Cape Town: India’s fast bowler Avesh Khan has been drafted into the Test squad for the upcoming match against South Africa in Cape Town. The second Test is scheduled to commence on January 3, and Avesh Khan’s inclusion follows the absence of Mohammed Shami, who was ruled out due to fitness concerns.

Avesh Khan, who marked his ODI and T20I debuts last year, showcased his prowess during the ODI series in South Africa this month, securing six wickets in three matches. The Madhya Pradesh pacer has a commendable record in first-class cricket, boasting 149 wickets in 38 matches, including seven five-wicket hauls.

India faced a setback in the first Test in Centurion, losing by an innings. Following Shami’s unavailability, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) opted for Avesh Khan as the replacement, hoping to strengthen the bowling unit for the upcoming fixture.

New Delhi : A Delhi court on Friday extended by one day the ED custody of three vivo-India executives in connection with a money laundering case against the Chinese smartphone maker and others.

The court extended the custody of Interim CEO of vivo-India Hong Xuquan alias Terry, Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Harinder Dahiya and consultant Hemant Munjal on an application moved by the Enforcement Directorate (ED).

The ED had sought further custody of the accused for four days but the court granted only one more day for their custodial interrogation.

The accused were produced before the court on expiry of their six-day ED custody.

The accused were taken into custody again under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

The federal agency had earlier arrested four people — mobile company Lava International’s MD Hari Om Rai, Chinese national Guangwen alias Andrew Kuang, and chartered accountants Nitin Garg and Rajan Malik — in the case.

They are in judicial custody at present.

The ED had filed a charge-sheet against these four in a special PMLA court in Delhi. The court recently took cognisance of the charge-sheet.

New Delhi: Congress’s National Alliance Committee, set up to facilitate seat-sharing talks with allies, will hold meetings with party leaders from the states here on Friday and Saturday, and the negotiations with the allies will formally start next week after the panel submits a report to party chief Mallikarjun Kharge.

With the clock ticking for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls and preparations taking shape for the party’s “Bharat Nyay Yatra”, the Congress, which sounded its poll bugle at a rally in Nagpur on Thursday, is set to hold a series of high-level meetings.

According to sources, Kharge held an interaction with the Congress general secretaries in-charge of all states after the rally at Nagpur on Thursday evening and discussed the upcoming polls and organisational issues.

The five-member National Alliance Committee of the Congress is scheduled to hold meetings on Friday and Saturday with leaders from the states where the party is likely to contest the general election in an alliance with other INDIA bloc constituents.

The committee will then submit a report to the party president, providing details for the negotiation, including listing out the seats where the Congress is in a strong position.

The sources added that while in some states, talks with the allies have already started at the local level, the negotiations will formally start next week, after the report is presented. They also said while the equations with other parties may differ in states, the final call on the alliance will be taken from a “national perspective”.

The committee formed last week is headed by senior Congress leader Mukul Wasnik and has Ashok Gehlot, Bhupesh Baghel, Salman Khurshid and Mohan Prakash as its members.

The first meeting of the party’s manifesto committee for the general election, headed by former Union minister P Chidambaran, is scheduled to be held on January 4.

Kharge, along with former party chief Rahul Gandhi and general secretary K C Venugopal, held a series of meetings with state Congress chiefs and other leaders over the last few days. While broad discussions were held on forming alliances, the meetings largely focused on organisational matters and the strategy for the Lok Sabha polls.

Another meeting will be held on January 4 with party leaders, including Congress chiefs and legislative party leaders from the states through which the “Bharat Nyay Yatra” will pass. The final route of the march will be decided at the meeting.

The detailed route of the yatra will be announced on January 8 while a theme song will be released on January 12.

The sources said the yatris will cover around 120 kilometres a day, including around five to seven km on foot.

A number of public meetings and interactive sessions with locals and marginalised groups have been planned during the yatra.

The “Bharat Nyay Yatra” led by Gandhi will start from Manipur in the east on January 14 and conclude in Mumbai in western India in March. It will cover 14 states and 85 districts.

The march will traverse through Manipur, Nagaland, Assam, Meghalaya, West Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Maharashtra.

Leaders from other INDIA bloc parties are also expected to join the yatra, though the plans are yet to be finalised.

