Breaking News, January 21 | HIGHLIGHTS

An Indian Air Force officer was on Saturday arrested for allegedly making a hoax bomb call to delay the departure of Mumbai Rajdhani Express from New Delhi Railway Station, police said. The PCR command room informed police regarding the call at 4.48 pm, they said, adding that the train was scheduled to leave for Mumbai at 4.55 pm.

The relatives of four Indians who died in a plane crash in Nepal are still waiting to receive the dead bodies of their family members despite spending their third day at a hospital here on Saturday. Nepalese authorities on Tuesday started handing over to family members the bodies of those killed after Yeti Airlines' aircraft with 72 people crashed minutes before landing in a river gorge in the resort city of Pokhara on Sunday.

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Saturday urged the Union government to set up an All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in the southern state without further delay. Vijayan, while inaugurating the super speciality block at the Government Medical College hospital here, said the health indices of the state are "at par with the developed nations" of the world.

Jailed Nationalist Congress Party leader Nawab Malik's son Faraz Malik and the latter's wife Laura Hemelin, also known as Ayesha Malik, have approached a Mumbai court for anticipatory bail after being accused of submitting fake documents to get her visa extended. The application was moved in the court of additional sessions judge MG Deshpande, who heard both sides on Saturday and then adjourned the matter to January 23 for passing order.

In its ongoing drive against drug consumption in the city, nine more persons including doctors and medical students, have been arrested here, police said. With this, the total number of arrested in this case has risen to 24, police said.

The National Education Policy (NEP) is not a document containing few pages but has lot of new features for the benefit of students, said Union Education and Skill Development Minister Dharmendra Pradhan here on Saturday. Though education is in the concurrent list of the States, the Centre expects Tamil Nadu to accept NEP, he said.

Homegrown vaccine maker Bharat Biotech will launch its intranasal COVID-19 vaccine iNCOVACC, the first of its kind in India, on January 26, the company's chairman and managing director Krishna Ella said here on Saturday. Interacting with students at the India International Science Festival in Bhopal, Ella also said that the homegrown vaccine for the lumpy skin disease in cattle, Lumpi-ProVacInd, is likely to be launched next month.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Saturday arrested Trinamool Congress youth leader Kuntal Ghosh for his alleged involvement in teachers recruitment scam, a senior official said. Ghosh was first detained on Saturday morning by ED sleuths following overnight search operations at his apartment in Chinar Park area and then arrested , the official said.

The Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) has rejected all the allegations, including that of sexual harassment against its president Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, and claimed that the wrestlers' protest was motivated by a 'hidden agenda to dislodge the current management.' The WFI denied all the charges in its response to the government's notice and asserted that 'there is no scope for arbitrariness and mismanagement ' in the federation.

Twenty-three people were injured on Saturday after a speeding bus with around 35 passengers onboard hit a roadside tree in West Bengal's Jhargram district, police said. The accident took place around 11.30 am in Tulsiboni area under the Jamboni Police Station limits, when the driver lost control over the bus and the passenger vehicle dashed against the tree, a senior officer said.

Indian Secular Front (ISF) activists fought a pitched battle with the police at Esplanade area in central Kolkata on Saturday during a protest against alleged attacks on their workers by the ruling Trinamool Congress in South 24 Parganas district.

A group of 302 former judges, ex-bureaucrats and veterans on Saturday slammed a BBC documentary on Prime Minister Narendra Modi as a "motivated charge sheet against our leader, a fellow Indian and a patriot" and a reflection of its "dyed-in-the-wool negativity and unrelenting prejudice".

Shipping agents have warned the cash-strapped Pakistan government that all exports could come to a halt as foreign shipping lines are considering stopping their services for the country after banks stopped remitting freight charges to them due to a lack of dollar availability, according to a media report on Saturday.

HindAyan, a multi-stage cycle race along the lines of the famed Tour De France, has begun participation registrations, an organiser said on Saturday. Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde launched the website of the event at his official residence Varsha earlier this week, organiser Vishnudas Chapke informed.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Hyderabad on February 13 to inaugurate or lay the foundation stone for various projects and address a public meeting. He was scheduled to visit the city on January 19 but the visit was postponed.

