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According to the Indian Council of Medical Research, India has crossed the nine-million mark in conducting COVID-19 tests, with 90,56,173 samples having been examined until July 1. The total number of COVID-19 cases reported so far in the country stands at 6,04,641 ‬including 3,59,859 people who have been cured of the disease and discharged and 17,834 people who died. An international tribunal dealing with the killing of two Indian fishermen in 2012 by two Italian marines has upheld the conduct of the Indian authorities over the incident, the Ministry of External Affairs said on Thursday.

1. COVID-19 news from across the nation

According to the Indian Council of Medical Research, India has crossed the nine-million mark in conducting COVID-19 tests, with 90,56,173 samples having been examined until July 1. The total number of COVID-19 cases reported so far in the country stands at 6,04,641 ‬including 3,59,859 people who have been cured of the disease and discharged and 17,834 people who died.

2. Int'l tribunal upheld conduct of authorities in Italian tanker case: MEA

An international tribunal dealing with the killing of two Indian fishermen in 2012 by two Italian marines has upheld the conduct of the Indian authorities over the incident, the Ministry of External Affairs said on Thursday.

3. Pakistan extends for another 3 months custody of Daniel Pearl's killers

Pakistan's Sindh province government on Thursday extended for another three months the custody of British-born al-Qaeda leader Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh and his three aides whose sentences in the abduction and murder of US journalist Daniel Pearl in 2002 were overturned in April.

4. After centre snub, Priyanka to use Lucknow house to resurrect Congress base

Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi is all set to shift to Lucknow to revamp party's base ahead of the Uttar Pradesh elections in 2022. The move comes after the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, asked the Congress leader to vacate the bungalow allocated to her in Lutyens' Bungalow Zone (LBZ), citing the reasons of the withdrawal of SPG protection to her.

5. Entire 2 million people cannot be actors: NCW chief welcomes ban on Tik-Tok app

Tik Tok is one of the 59 Chinese apps banned in India by the government to ensure safety and sovereignty of Indian cyberspace. While speaking to ETV Bharat, the National Commission of Women (NCW) chief Rekha Sharma commented on Tik-Tok ban in India and said, "With TikTok, everything was an issue. People used to put every kind of content promoting violence against women, the elderly, against our nation, and also anti-religion content."

6. Covid-19: A hard choice between saving lives and saving economy

The recent increase in the number of confirmed Covid-19 cases in both India and the world comes at a time when the countries just started to relax lockdown measures to revive the economy. In India, the Modi government started to unlock the economy from June 8 after five rounds of lockdown between March 5 and June 7.

7. Two elephants found dead in Coimbatore, one due to gunshot wound

Two elephants were found dead in this district, one due to gunshot wounds at Kandiyur and the other following ill-health while the carcass of another jumbo was found in nearby Nilgiris, forest department officials said on Thursday.

8. 'Younis Khan had a knife to my throat': Grant Flower on being Pakistan's batting coach

Former Pakistan skipper Younis Khan had once held a knife to ex-batting coach Grant Flower's throat for offering him batting tips, the former Zimbabwe batsman has claimed."Younis Khan… quite tough to master," said Flower, who is currently serving as Sri Lanka's batting coach, on a chat show.

9. Workers of SECL's mines go on three-day strike in Chhattisgarh

Coal production is likely to be affected in the South Eastern Coalfields Limited's (SECL) mines in Chhattisgarh, as workers went on a three-day strike starting Thursday to protest against the Centre's decision on commercial coal mining.

10. Exclusive: Haryana dancer Sapna Choudhary dwells on her struggling days to being a star

In an exclusive interview with ETV Bharat, Haryana dancer and Big Boss fame Sapna Choudhary spoke on various topics ranging from her struggle days to being a top dancer to taking a plunge into politics. She said that things were not very smooth when she started her career. She said that in the early days of her career, the only male audience used to come to watch her show but now things have changed for good.