India

New Delhi, Dec 9 (PTI) With the Centre-farmer talks ending in a stalemate, thousands of farmers stayed put at Delhi borders on Wednesday to press for repeal of the agri marketing laws.

A meeting called by Home Minister Amit Shah ended in failure on Tuesday night as farmer leaders rejected the government's offer to amend new farm laws, saying they would settle for nothing less than the scrapping of the legislations.

Kolkata, Dec 8 (PTI) Ruling TMC on Tuesday accused BJP of resorting to the politics of bandh in West Bengal and asserted that the reason for the death of the saffron party worker in Siliguri was not firing by police but from shot gun pellets probably carried by a participant of the BJYM rally on December 7.

The BJP observed a 12-hour shutdown in certain parts of north Bengal on Tuesday over the death of its supporter during the rally.

New Delhi, Dec 8 (PTI) A day before the government's crucial sixth round of talks with representatives of protesting farmers, Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday met a select group of union leaders in a bid to break the deadlock.

Sources said 13 farmer leaders were called for the meeting, which began after 8 pm. The farmer leaders included eight from Punjab and five from various nationwide organisations.

New Delhi, Dec 8 (PTI) The Indian Navy has finalised a contract for procurement of a batch of Israeli weapon systems that are capable of bringing down high-speed enemy drones, official sources said on Tuesday.

The delivery of the SMASH 2000 fire control systems is expected to begin early next year, they said.

Jhansi, Dec 8 (PTI) Three persons were arrested on Tuesday for allegedly gang-raping a minor Dalit girl on way to her village school in Jhansi's Mauranipur area, said police.

Jhansi Superintendent of Police Rahul Mithas said the girl, a class 11 student, was raped by the three youths in the age group of 20 to 22 years in Jhashi's Mauranipur police station area.

He said the case was registered against the trio on Monday on the complaint of girl's parents that their daughter was raped by three youths in a desolate area on her way to the school.

Dhanbad(Jharkhand), Dec 9 (PTI) Two miners are missing in Eastern Coalfields Limited (ECL) Khudiya Kadan mine in Mugma area of the district after water flooded the underground mine, officials said on Wednesday.

The official said four miners were engaged in dewatering the mine on Tuesday. Pump operator Basiya Manjhi (56)and his assistant Manik Bauri (52) were found missing when all of a sudden water flooded the seam of the underground mine at around 4 am.

Kochi, Dec 9 (PTI) The world may be in the grip of COVID-19 pandemic, disrupting daily schedules and robbing many of their weekend getaways, but life seems to be normal in the small Lakshadweep islands, which is yet to record the first positive case of coronavirus.

No masks, no sanitisers, and many rules of COVID-19 are not in place and every human activity, including marriages and public gatherings continue, thanks to strict Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) that bars easy entry of people to the island in the Arabian sea.

Badaun (UP), Dec 8 (PTI) A three-year-old girl was allegedly raped by her 26-year-old cousin in Uttar Pradesh's Badaun district, police said on Tuesday.

Senior Superintendent of Police Sankalp Sharma said the incident took place in a village in Wazirganj police station area on Monday night.

The youth, in an inebriated state, took the infant to a deserted place on the pretext of giving a toffee and raped her, the SSP said.

The accused has been arrested, police said.

Kolkata, Dec 8 (PTI) The TMC on Tuesday began its three-day-long sit-in demonstration against the new farm laws and demanded that the "anti-people" legislation should be withdrawn immediately.

The farmers and agricultural workers wing of the TMC, led by its state president and TMC MLA Becharam Manna, began its sit-in demonstration in front of the statue of Mahatma Gandhi in central Kolkata this afternoon.

Party activists carrying placards and demanding the withdrawal of the new farm laws shouted slogans against the BJP government at the Centre.

New Delhi, Dec 8 (PTI) Chief of Army Staff Gen MM Naravane on Tuesday left on a six-day tour of the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, in a first-ever visit by a head of the Indian Army to the two strategically important Gulf countries.

The visit by the Army chief is seen as a reflection of India's growing strategic ties with the two countries and is expected to further open up new avenues for cooperation in the defence and security sphere.