Facebook on Thursday said it has tied up with early stage venture capital fund Matrix Partners to scale small businesses in India by providing them with digital skills.

The tie-up is a part of Facebook's VC Brand Incubator Program that collaborates with venture capital funds to help early-stage small and medium businesses (SMBs) to maximise their digital potential, Facebook said in a statement.

An officer of ASI rank was martyred after unknown terrorists attacked a Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) patrol party in the Chadura area of Jammu and Kashmir’s Budgam district on Thursday.

Identified as Nu Badole, the martyred ASI belonged to Maharashtra's Nagpur. He was attacked by the terrorists and his service rifle was also looted by them before they fled from the scene.

The inauguration of 43 strategically important bridges built by the Border Road Organisation (BRO) in border areas, including seven in Ladakh, has been postponed owing to state mourning, informed the Ministry of Defence on Thursday.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh was scheduled to inaugurate the 43 BRO bridges across seven states and Union Territories on Thursday, but the Defence Ministry postponed the event in view of the death of Suresh Angadi, the Minister of State (MoS), Railways.

With 86,508 new coronavirus cases and 1,129 deaths in the last 24 hours, India's COVID-19 count reached 57,32,519 on Thursday.

According to the Union Health and Family Welfare Ministry, this includes 9,66,382 active cases, and 46,74,988 cured, discharged or migrated patients. The death toll in the country due to the infection has reached 91,149.

Even as actor Nawazuddin Siddiqui faces a police complaint filed by his estranged wife Anjana, accusing him of rape and cheating, his brother Shamas Nawab Siddiqui has come out in his defence. Shamas has claimed that the charges are false, adding that he would approach Bombay High Court over the matter.

Shamas made his assertion over a couple of tweets after Anjana had filed her complaint at Versova Police Station.

Former Bihar DGP Gupteshwar Pandey, who voluntarily retired from service on Tuesday, has announced that he will enter politics and leave his future to the people of Buxar.

Taking to social media, Pandey said the situation has become such that it is time for him to enter politics now.

With over 5 lakh infected persons having recovered from COVID-19, Tamil Nadu has posted a high recovery rate of around 90%, among the badly hit states. As per the government medical bulletin, there are a little over 46,000 active cases in the state, which has recorded nearly 5.58 lakh Covid-19 cases in total.

In a video interaction with the Chief Ministers of states that are badly hit by the pandemic, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is seen appreciating Tamil Nadu’s efforts in mass testing, tracing, and isolation.

Toyota Kirloskar plans to continue selling diesel models of large utility vehicles in the country. However, it doesn’t see much opportunity for diesel products in the smaller, mass market segment.

Diesel is not going anywhere. Diesel will be a mainstay, said Naveen Soni, senior vice-president, sales and service, Toyota Kirloskar Motors. The Japanese automaker operates in India through a joint-venture with the Kirloskar Group.

Shares of Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) dipped 3 per cent to Rs 65.45 on the BSE on Thursday after a massive fire broke out at the state-owned exploration & production company‘s plant in Surat, Gujarat. No one has been injured in the accident so far, the company said.

The reason for the massive fire is being attributed to three consecutive blasts that took place at two terminals of the Hazira-based ONGC plant in Surat at around 3:30 am. The sound could be heard at a distance of over 10 km, ANI reported.

The Gujarat assembly passed the Gunda and Anti-Social Activities (Prevention) Bill, 2020 on the basis of majority during the ongoing five-day Monsoon session.

The proposed bill will facilitate for setting up of Special Courts for the purpose, but these courts won't be able to take cognizance of any offence without the prior sanction of the state government.

Inviting Real Estate Agents, Job Placements Agents, Educational Institutes, Software Service Providers, Real Estate Builders, Marriage Bureaus, Travel Agents, Restaurant Owners, Health & Fitness Centers and other Local Businesses to Post a FREE Classified Advertisement on Cootera.com Classifieds Website.