Breaking News, January 14

Punjab | As per SC guidelines, a media certification & monitoring cell is made. DC heads the committee. We monitor & certify ads given in media, social media & issue notice to candidates if violation of Model Code of Conduct is found: Saurabh Deep, committee member, Amritsar

Magnitude: 5.3
Epicenter: 71.60°E, 36.52°N
Location: Afghanistan-Tajikistan Border Region
Time: 9:43:04.0 p.m.
Depth: 101 km

Indian Railways has decided to re designate the post of "Guard" as "Train Manager" with immediate effect: Ministry of Railways

A Delhi court on Friday dismissed the bail application of 'Bulli Bai' app creator Neeraj Bishnoi, noting that a vilification campaign against Muslim women containing derogatory content and offending material having communal overtones was run on this app. Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Pankaj Sharma refused the relief saying Bishnoi's act was affront to the dignity of the women of particular community and communal harmony of the society.

Alwar rape case, Rajasthan | On the basis of technical evidence and video received by Police, rape survivor is seen walking on Tijara flyover (incident spot), looking healthy. Doctors stated that her medical examination suggests no injury in her private parts: SP Tejaswani Gautam

Special Court to pronounce verdict on January 18 in the default bail plea of former Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh related to a money-laundering case

The Jammu and Kashmir Police on Friday arrested human rights activist Mohammad Ahsan Untoo for allegedly inciting violence through social media platforms. Untoo, a resident of Kupwara district, is chairman of the International Forum for Justice and Human Rights Jammu and Kashmir. A police spokesman said, "It was reliably learnt that Mohd Ahsan Untoo...a proactive secessionist, is an active participant and speaker at Twitter spaces, titled 'Radio Resistance Kashmir', led by two known secessionists Muzammil Ayyub Thakur and Dr. Asif Dar."

GST officers have arrested one person for operating a syndicate and issuing fake invoices of Rs 4,521 crore for availing input tax credit (ITC) benefit under goods and services tax, an official statement said on Friday. It said scrutiny of tally data has shown that there are 636 firms being operated by this syndicate and the mastermind of the syndicate has accepted that they have issued only invoices in these firms and not supplied any goods against them. "They have issued invoices involving taxable value of about Rs 4,521 crore having ITC implication of about Rs 741 crore," the statement said.
During the course of the investigation, GST amounting to Rs 4.52 crore has been deposited by the reversal of ITC available in the ITC ledger of these firms. Further, till now, about Rs 7 crore lying in various bank accounts of these firms has been frozen, it added. The mastermind behind the whole racket was arrested on January 13.

A minor fire broke out at a temple in Kulgam district of Jammu and Kashmir on Friday, police said. They, however, said preliminary investigation ruled out any foul play. The incident at the Mata Tripura Sundari temple in Devsar area is being investigated, but the preliminary inquiry suggests that the fire broke out accidentally due to the diyas that were lit up in the temple, a police official said.

Snapping its five-day winning run, the rupee on Friday slumped 25 paise to close at 74.15 against the US dollar, in line with other emerging market currencies as hawkish comments by Federal Reserve officials weighed on sentiment. At the interbank foreign exchange market, the local currency witnessed an intra-day high of 74.05 and a low of 74.21 against the US dollar. It finally settled at 74.15, down 25 paise over its previous close of 73.90.

Russian President Vladimir Putin will attend the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics in Beijing and hold a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping on February 4, said Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Friday. "We are preparing an official Russian-Chinese summit ... Putin, at the invitation of President Xi Jinping, will visit Beijing on February 4, the opening day of the Olympic Games. On the same day, full-scale negotiations at the highest level will take place," Sputnik quoted Lavrov as saying. The talks will cover the entire spectrum of relations between Russia and China, Lavrov said.

A powerful earthquake shook parts of Indonesia's main island of Java on Friday, causing buildings in the capital to sway, but there were no immediate reports of serious damage or casualties. Officials said there was no danger of a tsunami.

The U.S. Geological Survey said the magnitude 6.6 quake was located in the Indian Ocean about 88 kilometers (54 miles) southwest of Labuan, a coastal town in Banten province. It was centered at a depth of 37 kilometers (23 miles), it said. Indonesia's Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency said there was no danger of a tsunami.

Earthquakes occur frequently across the sprawling archipelago nation, but it is uncommon for them to be felt in the capital, Jakarta. Residents of high-rises in the city of 10 million felt a few seconds of swaying. Even two-story homes shook strongly in the satellite city of Tangerang.

Security forces on Friday detected and defused an improvised explosive device (IED) in Nowhatta area of the city, police said. "Police and CRPF detected a suspicious bag lying at Khawaja Bazar Chowk in Nowhatta area of Srinagar," a police official said. He said a team of bomb disposal squad was called to the spot, which "found a four to five litre pressure cooker (suspicious IED) in the bag". The bomb squad later destroyed the IED on the spot, the official said.

The main gate of Lady Brabourne College in Kolkata was defaced, following which a police complaint was lodged on Thursday, an officer said. The complaint was lodged at the Beniapukur police station after some letters were removed from the name of the college written at the main gate, making it read "Lady Bra", he said. "We have started a probe into the matter. We suspect that it might be the work of some local mischiefs. We are checking the CCTV footage," he added. The state-run Lady Brabourne College, one of the premier institutes for women in the city, was founded in 1939.