Union Home Minister Amit Shah chaired the 26th Eastern Zonal Meeting in Patna on Sunday. Addressing the representatives of Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal and Odisha Mr. Shah appealed to all members to work with the spirit of cooperative federalism for all-round development. The Union minister said, member states should adopt a liberal and amicable approach to the resolution of long-standing issues. He further said that during the past nine years, the history of the Eastern Zonal Council has been very successful as more than 1,100 disputes have been resolved on this platform through dialogue.

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar raised the issue of caste census during the meeting. Mr Kumar requested the Centre to conduct a Caste-based Census in the country so that justice can be done to the deprived classes. He said Bihar has taken lots of corrective measures for the alleviation of poverty following the release of a socio-economic report.

The Bharatiya Janata Party on Sunday chose Vishnu Deo Sai, a party veteran and former Union Minister, as the next Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh on Sunday. He will be the central Indian State’s fourth Chief Minister, and the first tribal leader to hold the post. He is also the first to hail from a region beyond the Other Backward Class-dominated central plains in Chhattisgarh’s 23-year-old history.

The MLA from Kunkuri, a reserved constituency in the hilly northern tribal belt of Sarguja from where the BJP won all 14 seats in the recent election, was unanimously chosen as the BJP’s Legislative Party leader at a meeting held in the presence of central observers in the party headquarters at Raipur.

China has started commercial operations at a new generation nuclear reactor that is the first of its kind in the world, state media said on Wednesday.

Compared with previous reactors, the fourth-generation Shidaowan plant in China's northern Shandong province is designed to use fuel more efficiently and improve its economics, safety and environmental footprint as China turns to nuclear power to try to meet carbon emissions goals.

Xinhua news agency also said the 200 megawatt (MW) high-temperature, gas-cooled reactor (HTGCR) plant developed jointly by state-run utility Huaneng, Tsinghua University and China National Nuclear Corporation, uses a modular design.

India on December 7 successfully conducted the training launch of short-range ballistic missile ‘Agni-1 from APJ Abdul Kalam Island, off the Odisha coast, a defence official said.

"Agni-1 is a proven very high precision missile system. The user training launch, carried out under the aegis of the Strategic Forces Command, successfully validated all operational and technical parameters,” said the official.

Thursday’s performance was validated using data obtained by many tracking systems, including radar, telemetry and electro-optical systems, the official said.

Prashasti Srivasatav, a 30-year-old IRTS officer from Lucknow, has been honored with the Ati Vishisht Rail Seva award, the highest accolade from Indian Railways. As the divisional commercial manager of Agra division, North Central Railway, Prashasti's inventive concept of a conveyor belt system for loading and unloading goods from freight train wagons has revolutionized freight train operations, earning her this prestigious recognition.

Prashasti introduced the third-party-owned mechanized conveyor belt system as a pilot project in the Yamuna Bridge and Kuberpur goods sheds of Agra during the financial year 2021-2022.

To celebrate and promote the rich handloom saree culture of India, Union Minister of State for Textiles Darshana Jardosh will inaugurate the 'One Bharat Sari Walkathon' event in Mumbai on December 10.

The event, scheduled to take place at the MMRDA Ground, aims to showcase the myriad styles of saree draping across different states, underlining the rich cultural tapestry of India and emphasizing the concept of 'Unity in Diversity.'

Jardosh expressed the importance of this event, where women from diverse backgrounds will elegantly display saris representing their regional styles, creating a beautiful mosaic of diversity.

Producer Siddharth Roy Kapur will be felicitated with the Motion Picture Association Asia-Pacific Copyright Educator of the Year Award for his contributions towards the growth and development of the Indian film industry.

Kapur heads the production banner Roy Kapur Films which has produced critically-acclaimed titles such as "The Sky Is Pink", "Last Film Show", "Pippa" and web series "Rocket Boys".

The producer will receive the honour at the CineAsia Awards 2023 in Bangkok on Thursday, a press release said.

"Dear Jassi", a film inspired by a real-life honour killing in Punjab, won the Silver Yusr Award for best feature film at the ongoing Red Sea International Film Festival 2023.

Directed by Tarsem Singh Dhandwar, the Punjabi-English romance drama was honoured with the accolade at a ceremony held in Saudi Arabia's Jeddah on Thursday night.

"Congratulations to 'Dear Jassi' by Tarsem Singh Dhandwar for winning the Silver Yusr for Best Feature Film. #RedSeaIFF23 #YourStoryYourFestival," the film gala said in a post on X.

Veteran actor Naeem Sayyed, aka Junior Mehmood, passed away in Mumbai on Friday after a battle with stomach cancer. He died at his home in Khar, Mumbai. He was 67.

The actor’s family confirmed his demise in a statement to indianexpress.com in a statement that read, "Junior Mehmood passed away at 2:15 am at his residence. He was suffering from stomach cancer. May his eternal soul rest in peace.

Naeem Sayyed was given the screen name Junior Mehmood by late comedy icon Mehmood after they shared screen space in the 1968 movie Suhaag Raat.

With poor air quality, the provincial capital topped the worldwide pollution index once more on Thursday, ARY News reported.

Lahore has the worst air quality in the world, with an early air quality index (AQI) of 400, which is considered "hazardous."

Millions of people's lives and health have been impacted by the ongoing pollution issue in Lahore, the second-biggest metropolis in Pakistan.