News updates: AAP MLAs to meet CBI chief, seek probe into 'Operation Lotus'

India on Wednesday recorded 9,808 new Covid cases, taking the nation's tally to 44,428,393. With 45 new deaths, including 10 reconciled by Kerala, the nation's toll from the pandemic has reached 527,874. India's tally of cured Covid cases reached 43,835,852 after 10,828 people recovered from the diseases in the last 24 hours.

The Indian economy probably achieved its fastest annual expansion in the April-June quarter, reported Reuters quoting economists, who expect the pace to slow this quarter and in the next two as higher interest rates hit economic activity. Gross domestic product (GDP) in the three months to June 30 was probably 15.2 per cent higher than a year earlier, a Reuters poll showed this week. The GDP in January-March was up 4.1 per cent from a year before.

In a late-night hearing on Tuesday, the Karnataka High Court upheld an order of the Dharwad municipal commissioner allowing the Ganesh Chaturthi festival to be held at the Hubballi Idgah maidan. Justice Ashok S Kinagi held that the property belonged to the Dharwad municipality and Anjuman-e-Islam was only a leaseholder for a period of 999 years at a fee of Re 1 per year.

As many as 32 MLAs of the ruling UPA coalition in Jharkhand on Tuesday arrived in Raipur by a chartered flight in a bid to thwart the BJP's possible attempt to poach them, and moved into a nearby resort. The United Progressive Alliance of the JMM, Congress, and RJD in Jharkhand has 49 MLAs in the 81-member Assembly. The flight carrying the MLAs took off from the Ranchi airport shortly after 4.30 pm and arrived at Swami Vivekananda Airport in Raipur, the capital of the Congress-ruled Chhattisgarh, around 5:30 pm.