BREAKING NEWS JANUARY 19 I HIGHLIGHTS

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Thursday met Russian Energy Minister Nikolay Shulginov in Lahore and discussed the possibility of Moscow supplying oil and gas to Pakistan on a long-term basis. The Prime Minister's office later said in a statement that both sides agreed on the importance of the energy sector for the development of bilateral economic and trade relations. The "views were exchanged on supplying oil and gas from Russia to Pakistan on a long term basis.
Matters related to gas pipelines were also reviewed," it added.

The CBI on Thursday conducted searches at the premises of businessman Amit Agarwal after booking him for allegedly registering a false case against a petitioner who had levelled money laundering charges against him and Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren, officials said. The searches took place in Jharkhand, and Kolkata in West Bengal, they said.

With the country's top wrestlers, many of them from Haryana, accusing the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh of sexually harassing players, politicians in the state reacted sharply with Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar asserting "we will not let their morale to break". Congress leaders also came out strongly in support of the players, with former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda saying "it is a matter of great misfortune and shame that our players, the pride of the country, have to protest on the streets today".
 

Four Bangladeshi nationals, who had sneaked into Indian territory by avoiding the gaze of personnel manning the border fence, were on Thursday nabbed at a railway station in Bihar, an official said. The four infiltrators were spotted at Kishanganj railway station by RPF personnel who have been carrying out an intensive checking in view of the upcoming Republic Day celebrations.

 A stampede outside a stadium in southern Iraq on Thursday killed at least two people and injured dozens, a health official said. The deadly incident happened as spectators gathered to attend the final match in the first international soccer tournament held in the country in four decades.
 

Swedish climate campaigner Greta Thunberg on Thursday slammed corporate bigwigs meeting in Davos, Switzerland, for “fuelling the destruction of the planet” by investing in fossil fuels and prioritizing short-term profits over people affected by the climate crisis. Thunberg was joined by prominent young activists Vanessa Nakate, Helena Gualinga, and Luisa Neubauer in a roundtable with International Energy Agency Executive Director Fatih Birol at the World Economic Forum's annual gathering. Nakate, who at one point choked up, said “leaders are playing games” with people's futures.

A three-member CPI(M) delegation led by its general secretary Sitaram Yechury met the Election Commission on Thursday and asked it to undertake emergency measures for conducting a free and fair poll in Tripura especially in view of the recent violence there. Several people were injured allegedly in a clash between BJP and Congress supporters in Tripura's Majlishpur. The incident happened soon after the dates of the Tripura assembly election were announced.

The country's largest paramilitary force CRPF has issued a fresh set of social media guidelines for its personnel, asking them not to comment on controversial or political matters that may come back to "haunt" them later.

The two-page instructions were issued last week by the headquarters of the force in Delhi after it was noticed that the "force personnel were taking recourse to social media platforms to vent their personal grievances which is in violation of CCS conduct Rules 1964 and may attract disciplinary action".

The power tussle between Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and his bete noire Sachin Pilot that seemed to have thawed briefly during the Bharat Jodo Yatra has resumed within days of the march crossing the state with the two leaders sparring again. One of the stated aims of the Kanyakumari-to-Kashmir yatra was to unify party cadres and while it may have done so in some states, Rajasthan's factional feud continues unabated with the Gehlot and Pilot camps picking up the cudgels from where they left them just ahead of the yatra.
 

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi walked into Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday, the final phase of his Bharat Jodo Yatra that started in Kanyakumari in September and will end on January 30 in Srinagar.

As dusk fell and temperatures dipped, hundreds of people walked alongside the former Congress president.
In a customary handover function, Punjab's Congress unit gave the party flag to a leader from the Jammu and Kashmir unit.

 Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Thursday again attacked the AAP government in Punjab, alleging that it was being run with a remote control as he sought to point towards AAP MP Raghav Chadha for calling the shots in the Bhagwant Mann-led dispensation in the state. The Wayanad MP also accused the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) of spending Punjab funds on advertisements during the Gujarat assembly polls held last year.

The European Parliament on Thursday called for Iran's Revolutionary Guard to be put on the European Union's terrorist list and insisted that sanctions targeting Tehran had to be expanded after the violent suppression of protests. In a nonbinding resolution, the legislature mustered a large majority to call on the EU's 27 member states for such punitive action to counter what it sees as a swift backsliding of human rights in Iran.

 National Conference president Farooq Abdullah and senior party leaders travelled in a bus from his Jammu residence to Kathua to welcome the Rahul Gandhi-led Bharat Jodo Yatra at this entry point of Jammu and Kashmir.

The march is scheduled to enter Lakhanpur via Pathankot - Punjab on Thursday evening, marking the final phase of the yatra which started from Kanyakumari on September 7.

