Top news headlines of today – 20 Dec 2025

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to visit West Bengal's Nadia district on Saturday, where he will inaugurate national highway projects and address a public rally, amid heightened political tensions over the ongoing SIR exercise in the state.

This would be Modi’s first visit to the state since the draft SIR rolls were published, and the third in the past five months.

The Prime Minister, political observers said, is scheduled to address the growing unease amongst the Matua community members post the publication of the draft rolls from his strategically located BJP rally venue in Taherpur area of Ranaghat, not far from the heartland of the Namasudra Hindu community in adjacent Bongaon.

In the process, Modi is likely to sound the BJP’s bugle for the assembly polls, which are due in the state early next year and finalise the roadmap for the party’s big push for the crucial elections.

Follow this page as we track big developments of the day...

Dec 20, 2025 11:03 IST
Yearender 2025: Oil is king again, with India driving global demand comeback
After years of forecasts predicting an imminent peak in oil demand amid a swift shift to renewables, oil and gas made a quiet but unmistakable comeback, with India emerging as a central driver of global consumption.
 
Major energy outlooks - from BP and McKinsey to the IEA - pushed peak oil into the 2030s and revised 2050 demand upward. And every forecaster said India will emerge as the epicentre of global demand growth, with its rise in appetite for energy outpacing that of China and Southeast Asia combined. READ MORE



Dec 20, 2025 10:32 IST
PM to embark on 2-day Assam visit, inaugurate new airport terminal, interact with BJP workers
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to arrive here on Saturday for a two-day visit to Assam during which he will launch several projects, interact with BJP workers and address public meetings, officials said.
The PM will unveil an 80-foot-tall statue of Assam's first chief minister Gopinath Bardoloi, sculpted by eminent artist Ram Sutar, outside the new terminal of the airport named after him, they said. READ MORE



Dec 20, 2025 09:55 IST
Noted actor Sreenivasan dies at 69

Kochi: Noted Malayalam actor-director Sreenivasan died at a private hospital near here on Saturday morning, film industry sources said. He was 69.
 
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Dec 20, 2025 09:16 IST
8 elephants killed after being hit by Sairang-New Delhi Rajdhani Exp in Assam's Hojai dist
Nagaon/ Guwahati: Eight elephants were killed and one injured after a herd was hit by the Sairang-New Delhi Rajdhani Express in Assam’s Hojai district in the wee hours of Saturday, a forest official said.
 
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Dec 20, 2025 09:15 IST
Bangladesh set to hold funeral of Sharif Osman Hadi amid unrest in country
Dhaka: Bangladesh is set to hold the funeral of a prominent youth leader on Saturday amid tight security following unrest in the country triggered by his death.
 
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