India

New Delhi, Feb 7 (PTI) Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday met Sri Lankan Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa and discussed a host of issues.

Rajapaksa was the Sri Lankan president from 2005-2015, while Singh was the prime minister from 2004-14.

Gandhi and Singh were accompanied by senior Congress leader Anand Sharma during the meeting with Rajapaksa, who arrived here this evening on a five-day visit.

After his official engagement in Delhi, Rajapaksa will travel to Varanasi, Sarnath, Bodh Gaya and Tirupati.

Kolkata, Feb 7 (PTI) A 12-year-old girl who was missing since Thursday evening returned home on Friday and alleged that she was raped by four persons who were later arrested, police said here.

The girl also accused the four of forcing her to drink alcohol. One of the accused is her friend.

After the girl's father lodged a complaint, police arrested two persons from Parnasree area and two others from Ekbalpore on Friday afternoon.

Jaipur, Feb 7 (PTI) A 17-year-old Kashmiri boy, who worked at a catering firm here, died after allegedly being beaten by his colleague over a petty issue, police said on Friday.

An investigation into the incident was launched and the accused arrested, the police said.

New Delhi, Feb 8 (PTI) Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday held talks with his Sri Lankan counterpart Mahinda Rajapaksa covering the entire expanse of bilateral ties between the two countries including in areas of defence and security.

Mahinda Rajapaksa, elder brother of Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, arrived here on Friday on a five-day visit, his first overseas tour after being appointed as prime minister of the island nation in November last year.

NEW DELHI (AP) — Voting began for a crucial state election in India’s capital on Saturday with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist party trying to regain power after a 22-year gap and major victories in a national vote.

Residents lined up in long queues across New Delhi neighborhoods, where a total of 14.6 million voters are registered to cast ballots. Results will be declared on Tuesday.

LUCKNOW /India/, February 7. /TASS/: Russia and India are holding consultations on the upgrade of India’s T-90S Bhishma main battle tanks, CEO of Russia’s state arms seller Rosoboronexport (part of the state hi-tech corporation Rostec) Alexander Mikheyev told TASS at the DefExpo international arms show on Friday.

"Consultations are underway on the upgrade of [Indian] T-90S tanks in two areas: the digital ballistic calculator and the automatic target tracker," the Rosoboronexport chief executive said.

LUCKNOW /India/, February 7. /TASS/: The Indo-Russian Helicopters Limited joint venture is fully ready to produce Kamov Ka-226T light multirole helicopters, CEO of Russia’s state arms seller Rosoboronexport (part of the state hi-tech corporation Rostec) Alexander Mikheyev said at the DefExpo 2020 international arms show in India on Friday.

7 February 2020; AFP: An Indian man has been charged with raping a five-year-old girl on the premises of the US embassy in India's capital New Delhi, police said Thursday.

The 25-year-old was arrested at the high-security compound on Sunday a day after the alleged incident at the living quarters for local housekeeping staff.

Mumbai, Feb 7 (PTI) A 30-year-old woman was allegedly raped and strangled to death by two persons in the western suburb of Santa Cruz here, police said on Friday.

The incident came to light on Thursday evening after the victim's body was found at the residence of one of the accused in Milind Nagar, an official said.

New Delhi, Feb 7 (PTI) The Supreme Court said it would hear the pleas against anti-CAA protests at Shaheen Bagh next week as it did not want to "influence" the Delhi assembly elections by hearing the matter on Friday.

Polls in the national capital will be held on Saturday and the matter will now be heard on Monday.