Breaking News January 25 | LIVE Updates

 In a big honour for the top India-origin tech prowess that has virtually taken over the Silicon Valley in the US, the Indian government on Tuesday awarded Padma Bhushan to Microsoft Chairman and CEO Satya Nadella and Alphabet and Google's Sundar Pichai among the 17 awardees. Padma Bhushan is the third-highest civilian award in the country, after Bharat Ratna and Padma Vibhushan.

Born on June 10, 1972 in Madras (now Chennai), Pichai Sundararajan -- better known as Sundar Pichai -- earned his degree from IIT Kharagpur in metallurgical engineering. Moving to the US, he earned an MS from Stanford University in materials science and engineering and further earned an MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

Pichai began his career as a materials engineer. After a short stint at the management consulting firm McKinsey & Co, he joined Google in 2004, and the rest is history. Pichai was picked up as the next CEO of Google on August 10, 2015, after previously being appointed Product Chief by CEO Larry Page. He was appointed to the Alphabet Board of Directors in 2017.

The Chennai police have put in place a five-tier security net ahead of the Republic Day celebrations with around 6800 police personnel being deployed to ensure a peaceful parade at Kamarajar Salai. Tamil Nadu Governor R.N. Ravi will hoist the Tricolour at the flag post near the Gandhi statute in Kamarajar Salai on Wednesday.

The police have been deployed at airports, railway stations, bus terminus, beaches, bus stops, commercial complexes, religious places like temples, mosques and churches. With Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin announcing that the tableau rejected by the Union government would be on display during the Republic Day parade in Chennai, the focus will mainly be on this.

Lt Gen Upendra Dwivedi appointed as the new Northern Army Commander. He is presently the Deputy Chief of Army Staff and would be succeeding Lt Gen YK Joshi in Udhampur, Jammu and Kashmir.

Bhubaneswar: Odisha State Secretariat, Police Commissionerate Office and other government and official buildings illuminated on the eve of Republic Day

President Ram Nath Kovind will lead the nation in celebrating India's 73rd Republic Day on Wednesday (January 26). The celebrations this year are special as the Republic Day falls in the 75th year of Independence, being celebrated as 'Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav' across the country. To mark the occasion, the Ministry of Defence has conceptualised a series of new events during the main parade on Rajpath on Wednesday and for the 'Beating the Retreat' ceremony at Vijay Chowk on January 29.

It has been decided that the Republic Day celebrations will now be a week-long affair from January 23-30 every year. The celebrations will commence on January 23, the birth anniversary of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, and culminate on January 30, which is observed as Martyrs' Day to mark the anniversary of the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi in 1948. The Republic Day ceremony will commence with Prime Minister Narendra Modi visiting the National War Memorial, where he will lead the nation in paying tribute to the fallen heroes by laying a wreath.

Thereafter, the Prime Minister and other dignitaries will head to the saluting dais at Rajpath to witness the parade. As per tradition, the national flag will be unfurled followed by the national anthem with a booming 21-gun salute. The parade will commence with President Kovind taking the salute. It will be commanded by Lt General Vijay Kumar Mishra, a second-generation Army officer. Major General Alok Kacker, Chief of Staff, Delhi Area, will be the Parade Second-in-Command.

Odisha: Special Task Force (STF) of the Crime Branch arrested a person and seized 3.1 kg brown sugar worth Rs 3 crores, cash of Rs 65.32 lakhs, 3 pistols and ammunition from Nayagarh district

History sheeter and notorious don, Padappai Guna who is an accused in 25 criminal cases including murder, surrendered before the Madras High Court on Tuesday. Police were on the lookout for him for a long time.

Guna is involved in murder, attempt to murder, kidnapping, and extortion in several cases in Kancheepuram and Chengalpattu districts of Tamil Nadu. Recently the Kancheepuram police had held a meeting with the industrialists at Sriperumbadur and told them not to succumb to pressure from gangsters for protection money. The Tamil Nadu police in a bid to showcase the state as an investment destination do not want complaints from a place like Sriperumbudur where several Multi-National Corporations (MNCs) have set shop.

Several small units and micro industries were facing trouble from gangsters like Guna who tried to extort money from them. Tamil Nadu DGP C. Sylendrababu had constituted a special team of police officers led by ADGP, Velladurai considered an expert in cracking high profile criminal cases, to catch Guna and bring him before the law of the land.

A multi-layered security arrangement was put in place on Tuesday to secure the venue of the main Republic Day function in Kashmir which is being held at the Sher-e-Kashmir cricket stadium in J&K's Srinagar city. All the high rise buildings around the parade venue have been taken over by sharpshooters of the security forces.

