Breaking News, December 19 | HIGHLIGHTS

Three Allahabad University students were injured and two motorcycles were set ablaze during a clash between students agitating for the rollback of a fee hike and security personnel at the campus on Monday, police said. Student leader Satyam Kushwaha told reporters that the varsity administration is intent on suppressing the students' movement instead of solving their grievances.

The discretion for granting interim bail to the accused on medical ground may not be exercised only when they are breathing their last or may not live long enough, the Delhi High Court has said while granting interim bail to a 59-year-old man in a money laundering case till February 10.

The Pakistan high commission on Monday said it has issued 96 visas to a group of pilgrims from India to facilitate their travel to the Shree Katas Raj temples in the Punjab province's Chakwal district. Under the provision of a bilateral protocol on visits to religious shrines, Sikh and Hindu pilgrims from India visit Pakistan every year. Pakistani pilgrims also visit India every year under the protocol.

A 30-year-old man was arrested for raping a mentally challenged minor girl here, police said on Monday. The girl had gone to her neighbour’s house to attend an event with her family, Superintendent of Police (rural) Suraj Rai said citing the complaint filed by her father on Sunday. The accused, a native of Uttarakhand’s Haridwar, was also present at the event. He lured the 15-year-old girl, took her to a jungle on his motorcycle and then allegedly raped her, the SP said. A case has been registered against the accused under sections of the Indian Penal Code and Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, he said. The minor girl has been sent for medical examination, he said.

Tamil Nadu BJP chief K Annamalai's expensive foreign wristwatch triggered a Twitter spat after state Electricity Minister V Senthil Balaji raised the issue evoking spontaneous rebuttal from Annamalai who claimed he bought the Rafale watch, before he became president, with his hard-earned money and was willing to produce the bill. Raking the issue, Senthil Balaji, took to Twitter, seeking to know if its being a nationalist to display a foreign wristwatch.
 

"Can you produce a receipt (for the watch purchased) within an hour?" the minister asked. Also, he wanted to know how it was possible for Annamalai, who claimed to own four goats and cows, to afford the limited edition of Rafale watch costing about Rs 5 lakh. "Is it possible to buy for such a hefty sum?" Balaji asked. The minister further claimed that the French firm produced only 500 wristwatches.
 

In the first, nine students of a private school in Jammu and Kashmir's Kathua district participated in a global asteroid search campaign as part of NASA's citizen science project. The campaign was organised by Delhi-based Homi Lab in association with the International Astronomical search collaboration (IASC) from October 21 to November 15, Homi Lab said in a press release here.
 

A spokesperson of the lab said this was the first time that a school from the Kathua district has participated in the NASA Campaign. It said Shrnya, Abhay Pratap Singh, Divum Bharti, Rashi Sharma, Alyssa Sardhalia, Samar Pratap Singh Bhadwal, Mehul Sharma, Mrigan Kamouli Vaishisth and Pranaya Mahajan from Spring Dales English School Kathua participated in the Kalam Asteroid Search Campaign.

The CBI has arrested a superintendent of GST in Mumbai for allegedly demanding a bribe of Rs 10 lakh from a businessman, officials said Monday. The agency acted on a complaint from scrap trader Zakir Hussain Shah in Mumbai who had alleged that GST Superintendent B Someshwar Rao had demanded Rs 20 lakh from him to settle liability of Rs 1.25 crore, they said.
 

The complainant alleged that Rao and another official had threatened to arrest him in case he failed to make the payment to them, the officials said, adding that the accused allegedly refused to accept additional documents that chartered accountant of the dealer wanted to submit.

Nearly 1.15 crore Indians who had never before taken a flight were able to experience air travel via the government's ambitious UDAN scheme, Union Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia informed Parliament on Monday. Replying to queries during Question Hour in the Rajya Sabha, Scindia said UDAN is an ambitious scheme of the government of India, under which during the last six years -- since its inception in 2016 -- nearly 1.15 crore people who had never travelled in an aeroplane were able to undertake that journey.
 

He further shared that 11 airlines are currently part of UDAN, out of which three are startups, whereas 70 new airports have been established. "Apart from these we are going to establish 68 new airports by the end of 2024 towards diversification of civil aviation sector," said the minister. The ministry of civil aviation has launched the Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS) -- UDAN (Ude Desh ka Aam Nagrik) on October 21, 2016 with an aim to stimulate regional air connectivity and making air travel affordable to the masses.

The 182 MLAs elected in the recent Gujarat polls took oath in the Assembly on Monday. The newly-elected legislators, including Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel, were administered oath by Protem Speaker Yogesh Patel, who is the senior-most Bharatiya Janata Party MLA in the House, officials said. The elections, if needed, to choose the Speaker and Deputy Speaker of the state's 15th Assembly will be held on Tuesday, with the BJP nominating Shankar Chaudhary and Jethabhai Bharwad, respectively, for the two posts, the officials said.
 

