Breaking News, January 3 | HIGHLIGHTS

Former Chief Minister of Tripura, Viplav Dev's house was set on fire on Tuesday. 

Proud moment for Indian Army when Capt Shiva Chouhan became the first woman officer to get operationally deployed at the world's highest battlefield, Siachen, after a month's  arduous training at #Siachen Battle School alongwith other personnel. 

The monthly domestic air passenger traffic touched 1.29 crore to cross the pre-COVID level in December 2022, with Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia terming it as a healthy trend and a good sign for the industry.

Iran's president on Tuesday vowed to avenge the killing of the country's top general on the third anniversary of his death, as the government rallied its supporters in mourning amid months of anti-government protests.

A speeding bus hit a police vehicle which was part of the motorcade of Union minister Prahlad Patel in Damoh district of Madhya Pradesh on Tuesday evening, leaving three police personnel injured.

Five members of a family, including two children, were killed in a multiple collision involving the car in which they were traveling and a lorry, on the Chennai-Trichy national highway near Veppur in Tamil Nadu's Cuddalore district, police said on Tuesday. The car, bound for Chennai, halted near Veppur in the early hours owing to the traffic congestion caused due to the construction of a flyover at Iyyanarpalayam when a speeding lorry crashed into the car from behind.

The mortal remains of six people including two minor cousins who were killed in twin terrorist incidents in Jammu and Kashmir's Rajouri district were given a tearful and emotional farewell as they were cremated at their native place on Tuesday.

Unions of three state-owned power companies in Maharashtra have warned of a 72-hour strike from Wednesday to protest against privatisation of power companies, an official said on Tuesday. The strike has been called by Maharashtra Rajya Karmachari, Adhikari and Abhiyanta Sangharsh Samiti, an action committee of power company unions.

A sub-inspector was injured when a police team that had gone to stop construction work on a disputed plot of land in Uttar Pradesh's Kaushambi district was pelted with stones by a group of people, an official said on Tuesday. Three people have been arrested in connection with the incident that occurred in Arka Mahavirpur village under Karari police station area late on Monday night, the police official said.

China did not observe agreements with India on border issues and that is why there is a "tense situation" between the two neighbours, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has pointed out as he explained how Beijing tried to "unilaterally change LAC". During an interview to Austria's national broadcaster ORF on Monday, Jaishankar said India had agreements with China not to mass force in the border areas.

A man was arrested here for allegedly being part of a group that tied a man to a pole and thrashed him when he came to meet his girlfriend, police here said on Tuesday. In all, fifteen people have been booked in the matter, with at least four named individuals.

Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Tuesday called her brother Rahul Gandhi a "warrior" and said he is not afraid of the might of the government which spent thousands of crores to destroy his image. Welcoming Rahul Gandhi and the Bharat Jodo Yatra at the Loni border as it entered Uttar Pradesh from Delhi, she said big industrialists like Adani and Ambani may have bought many a politician, PSUs and the media, but "they have not been, and will never be, able to buy my brother." People say Rahul Gandhi does not feel cold even in winter, this is because "he is wearing the shield of truth," the Congress leader said.

Severe cold and fog threw daily life out of gear in many regions of Rajasthan with Fatehpur recording the lowest minimum temperature at minus 1 degree Celsius on Monday night. According to the Met department, the minimum temperature was minus 0.9 degree in Churu on Monday night, 2.4 degrees in Sangaria, 2.6 degrees in Pilani, 3.0 degrees in Sikar, 3.7 degrees in Ganganagar, 4.5 degrees in Nagaur, 4.9 degrees in Chittorgarh. Bikaner recorded a minimum temperature of 6.9 degrees Celsius.
 

The Supreme Court said on Tuesday a petition seeking an independent probe by a special investigation team (SIT) into the last month's hooch tragedy in Bihar which claimed many lives will be heard on January 9. The plea about the tragedy in Saran district, where at least 30 people lost their lives after consuming illicit liquor, has also sought direction to the state government to adequately compensate the victim families.
 

 External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has said that he could have used “much harsher words than epicentre” for Pakistan for its role in promoting cross-border terrorism as he underlined that the world needs to be concerned about terrorism. Jaishankar, who has often described Pakistan as the "epicentre of terrorism', in an interview to Austria's national broadcaster ORF on Monday also criticised European nations for not condemning the (terrorism) practices that have been going on for multiple decades.

The Supreme Court on Tuesday granted interim bail to suspended Jharkhand cadre IAS officer Pooja Singhal in a money laundering case to look after her ailing daughter. A bench comprising Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Abhay S Oka also directed the Enforcement Directorate to respond in three weeks to Singhal's main bail plea. Appearing for the anti-money laundering probe agency, Additional Solicitor General S V Raju said the plea was incorrect and devoid of merits. “I will be the last person to oppose such pleas,” the law officer said.