Policemen in civvies have been deployed around the venue to keep a close watch on any suspicious movement. Makeshift drop gates, mobile checkposts, sniffer dogs and area domination exercises by the security forces are some of the major arrangements visible on the ground. Drones have been deployed to provide aerial surveillance to the security forces.

All vehicles entering Srinagar city are being checked and their occupants being frisked at different places. The frequent checking and road blocks erected to prevent any militant misadventure have affected the public transport in Srinagar city and other major towns of the Valley. While private transport started thinning out in the afternoon, public transport was also seen withdrawing from the roads as the day progressed.

A couple allegedly committed suicide due to financial problems in Chhattisgarh's Durg district, police said on Tuesday. Sushil Yadav (35) and his wife Anita (33) were found hanging in a room of their rented house in Janjgiri area of Old Bhilai town on Monday, city superintendent of police (Old Bhilai) Vishwas Chandrakar said.

When the couple did not come out of their room for a long time, the house owner broke open the door and found them hanging from the ceiling, following which the police were informed, he said.

Residents of the Janjgiri area, the duo had left their home and were living separately in the rented house for the last few months, the official said.

A suicide note was recovered from the spot, which stated that Sushil had been unemployed for the last one year and his brother and sister-in-law would allegedly scold the couple over financial problems, he said.

New low-cost Malaysian carrier, SKS Airways, took to the skies Tuesday with short-haul flights to holiday island resorts as domestic travel rebounds after months of lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic last year.

SKS launched its maiden flight from the smaller Subang airport near Kuala Lumpur to Pangkor, a northern tax-free island, becoming the first carrier to fly there. It will also fly to northeastern Redang island, a popular scuba-diving haven, and southern Tioman island using 19-seater Twin Otter turboprop aircraft. There are currently no commercial flights to these islands.

The launch comes even as other airlines in the country, including the region's budget carrier AirAsia, are still struggling to ride out the effects of the pandemic.

Amid a row, the Madhya Pradesh government has directed the police to register an FIR against officials of e-commerce giant Amazon and its owner for allegedly selling products, including shoes, with the image of the Indian national flag, Home Minister Narottam Mishra said on Tuesday.

Amazon faced the ire of a section of Indian social media users over merchandising some products, including apparel and food items, that feature images of the Indian flag, with some saying that using the tricolour in such a way was an insult and a violation of the country's flag code.

“It has come to my notice that our national flag is used on products being sold by the online e-commerce platform Amazon. It is intolerable that even it (the national flag) has been used on shoes,” Mishra, who is the state government spokesman, told reporters.

Prima facie, it is a violation of the National Flag Code, he said.

“I have directed Director General of Police (DGP) to file an FIR against Amazon's officials and owner,” Mishra added.

The Delhi Police on Tuesday opposed the bail plea of Niraj Bishnoi, alleged creator of the Bulli Bai app, in the Patiala House Court saying that the investigation is at a "very nascent" stage.

Public Prosecutor Advocate Irfan Ahmed appearing for Delhi Police submitted that the contents on the accused's Twitter handles were derogatory, and the accused was using words like "Suli" & "Buli" to target women of a particular community.

"He is the one who had created the website. The Investigation Officer is still investigating and only one victim has turned up so far and there are many others who are yet to be found out," he added.

The Supreme Court on Tuesday adjourned till February 9, the hearing of a plea challenging the appointment of Indian Police Service (IPS) officer Rakesh Asthana as Delhi Police Commissioner.

A bench headed by Justice Justice DY Chandrachud listed the matter for February 9 for final argument on the NGO Centre for Public Interest Litigation's (CPIL) petition challenging Asthana's appointment as Delhi Police chief.

The Court said that it is keeping two days - February 9 and February 10 - for the hearing on the petition.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta appeared for the Centre while Senior Advocate Mukul Rohatgi was representing Asthana.

Decoding Imran Khan's ambiguous speech during his public interaction programme 'Aap Ka Wazir-e-Azam, Aap Kay Saath', a journalist Marvi Sirmed called the Pakistan Prime Minister "a coward."

On a television programme, Sirmed pointed out that Khan had always played safe in every field including cricket.

"Imran Khan is a coward man. If you see his journey including his career in cricket. He is not a brave man as a person...he plays safe always," she said during the tv show, citing examples of Taliban regime.

On the occasion of Republic Day, the Government of India has conferred 18 medals to the Indo-Tibetan Border Police personnel. Of these, three are Police Medal for Gallantry, three President's Police Medal for Distinguished Service and 12 Police Medal For Meritorious Service.

