Live News June 25: Monsoon session of Parliament to commence from July 18

Five-term BJP MLA from Rajasthan, Ghanshyam Tiwari has resigned from the party over his differences with Rajasthan chief minister Vasundhara Raje, who he accused of propagating nepotism and corruption.

In a strongly-worded resignation letter to BJP President Amit Shah, he accused state ministers and bureaucrats of robbing the public.

At a press conference later, he said that the country was going through an “undeclared emergency.” “I have witnessed both the phases and I am tendering my resignation from the party to fight against it,” he said.

The meteorological department on Monday warned of "heavy to very heavy rainfall" in five northern districts of West Bengal for five consecutive days till June 29.

"Heavy to very heavy rainfall (7-20 cm) will occur in most places of Darjeeling, Kalimpong, Jalpaiguri, Cooch Behar and Alipurduar districts from June 25-June 29, caused by an upper-air cyclonic circulation over West Assam and sub-Himalayan West Bengal," a bulletin from the Met department said.

India on Monday announced a $100 million line of credit to Seychelles to strengthen its defence capabilities and maritime infrastructure even as the two countries decided to work together in the interest of each other on the controversial deal on Assomption Island, where India wants to build a strategic facility.

"I feel pleasure in announcing a credit of $100 million for Seychelles defence. With this credit Seychelles will be able to buy defence equipments from India to build its maritime capacity," Prime Minister Narendra Modi said at a joint press meet with Seychelles President Danny Faure after talks between the two leaders at Hyderabad House.

The Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) on Monday said it will wait for the Supreme Court's order to build the Ram Mandir at the disputed site in Ayodhya "lawfully" but expressed its opposition to a mosque next to it. VHP Working President Alok Kumar said he expected the court's order by the end of this year and it would be in favour of the temple.

"We want the Supreme Court to start day-to-day hearing in the case from July. We expect its decision would come by end of this year and construction would start next year," Kumar told reporters.

In case, the decision does not come by the end of the year, the VHP would consult saints to decide the next course of action, he added.

A 30-year old Dalit was allegedly beaten up for riding a motorcycle past the house of a sarpanch in a village, the police said.

A video purportedly showing the incident has also gone viral on social media.

The police arrested the sarpanch of Dharampur village and four others in connection with the incident which occurred last week, Deri police post's assistant sub-inspector (ASI) Ramsewak Jha said.

The victim, Dayaram Ahirwar (a Dalit), in his complaint alleged that on June 21, the village sarpanch, Hemant Kurmi, his brothers and one of their neighbours beat him up severely after objecting to his riding a motorcycle in front of their house, Jha said.

Hundreds of contractual employees of state-run roadways corporation went on strike in Punjab on Monday demanding higher pay scales and regularization of services. The travel plans of thousands of passengers was affected due to the strike.

Reports from Moga, Ludhiana, Jalandhar and Amritsar districts said that scores of Punjab Roadways and PUNBUS buses remained off the roads on Monday. Nearly 1,500 buses went off the roads as over 3,000 contractual employees joined the strike.

The protesting roadways staff said that if the government did not agree to their demands, they will intensify their agitation.

Talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Seychelles President Danny Faure are underway, during which cooperation in key areas such as defence and security is expected to be discussed.

The meeting between the two leaders are going on at Hyderabad House.

Jammu and Kashmir Independent MLA Engineer Rashid was detained on Monday when he took out a protest march to the Secretariat against civilian killings and threats to Kashmiri journalists.
Police intercepted the march and took Engineer Rashid and his supporters into preventive custody.
The MLA berated BJP leader Choudhary Lal Singh for telling Kashmiri journalists "to draw a line and change their narrative after the killing of (senior journalist) Shujaat Bukhari".

The Monsoon session of Parliament will commence from July 18 and end on August 10, the Cabinet Committee of Parliamentary Affairs recommended on Monday.

The CCPA, chaired by Home Minister Rajanth Singh, met on Monday to recommend the dates. The President will now formally convene the session.

The session will have nearly 18 sittings, Parliamentary Affairs minister Ananth Kumar told reporters.

Nine years on, the Maharashtra CID is still probing a complaint filed by social activist Anna Hazare against former state minister Padamsinh Patil for allegedly conspiring to kill him, according to an RTI query.

Hazare had lodged the complaint in September 2009 against Patil and four others for allegedly giving 'supari' (contract) to one Parasmal Jain to kill the social activist.

A community militia killed 32 civilians in an attack on a village in central Mali then returned shortly after Malian soldiers left and killed four more, the head of the West African nation's largest ethnic Fulani association has said.

Mali's government earlier in the day confirmed the first attack and said 16 people were killed, as the Fulani ethnic group faces growing pressure over accusations of links to al-Qaida extremists.

The death tolls differed because many bodies had been buried by the time Malian soldiers responded, Abdoul Aziz Diallo with the Tabital Pulaku association told The Associated Press.

The Supreme Court will on Wednesday hear a plea by 17 AIADMK MLAs of the Dinakaran faction seeking the transfer of the case challenging their disqualification to the apex court from the Madras High Court.

A vacation bench comprising Justice Arun Mishra and Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul agreed to hear the plea after it was mentioned on Monday for an early hearing

Torrential rains clobbered large areas of Mumbai and adjoining Thane, Palghar and Raigad districts in Maharashtra seriously hitting road traffic and rail operations, claiming at least five lives in rain-related incidents, officials said here on Monday. According to IMD, till 8.30 am in the past 24 hours, Mumbai suburbs received a 231.5 mm and the city got 100 mm rains, with predictions of more heavy rains over the next two days.

US President Donald Trump now wants speedy deportations without judicial process: “When somebody comes in, we must immediately, with no Judges or Court Cases, bring them back from where they came”. Trump is ramping up the anti-immigration rhetoric ahead of mid-term polls in the US.

