The key Indian equity market indices, which opened lower on Wednesday, are trading in green.

The Sensitive Index (Sensex) of the BSE, which had closed at 34,771.05 points on Tuesday, opened lower at 34,753.80 points. It was quoting at 34,830.93 points, up by 59.88 points, or 0.17 per cent in the early session.

At the National Stock Exchange (NSE), the broader 51-scrip Nifty was trading at 10,707.90 points, up by 7.45 points or 0.07 per cent.

Breaking a three-day streak of record closing highs, the two Indian equity indices on Tuesday ended the day in the negative zone with heavy selling pressure in almost all the sectors, except the IT and Teck (technology, media and entertainment) indices.

Dense fog enveloped the national capital on this Wednesday, leading to cancellation of 13 north- bound trains.

The mercury also dropped to 5.6 degrees Celsius, two notches below the season’s average although it was yesterday recorded at 9.1 degrees Celsius.

According to the Northern Railways, 13 trains had to be cancelled due to poor visibility while 21 trains are running late. The timing of four trains was rescheduled owing to bad weather.

At Safdarjung observatory, visibility was recorded at 200 meters at 8.30 am while the same recorded was 650 meters at Palam observatory.

According to MeT department, humidity level registered at 8.30 am was 100 per cent.

“The skies will remain clear throughout the day and the maximum temperature is expected to hover around 23 degree Celsius,” an official of the department said.

Yesterday, the maximum temperature was recorded at 25.5 degrees Celsius, six notches above the season’s average.

The conflict between people of two villages Bankatira and Kalama took a violent turn today with mob fury taking toll of several people including the police today. Eight people were injured in the violence. The police arrested 12 people.

An assistant sub inspector of police sustained head injuries while a police jeep was damaged. The angry villagers resorted to brickbatting and attacked the police.

The injured assistant sub inspector of police, Rajendra Nayak and his driver Dilip Jena were admitted to the local hospital. The police had reached the spot after receiving reports of a road block staged by villagers of Bankatira today.

“ After information was received that a group of villagers of Bankatira staged road picketing following their clash with Kalama the officer posted in the outpost at Haldipada rushed to the site along with his driver.

They were attacked and their vehicle was damaged” said SDPO Pravash Pal. The Inspector-in-charge of the Sadar police station , Dayanidhi Das said the incident was fall-out of a longstanding dispute between the residents of Bankatira village and Kalama village in Mayurbhanj district.

Since 31 December 2017 there has been a tussle between people of both the villages. A peace meeting was held but it failed to resolve the differences.

Over the last week people of both the villages had clashed, a few roadside shops were damaged . The police had arrested a person of Bankatira village and this led to the road block today.

Benny Dayal, known for hit tracks like Badtameez dil and Let’s nacho, says he was confident about becoming a singer.

During his visit to the Hungama office here on Monday for a meet-and-greet session, he spoke about his latest single “Sunwai”, his musical journey and more, read a statement.

“I was always confident about becoming a singer since right from my childhood, I could only think of music. That is how much I loved and continue to love music. I was only 22 years old when I got my break and I sang Kaise mujhe from Ghajini,” he said.

“To get the break and sing the song, it was definitely a dream come true, but I was completely unaware that I would reach where I am today,” he added.

About Sunwai, he said it is a ballet song.

“I have always wanted to sing a ballet song,” he added.

On music maestro A.R. Rahman, Benny said: “I haven’t conversed a lot with him but I can say with absolute certainty that it is because of him that a lot of aspiring singers get the opportunity to showcase their talent and become a part of the music industry.”

While talking about the independent music scene in India, he said: “I think India is the only country where we differentiate between independent music and other commercial music. In other countries, people are doing much better in the independent space.”

R Madhavan has been in the film industry for over two decades and the actor says the fact that he still gets to play a lead in the movies is the “biggest award” for him.

The 47-year-old actor, who started off as a TV actor with hit shows such as “Sea Hawks” and “Ghar Jamai”, said he is proud of his achievements.

“They all give titles to actors in the South. They also wanted to give me a title which meant ‘King of Smiles’, but I said no. And they got offended.

“My biggest award is after 20 years, I am still playing the main lead, so that’s great. It’s an award that very few people can claim,” Madhavan told reporters here at the launch of his upcoming web series “Breathe”.

