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Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Thursday (January 15) said Maharashtra has entered an era of "strange relations" where friends become enemies and enemies become friends.

Abdullah visited the state amid polling for 29 municipal corporations.

Referring to the two rival factions of the Nationalist Congress Party coming together in Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad and post-election tie-ups of BJP, Congress, and AIMIM councillors in Ambernath and Akot, he commented that the political environment had become "strange".

"There were no friends, no enemies. Friends became enemies and enemies became friends. And strange relations were formed," he said, speaking to reporters after visiting the Indian Institute of Creative Technologies (IICT) in Mumbai.

"Somewhere Congress and BJP shook hands. Somewhere BJP and AIMIM shook hands. Somewhere two parts of one party came together again. What will be the impact of all this on the results? I am also waiting impatiently," he added.

Assam will get a high-performance satellite sports centre in Guwahati soon, as the state government has partnered with a private entity for setting it up, marking a major step towards building a structured elite sports ecosystem in Assam and the North East region as a whole.

The centre will anchor high-performance initiatives across seven priority sports - athletics, archery, taekwondo, table tennis, lawn tennis, chess, and swimming - with focused emphasis on athlete identification, coaching development, and long-term performance pathways aligned with India’s Olympic ambitions, a release said on Thursday (January 15).

The state government’s Directorate of Sports and Youth Welfare has partnered with the JSW Group-founded Inspire Institute of Sport (IIS) to set up the centre.

The programmes are designed not only to identify promising athletes but also build a strong, self-sustaining coaching ecosystem within the state, the release added.

The athletics programme will begin with a structured Assam State Coaches Orientation and Development initiative, combining on-ground and hybrid learning formats to upskill district-level coaches under internationally-recognised World Athletics frameworks, supported by senior IIS experts.

This will be followed by a focused talent identification programme aimed at identifying and developing young athletic talent across the state.

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Thursday (January 15) said that land surveys using QR codes and blockchain, which will prevent record tampering, will be over by 2027.

Addressing a press conference, Naidu said a one-year programme was given to joint collectors who were assigned exclusively for the job.

"Land surveys integrated with QR codes and blockchain technology will permanently end record tampering. It will ensure that Andhra Pradesh faces no land disputes by 2027," said Naidu.

He also warned officials of strict action if there are any mistakes or if anyone tried to tamper with the land records. The CM also assured intervention to resolve complaints across the state.

India and the US are "very near" to finalising the trade agreement, and it would be announced when both sides are ready, Commerce Secretary Rajesh Agrawal said on Thursday (January 15).

The negotiating teams of both sides are discussing virtually all pending issues, he said.

"It’s very near, but we cannot put a deadline because that will happen...when both sides are ready and they feel that this is the right time to announce," he told reporters in New Delhi.

The talks between India and the US had never broken down, and both sides remained engaged, he added.

In the last week of December, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal held a virtual meeting with US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer. The December meeting between Goyal and Greer happened after the visit of a delegation led by Deputy USTR Rick Switzer on December 10 and 11.

In his arrival speech on January 12, the US Ambassador to India Sergio Gor asserted that both sides are actively engaged to firm up a trade deal.

The national capital recorded 9,211 deaths due to respiratory diseases in 2024, up from 8,801 in 2023, continuing an upward trend seen over the past few years, according to latest official data released by the Delhi government.

Common types of respiratory diseases include asthma, pneumonia, lung cancer, and tuberculosis, often causing breathing-related issues.

Circulatory diseases were found to be the top-most cause of death in 2024, followed by infectious and parasitic diseases. The overall death rate in the national capital also showed a rise.

The total number of deaths in Delhi rose to 1,39,480 in 2024, compared to 1,32,391 deaths recorded the previous year. Of these, 85,391 were males, 54,051 were females, and 38 were classified under other genders. Of these, 90,883 deaths were medically certified.

The national capital has slightly improved on Infant Mortality Rate (IMR), which was recorded at 22.4 per 1000 live births which was 23.61 in 2023. IMR is a measure of deaths of infants under one year old.

The Unnao rape survivor on Thursday (January 15) moved the Delhi High Court to bring on record more material in the Kuldeep Sengar's appeal against his conviction in the case.

