GOVT TO TAKE 15 FOREIGN ENVOYS MINUS EU ON TWO-DAY VISIT TO J&K TODAY Five months after revoking Jammu and Kashmir's special status and bifurcating the state into two Union territories, the government will take a group of 15 foreign envoys to Srinagar on Thursday, for a two-day visit to review the ground situation. However, the delegation will not comprise European Union envoys, who will be taken later, as per reports. According to government sources, EU envoys wanted to visit J&K as a group. It was not possible to accommodate all of them due to restrictions on numbers, and the plan to keep the group broad-based. "We wanted to take a global group of envoys to J&K with only some EU ambassadors; not all EU envoys were asked to join," said a government source. Some EU ambassadors conveyed that the visit was taking place at too "short a notice to seek instructions from headquarters", sources said. "It was, therefore, decided that a group of EU ambassadors will undertake a trip to J&K at a later date," said the source. Stressing that the EU envoys have welcomed this initiative by the government, sources said any suggestion that they were not part of the group visiting J&K due to certain restrictions in the programme were "unfounded and mischievous". But diplomatic sources said the EU ambassadors wanted more access. Explaining the rationale for the trip, government sources said they had been receiving requests from some envoys based in Delhi. "Our consistent position has been that we may consider the request only after analysing the security situation and checking the situation on the ground with the J&K administration. Accordingly, a group of around 15 envoys based in Delhi are being taken to the UT of J&K on January 9-10 to see first-hand the efforts being made by the government to restore normalcy," the source said. In October, in the first visit by a foreign delegation after the government's decision on J&K, a team of 23 MEPs (Members of European Parliament) - many from far-right parties - went to Kashmir on a two-day trip. HCs MAY GIVE DIFFERENT ORDERS, SO CALL ALL ANTI-CAA PETITIONS, GOVT TELLS SC The Supreme Court will hear on January 10 a plea by the Centre seeking transfer of petitions challenging the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 pending before various High Courts to the top court. Appearing for the Centre, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta told a bench of Chief Justice of India S A Bobde and Justices B R Gavai and Surya Kant that there was a possibility that High Courts may give different orders which will create confusion. The bench said the court was of the prima facie view that the High Courts should also look into the matter and the Supreme Court could look at it in case of a conflict. Mehta pointed out that there were already about 60 petitions challenging the Act pending before the Supreme Court. To this, the bench said the High Courts dealing with the matter will also give it the advantage of having their views on the matter. Mehta said the Karnataka High Court will take up a petition on CAA on January 9. On December 18, the Supreme Court decided to hear petitions challenging the Act and issued notices. The court refused to stay the operation of the Act and set January 22 as the hearing date. Issuing notice, it also orally instructed Attorney General K K Venugopal to ask the government to publicise the provisions of the Act through the media to remove any confusion over it. NORTHERN ARMY COMMANDER ON CHINA VISIT In a step towards maintaining peace in the region, Northern Army Commander Lieutenant General Ranbir Singh is on a five-day visit to China. This is the second time the Northern Army Commander of the Indian Army has visited China, the last one being in 2015. Singh is one of the senior-most officers of the Indian Army. The Army said in a statement that Singh "is on a strategically significant five-day visit" and is "leading a high-level military delegation which will hold talks with top Generals of the People's Liberation Army". The delegation, Army said, will also "visit vital military and civil establishments in Beijing, Chengdu, Urumqi and Shanghai to exchange views on measures for furthering peace and tranquillity." Further, the Army said the visit will also "serve as a milestone by cementing the mutual ties between the two countries" and will "achieve the twin aims of high-level military cooperation and stabilising the sensitive borders of both the countries". SESSION FROM JAN 31; UNION BUDGET ON FEB 1 The Budget Session of Parliament will be held in two phases starting January 31 until April 3, with the first full Budget of the BJP led NDA-II to be presented on February 1. The first phase of the Budget session will be from January 31 to February 11. After a brief interval, the session will resume from March 2 to April 3. AFTER TEHRAN MISSILE STRIKES, US & IRAN TAKE A STEP BACK US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday Iranian missile strikes on bases in Iraq had not harmed any US troops stationed there and damage was minimal, an outcome, he said, showed Tehran wanted to prevent an escalation into conflict. Iranian forces fired missiles at military bases housing US troops in Iraq early on Wednesday, saying it was in retaliation for the killing in a US drone strike of powerful Iranian commander General Qassem Soleimani on January 3. "All of our soldiers are safe and only minimal damage was sustained at our military bases," Trump said. "Iran appears to be standing down, which is a good thing for all parties concerned and a very good thing for the world." "The fact that we have this great military and equipment, however, does not mean we have to use it. We do not want to use it," the US President said in an address. There was no immediate reaction from Iranian officials to Trump's comments. The semi-official Fars news agency described the US President's remarks as a "big retreat from threats." Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who earlier on Wednesday addressed a gathering of Iranians chanting "Death to America", said Iran's attacks were a "slap on the face" of the US and said US troops should leave the region. Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif had said the strikes "concluded" Tehran's response to the killing of Soleimani, who had been responsible for building up Iran's network of proxy armies across the Middle East. "We do not seek escalation or war, but will defend ourselves against any aggression," he tweeted. Trump's reaction in the immediate aftermath of Wednesday's attacks had been to say on Twitter that "All is well!" and that Washington was assessing the damage. That early tweet and the comment by Iran's foreign minister had acted to soothe some initial concerns about a wider war and calmed jittery financial markets. Oil prices slipped back after an early spike. US and European government sources said they believed Iran had deliberately sought to avoid US military casualties in its missile strikes to prevent an escalation. But an Iranian Army spokesman had denied "foreign media reports" suggesting there had been some kind of coordination between Iran and the US before the attack to allow bases to be evacuated, Fars news agency said. Iranian television had said 80 "American terrorists" had been killed, without saying how it obtained this information. Germany, Denmark, Norway and Poland said none of their troops in Iraq were hurt. Britain, which also has personnel in Iraq, condemned the Iranian action. Iraq said its forces did not suffer casualties. UKRAINIAN AIRCRAFT CRASHES IN IRAN, ALL 176 ON BOARD KILLED A Ukrainian airliner crashed shortly after take-off from Tehran on Wednesday, killing all 176 people on board, mainly Iranians and Canadians. Search-and-rescue teams were combing through the smoking wreckage of the Boeing 737 flight from Tehran to Kiev but officials said there was no hope of finding anyone alive. The vast majority of the passengers on the Ukraine International Airlines flight were non-Ukrainians, including 82 Iranians and 63 Canadians, officials said. The crash occurred with tensions high in the Middle East and shortly after Tehran launched missiles at bases in Iraq housing US troops. But there was no immediate indication of foul play and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned against "speculating" on the cause of the disaster. Footage released by Iranian state media showed that the plane caught fire after crashing, but a video aired by the state broadcaster appeared to show the plane already on fire as it fell down. A statement posted on the Ukrainian embassy website in Iran saying the crash was caused by an engine malfunction and ruling out an act of terror was later redacted, saying all information would be provided by an official commission. CARLOS GHOSN HITS OUT AT NISSAN AND JAPAN Carlos Ghosn, speaking publicly for the first since his dramatic escape from Japanese justice, told reporters in Beirut he had been treated "brutally" by Tokyo prosecutors and was the victim of a conspiracy to oust him from the helm of automaker Nissan. The one-time titan of the car industry told a packed news conference on Wednesday he would not have faced a fair trial in Japan and would have been tied up in appeals there for five years. The 65-year-old fled Japan last month where he was awaiting trial on charges of under-reporting earnings, breach of trust and misappropriation of company funds, all of which he denies. Ghosn said he had escaped to his childhood home of Lebanon to clear his name. He declined to say how he fled, noting there were conflicting stories about his departure. TRADE UNIONS' BANDH PARTIAL, CLASHES IN WEST BENGAL Banking and transport services were disrupted and normal life impacted in some parts of the country on Wednesday as tens of thousands of workers affiliated to the Left and Congress-backed trade unions led a strike to protest the Union Government's economic policies. While ATMs at certain places ran dry and banking services such as cash withdrawal were impacted at some branches of public sector banks, train services were stopped by striking workers in Kolkata. Buses, taxis and auto-rickshaws stayed off the road in West Bengal, Kerala and Odisha but the strike had almost no impact in Delhi and the financial hub Mumbai. Clashes were reported between supporters of the ruling TMC and Left parties in West-Bengal. Protesters blocked railway tracks and roads in several parts of Kolkata, including Dum Dum. However, work at government departments remained unaffected barring sporadic demonstrations by trade unions. There were no reports of any impact on essential services from anywhere in the country. Train services were unaffected while electricity generation as well as oil refineries and fuel pumps operated normally. The unions which gave a call for the strike claimed that the bandh was successful. "The strike was tremendous, surpassing the precious strikes," said a statement issued by 10 unions. The government, in turn, ruled out any impact from the strike. "They have been doing this type of strikes in every one or two years with many demands," Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar said. "It has no impact." PROTESTING STUDENTS FROM VISVA BHARATI CONFINE BJP'S SWAPAN DASGUPTA TO ROOM FOR HOURS Rajya Sabha member and BJP leader Swapan Dasgupta, Visva-Bharati Vice-Chancellor Bidyut Chakraborty and several others were confined to a room on the Santiniketan campus for over seven hours Wednesday by members of the SFI who protested the university's decision to invite Dasgupta to deliver a lecture on the new citizenship law. Late at night, the SFI members ended their sit-in, allowing Dasgupta and others to emerge from the room. Around 10.30 pm, the students ended their protest. Somnath