The New Indian Express News

MUMBAI: The Congress' decision to contest the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections independently has fragmented the Opposition space in the Mumbai civic battle and turned the January 15 polls into a multi-cornered contest. The party cited the alignment between the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT) and Raj Thackeray's MNS as the reason for opting out of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) arrangement for the civic polls. According to political observers, the Congress' move to go solo, fo

NEW DELHI: President Droupadi Murmu, Vice President C P Radhakrishnan and Prime Minister Narendra Modi were among the dignitaries who attended a prayer ceremony at 'Sadaiv Atal', the memorial of former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, on Thursday to pay tributes to him on his 101st birth anniversary. Former vice president M Venkaiah Naidu, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, Union Ministers J P Nadda, Nirmala Sitharaman, NDA ally JD-U leader and Union Minister Rajiv Ranjan Singh, several other minis

JAIPUR: A shocking case of alleged gang rape in a moving car has come to light in Udaipur, Rajasthan. The victim, a manager at a private IT company, has accused her companys CEO, a senior female executive, and the executives husband of sexually assaulting her. The incident allegedly occurred on the night of December 20, while the complaint was lodged at the Sukher police station on December 23. Police have registered a case and initiated an investigation. According to the FIR, the incident took

DEHRADUN: A Kashmiri shawl vendor was allegedly assaulted, robbed and issued expulsion threats by a group of Bajrang Dal activists in Kashipur, Udham Singh Nagar district, prompting the Jammu and Kashmir Students Association (JKSA) to write to the Uttarakhand Director General of Police (DGP) seeking immediate action. The incident has raised serious concerns about the safety of Kashmiri traders operating seasonally in the hill state. The victim has been identified as Bilal Ahmed Ganie, a resident

WASHINGTON: India remains very constantly engaged with the United States to find a mutually beneficial and balanced trade arrangement as early as possible, India's Ambassador to the US Vinay Mohan Kwatra said. On trade and tariff... we remain very constantly engaged with the United States Trade Representative (USTR) with the hope to find a mutually beneficial and a balanced trade arrangement as early as possible, Kwatra told PTI in an exclusive interview here. Our effort all along, right through

ADILABAD: Four members of a family, including children, were killed in a car accident near Devad village in Chandrapur district of Maharashtra late on Wednesday night. All the victims belonged to Khagaznagar town in Kumram BheemAsifabad district. According to sources, six members of the same family had travelled to Nagpur a day earlier for medical treatment. While returning to Khagaznagar, the driver lost control of the car near Devad village, rammed into a culvert, and the vehicle overturned. F

NEW DELHI: In a significant operation against inter-state drug trafficking, the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) dismantled a hashish oil trafficking network and arrested five accused during an operation conducted in Visakhapatnam, the agency said. Officers of the federal anti-narcotics agency, with the assistance of the Railway Protection Force (RPF), mounted a targeted operation at Duvvada Railway Station. The action led to the interception of five individuals, including one woman, and the seizu

SRINAGAR: The strategically important 13.150-kilometre-long Zojila Tunnel, which is Asias longest highway tunnel at high altitude and will provide all-weather connectivity between the Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh, is expected to achieve a crucial breakthrough by AprilMay 2026. Workers and engineers engaged in construction are pushing ahead with one of Indias most challenging infrastructure projects, braving extreme cold, heavy snowfall and avalanche threats. Built at an esti

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to attend a three-day conference of Chief Secretaries, scheduled to take place from Friday, December 26, to Sunday. This will be the fifth such national-level meeting and is regarded as one of the most significant administrative forums in the country, bringing together the highest-ranking officials from the Centre and the states. During the conference, the Prime Minister will engage in detailed discussions on several key policy priorities, with a st

LUCKNOW: Spread over 65 acres next to the embankment of the River Gomti on Hardoi Road, on the outskirts of Lucknow, the memorial Rashtra Prerna Sthal dedicated to BJP icons Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Shyama Prasad Mookerjee, and Deen Dayal Upadhyay will be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday. The complex will open to the public after its inauguration by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on December 25, which happens to be Vajpayees birth anniversary, an official statement said. Shaped

