A look at the top headlines of the day:

  1. CAG flags irregularities in Assam’s NRC exercise: The objective of preparing a valid and error-free National Register of Citizens has not been met despite entailing huge expenditure, the audit body said.
  2. Christian missionaries attacked in Uttarakhand village over allegations of forced conversions: The police have registered two first information reports in the case.
  3. At least 16 dead, several stranded as blizzard sweeps through US: The winter storm also left more than 7,00,000 persons without power supply on Christmas eve.
  4. Marine Corps must allow Sikh recruits with beards and turbans, US court rules: The elite unit argued that Sikh men needed to be ‘stripped of their individuality’ for troop uniformity, according to the court order.
  5. Actor Tunisha Sharma found dead on set of TV show, co-star arrested in suicide case: The 20-year-old was found hanging inside a washroom of the set of television show Ali Baba: Dastaan-E-Kabul.
  6. Indian workers allegedly attacked with stones at Indo-Nepal border in Uttarakhand: The workers were constructing an embankment along the Kali river, which flows between the two countries.
  7. West trying to ‘tear apart’ Russia, says Vladimir Putin: The Russian president reiterated that Moscow was ready to negotiate with all parties involved in the war in Ukraine.
  8. China discontinues publishing daily Covid-19 data: On December 21, the World Health Organization had said that it had received no data from China about the recent surge of infections in the country.
  9. Four arrested in Chhattisgarh after charred remains of missing RTI activist found in forest: The village head of Bokkarkhar in Kabirdham district and three of his associates confessed to have killed the activist and burnt his body, the police said.
  10. Assam Police firing in Mukroh was in self-defence, says Himanta Biswa Sarma: Five residents of Meghalaya and an Assam official had died in the firing last month. Both states claimed that the shooting took place under their jurisdiction.