It was a cold and foggy Saturday morning in the national capital with the minimum temperature recorded at 4.2 degree Celsius, three notches below the season’s average.

Visibility at 8.30 a.m. was 400 metres.

The Railways had to cancel 18 trains while 49 were delayed and 13 rescheduled due to fog in several parts of northern India.

Operations at the Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport here were affected due to the low visibility.

“Due to poor visibility in #fog at Delhi, Patna, Varanasi, Chandigarh and Lucknow some of our flights are affected,” Jet Airways tweeted.

While early in the morning, SpiceJet, in a tweet, said: “Due to bad weather at Delhi, all departures/arrivals and their consequential flights may get affected. All passengers are requested to cross-check their flight status before leaving for the airport.”

The sky will remain clear during the day, an India Meteorological Department official said.

The maximum temperature is likely to hover around 18 degrees Celsius.

Friday’s maximum temperature settled at 18.1 degrees Celsius, one notch above the season’s average while the minimum was recorded at recorded at 7.2 degrees Celsius, the season’s average.

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said that the ongoing investigation into alleged collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia has had no impact on his work with overseas counterparts, the media reported.

“It has had no impact,” Tillerson told CNN in an interview on Friday. “I’ll say that it’s had none.”

Tillerson’s statement contradicts President Donald Trump, who told The New York Times last month that the investigation “makes the country look very bad, and it puts the country in a very bad position”.

“It never comes up in our conversations or in my bilats or my dialogues with world leaders elsewhere.

“The domestic issues around the Russia involvement in our elections are not part of our dialogue elsewhere… I think the rest of the world recognises it is a domestic issue, it’s an important one.”

During the interview, Tillerson discussed the challenges of the US’ relationship with Russia, now intractably complicated by the ongoing investigations by Special Counsel Robert Mueller and by multiple congressional committees.

“It has been a difficult year with Russia,” Tillerson told CNN.

“I’ve said clearly, the president stated clearly, our two nations should have a more productive relationship. Today it’s very strained for all reasons that I think the American people well understand.”

Despite that, Tillerson said, “we have maintained a constant engagement with Russia, very active engagement”.

The Secretary of State said that when he does talk to the Russians, he raises the issue of Moscow’s interference in the 2016 election campaign, but “it brings them no benefits”.

Asked if he thinks Russia will meddle again in November’s midterm elections, the Tillerson told CNN that there was no evidence of that yet.

“I hope they don’t… But we do know that Russia has involved themselves in other (European) elections.”

As former Bihar Chief Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav braces for the fodder scam verdict, likely to be delivered in the afternoon, the RJD will on Saturday hold a crucial meeting to chalk out a plan for the path ahead in the absence of party patriarch.

The special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court hearing the fodder scam case is likely to announce the quantum f punishment to Lalu at 2 pm on Saturday via video conferencing.

Hearing over quantum of sentence for five accused, including Lalu Prasad Yadav, was completed at Ranchi special CBI court earlier on Friday.

On Friday, Lalu had moved an application before the court on health grounds and sought minimum punishment in the case.

In a plea filed in the court of Justice Shivpal Singh, Lalu’s lawyer has pleaded to the court have mercy on his client who is a heart patient and also has diabetes.

The plea further said that the Birsa Munda jail in Ranchi, where Lalu is lodged at present doesn’t have clean drinking water which could be harmful to Lalu’s health.

Moreover, there’s no provision for any medical care in case of an emergency, the court was told.

Therefore, the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief should be let off with minimum punishment.

The request comes a day after Lalu told the court that he felt very cold in the jail to which the judge replied play ‘tabla’.

Interestingly, the judge on Thursday revealed that he was getting phone calls from “Lalu’s men” about the case indicating that he was being threatened.

On 2 January, the former Bihar CM’s lawyer had urged the court for minimum punishment owing to the RJD chief’s age.

Lalu is likely to get three to seven years’ punishment, as per reports. If he is awarded three years’ sentence, he will be able to get bail soon.

The fodder scam relates to fraudulent withdrawal of Rs. 89.27 lakh from Deoghar treasury 21 years ago.

Meanwhile, top party leaders are expected to attend RJD’s “emergency meeting” under the leadership of former Bihar Chief Minister Rabri Devi to plan the way forward in the absence of Lalu.

The United Nations has approved $50 million to meet the humanitarian needs in Yemen, said a UN spokesman on Friday.

