Breaking News, January 2 | HIGHLIGHTS

The Shiv Sena (UBT) on Monday took a dig at BJP president JP Nadda after he mentioned former RSS chief Balasaheb Deoras instead of Bal Thackeray in an apparent slip of the tongue while criticising ex-Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray.

Maharashtra on Monday recorded eight fresh coronavirus cases, while no new death linked to the infection was registered in the state, the health department said. With this, the state's overall COVID-19 tally rose to 81,36,687, while the death toll remained unchanged at 1,48,417, the department said in a bulletin.

Fourteen Indian fishermen, who were stranded at Salomon Islands --a British Indian Ocean Territory-- following the breakdown of their fishing vessel in the sea, were rescued by a British vessel, official sources said here on Monday. The fishermen were handed over to the Indian Coast Guard off Tamil Nadu coast today, they said.

Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Monday said the Sampark Kranti Express train between Ahmedabad and Delhi will be renamed as Akshardham Express as a tribute to Pramukh Swami Maharaj, the spiritual guru of the BAPS Swaminarayan Sanstha.

Three persons were injured in a fireworks accident at the Lord Ayyappa temple in Sabarimala here on Monday.

The West Bengal Congress 'Bharat Jogo Yatra' on Monday touched the residences of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose and Swami Vivekananda in Kolkata and garlanded busts of the two icons of the state. Resuming the Yatra in the morning, Congress leaders and workers reached Bose's residence 'Netaji Bhavan' in south Kolkata. The great freedom fighter was a former Congress president.

Pakistan's top civil-military leadership on Monday vowed to show "zero tolerance" for terrorism in the country and reaffirmed its determination to take on any and all entities that resort to violence. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif chaired the second round of the 40th meeting of the National Security Committee (NSC) after the first round held on Friday. All service chiefs, key cabinet ministers, heads of intelligence agencies and other high officials attended the meeting.

"Delhi Police forms medical board to examine Delhi road accident case," said Sagar Preet Hooda, Special CP. 

Three people were killed and four others injured in a head-on collision between a truck and a bike-trolley in Rajasthan's Hanumangarh on Monday, police said.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Monday called the incident of a woman's body being dragged for four kilometres by a car after hit her scooter a "rarest of rare" crime and demanded that the accused be given the strictest punishment. "It is a rarest of rare crime. I don't know where society is heading.
I have learnt that the postmortem is underway, " he told reporters at a ceremony to flag off 50 electric buses.

Two helicopters collided Monday afternoon over an Australian beach and passengers in one of the aircraft were injured, police said. The other helicopter managed to land safely, Queensland state police said in a statement. Thirteen patients were being assessed for injuries, Queensland Ambulance Service said. Authorities didn't immediately confirm the conditions of the passengers or if there were fatalities.

The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to hear on January 4 the Uttar Pradesh government's appeal challenging an Allahabad High Court order quashing its draft notification on urban local body elections and directing it to hold the polls without reservation for other backward classes.

A bench comprising Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justice P S Narasimha took note of the submissions of Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the state government, saying the matter needed an urgent hearing.
"We will take it the day after tomorrow," the bench said.

It was a cold Monday morning in Delhi as the minimum temperature settled at 7.6 degrees Celsius, normal for this time of the year. The relative humidity was 90 per cent at 8. 30 am. According to the weatherman, the maximum temperature is likely to hover around 21 degrees Celsius.
 

Two people who were injured in a suspected explosion in Rajouri's Upper Dangri village have been rushed to the hospital.

BSF personnel spotted a drone at Kamalpur post, Gurdaspur at around 10.10 pm yesterday night. Personnel fired towards the drone after which the drone returned towards Pakistan.

Two people were killed and three seriously injured when their car's driver lost control of the vehicle and rammed it into a house here, police said on Monday. The accident took place near Devipura village under the Sungarhi police station area on Sunday evening, Circle Officer (City) Satish Shukla said.

Odisha DGP S K Bansal has said the probe into the recent death of two Russian nationals at a hotel in Rayagada is being conducted with an 'open mind' and 'no evidence of any foul play' has been found so far. Pavel Antov (65), a Russian lawmaker, died after allegedly falling from the hotel's third floor on December 24, while his friend Vladimir Bidenov (61) was found dead in his room on December 22.

Terming India’s G20 Presidency a 'very big deal,' External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has said the country has taken up the responsibility to host the meetings of the powerful grouping at a time when there is great economic stress on the global supply chains and strong political polarisation in the world.

The Supreme Court is scheduled to pronounce its judgment on Monday on a batch of pleas challenging the government's 2016 decision to demonetise currency notes of Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 denominations. A five-judge Constitution bench headed by Justice S A Nazeer, who will retire on January 4, is likely to pronounce its verdict on the matter on January 2, when the top court will reopen after its winter break.

Canada has banned foreigners from buying property after the surge in property prices since the commencement of the pandemic.

Israel's military fired missiles toward the international airport of Syria's capital early Monday, putting it out of service and killing two soldiers and wounding two others, the Syrian army said. The attack, the second in seven months to put the Damascus International Airport out of service, caused material damage in a nearby area, the army said, without giving further details.

10 security guards, 4 inmates were killed in attack on Mexican border prison.

3 people died & 3 were injured after collision b/w a Maruti Bolero car & a tractor in UP's Hathras. The injured were referred to Aligarh Medical college. The deceased were identified & their families have been informed.