In her application filed in the expelled BJP leader's appeal, she said she wanted to place before the court facts and documents to show "relevant recent developments" as well as the threat to herself and her family.

Her plea also sought a direction to further record evidence of two officials from her school in Unnao to certify her date of birth. She alleged that Sengar influenced the investigation and used forged and false documents about her age in the trial, which were now also being relied upon in appeal.

The application follows the high court's December 23, 2025, order suspending Sengar's life imprisonment, saying that he had already undergone seven years and five months under incarceration.

The suspension order was passed by a bench of Justices Subramonium Prasad and Harish Vaidyanathan Shankar, which was stayed by the Supreme Court on December 29, 2025.

Sengar kidnapped the minor and raped her in 2017. Sengar is also serving 10 years imprisonment in the custodial death case of the victim's father and has not been granted bail in that case.

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Thursday lashed out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the “redevelopment” of the Manikarnika Ghat in Varanasi and alleged that he wants to erase every historical heritage to “simply affix” his own nameplate.

“You have committed the crime of demolishing the rare ancient heritage of Manikarnika Ghat, which was described in the Gupta period and later restored by Lokmata Ahilyabai Holkar, under the pretext of renovation,” Kharge said in a post on X.

In the name of beautification and commercialisation, Prime Minister Modi has ordered “bulldozers to demolish centuries-old religious, cultural, and spiritual heritage at Manikarnika Ghat in Varanasi”, he said.

“Narendra Modi ji... You want to erase every historical heritage and simply affix your own nameplate,” Kharge said in his post.

According to Kharge, small and large temples and shrines were demolished in the name of a corridor and it is now the turn of the ancient ghats. “Is the intention behind all this again to benefit your business associates? You have handed over water, forests, and mountains to them, and now it’s the turn of our cultural heritage,” Kharge alleged.

“The people of the country have two questions for you: Couldn’t restoration, cleaning, and beautification have been done while preserving the heritage? The entire country remembers how your government, without any consultation, removed the statues of great Indian personalities, including Mahatma Gandhi and Babasaheb Ambedkar, from the Parliament complex and placed them in a corner,” Kharge said.

At the Jallianwala Bagh Memorial, the sacrifices of our freedom fighters were erased from the walls in the name of this same “renovation”, he claimed.

He asked why were the centuries-old statues at Manikarnika Ghat, which fell victim to the bulldozers, were destroyed and reduced to rubble.

“Couldn’t they have been preserved in a museum? You claimed, ‘Maa Ganga has called me’. Today, you have forgotten Ma Ganga. The ghats of Varanasi are the identity of Varanasi. Do you want to make these ghats inaccessible to the public?” Kharge said.

Millions of people come to Kashi every year in the final stages of their lives to attain salvation, Kharge said, and asked the prime minister if his “intention to betray the faith of these devotees”.

Protestors have opposed a demolition drive under the redevelopment plan of the Manikarnika Ghat and alleged damage to a century-old idol of Ahilyabai Holkar, a charge denied by the district administration.

District Magistrate Satyendra Kumar on Wednesday said artefacts had been “secured” by the culture department and would be reinstalled in their original form after the work is completed.

As of January 12, the airport handled a total of 1,09,917 passengers, comprising 55,934 arriving and 53,983 departing passengers. January 10 was recorded as the busiest day when 7,345 passengers departed and arrived at the facility, Navi Mumbai International Airport Ltd (NMIA) said.

The achievement reflects strong passenger traction and a steady ramp-up in travel demand from the region, it said. Navi Mumbai International Airport, with an initial capacity to cater to 20 million passengers, commenced commercial passenger flight services from December 25 last year.

During December 25-January 12, the airport operator said, the facility managed 734 air traffic movements (arrival and departure of aircraft), including 32 general aviation flights. It added that a total of 40,260 arriving bags and 38,774 departing bags were also processed during this period.

The airport handled 22.21 tonnes of cargo, underlining the airport's integrated approach to passenger and cargo operations from the outset, NMIAL said. In terms of connectivity, Delhi, Goa, and Bengaluru emerged as the top sectors, it added. With modern infrastructure, streamlined processes, and a focus on operational efficiency, NMIA continues to scale up services in a calibrated manner, the airport operator said.