The money is the largest ever allocation by the Central Emergency Response Fund, Xinhua quoted Farhan Haq as saying.

UN undersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief coordinator, Mark Lowcock, who approved the allocation on Friday, said there must be reduction both in fighting on the ground and airstrikes, which have greatly intensified in recent weeks.

He also stressed the need to have all ports open without interruption so that humanitarian supplies can be shipped into Yemen.

Lowcock said he remained deeply concerned by the deterioration in the humanitarian situation in the country although there has been progress in the past month in opening Yemen’s critical Red Sea ports to commercial fuel and food shipments, as well as the resumption of humanitarian shipments and flights.

Lowcock stressed that the Yemeni people need an end to the conflict so that they can begin to rebuild their lives.

For this to happen, the parties to the conflict must cease hostilities and engage meaningfully with the United Nations to achieve a lasting political settlement.

The Saudi-led military coalition, which is launching airstrikes against Houthi rebels in Yemen, sealed off Yemen after Saudi Arabia intercepted a ballistic missile launched by Houthi rebels toward the Saudi capital city of Riyadh in early November.

The blockade was later partially lifted.

Reality TV star Khloe Kardashian, who is expecting her first child with basketball player Tristan Thompson, says she has been getting a lot of pregnancy counselling from her sisters Kim and Kourtney Kardashian.

Khloe, who is currently six months pregnant, said besides her fans, she also kept her family in dark regarding the big news, reports dailymail.co.uk.

“I was nauseous, not feeling well and then he had to leave the country and I took a pregnancy test. I was like screaming. It’s so weird and surreal,” Khloe said on TV show “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” on Thursday.

She shared that Kim and Kourtney have been giving her a lot of pregnancy advice, though “most of it is unwanted”.

Khloe said she and Thompson “knew for a few weeks” that she was pregnant, but she didn’t share the news with her family.

“He was out of the country and we wanted to tell everyone together. It’s actually all caught on ‘Keeping Up With The Kardashian’ which I’m excited about. They get to see all the stuff I was going through without them knowing,” she said.

An ex-Governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had pointed to the risks in the practice of political parties promising loan waivers during poll campaigns to the Election Commission, Parliament was informed on Friday.

In a written reply submitted to the Lok Sabha during Question Hour, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said that as a consequence of such poll promises, loan beneficiaries stopped making payments due even if they were in a financial position to do so.

While addressing a conference organised by NABARD and SIDBI, the former Governor in question had also said that loan waivers and subsidies “distort the credit discipline,” he added.

The Minister made the statement, however, without revealing the name of the former Governor concerned.

He said the Governor had written to the Chief Election Commissioner noting “the risk of promising loan waivers by political parties at election time, as beneficiaries stop making payment even if they are financially in a position to make them and that this affects the banking sector as well as the state finances.”

Last year, the current RBI Governor Urjit Patel had spoken of the damaging effects of farm loan waivers on the budgets of state governments.

As the Indian economy is forecast to grow at its slowest in four years this fiscal (2017-18), Congress chief Rahul Gandhi on Saturday hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and said that their GDP (Gross Divisive Politics) was affecting the country’s GDP (Gross Domestic Product).

In a tweet, the Gandhi scion accused Modi and Jaitley of slowing down the economy and said new investments, bank credit growth, job creation, agriculture growth were all down while fiscal deficit and stalled projects were rising.

“FM Jaitley’s genius combines with Mr Modi’s Gross Divisive Politics (GDP),” tweeted the Congress president.

https://x.com/OfficeOfRG/status/949479733850337280

The reaction comes in the wake of the first advance estimates released by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) on Friday predicting the country’s GDP to grow at 6.5 per cent this fiscal (2017-18) as compared to 7.1 per cent in 2016-17.

Gross value added (GVA) growth is forecast at 6.1 per cent against 6.6 per cent last year.

In the first half, GDP growth was only 6 per cent because of the disruption caused by the goods and services tax (GST) and the lingering impact of demonetisation.

The lower growth will put immense pressure on Jaitley who will be presenting the budget on February 1 even as he allocates more funds for key stakeholders ahead of elections next year.

Meanwhile, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is unlikely to cut rates, with retail inflation climbing to a 15-month high of 4.88 per cent in November.

However, NITI Aayog vice chairman Rajiv Kumar has predicted that the GDP growth will become robust in FY 2019.

