HIGHLIGHTS

These are the top stories at 9.30 pm: NATION DEL105 LD BRICS Afghan territory must not be used to carry out terror attacks against other countries: BRICS New Delhi: The territory of Afghanistan must not be used to carry out terror attacks against other countries, the five-nation influential grouping BRICS said on Thursday and strongly called for combating terrorism in all its forms and manifestations, including the cross-border movement of terrorists.

DEL85 BRICS-LD MODI BRICS has adopted a counter-terrorism action plan: PM New Delhi: The BRICS has adopted a counter-terrorism action plan, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Thursday while chairing a virtual summit of the five-nation grouping.

DEL77 MOE-2NDLD UNIVERSITY-RANKING NIRF ranking: IIT Madras best institution third year in a row; IISc Bengaluru best for research New Delhi: The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras retained the top spot among institutes all over India for the third consecutive year whereas the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) Bengaluru was the best among research institutions, according to the Ministry of Education’s National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) rankings.

DEL90 VIRUS-LD HEALTH MINISTRY 58 pc of India's adult population got least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine, 18 pc got both: Govt New Delhi: More than half of India's adult population has received at least one dose of anti-coronavirus vaccine while 18 per cent got both the shots, the Union government said on Thursday as the total number of jabs administered in the country crossed 72 crore.

DEL8 VIRUS-LD CASES COVID-19: India adds 43,263 new cases, 338 fresh fatalities New Delhi: India recorded 43,263 new coronavirus infections taking the total tally of COVID-19 cases to 3,31,39,981, while the active cases increased to 3,93,614, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Thursday.

DEL95 HR-FARMERS-3RDLD KARNAL Haryana govt ready for probe into entire Karnal episode; farm leaders too may face action: Vij Chandigarh: Haryana Home Minister Anil Vij on Thursday said his government is ready for a probe into the last month's clash between farmers and police but warned that farm leaders too could face action if they're found to be at fault.

DEL21 DEF-LD HIGHWAY-LANDING Rajnath, Gadkari inaugurate emergency landing strip for IAF planes on national highway in Barmer Barmer: Union ministers Rajnath Singh and Nitin Gadkari inaugurated an emergency landing strip at Satta-Gandhav stretch on National Highway 925 here on Thursday for Indian Air Force (IAF) planes.

DEL63 TEMPLE-AYODHYA Pink stone from Rajasthan to be used for construction of Ram temple structure in Ayodhya: Sources New Delhi: The construction of the Ram temple structure in Ayodhya will be done using Pink stone sourced from Rajasthan, and the temple campus will include a museum, research centre, 'gaushala' and a 'yagya shala', sources in the temple trust said on Thursday.

CAL5 AS-BOAT-LD HIMANTA Criminal case, high-level probe in Brahmaputra boat capsize: Himanta Jorhat (Assam): Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Thursday ordered filing of a criminal case over capsizing of a boat plying to Majuli, that claimed one life, while two persons are still missing.

BUSINESS DEL103 BIZ-IT FILINGS DEADLINE Govt extends ITR filing deadline for individuals to December 31 New Delhi: The government on Thursday extended the deadline till December 31 for filing of income tax returns by individuals for the financial year 2021, amid the coronavirus pandemic and technical glitches in the IT portal.

DEL82 BIZ-LD-RBI-DAS RBI optimistic abt 9.5% growth in FY22; will gradually move to soften inflation to 4 pc: Das Mumbai: The Reserve Bank is ''quite optimistic'' about its 9.5 per cent GDP growth estimate coming true for FY22, and will take steps to ''gradually move'' for a cool off in headline inflation to its 4 per cent target, Governor Shaktikanta Das said on Thursday.

DEL92 BIZ-LD-FORD-PLANTS Ford pulls the plug on vehicle production in India, to sell only imported models New Delhi: After nearly three decades of struggling to make a mark in India, US auto major Ford Motor Co on Thursday said it will stop vehicle production at its two plants in the country and will sell only imported vehicles going ahead as part of a restructuring exercise.

LEGAL LGD24 SC-LD AMAZON-FUTURE Future-Reliance deal: SC stays proceedings in Delhi HC; asks NCLT, CCI, SEBI not to pass final orders New Delhi: The Supreme Court Thursday stayed for four weeks all proceedings before the Delhi High Court related to implementation of Singapore International Arbitration Centre's (SIAC) EA award which restrained Future Retail Ltd from going ahead with its Rs 24,731 crore merger deal with Reliance Retail.

BOM20 MH-HC-LD-KANGANA-AKHTAR HC dismisses Kangana's plea seeking quashing of defamation case initiated on Javed Akhtar's complaint Mumbai: The Bombay High Court on Thursday dismissed a plea filed by actor Kangana Ranaut seeking the quashing of proceedings initiated against her by a local court on a criminal defamation complaint filed by lyricist Javed Akhtar. FOREIGN FGN47 BRICS-CHINA-2NDLD XI BRICS countries important force on international stage to be reckoned with: Chinese President Xi Beijing: The BRICS countries have become an important force on the international stage to be reckoned with, Chinese President Xi Jinping said on Thursday, as he called for deepening cooperation among the member states to build a closer and more results-oriented partnership to meet common challenges. By K J M Varma FGN13 UN-INDIA-AFGHAN As its immediate neighbour, India has one of the highest stakes in developments in Afghanistan: Lekhi New York: As an immediate neighbour of Afghanistan with long standing historical linkages, India has one of the highest stakes in the developments in the war-torn country, Minister of State for External Affairs Meenakashi Lekhi has said, highlighting that the USD 3 billion Indian investment in different welfare projects was aimed for the benefit of the Afghan people. By Yoshita Singh SPORTS SPO-CRI-IND-ENG-2NDLD VIRUS Now India's junior physio tests positive, Ganguly unsure about fifth Test going ahead Manchester/Kolkata: India cricket team's junior physio Yogesh Parmar has tested positive for COVID-19 and BCCI president Sourav Ganguly is unsure whether the fifth and final Test against England, scheduled from Friday, will go ahead or not.