Prime Minister Narendra Modi Monday called up his Bangladeshi counterpart Sheikh Hasina to congratulate her on her “resounding victory” in the Parliamentary elections. Hasina emerged victorious after the ruling coalition won 287 of the 298 seats in the elections held Sunday.

Congratulating Hasina on her third-consecutive term as the prime minister, Modi reiterated India’s commitment to work together with Bangladesh. During the talks, Modi said that “Hasina’s victory was the reflection of Bangladesh’s stunning development under her dynamic leadership,” press secretary of Bangladesh Prime Minister Ihsanul Karim told PTI.

The Ministry of External Affairs said the conversation was very cordial and that Modi expressed confidence that the partnership between India and Bangladesh will continue to flourish under her “far-sighted” leadership. “The PM also reiterated the priority India attaches to Bangladesh as a neighbour, a close partner for regional development, security and cooperation, and a central pillar in India’s ‘Neighbourhood First’ policy,” the MEA said in a statement.

Norman Gimbel, an Oscar-and-Grammy-winning lyricist, has died at the age of 91.

The songwriter passed away on December 19 at his home in Montecito, California, his son Tony Gimbel told The Hollywood Reporter.

Gimbel was best known for writing the lyrics of “Killing Me Softly With His Song” and the English lyrics for “The Girl From Ipanema” with his writing partner Charles Fox.

The duo also collaborated on Croce’s “I Got a Name,” and it released the day after the singer’s death in a plane crash on September 20, 1973. The song served as the theme to The Last American Hero (1973), starring Jeff Bridges.

They also wrote themes for the Garry Marshall comedies Happy Days, Laverne & Shirley, and Angie.

Gimbel was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1984.

India’s Smriti Mandhana won the prestigious Rachael Heyhoe-Flint Award for the best player of the year as well as the ODI Player of the Year at ICC Women’s Awards. New Zealand’s Sophie Devine and Pakistan bowler Sana Mir came second and third in the ODI Player of the Year category.

The left-handed opening batswoman Mandhana enjoyed a good year, helping India win ODI series against England, as well as series wins against Sri Lanka and South Africa in both T20I and ODI formats.

The 22-year old won the award after making 669 runs in a total of 12 ODI matches for India in 2018, slamming seven 50s along with a century against South Africa to average 66.90. Meanwhile, she hit five fifties in the shortest format in the year to become one of the only three to amass over 600 runs at an impressive strike-rate of 130.67.

“The awards are pretty special because as a player when you score runs, you want the team to win, and then when you get acknowledged for your performances through these awards, it motivates you to work harder and do well for your team,” she told ICC. “The century I scored in South Africa (in Kimberley) [135 off 129] was quite satisfying and then I had good home series against Australia and England.”

Legendary filmmaker Padma Bhushan and Dada Saheb Phalke awardee Mrinal Sen died of cardiac arrest at his Kolkata residence at 10.30 AM on Sunday. He was suffering from age-related health problems and was aged 95.

Mrinal Sen is survived by his son Kunal Sen. His wife Gita Shome passed away last year. Sen's mortal remains will be preserved at Peace Haven mortuary till his son returns from Chicago on January 2. The filmmaker had urged that his mortal remains should not be given any state honours.

Along with contemporaries Satyajit Ray and Ritwik Ghatak, Sen was considered as one of the greatest ambassadors of Bengali parallel cinema on the global stage. He began his film direction in 1955 with 'Raat Bhore' but shot to international fame with his third film 'Baishey Shrabon'.

Third edition of women's national boxing championships begins in Vijayanagara, Karnataka today. Country's top boxers will be vying for top honours as the tournament will be held at the JSW Sports-owned Inspire Institute of Sport till 6th of the next month.

With close to 250 entries received from 31 states and institutions, pugilists will compete in all 10 weight categories.

World Championship silver and bronze medallists boxers, Sonia Chahal, Lovlina Borgohain, Pinky Jangra and Nikhat Zarin will be trying to upstage one another in the race to claim the top honours.

Boxing Federation of India, BFI President Ajay Singh said, the nationals are extremely important not just because champion boxers are competing here but because they will prove to be great inspiration for the other participating boxers.

Russia and Turkey on Saturday agreed to coordinate ground operations in Syria after last week's shock announcement of a US military withdrawal, Moscow's top diplomat said. "Of course we paid special attention to new circumstances which appeared in connection with the announced US military pullout," Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said after talks with Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu in Moscow.

