Top 10 News @ 9 AM

Pakistan initiated unprovoked ceasefire violation by firing with small arms & intense shelling with mortars in Mendhar and Balakote sectors on Wednesday. A civilian was killed while another suffered injuries in the incident. Meanwhile, Uttar Pradesh Special Task Force killed an aide of gangster Vikas Dubey who was involved in an ambush in Kanpur last week in which eight policemen died. This and more, read top national stories at a glance.

1. Close aide of Vikas Dubey killed in encounter in Uttar Pradesh

The Uttar Pradesh Special Task Force on Wednesday killed an aide of gangster Vikas Dubey who was involved in an ambush in Kanpur last week in which eight policemen died, a senior official said.Amar Dubey, who carried a reward of Rs 25,000, was killed in an encounter in Maudaha village in Hamirpur district, Special Task Force IG Amitabh Yash said.

2. Civilian killed, another injured in Pakistan shelling in Jammu and Kashmir's Mendhar

An elderly civilian was killed and another injured as Pakistan shelled mortars in Poonch district's Mendhar sector on Wednesday. Pakistan initiated unprovoked ceasefire violation by firing small arms & intense shelling with Mortars along LoC in Balakote and Mendhar sectors at about 2 am. The firing stopped at around 2:45 am.

3. 55-year-old man held for raping cow in Bhopal

A 55-year-old man was arrested for allegedly raping a cow at a dairy farm in Bhopal's Sundar Nagar area, police said on Tuesday. The incident took place on July 4 and the accused has been booked under Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code," said Alok Srivastava, Ashoka Garden Police Station In-Charge.

4. 12 killed in lightning strikes in Bihar; CM announces Rs 4 lakh ex-gratia to kin

As many as twelve persons died due to lightning in Bihar, state Disaster Management Department said. Seven persons died in Begusarai and one each in Bhagalpur, Banka, Munger, Kaimur and Jamui districts. Chief Minister Nitish Kumar announced an ex-gratia of Rs 4 lakh each to the kin of the twelve people who lost their lives in the lightning strikes.

5. Kanpur Police release pictures of accomplices of Vikas Dubey

Tightening the noose, the Kanpur police have released the photos of gangster Vikas Dubey, main accused in the Kanpur encounter case. All police personnel of the Chaubepur police station are under the scope of the investigation as well. The bounty on the arrest of Dubey has also been increased to Rs 2.5 lakhs.

6. Pawar recalls visits by Nehru, Chavan to border post-1962 war

NCP chief Sharad Pawar said on Tuesday that he was not surprised that Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Ladakh, and reminded that Jawaharlal Nehru visited the region after the 1962 war and so did then defence minister Yashwantrao Chavan. Speaking to reporters here, Pawar recalled that when he was the defence minister in 1993, he had gone to China and a treaty was signed, under which soldiers from both the sides were to be pulled back.

7. Kashmir: Huge cache of arms recovered near LOC in North Kashmir

A large cache of arms was recovered during a search operation in the Uri sector in North Kashmir on Tuesday afternoon. The Army claimed to have recovered a large quantity of arms and ammunition near the Line of Control in Uri sector of North Kashmir.The Army said that a joint search operation was launched near the Line of Control (LOC) on the basis of reliable input. The Army confirmed that a large quantity of arms and ammunition was recovered from an arms dump during the operation.

8. India shouldn't budge an inch till status quo ante restored at Indo-China border: PAC chief Adhir

Leader of the Congress party in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury Tuesday said the retreat of the Chinese Army in Ladakh vindicated the argument that intrusions had indeed taken place on the Indian side of the LAC and asserted we will not budge an inch before status quo ante is restored at the border.

9. India likely to change HCQ policy for COVID-19

India's apex medical research institute, ICMR is contemplating to bring changes in its Hydroxy-chloroquine (HCQ) policy as treatment and prophylaxis for COVID-19. Officials in ICMR told ETV Bharat that the move was initiated after World Health Organisation (WHO) recently decided to discontinue HCQ clinical trials "because it did not reduce mortality in hospitalised patients following results of interim trials."

10. 60 ITBP companies to be deployed in 'grey zones' along LAC amid India-China dispute

Amid the India-China standoff, as many as 60 companies of the Indo-Tibet Border Police (ITBP) are being deployed at grey zones along the LAC. ITBP was raised in the aftermath of the 1962 Chinese aggression and its posts are located between 9,000 feet-18,700 feet in the western, middle and eastern sectors of this front.