Pragya Thakur appears in court regarding Malegaon blast case

  • The MP from Bhopal has claimed innocence and told the court that she had not information of the explosions.
  • Thakur is an accused in the Malegaon blast case and is out in bail citing poor healt.
  • Thakur had skipped the hearing on Thursday citing poor health but was seen appearing at a ceremony in Bhopal.

May to resign as UK PM: race to find a new Conservative leader begins

  • A new PM and Conservative Party leader is likely to be chosen by late July.
  • She will step down as a party leader but continue to remain the PM until a new leader is elected.
  • PM Theresa May decided to step down of her position after she failed to finalise a Brexit deal with the EU.

Amit Shah appointed as ex-officio member of NITI Aayog

  • Rajiv Kumar will continue in his position of Vice Chairperson.
  • Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar will also be ex-officio members.
  • Bibek Debroy, an economist, has been dropped from the commission along with NITI Aayog Chief Executive Officer Amitabh Kant.

Kerala govertment issues alert in two districts as heavy rain warnings are issued

  • The Kerala State Disaster Management Authority issued an orange alert in Kollam, Alappuzha, Ernakulam and Thiruvanathapuram district.
  • The India Meteorological Department predicted a possibility of heavy to very heavy rainfall, between 115 mm to 204.5 mm.
  • An “orange alert” is usually issued to forecast extremely bad weather, warning citizens to be prepared for evacuation.