Owing to continuing heavy showers, several parts of Mumbai, like Dharavi, Sion, Matunga, Hindmata, Malad, Kurla, Andheri subway, Bhandup, Worli and Lower Parel, are flooded with water up to two to three feet, and vehicles got stuck in some places. "Traffic has been diverted from Sion, King's circle, National College in Bandra, Siddharth Hospital in Goregaon, Chembur Phatak, Pratiksha Nagar in Sion, Vikhroli, Milan Subway in Santacruz and Powai area of the city," a statement issued by BMC said.

Local train services of the Central Railway (CR), Western Railway (WR) and on the Harbour Line corridor were running late by 5 to 10 minutes, officials said.

The IMD has predicted heavy-to-very heavy rain in the city in the next 24 to 48 hours.

Three have been killed in rain-related incidents in Mumbai on Monday, June 25, as the monsoon picked up momentum, bringing heavy showers to the city and adjoining Thane, officials said today. Heavy rains lashed the metropolis and Thane district throughout the night and continued this morning, causing water-logging at several places and slowing the movement of suburban trains, thus causing inconvenience to office-goers.

Two persons were killed last evening when a tree fell on them near Metro Cinema in south Mumbai, said an official from the disaster management unit of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC). A 13-year-old boy was killed and his parents were injured when an adjacent wall collapsed on their house at Wadol village in Ambernath taluka of Thane around 2.15 am today, the district civic body's regional disaster management cell chief Santosh Kadam said.

Five people were killed and five others injured when a speeding car hit an auto-rickshaw on Monday in Telangana's Ranga Reddy, police said. The accident occurred near Lingala area. According to the police, a group of 10 women with their vegetables were on their way to a market in Hyderabad when the car coming from opposite direction rammed into the three-wheeler. The injured were shifted to hospitals in Ibrahimpatnam and Hyderabad. The death toll may increase as the three were in critical condition.

A shutdown called by separatists on Monday affected life across the Kashmir Valley with heavy security deployed in Srinagar and other vulnerable places. The Valley-wide protest shutdown was called by the Joint Residence Leadership (JRL) against continuing civilian killings in Kashmir.

Shops, public transport, other business establishments and educational institutions remained closed in Srinagar city and other district headquarters of the Valley. Rail services between Baramulla and Bannihal towns have been suspended as a precautionary measure. Internet services have also been suspended in south Kashmir areas.

As many as 10,000 single women from West Bengal, Himachal Pradesh, Telangana, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Jharkhand and Punjab have written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to share their problems on the occasion of the International Widows' Day on Sunday. The National Forum for Single Women's Rights launched in 2009 has coordinated this postcard campaign. Requests to the PM include minimum social security pensions under the National Food Security Act and a need to extend government schemes for skilling youth to crores of single women in the country.

The rupee weakened by 29 paise to 68.13 against the dollar in early trade on Monday, June 25 as demand for the American unit from importers and banks picked up. The domestic equity markets opening lower also put pressure on the rupee. On Friday, June 22, the rupee had continued its rally for the third straight session, strengthening 14 paise to end at 67.84 against the dollar amid sustained unwinding of American currency by exporters.

Vidya Balan-starrer Tumhari Sulu about a housewife who lands a job as a radio jockey, edged out films such as Hindi Medium and Newton to win the Best Picture Award at the Indian International Film Awards 2018 in Bangkok, Thailand.

The IIFA award ceremony was hosted by director Karan Johar and actor Riteish Deshmukh.

IIFA Winners:

• Tumhari Sulu, Best Picture
• Irrfan Khan, best actor, for Hindi Medium
• Sridevi, Best Female Actor, for Mom
• Saket Chowdhary, Best Director, for Hindi Medium
• Meher Vij, Best Female Supporting Actor, for Secret Superstar
• Nawazzudin Siddiqui, Best Male Supporting Actor Award, for Mom
• Amit Masurkar, Best Story, for Newton
• Arijit Singh, Best Playback Singer (Male), for "Hawayein" in Jab Harry Met Sejal
• Meghna Mishra, Best Playback Singer (Female), for "Main Kaun Hoon" from Secret Superstar
• Amaal Mallik, Tanishk Bagchi and Akhil Sachdeva, Best Music Direction Award for Badrinath Ki Dulhania

Tributes were also paid to the fallen legends of the film industry—Sridevi, Vinod Khanna and Shashi Kapoor. Anupam Kher, who has over 500 films to his credit, was honoured with the Outstanding Achievement Award.

The BSE Sensex declined about 67 points in early session today on profit-booking by speculators amid mixed Asian cues on worries over a US-China trade war. The 30-share flagship index was down 67.80 points, or 0.18%, to 35,621.80. The gauge had soared 257.21 points in the previous session on Friday. Sectoral indices led by oil and gas, auto, banking, PSU, power and infrastructure stocks fell by up to 0.53%.

• NSE Nifty lower by 20.60 points, or 0.19% at 10,801.25
• Rupee depreciates, slips 29 paise to quote at 68.13 against the dollar
• Hong Kong's Hang Seng weakened 0.49%
• Japan's Nikkei lost 0.34% in early trade
• Shanghai Composite Index moved up 0.17%
• US Dow Jones Industrial Average ended 0.49% higher on Friday

• Turkey's Erdogan wins absolute majority in crucial elections
• Key Indian equity indices open flat to negative
• Heat wave, high humidity continues in UP
• Clashes in Nigeria between farmers, herders leave 86 dead (Lead)
• Trump advocates depriving undocumented immigrants of due-process rights
• Bihar CM Nitish Kumar: Climate change affecting agriculture in Bihar

Follow National Herald’s live news blog to get all the news in one place on events, happenings and newsmakers on June 25