Amid speculations about the resignation of Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa, Congress leader and Leader of Opposition in Karnataka Legislative Assembly Siddaramaiah on Thursday said that the BJP has taken no action against those party leaders who spoke against Yediyurappa.

Siddaramaiah demanded a leadership change, terming the chief minister and the BJP high command in the state 'weak'.

Amid speculations of expansion of the Uttar Pradesh cabinet ahead of Assembly elections next year, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, who is on a two-day visit to Delhi, will meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP National President JP Nadda here on Friday.

The Chief Minister is scheduled to meet PM Modi at his residence at 7 Lok Kalyan Marg at 10:45 am. Later, he will meet Nadda at his residence at 12 noon.

The annual Rath Yatra of Lord Shree Jagannath in Puri will be held this year and servitors who have received vaccine shots and test negative for Covid-19 will be allowed to attend rituals.

This will be the second year in a row when the devotees will not be allowed to attend the celebrations due to second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The price for 22-carat gold on Friday inched higher to Rs 47,880 for 10 gm from Rs 47,680 and silver was flat at Rs 71,400 per kg, according to the Good Returns website.

Gold jewellery price varies across India, the second-largest consumer of the metal, due to excise duty, state taxes, and making changes.

With the onset of Monsoons in Maharashtra, Mumbai witnessed heavy showers on Thursday (June 10) and it is still continuing to rain in the Maximum City. Streets are waterlogged disrupting traffic in many parts of the city. Waterlogging has been reported in several parts of the city including Mahim and Andheri East.

Meanwhile, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) has issued an Orange Alert warning for Pune, Satara and Kolhapur districts in western Maharashtra on Saturday and Sunday, and for Bhandara, Gondia and Gadchiroli districts in the Vidharbha region on Sunday.

President Joe Biden plans to announce on Thursday that the US will purchase and donate half a billion (50 crore) doses of Pfizer vaccines to 92 low- and lower-middle-income countries and the African Union in a historic action that will help supercharge the global fight against the pandemic, according to the White House.

This is the largest-ever purchase and donation of vaccines by a single country and a commitment by the American people to help protect people around the world from COVID-19, the White House said ahead of the announcement by Biden at the G-7 Summit in the UK.

India reported 94,052 new COVID-19 cases, taking the infection tally to 2,91,83,121, while the death toll climbed to 3,59,676 with 6,148 fatalities being recorded in a day, the highest since the outbreak of the pandemic, according to the Union Health Ministry's data updated on Thursday.

Bihar reconciled its figures and put the total number of fatalities caused by the disease at 9,429 after verification, it said.

India will be receiving a share of the 80 million (8 crores) unused COVID-19 vaccines through the UN-backed COVAX global vaccine sharing programme that President Joe Biden has announced, according to a senior State Department official.

On June 2, President Biden announced that the US will allocate 75 per cent - nearly 1.9 crores of the first tranche of 2.5 crore doses - of unused COVID-19 vaccines from its stockpile through the UN-backed COVAX global vaccine sharing programme to countries in South and Southeast Asia as well as Africa.

While more than 3 in 4 Indian workers (74 per cent) are keen on flexible remote work options, 57 per cent employees feel overworked as digital intensity increases in the country, a new Microsoft report showed on Thursday, as the country prepares to reopen after the lethal second Covid wave.

At the same time, 73 per cent of those surveyed said they are craving more in-person time with their teams.

JSW Steel on Thursday posted a 10 per cent growth in its crude steel production at 13.67 lakh tonne (LT) during May 2021.

The company had produced 12.48 LT steel in the same month last year, the steel maker said in a regulatory filing.

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