(With inputs from agencies)

Following is the scorecard of Day 1 of the first cricket Test between India and South Africa at Newlands here on Friday.

South Africa (1st Innings):
Dean Elgar c Saha b Bhuvneshwar 0
Aiden Markram lbw b Bhuvneshwar 5
Hashim Amla c Saha b Bhuvneshwar 3
AB de Villiers b Bumrah 65
Faf du Plessis c Saha b Hardik Pandya 62
Quinton de Kock c Saha b Bhuvneshwar 43
Vernon Philander b Shami 23
Keshav Maharaj run out (Ashwin) 35
Kagiso Rabada c Saha b Ashwin 26
Dale Steyn not out 16
Morne Morkel lbw b Ashwin 2
Extras (b 2, lb 3, w 0, nb 1, p 0) 6
Total (all out, in 73.1 Ov) 286

Fall of Wickets: 0-1 (Dean Elgar, 0.3), 7-2 (Aiden Markram, 2.6), 12-3 (Hashim Amla, 4.5), 126-4 (AB de Villiers, 32.6), 142-5 (Faf du Plessis, 35.5), 202-6 (Quinton de Kock, 44.5), 221-7 (Vernon Philander, 50.2), 258-8 (Keshav Maharaj, 62.2), 280-9 (Kagiso Rabada, 69.3), 286-10 (Morne Morkel, 73.1)

Bowling: Bhuvneshwar Kumar 19-4-87-4, Mohammed Shami 16-6-47-1, Jasprit Bumrah 19-1-73-1, Hardik Pandya 12-1-53-1, Ravichandran Ashwin 7.1-1-21-2

India 1st Innings:
Murali Vijay c Elgar b Philander 1
Shikhar Dhawan c & b Steyn 16
Cheteshwar Pujara batting 5
Virat Kohli c de Kock b Morne Morkel 5
Rohit Sharma batting 0
Extras (b 0, lb 1, w 0, nb 0, p 0) 1
Total (in 11 Ov) 28 for 3

Fall of Wickets: 16-1 (Murali Vijay, 4.4), 18-2 (Shikhar Dhawan, 5.2), 27-3 (Virat Kohli, 8.1)

Bowling: Vernon Philander 4-1-13-1, Dale Steyn 4-1-13-1, Morne Morkel 2-2-0-1, Kagiso Rabada 1-0-1-0.

The unrest in Iran does not constitute a threat to international peace and security, said Francois Delattre, the French ambassador to the United Nations, on Friday.

“However worrying the events of the last few days in Iran may be, they do not constitute, per se, a threat to international peace and security. We must react appropriately to what is going on,” Xinhua quoted Delattre as saying.

“In other words, we must ensure that we remain watchful and we give proper vigilance to what is happening … we must be aware of any attempts to exploit the crisis for personal ends.”

“Change in Iran will not come from without, it will come from the Iranian people themselves.”

It’s up to the Iranians and to the Iranians alone to pursue the path of peaceful dialogue, a dialogue based on full respect for the fundamental rights and freedoms of the Iranian people, he added.

The French envoy stressed the need to uphold an international agreement on Iran’s nuclear program. “We must commit fully to upholding the nuclear agreement with Iran … and to promoting its implementation.”

The July 2015 agreement between Iran and six world powers — Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the US — is one of the cornerstones of stability of the region of the Middle East as a whole, he said.

To lose this hard-won ground would be a major setback not just for the region, but also for the entire international community, and for the non-proliferation regime, he said.

“The consequences and fallout might be very heavy.”

He called for “realistic and robust dialogue” with Iran concerning Tehran’s ballistic missile activities.

He also asked countries to engage in frank and open discussions with Iran “so that with Tehran we can address the concerns pertaining to Iran’s influence over the Middle East and its role in regional crises.”

Despite sometimes deep divisions, dialogue with Iran is essential, said Delattre.

Swedish deputy permanent representative to the United Nations, Irina Schoulgin Nyoni, also stressed the importance of retaining the Iran nuclear deal and of engaging in dialogue with Iran.

The unrest in Iran must be separated from the nuclear deal, she told the Security Council.

A new UN study has revealed that over 90 per cent of the recent Rohingya refugee arrivals in Bangladesh are under-nourished despite receiving emergency food assistance.

