India

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India’s parliament session that began this week is likely to be cut short after 30 lawmakers were found infected with the coronavirus, two senior parliament officials said, as the number of cases in the country rose to 5.3 million.

The Indian parliament met for the first time in six months on September 14 and was to function until Oct. 1, but the two officials said its duration could be reduced by a week.

New York (US), Sep 19 (AP/PTI) Wall Street capped another turbulent week of trading Friday with a broad slide in stocks that left the S&P 500 with its third-straight weekly loss.

The S&P 500 fell 1.1per cent, led once again by a sell-off in technology companies, with Apple, Amazon and Alphabet weighing particularly on the market.

Technology stocks and other companies that powered the market's strong comeback this year have suddenly lost momentum this month amid worries that they have become too expensive.

Noida (UP), Sep 18 (PTI) The Uttar Pradesh Police's Special Task Force (STF) on Friday arrested four Delhi-based men accused of duping multiple banks to the tune of crores of rupees, officials said.

The men allegedly got credit cards made on forged documents and used stolen Cibil scores (a consumer's credit details) for that purpose, they said.

The accused were held near the Sector 16A-located Filmcity by the Noida unit of the STF, the officials said.

New Delhi, Sep 18 (PTI) Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday extended Jewish New Year greetings to the people of Israel and its premier Benjamin Netanyahu.

"Warm Rosh Hashanah greetings to my friend @netanyahu, the people of Israel and to the Jewish community all over the world. May the new year bring good health, peace and prosperity in everyone's life. Shana Tova!" Modi tweeted.

Muzaffarnagar (UP), Sep 19 (PTI) A 16-year-old girl was allegedly abducted and raped by a youth in a village in Uttar Pradesh's Muzaffarnagar district, police said on Saturday.

The alleged incident took place on Friday in the village under Bhopa police station limits, they said.

Jaipur, Sep 19 (PTI) A 45-year old woman was allegedly gangraped in front of her nephew who was also forced to sexually assault her in Rajasthan's Alwar district, police said on Saturday.

The accused also shot a video of the incident and circulated it following which an FIR was registered, they said.

According to police, six to seven people were involved in the crime and they have arrested two and detained one.

Kanpur: Why this year is proving to be so painful to the leather exporters? Not only the exports have been decreased but also there were no remarkable orders from foreign buyers.

According to the report of the Leather Export Council, the export has been gone down to 48 per cent. This is a big fall in terms of the business. Was it due to the Corona pandemic?

Dwelling upon this unstable situation, the Council's regional chairman Javed Iqbal said that there was running despondency among the exporters, adding that the exports from April to August have been reduced to half.

Melbourne/Sydney; 19 Sep 2020 (UMMN):  Following statement was issued by The Humanism Project – Australia;

The Humanism Project (THP) represents Indians in Australia who belong to various faiths, linguistic and cultural backgrounds and take pride in the rich diversity of our heritage. We are deeply concerned about the human right violations, assault on minorities, suppression of dissent and authoritarian tendencies of the current political dispensation in India.

Lucknow, Sep 18 (PTI) Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has asked officials to formulate a strategy and bring an ordinance if required to prevent religious conversions in the name of love, an official said on Friday.

It has been seen in the recent past that women have been made to convert in the name of love and marriage and later subjected to cruelty and even murder," the official who did not wished to be named said.

Kanpur: It is definitely not an easier but arduous task. The two cyclists have really stunned everyone by their enthusiastic and energetic spirit.

One person is a 60-year-old man Thakur Das Sasmal of Kolkata and another one is 40 years old Mukesh Manna.

Both have arrived after cycling a very long distance in Naubasta area here on Tuesday. They will move to Delhi from this place. 

Their mission is to spread awareness in regard to the value of social distancing, wearing a face mask and the need for sensitisation during the scary time.