Chaudhary and Bharwad filed nomination forms at the Assembly Secretariat on Monday, while the Congress, which has just 17 seats in the Assembly, has not declared any candidate for the two posts. With a record 156 legislators in the 182-member House, the election of Chaudhary and Bharwad is a formality, in keeping with the tradition of speakers getting elected unopposed.

At least eight persons were killed and several injured when two passenger buses collided in the Rajanpur district of Punjab province in Pakistan, a media report said on Monday. The accident occurred when a bus en route to Karachi from Peshawar collided with another bus from Quetta to Rajanpur on the Indus Highway in Shahwali, Geo News reported.
The accident took place due to heavy fog in the area, rescue personnel said. The injured have been moved to a nearby hospital for treatment, the personnel said.
 

It was not clear how many people were on board the two buses. Punjab Chief Minister Chaudhry Parvez Elahi expressed condolences on the loss of lives in the tragic incident and sought a report from the authorities concerned. This is the third bus accident on the Indus Highway in the last three months.

Bhairon Singh Rathore, a BSF veteran of the 1971 India-Pakistan war whose bravery at Rajasthan's Longewala post was portrayed by actor Suniel Shetty in the Bollywood movie 'Border', died in Jodhpur on Monday. He was 81. "The braveheart took his last breath at AIIMS, Jodhpur, today. DG BSF and all ranks condole the passing of Naik (Retd) Bhairon Singh, Sena Medal, the hero of the Longewala battle during the 1971 war. BSF salutes his intrepid bravery, courage and dedication towards his duty," the force said in a tweet.
 

Rathore's son Sawai Singh told PTI on Saturday that his father was admitted to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) at Jodhpur on December 14, two days before the 51st anniversary of the war, after his health deteriorated and his limbs got affected in what seemed like a paralysis. "Doctors told us that my father possibly suffered a brain stroke. He was in and out of ICU over the last few days," Singh said. The Rathore family lives in Solankiatala village, about 100 km from Jodhpur.

At least four security forces personnel were injured in a suicide attack on a military vehicle in restive northwest Pakistan on Monday, security forces said, a day after militants attacked and killed four policemen at a newly-constructed police station in the province. A suicide bomber hit the vehicle of the security forces on the Thall bridge in the North Waziristan tribal district of Pakistan, a source said. The forces have cordoned off the area and started a search operation to nab the culprits. No group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack.
 

The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) militant group, which has been fighting to bring the law of Sharia across the Muslim-dominated country, mostly carries out attacks on security forces. On Sunday, heavily-armed militants attacked the newly-constructed Burgai police station in Lakki Marwat bordering the South Waziristan tribal district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, leaving four policemen dead and as many injured, officials said.

India's steel production has reached a historic level of 120 million tonnes per year making it the world's second-largest producer of Steel, the government informed the Rajya Sabha. Steel Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia said India intends to double its steel production to 300 million tonnes per annum by 2030. "There has been a doubling in the last eight years of steel production in the country, which has been historic and which is why we have become the second largest steel producer in the world today," he informed the Rajya Sabha during question hour.
 

The minister informed that steel production in the country has increased at a  historic level. In 2013-14, we had only close to about 60 million tonnes per annum production of steel, we are today at 120 million tonnes," he said. "In terms of capacity, we had only 75 million tonnes, we are today at 154 million tonnes," he said. Replying to supplementaries, he said it is very important that India continues on this trajectory of growing capacity of steel production because we have a tremendous amount of infrastructure projects. "Therefore, it is our target, that by 2030 we intend to double our steel production from 150 to 300 million tonnes," he said.

Three people were killed and eight others were injured as three vehicles piled up on the Lucknow-Agra Expressway early Monday morning due to dense fog, police said. The accident occurred in Erva Katra police station area in which a truck, a sleeper bus and a car crashed into each other, police said. A joint rescue operation from police teams of different areas is underway, they said. The injured have been sent to Saifai Medical College, police said, adding efforts were on to identify the deceased.

Amid the controversy over the song 'Besharam Rang' from the upcoming Bollywood film 'Pathaan' for its costumes, senior Congress leader and Chattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel slammed those who have been protesting against the song and called them "Bajrangi goons". Taking a dig at the BJP MPs/MLAs who earlier acted in Bollywood or Bhojpuri songs, he asked the Bhartiya Janata Party to clear their stance on the "heroes of their party". "What about those MPs/MLAs who were earlier worked as a hero in movies and songs and danced with the actress who wore clothes of saffron colour," asked Baghel. 

