LIVE: CBI raids Delhi Deputy CM Manish Sisodia's office at secretariat

Live news updates: The remains would be taken to Sharad Yadav's ancestral village in Narmadapuram, Madhya Pradesh

4:08 PM

CBI raids Delhi Deputy CM Manish Sisodia's office in Delhi Secretariat.

CBI raids are underway at the office of Delhi Deputy CM Manish Sisodia in Delhi Secretariat.
 

3:06 PM

Let anyone tell anything, I will continue my work, says Shashi Tharoor

Senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Saturday said let anyone tell anything but he would continue his work and meet people as he did in the last 14 years.

His remarks come a day after an array of party leaders made a veiled attack against his move to shift to State politics.

The Thiruvananthapuram MP said he was attending programmes across the State as he gets lots of invitations from various quarters and there is nothing special about it as other politicians are also doing the same.

"Let anyone tell anything...I am doing my work...whatever anyone says, I have no issue," he told reporters here when asked about the recent statements of some Congress leaders without mentioning his name.

3:01 PM

Indian-American Ro Khanna's plan to run for US Senate sparks speculation about his White House bid

Indian-American Congressman Ro Khanna has said that he is weighing a Senate bid in California, sparking speculation among Democrats in several key US states that he may be eyeing to run for the White House in the future, according to a media report.

Those close to Khanna, 46, say he is keeping his options open ahead of a potential presidential run in 2028 or beyond. But others in his orbit are talking about an even more compressed timeline: running in 2024 if President Joe Biden, 80, decided not to, according to Politico, a political newspaper company based in Arlington County in the US.

I think he would be a great United States senator, said Mark Longabaugh, a Democratic strategist whose firm did media consulting for Khanna last year.

2:59 PM

Srinagar-Jammu highway reopened, flight operations resume in Kashmir Valley a day after snowfall

The Kashmir Valley's connectivity with the rest of the country was restored on Saturday with the Srinagar-Jammu national highway reopening for traffic and flight operations also resuming here a day after a snowfall, officials said.

 

Air traffic to and from the Kashmir Valley was restored after the airport was cleared of snow and visibility improved. However, several morning flights were delayed and some were cancelled.

 

"The snow from the runway, taxiway and apron has been cleared and the visibility has improved up to 3,000 metres. Flight operations have resumed," an official said.

2:59 PM

Ukrainian officials report Russian missile attack on Kyiv

A series of explosions were heard in Kyiv on Saturday morning before the air raid sirens were turned on.

 

Deputy head of Ukraine's presidential office Kyrylo Tymoshenko said on Telegram that a missile attack on critical infrastructure in the capital was underway.

 

Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko said that explosions were heard in Dniprovskyi district, left bank of Kyiv.

 

2:47 PM

Delhi-NCR likely to witness cold wave from Jan 16-18, says IMD

Several places in Delhi and the National Capital Region (NCR) are likely witness a cold wave next week with the minimum temperature expected to settle around 3 degree Celsius, the India Meteorological Department said on Saturday.

The minimum temperature in the national capital on Saturday settled at 10.2 degrees Celsius, three notches above the season's average, it said.

A partly cloudy sky is expected in the city during the day, they said.

2:47 PM

Nearly all of Beijing to get Covid by end of January, finds study

Nearly all of Beijing’s 22 million population will have been infected with the coronavirus by the end of this month, a new study found, reflecting the rapid spread of China’s outbreak. 

 

About 92% of the people in China’s capital will have contracted Covid by the end of January, while 76% had already been infected by Dec. 22, according to the study, which was published on Friday in the journal Nature Medicine.

 

The virus has been spreading at a faster pace in China after the government relaxed controls in November and abruptly abandoned its Covid Zero policy in December, according to the study. The reproductive rate increased to 3.44 following the policy shifts, meaning one person with the virus can infect 3.44 others, it found. 

2:36 PM

Central Minister Nitin Gadkari gets death threats, security tightened

Security around the office and home of Union Minister for Road Transport Nitin Gadkari was tightened following extortion-cum-death threats, officials said here on Saturday.

At least three calls were received by Gadkari's private office in the city - between 11.30 a.m. - 12.30 p.m. - and the caller purportedly uttered the name of absconding mafia don Dawood Ibrahim Kaskar.

The unknown caller reportedly made extortion demands and issued death threats targeting Gadkari - who is currently in Nagpur for the Makar Sankranti festival -- before disconnecting abruptly.

2:26 PM

Relief groups say 5 die as Myanmar airstrikes hit churches

Airstrikes by Myanmar's military on two villages inhabited largely by ethnic Karen killed five civilians, including a mother and her 2-year-old daughter, and destroyed two churches, two relief organisations said Friday.

The dead from the airstrikes on Thursday also included the pastor of a Baptist church, a Catholic deacon and a church layman, according to the Karen Women's Organisation and the Free Burma Rangers.

