The Election Commission of India (ECI) has fixed the new schedule of responsibilities for the Booth-Level Officers (BLOs) engaged in the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise in West Bengal from the New Year, which will continue for some time before the final voters' list is published on February 14 next year.

Under the new schedule, BLOs will have to be present at the existing polling booths for two hours daily from Monday to Friday.

On the two weekend holidays, namely Saturday and Sunday, the BLOs will have to present at the polling booths concerned for four hours.

The Ministry of Defence said on Wednesday that the Ophthalmology Department at the Army Hospital Research and Referral (AHRR) has successfully performed India’s first-ever 3D Flex Aqueous Angiography with iStent, combining advanced imaging with minimally invasive glaucoma surgery.

Conducted with the new stand-mounted Spectralis system and a state-of-the-art 3D operating microscope, this pioneering procedure places the Armed Forces Medical Services at the forefront of global ophthalmic care in a landmark achievement for Indian medicine, the ministry said in a statement.

 2025 turned out to be a year of firsts for Bollywood beauty Kiara Advani. This year, Kiara felt her heart expand in ways she could not have ever imagined after she welcomed her first child, daughter, Saraayah Malhotra.

Dropping a couple of rare photos of some precious moments from the year 2025, Kiara wrote on her IG, "2025 - The year my heart expanded in ways I couldn’t imagine , a year of firsts, of learning , of becoming, of evolution and sweetest blessings (sic)."

The head of South Korea's data protection regulator said on Wednesday that Coupang should come up with compensation acceptable for victims of its massive data leak amid strong backlash against the online retailer's offer of vouchers and discounts.

Song Kyung-hee, head of the Personal Information Protection Commission, made the call during a parliamentary hearing over the company's data breach that affected 33.7 million users -- around two-thirds of South Korea's population, reports news agency.

A man was charred to death in a collision between two vehicles in Andhra Pradesh’s Prakasam district on Wednesday.

Police said a Bolero vehicle caught fire after colliding with an unidentified vehicle on the Nandyal-Amaravati highway. The driver was trapped in the fire and was charred to death. Another person travelling in the same vehicle was injured.

The accident occurred near Rangareddypalle village in Racharla mandal around 5.45 a.m.

The Election Commission of India (ECI) has fixed the multi-prong accountability of the District Magistrates (DMs), also the District Electoral Officers (DEOs), as regards to checking the authenticity of the supporting identity documents to be provided by the voters' summoned for the ongoing hearing sessions on the claims and objections on the draft voters' list which is a part of the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in West Bengal.

The Deputy Election Commissioner, Gyanesh Bharati, the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), West Bengal, Manoj Kumar Agarwal, and the other top ECI officials had a meeting with the DMs and the DEOs on Tuesday, where accountabilities in the matter were fixed, and instructions accordingly were given.

The government has banned the manufacture, sale and distribution of all oral formulations of pain and fever medications, containing Nimesulide above 100 milligrams in immediate‑release dosage form, with immediate effect.

The drug was prohibited under Section 26A of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940 after consultation with the Drugs Technical Advisory Board.

All higher reaches of Kashmir received snowfall in the last 12 hours as the minimum temperature rose above the freezing point on Wednesday, everywhere except Gulmarg ski resort.

Tourists presently in the Valley to celebrate New Year's Eve were thrilled to witness snowfall in Gulmarg, Sonamarg and Pahalgam tourist resorts. Snowfall on New Year's Eve gave the perfect setting to this year’s celebrations as a pristine blanket of white covered the ground in Gulmarg and other places of tourist interest.

Veteran actress Shabana Azmi is spending the last few days of 2025 in London, and she was joined by one of her close friends, Dia Mirza.

Capturing their fun get-together, Shabana posted a picture of the two ladies flaunting their dazzling smiles. While Dia was looking at the camera, Shabana looked at her in the photo captioned, "With lovely #Dia Mirza in London (sic)".

Reacting to the post, Dia asked, "Why didn’t you post that stunning picture of YOU by the window."

Precious metals, especially silver, took a breather on the final trading day of the year on Wednesday, after a run‑up to record high followed by aggressive profit‑booking.

Silver futures for March 2026 on MCX tumbled 4.63 per cent to Rs 2,39,395 per kg and gold futures for February 2026 slipped 0.51 per cent to Rs 1,35,973 per 10 grams in morning trade.

The death toll in Madhya Pradesh's Indore, where a large number of people fell ill over the last few days, allegedly after drinking contaminated water in the Bhagirathpura area of the city, has risen to eight.

Taking cognisance of the incident, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav has ordered the suspension of two municipal officials, and one public health engineer has been removed from service.

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has predicted light rain or drizzle in some areas of Bikaner, Jaipur and Bharatpur divisions of Rajasthan on Wednesday.

A weather alert has been issued for several parts of the state due to the influence of an active Western Disturbance.

The department has also forecast light rainfall in some areas of the Bikaner, Jaipur and Bharatpur divisions on Thursday.

The Indian benchmark indices traded in the green zone early on Wednesday on the final day of the trading year.

As of 9.30 am, Sensex advanced 167 points, or 0.20 per cent to 84,872 and Nifty gained 67 points, or 0.26 per cent to 26,005.

Main broad-cap indices performed in line with benchmark indices, with the Nifty Midcap 100 adding 0.55 per cent, while the Nifty Smallcap 100 gaining 0.58 per cent.

The year 2025’s final morning began on a grim note for residents of Delhi-NCR as dense fog, severe cold, and hazardous air quality combined to disrupt daily life across large parts of North India.

A sharp drop in temperature, extremely low visibility and poor pollution levels significantly impacted road, rail and air travel, causing delays and inconvenience for thousands of commuters and passengers.