The actor said initially he was not keen on doing a web series as he was busy with films, but the concept of “Breathe” made him change his mind.

“The reason, I take time to do a project is because I need to get really excited. ‘Breathe’ is one of the exciting projects I have recently heard. It was coinciding with the dates of ‘Vikram Vedha’ but I did it. This web series is the best piece of work I have done in my career,” he said.

The show is about two desperate, driven men played by Madhavan and Amit Sadh – who engage in the cat-and- mouse game to save the one they love.

Directed by Mayank Sharma, the series will stream on Amazon Prime Video from January 26.

The Odisha government today approved five investment proposals of Rs 328 crore, which would provide jobs to 1674 people. The government’s nod to the projects were given at the meeting of the State Level Single Window Clearance Authority (SLSWCA) held under the chairmanship of Chief Secretary Mr. Aditya Prasad Padhi.

The SLSWCA accorded approval to set up a manufacturing unit with a capacity to produce 35,000 tonnes per annum aluminium alloy conductors as well as alloy wires and rods at Angul Aluminium park.

With an investment of Rs 75 crore the project will help create direct and indirect employment for 425 people, official sources said. Another downstream project for setting up a manufacturing plant to produce 33,500 tonnes per annum aluminium and alloy downstream products at Angul Aluminium Park was also cleared.

The project entails an investment of Rs 56.87 crore and would provide employment to 250 people. In a bid to support downstream players setting up units in Angul Aluminium Park, the state government is giving a discount of Rs 10 lakh per acre towards land cost, while NALCO is offering a price discount of Rs 4000 per tonne on aluminium ingots and Rs 5000 per tonne on molten metal.

Such initiatives are making the business ecosystem in Angul Aluminium Park more lucrative for the investors. A proposal to set up a poultry processing plant at Khurda industrial area and a poultry pellet feed plant at Sea Food Park, Deras was also approved today.

Another pellet feed plant proposed to be established at Bhadrak by the same firm was also given clearance with a cumulative investment of Rs 50.27 crore. The three units, together, would provide employment to 486 people. The SLSWCA also cleared a proposal to set up 30,000 tonne per annum vegetable oil manufacturing unit at Khurda industrial area.

The project entails an investment of Rs 91.45 crore and will create employment for 384 people,• said official sources. A hotel project at Cuttack with an investment of Rs 54.50 crore was also cleared.

Myanmar’s Foreign Ministry has informed Bangladesh of its possible extradition of some members of the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) extremists, media reports on Wednesday said.

According to the ministry, a list of more than 1,300 ARSA members had been sent to Bangladesh at the fourth Myanmar-Bangladesh Central Level Meeting on Border Security and Law Enforcement Cooperation held in Nay Pyi Taw on November 14, Xinhua reported.

Meanwhile, the first meeting of the joint working group of foreign ministries of the two countries on repatriation of displaced Myanmar residents from Bangladesh was also held in Nay Pyi Taw on Tuesday, agreeing on a repatriation plan starting from January 23.

The ARSA extremist terrorists launched attacks on police outposts in northern Rakhine on August 25 last year, displacing residents to Bangladesh from a number of areas in Maungtaw district, Myanmar officials said.

India skipper Virat Kohli has been fined 25 per cent of his match fee for showing dissent against the umpire during the third day’s play of second Test against South Africa here.

“India captain Virat Kohli has been fined 25 per cent of his match fee and received one demerit point for breaching Level 1 of the ICC Code of Conduct during the third day s play in the second Test against South Africa at Centurion on Monday,” ICC said in a statement.

The incident happened in the 25th over of South Africa’s second innings on Monday when Kohli continuously complained to umpire Michael Gough about the ball being affected by a damp outfield following a rain delay, before throwing the ball into the ground in an aggressive manner.

Kohli was found to have breached Article 2.1.1 of the ICC Code of Conduct for Players and Player Support Personnel, which relates to “conduct that is contrary to the spirit of the game.”

After the day’s play, Kohli pleaded guilty to the offence and accepted the sanction proposed by Chris Broad of the Emirates Elite Panel of ICC Match Referees and, as such, there was no need for a formal hearing.

The charge was levelled by on-field umpires Michael Gough and Paul Reiffel, third umpire Richard Kettleborough and fourth umpire Allahudien Palekar.