Another woman and her child were wounded in a second village, they said.

2:26 PM

CAA implementation to reduce role of minorities: Amartya Sen

Nobel Laureate economist Amartya Sen believes implementation of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) could reduce the role of minorities in the country, while encouraging majoritarian forces.

In an interview with PTI, he said India's father of the nation Mahatma Gandhi had worked for a just polity, and a good sense of national identity, for all sections of society.

"As far as I can see, one of BJP's purposes (by implementing CAA) is to reduce the role of minorities and make them less important and, in a direct and indirect way, increase the role of the Hindu majoritarian forces in India and to that extent undermine the minorities," the economist said.

The CAA through which the Centre wants to grant Indian nationality to non-Muslim migrants from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan, was passed by Parliament on December 11, 2019 and the Presidential nod was received the next day.

Subsequently, it was notified by the home ministry. However, the law is yet to be implemented as rules under the CAA are yet to be framed.

2:03 PM

Sena is changing, earlier we agitated, now we organize job fairs for sons of soil: Aaditya

Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Aaditya Thackeray on Saturday said there has been a "radical change" in his party which was once known for its aggressive 'sons-of-the-soil' politics.

The former Maharashtra minister was speaking at a job fair organised by the Shiv Sena faction led by his father Uddhav Thackeray here.

There has been a radical change in the Shiv Sena which used to launch agitations for the rights of the sons of the soil....now we organise job fairs to address the issues of the sons of the soil, especially the youth, the 32-year-old MLA from Worli said.

A new and stronger Shiv Sena was in the making as youths were becoming part of it, the Thackeray family scion added.

1:56 PM

MP: Mortal remains of Sharad Yadav brought to Bhopal, CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan pays last respects

The mortal remains of former Union Minister Sharad Yadav, who passed away on Thursday, was brought to Bhopal on Saturday.

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan was also present at the airport to receive the mortal remains of the Socialist leader.

The remains would be taken to Sharad Yadav's ancestral village in Narmadapuram, Madhya Pradesh.

"An outstanding leader, who could still have given a lot to this nation, left us. On the behalf of the people of Madhya Pradesh, I am here to offer him my last respects. May his soul rest in peace and may God give strength to his family, supporters and loved ones in this hour of grief," CM Chouhan told mediapersons at Bhopal airport.

Yadav breathed his last on Thursday (January 12) at the Fortis Hospital in Gurugram where he was rushed after collapsing at his Delhi residence.

1:45 PM

SS Rajamouli overjoyed as he meets 'god' Steven Spielberg

Filmmaker SS Rajamouli couldn't contain his excitement after the "RRR" director met the "god" of blockbuster cinema -- Steven Spielberg.

Rajamouli, currently basking in the glory of the Golden Globe win of song "Naatu Naatu" from "RRR", met Spielberg along with composer MM Keeravaani at an event here recently.

He shared photos from his exchange with the Hollywood veteran on Twitter.

"I just met GOD!!!" the filmmaker, also known for blockbuster "Baahubali" movies, wrote in the caption.

1:23 PM

Role of regional parties to be important for 2024 LS polls: Amartya Sen

Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen asserted that it would be a mistake to think that the 2024 Lok Sabha election would be a one-horse race in favour of the BJP, and felt that the role of a number of regional parties would be clearly important for the upcoming general election.

The 90-year-old economist also said that though Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee has the ability to be India's next Prime Minister, it is yet to be established whether the West Bengal Chief Minister could be able to pull the forces of public dismay against the BJP.

"I think a number of regional parties are clearly important. I think the DMK is an important party, the TMC is certainly important and the Samajwadi Party has some standing but whether that could be extended I do not know.

"I think it would be a mistake to take the dismissive view that there is no other party that can take the place of BJP since it has established itself as a party with a vision that is inclined in the direction of Hindus over the rest of the country," he told PTI in an exclusive interview here.

Leaders of several parties including the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and the Janata Dal (United) have called for a new alliance including the Congress for the Lok Sabha polls in 2024. They have emphasised that a bipolar contest will ensure the BJP's defeat.

1:22 PM

Remittances sent home by overseas Pakistanis fall to 31-month low of $2 billion in December 2022

The inflows of workers' remittances sent home by overseas Pakistanis have continued to slow down, plunging to a 31-month low of $2 billion in December 2022.

According to the Dawn newspaper, the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) reported on Friday that the remittances had decreased by 19 per cent to Rs 2.04 billion in December compared to $2.52 billion in the same month of the previous year.

The inflows have reduced by 3 per cent in the month compared to $2.10 billion received in November 2022.

Cumulatively in the first six months (July-Dec) of the fiscal year 2022-23, workers' remittances have dropped 11 per cent to $14 billion compared to the same period of the last year, the central bank said.