Prime Minister Narendra Modi owns assets worth over Rs 2.23 crore, mostly as bank deposits, but has no immovable properties as he has donated his share in a piece of land in Gandhinagar, according to his latest disclosure about assets.

He has no investment in any bond, share or mutual funds, does not own any vehicle, but has four gold rings valued at Rs 1.73 lakh, according to his declaration updated till March 31.

Modi's movable assets rose by Rs 26.13 lakh from a year ago, but he no longer owns the immovable assets which were worth Rs 1.1 crore as on March 31, 2021.

His assets total Rs 2,23,82,504 as on March 31, 2022, according to details uploaded on the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) website.

The residential plot he jointly held with three other owners, each having an equal share, was purchased by him in October 2002 when he was the chief minister of Gujarat.

The cash in hand with the prime minister as on March 31, 2022 was Rs 35,250 and his National Savings Certificates with post office were worth Rs 9,05,105 and had life insurance policies valued Rs 1,89,305.

Among the prime minister's Cabinet colleagues who have declared their assets, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh has movables worth Rs 2.54 crore and immovable assets worth 2.97 crore as on March 31, 2022.

Of all the 29 Cabinet ministers, the ones who have declared their own and their dependents' assets for the last fiscal also include Dharmendra Pradhan, Jyotiraditya Scindia, R K Singh, Hardeep Singh Puri, Parshottam Rupala and G Kishan Reddy.

Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, who was a Cabinet minister in the last fiscal and demitted office in July, has also declared his assets.

Janata Dal (United) leader Nitish Kumar on  Aug 9 resigned as Bihar Chief Minister. Kumar handed over the resignation to Governor Phagu Chauhan.

The move came after a meeting of the JD(U) at the official residence of Nitish Kumar in Patna. In the JD(U) meeting which was held on Aug 9 , all MLAs and MPs of the party supported Nitish Kumar's decision and said that they were with him. They also asserted that they will continue to support Kumar in his decision.

After his resignation, Nitish Kumar reached former Chief Minister Rabri Devi's house to confabulate with RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav.

Addressing the reporters, Jitan Ram Manjhi's Hindustani Awam Morcha said they extend unconditional support to Nitish Kumar and Mahagathbandhan.

This is the second time has split from his ally BJP in eight years.

With this, the NDA alliance has broken in Bihar. The NDA alliance was formed with JD(U), BJP, Vikassheel Insaan Party and Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM).

This development comes after the Chief Minister chaired a meeting of JD(U) legislators and MPs at his residence in Patna following the resignation of party leader RCP Singh on  Aug 6 .

The RJD had emerged as the single-largest party in the 2020 Assembly elections in which the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) won 125 seats - BJP won 74, the JD(U) bagged 43, the Vikassheel Insaan Party got 4 and Hindustan Awaam Party (Secular) bagged 4 seats.

Earlier, Nitish had dumped NDA in 2013 over the projection of Narendra Modi, the then chief minister of Gujarat as the Prime Ministerial candidate for the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. Later, he formed a government with the Grand Alliance in 2015 but quit it in 2017.

The RJD has 79 MLAs in the assembly, which has an effective strength of 242. It is the single largest party and disqualification of its MLAs will reduce its ability to steer a political upheaval.

Nitish Kumar's JD(U) has 44 legislators, and enjoys the support of one Independent MLA Sumit Singh, who is also a minister and four members of former chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi's Hindustani Awam Morcha.

Absconding politician Shrikant Tyagi was arrested Aug 9   from Meerut, officials said, days after he was seen in a social media video abusing and assaulting a woman for objecting to his alleged illegal constructions at a housing society in NOIDA.

Maharashtra chief minister Eknath Shinde on Aug 9 retained all of Shiv Sena's eight ministers from the previous Uddhav Thackeray government in the first phase of his Cabinet expansion.

Nine legislators from the BJP and nine from the Sena took oath as ministers including state BJP president Chandrakant Patil in a ceremony at the Raj Bhavan.

Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari administered the oath of office to 18 MLAs as ministers.

The Cabinet expansion comes over 40 days after Chief Minister Shinde and Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis were sworn in after a rebellion led by the former toppled the Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi-government in the state.

The ministers from the BJP are: Chandrakant Patil, Sudhir Mungantiwar, Girish Mahajan, Suresh Khade, Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil, Ravindra Chavhan, Mangal Prabhat Lodha, Vijaykumar Gavit, and Atul Save.

The ministers from the Shiv Sena are: Dada Bhuse, Shambhuraje Desai, Sandeepan Bhumre, Uday Samant, Tanaji Sawant, Abdul Sattar, Deepak Kesarkar, Gulabrao Patil, and Sanjay Rathaud.

Shinde is backed by 40 of the 55 Shiv Sena MLAs. With the induction of 18 ministers, the strength of the Maharashtra ministry will become 20, less than half the maximum allowed strength of 43.

The list doesn't include a woman.

Cabinet Minister in the Yogi Adityanath government Rakesh Sachan was sentenced to one-year imprisonment in a case under the Arms Act with a fine of Rs 1,500. A Kanpur court of Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate later granted bail on Aug 8 .

Government counsel Sanjay Gupta said since the sentence awarded to the cabinet minister was for less than three years, the court released him on bail. Sachan was granted bail on a bond of Rs 50,000. Uncertainty loomed over Sachan’s assembly membership. Had he been sentenced to three years or more, he would have ceased to become an MLA.

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader and close aide of former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan, Shahbaz Gill was arrested in Islamabad on Aug 9.

Police said that Gill was arrested for "making statements against the state institutions and inciting the people to rebellion."

Issey Miyake, who built one of Japan's biggest fashion brands and was known for his boldly sculpted pleated pieces as well as former Apple CEO Steve Jobs' black turtlenecks, has died. He was 84. Miyake died on August 5 of liver cancer.

Miyake defined an era in Japan's modern history, reaching stardom in the 1970s among a generation of designers and artists who reached global fame by defining a Japanese vision that was unique from the West.

Miyake's origami-like pleats transformed usually crass polyester into chic. He also used computer technology in weaving to create apparel. His down-to-earth clothing was meant to celebrate the human body regardless of race, build, size or age.

In 1992, Miyake was commissioned to design the official Olympic uniform for Lithuania, which had just gained independence from the Soviet Union. Born in Hiroshima in 1938, Miyake was a star as soon as he hit the European runways.

The government has asked airlines to share all international passengers' details, including contact and payment information, with customs authorities 24 hours prior to the departure of flights. The move is aimed at preventing law offenders from fleeing the country.

The Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC), under the finance ministry, on August 8 notified the 'Passenger Name Record Information Regulations, 2022', which aims at "risk analysis" of passengers to prevent economic and other offenders from fleeing the country as well as check any illicit trade such as smuggling.

The information to be shared by airline companies for both inbound and outbound international flights include the name of the passenger, billing/payment information (credit card number), date of issue of the ticket as well as intended travel, and names of other travellers in the same PNR, travel itinerary for the PNR, contact details like email id, mobile number, details of travel agency, baggage information and code share information (when one airline sells seats on another air carrier's flight).

According to information furnished by the government in Parliament, a total of 38 economic offenders, including Nirav Modi, Vijay Mallya, and Mehul Choksi, fled the country in the last five years.

Industrialist and former MP Vijay Mallya left the country on March 2, 2016, the day a clutch of public sector banks moved the Debt Recovery Tribunal to recover Rs 9,000 crore unpaid dues to his now-defunct Kingfisher Airline.

Mehul Choksi, one of the prime accused in the alleged over Rs 13,000-crore PNB loan fraud case, too fled to Antigua and Barbuda just as ED and CBI zeroed in on him.

It further said that for each act of non-compliance with these regulations, the aircraft operators would have to pay a penalty of a minimum of Rs 25,000 and a maximum of Rs 50,000.