India

Vadodara, Dec 26 (PTI) The central government has sent 11 teams to Gujarat to tackle the problem of locusts entering various districts of the state from Pakistan side and damaging crops, an official said on Thursday.

Massive swarms of locusts- which are mainly tropical grasshoppers with strong powers of flight - descended on Banaskantha, Mehsana, Kutch, Patan and Sabarkantha districts in the last few days and were destroying crops like mustard, castor, fennel, cumin, cotton, potato, wheat and jatropha.

Guwahati, Dec 26 (PTI) The NIA on Thursday searched the residence of arrested RTI activist Akhil Gogoi here, and seized several documents and a laptop computer, officials said.

The activist, who advises various farmer organisations, was arrested when Assam was witnessing widespread protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act.

Palghar, Dec 26 (PTI) A case has been registered against 11 people for allegedly kidnapping, raping and torturing a 21-year-old girl for more than a year in Vasai taluka of Maharashtra's Palghar district, police said on Thursday.

The Vasai police on Wednesday registered an offence against 11 people and no arrest has been made in this regard, police public relations officer Hemant Katkar said.

According to the complainant, the accused, who are residents of Rangaon and Kalam in Vasai, allegedly kept her in confinement, raped and tortured her, he added.

Chennai, Dec 26 (PTI) Protests against the controversial Citizenship (Amendment) Act continued here on Thursday, with an assorted group of activists including writers staging a demonstration against the legislation.

Writers and social activists participated in the demo against the amended Citizenship Act, and were joined by various political parties and organisations opposed to the CAA.

Jammu, Dec 26 (PTI) Hundreds of Kashmiri migrants, including Muslims, took out a rally in support of the amended Citizenship Act and the NRC here on Thursday.

Led by Jagti migrant camp president P N Bhat, they asked Muslims not to "fall into the trap of political parties" and raised pro-CAA and NRC slogans.

Carrying Tricolours and placards, they demanded the implementation of the new citizenship law and the National Register of Citizens in the country.

Lucknow, Dec 26 (PTI) Alleging that the BJP government was afraid of Hindu-Muslim unity, Samajwadi Party supremo Akhilesh Yadav on Thursday sought to know when a probe into "police brutality" during widespread protest in the state against Citizenship Amendment Act will be ordered.

"The government is afraid of Hindu-Muslim unity. It is making allegations that people are criminals. It wants to confiscate property of the poor. It is commenting on people's dress... Threatening to take revenge from citizens.

Jammu, Dec 26 (PTI) Jammu and Kashmir will setup a National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) to give impetus to laboratory diagnosis of emerging diseases of public health importance in the Union Territory, officials said on Thursday.

The centre will come up in Jammu region and the process in this regard has been started, Financial Commissioner, Health and Medical Education, Atal Dulloo said.

After taking into consideration the feasibility and advantageous aspects, the authorities have shortlisted two locations-- Vijaypur or Chowadi-- for the NCDC, he said.

LUCKNOW, India (Reuters) - India’s northern Uttar Pradesh state is demanding millions of rupees from over 200 people and threatening to confiscate their property as a penalty for damage done to public property during protests against the country’s new citizenship law.

Uttar Pradesh, India’s most populous state, has suffered some of the most violent protests against India’s Citizenship Amendment Act, which gives minorities who have migrated from three neighboring countries a path to citizenship but doesn’t make the same concessions for Muslims.

Kanpur: Icy cold situation prevails in the city areas. The temperature has dipped to as low as 4.6 degrees celsius here on Tuesday. This was recorded as the coldest day of the month. Past records are breaking with the peak of the winter season. Monday's temperature remained 5.8 degrees Celsius, about three degrees below the normal.

On Thursday, the colder wind kept the denizens within the doors as the weak sunshine checked them to move out with the comfort of normal days.

MUMBAI (Reuters) - Huge protests in India against a citizenship law seen by many as anti-Muslim have wrong-footed Prime Minister Narendra Modi and sent his Hindu nationalist party scrambling to douse the anger.

In Modi’s biggest challenge since taking office in 2014, hundreds of thousands have rallied against the law offering citizenship to immigrants from non-Muslim minorities who have fled Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan.

At least 21 people have died in clashes with police.