Breaking News Live Updates: GST collection rises to all-time high of Rs 2.37 lakh crore

GST collections in April rise 12.6% , reaching an all-time high of Rs 2.37 lakh crore, government data revealed.

A man was arrested in the Japan's Osaka after je allegedly ploughied his car into seven schoolchildren in a suspected deliberate attack, local media said.

The children, who had been on their way home from school, were injured and rushed to hospital but all seven remained conscious, according to public broadcaster NHK and other outlets.

Police could not immediately confirm the reports to AFP.

The driver was a 28-year-old man who lives in Tokyo and Osaka police have held him on suspicion of attempted murder, the reports said, citing unidentified investigative sources.

Four people were killed after a fire broke out at a hotel in Diggi Bazaar area of Rajasthan's Ajmer on Thursday, officials said. Some of the guests at the five-storey hotel saved their lives by jumping from the windows.

"Fire incident occurred at a hotel in Diggi Bazaar area today morning. Police team is on the spot. Four people, including two men, a woman and a child, have died due to suffocation and burn injuries," JLN Medical College Principal Dr Anil Samaria said.

Additional SP Himanshu Jangid said the narrow approach road to the hotel is hampering rescue work.

The fire was apparently caused by a short circuit.

Pakistan's Olympic gold-winning javelin thrower Arshad Nadeem's Instagram account has been blocked in India owing to a "legal request" in the aftermath of the Pahalgam terror attack. Users attempting to access Nadeem's Instagram page from India are met with the message: "Account not available in India. This is because we complied with a legal request to restrict this content."

Congress is likely to hold a meeting of its working committee on Friday on the issue of caste census. In a surprising development, the BJP-led NDA government announced on Wednesday that caste census would be included in the next national census.

The 4th Meeting of the India-Egypt Joint Working Group on Counter Terrorism was held on 30 April in Cairo. The two delegations were led by Ambassador K. D. Dewal, Joint Secretary (Counter Terrorism), Ministry of External Affairs of India and Ambassador Walid Al-Fiqi, Director of the Department of Counter Terrorism, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Egypt and included representatives of various agencies from both countries: MEA India

A US judge has accused Apple of defying an order to loosen its grip on the App Store payment system to the point that criminal charges could be warranted.

US District Court Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers found that Apple "willfully" violated an injunction she issued at trial, with the company instead creating new barriers to competition with the App Store and even lying to the court in the process.

"That it thought this court would tolerate such insubordination was a gross miscalculation," Gonzalez Rogers said in an order allowing Epic Games to enforce the injunction against Apple.

"As always, the cover-up made it worse. For this court, there is no second bite at the apple."

Fortnite-maker Epic launched the case in 2021 aiming to break Apple's grip on the App Store, accusing the iPhone maker of acting like a monopoly in its shop for digital goods or services.

Jeff Sperbeck, a business partner and former agent for NFL Hall of Famer John Elway, passed away on Wednesday at the age of 62 following an injury sustained over the weekend at a Southern California golf resort. The Riverside County coroner's office confirmed that Sperbeck was injured on Saturday at The Madison Club in La Quinta, but no cause of death was provided. According to the Riverside County Fire Department, emergency responders were called to the scene after an individual fell from a golf cart. Sperbeck was subsequently transported to a trauma center, as reported by department spokesperson Maggie Cline De La Rosa.

Senate Republicans narrowly rejected a Democratic resolution on Wednesday that aimed to block global tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump earlier this month, granting the president a small victory despite widespread skepticism from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle regarding his trade policies. Trump initially announced extensive tariffs on nearly all US trading partners on April 2, but reversed course a few days later after a market downturn, suspending the import taxes for 90 days. Amid this uncertainty for US consumers and businesses, the Commerce Department reported that the US economy contracted by 0.3 percent from January to March, marking the first decline in three years.

A federal judge has rejected the US government's request to release former FBI informant Alexander Smirnov from prison. Smirnov had fabricated a story involving President Joe Biden and his son Hunter accepting bribes, which later played a central role in Republicans' impeachment efforts. The decision, made by US District Judge Otis Wright in Los Angeles on Wednesday, comes after a new prosecutor reassigned to Smirnov's case filed a motion with his attorneys seeking his release while he appeals his conviction. The US government had indicated it would reconsider its case theory. In his ruling, Judge Wright stated that Smirnov remains a flight risk, even with the government's promise to review the case.

Inah Canabarro Lucas, the world's oldest person, passed away on Wednesday at the age of 116, according to the Congregation of Teresian Sisters in Porto Alegre, Brazil, where she lived. Born on June 8, 1908, Canabarro took the title of the world's oldest person after the death of 116-year-old Japanese woman Tomiko Itooka in January, as confirmed by the US Gerontological Research Group and LongeviQuest.

Mali's military junta declared on Wednesday that it would repeal regulations governing political parties, which opposition groups claim are part of an effort to dissolve them. This announcement follows a national conference organized by the junta, which this week recommended disbanding existing political parties and suggested that military leader General Assimi Goita should assume the role of head of state without an election.

A draft law was approved during a military cabinet meeting that would abolish the 2005 charter outlining the rules for establishing, funding, and operating political parties, according to an official statement released on Wednesday.

Former Vice President Kamala Harris is set to deliver a high-profile speech on Wednesday, where she will deliver a sharp critique of President Donald Trump. Amid speculation about her future political plans—whether she will run for president again or seek the governorship of California—Harris will address the 20th anniversary gala for Emerge America, an organization that trains Democratic women to run for office, which grew out of her own political journey as San Francisco district attorney in the early 2000s.

The speech follows Trump's first 100 days in office and is expected to be her most significant public remarks since leaving office in January after her defeat. Harris is anticipated to challenge Trump's handling of the economy, US institutions, and foreign policy.