NEW DELHI: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has arrested a key accused in a sophisticated call centre racket that defrauded US nationals of $15 million between November 2022 and April 2024, the agency said on Wednesday. The illegal call centres operated from Noida and Gurugram, and the accused, charged with money-laundering, has been identified as Chandra Prakash Gupta. Scammers used fake Microsoft security pop-ups to trick victims into calling fraudulent support numbers. Using remote access sof

NEW DELHI: Except the momo cart, everything shall be removed, the Chief Justice remarked. It was said on a lighter note, but it was a telling aside as the Delhi High Court flagged serious safety lapses in one of the capitals most crowded student hubs, Majnu ka Tila. The Delhi High Court on Wednesday directed the Delhi government, the DDA, and the MCD to act against cafes and restaurants operating in Majnu ka Tila without requisite permissions and in violation of safety norms. Disposing of a PIL

RAIPUR: The Chhattisgarh High Court, hearing the appeal against the conviction judgment order of the trial court, ruled that saying I love you, holding hand and pulling woman towards self amounted to offence as it outrages the modesty of a woman. The accused, 19 years at the time of incident in Raigarh district, was sentenced to rigorous imprisonment (RI) for 3 years besides a fine of `1,000 under Section 354 of IPC (criminal force on a woman with intent to outrage her modesty) and the Protectio

Starter gun firing prompts Guv to order probe An incident involving the firing of a starter gun during flagging-off of a marathon run in the city on December 21 prompted the West Bengal Governor C V Ananda Bose to order a probe into the matter. The incident occurred when the Governor was firing from the gun to kick-off the event. Bose, on Tuesday, formed a probe committee to assess the matter by exploring multiple angles, officials at the Lok Bhavan said. The order followed a report submitted by

BHOPAL: A day after the first phase of Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voter roll was completed with the publication of the draft voter list, the opposition Congress targeted the ruling BJP government, with the SIR first phase figures. On the completion of the first phase, the ECI officially stated that more than 42.74 lakh voters, who were part of the October 2025 list of voters, were removed from the SIR draft list on Tuesday. Once the count of unmapped voters is added to it, the figure be

NEW DELHI: Six out of 10 people in India are suffering from mouth cancer due to frequent consumption of alcohol, along with chewing of smokeless tobacco products such as gutkha, khaini, paan, said a first large-scale study published on Wednesday. Authored by a team of researchers from the Center for Cancer Epidemiology, and Homi Bhabha National Institute, in Maharashtra, the study found that as little as under 2 gram a day of beer was associated with a heightened risk of buccal mucosa cancer (BM

NEW DELHI: The Ministry of Railways has claimed that India is on course to overtake the United States in total metro network length as ongoing projects are commissioned. Metro and suburban rail networks are currently operational across 1,090 km in 26 cities, including both major metros and Tier-2 cities, making urban mobility faster and more economically affordable for low- and middle-income groups. The Ministry further stated that despite the rapid expansion of metro and suburban rail services,

NEW DELHI: A day after the Delhi High Court suspended the life sentence awarded by a trial court to former BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar in the 2017 Unnao rape case, the survivor on Wednesday said she would move the Supreme Court. On Wednesday, she and her mother staged a protest near Mandi House against the HC verdict. Earlier in the day, the duo met Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi after alleging ill-treatment by Delhi Police. On Tuesday night, the survivor and her mother were rep

CHANDIGARH: Some 30 Indian nationals living illegally in the United States have been arrested in California after being found driving semi-trucks using commercial drivers licenses, according to US Customs and Border Protection (CBP). The arrests were made by Border Patrol agents in the El Centro Sector during immigration checkpoint stops and joint enforcement operations over the past few weeks. CBP said 49 undocumented immigrants holding commercial drivers licenses were arrested between November

NEW DELHI: Around 50 lakh students across the country have failed to clear the final exams of Class X and XII in 2024, said Sanjay Kumar, Secretary of the school education and literacy department. It is crucial to help them complete their formal education by introducing them to the Open School system, he said on Wednesday. Nearly 2 crore students took up the Class X final exam in 2024 but over 26 lakh of them could not clear it. It is much higher for Class XII final exam as 30% of the students c

