News18 Afternoon Digest: Hijab Poster Girl Praised by Al-Qaeda Chief, Her Father Says 'Don't Want Him to Talk About Us' & Other Stories

Has XE Covid Variant Made Its Way to Mumbai? On 1st Case Buzz, Maha Health Minister Clears Air

Amid reports that Mumbai had reported India’s first case of the highly transmissible ‘XE’ Covid-19 variant, Maharashtra Health Minister Rajesh Tope on Thursday sought to allay fears and said the state department had not yet received a confirmatory report from the Centre or the National Institute of Biologicals (NIB) about the presence of the new variant. READ MORE

Hijab Poster Girl Praised by Al-Qaeda Chief, Her Father Says ‘Don’t Want Him to Talk About Us’

Why is he involved in an issue of my country, asked father of Muskan, the girl who stood up to anti-hijab protesters, reacting to Al-Qaeda chief Ayman Al Zawahiri’s statements on the Karnataka hijab row. On Tuesday, Al-Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri resurfaced, quashing rumours of his death, and praised Muskan Khan, the hijab-clad girl who went viral for confronting a mob of boys who were opposed to women wearing Hijab. READ MORE

No More PM Modi’s ‘Hanuman’? After Unceremonious Exit from 12 Janpath, Chirag Paswan Explores Options

Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) chief Chirag Paswan had once famously referred to himself as Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘Hanuman’. However, after a bitter showdown between him and his estranged uncle Pashupati Kumar Paras — a Union cabinet minister — over his eviction from Delhi’s official bungalow allotted to his late father and former Union minister Ram Vilas Paswan, equations seem to be changing. READ MORE

UP’s Yogi to Punjab’s Mann, Here’s Why CMs Keep Most Portfolios Under Them and What Makes Home Dept a Favourite

It is known that several chief ministers in India, even if belonging to different political parties and beliefs, award themselves with the maximum portfolios in their state, with the home department, especially, being their common favourite. Be it BJP’s Yogi Adityanath, CPM’s Pinarayi Vijayan or AAP’s Bhagwant Mann, while they might be seen politically clashing quite often, the one thing that they have in common is the multiple portfolios under them. READ MORE

More Drama Unfolds in Pakistan, Now NA Speaker Asks Leader of Opposition to Nominate Caretaker PM

In a fresh communication, Pakistan’s National Assembly speaker Asad Qaiser has written a letter to Leader of Opposition Shehbaz Sharif to give names of the caretaker Prime Minister since the Opposition unanimously rejected the nomination of Justice Gulzar Ahmed for the post. The letter, whose copy has been accessed by News18, says, according to Article 224-A, in case of disagreement in appointment of caretaker PM, the opposition should give four names. READ MORE

CNG Price Hiked by Rs 9.1 in Delhi in 7 Days, Rs 7 in Mumbai; Check Latest Rates

The price of CNG or compressed natural gas hiked again in the Delhi-National Capital Region, Mumbai and Gujarat. The recent increase in domestic natural gas price made CNG dearer across the country. The local natural gas price surged 110 per cent to $6.1 per mmBtu from April 1. Since then, city gas companies have been revising rates on almost daily basis. Experts believed some more hikes could be in the offing. READ MORE

Shashi Tharoor Chatting with MP in Parliament Sparks ‘Work-life Balance’ Memes

Shashi Tharoor has once again occupied Twitter’s attention, this time merely by not paying attention to Farooq Abdullah speaking in Parliament for just about a few seconds. The clip is 45 seconds long, but the Congress MP’s lapse of attention even in that span brought on a deluge of memes on Twitter. READ MORE

Read all the Latest News India and Breaking News here