Officials of Pakistan's Olympic association want their athletes to fly direct to Guwahati and Shillong for next month's South Asian Games, reports The Indian Express. As of now, Pakistanis flying to India can only land in Delhi or Mumbai. The Pakistani officials made this request to an Indian delegation that had travelled to Islamabad and Lahore last week. Though assured of the highest security, the Pakistani officials said they would "prefer to fly athletes directly to the host city instead of taking a long detour via Delhi or Amritsar". A team of 444 Pakistani athletes and officials were scheduled to arrive in India via the Wagah border and then take flights to their respective destinations.

Actor Kiku Sharda who had been arrested in Mumbai by police from Haryana on Wednesday has been granted bail, reports the Hindustan Times. The actor had been accused of offending sentiments of the followers of Dera Sacha Sauda head Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh. Sharda had been remanded to judicial custody by Nandita Kaushik, chief judicial magistrate of Kaithal, Haryana, and then released on bail of a personal surety of Rs 1 lakh. A case has been registered against him under Section 295-A (malicious act intended to outrage religious feelings) of the Indian Penal Code at the Civil Lines police station in Kaithal district.

The Supreme Court on Wednesday allowed an Italian marine accused of killing two Indian fishermen in 2012 to stay in his country until 30 April for medical treatment, reports The Indian Express. The marine was supposed to return to India by Friday to meet the deadline set by the court. Massimiliano Latorre and his colleague Salvatore Girone face a murder charge for killing two fishermen off the Kerala coast in 2012. The Italian government has invoked international arbitration. While permitting the extension of Latorre's stay in Italy, the Supreme Court bench asked for the status of the proceedings at the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea.

The murder of three members of a family in Old Rajender Nagar, Delhi, on 9 January, had been committed for a haul of only Rs 40,000, reports the Hindustan Times. The murder of the Sonaria family had been planned and carried out by one Rajan Singh, who had met and befriended property dealer Sanjay Sonaria at Tihar jail, where Singh had been held for murder, while Sonaria was imprisoned for cheating. Sonaria had apparently boasted of property deals worth crores and persuaded Singh to work for him on commission. Eight people, including two juveniles, murdered the three Sonarias in their home, after which they ate what the family had cooked for dinner.

Though the Pakistani media have reported the detention of Jaish-E-Mohammed (JeM) chief Maulana Masood Azhar and 12 others in connection with the terror attack on the Indian Air Force base in Pathankot on 2 January, India remains cautious, reports The Economic Times. "The government of India does not have any objective evidence of detention of Azhar in Pakistan. The Pakistani media reports on this development are not credible," said a source. A GEO TV report stated that Azhar had been detained, but Mohammad Zubair, a minister in the Nawaz Sharif government, told an Indian TV channel that he could not confirm Azhar's detention.

The rupee again breached the 67-mark by depreciating 26 paise to trade at one-month low of 67.11 against the dollar in early trade today, mainly due to strong demand for the American unit from importers and banks amid a lower opening in the domestic equity market.Moreover, sustained capital outflows weighed on the domestic unit but the dollar's weakness against some other currencies overseas limited the rupee's fall, traders said.The rupee had closed one paise higher at 66.85 against the US currency in yesterday's trade on mild selling of dollars by banks and exporters.

At least six people - including three police personnel - were killed in Jakarta on 14 January when a series of explosions rocked the Indonesian capital.

According to reports, suicide bombers blew themselves up outside a Starbucks outlet in downtown Jakarta. The area houses the popular Sarinah mall, the United Nations office and a number of luxury hotels.

Indonesian President Joko Widodo has condemned the blasts and ordered speedy investigation. Click herefor more.

The Supreme Court on 14 January refused to put the Odd-Even trial run in Delhi on hold.

Speaking in the support of the policy, Chief Justice of India TS Thakur said that people should support the efforts being taken to tackle the rising air pollution in the Capital.

"People are dying of pollution. The government is taking steps to control pollution. Everyone must cooperate".

The Foreign-Secretary level talks between India and Pakistan - scheduled for 15 January - have been postponed, Pakistan foreign affairs spokesperson Qazi M Khalilullah said. The Pakistan Foreign Office on 14 January reportedly denied having any information on the detention of Jaish-e-Mohammad chief Azhar Masood - a fact corroborated by the Indian MEA spokesperson. India believes that JeM is responsible for the 2 January attack on the Pathankot Air Force base - which resulted in the deaths of seven Indian security personnel.

Indian tennis star Sania Mirza and Swiss ace Martina Hingis continued their dream unbeaten run, setting a world record for 29 successive victories as they won their semifinal WTA Sydney International match against Yaroslava Shvedova and Raluca Olaru on 14 January. The Indo-Swiss pair bounced back brilliantly from a set down to claim a 4-6, 6-3, 10-8 triumph over the Russian-Romanian pair. Earlier in the quarterfinals, Mirza and Hingis levelled the record of most consecutive matches won set by Puerto Rican Gigi Fernandez and Belarus' Natasha Zvereva in 1994.