INDIA bloc MPs gathered in the Parliament complex on Monday in a show of strength on the first day of the first session of the 18th Lok Sabha, holding copies of the Constitution and raising slogans on "saving democracy".

Opposition leaders, including Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, party leader Rahul Gandhi, Trinamool Congress' Sudip Bandyopadhyay, DMK's TR Baalu, among others assembled at the spot where the Gandhi statue once stood in the Parliament complex.

A day after Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and the Congress slammed the Centre over the pro-tem Speaker appointment issue, the BJP on Saturday hit back by asking the grand old party to make Kodikunnil Suresh as the Opposition leader in the Lok Sabha.

Both Vijayan and the Congress have claimed that not appointing Suresh, the senior most MP in the Lok Sabha, as the pro-tem Speaker is a violation of the conventions followed in the past.

Long lines of people were seen queuing up on Saturday to fetch water from tankers across parts of the national capital, as the city continued to sizzle in the summer heat.

Morning visuals showed people from Chilla Gaon of Mayur Vihar area, Sanjay Colony, Okhla area, and Geeta Colony area standing in queues, holding onto cans and buckets and crowding around water tankers amid water shortage in the national capital this summer.

Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Friday launched a scathing attack on the government over exam paper leaks, saying the issue has become a national problem under the BJP rule which has "ruined the future" of crores of youth.

The Congress general secretary's attack comes amid outcry against alleged irregularities in the medical entrance examination NEET and also the cancellation of the UGC-NET examination on Wednesday a day after it was held, citing compromised integrity of the test.

The NCP (SP) agreed to contest fewer seats than its Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) allies during the Lok Sabha elections but the situation would be different in the assembly polls, a party leader has quoted its supremo Sharad Pawar as saying.

Pawar held two meetings here on Friday, one with the party's functionaries from Pune city and district, and another with its MLAs and newly-elected MPs.

The Centre on Friday operationalised a stringent law that aims to curb malpractices and irregularities in competitive examinations and entails provisions for a maximum jail term of 10 years and a fine of up to Rs 1 crore for offenders.

Nearly four months after President Dropadi Murmu gave assent to The Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act, 2024, the Personnel Ministry on Friday night issued a notification, saying the provisions of the law will come into force from June 21.

Britain's wealthiest family, the Hindujas, on Friday said they were appalled by a Swiss court's ruling of jail terms for some members in Geneva and that an appeal has been filed in a higher court challenging the verdict finding them guilty of exploiting vulnerable domestic workers.

In a statement issued on behalf of the family, lawyers from Switzerland stressed their clients Prakash and Kamal Hinduja, both in their 70s, and their son Ajay and his wife Namrata had been acquitted of all human trafficking charges.

In a shift in stance, the United States has told Ukraine that it can use American-supplied weapons to hit Russian forces "anywhere", its forces attack from across the border, and not just the region near Kharkiv, Politico reported, citing US officials.

This subtle shift, which according to the officials is not a change in policy, comes weeks after the US quietly signaled the green light to Kyiv to strike inside Russia in retaliation to a cross-border assault on the city of Kharkiv.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said the world sees yoga as a powerful agent for global good as it helps people live in the present without carrying the baggage of the past.

Addressing a gathering at the 10th International Yoga Day event at the SKICC here, the prime minister said yoga has helped people realise that their welfare is linked to the welfare of the world around them.

Asian shares are ending the week with a whimper after a rally to 26-month highs earlier this week drew profit-taking, while the strength in the US dollar as central banks in Europe cut rates kept pressuring the yen towards the intervention zone.

Overnight, the Swiss National Bank cut rates for a second time while the Bank of England opened the door to an easing in August after holding rates steady. Sterling, the Swiss franc and the euro fell, lifting the dollar broadly.

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