A fire broke out in a restaurant at central Delhi's Connaught Place on Saturday morning, officials said. There was no report of any injury to anyone, they said, adding that the restaurant, SinCity, is in 'F' block of Connaught Place. The Delhi Fire Services received information regarding the fire at 8.51 am, following which 13 fire tenders were rushed to the spot to douse the blaze, the officials said.

An 11-year-old girl died allegedly after jumping into a well when she learnt about her father’s death in Madhya Pradesh’s Ashoknagar district, police said on Saturday.

Six persons were injured in two explosions in Jammu on Saturday, a senior police officer said.

 The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on Saturday said there was prompt response from Scoot with regard to many passengers missing its Amritsar-Singapore flight due to rescheduling of the departure timing on January 18. The timing of the flight was changed on account of the prevailing foggy conditions at the Amritsar airport, according to the regulator.

Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia lashed out at Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena on Saturday, accusing him of making "false allegations" against the education department and "mocking" the teachers working in the national capital. In a letter to Saxena, Sisodia said the LG's letter to Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Friday was written with a political motive and his "false allegations" against the education department were an "insult" to the students and teachers of Delhi.

The DMRC has been appointed as a general consultant for two upcoming corridors of the Jaipur Metro to ensure quality and a time-bound completion of the project, officials said on Saturday. The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) was also involved in the construction of the presently operational corridors of the Jaipur Metro.

A 20-year-old man was killed after allegedly being attacked during a family dispute in Jagdishpur, police said on Saturday. The deceased has been identified as Sachin, a resident of Madwa village.

A court here has sentenced a 29-year-old man to jail for eight years on charges of abduction and rape of a minor girl in 2013. Fast Track Special Court judge, Aaj Sudharashan, on Friday sentenced Vattiyoorkavu resident Lal Prakash to eight years rigorous imprisonment and slapped a fine of Rs 25,000 on him.

Senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh on Saturday accused Union minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar of peddling "lies", after he alleged that the leaders of the opposition party were pushing the case of foreign vaccines after the COVID-19 pandemic broke out.

Police arrested a couple who allegedly extorted people by honey-trapping them and also recovered some cash and a gold chain from them, an official said. A doctor in Thanakutubsher complained that a month ago, a woman befriended him at a hospital and allegedly lured him into establishing a physical relationship, Superintendent of Police (City) Abhimanyu Manglik told PTI.

Two persons were killed after their motorcycle lost balance and fell into a roadside ditch in Sylhata village here, police said on Saturday. The accident occurred late on Friday night on the Pakwainar-Sidhagar Ghat Road.

Fire breaks out in a hotel in Connaught Place. Six fire tenders are present at the spot. Further details are awaited.

One person was killed and another injured when their motorcycle was allegedly hit by a speeding truck in the district's Motigarpur area, police said on Saturday.

US recognizes Russia's Wagner group as 'transnational criminal organization'

Wrestling Federation of India president Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh to step aside till oversight committee investigates issue.

 The CBI has seized Rs 94 lakh cash during searches at 18 locations in connection with three ongoing cases related to illegal remittances worth over Rs 155 crore sent to Hong Kong camouflaged as payments for fake imports during 2014-16, officials said.

Police are investigating a shooting near a Kansas City funeral home that left four people injured, one of them critically. The shooting was reported about 11:30 am Friday at the Elite Funeral Chapel in south Kansas City.

Devotees offer prayers and take holy dip in river Ganga on the occasion of 'Mauni Amavasya' in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh

There is a need for someone who can bring Ukraine and Russia to the table for talks and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi can play a key role in facilitating the negotiations between the two warring neighbours, a veteran French journalist said. However, at this moment it looks "extremely difficult" because Ukraine does not want to hold discussions and wants the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to judge Russian President Vladimir Putin, Laura Haim said on Friday.