As per the ITBP press release, members of the 40th Battalion, AC (GD) Ashok Kumar, Inspector (GD) Suresh Lal, and Inspector (GD) Neela Singh have been awarded the Police Medal for Gallantry for anti-Naxal operations.

The operation party led by Ashok Kumar had cordoned the area of Bodla Village in general area Katema, Naktighati, of Chhattisgarh's Rajnandgaon district on February 9, 2018. Suresh Lal and Nella Singh (a sub-inspector at that time) were also a part of the cordon and search party.

Trailblazing India tennis star Sania Mirza’s swansong appearance at the Australian Open ended with a quarterfinal loss to local pair Jaimee Fourlis and Jason Kubler in the mixed doubles event on Tuesday. Mirza, partnering American Rajeev Ram, lost the match 4-6, 6-7 to wildcard entries Fourlis and Kubler in one hour 30 minutes.

The 35-year-old Mirza is India's most accomplished woman tennis player, having won six Grand Slam titles, including three mixed doubles trophies.

She was aiming to add a second Australian Open mixed doubles title to her kitty after making a first round exit in the women’s doubles event last week.

The Melbourne Park has been a happy hunting ground for Mirza, who recently announced that she will retire at the end of this season. Two of her six Grand Slam titles have come at the Australian Open.

Delhi: Ahead of Republic Day, Delhi Police Special Cell has busted an arms syndicate & apprehended two persons. Twenty-five weapons have been recovered from the accused. One accused is from Uttar Pradesh, the other is from Madhya Pradesh

Union Budget 2022 is likely to be presented at 11 am on 1st February, despite staggered timing for Lok Sabha & Rajya Sabha: Sources

Fifteen wagons of a goods train loaded with limestone derailed in Rajasthan's Jaisalmer district on Tuesday, disrupting train traffic on the route, a railway spokesperson said. The derailment took place on the Jodhpur-Phalodi railway track between Jetha Chandhan and Thayath Hameera when the train was going to Asansol in West Bengal from Sanu in Jaisalmer.

The engine of the goods train and two wagons behind it were safe and the derailment took place from the third wagon, a Government Railway Police source said, adding some of the wagons overturned.

A North West Railway spokesperson said a relief train has been dispatched to the site and restoration work is being started.

Ten Pakistani nationals have been arrested from the suburbs of Paris, on the suspicion of money laundering, human trafficking and fake documents, according to sources. As per media reports, police suspect two brothers among the 10 arrested, to be controlling this network. Police got a whiff of the network in June 2020 after being informed of suspicious packages carrying fake European documents arriving in France, from Pakistan via Turkey and Greece.

According to sources, the fake documents included official documents of countries in the Schengen area and in particular for France, including passports, identity cards and residence permits.

West Bengal: Truck driver arrested for possessing brown sugar worth more than Rs 2 crores. Case registered under NDPS Act, last night

President Ram Nath Kovind on Tuesday greeted residents of Himachal Pradesh on the state’s foundation day, and said he was sure that they will take their state to the pinnacle of modern development. The mountainous region became a state on this day in 1971.

Video Report

Share price of Axis Bank, the country's third largest private lender, surged 4.56 per cent on Tuesday, a day after the company posted 224 per cent surge in its third quarter profit year-on-year.

Defying the market trend, trading in Axis Bank share started on a positive note. Trading in the scrip started at Rs 713.70 at the Bombay Stock Exchange on Tuesday against its previous day's close at Rs 704.35.

Axis Bank share was trading at Rs 736.50 at around 10.05 am at the BSE, which is 4.56 per cent higher when compared with the previous day's close.

Bihar: Students who appeared for Railway Recruitment Board's Non-Technical Popular Categories exam 2021 protested at Bihar Sharif railway station in Nalanda, alleging discrepancies in the results

Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal hoists the national flag on the sidelines of Republic Day

At least 19 people were found dead in a nightclub, which caught fire, after a clash between two community groups in Indonesia's West Papua province, Xinhua News Agency reported on Tuesday.

Quoting a Provincial Police spokesman senior Commissioner Adam Erwindi, the news agency reported that the clash occurred in Sorong city of West Papua province.

Singer Cardi B has won a million-dollar defamation lawsuit against a YouTuber who was sued by the star for hurting her reputation by posting fake content on the internet.

As per The Hollywood Reporter, a federal jury on Monday sided with Cardi B on her accusations that a YouTuber named Latasha Kebe waged a "malicious campaign" to hurt the superstar's reputation, issuing a verdict that the woman had defamed the rapper and awarding the star more than USD 1 million in damages.

