Breaking News Updates: Hyderabad Court grants bail to actor Allu Arjun in theatre stampede case

One Naxalite killed in encounter with security forces in Chhattisgarh's Gariaband district according to the police.

Hyderabad Court grants bail to actor Allu Arjun in theatre stampede case. Earlier, the  court on Monday reserved its order on the bail plea of top Telugu actor Allu Arjun, who is an accused in a case related to the death of a woman during a stampede at the premiere of his latest film, Pushpa-2.

"Regarding the release (of Chinmoy Krishna Das) in Bangladesh, our expectation is that the ongoing proceedings in Bangladesh will ensure that individuals arrested in this case receive a fair trial. This remains our key expectation," said MEA Spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal.

A court in Bangladesh on Thursday denied bail to Chinmoy Krishna Das, a former ISKCON leader, in a sedition case.

MEA Spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal responds to a media query on China constructing a massive dam on the Brahmaputra River. Here's what he said:

"We have seen the information released by Xinhua on 25 December 2024 regarding a hydropower project on the Yarlung Tsangpo River in the Tibet Autonomous Region of China. As a lower riparian state with established user rights to the waters of the river, we have consistently expressed, through expert-level and diplomatic channels, our views and concerns to the Chinese side over mega projects on rivers in their territory. These concerns have been reiterated, along with the need for transparency and consultation with downstream countries, following the latest report. The Chinese side has been urged to ensure that the interests of downstream states of the Brahmaputra are not harmed by activities in upstream areas. We will continue to monitor and take necessary measures to protect our interests."

On H1B visas, MEA Spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said, "Both countries (India and US) have a strong and growing economic and technological partnership, and within this ambit, mobility of skilled professionals is an important component in this ambit and this collaboration. India-US economic types benefit a lot from the technical expertise provided by skilled professionals, with both sides leveraging their strengths and competitive value. We look forward to further deepening India-US economic ties which are to our mutual benefits

On former Bangladesh PM Sheikh Hasina, MEA Spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said, " A week before, I had confirmed that we had received a communication from the Bangladesh authorities in respect to former PM Sheikh Hasina. Further than that, I have nothing to add at this point in time"

Addressing a public meeting in Ashok Vihar's Ramlila Ground, PM Narendra Modi says, "The year 2025 will give a new direction to the good governance in the national capital... New politics of public welfare and nation welfare will begin this year and hence, 'Aapda ko hatana hai, aur BJP ko lana hai'..."

Addressing a public meeting in Ashok Vihar's Ramlila Ground, PM Narendra Modi says, "...Every people of Delhi can see the situation of Yamuna. Look at their (AAP) shamelessness, what kind of 'aapda is this, they say that cleaning Yamuna won't get them votes - will you leave Yamuna like this if it doesn't get you votes?... This 'aapda' has handed over the lives of people of Delhi in the hands of tanker mafia..."

Addressing a public meeting in Ashok Vihar's Ramlila Ground, PM Narendra Modi says, "...Ye AAP, ye 'aapda', Delhi par aayi hai', and hence the people of Delhi has waged a war against 'aapda'. Voters of Delhi have made up their minds to free Delhi from this 'aapda'. Every voter of Delhi is saying, 'aapda ko nahi sahenge, badal ke rahenge'..."

Addressing a public meeting in Ashok Vihar's Ramlila Ground, PM Narendra Modi says, "A new college in the name of Veer Savarkar is going to be built in Najafgarh... Those who have been in power in Delhi for the last 10 years - have damaged school education. The money that the central govt has given to Delhi - the current govt of Delhi hasn't even spent half of that money in education..."

AAP leader Saurabh Bharadwaj says, "BJP had promised that everyone in the country will have a permanent house by 2022. We are three years past the deadline... They had talked about giving 2.5 crore permanent houses in Delhi by 2022. Now in 2025, they are giving away just 1675 flats. This is a humiliation for the poor... He is just laying the foundation of the college right now. Let us see how long it takes to complete and the government in power at that time. We will see after whom the college is named when it gets completed..."