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which probed the 2017 Unnao rape case will immediately challenge in the Supreme Court a Delhi High Court order suspending the jail sentence of former BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar, convicted in the case, officials said on Wednesday. It was decided to file an SLP before the Supreme Court at the earliest against the orders of the high court, which granted bail to Sengar after suspending his life sentence, a CBI spokesperson said in a statement. The CBI fil

RANCHI: Modern facilities has failed to reach Budikai village in Jharkhands Khunti, even after 78 years of independence. Most affected of all amenities is education, as only a handful of students can afford to travel to the nearest school, at least 5 km away. Residents said the region was once considered a Maoist stronghold. Budikai village is home to just 35 families. The village lacks almost every basic facilityroads, schools, electricity and safe drinking waterforcing villagers to depend larg

NEW DELHI: Indias largest domestic airline, IndiGo, said on Wednesday that it has stabilised its operations since December 9 and was ready for the holiday season. The airline said it was operating between 2,100 and 2,200 flights daily and carries one million customers every three days. An official release said, We have been flying to and from all 138 operational destinations across our network while maintaining the IndiGo standards of On Time Performance. We confirm that we are fully prepared to

The Thackeray cousins Uddhav and Raj have formally announced an alliance for the BMC and other municipal corporation elections, but it is not an easy fight, given the BJP's strong network and well-oiled machinery. Here are the top five challenges in Mumbai for the Thackerays who have reunited after 20 years. Weakened network after party's division : Following the split in the Shiv Sena, the party's once strong network was divided between the two factions. Eknath Shinde aggressively poached sever

NEW DELHI: The Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) has issued directives to the states for a complete ban on granting any new mining leases in the Aravalli Range. This measure aims to protect the range from unregulated mining activities. The Ministry has also instructed the Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education (ICFRE) to identify additional areas or zones within the entire Aravalli Range where mining should be prohibited, beyond those currently restric

LUCKNOW: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Wednesday issued a stern warning against the encroachment of government land, monuments and historical sites, asserting that his government would take strict action, including the use of bulldozers, against violators. Addressing the state Assembly during a discussion on the supplementary budget, the Chief Minister said improving the security situation in the state remained the foremost priority of the BJP government. He said the administra

NEW DELHI: More than 40 per cent of marginal farmers associated with agricultural cooperatives have reported an increase in household income and improved crop yields, according to a new study that has called for urgent reforms to make Indias cooperative framework more inclusive. The report, titled State of Marginal Farmers in India 2025 , was prepared by the Forum of Enterprises for Equitable Development (FEED) and released on Farmers Day at NITI Aayog. It was unveiled by Dr K K Tripathi, Joint

LUCKNOW: Spread over 65 acres, next to the embankment of River Gomti on Hardoi Road on the outskirts of the state capital Lucknow, the memorial, Rashtra Prerna Sthal, dedicated to BJP icons Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Shyama Prasad Mookerjee and Deen Dayal Upadhyay, will be inaugurated by PM Modi on Thursday. Shaped like a lotus reflecting the BJPs election symbol, the memorial has three towering bronze statues of Vajpayee, Mookerjee and Upadhyay. Replete with poems and speeches of Vajpayee, nationali

The Chhattisgarh High Court has ruled that holding a womans hand, pulling her, and saying I love you amount to outraging her modesty under Section 354 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). The case relates to a man who was sentenced to three years of rigorous imprisonment by a trial court after being found guilty under various provisions of the IPC and the Protection of Children against Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act. He was 19-years-old at the time of the incident. The man was convicted for holding the

NEW DELHI: Vice President C P Radhakrishnan, on Wednesday, after launching the book 'Economic Empowerment of Bharat in the Modi Era', praised the Modi government for steering the country towards prosperity from a past marked by poverty. He said, Under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, India has moved from policy paralysis to purposeful governance, moved from a poverty mindset to a prosperity mission, and changed from dependence to self-reliance. Calling on citizens to celebrate a new Bharat, he desc

