Morning Digest: Govt. restores commercial LPG supply, withdraws sectoral mandates; Venezuela mounts search for survivors after twin quakes kill at least 188

Subscribed with another email? Logout and Login with that one. Account subscription benefits alongside Premium Stories, Editorials, Opinions and more. Unlock these with Subscription The View From India Looking at World Affairs from the Indian perspective. First Day First Show News and reviews from the world of cinema and streaming. Today's Cache Your download of the top 5 technology stories of the day. Science For All The weekly newsletter from science writers takes the jargon out of science and puts the fun in! Data Point Decoding the headlines with facts, figures, and numbers THEdge At the cutting edge of education and careers Health Matters Ramya Kannan writes to you on getting to good health, and staying there Gender Agenda Stories from beyond the binary. The Hindu On Books Books of the week, reviews, excerpts, new titles and features. Collapsed buildings stand a day after earthquakes struck La Guaira, Venezuela, on June 25, 2026. | Photo Credit: AP Venezuelans searched for survivors beneath collapsed buildings and rescue teams raced to northern areas rocked by a pair of powerful earthquakes that officials say killed at least 188 people and left more than 200 trapped. More were feared dead from the 7.2- and 7.5-magnitude earthquakes that struck Wednesday (June 24, 2026) evening — among the strongest in Venezuela in more than a century and felt throughout the region. Some 1,500 people were injured, thousands were reported missing and buildings were evacuated as far away as Brazil’s Amazon. The Union government restored the supply of industrial and commercial liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) to pre-crisis levels and withdrew all sector-specific allocation caps that had been imposed at the peak of the West Asia crisis, citing an improved supply situation. In addition to this, bulk LPG consumers will be allotted 50% of their pre-crisis consumption requirements. Supplies had been suspended at the onset of the crisis. The application fee for an ordinary fresh passport containing 36 pages has been hiked from ₹1,500 to ₹2,500, as the Union government revised the passport fee structure through an amendment to the Passports Rules, 1980. The new rules will come into effect from July 1. According to a notification dated June 20, and published by the Ministry of External Affairs on Thursday (June 25, 2026), the reissue of a 36-page passport will also cost ₹2,500, while a tatkal application for a fresh or reissued passport will cost ₹5,000 as opposed to the current ₹3,500 rate. A First Information Report (FIR) has been registered in Ayodhya based on a complaint from Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Trust against eight individuals and unknown persons, including Ramashankar Yadav alias Tinnu, Manish Yadav, Luvkush Mishra, Karunesh Pandey, Rama Shankar Mishra, Subhash Srivastava, Anukalp Mishra and Avinash Shukla on charges of embezzlement, fraud, criminal conspiracy and breach of trust over missing donations in the Ram Temple Trust. Reacting to the FIR, Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav described it as a glimpse of injustice, adding powerful culprits would be protected. Recurring examination irregularities are evidence of a massive institutional failure, senior Congress leader and president of the party’s Assam unit Gaurav Gogoi said, announcing the launch of ‘Chhatron Ki Goonj’, a 40-day nationwide campaign to highlight issues affecting students. Mr. Gogoi said repeated instances of paper leaks and disruptions had created a perception among students that the problem was “systemic” rather than the fault of a few individuals. The Union Health Ministry has notified amendments to the Drugs Rules, 1945, to expand the ambit of Schedule H2 and bring additional categories of drugs under the QR code-based track-and-trace framework. With this amendment, manufacturers of these drug formulations will be required to print or affix a bar code or Quick Response (QR) code on the primary packaging label of the product or, where there is inadequate space, on the secondary packaging label. The QR code shall store information that can be accessed through software applications to facilitate authentication and verification of the product throughout the supply chain. Prices of essentials such as rice, petrol, and cooking gas have spiralled in Manipur’s Kangpokpi district over the last month, due to a severe economic blockade being imposed since May 13, when three Thadou pastors were killed in the Kuki-dominated district. The blockade is so severe that Deputy Chief Minister Nemcha Kipgen, who represents Kangpokpi in the Manipur Assembly, is yet to travel to the State capital Imphal since the elected government was restored after President’s Rule was revoked. Four months after she took oath, she still virtually attends the meetings called by Chief Minister Y. Khemchand Singh in Imphal. Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the Emergency was a direct assault on the Constitution as the period witnessed the suspension of civil liberties,

Morning Digest: Govt. restores commercial LPG supply, withdraws sectoral mandates; Venezuela mounts search for survivors after twin quakes kill at least 188

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Morning Digest: Govt. restores commercial LPG supply, withdraws sectoral mandates; Venezuela mounts search for survivors after twin quakes kill at least 188

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