Breaking News Live: 12 Naxalites killed in encounter with security forces in Chhattisgarh's Bijapur

The Goa bench of Bombay High Court on Thursday upheld assembly speaker Ramesh Tawadkar's decision to not disqualify the eight Congress MLAs who joined the ruling BJP in the coastal state on September 14, 2022.

On November 1 last year, Tawadkar dismissed the disqualification petition against MLAs Digambar Kamat, Aleixo Sequeira, Sankalp Amonkar, Michael Lobo, Delilah Lobo, Kedar Naik, Rudolf Fernandes and Rajesh Faldesai. The disqualification petition was filed at the time by former Goa Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC) president Girish Chodankar.

The Congress has filed an intervention application in the Supreme Court to oppose the pleas challenging the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991, saying they are "motivated and malicious attempt to undermine established principles of secularism".

In the application, filed through Congress General Secretary KC Venugopal, the party defended the law as a reflection of the country's secular ethos and a product of the popular mandate.

The Centre's panel on Delhi-NCR's air quality on Thursday revoked curbs under stage 4 of the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) amid dip in pollution levels, according to an official order. The curbs were imposed Wednesday as calm winds, low temperatures and foggy conditions allowed accumulation of pollutants in the region, with the air quality index clocking 396 last evening.

Stage 4 curbs include a ban on all construction activities, entry of non-essential polluting trucks into Delhi, and mandatory shifting of school classes, except for classes 10 and 12, to hybrid mode.

As many as 12 Naxalites were killed in a fierce encounter with security forces in Chhattisgarh's Bijapur district on Thursday, a senior police official said. The gunfight broke out at around 9 am in a forest of south Bijapur when a joint team of security personnel was out an anti-Naxalite operation and the intermittent exchange of fire lasted till late in the evening, he said.

Personnel belonging to the state police's District Reserve Guard (DRG) from three districts, five battalions of CoBRA (Commando Battalion for Resolute Action - an elite jungle warfare unit of the CRPF) and the 229th battalion of CRPF were involved in the operation, the official added.

The Karnataka High Court on Thursday ruled that suspended JD(S) leader Prajwal Revanna, who faces multiple allegations of sexual assault, can only examine digital evidence related to the complainant in the present case and not that of other women.

Revanna had approached the court seeking access to all digital evidence collected by the State Special Investigation Team (SIT) in the cases against him. However, Justice M Nagaprasanna firmly rejected this request, stating that the law would not be bent in his favour. "The images here, even of the victim, are obscene. Just because you are Prajwal Revanna, the law can't be bent for you," the judge remarked.

The Union Cabinet on Thursday approved setting up of a third launch pad at ISRO's Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota at a cost of Rs 3,985 crore, Union minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said. This project envisages the establishment of the launch infrastructure at Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh for the 'Next Generation Launch Vehicles' of ISRO and also to support as standby launch pad for the second launch pad at Sriharikota.

Pope Francis injured his right forearm after a fall in his residence but did not suffer any fractures, the Vatican said on Thursday.

"This morning, due to a fall at the Santa Marta house, Pope Francis suffered a contusion on his right forearm, without fractures. The arm was immobilised as a precautionary measure," a statement said. The pontiff turned 88 in December.

A convoy of 35 vehicles carrying food and medical supplies to Pakistan's Kurram district, hit by sectarian violence, was attacked by rockets on Thursday, officials said. After the attack, the miscreants also burnt some of the vehicles carrying the relief material to Parachinar in the Bagan Bazar area of the strife-torn district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

Sectarian clashes between Shia and Sunni tribes have claimed at least 130 lives since November, with food and medicine shortages reported due to weeks-long road blockades in the region. A peace agreement was reached on January 1, but the route connecting Parachinar remained blocked.

Jan Suraaj party chief Prashant Kishor ends his hunger strike after 14 days. The former political strategist had been on 'fast-unto-death' since January 2 in protest against alleged irregularities in a BPSC (Bihar Public Service Commission) exam held last month.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Thursday said the attack on Bollywood actor Saif Ali Khan by an intruder at his home was a serious incident, but it would be wrong to call Mumbai unsafe because of it. Police is taking action, and the government will take steps to make the country's financial capital safer, said Fadnavis, who holds the home portfolio.

Saif suffered grievous injuries after an intruder stabbed him with a knife repeatedly at his 12th floor flat in Mumbai's Bandra area early Thursday morning. The actor is out of danger, according to the doctors who operated on him to remove the knife from his back.

The University Grants Commission (UGC) has barred three universities in Rajasthan from offering PhD courses for next five years after they were found compromising integrity of the degree, according to officials. The three universities are - OPJS University, Churu; Sunrise University, Alwar and Singhania University, Jhunjhunu.

"A standing committee of the UGC has found that the universities did not follow provisions of UGC's PhD regulations and also academic norms for award of PhD degrees. The universities were found to be compromising the integrity of the degree and have been debarred from enrolling new PhD students for next five years," UGC secretary Manish Joshi said.

The BJP on January 16 named nine more candidates for the elections to the 70-member Delhi assembly, fielding Shikha Rai and Anil Vashishth against from Greater Kailash and Babarpur, respectively. While Rai is pitted against Delhi minister and AAP leader Saurabh Bharadwaj, Vashishth will battle it out against Gopal Rai, also a minister in the AAP government.

