Breaking News, January 2 | Highlights

The joint retreat ceremony of Border Security Force (BSF) and Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) at International Border Check Post Petrapole, North 24 Parganas in West Bengal under the South Bengal Frontier of BSF was resumed on January 1, the BSF said on Sunday. This daily event was suspended due to Covid-19 protocol and restrictions on the border in 2020.

 A man was arrested on Sunday for allegedly impersonating an Army officer in Samba district of Jammu and Kashmir, police said. Raman Singh, a resident of R S Pura, was in army fatigue when he was noticed by a police patrolling party moving under suspicious circumstances in the Bari Brahmana area, a police spokesperson said. On questioning, the man was unable to produce an army identity card and failed to give any satisfactory answer, the spokesperson said.

The Delhi University has allocated Rs 10 crore for its centenary celebrations and has plans to bring out a coffee table book to mark the occasion. The university development fund committee, comprising former pro vice-chancellor Professor PC Joshi and Registrar Vikas Gupta, in its report stated that the occasion should be commemorated in a grand way. The panel has decided to allocate Rs 10 crore from the fund.

A major fire ripped through South Africa's Parliament complex on Sunday, gutting offices and causing some ceilings in the building that houses the national legislature to collapse. As firefighters struggled to tame the blaze, a dark plume of smoke and flames rose high into the air above the southern city of Cape Town.

A 23-km-stretch of the third ghat road and also a third stairway leading to the Tirumala Hills, the ancient abode of Lord Venkateswara, would be built at the earliest, said a top functionary of Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) that governs the shrine.

TTD Board Chairman YV Subba Reddy on Sunday directed the engineering section of TTD to prepare a detailed project report and invite tenders for the new road and stairway, a press release from the devasthanams said.

Two more persons have been arrested in connection with the killing of two BJP workers and a driver during the October 3 Lakhimpur Kheri violence. They were held by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) on Saturday evening. With this, six persons have been arrested in connection with FIR number 220 which pertains to the killing of BJP workers Shubham Bajpai and Shyam Sundar Nishad and driver Hariom by an agitated mob after a car ran over four farmers.

Two construction labourers were found dead and another was grievously injured at a construction site here, police said on Sunday. Police suspect the three must have fought among themselves at Nangla Enclave Part-2 late on Saturday. Monu (25), Aakash (23) and Ramvir (42) were natives of Hathras in Uttar Pradesh and were staying at the construction site under Saran police station area.

Around 5-6 people sustained injuries after parts of an under-construction bridge fell down in the Ramgarh area of Samba in J&K. Rescue operation is underway, said Deputy Commissioner of Samba

Argentine footballer Lionel Messi has tested positive for Covid-19. He is among the four players in the Paris Saint-Germain squad to have tested positive for the infection ahead of the team's French Cup game

PM will inaugurate and lay the foundation stone of 22 projects worth over Rs 4800 crore in Manipur. More than 2350 mobile towers built at the cost of around Rs 1100 crores will be dedicated to the public.

Delhi Assembly Session will commence on January 3 at 11.00 am in the Assembly Hall of Delhi Vidhan Sabha at Old Secretariat, news agency ANI reported.

As the mercury dropped in the Northern and Northwest part of the country, a senior scientist at the India Meteorological Department on Sunday predicted that there would not be a cold wave for the next 4 to 5 days anywhere in North-West India.Speaking to ANI, Senior Scientist at IMD, RK Jenamani said, "Two Western disturbances are coming consecutively, one is 3rd January's night to 7th January morning and the other is 7th January afternoon to 9 January or 10 January. So because of the consecutive western disturbance, there will be no cold wave for the next 4-5 days. There was no cold wave in Delhi and Rajasthan. Only Punjab and Haryana faced cold waves, but it will be improved. From tomorrow, there will be no cold wave anywhere in North-West India."Talking about the severe cold in the national capital, the scientist said that the temperature will increase to nearly 10 degrees in the coming days.

PM Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone of Major Dhyan Chand Sports University in Meerut, UP. Meerut was Major Dhyan Chand's 'karmsthal'. Centre named the country's biggest sports award after him and now Meerut's Sports University will be dedicated to Major Dhyan Chand Ji: PM Modi. 

