External affairs minister Sushma Swaraj today claimed that a senior Congress leader pressed her to give diplomatic passport to coal scam accused Santosh Bagrodia. "A senior Congress leader was pressing me hard to give diplomatic passport to the Coal Scam accused Santosh Bagrodia," said Sushma Swaraj in a tweet this morning. This comes a day after the Congress-led opposition gunned for Swaraj in Patliament on the first day of the monsoon session. The Rajya Sabha witnessed as many as four adjournments on Tuesday. Sushma has said that she would "disclose name of the leader on the floor of the House". Meanwhile, Santosh Bagrodia said he had approached her for diplomatic passport. "Why is she dragging my name in this? I will respond," he said on Wednesday.

BJP arms its MPs with booklets on Vyapam scam to counter opposition
The Congress is likely to seek an adjournment motion on Wednesday demanding a discussion on the Madhya Pradesh multicrore Vyapam scam and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is getting ready to take on the opposition with a booklet on the scam. The booklet covers answers to all questions that the BJP leaders may face from the Congress and it has been given to the party MPs.

Sensex down for third day; Nifty slips below 8,500
The benchmark BSE Sensex stretched its losses for the third day today, declining over 109 points in early trade on sustained selling by investors amid weak global cues.The NSE Nifty fell below the 8,500-mark to trade at 8,498.65 points, down by 30.80 points, or 0.36% over previous close. The 30-share Sensex fell further by 109.20 points, or 0.38%, to 28,072.94 with IT, metal, tech, banking, capital goods and power stocks leading the fall.

Microsoft issues fix to major Windows vulnerability
Microsoft has issued an emergency patch for a major bug in Windows OS that could have allowed hackers remotely control the affected computer completely. The security bug affects all supported versions of Windows, including Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8, and Windows 8.1. Hackers could easily plant new malicious programs; view, change, or delete data; or create new accounts on the computer with full user rights. Windows users who have enabled automatic Windows Update, needn’t take extra action to fix the patch; others will be required to manually install it. Meanwhile, Microsoft Corp reported a $3.2 billion quarterly net loss, its biggest ever, as the company wrote down its Nokia phone business and demand fell for its Windows operating system.

Kashmir hardline leader Geelani finally gets Indian passport
The Centre has formally issued a passport to Kashmir's hardline Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani to meet his ailing daughter in Saudi Arabia. It is a short duration passport with a validity of nine months. After dragging his feet, Geelani had declared himself 'Indian' on the passport application form on June 5 but later played martyr by claiming that it was out of compulsion.

LG writes to Delhi Govt demanding an explanation on DCW Chief's appointment
Delhi's Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung has said that the appointment of Swati Maliwal as chairperson for the Delhi Commission for Women  is "null and void". Chief minister Arvind Kejriwal had appointed Swati, the wife of Aam Aadmi Party leader Navin Jaihind, to head the panel just four days ago. She took charge on Monday, but yet to receive word from the LG's office approving her appointment.Jung's rejection of Ms Maliwal's appointment is another episode in a series of confrontations over the appointment of key officials and bureaucrats in Delhi between him and the AAP government.

Curfew Rajouri town over IS flag
Curfew has been imposed  Rajouri town of in Jammu and Kashmir and the army held a flag march as protests are being organised following reports that activists of Vishwa Hindu Parishad had burnt flags of the Islamic State - the terror group that's causing havoc in Iraq and Syria. The protesters say that the flags bore Quranic verses and demanded that the persons responsible be arrested.

Parineeti Chopra is the face of Modi's Save the Girl Child campaign in Haryana
Bollywood actor Parineeti Chopra has officially been named the brand ambassador of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's prestigious Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao campaign in her home state Haryana. The announcement was made on Tuesday evening at the launch of the campaign in Gurgaon by Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar. The 26-year-old actor had been chosen for the campaign as she hailed from Ambala.

Uber rolls out cash payments across 4 more Indian cities
Taxi services company Uber will accept cash payments in four more cities — Ahmedabad, Chandigarh, Jaipur and Kochi. It had begun this facility in Hyderabad.  Earlier this year, it had started accepting credit card payments in India again. Last year, legislation forced it to switch to a mobile wallet payment system.

Dengue in Delhi: Private blood banks told to give platelets for free
The Delhi government has asked private blood banks to provide platelets for free and have dedicated beds for dengue patients. Assuring that they have adequate supply of blood and platelets with them, the city government said that it will ensure that there is no shortage of beds during the outbreak. Dengue is transmitted by several species of mosquito within the genus Aedes. Symptoms include fever, headache, muscle and joint pains, and a characteristic skin rash that is similar to measles.The treatment is symptomatic with no specific cure, so if patients use pain medicines indiscriminately there is a risk of them becoming resistant to them.