The Mangaluru International Airport (MIA) conducted the annual bomb threat mock exercise on its premises on Friday.

The exercise was conducted in the staff parking lot of the airport to test the airport’s security response system and coordination with diverse stakeholders and agencies in time of crises. The hour-long drill started at 1 pm, involving the airport’s diverse stakeholders including airlines, CISF and local police, a release from the MIA said here.

The mock exercise created a scenario where an unidentified bag was found abandoned in the staff parking lot. Independent observers deployed at various critical areas of the exercise noted the response time of stakeholders to the emergency.

The airport security group (ASG) of CISF, which is tasked with maintaining the security of the airport, neutralized the threat in a professional manner with its bomb detection and disposal squad working with clockwork precision.

“The aim of the exercise was to assess the alertness, efficiency, and preparedness of the airport staff. Simulated exercise is also part of efforts to improve safety measures. We were able to successfully conduct the exercise without any inconvenience to the passengers and airport operations,” the release said.

The exercise is also reaffirmation of the airport’s commitment to its Vision 2025, with the aim of making the public asset as the safest, secure, customer centric and eco-friendly airport, it said.

Thane: A 36-year-old man detained in connection with a cheating case allegedly attempted suicide at a police station in Maharashtra’s Thane district, police said on Friday.

The incident took place at Narpoli police station in Bhiwandi on Thursday when the man identified as Anil Murarilal Gupta was detained for his involvement in a cheating case, inspector Pramod Kumbhar said.

The Bandra police nabbed Gupta, a resident of Narpoli, and took him to the local police station to complete formalities, he said.

Gupta went to the washroom and consumed a poisonous substance. He was immediately administered first aid, the official said.

The accused feared arrest in connection with the offences of cheating registered against him with the Bandra and Dindoshi police stations, he said, adding that a case under section 309 (attempted suicide) of the Indian Penal Code has been registered.

Bengaluru: Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Friday appointed senior Congress MLAs B R Patil and Basavaraj Rayareddy, who have been critical about the government’s functioning in the past, as his advisor and economic advisor respectively, with cabinet ranking, in a move that is said to be aimed at quelling discontent within the ruling party.

He also appointed another veteran Congress MLA R V Deshpande as Chairperson of the Administrative Reforms Commission, with cabinet ranking.

While Patil is an MLA from Aland constituency, Rayareddy and Deshpande — both former ministers — represent Yelburga and Haliyal segments respectively. All three appointments have been made with immediate effect.

According to Congress sources, with these appointments Siddaramaiah has surely tried to pacify the MLAs, but they too with their long and vast experience will certainly be of value to the chief minister in managing issues and situations that may arise.

All the three senior legislators were ministerial aspirants and were said to be upset about being left out of the cabinet.

Patil and Rayareddy have been openly critical about the functioning of the government and certain ministers, and had even complained to the chief minister, expressing their displeasure.

These appointments have come even as the Congress is making preparations to appoint party legislators and workers to key positions in various state-run boards and corporations.

New Delhi: A total of 162 cases of COVID-19 sub-variant JN.1 have been detected in the country, with Kerala reporting the highest number of 83, followed by Gujarat 34, according to the INSACOG’s data updated on Friday.

Several states have been reporting an uptick in the number of Covid cases over the last few weeks and nine states and Union territories have so far detected the presence of the JN.1 sub-variant of the virus.

These states are — Kerala (83), Gujarat (34), Goa (18), Karnataka (eight), Maharashtra (seven), Rajasthan (five), Tamil Nadu (four), Telangana (two) and Delhi (one), according to the Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomics Consortium (INSACOG).

The INSACOG’s data showed 145 Covid cases recorded in the country in December had the presence of JN.1, while 17 such cases were detected in November.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has classified JN.1 as a separate “variant of interest” given its rapidly-increasing spread, but said it poses a “low” global public health risk.

The JN.1 sub-variant of the coronavirus was previously classified as a variant of interest (VOI) as part of the BA.2.86 sub-lineages, the parent lineage that is classified as a VOI, the world body said.

However, in recent weeks, JN.1 cases continued to be reported from multiple countries and its prevalence has rapidly increased globally.

