Breaking News, January 4 | HIGHLIGHTS

External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar tweets, "Delighted to interact with members of the Nepal Cricket team and Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN). Congratulated to them on qualifying for the T20 World Cup. Assured them of India’s support in their preparations. Underlined our commitment to the growth of cricket in Nepal."

In Mathura, traders are protesting against SP Security's order of declaring the vicinity of Sri Krishna Janmabhoomi Temple a no-vehicle zone.

President of Sri Krishna Janmabhoomi Traders Board, Mukesh Agrawal says, "... This has raised concerns for women, and those coming to the bank or post-office... We have given an ultimatum of 48 hours to reverse this order..."

Watch | BJP office in Jaipur decked up ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah's visit to the city, to participate in the 58th DGP-IGP national conference.

The Congress National Alliance Committee on Thursday held a meeting with the party president Mallikarjun Kharge and former president Rahul Gandhi. They discussed various issues ahead of the negotiations with other I.N.D.I.A bloc parties.

Tamil Nadu Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin met Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in Delhi.

"I was delighted to meet Congress leader and brother Rahul Gandhi at his residence in New Delhi today. I inquired about the health of Sonia Gandhi. He expressed his concern about the recent floods in Tamil Nadu. We briefly discussed the progress of the INDIA alliance to safeguard the secular ethos of the nation," Udhayanidhi Stalin wrote on X.

The next meeting of the Congress Manifesto Committee will be held on January 11, virtually.

The Central Bureau of Investigation on Thursday arrested four accused including two Dy Chief Controllers of Explosive, PESO, a Director of a private company based at Chittorgarh (Rajasthan) and tout in an alleged bribery of Rs 10 lakh.

Gujarat CM Bhupendra Patel attended the flag-off ceremony of 201 new buses in Gandhinagar, earlier today | Watch

More photos from Ayodhya | Ram Janmbhoomi Teerth Kshetra shares pictures of Ram Temple's Sinh Dwar.

A look at Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Lakshadweep visit | Watch

WATCH | MEA Spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal speaks on the extradition request to Pakistan to hand over 26/11 mastermind Hafiz Saeed.

"There was a period in between which was full of darkness for Uttar Pradesh. Now, not only the government, but the colleges also need to come out of that darkness... Previous governments ensured that the colleges had no source of income... Huge universities of the world now want to come to UP... Students from other states used to register their names here... Most colleges had only one hall and every class was running combined. And such colleges were also declared as centres... We stopped the exam-cheating mafia...," said UP CM Yogi Adityanath.

The anti-terror operation in Kulgam district of Jammu and Kashmir entered the second day on Thursday as security forces continued search operations to track down terrorists who had briefly engaged in a firefight last night. There has been no fresh firefight but search operations are still in progress, a police official said

Senior Congress leaders from across the country met here on Thursday to discuss strategy for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, seat sharing and preparations for the Rahul Gandhi-led Manipur to Maharashtra Bharat Nyay Yatra beginning January 14. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge convened the meeting of party general secretaries, state in-charges, state unit chiefs and Congress Legislature Party leaders at the party headquarters here. Former party chief Rahul Gandhi was also present.

Workers of the Youth Congress and KSU on Thursday staged a march towards Thekkinkadu Maidan where Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed a massive gathering of women a day ago, protesting the cutting of branches of a banyan tree near the venue.

AAP leaders on Thursday said the alleged Delhi liquor scam was bogus and asserted that Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal will cooperate with the ED if it sends "legal" summons to him. Kejriwal, the national convenor of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), refused to appear before the Enforcement Directorate in connection with the Delhi excise policy case on Wednesday, calling the summons "illegal" and "politically motivated". AAP leader Jasmine Shah said the investigation into the alleged liquor scam has been going on for the last two years but so far, no recovery has been made as evidence by the ED.

The newly elected BJP government in Chhattisgarh has effected a major bureaucratic reshuffle, transferring 88 Indian Administrative Service officers and one officer of the Indian Police Service. Collectors of 19 districts are among those who have been shifted, as per an order issued by the General Administration Department on Wednesday midnight.

 Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar will skip the convocation of Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology on Thursday as the aircraft ferrying him could not land in Jammu due to adverse weather conditions, officials said.

The Centre has adopted western Rajasthan's traditional rainwater harvesting system 'tankas' by constructing a large number of such storage tanks with reinforced concrete cement near PMAY houses to battle water scarcity in the arid region. Traditional 'tankas' are earthen rainwater storage tanks constructed by the people of Barmer district and other parts of western Rajasthan to collect water received during showers between July and September.

Lt Governor V K Saxena has ordered a CBI probe into the allegations of fake diagnostic tests prescribed by the Delhi government-run mohalla clinics to benefit private labs, Raj Niwas sources said on Thursday. The development comes days after Saxena ordered a CBI probe into the alleged supply of drugs to Delhi government hospitals that had failed "quality standard tests".

Aam Aadmi Party chief and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal is addressing a press conference in ED summons. 

YS Sharmila, founder of YSR Telangana Party, is likely to join the Congress here on Thursday, sources said. Sharmila arrived in the national capital on Wednesday night.

There will be four eclipses in 2024, including one total solar eclipse, but none of them will be visible from India, according to a senior official from Jiwaji Observatory in Ujjain city of Madhya Pradesh. The series of eclipses in 2024 will start with the penumbral lunar eclipse on March 25, the observatory's superintendent Dr Rajendraprakash Gupta said. 

A magnitude 3.9 earthquake hit Jammu and Kashmir's Kishtwar district in the early hours of Thursday, officials said. There were no reports of any loss of life or damage to property, they added. The earthquake, with its epicentre near Kishtwar, occurred at 12.38 am, the National Centre for Seismology said.

Days after paying a surprise visit to the home of the 10th-crore beneficiary of the Ujjwala scheme, Meera Majhi, in Ayodhya, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has now written a letter and sent gifts for Majhi and her family. The gift includes a tea set, a drawing book with colours, and more, adding a personal touch to the Prime Minister's gesture.

Very dense fog was recorded over Uttar Pradesh, Chandigarh, Rajasthan, Bihar; dense fog over Madhya Pradesh and  Tripura and moderate fog over Jammu Division (at 0530 hours IST), said India Meteorological Department.