NEW DELHI: The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved the expansion of Delhi Metros project 5-A at Rs 12,015 crore, covering about 16 kilometres on three routes. The expansion will have 13 stations, including 10 underground and three elevated. Briefing the media after the meeting of the Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Information and Broadcasting Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said that the three lines approved include Ramakrishna Ashram Marg to Indraprastha, Aerocity to Airport

LUCKNOW: Observing that the termination of a professor of the Motilal Nehru National Institute of Technology (MNNIT), Allahabad, for a consensual relationship with one of his students is shockingly disproportionate, the Allahabad High Court set aside his 19-year-old dismissal order. The court further observed that the relationship with the student amounted to misconduct but not sexual harassment as it was consensual. The single-judge bench, comprising Justice Saurabh Shyam Shamshery, remitted th

NEW DELHI: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday said India is not just becoming a dead economy but also a dead society after alleged ill-treatment of the Unnao rape survivor. Gandhi said the rape survivor, who was protesting in Delhi against the bail granted to accused Kuldeep Singh Sengar by the high court, should be treated with respect and that justice should be ensured to her, instead of giving her injustice and fear. Is such treatment of a gang rape survivor appropriate? Is it her 'fau

AHMEDABAD: A multi-crore land scam (non-agricultural) has rattled Gujarats bureaucracy after the Enforcement Directorate raided top officials homes in Surendranagar, arrested a Deputy Mamlatdar with Rs 67.50 lakh cash and seized over 100 sensitive files. The ED raid has exposed a deep-rooted nexus of middlemen, speed money, and misuse of power. Gujarats administrative corridors shook on December 23 when the Enforcement Directorate (ED) stormed into Surendranagar, launching coordinated raids at t

mumbai: The Sharad Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (SP) has begun negotiations with the Congress for the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections, demanding 50 seats, after efforts to reach a workable seat-sharing arrangement with the Thackeray brothers failed. After Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray left little space for other parties in seat-sharing talks, the former Union agriculture ministers party decided to explore an alliance with the Congress. According

AHMEDABAD: Gujarat has scripted a major renewable energy milestone by installing more than five lakh rooftop solar systems, generating a combined capacity of 1,879 megawatts, firmly placing the State at the forefront of Indias clean energy transition. Achieved under the PM Surya Ghar: Muft Bijli Yojna, launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the feat reinforces Gujarats dominance in rooftop solar adoption and will take centre stage at the upcoming Vibrant Gujarat Renewable Conference (VGRC) in

DEHRADUN: In a significant development linked to alleged large-scale irregularities in Uttarakhands Forest Department, a Division Bench of the Uttarakhand High Court on Wednesday took cognisance of the matter. It issued notices to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), the Central Government, the Uttarakhand Government, the Survey of India and the Supreme Courts Central Empowered Committee (CEC). The court action follows a petition pointing to the disappearance of 7,375 forest boundary pilla

KOLKATA: Violence broke out between two rival Matua groups affiliated to Union minister of shipping and BJP MP Shantanu Thakur and Trinamool Congress Rajya Sabha MP Mamatabala Thakur in Thakurnagar, the administrative headquarters of the Matua community in West Bengal, on Wednesday. The clash took place amid heightened tensions over the deletion of nearly one lakh Matua voters names following the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in the state. The clash followed comments made b

NEW DELHI: Security personnel in Delhi on Wednesday prevented the Unnao rape survivor and her mother from addressing the media and allegedly forced the survivors elderly mother to jump off a moving bus, according to reports and eyewitness accounts. The incident occurred a day after the Delhi High Court suspended the jail sentence of former BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar, who was serving a life term following his conviction in the 2017 Unnao rape case. The court suspended the sentence pending the d

CHANDIGARH: One person was killed and five others injured after a leopard carried out a series of attacks at three different locations in the Balh Ghati area of Himachal Pradeshs Mandi district on Tuesday morning before being shot dead by locals, officials said. The leopard attacked people in Chandiyal, Bhadyal and Malwana villages, triggering panic among residents. According to officials, the animal first struck at Chandiyal, after which it moved to Bhadyal, injuring several people, and finally

