The Union Cabinet on December 12 last year approved an outlay of Rs 11,718 crore for conducting the Census of India, 2027, which will include caste enumeration for the first time.

“Lieutenant Governor Kavinder Gupta today inaugurated the office of the Directorate of Census Operations, Jammu Kashmir and Ladakh at Leh,” the Office of the Lieutenant Governor said on X.

Gupta said the milestone marks the beginning of preparations for Census 2027 and will strengthen administrative and statistical readiness in the region.

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The figure came from the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency, which said more than 1,200 people have been detained in the protests, which have been ongoing for more than a week.

It said 29 protesters, four children and two members of Iran’s security forces have been killed. Demonstrations have reached over 250 locations in 27 of Iran’s 31 provinces,

The group, which relies on an activist network inside of Iran for its reporting, has been accurate in past unrest.

The semiofficial Fars news agency, believed close to Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, reported late Monday that some 250 police officers and 45 members of the Guard’s all-volunteer Basij force have been hurt in the demonstrations.

The growing death toll carries with it the chance of American intervention. US President Donald Trump warning Iran on Friday that if Tehran “violently kills peaceful protesters,” the United States “will come to their rescue.”

While it remains unclear how and if Trump will intervene, his comments sparked an immediate, angry response, with officials within the theocracy threatening to target American troops in the Mideast. The comments took on new importance after the US military on Saturday captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, a longtime ally of Tehran.

The protests have become the biggest in Iran since 2022, when the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in police custody triggered nationwide demonstrations.

However, the protests have yet to be as widespread and intense as those surrounding the death of Amini, who was detained over not wearing her hijab, or headscarf, to the liking of authorities.

Iran has faced rounds of nationwide protests in recent years. As sanctions tightened and Iran struggled after a 12-day war with Israel, its rial currency collapsed in December, reaching 1.4 million to USD 1. Protests began soon after.

Understanding the scale of this latest round of protests has been difficult. Iranian state media has provided little information about the demonstrations.

Online videos offer only brief, shaky glimpses of people in the streets or the sound of gunfire. Journalists in Iran also face limits on reporting in general such as requiring permission to travel around the country, as well as the threat of harassment or arrest by authorities.

But the protests do not appear to be stopping, even after Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Saturday said “rioters must be put in their place.”

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A strike around 1 a.m. Tuesday leveled a three-story commercial building in the southern coastal city of Sidon, a few days before Lebanon’s army commander is scheduled to brief the government on its mission of disarming militant group Hezbollah in areas along the border with Israel.

An Associated Press photographer at the scene said the area was in a commercial district containing workshops and mechanic shops and the building was uninhabited.

At least one person was transported by ambulance and rescue teams were searching the site for others, but there were no immediate reports of deaths.

On Monday, the Israeli army hit several sites in southern and eastern Lebanon saying they held infrastructure for the militant groups Hezbollah and Hamas.

Those strikes took place nearly two hours after Israel’s military Arabic language spokesman Avichay Adraee posted warnings on X that the military would strike targets for Hezbollah and the Palestinian Hamas groups in two villages in the eastern Bekaa Valley and two others in southern Lebanon. The later strike in Sidon was unannounced and the Israeli army did not immediately issue a statement on it.

Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency said a home struck in the village of Manara in the Bekaa Valley belonged to Sharhabil al-Sayed, a Hamas military commander who was killed in an Israeli drone strike in May 2024.

The areas were evacuated after the Israeli warning and there were no reports of casualties in those strikes. Earlier Monday, Lebanon’s Health Ministry said a drone strike on a car in the southern village of Braikeh earlier Monday wounded two people. The Israeli military said the strike targeted two Hezbollah members.

The Lebanese army last year began the disarmament process of Palestinian groups while the government has said that by the end of 2025 all the areas close to the border with Israel — known as the south Litani area — will be clear of Hezbollah’s armed presence.

The Lebanese government is scheduled to discuss Hezbollah’s disarmament during a meeting Thursday that will be attended by army commander Gen. Rudolph Haikal.

Monday’s airstrikes were in villages north of the Litani river and far from the border with Israel.

The disarmament of Hezbollah and other Palestinian groups by the Lebanese government came after a 14-month war between Israel and Hezbollah in which much of the political and military leadership of the Iran-backed group was killed.