Level 1 breaches carry a minimum penalty of an official reprimand, a maximum penalty of 50 per cent of a player’s match fee, and one or two demerit points.

A five-judge Supreme Court (SC) bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra will on Wednesday begin hearing petitions challenging the constitutional validity of Aadhaar cards, five months after the apex court ruled that privacy was a fundamental right.

Justices AK Sikri, AM Khanwilkar, DY Chandrachud and Ashok Bhushan along with the CJI will hear a clutch of petitions, the earliest one filed back in 2012, claiming that the Aadhaar violates an individual’s fundamental right to privacy.

The petitions also challenge a 2016 law enacted by Parliament that forces people to enrol for the Aadhaar scheme to access public benefits and services after the apex court in 2013 prevented the then UPA government from doing so.

The hearing comes days after a newspaper managed to gain access to the Aadhaar database by paying just Rs.500. The protests against the 12- digit unique identification number, backed by biometric data, has only intensified after that.

Following the first petition filed five years ago, the top court has dealt numerous challenges arguing that the Aadhaar was a threat to an individual’s privacy and security.

The government has already lifted the December 31 deadline for the linking of Aadhaar with bank accounts and PAN.

Earlier the deadline for the linking of Aadhaar with PAN was August 31, 2017 which was extended till December 31, 2016 and now it has been further extended without any specific deadline.

Meanwhile, the deadline for the linking of Aadhaar with mobile numbers is February 6.

(With inputs from agencies)

The rupee weakened by 3 paise to 64.07 against the US dollar in opening trade on Wednesday on some demand for the American currency from importers and banks.

Forex dealers said a weak dollar in overseas markets and early gains in stock markets capped the rupee losses.

The dollar was trading lower against Japanese yen in Asian trade today.

Yesterday, the rupee had lost 55 paise or nearly 1 per cent — its biggest single-day crash in eight months — to end at a fresh two-week low of 64.04 against the US dollar, hit by a double whammy of rising global crude prices and worsening trade deficit.

Meanwhile, the benchmark BSE Sensex recovered by 70.65 points, or 0.20 per cent, to 34,841.70 in early trade on Wednesday.

The Iranian President said on Tuesday that the US government’s initiative to create a largely Kurdish border force in northeastern Syria is aimed at undermining the country’s territorial integrity.

Hassan Rouhani made the comment during a meeting in Tehran with Syrian parliament speaker Hammouda Sabbagh, Efe reported.

“The plot that the Americans recently have in mind for Syria is against international regulations and a conspiracy (against) the territorial integrity and the security of Syria and the region,” Rouhani said, according to a statement released by his office.

The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces and Washington hope to create a force of 30,000 fighters that will be deployed along the borders of the self-proclaimed Kurdish autonomous region in Syria.

Iran’s foreign ministry labelled the US/Kurdish plan as a “clear intervention” in the internal affairs of Syria.

The initiative “makes the Syrian crisis more complicated, creates more instability and fans the flames in that country,” ministry spokesman Bahram Qasemi said.

Qasemi pointed out Iran, Russia and Turkey are pursuing a solution to the Syrian conflict through peace talks in Astana and the creation of de-escalation zones.

Russia and Turkey, along with the government in Damascus, have also criticized the US/Kurdish plan.

Iran has backed President Bashar al-Assad’s government since the beginning of the conflict in Syria, providing military advisers and militiamen for the Syrian army’s struggle against terrorists and the armed opposition.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu will on Wednesday hold a mega roadshow from Ahmedabad airport to Sabarmati Ashram in Gujarat, and later visit an entrepreneurial centre and a horticultural centre.

Both the Prime Ministers will arrive at Ahmedabad airport at around 10.15 am, from where they will travel to the Gandhi Ashram at Sabarmati in an open vehicle.

The dignitaries will receive a grand reception with over 50 stages set up along the route jointly by the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation and the Gujarat government. This will Modi’s first to his home state after the assembly elections.

The 14-km-long roadshow will be heavily guarded by security forces including Israeli snipers along the route, where almost 50,000 people are expected to be present.

A km-long periphery will be turned into a fortress for almost half of the day, where 12 teams from ‘Chetak commandos’, the Quick Response Teams, the Bomb Detection and Disposal Squad and police will be guarding the venues.

