India's gold demand is expected to rebound in 2020 as the government seeks to bolster consumer confidence and spending power to revive Asia's third-biggest economy, the World Gold Council (WGC) said on Thursday.

A rise in consumption by the world's second-biggest gold buyer would further boost global prices, which scaled a near seven-year high earlier this month, but could widen India's trade deficit and pressure the rupee.

Religious texts do not bar the entry of women in mosques and she is free to exercise her right to avail such facilities, the All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) told the Supreme Court Wednesday.

In a response filed in the apex court regarding a PIL, the AIMPLB said Muslim women like men are permitted to enter mosques to offer prayers and any fatwa contradicting this can be ignored as they have no statutory force.

The BBC has said that plans to modernize the British broadcaster's newsroom will lead to the loss of an estimated 450 jobs.

The cuts represent a substantial blow to the national public service broadcaster, which has a worldwide reputation for high quality news and entertainment programs.

With two Nirbhaya convicts moving to stop their execution scheduled on February 1, uncertainty again looms over the hanging of the four death row convicts in the 2012 Delhi gang-rape and murder case.

As one convict's petition against the rejection of his mercy plea was rejected by the Supreme Court on Wednesday, another rapist moved to the President for mercy while the third prisoner filed a curative petition before the apex court.

The Election Commission must put a 48-hour on ban home minister Amit Shah from campaigning in Delhi for tweeting a fake video on government schools, said Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Sanjay Singh on Wednesday.

Singh and APP leader Pankaj Gupta complained to the commission against Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MPs Gautam Gambhir, Parvesh Verma and Hans Raj Hans were circulating false and fabricated videos about Delhi government schools.

The nationwide death toll from China's novel coronavirus epidemic has jumped to 170 with 38 more fatalities reported mainly from the worst-affected central Hubei province, the government said on Thursday, while confirming more than 1,700 new infections.

The coronavirus outbreak began in Wuhan, capital of China's Hubei province, in December and has now spread across the globe. The Chinese authorities are trying to contain the epidemic while other countries, including India, are working on plans to evacuate their citizens from Wuhan and other cities in Hubei province, the epicentre of the outbreak.

Oil prices fell on Thursday as the death toll from the new virus in China climbed to 170 and more airlines cancelled flights to the country's major cities, while rising US crude inventories added to the negative tone.

Brent was down 35 cents, or 0.6 per cent, at $59.46 a barrel by 7:55 am, having risen 0.5 per cent on Wednesday. US crude was down 30 cents, or 0.6 per cent, at $53.03 a barrel, after dropping 0.3 per cent in the previous session.

According to media reports, US President Donald Trump is likely to visit India between February 24 and 26. No official announcement of the dates has been done yet.

Keeping the trade as the top priority in this visit, India and the US are likely to sign the much-awaited trade deal, set to be finalised soon, during this visit. Negotiations for this deal have been going on for months.

Noted Indian Badminton player and Olympic-bronze medalist Saina Nehwal joins the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Wednesday noon at the party's headquarters in New Delhi.

Apart from Nehwal, her sister Chandranshu also joined the party.

They joined the party in presence of Party's National General Secretary Arun Singh.

Shares of railway-related companies which are state-owned, such as Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC), IRCON International, and Rites, have outperformed the markets since the last Union Budget on July 5, 2019.

From the private sector, Hind Rectifiers and Siemens, too, outpaced the benchmarks during the period. The S&P BSE Sensex was up 3.7 per cent since July 5 last year. However, Larsen & Toubro, Kernex Microsystems, NBCC, and Texmaco Rail were down in the range of 13 per cent to 41 per cent on the BSE.

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