lystn

1. US President Joe Biden says he is in discussions with his military officials regarding the extension of the evacuation mission in Afghanistan, beyond the August 31 deadline. 'We know that terrorists may seek to exploit the situation and target innocent Afghans or American troops. We are maintaining constant vigilance to monitor and disrupt threats from any source, including ISIS and the Afghan affiliate known as ISIS-K,' he adds. 2. India evacuates 392 people in three flights as part of its mission to bring Indians and Afghan partners from Kabul in the backdrop of increasing Taliban hostility in Afghanistan. 3. Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri cites the evacuations from Afghanistan to back the controversial Citizenship Amendment Act, which set off an escalating string of protests around the country in which nearly 100 people had died in police firing and related violence. The law allows citizenship to persecuted non-Muslims in neighbouring Muslim majority nations who reached India before 2015. 4. Two Afghan senators are among the 24 Sikhs who land in India, looking to escape the Taliban. One of them, Senator Narender Singh Khalsa, is in tears. 5. Hashmat Ghani, the brother of former Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, tells NDTV that he has 'accepted' the Taliban to avoid instability but had not 'supported' them. 6. Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar to lead 10 parties delegation including Janata Dal (United), Bharatiya Janata Party, Rashtriya Janata Dal and others to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi today to demand caste-based census. 7. The finance ministry has summoned Infosys chief Salil Parekh today to explain the continuing glitches in the new income tax e-filing portal, which has been in use since June. Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had expressed concern over the issue earlier. Mr Parekh and senior executive Praveen Rao were asked to ensure that the portal is made 'more humane and user-friendly', the finance ministry says.