News updates from Hindustan Times: Call on release of former J-K CMs likely in the next few days and all the latest news at this hour

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Updated: Oct 11, 2019 08:51 IST

Here are today’s top news, analysis and opinion curated for you. Know all about the latest news and other news updates from Hindustan Times.

Call on release of former J-K CMs likely in the next few days

The Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) administration will decide when to release former chief ministers Omar Abdullah, Farooq Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti and other detained political leaders over the next few days, officials in the security establishment said on condition of anonymity on Thursday.

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How Modi-Shah-Fadnavis changed Maharashtra politics, writes Rajdeep Sardesai

A curious election littered with many firsts is taking place in Maharashtra. A 49-year-old Brahmin from Nagpur appears set to be re-elected for a second five-year term in a Maratha-dominated polity. A 29-year-old member of the Thackeray family is actually contesting an election. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has pushed the original sons-of-the-soil regional force, Shiv Sena (SS), to a secondary position in its long-standing alliance. The ageing Sharad Pawar, Maharashtra’s tallest leader for nearly 50 years, is fighting hard to keep his family and the National Congress Party (NCP) together. And the Congress, once Maharashtra’s premier political party, is now battling for relevance.

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American companies hold up ambitious India-US trade agreement

Squabbling among US private sector entities is understood to be one of the the key factors holding up an India-US trade deal that could lead to the opening up of the agriculture sectors of the two countries on a reciprocal basis and an ambitious Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between them, according to people familiar with the discussions.

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Muslims must give land to Hindus as goodwill gesture: Former AMU VC Lt Gen Shah

Former vice chancellor of Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) Lt General (retd) Zameer Uddin Shah on Thursday asserted that Muslims must hand over the disputed land in Ayodhya to Hindus as a ‘goodwill gesture’ for construction of Ram temple to ensure communal harmony.

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Bad air spikes on rise in farm fires, fall in wind speed

Delhi-NCR’s air quality deteriorated on Thursday to its worst level in nearly three months as winds slowed down, the temperature dipped and an increasing number of farm fires took place in nearby states — recreating a combination of factors that has been turning pollution during winter months into a public health crisis in recent years.

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I was keen to compete in Ranchi: Neeraj Chopra

The Athletics Federation of India (AFI) committed a faux pas on Wednesday by initially announcing that national record holder in javelin and India’s most recognisable face in athletics, Neeraj Chopra, would compete in the 59th Open National Championships at Ranchi, which began on Thursday, but later in the day asked him to pull out “as he is not fully fit”.

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Gemini Man movie review: Will Smith’s age catches up to him in Ang Lee’s big-budget bungle

Ironically for a film that confronts obsolescence, Gemini Man sure feels like it belongs to the ‘90s. Directed by two-time winner of the Academy Award for Best Director, Ang Lee, and starring Will Smith as a middle-aged assassin being chased by his younger clone, Gemini Man looks and feels like a relic from the era that gave us classics such as Face/Off and Enemy of the State.

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