"An understanding was reached of how military representatives of Russia and Turkey will continue to coordinate their steps on the ground under new conditions with a view to finally rooting out terrorist threats in Syria," Lavrov said. Cavusoglu confirmed the two countries would coordinate Syria operations, adding they also discussed plans to help refugees to return home.

"We will continue active work (and) coordination with our Russian colleagues and colleagues from Iran to speed up the arrival of a political settlement in the Syrian Republic," he said in remarks translated into Russian. Besides Lavrov and Cavusoglu, Russian and Turkish defence ministers Sergei Shoigu and Hulusi Akar also attended the talks.

India beat Australia by 137 runs in the third cricket test at Melbourne today to take an unassailable 2-1 lead in the four-match series. India took a giant stride towards winning their first ever test series on Australian soil in seven decades.

Chasing a stiff target of 399, Australia were all out for 261 in the post-lunch session. Jasprit Bumrah was declared man of the match as India won their 150th Test. Ishant Sharma 2 for 40 took the final wicket of Nathan Lyon as India registered its first win at the iconic Melbourne Cricket Ground in 37 years.  The final test match is scheduled to start from January 3, 2019 at Sydney Cricket Ground.

World’s largest science meet ‘Indian Science Congress (ISC)-2019’ is going to be held from 3rd to 7th January 2019, in Jalandhar, Punjab. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the 106th edition of ISC-2019, based on the theme ‘Future India: Science and Technology’ on 3rd January. 

PM Modi will also address about 30,000 delegates including many Nobel Laureates, science policymakers, administrators, eminent scientists, young men-women researchers and school children from across India and abroad. 

During the five-day long congress, around 100 plus conferences and events of scientific and technology origin will also be held, where eminent personalities from DRDO, ISRO, DST, AIIMS, UGC, AICTE, and many elite universities of the USA, UK, India and other countries will participate. 

Union Cabinet ministers including Science and Technology Minister Dr. Harsh Vardhan and Textile Minister Smriti Irani will also attend the event.

“Government’s aim is to deliver the benefits of Science & Technology to the last man in the society and scientists being a pivot should put their heart and soul into finding new solutions to the problems facing the nation and improve the quality of life of common man,” said Harsh Vardhan.

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) carried out searches at several places in Delhi and questioned few people in connection with its probe into the new Islamic State module of Harkat-ul-Harb-e-Islam.

A senior NIA official said that the agency carried out searches at few places in east Delhi's Jafarabad area on Sunday. The official said that the agency also questioned few suspects.

The counter-terror probe agency's action comes four days after it arrested 10 people including the group head Mufti Mohammad Suhail as they were allegedly planning terror attacks targeting some political personalities and security establishments as well as crowded places in Delhi and the national capital region.

The NIA had on December 26 carried out searches at over 17 places in Delhi and Uttar Pradesh's Amroha, Lucknow, Meerut and Hapur.

It had recovered a country-made rocket launcher, 12 pistols, 112 alarm clocks, 100 mobile phones, 135 SIM cards, many laptops and various electronic gadgets, besides recovering 150 rounds of ammunition during the searches.

The NIA had also seized 25 kg of explosive material, such as potassium nitrate, ammonium nitrate, sulphur, sugar material paste, mobile phone circuits, batteries, 51 pipes, remote control car triggering switch, wireless digital doorbell for remote switch, steel containers, electric wires, knife, sword, IS-related literature and 7.5 lakh rupees in cash.

Besides Suhail, the NIA arrested Saeed, 28, Raees Ahmed, Saqib Iftekar, 26 and Mohammad Irshad from Amroha.

Among the other accused are Anas Yunus, 24, a B Tech student of a Noida university, Rashid Zafar Raq, 23, Zubair Malik, 20 and his brother Zaid Malik, 22 and Mohammad Azam, 35, from Delhi's Jafarabad area.

The contentious triple talaq bill seeking to criminalise instant divorce is set to be tabled in the Rajya Sabha even as the Congress said it will not allow the passage of the proposed legislation in its present form.

Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad will table the bill in the Upper House after it was cleared by the Lok Sabha on December 27 amid a walkout by the Opposition. The bill was passed by the Lower House with 245 voting in favour and 11 opposing it.

Prasad had on Friday claimed that the bill will find support in Rajya Sabha, where the BJP-led NDA lacks numbers. It is listed in the Rajya Sabha's legislative agenda for Monday.