Farmer unions protest at Delhi border points for more nearly four weeks are likely to hold a meet today to decide on the Centre's fresh offer for talks on the new farm laws. Earlier on Wednesday, farmers deferred a decision on the government's offer even as Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar expressed the hope that "unions will soon resume the dialogue".
At least two labourers working at an Ammonia plant at the Indian Farmers Fertilizer Cooperative Limited (IFFCO) plant in Prayagraj's Phulpur lost their lives while the condition of the other 14 employees is critical following an Ammonia gas leak on Tuesday night. 
British drugmaker AstraZeneca Plc said that it's Covid-19 vaccine should be effective against the new coronavirus variant and added that studies were under way to fully probe the impact of the mutation. "AZD1222 (AstraZeneca's vaccine candidate) contains the genetic material of the SARS-CoV-2 virus spike protein, and the changes to the genetic code seen in this new viral strain do not appear to change the structure of the spike protein," Reuters quoted AstraZeneca representative as saying in an email.
A 35-year-old farmer was shot dead on Tuesday evening allegedly by three bike-borne assailants outside his house over some old dispute in Uttar Pradesh's Ghaziabad district, police said.
Delhi's air quality on Wednesday plunged into the severe category with a count of 404 in the early hours. Noida is even worse with the PM 10 count at 582 and PM 2.5 count of 511, much higher than Delhi. The PM 10 count is at 435 in the severe category and is only expected to deteriorate in the coming days of the week. It will cross the 500-mark during the day and worsen in the following couple of days, going up to the 522-mark.
The seven-party Gupkar alliance led by Farooq Abdullah was ahead in the seat tally in the maiden District Development Council polls in Jammu and Kashmir by winning or leading in 112 seats out of 280 on Tuesday, followed by the BJP which emerged as the single largest party as it won 73 seats including three in the Kashmir valley for the first time. The People's Alliance for Gupkar Declaration (PAGD) has bagged 100 seats and was leading in 12 others, according to data from the union territory's election commission.
A CBI court in Thiruvananthapuram on Tuesday found a catholic priest and a nun guilty in connection with the murder of 21-year-old Sister Abhaya, whose body was found in the well of a convent in Kottayam in 1992. The judgement comes 28 years after the young nun was found dead in the well of St Pius convent, where she stayed. The verdict in this regard was pronounced by CBI special court judge J Sanal Kumar.Republic Day 2024 : As India's 75th Republic Day Parade kicked off in the national capital, a 30-member band contingent and a marching c...
