HIGHLIGHTS AT 12.30 PM

    New Delhi, Oct 12 (PTI) These are the top stories at 12.30 pm:
    
     NATION
    
     DEL10 VIRUS-LD CASES
    India's COVID-19 tally crosses 71-lakh mark with 66,732 fresh cases
    New Delhi: India's COVID-19 tally went past 71 lakh with 66,732 fresh cases, while the number of people who have recuperated crossed 61 lakh, pushing the recovery rate to 86.36 per cent, according to the Union health ministry data updated on Monday.

     BOM3 MH-LD POWER OUTAGE-MUMBAI
     Massive power outage leaves trains stuck on tracks in Mumbai; services to be restored shortly
     Mumbai: Train services came to a halt in the financial capital as a grid failure resulted in massive power outages across the megapolis Monday morning.

     DEL12 RAHUL-GST-STATES
     Why is your CM mortgaging your future for Modi: Rahul to people on GST compensation
    New Delhi: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Monday took a jibe at the state governments that have agreed to the Centre's borrowing proposal on the GST compensation issue and asked people as to why their chief ministers were "mortgaging" their future for Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
    
    DEL13 DEF-RAJNATH
     Rajnath inaugurates 44 bridges built by BRO in border areas
    New Delhi: As many as 44 bridges built in border areas of Ladakh, Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir were dedicated to the nation by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Monday.
    
     MDS2 TN-KUSHBOO
    Cong spokesperson Kushboo quits party, says she was 'suppressed'
    Chennai: Congress national spokesperson Kushboo Sundar on Monday resigned from the primary membership of the party protesting against what shecalled some leaders 'dictating terms' and 'suppressing' her.
    
     FOREIGN
    
     FGN7 PAK-FATF-APG
    FATF's regional group keeps Pak on 'Enhanced Follow-up' for meagre progress against terror financing
    Islamabad: Noting that Pakistan's measures against money laundering and terror financing "is not yet sufficient to justify a re-rating", a regional affiliate of the Financial Action Task Force on Monday retained the country on its 'Enhanced Follow-up' list, according to a media report. By Sajjad Hussain

     FGN3 VIRUS-NEPAL-MINISTER
    Nepal: 2nd Cabinet minister tests positive for coronavirus
    Kathmandu: Nepal's education minister Giriraj Mani Pokharel has tested positive for COVID-19 -- the second Cabinet minister to have contracted the deadly viral infection, according to media reports.
SNE

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)