Breaking News, January 4 | Highlights

Punjab CM Charanjit Singh Channi today handed over appointment letters of government jobs to 27 family members of the farmers who lost their lives in the movement during farm laws protest, said the CMO.

Amid increasing activities of Pakistan and Chinese navies in the Arabian Sea and nearby waters, the Indian Navy has now deployed its frontline P-8I anti-submarine warfare and surveillance aircraft on the Western seaboard in Goa giving a boost to its snooping capabilities in that area. "The Indian Navy's Boeing P-8I aircraft commenced operations from INS Hansa in Goa on Tuesday, with two aircraft arriving on December 30, 2021," an Indian Navy spokesperson said.

he RBI on Tuesday said state-owned SBI, along with private sector lenders ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank continue to be Domestic Systemically Important Banks (D-SIBs) or institutions which are 'too big to fail'. SIBs are perceived as banks that are 'too big to fail (TBTF)'. This perception of TBTF creates an expectation of government support for these banks in times of distress. Due to this perception, these lenders enjoy certain advantages in the funding markets.

The Delhi Assembly on Tuesday passed a Bill for setting up a world-class teachers' training university that would offer programmes such as BA-BEd and BSc-BEd. The Delhi Teachers' University Bill was introduced in the House on Monday by Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia who also holds the education portfolio. During a discussion on the Bill, he said the university will set a benchmark in teachers' training and enhance the quality of education.

Bans have been imposed on processions, rallies, public gatherings, social, cultural & sports events in every district in Chhattisgarh. Random testing for COVID-19 at railway stations & borders of the state will be done. Daily reporting of hospital beds, stock of medicines, and availability of oxygen is mandatory, said CMO Chhattisgarh.

A local court on Tuesday remanded a 21-year-old engineering student, arrested in the 'Bulli Bai' app case, in Mumbai Police's custody till January 10. The Mumbai cyber police apprehended the student, Vishal Kumar, from Bengaluru on Monday and later arrested him. After being brought to Mumbai, he was produced before the Bandra metropolitan magistrate. The police sought Kumar's custody for 10 days and also permission from the court to carry out searches at his premises in Bengaluru.

At least 10 people were killed and 40 others injured in a head-on collision between two passenger buses in Pakistan's Punjab province, officials said on Tuesday. According to the Punjab Emergency Services Rescue 1122, a bus was going to Hasilpur, some 400 kms from Lahore, while the other one was coming in the opposite direction when they collided on Monday night.

Bars, cinemas halls, malls, restaurants, spas, and AC buses will operate at 50% capacity subject to staff being fully vaccinated. Swimming pools & gyms will remain closed. Only fully vaccinated staff will be allowed to attend Govt, pvt offices, said Amritsar Dy Commissioner on COVID19 restrictions in the state.

Court has rejected the demand for issuance of non-bailable warrant against Kangana Ranaut in the case filed by Javed Akhar. The next hearing will be on February 1 at Andheri Metropolitan Magistrate, said Javed Akhtar's lawyer Jay Bhardwaj to ANI

A landslide at a construction site in southwestern China has killed 14 people and injured three others, official reports said Tuesday. The cause of the landslide Monday evening in Bijie city in Guizhou province is under investigation, the reports said.

Workers were building a training facility for a hospital at the time of the landslide. Mountainous, inland Guizhou is one of China's least developed regions.

In the Bulli Bai' app case, the 21-year-old man arrested by Mumbai Police Cyber Cell has been identified as Vishal Kumar. The main accused in the case is a woman detained from Uttarakhand. Both of them know each other, said the Mumbai Police.

A 12x7 cm black stone sculpture of Goddess Durga sitting on a lion throne was recovered during an excavation in the Khag area of Budgam in Central Kashmir in Jammu and Kashmir's Budgam, said Javaid Ahmad, an official of the Department of Archives, Archaeology and Museums.

A Congress party leader from Kerala was detained at the international airport here on Tuesday for carrying a revolver and live ammunition without valid documents. According to police, KSBA Thangal, a former chairman of Pattambi Municipal in Palakkad district was found to be in possession of the gun and seven bullets in his baggage.

He was on his way to Amritsar and was about to board a flight to Bengaluru from the airport.