Special squads will be deployed at high-rise buildings along the route and also on the Sabarmati river in speedboats when both the dignitaries are in the Ashram.

Both the dignitaries will spend around 20 minutes at the Ashram, where they will pay a floral tribute to the Father of the Nation.

Modi and Netanyahu will also visit ‘Hridaykunj’ at the Ashram and also try their hands on the ‘Charkha’. The Prime Ministers will also visit the exhibition at the Ashram. Netanyahu will be presented a copy of Mahatma Gandhi’s autobiography, “My Experiments with Truth”.

Both the Prime Ministers will return to the airport along the same route and will fly in a chopper to the ‘I-create’ centre at Bawla, where they will address the youth. They will also have lunch at the centre along with various industrialists.

They will then fly off to the horticulture centre near Prantij around 2 pm where they will address a congregation of agricultural experts and farmers. They will head back to the airport in the evening.
(With inputs from agencies)

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath is going to host a coordination meeting between the Centre and various states and union territories to review the implementation on the ground of various central schemes for minorities welfare.

Union Minority Affairs Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said on Tuesday that the meeting will be held in Lucknow on Thursday (January 18) and would be hosted by Adityanath.

The meeting, to be presided over by Naqvi, will see participation from ministers and senior officials from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Delhi and Chandigarh.

“The meeting would discuss the status of implementation of a plethora of central schemes for minorities’ welfare and development and also the roadmap for further implementation and improvement,” Naqvi said.

The central government will be holding coordination meetings with the states to review the implementation on the ground of these central schemes.

Naqvi said that the government is mulling to open Navodaya schools in minority concentration districts to provide better education opportunities to the minorities.

However, he added that these schools would not serve exclusively to minority students only and students from other communities would also be given admission.

“The idea is to have around 30-35 per cent of students from minorities and rest from other community…There would not be any reservation for minority students,” he said.

He said the government is also working on madrasa modernisation and over the last one-and-a-half years, around 1,400 madrasas across the country have been linked with the scheme.

“We are working on the concept of ‘3T’s, that is, teacher, tiffin and toilet. We are providing teachers to the madrasas for subjects like English, Maths, Science, computer etc to link the madrasa students with mainstream education,” Naqvi said.

More such meetings will soon be held in Mumbai and Kolkata, he said.

Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal called on Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday and discussed with him issues related to sealing of Indo-Bangla Border by year-end and the publication of the first draft NRC in the state.

They deliberated on the critical aspects of border fencing and vowed to remove all bottlenecks to ensure complete sealing of India’s international border that Assam shares with Bangladesh.

The discussions, which took place at the official residence of the Union Home Minister in New Delhi, also took note of the unprecedented cooperation and support the state government had received from all sections of the society.

The meeting called for the same level of cooperation in the updation process of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in future as well.

They also discussed development of road communication along the India-Bhutan borders and development of infrastructure in the hamlets there.

Earlier in the day, Sonowal also met Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitely in the latter’s office at North Block in New Delhi and apprised him of the steps taken by the state government for the success of the forthcoming “Global Investors’ Summit” on February 3 and 4.

Vice President M.Venkaiah Naidu on Tuesday here urged Indian states to follow the example of Tamil Nadu in respect organ transplantation.

Addressing a function to felicitate surgeon Mohammed Rela of Gleneagles Global Health City for touching a milestone of 1,000 liver transplants over a seven year period, he noted Tamil Nadu is a pioneer in organ transplantation in the country.

Naidu pointed out the transformation happening in the Indian healthcare field with people from overseas coming to the country for liver transplant from the days of Indians going abroad for such a treatment.

According to State Health Secretary J.Radhakrishnan, 24 free surgeries have been done by Rela and his team under the MoU between Government Stanley Medical College Hospital and Gleneagles and Chennai has become a hub for liver transplants.

According to Health Minister C. Vijayabaskar, it was late Chief Minister J.Jayalalithaa who brought a change in the organ transplantion in the state.

He said Jayalalithaa started a corpus resulting in conduct of around 300 free transplants and supply of immune-suppresants.

Boko Haram jihadists have killed nine people in two separate attacks in northeast Nigeria, militia members and local residents said on Wednesday, underlining the persistent threat to civilians.

The first attack happened at about 11:00 am (1000 GMT) on Monday when six people collecting firewood were shot dead in Jinene village, near the border town of Ngala, in Borno state.