Following a two-week trial that featured testimony from both women, the jury returned a verdict that Kebe was liable for defamation and two other forms of wrongdoing over her YouTube videos and other internet posts -- which claimed that Cardi B had contracted herpes, among other unsavoury rumours.

The first round of the presidential elections in Italy, as expected, did not reveal a winner: most ballots were empty.

The votes were counted live by Roberto Fico, president of the Chamber of Deputies of the Italian Parliament.

"Due to the fact that no candidate has gained two-thirds of the total number of votes, it is necessary to move on to the second round, which will be held on Tuesday starting at 15:00," Fico said.

Maharashtra: 7 students including BJP MLA Vijay Rahangdale's son Avishkar Rahangdale died after their car fell from a bridge near Selsura around 11.30 pm last night. They (deceased) were on their way to Wardha: Prashant Holkar, SP Wardha

Sensex down over 800 points, currently trades at 56,920.26

Delhi Police install Facial Recognition Systems (FRS), CCTV cameras to strengthen security in view of Republic Day

Kerala: Main accused arrested in connection with the death of RSS worker Sanjith. Total 10 people arrested in the case, say Palakkad Police

A thick layer of fog shrouds parts of Maharashtra's Mumbai

The Sindh Excise and Taxation Department in Pakistan on Monday has increased tax on vehicles through Finance (Supplementary) Act, 2022, leading to an increase in car prices in the country, reported ARY News.

Notably, the National Assembly had passed the controversial Finance (Supplementary) Bill, generally known as the "mini-budget" amid fierce objections from the opposition benches, and after its implementation, the car prices have increased significantly in Pakistan.

The tax on cars over 1000cc has been increased to Rs100,000 from the existing Rs50,000.

American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan has sold his entire recorded music catalog to Sony Music Entertainment (SME), including all his previous albums and the rights to multiple future new releases, the company said on Monday.

Sony Music Entertainment in a statement described this deal as a major expansion of its six-decade relationship with the artist.

"This landmark agreement, concluded in July 2021, comprises the entirety of Bob Dylan's recorded body of work since 1962, beginning with the artist's self-titled debut album and continuing through 2020's highly acclaimed and successful Rough and Rowdy Ways," the company statement added.

Facebook parent company Meta has said that its newly unveiled artificial intelligence supercomputer will be the fastest in the world by the middle of next year.

"Today we're introducing the AI Research SuperCluster (RSC), which we believe is among the fastest AI supercomputers running today and will be the fastest in the world once fully built out in mid-2022," Meta said in a statement on Monday.

"AI can currently perform tasks like translating text between languages and helping identify potentially harmful content, but developing the next generation of AI will require powerful supercomputers capable of quintillions of operations per second," it added.

Assam Governor Jagdish Mukhi on Monday conferred the state's three highest civilian awards to 19 distinguished personalities in different fields.

In presence of Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, the Governor conferred the "Assam Baibhav Award" to industrialist and Tata Sons chairman emeritus Ratan Tata at a function held in Sankaradev Kalakshetra here.

The "Assam Saurav Awards" were given to academician Professor Kamalendu Deb Krori, Dr. Lakhsmanan S in the field of Public Service, Professor Dipak Chand Jain for Business Management, Lovlina Borgohain for Sports and Neel Pawan Baruah in Art and Culture.

Tropical storm Ana has caused widespread flooding in Madagascar, including in the capital city, raising the death toll from recent heavy rains to 34 people and displacing more than 55,000, officials said Monday.

With torrential rains continuing, Antananarivo's rivers are rising and officials are urging residents to leave low-lying areas of the capital and surrounding areas. Many residents have been evacuated in inflatable motorized boats.

Madagascar's meteorology department warned Monday of continued heavy rains. The tropical depression has moved across the Indian Ocean to the African continent, causing strong winds and rain in northern Mozambique.

West Bengal government will recommend to the syllabus committee to include in the school curriculum Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose's initiative to realise the dream of an independent India when he went to Singapore, state Education Minister Bratya Basu said on Monday. According to available record the iconic leader had gone to Singapore in July 1943 to realise his dream of an independent India free from foreign rule and strengthened his Indian National Army.

This year is the 125th birth anniversary of the nationalistic leader.

Basu when asked to comment on TMC spokesman Kunal Ghosh's statement that the new generation in Bengal should know in detail the chronology of events related to Netaji's visit to Singapore in 1943, said "Yes, the government will recommend to the syllabus committee for incorporating the events revolving around Netaji in 1943."