The World Food Programme (WFP) Rohingya Emergency Vulnerability Assessment and food security sector partners study in November and December 2017 raised concerns over limited access to a well diversified and balanced diet, deputy UN spokesman Farhan Haq announced on Friday.

As a result, he said, the WFP will scale up its e-voucher programmes in 2018 to reach new arrivals in Cox’s Bazar district, reports Xinhua news agency.

Some 90,000 people are enrolled in WFP’s e-voucher programmes where they receive a monthly amount on a pre-paid debit card which can be used in allocated shops to buy 19 different foods, including rice, lentils, fresh vegetables, eggs and dry fish, Haq said.

The e-programmes contrast with WFP’s food distribution program for new arrivals which include rice, vegetable oil and lentils. It’s an emergency ration designed to provide basic calories, but lacking in dietary diversity, the spokesman said.

The study also recommends the scaling up of a livelihood support programme within host communities prioritising especially women who have no income, he said, adding that the WFP is providing food and food vouchers to more than 700,000 refugees.

More than 650,000 Rohingyas have fled Myanmar for Bangladesh since August 25, 2017, when rebel Rohingya militia launched deadly attacks against security forces in Myanmar’s Rakhine state.

The action allegedly triggered retaliation attacks by Myanmar vigilantes and government troops, forcing Rohingyas to flee into Bangladesh. There already were about 300,000 Rohingyas who had fled earlier into the neighbouring country.

The US government is asking the Congress for nearly $18 billion in a decade to expand the current US border wall with Mexico to nearly 1,000 miles (1,600 km), it was revealed on Friday.

The current barrier along the US-Mexico border is 654 miles (1,000 km) long. The new request, if granted, will bring more than 700 miles (1,140 km) of new and replacement barriers altogether over 10 years, reports Xinhua.

The plans are laid out in a document prepared by the Department of Homeland Security for a group of senators who asked the administration to detail its request for border security, a Wall Street Journal report said.

The non-wall requests include $5.7 billion over five years for towers, surveillance equipment, unmanned aerial vehicles and other technology; $1 billion over five years for road construction and maintenance, and $8.5 billion over seven years for 5,000 new Border Patrol agents and other personnel.

The document, which details only the border-security elements, is not meant to be a complete outline of the Donald Trump administration’s requests, which also involve changes to the legal immigration system and other enforcement measures.

The Trump administration has already requested $1.6 billion for new barrier in Texas and San Diego for the current fiscal year. Congress has not passed the spending bills for 2018, and wall funding is one of the hang-ups.

The White House has demanded that border security be included in the legislation.

An engineer of the Border Roads Organization (BRO) was killed and eight others were reported missing after an avalanche hit Jammu and Kashmir’s Kupwara district, police said on Saturday.

On Friday, the avalanche struck a cab at Sadhna Top in Tangdhar area.

Search teams rescued a child from the vehicle while six other passengers were missing.

A police official said that three BRO personnel were also in the area when the avalanche struck.

“Engineer Mangla Prasad Singh was killed. His body has been recovered while rescue operation to locate the eight missing people continued,” the official added.

Filmmaker Karan Johar says that there should not be a divide between the small and the big screen as television is a stronger medium than cinema.

Karan has been a part of the small screen with shows like “Jhalak Dikhla Jaa” and “India’s Got Talent” and will be now be seen co-judging a reality show titled “India’s Next Superstars” on Star Plus.

“I don’t think you should make a divide between television and film. Today as we know it television is a stronger medium than films, Karan told reporters in a group interaction on Friday.

The filmmaker, 45, says the digital platform and television has become huge.

“Today it reached out to at least nine times the audience… If three million people watch cinema and 27 million people watch television. So what is a bigger platform? Today digital and television is going to be huge. I respect those who earn name and money from television,” he added.

Karan will be seen in “India’s Next Superstars” along with director Rohit Shetty. The show will air from January 13.

Unfazed by the official data on Friday showing that the Indian economy will grow at a slower pace compared to the last fiscal, NITI Aayog Vice Chairman Rajiv Kumar has said the GDP growth will become more robust in 2018-19.

Kumar’s remarks came after Chief Statistician T.C.A. Anant announced that Indian economy was expected to grow at a slower 6.5 per cent in 2017-18 compared to the 7.1 per cent in 2016-17.

Reacting on the growth estimates, Kumar said the GDP growth in the second half of 2017-18 had risen to seven per cent bringing the annual growth rate to 6.5 per cent.