With the latest list, the BJP has named its 68 candidates. The party is likely to give the remaining two seats to its allies.

The Assam government on Thursday announced a judicial enquiry and a police Special Investigation Team (SIT) probe into the Umrangso coal mine incident, in which four workers were killed and five others who are still trapped inside. It declared an ex-gratia of Rs 10 lakh each to the families of the victims, while also closing down all 220 similar rat-hole mines in the area.

A coal mine in the Umrangso area of Dima Hasao district was flooded on January 6 when water had gushed in suddenly, trapping nine workers inside. Four bodies have been recovered since then in the rescue operations.

Israel’s main stock indexes hit fresh record highs on Thursday, following a ceasefire accord between the country and militant group Hamas after 15 months of conflict.

In a post on Telegram, Hamas official Izzat el-Reshiq has said the group is committed to the ceasefire agreement outlined by mediators. The statement comes after the Israeli prime minister’s office accused Hamas of backtracking on some elements of the deal to extract “last-minute concessions”.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said Thursday his Cabinet won't meet to approve the Gaza ceasefire deal until Hamas backs down from what it called a "last minute crisis". Netanyahu's office accused Hamas of reneging on parts of the agreement in an attempt "to extort last minute concessions". It did not elaborate.

The Israeli Cabinet was set to ratify the deal Thursday.

The death toll in a monthslong standoff between police and miners trapped while working illegally underground at an abandoned gold mine in South Africa has risen to at least 87, police said Thursday as they wound down a rescue operation that has pulled more than 240 survivors out from deep underground.

National police spokesperson Athlenda Mathe said that 78 bodies were retrieved from the mine in an official rescue operation that began Monday, while another nine had been recovered previously. She did not give details on how those other bodies were retrieved. Community groups have said they launched their own rescue attempts when authorities said last year they would not help the miners because they were 'criminals'. The miners are suspected to have died of starvation and dehydration.

"A 32-year-old Kaithal resident identified as Chirag Singh was found dead in SK Residency, Mange Ram Park today. No injury or foul play was found. Inquest proceeding to be carried out," Delhi Police said.

A team, consisting of 21 members from 10 countries took holy dip at Triveni Sangam in Prayagraj, during the ongoing Maha Kumbh.

A Delhi court on Thursday issued notice to Chief Minister Atishi and AAP MP Sanjay Singh on a criminal defamation complaint filed by former Congress MP Sandeep Dikshit.

The Election Commission of India (ECI) has urged political parties for responsible and transparent use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in campaigning. The ECI asked parties to appropriately disclose and label AI generated synthetic content.

Ahead of the February 5 Delhi Assembly elections, BJP MP Anurag Thakur said, "People of Delhi are supporting BJP because they have decided to form a double engine government of BJP and make Delhi pollution free, clean Yamuna, open schools in place of liquor shops, open hospitals in place of dirty mohalla clinics."

"We will implement government welfare schemes and work for the betterment of the common man and stop Arvind Kejriwal's loot...Did Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi vote for AAP or press NOTA from New Delhi in Lok Sabha, or did Arvind Kejriwal vote for Congress or press NOTA from Chandni Chowk? If they were together then, they are together even now," he added.

On RSS Chief Mohan Bhagwat's statement, Congress MP Digvijaya Singh said, "I condemn this statement as he had hurt the sentiments of people of the nation...He disrespected Mahatma Gandhi who dedicated his life to the freedom struggle, Jawaharlal Nehru, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel...and all those who contributed to the freedom of the nation...It is an insult to all those who suffered during the freedom struggle...Mohan Bhagwat has disrespected them and he should apologise for this."

BRS workers, who were protesting outside the office of the Enforcement Directorate (ED), were detained by police in Hyderabad. Working president and former state Minister KT Rama Rao arrived at ED office on Thursday to appear before the agency in connection with the Formula-E case.

As ISRO successfully conducted a space docking mission, Prime Minister Narendra Modi took to X and said, "Congratulations to our scientists at @isro and the entire space fraternity for the successful demonstration of space docking of satellites. It is a significant stepping stone for India’s ambitious space missions in the years to come."

Spacecraft docking successfully completed. A historic moment. India became the 4th country to achieve successful Space Docking, announces ISRO.

Union Minister of State Science and Technology Dr Jitendra Singh on X said, "Congrats ISRO. Finally made it. SPADEX has accomplished the unbelievable…docking complete… and it is all indigenous “Bharatiya Docking System”. This paves the way for smooth conduct of ambitious future missions including the Bharatiya Antriksha Station and Chandrayaan 4 & Gaganyaan..."

Parade rehearsal of RPF Contingent for the 76th Republic Day is underway at Kartavya Path ahead of the Republic Day on January 26.

Lahaul and Spiti in Himachal Pradesh were covered in a blanket of snow as the area receives fresh snowfall.

Bollywood actor Saif Ali Khan was injured in a knife attack by an intruder at his house in Mumbai during a robbery attempt. He has been hospitalised, police told PTI. Read more

Various parts of Delhi witnessed light rainfall on Thursday morning. This brought in a chilly morning with a slight improvement in the air quality index (AQI).