holding polls during the coronavirus pandemic.

DEL9 VIRUS-LD CASES COVID-19 tally in India crosses 29-lakh mark New Delhi: India's COVID-19 tally zoomed past 29 lakh, a day after it crossed 28 lakh, with a single-day spike of 68,898 infections, while the recoveries have increased to 21,58,946 on Friday pushing the recovery rate to over 74 per cent, according to the Union Health Ministry data. DEL27 AVI-LD AIR INDIA-HONG KONG 14 Air India passengers have tested positive for COVID-19 till Thursday: Hong Kong govt New Delhi: Fourteen passengers who travelled from Delhi to Hong Kong on an Air India flight on August 14 have tested positive for COVID-19 till Thursday, the Hong Kong government said.

DEL20 MUKHERJEE-LD HEALTH Mukherjee remains haemodynamically stable, is on ventilatory support: Hospital New Delhi: There was no change in the condition of former president Pranab Mukherjee and he remains haemodynamically stable and on ventilatory support, the hospital said on Friday. CAL7 BH-BJP-MEET BJP's two-day meet on Bihar polls from Saturday Patna: BJP President J P Nadda and a host of senior party leaders will take part in a two-day virtual meeting starting Saturday to draw strategy for Bihar Assembly polls due in October-November, its state chief Sanjay Jaiswal said on Friday.

DEL38 LD WEATHER Bihar flood situation grim; Heavy rains lash many states, 'orange' alert for Mumbai New Delhi: Heavy rains submerged low-lying areas and snapped road links in many states, including Odisha, Uttarakhand and Gujarat, while the flood situation worsened in Bihar, with the number of people affected by the deluge increasing to 82.92 lakh on Friday. MDS21 TN-VIRUS-ENT-SPB SPB 'stable', says hospital Chennai: Veteran playback singer S P Balasubrahmanyam, battling COVID-19 and on ventilator and ECMO support, was 'stable', the hospital treating him said on Friday.

CAL8 BH-SCAM New scam detected in Bihar: 8 girls born to 65-year-old in 14 months Muzaffarpur (Bihar): Superhuman rates of fertility, shown among women in their 60s, all residents of an administrative block in Bihar's Muzaffarpur district, has led to the unearthing of a major scam, officials said on Friday. Business DCM25 BIZ-NCLT-ANIL AMBANI NCLT initiates bankruptcy proceedings against Anil Ambani Mumbai: The NCLT has directed to initiate insolvency proceedings against Reliance Communications Chairman Anil Ambani to recover Rs 1,200 crore under the personal guarantee clause of the bankruptcy law.

Legal LGM4 KL-HC-AIRPORT Kerala govt moves HC seeking stay on privatisation of T'puram airport Kochi: The Kerala government on Friday moved the High Court seeking a stay on further proceedings in leasing out Thiruvananthapuram international airport to Adani Enterprises. LGD19 SC-TELECOM AGR case: SC asks DoT to apprise about the basis of spectrum sharing done by telcos New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday directed the Department of Telecom (DoT) to apprise it by Saturday the basis of spectrum sharing done by telecom companies and how much is the liability of the sharers.

Foreign FGN52 US-DNC-BIDEN-LDALL NOMINATION Biden accepts Dem presidential nomination, vows to end Trump's 'season of darkness' Washington: Joe Biden pledged that he will be an "ally of the light" as he formally accepted the presidential nomination of the Democratic Party, urging voters to unite to overcome a "season of darkness" that his rival President Donald Trump has cloaked America for much too long. By Lalit K Jha FGN34 US-DNC-BIDEN-2NDLD HARRIS Kamala's 'story is the American story', says Biden in his presidential nomination acceptance speech Washington: Democratic Party's presidential nominee Joe Biden praised his Indian-American running mate Kamala Harris during his nomination acceptance speech, describing the California senator as a "powerful voice" in the US and said her "story is the American story." By Lalit K Jha FGN55 CHINA-XI-CPEC CPEC is of great importance to China-Pakistan ties: Xi tells Alvi Beijing: President Xi Jinping on Friday described the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) as a “landmark project” under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and said it is of great importance to promoting in-depth development of the all-weather strategic cooperative partnership between the two countries. By K J M Varma PTI HDA.