India

New Delhi, Oct 14 (PTI) Reliance Industries will pay for Venezuelan crude oil via exports of diesel in a barter arrangement as it resumed taking supplies from the US sanctions-hit Latin American nation after a gap of four months.

Although US oil sanctions imposed on Venezuela in January 2019 have no direct secondary component, oil companies such as Reliance Industries (RIL) that have a significant US presence have curtailed their commercial ties with the Opec nation.

Reliance had in March capped oil purchases from the Latin and halted selling diluent.

Latur, Oct 13 (PTI) Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Sunday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and the media of distracting people's attention from core issues.

Addressing an election rally at Ausa in Maharashtra's Latur district for the upcoming state polls, Gandhi said when the youth ask for jobs, the government tells them to watch the moon, in an apparent reference to ISRO's recent lunar mission, Chandrayaan-2.

Kochi, Oct 13 (PTI) King of The Netherlands Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima will arrive here on October 17 on a two-day visit, official sources said.

The Dutch Royals, who will be in the country on a five-day visit from Sunday, would arrive at the international airport here from Mumbai by a special flight at 1 p.m on October 17, the sources said.

Upon their arrival, they will visit Mattancherry palace and Dutch company Ned Spice.

Korba, Oct 13 (PTI) Two men were arrested on Sunday in connection with the abduction and rape of a 19-year-old tribal woman in Koriya district of Chhattisgarh, police said.

According to police, the accused duo also allegedly tried to kill the victim by hanging her from a tree after the sexual assault by one of them, they said.

New Delhi, Oct 13 (PTI) Two men were arrested for allegedly snatching the handbag of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's niece Damyanti Ben Modi, police said on Sunday.

Two men had wrenched the handbag from Damayanti Ben's grasp when she was alighting from an auto-rickshaw Saturday morning in North Delhi's Civil Lines area. The bag contained Rs 56,000, two mobile phones, some documents and other valuables.

Based on a complaint by her, police registered a case and later identified the two snatchers.

Mumbai, Oct 13 (PTI) A man has been arrested from Wadala here for allegedly molesting and sexually harassing his 24-year-old woman friend, police said on Sunday.

Antop Hill police made the arrest on Saturday for the incident that had occurred in the last week of September.

According to police, the accused, Suraj Soni (26), is a resident of Wadala, while the victim lives in Nalasopara in Palghar district.

Bengaluru, Oct 14 (PTI): The workers of Hindustan Aeronautics Limited across its nine units in the country, began an indefinite strike on Monday, pressing various demands including wage revision.

All India HAL Trade Unions Coordination Committee (AIHALTUCC) had on Sunday announced the indefinite strike after talks with the management ended in failure.

Srinagar, Oct 14 (PTI) Postpaid mobile services on all networks were restored in the Kashmir Valley on Monday, 72 days after they were snapped following restrictions.

Some 40 lakh postpaid mobile phones have become operational from Monday noon.

Restrictions were imposed after the Centre on August 5 abrogated the state's special status and bifurcated it into Union territories of Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh, which will come into being on October 31.

Ayodhya, Oct 14 (PTI) Prohibitory orders under section 144 have been clamped in Ayodhya as the Supreme Court's revised deadline for wrapping up the proceedings in the sensitive Ram Janmbhoomi-Babri Masjid land dispute case approaches.

The prohibitory orders will continue till December 10, officials said.

Posting the order on his official Twitter account, District Magistrate Anuj Kumar Jha said,"The order has been issued considering safety and security of Ayodhya and those visiting here as Govt's paramount concerns."

Muzaffarnagar, Oct 14 (PTI) A man was arrested for allegedly attempting to rape his 13-year-old daughter in Uttar Pradesh's Shamli district, police said on Monday.

The 33-year-old father made an attempt to rape the minor while she was asleep. He also beat up his two sons for opposing him, they said.

According to Station House Officer Subhash Singh Rathore, police registered a case against the father and arrested him.