Haryana And UP Governments Made Mask Mandatory In NCR Districts

HT Daily News Wrap

Haryana and UP governments made mask-wearing mandatory in public places in all National Capital Region (NCR) districts, Commuters were in for a rough ride, as most autos and taxis in Delhi and the National Capital Region (NCR) stayed off the roads, head coach Rahul Dravid and skipper Rohit Sharma are likely going to face a happy selection headache while building the perfect India eleven for this year's T20 World Cup, and other top news in this bulletin.
Good morning! Here are the top stories in your morning news bulletin. US president Joe Biden is not planning to visit Kyiv, despite Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky urging him to demonstrate US support for the fight against Russia by traveling to the embattled capital, the White House said Monday. “There’s no plans for the president to go. Let me just reiterate that,” Press Secretary Jen Psaki told reporters. A string of European leaders have made the trip to Kyiv and met with Zelensky. Commuters were in for a rough ride on Monday, as most autos and taxis in Delhi and the National Capital Region (NCR) stayed off the roads, in a protest against rising fuel prices. Scores were stranded, especially at the airport and railway stations, as their ride-hailing aggregator services showed no available taxis or autos, forcing most to use the Metro or buses, where possible. In what has been described as the “second phase of war” by Kyiv, Russia is said to have launched a fresh offensive in the east of the country. The Donetsk region frontline was rocked by powerful explosions with shelling taking place in Marinka, Slavyansk and Kramatorsk, news agency Reuters cited local media as reporting. Moscow’s assault in the rebel-held region of Donbas in the east has started, Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky has said. . “No matter how many Russian troops they send there, we will fight. We will defend ourselves,” he underlined, declaring that the war-battered country will continue the resistance. The Haryana and Uttar Pradesh (UP) governments on Monday made mask-wearing mandatory in public places in all National Capital Region (NCR) districts, amid an uptick in Covid-19 cases in Delhi and its adjoining cities. While residents in Haryana will be fined ₹500, the UP government’s order did not specify a penalty amount. Both states also said that all positive samples would be sent for genome sequencing, in a bid to understand the predominant variant circulating in the region. The Congress on Monday held several key meetings to deliberate on the party’s strategy for the upcoming assembly polls with an eye on the 2024 general elections, with several top leaders congregating at party president Sonia Gandhi’s residence, HT has learnt. Election strategist Prashant Kishor, who was part of these deliberations, refused to divulge any details. In separate meetings held at Gandhi’s residence, the party’s top brass brainstormed ideas to overcome its electoral setbacks and chalk out a strategy for the assembly elections in Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat slated towards the end of this year. On Monday, Amitabh Bachchan penned a post giving blessings to his grandson Agastya Nanda for his film debut. Amitabh said he was extremely proud as Agastya starts filming for the Netflix live-action musical, The Archies. The original post also hinted that Shah Rukh Khan and Gauri Khan’s daughter Suhana Khan and Boney Kapoor and Sridevi’s daughter Khushi Kapoor will also mark their debut with the film. Head coach Rahul Dravid and skipper Rohit Sharma are likely going to face a happy selection headache while building the perfect India eleven for this year’s T20 World Cup. It’s no secret that India have a wide talent pool in the build-up to the T20 showpiece in Australia. While young players like Arshdeep Singh and Umran Malik are steadily rising up the ranks, a couple of seasoned names have knocked on the door for India comeback.