The latest Israel-Hezbollah war began Oct. 8, 2023, a day after Hamas attacked southern Israel, when Hezbollah fired rockets into Israel in solidarity with Hamas. Israel launched a widespread bombardment of Lebanon in September 2024 that severely weakened Hezbollah, followed by a ground invasion.

The war ended in November 2024 with a ceasefire brokered by the U.S.

Israel has carried out almost daily airstrikes since then, mainly targeting Hezbollah members but also killing at least 127 civilians, according to the office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights.

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Public Health Director Nilakantha Mishra said one student was diagnosed with jaundice after returning to the residential school, located in Gurujang, from Christmas vacation.

Later, several other students tested positive, he said.

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The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) said the operatives at the GDNL terminal, Apapa Port, Lagos, recovered the drugs on Friday, according to Nigerian web portal Punch.  “Those detained in connection with the discovery of the 31.5 kg cocaine in hatch three of the ship, which originated from the Marshall Islands, include the master of the vessel, Sharma Shashi Bhushan, and 21 other crew members,” the agency’s Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, said in a statement on Sunday, the report said.

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The precious yellow metal of 99.9 per cent purity had closed at Rs 1,39,440 per 10 grams on Friday.

Silver prices also extended their sharp rally, climbing by Rs 2,600 to Rs 2,44,000 per kilogram (inclusive of all taxes) from Friday’s close of Rs 2,41,400 per kg.

Traders said both gold and silver were driven by safe-haven demand as geopolitical risks have intensified.

“Gold and silver advanced on Monday, buoyed by geopolitical risks that continue to underpin safe-haven demand and act as a tailwind for bullion, particularly following heightened US actions against Venezuela,” Saumil Gandhi, Senior Analyst – Commodities at HDFC Securities, said.

He noted that US President Donald Trump’s confrontational rhetoric on Colombia and Mexico has also raised concerns over potential regional instability in Latin America, further increasing demand for traditional safe-haven assets.

In the international market, spot gold rose by USD 87.74, or 2.03 per cent, to USD 4,418.24 per ounce.

“Spot gold is trading around the USD 4,420 level, buoyed by the geopolitical risk escalation as the US captured and removed the Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro,” Praveen Singh, Head of Commodities, Mirae Asset ShareKhan, said.

Spot silver also increased by USD 2.35, or 3.24 per cent, to USD 75.02 per ounce.

“Silver prices are trading higher due to strong industrial and investment demand, ongoing supply concerns, and global geopolitical tensions,” Satish Dondapati, VP & Fund Manager, Kotak Mutual Fund, said.

Dondapati added that recent price swings in the white metal were mainly caused by higher margin requirements announced by the CME group and China’s silver export restrictions that came into effect from January 1.

Renisha Chainani, Head – Research at Augmont, said silver’s ascent has been structurally supported by governmental measures across the global supply chain.

In November, the US designated silver as a key mineral due to its extensive use in electrical circuits, batteries, solar cells, and anti-bacterial medical tools.

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The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) said the ban on adverts for less healthy food and sugary drinks is expected to remove up to 7.2 billion calories from children’s diets each year.

It is also expected to reduce the number of children living with obesity by 20,000 and deliver around 2 billion pounds in benefits for the state-funded National Health Service (NHS) over time.

“By restricting adverts for junk food before 9 pm and banning paid adverts online, we can remove excessive exposure to unhealthy foods – making the healthy choice the easy choice for parents and children,” said Ashley Dalton, the UK’s Minister for Health.

“We’re moving the dial from having the NHS treat sickness, to preventing it so people can lead healthier lives and so it can be there for us when we need it,” she said.

The DHSC claims evidence shows advertising influences what and when children eat, shaping preferences from a young age and increasing the risk of obesity and related illnesses.

According to official statistics, 22.1 per cent of children in England are living with either being overweight or obese at the start of primary school, and this rises to 35.8 per cent by the time they leave. And, tooth decay is the leading cause of hospital admissions for young children, typically ages five to nine, in the UK.

“These new restrictions will help reduce children’s exposure to the most problematic adverts and mark real progress towards a healthier food environment,” said Katharine Jenner, Executive Director of the UK’s Obesity Health Alliance.

