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Amid ongoing events and celebrations across the globe ahead of the 'Pran Pratishtha' ceremony at the Ram Temple in Ayodhya on January 22, giant billboards of Lord Ram and the majestic shrine in the temple town of Uttar Pradesh have gone up in more than 10 states, thousands of miles away in the United States.

The Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), US chapter, in association with Hindus from across the US, have put up more than 40 billboards in 10 states and more, displaying the message around the grand 'Pran Pratishtha' ceremony at the birthplace of Shri Ram Lalla in Ayodhya on January 22.

Isro Chairman S Somanath outlined India's ambitious vision for its space program at the International Space Conference held in Gandhinagar. 

Reflecting on the recent successes and the guidance provided by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Somanath emphasised the nation's commitment to establishing a continuous human presence in space.

"The Prime Minister has always been a fervent advocate for our space endeavours," Somanath stated, recalling Modi's support dating back to his tenure as Chief Minister of Gujarat. 

Indore, the commercial capital of Madhya Pradesh, has retained its title as India’s cleanest city for the seventh consecutive year, according to the results of the Union government’s annual cleanliness survey announced on Thursday. The city shared the top spot with Surat in Gujarat, which also scored high marks in the survey based on the theme ‘Waste to Wealth’.

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav received the award for the cleanest city from President Droupadi Murmu at a function in New Delhi, which was also attended by state urban administration minister Kailash Vijayvargiya and Indore civic chief Harshika Singh.

A Karnataka woman who was allegedly hounded by seven men from her community over an interfaith relationship told a judicial magistrate on Thursday that she was gang-raped by the group that barged into her hotel room in Hangal taluk, 80km from Hubli, four days ago.

The complainant, who was with her male companion at the time, said she was dragged to a forested area near Nalkuru Cross of Hangal and sexually assaulted by all seven men. Her companion was allegedly beaten up.

Uddhav Thackeray on Thursday called for an urgent meeting of Shiv Sena (UBT) leaders at his residence Matoshree to review Speaker Rahul Narwekar's disqualification order. While UBT Sena is expected to move Supreme Court, a section of leaders are reportedly upset over the party backroom operators' failure to get the party's amended 2018 constitution on Election Commission's records and the Speaker's office.

Sources said internal friction was seen among leaders over the poor handling of the EC affairs. UBT Sena functionaries said handling the affairs of EC and legislature was the responsibility of MP Anil Desai and ex-minister Subhash Desai. The fact that the party's 2018 constitution was not on EC's records and Narwekar held the 1999 constitution as valid proved to be a key issue in Narwekar declaring the Shinde faction as the real Shiv Sena and rejecting disqualification petitions against them.