The Centre has asked the states and Union territories to maintain a constant vigil amid an uptick in the number of Covid cases and the detection of the JN.1 sub-variant in the country.

Jaipur: A 15-year-old girl was allegedly gang-raped in the Ajmer district on Wednesday, police said. After threats by the accused, the victim consumed a poisonous substance, they said.

SHO Sunil Tada said that the girl’s father lodged a case against two accused on Thursday. Both the accused allegedly took the minor to a deserted place and raped her.

“After the incident, the girl consumed poison and when her health deteriorated, her family members got her admitted to a hospital. She was later discharged,” he said.

Deputy Superintendent of Police (Ajmer Rural) Manish Badgujar, who is investigating the case, said that the victim’s medical examination has been done and the matter is being investigated further.

Ayodhya: Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to visit Ayodhya on Saturday during which he will inaugurate a redeveloped station and a newly-built airport in the temple town.

He is also expected to lay the foundation stones for a slew of development projects in Uttar Pradesh.

To welcome the prime minister, the holy city has been decked up with flowers, murals and thematic ornamental columns amid heavy security deployment. Huge posters with images of Modi have been put up at prominent locations here, while cut-outs of Lord Ram have been installed outside the redeveloped railway station.

Elaborate security arrangements have been made along the Ram Path to the Ayodhya airport, located about 15 km from the main city.

Devotional songs dedicated to Lord Ram played out on the streets here on Saturday morning while ringing of bells and holy chants at several temples filled the air.

“The prime minister is expected to reach Ayodhya airport around 10.45 am. After landing at the airport, he will head to the Ayodhya railway station where he will inaugurate the redeveloped railway station. He will then return to the airport, inaugurate the newly-bult airport and subsequently address a ‘jan sabha’ (public rally),” Gaurav Dayal, Divisional Commissioner of Ayodhya

About 1.5 lakh people are expected to assemble for the rally that will last nearly an hour, after which the prime minister will depart from Ayodhya, he added.

In a statement on Friday, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s office said during Modi’s visit, more than 1,400 performers will present folk art and cultural programmes in a total of 40 stages set up along the route from the airport to the railway station.

The prime minister would hold a roadshow while travelling from the airport to the railway station and acknowledge the greetings of the people of Ayodhya, sources had earlier said.

He is expected to spend about three hours here.

At around 11.15 am, Modi will inaugurate the redeveloped Ayodhya railway station and flag off new Amrit Bharat trains and Vande Bharat trains, the PMO said in a statement on Thursday, adding, he will also dedicate several other railway projects to the nation.

At around 12.15 pm, the prime minister will inaugurate the newly-built Ayodhya airport. He would later participate in a public programme where he would inaugurate and lay the foundation stones of multiple development projects worth more than Rs 15,700 crore in the state, the statement said.

“The phase-1 of the state-of-the-art airport has been developed at a cost of more than Rs 1,450 crore. The airport’s terminal building will have an area of 6,500 square metres, equipped to serve about 10 lakh passengers annually,” it said.

The interiors of the terminal building have been decorated with local art, paintings and murals depicting the life of Lord Ram.

This visit by the prime minister comes just ahead of the ‘pran pratishtha’ or consecration ceremony of the Ram temple here.

A grand Ram temple is currently under construction here, with the consecration ceremony to be held on January 22, which will be attended by the prime minister.

Agartala : Tripura Chief Minister Manik Saha has requested Railways Minister Ashwani Vaishnaw to provide a special train from Agartala to Ayodhya for the pilgrims of the state to witness the inauguration of Ram temple.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to inaugurate the newly built Ram Temple in Ayodhya on January 22.

In a letter to the railways minister, Saha said a large number of devotees from the state is eager to participate and witness the significant event.

He mentioned that approximately 2,000 devotees from the state plan to join the auspicious occasion.

Saha requested Vaishnaw to direct the railways to run a special train from Agartala to Ayodhya on January 20 and a return train on January 23. He said pilgrims would bear the cost of the fare themselves.

The inauguration of Ayodhya Ram Mandir holds immense cultural and religious significance for millions of Indians, Saha emphasized.

He added that this momentous occasion symbolises unity, harmony, and the rich cultural heritage of the nation.