HIGHLIGHTS

These are the top stories at 9.30 pm: Nation DEL71 MHA-UNLOCK-GUIDELINES MHA Unlock 4 guidelines: Metro trains, political gatherings allowed; States asked to consult with Centre before imposing local lockdowns New Delhi: The Union Home Ministry on Saturday issued the Unlock 4 guidelines under which metro trains will be allowed to resume services from September 7 in a graded manner, while political, social and religious congregations of up to 100 people will be permitted from September 21. DEL33 PAK-TUNNEL-2NDLD BSF BSF detects tunnel along India-Pak border in Jammu New Delhi/Jammu: The Border Security Force (BSF) has detected a tunnel, originating from Pakistan, just beneath the Indo-Pak international border fence in Jammu, officials said on Saturday. By Neelabh Srivastava DEL28 POL-ELECTORAL ROLL Govt explores possibility of single voter list for LS, assembly, local body polls New Delhi: The government IS discussing the possibility of having a common electoral roll for Lok Sabha, assembly and local body elections to avoid discrepancies and bring uniformity in the voters list, officials said on Saturday.

DEL9 VIRUS-LD CASES India's COVID-19 tally goes past 34 lakh with single-day spike of 76,472 cases; death toll 62,550 New Delhi: India's COVID-19 tally raced past 34 lakh with a single-day spike of 76,472 cases, while the number of recoveries surged to 26,48,998, pushing the recovery rate to 76.47 per cent on Saturday, according to the Union health ministry. DEL72 CONG-LD FACEBOOK Cong writes to Facebook CEO again over allegations of 'bias' in favour of ruling BJP New Delhi: The Congress on Saturday wrote to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg for the second time in a month, asking what steps were being taken on repeated allegations about the global social media giant's India unit being biased towards the ruling BJP.

DEL56 LD INDORUSSIA-EXERCISE India not to participate in multilateral war game in Russia next month New Delhi: India has decided to withdraw from a multilateral war game in Russia next month, government sources said on Saturday, a week after New Delhi had confirmed its participation in the exercise that is also expected to be attended by the Chinese and Pakistani troops. DEL70 DL-VIRUS-METRO-RESUME Delhi Metro to resume services from Sep 7 in calibrated manner: DMRC New Delhi: After being closed since March 22 in view of the COVID-19 pandemic, Delhi Metro has received the nod from authorities to resume services from September 7 in a "calibrated manner", officials said on Saturday.

DEL49 PM-LD AGRI PM pitches for taking farm education to middle school level New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday pitched for taking farm education to middle school level, saying necessary reforms have been made in this regard in the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020. DEL48 AYODHYA-GOGOI Ram Janmbhoomi-Babri dispute 'most fiercely-contested case in India's history': Ex-CJI Ranjan Gogoi New Delhi: The Ram Janmbhoomi-Babri Masjid land dispute at Ayodhya was the "most fiercely-contested cases in India's legal history" in which every point was "hotly" debated and "passionately" argued by the lawyers, former Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi, who headed the bench that delivered the historic verdict, has said.

DEL40 CONG-JITIN PRASADA-LD INTERVIEW (PTI EXCLUSIVE) Letter 'misconstrued'; never sought leadership change: Jitin Prasada New Delhi: Congress leader Jitin Prasada, one of the 23 leaders who wrote to party chief Sonia Gandhi seeking organisational changes, said on Saturday that the letter is being "misconstrued" and he has full faith in the top leadership. By Asim Kamal DEL13 MONSOON August receives 25 pc more rainfall; highest in 44 years: IMD New Delhi: India has received the highest rainfall in the month of August in the last 44 years, IMD data shows, as several parts of the country have witnessed floods. Legal LGD9 SC-BHUSHAN-CONTEMPT Prashant Bhushan contempt case: SC set to pronounce quantum of sentence Monday New Delhi: The Supreme Court is scheduled to pronounce on August 31 its verdict on the quantum of sentence to be awarded to activist-lawyer Prashant Bhushan, convicted for contempt of court over his two tweets against the judiciary.

Business DCM5 BIZ-GST-STATES Centre writes to states suggesting options of borrowing money to make up for GST shortfall New Delhi: The central government on Saturday wrote to states suggesting options of borrowing money to make up for the Rs 2.35 lakh crore shortfall in GST revenues expected in the ongoing fiscal. Foreign FGN28 CHINA-TIBET-XI Xi calls for building ‘new modern socialist’ Tibet, favours Tibetan Buddhism’s 'sinicisation' Beijing: Chinese President Xi Jinping has called for building a "new modern socialist" Tibet, constructing an "impregnable wall" against separatism in the sensitive Himalayan region and "sinicisation" of the Tibetan Buddhism, the official media reported on Saturday. By K J M Varma Sports SPD7 SPO-LD AWARDS In a first, sportspersons receive national honours virtually New Delhi: India's sporting heroes were bestowed the annual national awards in an unparalleled online ceremony amid the COVID-19 pandemic during which athletes logged in from multiple cities to be honoured by President Ram Nath Kovind on Saturday. PTI HDA