Sau, the university's SFI unit leader, told reporters: "We are ending our protest as we have registered our reservations to a lecture being held on CAA. We don't want to see BJP leaders coming to the campus and spreading hatred to divide communities. We have made our voices heard through today's protest." A nominated Rajya Sabha member, Dasgupta was to speak on "The CAA-2019: Understanding and Interpretation" as part of the Visva Bharati Lecture Series at the university's Lipika auditorium. The protests began as soon as Dasgupta reached the campus. TWITTER USERS FALSELY ACCUSE CHHAPAAK MAKERS OF CHANGING NAME OF PERPETRATOR FROM 'NADEEM' TO 'RAJESH' A day after Deepika Padukone visited the JNU campus to express solidarity with students who had been attacked, her film "Chhapaak" made another splash on Wednesday over the name of its antagonist. While Deepika was the focus of many a discussion on social media and beyond for showing up at a public meeting in the university, the film, based on the life of acid attack survivor Laxmi Agarwal, was also making news for quite another reason. In what could well be a storm in a 'Twitter cup', "Nadeem Khan" and "Rajesh" began trending on the microblogging site after a magazine article claimed the name of the antagonist had been changed. By 4 pm, 'Nadeem Khan' clocked close to 60,000 tweets and 'Rajesh' close behind with 50,000. In 2005, Laxmi was disfigured for life when a man called Nadeem Khan and three others allegedly hurled acid at her in Delhi's upscale Khan Market. In the film based on her life, the narrative remains the same but the names have been changed. So, Laxmi is 'Malti' Agarwal and Nadeem becomes 'Babboo' aka 'Bashir Khan'. On Wednesday, Swarajya magazine wrote an article headlined, "The Ways Of Bollywood: In Deepika Padukone-Starer Chhapaak, Acid Attacker Naeem Khan Becomes 'Rajesh'." IN BIGGEST EQUITY-RAISING EXERCISE, AIRTEL LAUNCHES $2-BN SHARE SALE India's second-biggest wireless telephony major, Bharti Airtel, has begun marketing its $2-billion (Rs 14,350 crore) equity issuance to institutional investors on Wednesday to pay the AGR (adjusted gross revenues) dues to the central government within the January 23 deadline set by the Supreme Court. The company will also raise an additional $1 billion as convertible bonds due in 2025, according to the terms of the transaction. The equity offering comes within months of Bharti Airtel raising Rs 25,000 crore from shareholders through a rights issue, making the combined exercise of Rs 40,000 crore the biggest ever equity raising by any Indian corporate within a financial year. In May, Bharti Airtel had raised funds from its shareholders at Rs 220 a share through a rights issue. On Wednesday, the company's stock closed at Rs 459 a share, giving more than 100 per cent returns since the rights issue. DRAFT PLANS FOR PRIVATE TRAINS Private trains running on a particular route will have a headstart of 15 minutes over other trains running on the same route, a maximum permissible speed of 160 kmph and also their own guards and crew, says a draft proposal mooted by Niti Ayog as it finalises the contours of bringing in private players for train operations in the country. A slew of draft documents - for Request for Qualification (RFQ), Concession Agreement Guiding Principles, Project Information Memorandum (PIM) along with a presentation on the salient features of the project - for discussion on private participation in passenger trains have been uploaded by Niti on its website which outline the Railways' plan to run 150 trains on 100 routes by private operators, envisaging an investment of Rs 22,500 crore. As per the paper, the private operator will have the right to collect market-linked fare and will be provided flexibility of class composition and halts. The time taken by a private train to complete a path shall be comparable to the fastest train of Indian Railways operating on that path with a variation of plus or minus 10 per cent. I DON'T THINK ABOUT FEDERER'S RECORD, GOAL IS TO PLAY WELL: RAFA World No. 1 Rafael Nadal has insisted he isn't focused on matching Roger Federer's record Glam Slam haul at the Australian Open this month. The 33-year-old last year won the French and US Open titles to move within one of his Swiss rival's record tally of 20. Federer has sat on top of the all-time list since 2009, when he passed Pete Sampras' mark of 14. A Nadal triumph in Melbourne could set the stage for him to set a new landmark at Roland Garros, where he will start as the hot favourite to add to his 12 French Open titles. But the Spaniard downplayed the potential historical implications after steering Spain into the ATP Cup quarterfinals. "I honestly don't think much (about Federer's record)," Nadal said. "My only goal is to keep playing good tennis, keep enjoying this sport and being happy. And if that happens and I stay healthy then the goal is to keep producing chances in the events that I'm going to play." LEAVE TEST CRICKET ALONE, SAY FORMER STARS Legendary all-rounder Ian Botham has urged the ICC to leave Test cricket "alone" after England's thrilling win against South Africa in the final hour of the fifth day. The ICC Cricket Committee will take a call on the proposal of having four-day Tests instead of the traditional five-day format which has been in place for the past 143 years since 1877. Botham is the latest among the illustrious bandwagon of cricketers led by current India captain Virat Kohli, the iconic Sachin Tendulkar and Australian master batsman Ricky Ponting who have spoken against the proposed change for the 2023-2031 cycle. "Well played England... Such a good idea to end 5-day Test cricket.... full house watching cricket at its best!! Leave the flagship of cricket alone it's a real Test of character, skill, guts, stamina & ability... it's real cricket for real players!!! Leave it Alone!!!!!!" Botham wrote on Twitter.