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President Trump bowed to pressure on Friday night and announced that he would delay his upcoming campaign rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, rather than hold it on the day that honours the end of slavery in the US and is considered a major holiday by many African-Americans. The rally was originally set for next Friday, or June 19, the date known as Juneteenth, which marks the day in 1865 when Union soldiers arrived in Texas and read the Emancipation Proclamation announcing that slaves had been freed, the last of the Confederate states to officially receive the news. The Trump campaign’s decision…

Amid a standoff with China on the Ladakh border, defence minister Rajnath Singh said on Sunday that India will never compromise on its "national pride", asserting that it is no longer a "weak" country and that its security capability has increased. Speaking at a virtual rally for Jammu and Kashmir, Singh also assured the Opposition that the central government will not keep Parliament or anyone in the dark about developments on the border and will share details at an appropriate time. "I want to assure that we will not compromise with national pride under any circumstance. India is no longer…

A36-year-old man, who went to catch crabs and fish in the Sunderbans area on Saturday morning, died after a tiger attacked him when he was chopping firewood in the forest, an official said. Goshto Naiya had set out on a small boat with three other men from the Deulbari area near Kultali in the South 24-Parganas forest range on Saturday morning, the official said. He was attacked by the tiger from behind in the Chituri forest where he had gone to cut firewood, the official said. Tigers are being frequently spotted in areas that are not considered to be hot…

The Chhattisgarh forest department has suspended four officials, including a sub-divisional forest officer (SDFO), over the deaths of three elephants which took place earlier this week. As per the suspension order, the officials have been found guilty of negligence in duty. Bodies of the three female wild elephants were found in the jungles of Balrampur and Surajpur district between Tuesday and Thursday. All of them were from the same herd and were roaming in the forests of Surguja. “The SDFO KS Khutiya was attached to Chief Conservator of Forest (Regional) Forest Circle of Surguja. Two forest rangers and one forest…

Islamic terrorists killed at least 20 soldiers and more than 40 civilians and injured hundreds in twin attacks in northeast Nigeria’s Borno state on Saturday, residents and a civilian task force fighter said. The attacks, in the Monguno and Nganzai local government areas, came just days after terrorists killed at least 69 people in a raid on a village in a third area, Gubio. Two humanitarian workers and three residents told Reuters that terrorists armed with heavy weaponry including rocket launchers arrived in Monguno, a hub for international non-governmental organizations, at roughly 11 a.m. local time. They overran government forces, taking some…

Kolkata: On a day 40 policemen were released from hospital after being treated successfully for COVID-19, the Kolkata Police also reported two deaths, a police constable and a police man in the force. Respects were paid to constable Dilip Sardar, who was posted at Sealdah Traffic Guard. He died on Saturday. He had been admitted to a state-run hospital in Kolkata earlier this week.Constable Sebastian Xaxa of South Division reportedly died last Saturday. The Kolkata police commissioner Anuj Sharma paid homage to Constable Xaxa.  Both were described as "COVID Warriors" by Kolkata Police, which tweeted messages of condolence. Families of both…

China: China reported 57 new cases of the coronavirus on Sunday, the highest daily figure since April, as concerns grow about a resurgence of the disease. The domestic outbreak in China had been brought largely under control through strict lockdowns that were imposed early this year -- but a new outbreak has been linked to a meat and vegetable market in south Beijing. The National Health Commission said 36 of the new cases were domestic infections in the capital. The other two domestic infections reported Sunday were in northeastern Liaoning province, and local health officials said they were close contacts of…

New Delhi: Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal are holding a meeting to review the national capital's response to coronavirus, two days after the Supreme Court pulled up the Delhi government over the "horrendous, horrific and pathetic" situation in the city. The meeting comes amid spike in the COVID-19 infections in the national capital, which has the third highest number of virus cases in India after Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu. This is the second meeting between Amit Shah and Arvind Kejriwal in less than a week over the pandemic. Today's meeting, which began at 11 am,…