The District of Columbia and three states are suing Google for allegedly deceiving consumers and invading their privacy by making it nearly impossible for them to stop their location from being tracked.

In the lawsuit filed Monday in a Washington court, DC Attorney General Karl Racine alleges Google has “systematically” deceived consumers about how their locations are tracked and used. He also says the internet search giant has misled users into believing they can control the information the company collects about them.

“In reality, consumers who use Google products cannot prevent Google from collecting, storing and profiting from their location,” the lawsuit says. Google has "an unprecedented ability to monitor consumers' daily lives.”

Two moderate earthquakes shook southwest Haiti on Monday, killing two people, injuring dozens of students and damaging hundreds of homes as it created panic in a region that was rocked by a powerful tremor that killed more than 2,000 last summer.

A magnitude 5.3 quake at 8:16 am (1316 GMT) was followed by a magnitude 5.1 quake nearly an hour later. Both were centred on Haiti's southern peninsula, west of the capital, Port-au-Prince, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. It said both occurred about 10 kilometres (six miles) below the surface.

At least six people died in a crush outside a stadium hosting a game at Africa's top soccer tournament in Cameroon on Monday, a local government official said, realising fears over the capacity of the Central African country to stage the continent's biggest sports event. Naseri Paul Biya, the governor of the central region of Cameroon, said there could be more deaths.

"We are not in a position to give you the total number of casualties," he said.

The crush happened as crowds struggled to get access to Olembe Stadium in the capital city of Yaounde to watch the host country play Comoros in a last 16 knockout game in the African Cup of Nations.

Officials at the nearby Messassi hospital said they received at least 40 injured people, who were rushed to the hospital by police and civilians. The officials said the hospital was not capable of treating all of them.

"Some of the injured are in desperate condition," said Olinga Prudence, a nurse. "We will have to evacuate them to a specialised hospital."

In an apparent bid to shift responsibility for rising incidents of terrorism, Pakistan's Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid said on Monday that India's intelligence agency RAW is paying local criminals in Pakistan to sabotage peace there. Rashid made these remarks during a Senate briefing, the Dawn newspaper reported. 

He informed that five to six outfits, including Daesh, Tehreek-i-Taliban (TTP) Pakistan, and some Al Qaeda offshoots, were operating in the country's Balochistan province.

"Our security forces are vigilant and will continue to take action against terrorists who want to destabilize the country," he added.

A US F-35 jet has crash-landed in the South China Sea, but the pilot safely ejected from the aircraft and was evacuated by a military helicopter, the US Navy informed on Sunday.

"An F-35C Lightning II, assigned to Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 2, had a landing mishap on deck while USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70) was conducting routine flight operations in the South China Sea, Jan. 24, 2022. The pilot safely ejected from the aircraft and was recovered via US military helicopter," the US Navy said in a statement.

As many as 20 Indian fishermen who had mistakenly entered the Pakistan territory in 2017 were repatriated via the Attari-Wagah border on Monday, said Protocol Officer Arunpal Singh. The fishermen were kept in Karachi's Landhi jail for four years.

US President Joe Biden on Monday was caught on a hot mic, calling a correspondent from a US news network a "stupid son of a bitch" after the journalist asked a question on the issue of inflation.

During a presser, Biden sneered at Fox News correspondent Peter Doocy after he asked about rising inflation in the United States.

"That's a great asset. More inflation? What a stupid son of a bitch," Biden said into a hot mic.

However, the question remains whether Biden knew his mic was still on. Still, the moment was also caught on camera.

Up to 8,500 US troops are being put on 'heightened alert' for possible deployment to Eastern Europe, in view of the ongoing Russian aggression on the border of Ukraine, says Pentagon

Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, on Monday released a five-year roadmap and vision document for the electronics sector titled "USD 300 bn Sustainable Electronics Manufacturing & Exports by 2026".

As per a press release issued by the ministry, the roadmap, released in association with India Cellular & Electronics Association (ICEA), is the second volume of a two-part vision document - the first of which titled "Increasing India's Electronics Exports and Share in GVCs" was released in November 2021.

"This report provides a year-wise break-up and production projections for the various products that will lead India's transformation into a USD 300 billion electronics manufacturing powerhouse, from the current USD 75 billion," read the release.

NASA's James Webb Space Telescope has reached its final destination 1 million miles away from Earth

People light bonfires to keep themselves warm as temperatures drop in Mumbai

Madhya Pradesh: Avi Sharma from Indore awarded with PM Rashtriya Bal Puraskar on Jan 24