On memorial site for late former PM Dr Manmohan Singh, Congress leader Partap Singh Bajwa says, "I would like to tell the government - better sense should prevail...Today, he is known as the Einstein of economics...There is a memorial for every PM and leader..."

PM Narendra Modi virtually inaugurates two urban redevelopment projects - the World Trade Centre at Nauroji Nagar and GPRA Type-II Quarters at Sarojini Nagar, CBSE's Integrated Office Complex at Dwarka

PM Modi also lays the foundation stone of Veer Savarkar College at Roshanpura, Najafgarh, virtually

On weather update in North India, IMD Scientist Dr Naresh Kumar says, "There is an active western disturbance which lies over the western Himalayan region. There will be light to moderate snowfall in the western Himalayan region in the next 4-5 days. We may even expect heavy snowfall in J&K on the 4th and 5th of January. Adjoining plains can also experience light to moderate rainfall. Light rainfall is expected in Delhi on 6th January..."

EAM Dr S Jaishankar says, "...I think we have some important developments to report, positive developments to report, and certainly there is much more that we need to do. I see that the framework to promote the use of local currencies for cross-border transactions has been signed. We have increased our engagements in various sectors. I do want to say that India has always stood by Maldives. For us, you are a very concrete expression of our neighbourhood's first policy..."

Prime Minister Narendra Modi hands over the keys to the beneficiaries of newly constructed flats for the dwellers of Jhuggi Jhopri (JJ) clusters under the In-Situ Slum Rehabilitation Project at Swabhiman Apartments, Ashok Vihar, Delhi.

Businessman Robert Vadra says," I have been visiting Shimla very often as it is home for us. It was very important for me to come and pray at Jakhu temple. I prayed for Priyanka and my children and the entire family. My prayers were for the whole country for people to have brotherhood, and in the country and not have politics of religion...I am against the surveys that are happening in mosques. We should be secular...We must respect everyone in our country. When people are not divided, we will progress...."

Addressing a public meeting in Ashok Vihar's Ramlila Ground, PM Narendra Modi says, "...Today, India has become a symbol of political and economic stability. This role of India will strengthen even more in 2025. This year will be the year to strengthen India's position in the world. It will be the year of making India one of the biggest manufacturing centres in the world..."

The BJP in Karnataka on Friday staged a demonstration here against the government bus fare hike.

The Karnataka cabinet on Thursday decided to hike the government bus fare by 15 per cent across all categories. This will come into effect from Sunday.

The move is expected to generate Rs 74.85 crore monthly and about Rs 784 crore annually, the government said.

On Karnataka government raising KSRTC bus fares by 15%, LoP Karnataka Legislative Council & BJP leader Chalavadi Narayanaswamy says, "The government has raised the bus fares by 15%. They have no other option. They had given 5 guarantees but are now unable to fulfil the guarantees. The price rise is common. The CM is citing his helplessness. We are now apologising to people on behalf of the CM."

AAP MP Sanjay Singh says, "I want you to check this, how BJP is intentionally running a campaign for the deletion of votes in Arvind Kejriwal's assembly constituency (New Delhi) - of those people who are living here for years. If they can get their name deleted from the list, they can do anything. The Election Commission should take cognisance of it and an investigation must be done..."

South Korean authorities failed to arrest impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol on Friday over his martial law declaration, after evading a crowd of protesters outside his compound but coming to a standoff with presidential security forces inside.

Yoon supporters gathered in the pre-dawn hours near the presidential residence, with the numbers swelling into the hundreds as they vowed to block any attempt to arrest Yoon.

Officials from the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials (CIO), which is leading a joint team of investigators into Yoon's brief declaration of martial law on Dec. 3, arrived at the gates of the presidential compound shortly after 7 a.m. (2200 GMT Thursday) and entered on foot.

Police use lathi charge to disperse the protestors protesting against shifting of toxic waste from Bhopal's Union Carbide Factory to Dhar's Pithampur.

Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut says, "We have praised Devendra Fadnavis as the govt has done a good job. Maharashtra is our state and a place like Gadchiroli which is affected by naxalism - if the Naxalites surrendered and opted for the constitutional path - we welcome that... The earlier 'guardian minister' could have done that - but instead, he appointed his agents and collected money that increased naxalism... We have worked with Devendra Fadnavis - that relation goes on, but we are in the opposition and we will continue to raise the issues as well."

Jan Suraaj chief Prashant Kishor says, "This protest will continue. I have been working in Bihar for the last two and a half years, if I don't do politics, what will I do? If you beat someone, and I am sitting here in support of them - and then you call it politics, then I am doing the politics. Nitish Kumar doesn't want to work, he wants to be in power only and that's the reason he didn't help the people of Bihar during Covid times. He is not worried about other things but just about being in power."

-PM to inaugurate 1,675 newly constructed flats for the Economically Weaker Section at Swabhiman Apartments, Ashok Vihar

-PM to inaugurate two urban redevelopment projects - the World Trade Centre at Nauroji Nagar and GPRA Type-II Quarters at Sarojini Nagar

-PM to inaugurate CBSE's Integrated Office Complex at Dwarka

-PM to lay foundation stone of Veer Savarkar College at Roshanpura, Najafgarh

Punjab Government has dismissed Deputy Superintendent of Police Gursher Singh Sandhu for "denting the image of the police department" by facilitating a video interview of gangster Lawrence Bishnoi during his custody at the Central Investigation Agency (CIA), Kharar.

The Department of Home Affairs issued the dismissal orders following approval by the Punjab Public Service Commission (PPSC), the appointing authority for the Punjab Police Service (PPS) cadre officials.

The FBI on Thursday released new surveillance video in a bid to reinvigorate its four-year-old hunt for a suspect who placed pipe bombs in Washington the night before the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the U.S. Capitol.

The previously unreleased footage from Jan. 5, 2021, showed an individual putting a bomb near a bench outside the Democratic National Committee building. The suspect placed another bomb at the Republican headquarters. Both sites are near the Capitol.

Police deactivated the bombs and neither exploded.

A U.S. Army veteran who drove a truck into a crowd of New Year's Day revelers in New Orleans had pledged allegiance to Islamic State, but acted alone in the attack that killed at least 14 people, the FBI said on Thursday.

The suspect, who the FBI said was shot dead at the scene after firing at police, has been identified as Shamsud-Din Jabbar, a 42-year-old Texan who once served in Afghanistan.

He drove from Houston to New Orleans on Dec. 31. On the morning of the attack, between 1:29 a.m. and 3:02 a.m., he posted five videos on Facebook in which he said he supported IS, the Islamic militant group with fighters in Iraq and Syria, the FBI said.

Officials on Thursday positively identified the person found dead inside the Cybertruck that exploded outside the Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas as a U.S. Army soldier from Colorado, while the FBI said it was not yet clear if the blast was an act of terrorism.

The FBI said it had so far found no definitive link between the New Year's Day New Orleans truck attack that killed 15 people and the Cybertruck explosion in Las Vegas later on the same day, which left seven people with minor injuries.

Authorities entered impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk's compund on Friday to execute an unprecedented arrest warrant, evading a crowd of protesters outside, but were confronted with presidential security forces inside.

It was unclear whether the Presidential Security Service (PSS), which has previously blocked access by investigators with a search warrant to Yoon's office and official residence, would try to stop him being arrested.

As investigators learn more about the man who pledged allegiance to Islamic State and killed 14 people with a truck on New Year's Day in New Orleans, a key question remains: How did a veteran and one-time employee of a major corporation become radicalized?

FBI Deputy Assistant Director Christopher Raia said on Thursday that videos made by Shamsud-Din Jabbar just before the attack showed the 42-year-old Texas native supported Islamic State, claimed to have joined the militant group before last summer and believed in a "war between the believers and nonbelievers."

Authorities sought on Friday to execute an unprecedented arrest warrant for impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, evading a crowd of protesters but facing off with security forces inside his residence.

Yoon is under criminal investigation for insurrection over his Dec. 3. martial law attempt that stunned South Korea, Asia's fourth-largest economy and one of the region's most vibrant democracies.

An arrest would be the first for an incumbent South Korean president.