In view of the increasing COVID-19 cases, the Haryana government on Sunday has decided to impose new COVID-19 guidelines. These new guidelines will be applicable till January 12. According to these guidelines, schools, colleges, coaching institutes, Anganwadi will remain closed in the entire state, in view of the rising cases. "In districts with high daily cases, Gurugram, Faridabad, Ambala, Panchkula and Sonipat, malls and markets will close by 5 pm", said Anil Vij, Haryana Health Minister on Sunday. 

Authorities in Vietnam have tightened health regulations after five more Omicron cases were detected in Ho Chi Minh City, bringing the total infections of the type to 20, local media reported. All these people were immediately quarantined upon arrival on December 20-25, 2021, Xinhua news agency quoted the local media as saying citing the Ho Chi Minh City Centre for Disease Control. Their samples were sent for gene sequencing and the result confirmed that the specimens were positive for the Omicron variant. They are now in stable health conditions and their tests results turned negative after 5-7 days, according to the report.

COVAX, the international vaccine sharing scheme, delivered a record of more than 309 million Covid-19 doses in December, the media reported. According to provisional tracking by Unicef, about 910 million doses were delivered through the UN-backed initiative as of December 30, The Washington Post reported. However, the tally is still far short of the 2 billion-plus doses that Covax had initially aimed for. "We're frankly getting toward a world where supply is not going to be as great a challenge as simply delivering the vaccine and getting it into people's arms," Lawrence Gostin, Director of the O'Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law at Georgetown University, was quoted as saying. According to Olly Cann, director of communications at non-profit Gavi, a key factor for the accelerated pace is an increased level of advance notice from donors about when doses would be available.

The residents of the national capital on Sunday woke up to a cold morning with the minimum temperature settling at 5 degrees Celsius. The people however, continued to breathe polluted air, as the Air Quality Index (AQI) was 323 for PM10 and 210 for PM2.5. As the PM10 went over 300, the System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting And Research (SAFAR) has issued a health advisory stating that sensitive people should consider reducing prolonged or heavy exertion and heavy outdoor work. The PM2.5 level was under the 'very poor' category. Usually, the air quality is categorised as 'good' when the AQI is between 0 to 50; 'satisfactory' between 51-100; 'moderate' between 101-200; 'poor' between 201-300; 'very poor' between 301-400; 'severe' between 401-500; and 'hazardous' at over 500.

Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi speaks with Chhattisgarh CM Bhupesh Baghel over COVID19/Omicron situation and inquires about the preparedness of the State. 

COVID-19 cases are increasing rapidly in Delhi, but there is no need to panic. Currently, the active cases in the city are 6,360. Today, 3,100 new cases expected to be reported today. Only 246 hospital beds were occupied yesterday. All cases are mild and asymptomatic. As of now, only 82 oxygen beds in hospitals are occupied. Delhi government is prepared will 37,000 beds. I just want to tell you that all new cases are with mild symptoms, asymptomatic, so there is no need to panic: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. 

Oil marketing companies (OMC) have kept the prices of diesel and petrol unchanged across major Indian cities since November 3, 2021, when the Centre and some states reduced duties on them. Accordingly, diesel and petrol prices in Delhi stood at Rs 86.67 per litre and Rs 95.41 per litre on Sunday, respectively. In the financial capital Mumbai, the rates were unchanged at Rs 94.14 and Rs 109.98. Prices also remained static in Kolkata at Rs 89.79 and Rs 104.67. In Chennai too, they remained untouched at Rs 91.43 and Rs 101.40. Across the country as well, the price of the fuel remained unchanged on Sunday but the retail rates varied depending on the level of local level taxes.

The Carpet Export Promotion Council (CEPC) has decided to organise a national and international level carpet fair in October this year. The fair was not organised for two years due to the pandemic. The idea behind the fair is to bridge the gap between Indian handmade carpet products and their demand across the globe during the pandemic period. Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath while speaking at the Carpet Expo Mart on Saturday, said that Bhadohi has emerged as a boon in tough times by bringing sellers and buyers under one single roof. Earlier, Bhadohi's carpet producers were forced to take their products to Delhi or other places in order to sell them, however, the Carpet Expo Mart has infused fresh life into the world-renowned Bhadohi carpet industry of handwoven carpets by attracting buyers nationally and internationally.

Delhi Police have registered an FIR u/s 509 IPC on the complaint of a woman journalist alleging she is being targeted by an unidentified group of people on an app using GitHub by the name of 'Bulli Bai'. FIR registered in Cyber Police station of the South East district.

Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Tejashwi Yadav on Saturday slammed Chief Minister Nitish Kumar over Bihar's low ranking in NITI Aayog's poverty index baseline report and said that the "double-engine" government is responsible for this. While extending greetings for New Year, Yadav spoke to the media and said, "Whom do you hold responsible for Bihar being at the lowest in terms of education, health, unemployment and others if not the double engine government of the Chief Minister?". "Who would be answerable if not them? They have 40 of 40 MPs in the state, it's a double engine government, then if not them, who would be answerable?" he further questioned.

Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal to address the media today on the COVID19 situation in the city.

Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh witnesses dense fog as cold wave hits. 

Three Tanzanian peacekeepers serving on the United Nations' mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA) were injured on Thursday when their vehicle struck an unidentified explosive device.One of the soldiers was seriously hurt, and needed to be evacuated to Bouar for treatment and then on to the capital, Bangui, MINUSCA informed.The 'blue helmets' were in the village of Batouri Bole, in Mambere-Kadei, in the southwest of the country, when the incident happened.

In the last month, Delhi LNJP hospital has treated 138 Omicron cases, said Dr Suresh Kumar, MD of LNJP hospital. According to the doctor, the cases are increasing at an alarming rate. "Since December 2, we have seen 372 positive cases, out of which there were 138 Omicron cases", said Dr Kumar. "95 per cent of them have recovered and returned home", added the doctor. "As many as three children were found Omicron positive in the last one month. Two have been discharged while the third one is recovering and stable at present", added the LNJP MD.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Meerut in Uttar Pradesh today and lay the foundation stone of Major Dhyan Chand Sports University.

READ MORE HERE: In Meerut, PM Modi to lay foundation stone of Major Dhyan Chand Sports University today

COVID-19: Mizoram reports 84 new cases and 1 death; Active caseload stands at 1,715. 

Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari will inaugurate multiple projects in Nagpur on Sunday. The Minister will perform the Bhoomipujan ceremony of Genetic Bio-Sciences Private Limited in Nagpur at 11 am, the office of Gadkari informed in a tweet on Saturday.

Auto drivers sit near the fire to comfort themselves on a cold winter morning in Delhi. "With night curfew in place, we are not getting enough passengers. Our daily income has been affected due to the curfew," said an auto-driver.

Cuba has reported the highest number of daily cases of Covid-19 in almost two months, registering 469 infections and one death, the Ministry of Public Health said. The Ministry on Saturday said the accumulated number of infections rose to 966,473 and the death toll was 8,323, Xinhua news agency reported. The province of Pinar del Rio registered the most new cases, with 98, followed by Havana, with 80, and Camaguey, with 62. Cuba is continuing its mass vaccination programme, with 9.6 million of the country's 11.2 million people having been fully vaccinated, according to the latest official data.

Three officials from the Uttarakhand State Disaster Management Authority (USDMA) and one from the Rural Development Department of the state government have been served a showcause notice, seeking to know if their scientific paper about the February 2021 Chamoli disaster was published with or without permission. The showcause notice was issued on December 28 by the additional CEO (administration) of the Uttarakhand government's Disaster Management and Rehabilitation Department, an official said on Saturday. Peeyush Rautela, Rahul Jugran and Girish Chandra Joshi from USDMA and Surabhi Kundliya, a consultant with the Rural Development Department had authored the research paper titled 'Sequential Damming Induced Winter Season Flash Flood in Uttarakhand Province of India' in the October issue of Journal of Environmental and Earth Sciences.'

Nepal's annual one-day Costume Play aka 'Cosplay Fest' excites young lot as they call it " a dream come true." "Seeing these characters come to life still feels unreal and fictional," said 15-year-old Shamita Shah. 

Britain has reported another 162,572 coronavirus cases in the latest 24-hour period, bringing the total number of coronavirus cases in the country to 13,100,458, according to the official figures released on Saturday. Britain also reported a further 154 coronavirus-related deaths. The total number of coronavirus-related deaths in Britain now stands at 148,778, with 11,918 Covid-19 patients still in hospital, Xinhua news agency reported. The data on Saturday did not include Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland due to differences in reporting schedules over the New Year weekend. The latest figures came as British Health Secretary Sajid Javid said further restrictions must be a "last resort" and Britain will now have to "live alongside" the virus in 2022.

J&K government sanctions creation of new police stations in Srinagar and Budgam; also gives nod for creation of 310 posts of Assistant SI, constable and follower.