Republic Top 10 Headlines: DRDO's successful test; Centre Vs Twitter; Vazegate & More

DRDO Successfully Test-fires Pinaka & 122mm Caliber Rockets Off Odisha's Coast

The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has successfully test-fired an extended range version of indigenously developed Pinaka rocket from a Multi-Barrel Rocket Launcher (MBRL) system. The test was carried out at Integrated Test Range (ITR), Chandipur off the coast of Odisha on June 24 and 25. Twenty-five Enhanced Pinaka Rockets were launched in quick succession against targets at different ranges. All the mission objectives were met during the launches.

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Twitter Replies To Republic's Queries On Locking Law Min's Account; Cites Copyright Policy

In response to Republic Media Network's 5 questions on its one-hour lockdown of Union IT & Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad's account on Friday morning, Twitter has maintained that a temporary restriction was placed on the Minister's account due to a DMCA notice. Stating that the action was taken in response to a copyright complaint, Twitter said that tweet in question has been withheld. 

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Sachin Vaze Grilled By ED In Taloja Jail, Even As Agency Raids Anil Deshmukh In Nagpur

In a sensational development, hours before raids were conducted at former Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh's Nagpur residence, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) also questioned tainted ex-Mumbai Police cop Sachin Vaze at Taloja jail where he is currently lodged. Sachin Vaze was earlier arrested by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in relation to the Antilia bomb scare case and the Mansukh Hiren murder case, and now, the extortion allegations levelled by his former boss Param Bir Singh against Anil Deshmukh have also caught up with the disgraced former encounter cop. 

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Report On Delhi Govt Inflating O2 Requirement Turns Kejriwal Emotional; CM Defends Effort

As the BJP slammed the Delhi Government for allegedly inflating the national capital's Oxygen requirement during the second wave of COVID-19 by four times, CM Arvind Kejriwal has asked the BJP not to disrespect the citizens of Delhi who have lost their loved ones during COVID.

Kejriwal took to Twitter to issue a rather emotional response saying, "My crime - I fought for my 2 crore people. When you were doing an election rally, I was awake all night arranging for Oxygen. I fought, pleaded to get people oxygen. People have lost their loved ones due to the lack of oxygen. Don't call them liars, they feel so bad."

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'COVISHIELD, COVAXIN Effective Against Delta Variant; 48 Cases Reported So Far': MoHFW

The Union Health Ministry on Friday informed that the average daily new COVID-19 cases continue to decline from 3,89,803 cases between May 1 to May 7 to 53,093 cases between June 19 to June 25. Since the highest reported peak of 37.45 lakh, active cases on May 10, India's active caseload (6,12,868) has decreased by roughly 83 percent. Case positivity is also rapidly decreasing, falling from 21.6 percent between April 30 and May 6 to 3.1 percent between June 18 and 24. ICMR DG Dr. Balram Bhargava informed that Covidshield and Covaxin work against the variants of SARS CoV 2. The Health Ministry stated that it was an Indian scientist who identified the variants and put it onto the global database. 

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SII Begins Production Of 'Covovax' At Pune Facility; CEO Poonawalla Calls It A Milestone

The Serum Institute of India (SII) announced that it has reached a new milestone in vaccine production, as the manufacturing of the first batch of Covovax vaccine began at its Pune facility on Friday. The SII is producing Novavax's COVID-19 vaccine in the country under the name Covovax.“A new milestone has been reached; this week we began our first batch of Covovax (a COVID-19 vaccine developed by Novavax) at our facility, here in Pune: Serum Institute India," the company wrote on Twitter.

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'Vaccinating Children Still Debatable': ICMR Director Claims 'need More Relevant Data'

The Union Health Ministry on Friday said that at present there is only one country that is giving COVID-19 vaccines to children. While addressing a press conference on behalf of the Union Health Ministry, Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) Director-General Dr. Balram Bhargava stated that it is still not clear that very small children should be vaccinated or not and until relevant data is available, children will not be inoculated at large.

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Vismaya case: Family Alleges Torture Over Dowry As Reason For Death As Cops Arrest Husband

In Kerala, a 24-year-old Ayurveda doctor, Vismaya V Nair was found dead in the wee hours of Monday. The initial assertion, that she took her own life, has been challenged by her family, and while the matter is being investigated, what is sure as of now, is that there is a dowry element to the entire case. Her husband S Kiran Kumar, who is presently behind bars, got many 'gifts' at the time of marriage but was unhappy with the car gifted to him by his in-laws, and took this grievance as a reason to allegedly harass his wife. The images of the harassment were shared by Vismaya herself with the family, who on Friday came forward to share their pain with Republic Media Network. 

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Pakistan Aghast As PM Modi & J&K Leaders Have 'conducive' Meet; Asks 'where's Hurriyat?

Left red-faced by New Delhi's kickstart to development and discourse with Jammu & Kashmir and NSA Ajit Doval's tough stance against terrorism at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), Pakistan on Friday downplayed Prime Minister Narendra Modi's key meeting with political parties from the valley. Terming the discussions 'unsuccessful and pointless' even as nearly all attendees of the meeting at 7 Lok Kalyan Marg unanimously welcomed it, Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said that the meeting called by PM Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah was rather a 'public relations exercise'. 

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India, China Agree To Maintain Stability At LAC To Prevent 'untoward Incidents’: MEA

India and China have decided to maintain “stability on the ground and prevent any untoward incident” in the border area in eastern Ladakh at the 22nd meeting of the Working Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination on India-China Border Affairs (WMCC) held on Friday after a gap of over three months.

According to the release by MEA, the two sides agreed to hold the next (12th) round of the Senior Commanders’ meeting at an early date to achieve the objective of complete disengagement from all the friction points along the LAC in the Western Sector in accordance with the existing bilateral agreements and protocols. 

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