The second occurred in Pallam village, in the Madagali area of neighbouring Adamawa state, at about 11:30 pm, and saw the militants seize food, before burning several shops and homes.

Nigeria’s military and government maintain the insurgents are a spent force, after nearly nine years of violence that has killed at least 20,000 people and forced more than 2.6 million others from their homes.

But hit-and-run raids and suicide bomb attacks, including in and around camps for the displaced, are a constant menace, exacerbating already precarious living conditions in the impoverished remote region.

Loggers, many of whom live in the camps and are forced to collect wood in the unprotected bush to to sell, have been particularly vulnerable. Scores have been killed in recent months.

Umar Kachalla, a civilian militia leader from the town of Gamboru, near Ngala, said the latest attack was carried out by jihadists who arrived on motorcycles.

“Six people were killed by the gunmen who also abducted five girls who joined the loggers to collect firewood from the Jinene woods,” he told AFP.

The loggers were among 80,000 internally displaced people (IDPs) sheltering in a camp at Ngala, three kilometres away.

“Some of the loggers managed to escape and made it back to the camp and informed the soldiers,” he added.

The attackers made off with some 500 goats after they shot and injured two shepherds in a field near the displaced camp. The goats belonged to some of the IDPs.

Ngala resident Abubakar Yusuf, who gave similar account, said residents were afraid to leave the town for fear of Boko Haram attacks.

“They are out in the bush, moving on motorcycles and killing anyone they come across,” he said.

In August 2014, Boko Haram seized Ngala and Gamboru.

Nigerian troops retook both towns in September 2015 with the help of Chadian forces after months of fighting.

But despite the recapture, Boko Haram fighters continue to launch sporadic raids, ambushing troops and vehicles, as well as attacking and abducting farmers.

At least 31 loggers have not been seen since January 2 and are believed to have been abducted near Gamboru.

They had left the town to fetch firewood in a Boko Haram hotspot 15 kilometres away, where 10 other loggers had been killed two weeks earlier.

In September last year Boko Haram killed seven people when they fired a rocket-propelled grenade into the IDP camp.

Monday’s attack in Adamawa was the first in the state this year after a spate of raids and suicide bombings, including in November, when at least 50 people were killed at a mosque in the town of Mubi.

Maina Ularamu, a former Madagali local government chairman, said three people were killed and two others were critically injured.

Resident David Maigrai supported Ularamu’s account and added: “They burnt several shops and many homes. They also stole food.

“On their way out of the village, they ran into a group of vigilantes on patrol in Kuda village, who engaged them in a shoot-out, killing two of the attackers.”

There have been repeated attacks in and around Madagali, which borders Borno state and the militants’ Sambisa Forest stronghold.

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Tuesday said it had arrested two persons in connection with the murder of former state Minister and Janata Dal-United legislator Ramesh Singh Munda in 2008.

Residents of Jharkhand capital Ranchi, both suspects — Prafull Kumar Mahto, 27, and Jaiganesh, 37 — were arrested on Monday and have since been remanded in agency custody for five days by an NIA Special Court in Ranchi.

Munda was gunned down by Maoist guerrillas on July 9, 2008, while attending a programme at a school on Ranchi’s outskirts.

Maoist commander Kundan Pahan’s name figured in the killing. Pahan surrendered to police in May last year.

The probe was handed over to the NIA in September 2017.

An official of the counter-terror probe agency in Delhi said that the role of the two suspects had emerged vis-a-vis the murder conspiracy.

On October 9 last year, the agency had arrested former Jharkhand Minister Gopal Krishna Petre in the case, exposing the Maoist-politician nexus in Jharkhand.

Besides Petre, the NIA arrested Assistant Sub-Inspector Sheshnath Singh who was accused of providing advance information regarding Munda’s movement to the Maoists. Singh, a bodyguard of Ramesh Singh Munda, is in NIA custody till October 15.

It is the first case in which a politician has been arrested in the killing of another politician.

Petre created history by defeating the then Jharkhand Chief Minister and Jharkhand Mukti Morcha chief Shibu Soren in January 2009 by-election to the Tamar seat, which fell vacant after Munda’s murder.

After Shibu Soren lost the poll, President’s Rule was imposed in Jharkhand.

Petre was again elected the legislator in the November 2009 assembly polls and he became a Minister.