According to a statement issued by the NITI Aayog, Kumar pointed out that economic activity had been picking up over the last three quarters and can be expected to strengthen in the coming period “with the manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) now reading at a five-year high of 54 per cent, and FMCG demand picking up briskly”.

“Hence the GDP growth will become more robust in 2018-19.”

He added that the estimates assume significance in the wake of the fact that the higher second half growth had come despite a weaning of public sector expenditures which had peaked in 2016-17 on account of the implementation of the Seventh Pay Commission recommendations.

Flying embers from illegal hookah being served at Mojo’s Bistro was the cause of the massive fire in the Kamala Mills compound that claimed 14 lives on December 29, as per the preliminary investigation report by the Mumbai fire brigade.

The fire probably started at Mojo’s and spread to the adjacent rooftop pub “1 Above”, the report indicates. Most of the victims were trapped in the toilet of the pub and died of suffocation, the police had said earlier.

“It was revealed from most of the eye witnesses that hookah was served at Mojo’s restaurant at the time of fire…

There is every possibility that during removal of lighted charcoal from the segree (stove) and or transferring it into Hookah or during the fanning of the charcoal the flying burning embers came in contact with the combustible curtains/ decorative material nearby and started the fire,” the report stated.

The report has clarified that none of the two restaurants — Mojo’s and 1 Above — had permissions to serve liquor and hookah but still they served them.

Although there was an emergency exit, the pub staff seemed to be unaware of it, it said.

Beer kegs near the exit path also blocked the escape and the kegs eventually exploded and escalated the fire, the report said.

Use of bamboo and cloth to make the roof led to the quick spreading of the fire, while wind velocity and direction were the major contributors too, it said.

Mumbai municipal commissioner Ajoy Mehta said the action against illegal alterations and constructions at commercial establishments will continue.

“We will start taking action across the city against all commercial restaurants and pubs and those who have illegal alterations. They have respite for 15 days so that they have time to remove the illegal constructions on their own without damaging their reputation,” he said.

With the Rajya Sabha adjourned sine die on Friday, the controversial triple talaq bill was pushed to the budget session that begins on January 29.

Government sources ruled out any possibility of an ordinance on the bill, stuck in the Rajya Sabha.

The bill, already cleared by the Lok Sabha, could not be passed in the upper house due to a deadlock over opposition’s demand seeking its reference to a Select Committee for close scrutiny.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar said he hoped that the Congress and other opposition parties would agree on passing the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights in Marriage) Bill, 2017. The legislation proposes to criminalise instant triple talaq and suggests up to three years in jail as punishment for a Muslim husband who divorces his wife by uttering “talaq” thrice.

Asked about a possibility of bringing in an ordinance till the bill cleared, Ananth Kumar parried a direct reply and said: “The dates for the budget session have already been announced.

“We hope the Congress will understand the public opinion on the issue, reconsider their stand and pass it in the budget session. There is anger among people on this issue.”

The minister slammed the Congress for stalling the bill. He said they were against the empowerment of Muslim women in India.

He said the government was committed to passing the legislation, also opposed by various Muslim groups.

“The intention of the (Narendra) Modi government is clear. We want equality and respect for the Muslim women, and the Congress is opposing it. They have just shown their double standard.

Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Friday hit out at the Narendra Modi government for not bringing in the Jan Lokpal, and asked how long will it lie.

“Beet gaye chaar saal, Nahi aaya Lokpal, Janta puche ek sawaal, Kabtak bajaoge jhuti taal (Four years have passed, Lokpal has not been implemented, People ask one question, till when will you play the rhythm of lies).,” said Gandhi on Twitter in a poetic dig at the government.

“Are the ‘defenders of democracy’ and ‘harbingers of accountability’ listening? #FindingLokpal,” he added attaching a December 18, 2013 tweet of then Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, saying: “Am very proud of the positive and proactive role played by BJP MPs under the leadership of @SushmaSwarajbjp and @Arunjaitley in passing Lokpal Bill.”

बीत गए चार साल
नहीं आया लोकपाल
जनता पूछे एक सवाल
कब तक बजाओगे ‘झूठी ताल’?

Are the ‘defenders of democracy’ & ‘harbingers of accountability’ listening?#FindingLokpal pic.x.com/v9Kc2Io3Ur

— Office of RG (@OfficeOfRG) January 5, 2018