The government has raised the windfall profit tax levied on domestically produced crude oil as well as on the export of diesel and ATF, in line with firming international oil prices, according to an official order. The levy on crude oil produced by companies such as Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) has been increased to Rs 2,100 per tonne from Rs 1,700 per tonne, the order dated January 2, said.

 Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Tuesday said he will visit Ayodhya to offer prayers to Lord Ram, but did not specify any date. A grand temple of Lord Ram is being constructed in Uttar Pradesh city. Speaking to reporters at the Nagpur airport, Shinde, while replying a question, said some religious leaders from Ayodhya paid him a visit on Monday and invited him to Ayodhya for a "darshan" of Lord Ram.

A biting cold swept Punjab and Haryana on Tuesday with minimum temperatures settling below normal at many places. A thick blanket of fog in the morning enveloped several parts of both states. According to the MeT Department's weather report, Bathinda was the coldest place in Punjab with a minimum temperature of 1.2 degrees Celsius, while Sirsa was the coldest in Haryana registering a minimum of minus 3 degrees Celsius.

An IndiGo plane enroute to Phuket suffered a hydraulic system problem and returned to Delhi airport on Tuesday morning, according to officials. The A320 neo plane, which left for Phuket in Thailand at around 6.25 am, returned to the airport here at about 7.20 am due to hydraulic failure, airport sources said.
The sources said the aircraft landed safely at Delhi airport.

A Pakistani intruder was shot dead by the Border Security Force (BSF) in the Gurdaspur sector along the India-Pakistan international border in Punjab on Tuesday, officials said. The infiltration bid was detected around 8 am and the intruder was reported to have been armed. A search of the area is currently underway, they said.

India saw a single-day rise of 134 in coronavirus infections, with the active cases declining to 2,582, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Tuesday. The total tally of Covid cases was recorded at 4.46 crore (4,46,78,956). The overall death toll to date stands at 5,30,707, the data updated at 8 am stated.
 

Eminent Rabindra Sangeet exponent Sumitra Sen died at her city residence on Tuesday morning. She was 89. The renowned singer was suffering from broncho-pneumonia and was hospitalised on December 21 but discharged three days later, with her two daughters taking her back to her south Kolkata home.
 

Andhra Pradesh government prohibits public meetings and rallies on roads in the aftermath of two stampedes at TDP programmes in the last week.
 

BJP president J P Nadda will visit Bihar on Tuesday to take stock of the party's organisation as it prepares for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, state party chief Sanjay Jaiswal said. This will be Nadda's first visit to the state after the Nitish Kumar-led JD(U) ditched the BJP to form a government with the RJD and Congress. Nadda will land at Patna airport around 11.

 External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has said that Europe has imported six times the fossil fuel energy from Russia than India has done since February 2022 and if a USD 60,000-per-capita society feels it needs to look after itself, “they should not expect a USD 2,000-per-capita society to take a hit.” A New York Times report titled ‘Russia’s War Could Make It India’s World’ said that the “invasion of Ukraine, compounding the effects of the pandemic, has contributed to the ascent of a giant that defies easy alignment. It could be the decisive force in a changing global system.”

Protesting against the recent ban on women's education in Afghanistan, a large number of Afghan Americans have pledged to fight against this atrocious policy of the Taliban government. "We are here to fight for girls' right to education," Rayan Yasini from California representing the Afghan Cultural Society said in front of the White House on Sunday as she was joined by a large number of Afghan Americans from across the country.
 

 A small plane with four passengers crashed at a Utah airport on Monday, killing one and injuring the other three, according to city officials in Provo. The plane crashed immediately after takeoff and one of the three survivors was transported to the hospital in critical condition.
The other two sustained “minor bumps and bruises," officials said.

Authorities in Pennsylvania are looking for a gunman they say shot and killed a police officer and wounded another during a foot pursuit near Pittsburgh on Sunday.

The shootings happened in separate incidents just blocks apart in Brackenridge, an Allegheny County town northeast of Pittsburgh.
The gunman carjacked a vehicle after the shootings Sunday afternoon and is considered “extremely dangerous,” assistant police Superintendent Victor Joseph told a news briefing reported by WTAE-TV.

Amid the border tension between India and China, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Monday reached the Mohanbari airport at Dibrugarh for a two-day visit to Assam and Arunachal Pradesh.
On Tuesday, Singh will visit Boleng in Siang district in Arunachal Pradesh, where he will inaugurate the strategically-important Siyom bridge. 

The United States is not discussing joint nuclear exercises with South Korea, President Joe Biden said Monday. “No,” Biden said when a reporter asked him if he was discussing joint nuclear exercises with South Korea right now. Biden arrived at the White House from his New Year vacation Monday night. With his negative response, Biden rejected a proposal in this regard by his South Korean counterpart, Yoon Suk Yeol.