“For the government to achieve its ambition of raising the healthiest generation ever, this is an important policy as part of a broader approach to preventing obesity-related ill health. Continuing to strengthen the rules over time will help ensure these protections remain effective,” she said.

Food and drink companies were on notice for the ban as the restrictions came in on a voluntary basis in October 2025, ahead of them taking legal effect this week.

Previous interventions, such as the Soft Drinks Industry Levy, resulted in businesses reformulating to make products healthier, and the measures coming into effect today have already had a similar impact, driving the development and promotion of healthier options, the DHSC said.

The Soft Drink Industry Levy is now set to be extended to cover more products, including sugary milk-based drinks, and the sale of high-caffeine energy drinks to children under 16 is to be banned as part of the government’s health drive.

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New Delhi also advised Indian citizens in Iran to exercise due caution and avoid travelling to areas witnessing protests or demonstrations.

“In view of recent developments, Indian nationals are advised to avoid non-essential travel to the Islamic Republic of Iran until further notice,” the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said.

“Indian citizens and PIOs (Persons of Indian Origin), currently in Iran, should exercise due caution, avoid areas of protests or demonstrations, and closely monitor news as well as the website and social media handles of the embassy of India in Tehran,” it said.

The MEA also advised Indian nationals living in Iran on resident-visas to register with the embassy, if not already done so.

The protests against worsening economic conditions began in Tehran around nine days back.

Now, around 25 provinces out of 31 have witnessed the protests in which over 10 people have been killed.

The protests were triggered by a sharp fall in the value of the Iranian currency, rial, against the US dollar.

Last week, US President Donald Trump warned Iran against a crackdown on protesters.

“We are locked and loaded and ready to go,” he said in a post on social media without elaborating.

Trump on Sunday night said Iran would be “hit very hard” if more protesters died.

“We’re watching it very closely. If they start killing people like they have in the past, I think they’re going to get hit very hard by the United States,” he said.

In June last year, the US carried out air strikes on Iran’s nuclear sites.

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The mortar shell was noticed lying in an open field by villagers of Upper Ghani in Balnoi area of Mankote sector around 11.15 am, officials said.

They said a police team immediately secured the area and Army experts later destroyed the shell in a controlled explosion without causing any damage.

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Jaipur, Jan 4: Discarded cigarette buds have morphed into refined sculptures at the hands of Jaipur-based artist Prashant Pandey as he incorporates one of the most ignored elements of urban litter into his distinctive artistic language.

The artist believes cigarette waste carries intimate traces of human presence. “These remnants hold breath, habit and time. They are private gestures left behind in public spaces,” he said, offering a glimpse into his ethos.

His solo exhibition, ‘Biography’, will be presented at Gallery Maskara during Mumbai Gallery Weekend 2026.

The exhibition features more than 70 sculptural works made entirely from discarded cigarette buds. Each sculpture uses around 5,000 of these pieces of urban disuse. In total, over 3.5 lakh butts have gone into creating the body of work, the artist said.

The material was collected over several years from the streets of Jaipur and from public smoking zones at airports, restaurants and other shared spaces.

“I have been working with cigarette buds since 2010. It took me five years to complete this project,” Pandey said. “What we discard often reveals more about us than what we choose to keep.”

Pandey said he was drawn to cigarette buds because of their invisibility despite their abundance. “They are everywhere, yet rarely noticed. That contradiction makes them powerful,” he said.

The works resemble leaf skins, anatomical membranes and floating cellular systems. The exhibition moves away from the lifespan of objects and focuses instead on the silent stories embedded within them.

“Rather than moralising, ‘Biography’ functions like an archaeology of everyday gestures,” the artist said.

Beyond his contemporary practice, Pandey has also been involved in major cultural projects. He was part of the team that worked on the sculptural execution of the Ram Darbar idols at the Ram Temple complex in Ayodhya.

The project required meticulous craftsmanship, traditional sculptural discipline and close collaboration with master artisans, highlighting the artist’s ability to move between experimental contemporary art and classical sacred forms, Pandey said.

The exhibition will open with a preview during Mumbai Gallery Weekend from January 8 to 11. It will remain on view at Gallery Maskara from January 12 to February 28.

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