 Three persons of a family, including a three-year-old boy, have been seriously injured after an uncontrolled police vehicle smashed into their home in UP, police said. The incident took place in Singhanchvar village under the Garhwar police station area, police said on Monday. According to the police, the ill-fated police vehicle was from the Phephana police station.

Baghdad-mediated diplomatic talks between regional rivals Iran and Saudi Arabia have come to a halt, largely because of Tehran claims the Sunni kingdom has played a role in alleged foreign incitement of the mass anti-government protests underway in Iran, multiple Iraqi officials said. The talks had been lauded as a breakthrough that would ease regional tensions. Iraq's new Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani said last month after taking office that Iraq had been asked to continue facilitating the dialogue.

Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu tested positive for coronavirus, government officials said on Monday. The Himachal CM was scheduled to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi today, but now the meeting has been postponed. He was found positive during the routine test which is mandatory before meeting the Prime Minister.

LoP Siddaramaiah and other Congress MLAs protest outside the Assembly against the installation of a portrait of VD Savarkar in the Assembly hall.

Ukraine's capital was targeted by multiple drones in a new attack early Monday, local authorities reported, three days after what they described as one of Russia's biggest attacks on Kyiv since the beginning of the war. The Kyiv city administration said on its Telegram account that more than 20 Iranian-made drones were detected over the capital's air space of Kyiv, and at least 15 of them were shot down.

Union Minister Anurag Thakur hit out at Congress MP Rahul Gandhi on India- China border conflict. He said, "Before questioning us on Tawang,Rahul Gandhi must answer,was he with Chinese officials while Indian Army was fighting China troops over Doklam issue?"

Pakistani drones were seen at Chandu Wadala post and Kasowal post of BSF last night. The jawans fired upon it to deter it from entering any further. Nearby areas are being searched.

One person lost his life whereas 10 others were injured in a collision between a private bus and a container vehicle in Khopoli of Raigad. The bus was returning from a wedding ceremony and was carrying 35 passengers.

Union FM Nirmala Sitharaman will move the Appropriation (No.5) Bill, 2022 in RS today to authorise payment & appropriation of certain further sums from & out of the Consolidated Fund of India for services of FY 2022-2023, as passed by Lok Sabha, for consideration and returned.

"In 2018, as per media reports, CM Nitish Kumar said compensation will be given if liquor proved to be cause of death. He promised Rs 4 Lakhs to kin of hooch victims. In Khajurbani hooch tragedy, compensation was given to victims’ kin. Why not in Saran tragedy?" BJP MP Sushil Modi asked.

12 members resigned from the recently-formed Pradesh Congress Committee in Telangana. In the resignation letters, the members mentioned that KCR has been running a dictatorial rule in the state and that there is a necessity for a strong struggle to dethrone KCR.

Nagaon District Administration carried out a massive eviction drive at Bhumuraguri Grazing reserve, Jamai Basti, Rampur, Kadamoni area where encroachers have encroached upon more than 980 bigha of land. Over 800 security personnel have been deployed at Batadraba.

Former JMM MLA Suphal Marandi joined BJP yesterday at the state party office in the presence of state BJP chief Deepak Prakash, party leader Babulal Marandi and others.

12 members resign from the recently-formed Pradesh Congress Committee. In the resignation letters, they mentioned that KCR has been running a dictatorial rule in the state.

Congress MP Pramod Tiwari gave Suspension of Business Notice under Rule 267 in Rajya Sabha to discuss the border issue with China.

Congress MP Rahul Gandhi along with CM Ashok Gehlot, Congress MLA Sachin Pilot and other party leaders resumes the Bharat Jodo Yatra from Bandikui in Dausa.

Air Intelligence Unit (AIU) of the Customs Department intercepted a passenger coming from Dubai at Kochi airport today morning and seized gold weighing 1.17 kg worth Rs 48 lakhs concealed inside his body in four capsules shaped packets.

A 25-year-old woman allegedly died by suicide by jumping off a building in Mumbai's Andheri. Police reached the spot & took her to a hospital, where doctors declared her brought dead. DN Nagar police registered a case under ADR. No notes were found at the spot.

The police recovered the knife that was used by the accused named Anuj Sharma for allegedly murdering his aunt over trivial quarrels, and chopping her into ten pieces. The victim allegedly chopped the deceased's body into pieces and disposed of them at different places on the Delhi-Jaipur highway.

An earthquake of magnitude 3.1 occurred 24km ESE of Uttarkashi, Uttarakhand at around 1:50 am. The depth of the earthquake was 5 km below the ground: National Center for Seismology.

At least two security personnel were injured in an exchange of fire between people whom a Pakistani official termed as "militants" and forces in Pakistan's Bannu, according to Pakistani journalists. Taking to Twitter, Pakistani journalist Roohan Ahmad said that there was an intense gun battle between the security personnel and "militants" in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's Bannu area.