AHMEDABAD: Ahmedabad woke up to a crime on December 23 when a dispute inside a Gujarat Housing Board residence in the Bapunagar area ended in murder and death by suicide, coming to light only after a mobile phone flashlight revealed blood on the floor and lifeless bodies inside the house. Police said Mehul Thakor murdered his wife Neeta by attacking her neck and left hand with a sharp weapon and then died by suicide by hanging himself. The couple had been married for four years and lived in the

JAIPUR : The Rajasthan State Election Commission has begun preparations for the upcoming local body elections by issuing two separate notifications for Panchayati Raj institutions and urban local bodies, announcing a major revision in campaign expenditure limits while simultaneously tightening rules on campaigning. In a significant decision, the commission has doubled the election expenditure limits for candidates contesting posts from sarpanch to district council member, and has also substantia

KOLKATA: Fresh incidents of demonstrations in Kolkata and several districts across West Bengal were reported on Wednesday in protest against the brutal killing of a Hindu Bangladeshi youth, Dipu Chandra Das, in Mymensingh. Violence erupted at Howrah Station this afternoon when police prevented demonstrators belonging to the BJP from reaching the Howrah Bridge, the prime lifeline connecting Kolkata and the south Bengal districts. The demonstrators were protesting against the Mymensingh incident i

KOLKATA: Fresh incidents of demonstrations in Kolkata and several districts across West Bengal were reported on Wednesday in protest against the brutal killing of a Hindu Bangladeshi youth, Dipu Chandra Das, in Mymensingh. Violence erupted at Howrah Station this afternoon when police prevented demonstrators belonging to the BJP from reaching the Howrah Bridge, the prime lifeline connecting Kolkata and the south Bengal districts. The demonstrators were protesting against the Mymensingh incident i

CHANDIGARH: The Canadian Police have identified the suspect who murdered a 30-year-old Punjabi woman in Toronto. A countrywide warrant for the arrest of the suspect has been issued. In a statement, the Toronto Police Service stated that it is making the public aware of the homicide. On Friday, December 19, at approximately 10:41 p.m., police responded to a call for a missing person in the Strachan Avenue and Wellington Street West area. It is alleged that police commenced an investigation into a

GUWAHATI: An uneasy calm prevailed in the Kheroni area of Assams West Karbi Anglong district on Wednesday after two days of violence over the demand to evict outsiders from some village grazing reserves (VGRs) and professional grazing reserves (PGRs). Official sources said no untoward incident was reported throughout the night and on Wednesday morning. The violence had left two persons dead and over 45 others, including 38 police personnel, injured on Tuesday. A protestor from the tribal Karbi c

NEW DELHI: Air travellers are set to get more choice in the domestic aviation market, with three new airlines preparing to take to Indian skies in the near future. Of these, Al Hind Air and FlyExpress have received their No Objection Certificates (NOC) from the Centre this week, while Shankh Air had earlier secured its clearance. The development assumes significance in the backdrop of the IndiGo disruption in the first week of December, which drew sharp criticism of the government over alleged m

MUMBAI: Cousins Uddhav Thackeray and Raj Thackeray on Wednesday formally announced an alliance between the Shiv Sena (UBT) and the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) for the upcoming Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) and other municipal corporation elections, appealing to Marathi voters not to allow divisions, warning that such a split would weaken the authority of the Marathi manoos over Mumbai. Addressing a joint gathering, Uddhav Thackeray said that the unity of Marathi people was crucia

MUMBAI: Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) boss Raj Thackeray on Wednesday announced the alliance of their parties ahead of the January 15 Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections, putting months of speculation to rest. Addressing a joint news conference with Raj, Uddhav said the two parties have come together to stay together. Raj, however, did not share details of the seat sharing between the two parties for the high-stakes BMC elections. Mumb

BHOPAL: With the first phase of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Madhya Pradesh concluding on Tuesday, around 21% of voters have been removed from the draft electoral list in the state capital, Bhopal. Out of the 21.25 lakh-plus registered voters of the districts October 2025 voter list, around 4.38 lakh voters (20.63% or more) in seven assembly segments of Bhopal district, have been removed from the draft voter roll which was published on Tuesday. The highest number of