India

NEW DELHI (AP) — India’s Supreme Court on Saturday ruled in favor of a Hindu temple on a disputed religious ground and ordered that alternative land be given to Muslims to build a mosque.

The dispute over land ownership has been one of the country’s most contentious issues.

The 16th-century Babri Masjid mosque in northern Indian town of Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh state was destroyed by Hindu hard-liners in December 1992, sparking massive Hindu-Muslim violence that left 2,000 people dead.

Mumbai, Nov 8 (PTI) The Shiv Sena on Friday sought police protection in Mumbai for its newly-elected MLAs, who will be shifted to a resort, till November 15, apparently fearing defection from its legislative rank.

Sena secretary Milind Narvekar has written a letter to the Mumbai police commissioner, seeking necessary protection for the party's MLAs till November 15.

Ayodhya, Nov 8 (PTI) Multi-layered security arrangements have been put in place in the temple town of Ayodhya with drones being used to monitor the situation ahead of the apex court judgment in the Ramjanmabhoomi-Babri Masjid land dispute case.

Be it the area near the Ramjanmabhoomi police station, "karyashala" of Ram Janmabhoomi Nyas or other parts of the town, policemen could be seen checking two-wheelers.

Panaji, Nov 8 (PTI) A 20-year-old woman from United States of America has been missing since Thursday morning from a hostel in the coastal Anjuna area in Goa, police said.

Anjuna police inspector Suraj Gawas said Elizabeth Mann arrived alone in Goa on October 24 and was staying in a hostel.

"The CCTV footage of the hostel shows Elizabeth left her room voluntarily at around 5am on Thursday. Her mother contacted the American Embassy after which a missing complaint was taken," he said.

Mumbai, Nov 8 (PTI) Devendra Fadnavis on Friday resigned as Maharashtra chief minister, five years and a week after he assumed the state's top job, as an aggressive Shiv Sena rebuffed all attempts to form an alliance government.

Fadnavis, 49, drove to Raj Bhavan and handed over his resignation to Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari, who asked him to be the "caretaker CM" till alternate arrangements are made.

The development came a fortnight after results of the October 21 Assembly elections were declared.

New Delhi, Nov 8 (PTI) Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi is likely to have a meeting with Uttar Pradesh chief secretary and director general of police on Friday to assess the law and order arrangement in the state ahead of the verdict on the Ayodhya land dispute case to be pronounced next week, sources said.

The CJI has called UP Chief Secretary Rajendra Kumar Tiwari and DGP Om Prakash Singh and will have the meeting in his chamber, they said.

New Delhi, Nov 8 (PTI) The corporate India is forecasting deteriorating growth for October-December period this year as optimism for new orders and sales prices has hit the lowest level in nearly 18 years, a report said on Friday.

The Dun & Bradstreet Composite Business Optimism Index stood at 56.4 for December quarter this year, registering a decline of 19.5 per cent as compared to the year-ago period.

Ballia (UP) Nov 8 (PTI) BJP leaders are not happy with Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath as he doesn't pay heed to their suggestions, UP's Leader of Opposition Ram Govind Chaudhary has said.

The senior Samajwadi Party leader said there is immense dissatisfaction within the BJP over Adityanath and party leaders do not want to see him in the post of chief minister.

"BJP workers are not happy with the dictatorial working style of Adityanath and do not want to see him in the post," Chaudhary told reporters on Thursday.

(Reuters) - Wildfires have raged across California for about a month and air problems persist in China, but no other place on Earth is battling the scale and severity of the pollution that chokes large swathes of north India.

(Click here for an animated world map showing the amount of PM 2.5 particulate matter in the air.)

New Delhi, Nov 7 (PTI) The Ministry of Home Affairs has initiated disciplinary proceedings against IAS officer Kannan Gopinathan who had submitted his resignation in August protesting what he alleged was the "denial of freedom of expression" to the people of Jammu and Kashmir.