 External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar on Thursday said India has extended a concessional USD 40 million Line of Credit for developing sporting infrastructure in the Maldives, as part of New Delhi's efforts to bring Prime Minister Narendra Modi's flagship projects such as "Fit India" and "Khelo India" into the ambit of the Neighbourhood First Policy.
 

The Supreme Court Collegium has reiterated its November 11, 2021 recommendation for appointing senior advocate Saurabh Kirpal, an openly gay person, as a judge of the Delhi High Court, rejecting the Centre's contention that though homosexuality stands decriminalised in India, same-sex marriage is still bereft of recognition.

The three-member Collegium headed by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud and also comprising Justices S K Kaul and K M Joseph, said the proposal for appointment of Kirpal as a judge of the high court has been pending for over five years and needs to be processed expeditiously.

Union minister Nitin Gadkari on Thursday announced that the central government will allocate an additional fund of Rs 12,600 crore to Gujarat for construction of roads, bridges and logistic parks in the state. This fund will include Rs 6,000 crore for development of multi-modal logistic parks in the state and Rs 1,000 crore to construction of Road Over Bridges (ROBs) or Road Under Bridges (RUBs) on roads other than national highways in the state, he said.
 

The Delhi High Court on Thursday granted interim bail to expelled BJP leader Kuldeep Singh Sengar, serving 10 years' imprisonment for the death of the Unnao rape victim's father in custody, to attend his daughter's wedding. Justice Dinesh Kumar Sharma suspended the sentence from January 27 to February 10 and said a division bench of the high court has already granted interim relief to Sengar, and sufficient conditions have been imposed on him.

"We brought development and good governance in those districts that were announced backward by the previous governments," said PM Modi in Yadgiri, Karnataka.

Arunachal Pradesh recorded over 95 per cent enrollment of children in schools in the past 15 years, in the age group of 6-14 years, according to the Annual Status of Education Report (ASER). Despite closure of schools during the Covid pandemic, the enrolment in the northeastern state increased from 97.2 per cent in 2018 to 98.4 per cent in 2022, the report which was released on Wednesday, said.

India's COVID-19 case tally rose by 134 in a day while the number of active cases has declined to 1,962 according to the Union Health Ministry data updated today. India has so far recorded 4.46 crore Covid cases. The death toll stood at 5,30,728, the data updated at 8 am stated.

JSW Energy on Thursday said that its arm JSW Renew Energy Five has bagged two battery energy storage system projects totalling 500 MW/ 1,000 MW from Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI). The company will be entitled to receive a fixed capacity charge of Rs 10.8 lakh per MW per month for twelve years, a company statement said. Energy storage system of 500 MW/1,000 MW means 500 MW of battery energy can provide power backup for two hours, giving total output of 1,000 MW, the company explained. 

The Jharkhand forest department has issued an order to kill a 'man-eater' leopard, an official said on Thursday. The department came out with the order after its attempts so far to tranquillize or cage the animal remained unsuccessful, the official said. The leopard has killed four children, all between six and 12 years, in Jharkhand’s Palamu division including three in Garhwa and one in Latehar districts since December 10.

Seven officials and the owner of a sugar mill here have been booked for allegedly short-weighing sugarcane at a purchasing centre in Nanheda village, officials said today. 
District sugarcane officer R D Trivedi told reporters that during a surprise check on Wednesday, it was found that the staff of Khaikhedi sugar mill was short-weighing sugarcane being procured from farmers.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will virtually inaugurate the model of a proposed memorial dedicated to Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose in Andaman and Nicobar Islands on January 23 to commemorate the freedom fighter's 126th birth anniversary, according to an official statement. The proposed memorial will be set up on Ross Island, which has been renamed after Netaji in 2018. It will have a museum, cable car ropeway, laser-and-sound show, guided heritage trail through historical buildings and a theme-based children's amusement park, besides a restro lounge.

Congress leader Jairam Ramesh Thursday hailed New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, who has announced that she is stepping down as her country's leader, and said that "Indian politics needs more like her".

The Congress has claimed that 15 party workers and functionaries, including AICC general secretary Ajay Kumar, were injured after a group of "BJP-backed goons" allegedly attacked them during a bike rally at four locations in Tripura’s Majlishpur constituency. The police, however, said the attacks were carried out by unknown miscreants in West Tripura district, and "10 party workers were injured".

Almost two years after a man allegedly kicked her in the chest and hurled racial slurs at her, Indian-origin woman Hindocha Nita Vishnubhai said she has not been able to overcome the trauma caused by the incident in Chua Chu Kang housing estate on May 7, 2021. The 57-year-old was speaking in a district court on Wednesday, the first day of the trial of the accused, Wong Xing Fong, now aged 32.

The mother of the Walayar minor sisters, who were allegedly raped and killed in 2017, has filed a petition in the Kerala High Court seeking monitoring over the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the case. The mother has also sought a directive from the CBI to investigate the suspicious death of Pradeep, the accused John Praveen.