News updates: Pollution curbs under Grap-3 revoked in Delhi-NCR as air quality improves

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Pollution curbs under Grap-3 revoked in Delhi and surrounding areas as air quality improves.  Forex reserves fall to $644.39 billion, down $8.4 billion as of Dec 20.  Osamu Suzuki,  who led Japan's Suzuki Motor for more than four decades and played a key role in turning India into a flourishing auto market, has died aged 94. He died on Christmas Day of lymphoma, said the company.

The Ministry of Defence has said that India and China have developed a broad consensus on achieving a broad consensus on the Line of Actual Control. The statement by MoD, as part of its year end review, said that India and China are on the road to restore the ground situation in some areas along the LAC.  Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat on Thursday said that the Britishers tried to hide the truth and filled the minds of people with lies. He further added that the Britishers due to their power and our ignorance planted lies. "The British covered up the truth and filled the minds of the people of our country with many lies. One of them was that most of the people seen in India today have come from outside. At that time, the Dravidians had driven them into the jungle," said the RSS chief.  India's Bharat Petroleum Corp plans to invest $11 billion in southern Andhra Pradesh state for a new refinery and petrochemical project to meet rising fuel demand in the world's fastest-growing major economy, its chairman said. India wants to emerge as a major refining hub supplying fuel to the global markets as Western companies are cutting crude processing capacities in favour of energy transition.

 

8:15 PM

DGCA suspends Director of Training and Director of Operations at Akasa Air for six months

The DGCA has suspended the Director of Training and Director of Operations at Akasa Air for a period of six months for improperly training pilots. A few days back, the regulator had imposed a Rs 10 lakh fine on the same airline for refusing to give compensation to passengers who were denied boarding by the airline.

7:40 PM

Pollution curbs under GRAP-3 revoked in Delhi and surrounding areas as air quality improves

6:48 PM

JSW Energy Board of Directors approved an acquisition by JSW Energy

JSW Energy Board of Directors approved an acquisition by JSW Energy. The company is acquiring O2 Power for a total enterprise value of Rs 12,468 crore.

5:18 PM

Forex reserves fall to $644.39 billion, down $8.4 billion as of Dec 20

4:53 PM

RBI permits UPI transactions via prepaid payment instruments using third-party apps

The Reserve Bank allowed prepaid payment instruments holders to make and receive UPI payments through third-party mobile applications. It has been decided to enable Unified Payments Interface (UPI) payments from/to full-KYC prepaid payment instruments (PPIs) through third-party UPI applications, the central bank stated.

4:47 PM

Two held with over 58,000 illegal cigarettes in Delhi

Delhi Police arrested two men who were allegedly involved in illegal trade of international cigarette brands in south Delhi, an official said on Friday. Over 58,500 prohibited cigarettes worth Rs 6 lakh were seized from Naresh Gupta (42) and Vijay Gupta (49), the official said. On December 25, a raid was conducted at a shop in Arjun Nagar, run by Naresh Gupta, he said. Authorities seized 3,300 illegal cigarettes from the shop and subsequently a larger cache of 55,200 cigarettes of different brands from his house, the police said.

4:43 PM

China defends plan to build world's largest dam over Brahmaputra River; says will not affect lower reaches

China on Friday defended its plan to build the world's largest dam on the Brahmaputra River in Tibet saying that the project will not affect riparian states and safety issues have been addressed through decades of studies. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Mao Ning played down apprehensions over the massive project estimated to cost around $137 billion being built in the ecologically fragile Himalayan region located along a tectonic plate boundary where earthquakes occur frequently.

4:00 PM

Four eclipses in 2025 but only one will be visible in India: Ujjain observatory

The year 2025 will offer two solar and two lunar eclipses, though only one of these space phenomena will be visible in India, said an official from the Ujjain-based Jiwaji Observatory on Friday.

3:55 PM

Germany's president orders parliament dissolved for an early election on Feb 23

German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier on Friday ordered parliament dissolved and set new elections for Feb 23 in the wake of the collapse of Chancellor Olaf Scholz's governing coalition. Leaders of several major parties then agreed that a parliamentary election should be held on Feb 23, seven months earlier than originally planned. 

3:48 PM

Shutdown in Katra against ropeway project enters third day, more people join hunger strike

The shutdown in Katra against the proposed Vaishno Devi ropeway project entered its third day on Friday, with more people sitting on the hunger to demand the release of those detained during earlier demonstrations. The Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Sangharsh Samiti called for a 72-hour shutdown, which began on Wednesday. It announced that all activities in Jammu and Kashmir's Katra would remain suspended during the bandh. 

3:46 PM

News update: Bangladesh national living illegally in Delhi deported

3:34 PM

Female tiger cub found dead in MP's Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve

A female tiger cub was found dead in the Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve (BTR) in Umaria district of Madhya Pradesh, a forest official said on Friday. Prima facie, the female tiger cub, aged around one-and-a-half years, died because of a fight between big cats. However, the exact cause of the death will be known after the autopsy report, Panpatha Sub-Divisional Officer (SDO) Forest, BS Uppal said.

3:08 PM

Endless incarceration without trial falls foul of Art 21 of Constitution: Delhi High Court

Endless incarceration without trial in near future falls foul of Article 21 of the Constitution, the Delhi High Court said recently and granted bail to a man held in a cheating case in 2022. Justice Amit Mahajan said if an accused was suffering a prolonged incarceration without a timely trial in the case, courts would ordinarily be obligated to release them on bail.

 

2:34 PM

One-third of Lok Sabha MPs elected with 30% or fewer votes in 2024: ECI

Around 178 Lok Sabha members were elected with 30 per cent or fewer votes from their constituencies in the 2024 General Elections, up from 125 in 2019, an analysis of data released by the Election Commission of India on Thursday revealed. This represents nearly one-third of the 542 members in Lok Sabha. Read here for more details.

 

2:31 PM

Meghalaya police registers case against man for shouting 'Jai Shri Ram' in Church

Meghalaya Police have registered a case against a man for allegedly hurting the religious sentiments of people by trespassing inside a church and shouting 'Jai Shri Ram' at its altar in East Khasi Hills district, an officer said on Friday. The man had entered the Mawlynnong village Church on Thursday and shouted 'Jai Shri Ram' and posted it on social media, the officer said. Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma has condemned the act and said administrative legal procedures are on in the matter wherein an individual targeted to vitiate peaceful coexistence of the people.