An expansion of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Council of Ministers was announced on 5 July. Nineteen new ministers were inducted into the cabinet while Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar was promoted.

According to reports, PM Modi was keen to bring in "doers and performers", who would deliver on his vision of development and good governance and further his central priority of "Gaon, Garib and Kisan". There is no change in the top four portfolios - Defence, Home, Finance and External Affairs.

A terror alert has been issued in Delhi after the Punjab police informed central agencies and Delhi police of a possible attack in the national capital.

According to media reports, terrorists in three separate vehicles carrying heavy arms and ammunition are on their way to Delhi.

While the Punjab police is trying to locate these vehicles, Delhi police have beefed up security at schools, colleges and monuments in Delhi.

The Punjab police had issued a similar warning in April where they issued a warning about the entry of three heavily armed Pakistani terrorists who might be suicide bombers. This comes days after 20 hostages were killed in a gruesome terror attack in a restaurant popular with foreigners and expats in upscale Gulshan locality of Dhaka on 1 July.

In a major jolt just before the release of his film Sultan, the Supreme Court admitted a plea on 5 July, against Salman Khan's acquittal in the 2002 hit-and-run case, in which one person was killed.

During the hearing today, Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi on behalf of the Maharashtra government, urged the Apex court to put the hearing on fast track, but the bench refused the plea and gave the advice of approaching the Chief Justice of India (CJI) bench for the same.

Arguing for the actor today, Kapil Sibal told the court that he has no objection to the case being heard on the basis of merit.

With the intent of furthering his vision of development and good governance, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has decided to induct 19 fresh faces to his Council of Ministers.

The new ministers were identified from various walks of life, who would bring their unique rich experience and expertise to their office. Minister of State for Environment and Forests Prakash Javadekar is likely to be elevated to the cabinet rank, while new ministers include P.P. Chaudhary, who is a senior Supreme Court advocate with over four-decade of experience in constitutional litigation, they said.

Subhash Ram Rao Bhamre is another minister, who is a well-known doctor with a super specialisation in cancer surgery, whereas veteran editor and internationally acclaimed journalist M.J. Akbar, former government officer from Rajasthan Arjun Ram Meghwal and author-cum-activist Anil Madhav Dave are among others to be inducted into the union Council of Ministers, reported ANI.

People from all communities and social backgrounds have been brought in, including two leaders from the Scheduled Tribes - Jaswant Sinh Bhabhor and Faggan Singh Kulaste, whereas from the Scheduled Castes category, five leaders - Ajay Tamta, Ramdas Athalwale, Arjun Ram Meghwal, Ramesh Jigajinagi and Krishna Raj- have been inducted.

The list includes two leaders from the minority community M.J. Akbar and S.S. Ahluwalia, and two women leaders Anupriya Singh Patel and Krishna Raj.

Defence minister Manohar Parrikar said on Monday that the Army could raise all-women combat battalions if it resists the idea of having women lead men in combat.

Speaking at an event in Delhi, Parrikar said: "In combat roles also there can be women. Why not have a complete women team, battalion of women? So the question of women officers leading a men's team, if there is question of initial resistance to it, can also be taken care of."

Parrikar said that there is huge resistance with the defence forces to the idea of women officers leading men into battle, according to The Economic Times.

In a horrific incident, a Hyderabad businessman brutally murdered his Congolese wife and chopped up her body into pieces, stuffed it into a suitcase and tried to burn it in the outskirts of the city said the police on 4 July.Following the incident, the man was caught red-handed by locals, reported India Today. The man, identified as Rupesh Kumar Agarwal, 35, drove along with his five-year-old daughter to an isolated village area to burn the pieces of the dead body. However, while driving back to the city, his car got stuck in a rut and he had to take the help of passersby and locals to push the car. They got suspicious when they noticed blood stains on the rear side of the car and notified the police who detained Agarwal.

Members of banned terror organisation Jaish-e-Muhammad were seen on video footage collected on Friday and Saturday night, soliciting donations from crowds at Karachi mosques to send fighters to India and Afghanistan.

"Help the mujahideen of the Jaish-e-Muhammad, the mujahideen of Islam, fight jihad in Kashmir against India, and in Afghanistan against the Americans," a man could be heard saying in footage shot on Friday night, outside a mosque in Karachi.

The JeM was officially banned in Pakistan in 2002 after the attack on India's Parliament, but this footage clearly shows that it continues to operate with impunity, says The Indian Express.

Photographs in the possession of a Mumbai tabloid show that gangster Abu Salem has been meeting his fiancée and relatives on train journeys as he travels from Taloja jail in Navi Mumbai, where he is lodged, to Delhi and Lucknow to attend court. One photograph also shows him talking on a mobile phone.

The photographs were shot between 2012 and 2015, says NDTV, quoting Mumbai's Mid-Day tabloid. They raise many questions about security issues.

The Congress will soon launch a six-month long campaign in seven states to protest the Centre's amendments to the Forest Rights Act that it says 'emasculates' the act, diluting tribal rights and cutting funds for tribal sub-plans.

As part of the campaign, Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi will visit Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat over the next six month, says The Indian Express.

Four BJP MPs who are to take the oath of ministers today are wondering if they can ride their bicycles to Rashtrapati Bhavan for the swearing in ceremony, and continue to bike to their ministries thereafter, given their higher status.

The four MPs, part of an informal 'climate club' set up by Anil Madhav Dave, a Rajya Sabha member from Madhya Pradesh, have been commuting to Parliament by bicycle from their homes not far away, according to The Telegraph.

"I'm tempted to take my bike out tomorrow too but I'm not sure whether protocol permits it," said Mansukh L Mandaviya, a Rajya Sabha member from Gujarat, on Monday.