While scanning his luggage, the Air Line staff detected the revolver and informed the CISF, who handed him to the police. A .22 caliber revolver and seven live rounds were seized from him. The gun was not in usable condition, police said.

Two terrorists affiliated with proscribed terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba's frontal affiliate The Resistance Front (TRF) were killed in an encounter with security forces in Jammu and Kashmir's Kulgam district on Tuesday.

The police said that both the terrorists were involved in several terror crimes.

"01 more terrorist killed (Total=2). Both the killed terrorists are locals and linked with proscribed #terror outfit LeT/TRF. They were involved in several terror crimes," Kashmir Zone Police quoted Inspector General of Police (IGP) Kashmir.

The Supreme Court has agreed to hear the case relating to reservation of Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) category in NEET admissions for Post-Graduate medical courses on Wednesday after the Central government sought an urgent hearing in the matter.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre, mentioned the matter before a bench of Chief Justice of India NV Ramana and Justices Surya Kant and Hima Kohli for urgent hearing.

"The problem is it's a three-judge bench matter, this entire week is a miscellaneous week. Let me see if tomorrow some judge is available, we will constitute a bench. Let me see. If possible I will constitute a three-judge bench or it will go before a division bench tomorrow", CJI told the Solicitor General.

Solicitor General sought an urgent hearing of the case in view of the protests by the resident doctors against the delay in NEET-PG counselling.

Indian Army unfurled the Tricolour in the Galwan valley, Ladakh on the occasion of New Year. As per sources in the security establishment, the Indian Army personnel had hoisted the National flag in Galwan on New Year's eve.

The move comes amid reports in a section of media that claimed that Chinese soldiers had displayed their flag in the region a few days ago.

Earlier, the media reported that the Chinese government had sought to "rename" 15 places in Arunachal Pradesh in its map two days ahead of implementing new border law.

Stampede occurred during Congress' 'Ladki hoon, Lad Sakti hoon' marathon in Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh today

Mumbai Police Cyber Cell detains one more person in 'Bulli Bai' app case

The Cell today arrested a 21-year-old engineering student, who was detained from Bengaluru yesterday, following questioning in the case

Delhi BJP MLA Ajay Mahawar demands changing the name of Baburpur constituency to after former President APJ Abdul Kalam's name saying, "naming assembly constituency after an invader like Babur is a symbol of slavery."

Delhi Environment Minister Gopal Rai is an MLA from Baburpur

An F-35A fighter operated by South Korea's Air Force made an emergency landing during a training session on Tuesday due to avionic system issues, with its pilot having emerged unscathed, officials said.

The radar-evading jet made the "belly landing" on a runway at an air base in Seosan, 151 km south of Seoul, at around 12.51 p.m. (local time) after the issues caused the landing gear to become momentarily dormant, Yonhap news Agency quoted the officials as saying.

The pilot walked away unscathed, they added.

In a key development to the Income Tax raids at the places of several businessmen in Uttar Pradesh, a team of the officials has reached Khekra village in Baghpat district. A senior official of the I-T department said that Ajay Chaudhary of ACE Group, whose premises were raided this morning, has a farmhouse in Bagpat's Khekra.

"The farm house is in Marhampur. It belongs to Ajay Chaudhary alias Sanju. We have to gather incriminating documents that's why we are conducting searches," said an official.

Rajeev Prasad the deputy director of Income Tax Noida wing is leading the team.

Resident doctors in Maharashtra, who were on strike to seek a resolution of the NEET-PG counselling delay and other issues, called off their protest on Tuesday after a “fruitful” meeting with the state medical education and research director, a representative of the resident doctors said.

Thousands of resident doctors in the state had gone on their strike on Friday, demanding recruitment of non-academic junior resident doctors equal to the number of residents in colleges.

In some of the medical colleges in Mumbai, they were on strike since last Thursday.

In a statement issued late Monday evening, Central Maharashtra Association of Resident Doctors (MARD) president Avinash Dahiphale said the recruitment of house officers/medical officers in all government/corporation medical colleges and hospitals as per requirement in the view of delay in NEET-PG counselling has been addressed.

Terrorists reported to be hiding in Jammu and Kashmir's Kulgam

Full Report

The Central government has increased the authorised sanctioned strength of Jharkhand's IAS Cadre to 224 from 215-- an enhancement of nine more posts compared to the previous strength.

