Power giant NTPC has plans to set up a nuclear project in Bihar, a move which will increase its non fossil energy portfolio, the company's Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) Gurdeep Singh said on Thursday.

NTPC has also requested the state government for a land parcel at a suitable location to take forward its nuclear plans, he said addressing a session at the 'Bihar Business Connect 2024' summit here.

"Looking at the future of the energy sector, nuclear (energy) is expected to become extremely important for the energy sector, 20-30 years down the line. I want to share that NTPC is now entering the nuclear energy space," Singh said.

Indian Navy’s Kiran Ankush Jadhav beat Paris Olympic bronze medallist Swapnil Kusale and another Olympian Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar to clinch the men’s 50m rifle 3 positions (3P) title at the 67th National Shooting Championship Competitions (NSCC) here on Wednesday.

Jadhav shot 465.8 in the final to leave Aishwary Pratap (463.1) of the home state in second place at the M.P. State Academy Shooting range.

Swapnil of Railways led the 45-shot final till the 40th shot but bowed out in third ahead of the final gold-deciding shot, with a tally of 451.8.

Earlier, Swapnil had topped the qualification with a world-class score of 593, leaving Aishwary a point behind in second. Jadhav had qualified fourth with a solid 590.

The third season of the World Tennis League, starting here on Thursday, will follow a unique format where the top two teams with the highest number of games will advance to the final, scheduled for December 22.

The teams will compete in a single round-robin format, with each team playing one match against each other, as per the format.

The season will begin with a clash between Game Changers Falcons, featuring top guns like Elena Rybakina and Andrey Rublev, and TSL Hawks, led by the Women’s World. No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka and India’s Sumit Nagal.

Each match will consist of four sets: men’s singles, women’s singles, and two doubles sets, which may include men’s doubles, women’s doubles, or mixed doubles, as determined by the team that wins the coin toss.

The Asian Youth and Junior Weightlifting Championships 2024 will begin today in Doha, Qatar. Competitions will be held in 40 categories – 20 each at the junior and youth levels. A 28-member Indian weightlifting contingent will look to make a mark at the event. 15 Indian weightlifters will compete in the junior division, while 13 from the country will compete at the youth level.  India’s Martina Devi Maibam, will compete in the same weight division at the Asian Junior Championships. The 18-year-old Martina Devi lifted a total of 237kg (101kg in snatch and 136kg in clean and jerk) to secure sixth place at the junior world championships. Dhanush Loganathan, the only Indian weightlifter to medal at this year’s IWF Junior World Weightlifting Championships with bronze in the men’s 55kg total and snatch, will be among India’s top medal prospects in men’s competitions.

The Indian rupee slipped to an all-time low of 85 against the US dollar on Thursday, December 19, as global and domestic factors continued to weigh on the currency.

It opened at 85 against dollar compared to Wednesday's close of 84.95 against dollar.

Here’s a look at the key factors driving the rupee's decline:

Hawkish Fed signals boost dollar strength

The US Federal Reserve’s hawkish stance at its December meeting sent ripples through global markets.

The Fed now projects only two rate cuts in 2025, down from four estimated in September.

The Fed raised its forecast for core PCE inflation to 2.8% in 2024 and 2.5% in 2025, signaling prolonged inflation concerns.

The dollar index surged to a two-year high, further pressuring emerging market currencies, including the rupee.

A new long-acting preventive HIV drug could reach the world’s poorest countries by the end of 2025 or early 2026, a global health official told Reuters on Tuesday.

The ambition is to start deliveries of Gilead Sciences’ lenacapavir on that timeline, said Hui Yang, head of supply operations at the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. However, she said a lot of things need to happen first, including the injectable drug receiving regulatory approvals from authorities like the United States Food and Drug Administration and the World Health Organization.

Lenacapavir is already approved for use as a treatment for multi-drug resistant HIV, costing around $42,250 for the first year of therapy in the United States. Clinical trials this year showed it is also very effective at preventing infection and Gilead is seeking approvals for the new use globally.

The National Action for Mechanised Sanitation Ecosystem (NAMASTE) scheme has profiled over 57,758 Sewer and Septic Tank Workers (SSWs) across India, with 54,574 workers validated so far, Union Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment, Ramdas Athawale, informed the Lok Sabha on Tuesday.

The initiative, launched in the 2023-24 fiscal year, seeks to ensure safety, dignity, and socio-economic empowerment for sanitation workers. It is being implemented across more than 4,800 Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) under a collaboration between the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment (MoSJ&E) and the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA).

The data reveals that sanitation work remains deeply entrenched in social inequalities, with 67.91% of the workers coming from Scheduled Castes (SC), followed by 15.73% from Other Backward Classes (OBC), 8.31% from Scheduled Tribes (ST), and 8.05% from the General category.

The Vietnam Coast Guard Ship CSB 8005 is set to arrive in Kochi on December 16 as part of its ongoing overseas deployment to India, the Indian Coast Guard announced in a press release.

According to the release, the four-day visit aims to enhance maritime cooperation and interoperability between the two forces.

"During the visit, the crew of the VCG Ship will engage in professional interactions focusing on marine pollution response, maritime search and rescue, and maritime law enforcement," the release stated.

In Shooting, Riya Shirish Thatte of Aurangabad clinched the gold medal in the women’s 25m pistol final of the 67th National Shooting Championship Competitions in New Delhi yesterday.

She defeated Punjab’s Simranpreet Kaur Brar 7-2 in a shoot-off after both had tied at 31 hits in the eight series of five-shots decider. This is Riya’s first senior national title. Olympian and former Asian Games champion Rahi Sarnobat was third with 25 hits.

The shotgun and pistol competitions of the National Shooting Championship are being held in New Delhi, while Bhopal is holding the rifle nationals.

The Uttar Pradesh government on Tuesday in State Assembly presented the Supplementary Budget of ₹17,865.72 crore for the financial year 2024-25. State Finance Minister Suresh Kumar Khanna while presenting the Budget said that the supplementary demand of grant of ₹17,865 crore is 2.42% of the original Budget of ₹7.36 lakh crore presented in February 2024. The Supplementary Budget is the second such Budget presented after the original Budget. Now, the total Budget size of U.P. is ₹7,66,513.36 crore.

The Finance Minister said a provision of ₹8,587.27 crore is made for the energy department, ₹2,438.63 crore for the finance department, ₹1,592.28 crore for the family welfare department, and ₹1,001 crore for the Animal Husbandry Department. Additionally, ₹805 crore grant has been allocated for the Public Works Department (PWD), ₹505 crores for the Information Department, ₹515 crore for the Primary Education Department.

U.P. CM Yogi Adityanath also spoke on the second day in the Assembly highlighting the government’s achievement alleging the previous regime pushed the State in backward direction. “The unemployment rate of the State was more than 19% between the year 2012 and the year 2017, today this rate is at 2.4%. Our government is moving in right direction. We have made more than 1,60,000 recruitments in the education department alone in the State. These are the vacancies that could not be filled due to the bad intentions of the previous government,” Mr. Adityanath said.