Breaking News, January 2 | HIGHLIGHTS

A thin layer of ice has formed over the Dal Lake in Srinagar as cold weather conditions coupled with dense fog gripped North India on Tuesday, disrupting train services and vehicular movement. Residents of the national capital experienced a windy morning on Tuesday. The minimum temperature settled a notch above normal at 8.3 degrees Celsius.

Thousands of armed forces personnel will be deployed across Bangladesh from Wednesday to ensure that the January 7 general elections are held in a free, fair, and peaceful manner, the Defence Ministry said on Tuesday.

The body of a three-year-old boy was fished out from a pond near his house in Odisha’s Balasore district on Tuesday, a day after he went missing, police said. The deceased has been identified as Subham.

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Tuesday declared he had met his target to clear the country's "legacy" asylum backlog by the end of 2023 and also bucked the trend across Europe by cutting down arrivals of illegal migrants via small boats by 36 per cent.

The Enforcement Directorate on Tuesday moved the Delhi High Court against an order for the release of three vivo-India executives in a money laundering case.

About 2,000 petrol pumps, mostly in western and northern India, have run out of fuel stocks as the strike by some truckers' associations entered the second day on Tuesday.

A fire erupted in some shops located in a slum area in Govandi suburb of Mumbai on Tuesday afternoon, officials said.

A meeting of senior BJP leaders got underway here on Tuesday to discuss the party's strategy for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections and the consecration ceremony at Ram temple in Ayodhya. Among those present in the meeting were party general secretary Sunil Bansal, Union ministers Bhupender Yadav, Ashwini Vaishnaw and Mansukh Mandaviya, and Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma. Union Home Minister Amit Shah and BJP president JP Nadda are expected to join the meeting later in the day.

The CBI has closed two cases related to alleged fixing of Indian Premier League matches in 2019 "based on inputs" from Pakistan due to lack of evidence, officials said on Tuesday. The agency had filed two FIRs in May 2022 against seven people after receiving information that "a network of individuals involved in cricket betting are influencing the outcome of Indian Premier League (IPL) matches based on inputs received from Pakistan".

At least three persons were killed and 20 others injured on Tuesday after the bus in which they were travelling collided head-on with a truck in Odisha's Cuttack district, police said. Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik expressed grief over the death of three persons in the accident and announced an ex gratia of Rs 3 lakh to the next kin of each deceased.

India has recorded 573 fresh cases of COVID-19 and the number of active cases of the infection has increased to 4,565, the Union health ministry said on Tuesday. Two new fatalities due to the disease -- one each in Karnataka and Haryana -- were reported in a span of 24 hours, according to the ministry's data updated at 8 am.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday (January 2) paid tributes to Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam (DMDK) founder and famous actor Vijayakanth on his demise and said he was a “captain” not only in the world of cinema but also in politics, who kept “national interest” above everything. The Prime Minister made the remarks while addressing a gathering in Tamil Nadu's Tiruchirapalli, with Chief Minister MK Stalin on the stage.

Dense fog blanketed many parts of Rajasthan on Monday morning, disrupting vehicular traffic. Visibility was recorded at 50 metres at the airport here, the weather office said.

An earthquake of 3.9 magnitude hit Jammu and Kashmir on Tuesday but there were no reports of any damage, officials said.

Kolkata Police has arrested 341 people for disorderly conduct on New Year's Day, a senior officer said on Tuesday. Another 828 people were prosecuted for violating traffic regulations, including drunken and rash driving, he said.

A mobile phone without a SIM, an earphone and an adapter were seized from the premises of the high security central jail at Kot Bhalwal in Jammu, a police official said on Tuesday. The seizure was made from a polythene bag found lying in an open area inside the prison complex, the official said.

Nineteen persons were injured, two of them critically, when a speeding private bus overturned due to fog in Madhya Pradesh's Raisen district in the early hours of Tuesday, an official said. The accident occurred on the Bhopal-Vidisha bypass road around 4 am, the official said.

PM Narendra Modi inaugurated and lays the foundation stone of multiple development projects worth more than Rs 20,000 crore in Tiruchirappalli, Tamil Nadu.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address a mass gathering of 2 lakh women in Thrissur on Wednesday, officially sounding the poll bugle for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. Titled 'Sthree Shakthi Modikk Oppam' (Empower Women with Modi), the convention, to be held at the sprawling Thekkinkadu ground, is organised by the Kerala unit of the BJP to congratulate Modi for successfully passing the Women's Reservation Bill in both Houses of Parliament.

Congress MP Karti Chidambaram appeared before the Enforcement Directorate on Tuesday for a fresh round of questioning in a money laundering case linked to issuance of visas to some Chinese nationals in 2011, official sources said. The 52-year-old legislator from Sivaganga Lok Sabha seat in Tamil Nadu was questioned in this case on December 23 last year and the central agency recorded his statement under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

PM Narendra Modi attended 38th Convocation Ceremony of Bharathidasan University.

Three persons were killed and four others injured after two motorbikes collided in Madhya Pradesh's Guna district, police said on Tuesday. The accident took place at around 8 pm on Monday in Raghogarh area, located 50 km from the district headquarters, an official said.

He was received by Tamil Nadu Governor RN Ravi, Chief Minister MK Stalin and MoS L Murugan.

Tamil Nadu CM MK Stalin arrived at Tiruchirappalli ahead of the inauguration of the new airport terminus building by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Rehearsals for 26th January Republic Day parade were held at Delhi's Kartavya Path.

As the temperature dips in Delhi, people seen sitting by the bonfire in a bid to keep themselves warm.

"They are only working on criticising the Prime Minister. Nothing is going to work. It is definite that the BJP will make government in 2024 once again and Narendra Modi will become the prime minister," Shri Ram Janambhoomi Teerth Kshetra chief priest Acharya Satyendra Das Ji Maharaj said.