As per the new sanctioned strength, the total number of senior duty posts will be 122, the Central deputation will be 48, state deputation will be 30, training reserve will be four, while, leave reserve and junior posts reserve will be 20.

Pir Panjal Mountain Range receives fresh spell of snowfall 

Full Coverage Here

The Supreme Court has stayed the order of the Allahabad High Court granting bail to one of the main accused Yogeshraj, a Bajrang Dal leader who allegedly lead a mob that killed a police officer in Uttar Pradesh's Bulandshahr district in December 2018.

A Bench of Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and MM Sundresh in its order stated that the matter is "quite serious" where under the pretext of the cow slaughter, a police officer has been lynched and directed Yogeshraj to surrender before the trial court within a period of seven days.

A joint team of Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and Jharkhand Police today apprehended a People's Liberation Front of India (PLFI) cadre identified as Pulus Topno from Khunti region during a special operation

All India Muslim Personal Law Board opposes Govt directive to organize 'Surya Namaskar' program in schools between Jan 1-Jan 7 on the 75th anniversary of Independence Day; says 'Surya Namaskar' is a form of Surya puja and Islam does not allow it

An encounter has broken out between security forces and terrorists in the Okay area of Jammu and Kashmir's Kulgam district of Jammu and Kashmir on Tuesday.

The police, in a tweet, said, "Encounter has started at Okay area of Kulgam. Police and security forces are on the job. Further details shall follow."

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Tuesday predicted light rain over parts of Delhi, Harayana and Uttar Pradesh in the next few hours.

IMD, in a tweet, said, "09:40 IST; Very light to light intensity rain/drizzle would occur over and adjoining areas of isolated places of Delhi (Mundka ). Light to moderate intensity rain would occur over and adjoining areas of Yamunanagar (Haryana). Saharanpur, Gangoh, Shamli, Muzaffarnagar, Kandhla, Khatauli (U.P.) during the next 2 hours."

Income Tax Department is conducting searches at the properties of real estate company ACE Group & its promoter Ajay Chaudhary in Delhi, Noida, Greater Noida, & Agra. Chaudhary is said to be close to a political leader of Uttar Pradesh: Sources

The air quality in the national capital continued to remain in the "very poor" category on Tuesday with an overall Air Quality Index (AQI) at 368. According to the System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting And Research (SAFAR), the concentrations of both PM 2.5 and PM 10 stood at 'very poor' category.

High winds and intermittent rains are likely during January 5 to 8 which is expected to improve AQI significantly to the "lower end of very poor" through strong dispersion and wet deposition.

Meanwhile, the air quality of Noida remains in the 'severe' category with AQI at 423.

With the AQI at 358, the air quality of Gurugram is in the 'very poor' category.

Punjab: A warden of Bathinda Central Jail has been booked and arrested on the charge of possession of 15 grams of heroin, say police

Mumbai cyber police have detained a 21-year-old engineering student from Bengaluru in connection with the 'Bulli Bai' app case. Police had filed a first information report against unknown persons following complaints that photographs of Muslim women were uploaded for ‘auction’ on the app hosted by GitHub platform.

Sensex rises 230.75 points to 59,413.97 in early trade; Nifty gains 80.40 points to 17,706.10

Higher reaches of Himachal Pradesh receive fresh snowfall

Bihar: Due to fog/low visibility at Patna airport, all departures/arrivals and their consequential flights are affected and likely to be delayed, as per airport authorities

It is not only the northern part of India that is in the grip of severe winter pollution but several cities in other regions -- including in the central Indian states of Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh -- are experiencing a worsening of winter pollution, finds the latest analysis from Centre for Science and Environment (CSE).

The analysis shows that air pollution during winter is a problem in all the cities in these two states, with Gwalior and Singrauli having the worst air quality -- as bad as the winter air quality of cities in the National Capital Region and Uttar Pradesh. Nitrogen dioxide (NO2) pollution is also high in these cities, with Indore recording the highest for the region.

Singrauli, a small town in eastern Madhya Pradesh, but designated as a critically polluted area by the Central Pollution Control Board, has the most polluted air in the region with a 2021 average of 81 micrograms per metre cube. It is followed by Gwalior and Katni that have 2021 averages of 56 micrograms per metre cube and 54 micrograms per metre cube, respectively.

Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Monday directed all departments to work in coordination to implement the investment proposals received ahead of the Invest Rajasthan summit proposed to be held here on January 24-25. Gehlot chaired a review meeting in which it was informed that Memorandum of Understanding (MoU)/ Letter of Intent (LoI) worth Rs 6.16 lakh crore have been signed so far, an official release said.

The chief minister said that in the last three years, the state government has taken several important policy decisions, which has created a positive environment for investment in Rajasthan.

The chief minister said that the MoUs and LOIs that have been done so far should be implemented in a time-bound manner with adequate monitoring and investors should not face any problem in getting various approvals.

Four people were arrested here for allegedly robbing people after offering them rides in an auto-rickshaw, police said on Monday. The accused, identified as Ashwani, Rameshwar, alias Ankit, Suraj and Sanjay, were arrested on Sunday night near the Yoganchal Ashram, City Superintendent of Police (Second) Gyanendra Singh said.

The police said they would drive around in the auto-rickshaw posing as passengers, offer people rides and rob whoever walked into the trap and boarded the vehicle.

The accused had robbed an income tax officer in the Link Road police station area on December 20 evening, the police said.

The Indian Navy's 1971 Indo-Pak war veteran Vice Admiral SH Sarma died on Monday at the age of 100, his family said. Sarma was the Flag Officer Commanding Eastern Fleet during the 1971 war. India had defeated Pakistan in the 1971 war leading to the creation of Bangladesh.

Officials said Sarma also served as Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief (FOC in C) of the Eastern Naval Command. He breathed his last at 6.20 pm at a private hospital in Bhubaneswar.

His mortal remains will be taken to his residence on Tuesday, where people can pay tributes to him, his family said in a statement. The cremation will be performed on January 5.

The Gurugram-based realty firm MGF Group was on Monday booked on charges of cheating and fraud worth Rs 200 crores with another realtor M3M India Private Limited. An FIR of cheating and forgery was lodged at the Gurugram City police station on a court order, an M3M counsel told a sessions court during the hearing of an MGF Group's plea, challenging the magisterial court’s order for the registration of the FIR.

The sessions court subsequently adjourned the hearing on the MGF's group plea.

The FIR was lodged after the magisterial court expressed its displeasure against the police and summoned the City Police station’s SHO for dithering on lodging the FIR.

A meteor that caused an earthshaking boom over suburban Pittsburgh on New Year's Day exploded in the atmosphere with an energy blast equivalent to an estimated 30 tons (27,216 kg) of TNT. NASA's Meteor Watch social media site said late Sunday a “reasonable assumption” of the speed of the meteor at about 45,000 mph (72,420 kph) would allow a “ballpark” estimate of its size as about a yard in diameter with a mass close to half a ton (454 kg).

If not for the cloudy weather, NASA said, it would have been easily visible in the daytime sky — maybe about 100 times the brightness of the full moon.

A nearby infrasound station registered the blast wave from the meteor as it broke apart, enabling the estimates.

Two Israeli pilots were killed when a navy helicopter crashed off Israel's Mediterranean coast late Monday near the northern city of Haifa, the Israeli military announced. The helicopter was conducting a training flight when it crashed. A third crew member, an aerial observer, was moderately injured and evacuated to a hospital.

The families of the pilots have been notified. 

Following the reports of Chinese infrastructure development across the Line of Actual Control (LAC), AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi on Monday slammed the Central government over the India-China border issue and demanded a special session of Parliament to discuss the matter.

Attacking the Centre over the India-China border issue, Owaisi in a series of tweets said, "Chinese infrastructure development in border areas is ominous for the future. It indicates major Chinese military preparations in the area when seen with extensive deployment of weapons and troops along the LAC. This is a serious issue that calls for a special session of Parliament. We again demand a special session of Parliament to discuss the China border crisis and the government's response to it."

An earthquake with a magnitude of 6.3 on Tuesday struck off Japan's Ogasawara Islands of Tokyo Prefecture, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA).

The temblor occurred at around 6:09 a.m. local time, with its epicentre at a latitude of 27.1 degrees north and a longitude of 142.5 degrees east, and at a depth of 70 km.

Fourteen people have died and 22 got injured when a car rammed into a crowd in southern Tanzania, the country's presidential office said on Monday. According to the police, the accident occurred late on Sunday in the village of Lidumbe in the southeastern Mtwara region.