Indian Sub-continent

Vidisha, Nov 23 (PTI) Congress president Rahul Gandhi Friday said Indians have realised that there is no substance in what Prime Minister Narendra Modi speaks, adding the latter is mum on the issues he spoke about before the 2014 elections.

Addressing a campaign rally here for the November 28 Madhya Pradesh Assembly polls, Gandhi said Modi's speeches used to be about corruption, farmers and unemployment.

"Today, he doesn't say anything on these issues.

Jaipur, Nov 23 (PTI) Both the BJP and the Congress kept the caste arithmetic in mind while announcing their candidates for the Rajasthan assembly polls, fielding same-caste nominees against each other in at least 31 constituencies.

The two parties have fielded 33 candidates each belonging to the Jat community for the December 7 polls.

The ruling BJP has fielded 26 Rajputs and the Congress 15 from the community.

Altogether, over 60 candidates from the Scheduled Tribe and Scheduled Caste categories are in the fray.

Srinagar, Nov 23 (PTI) Security forces shot dead six Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) militants during an encounter in forest area of Anantnag district in Jammu and Kashmir, police said.

"In one of the most successful operations this year, six Lashkar militants were killed in an encounter with security forces in Wagahama area of Bijbehara in Anantnag district," a police spokesman said.

The security forces had launched an operation in the foothills of Wagahama Suktipora on Thursday night following information about presence of militants at a hideout there, he said.

New Delhi, Nov 23 (PTI) Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar Friday said there is no scope for an ordinance on building Ram temple at the disputed site in Ayodhya, while asserting that the temple should be constructed at the birth place of Lord Ram and efforts are to build consensus on the issue.

Jaipur, Nov 23 (PTI) The Rajasthan BJP has suspended 11 rebel leaders, including four ministers, for six years over their decision to contest elections against party candidates, a party spokesperson said Friday.

Four ministers, Surendra Goyal (Jaitaran), Hem Singh Bhadana (Thanagaji), Rajkumar Rinwa (Ratangarh) and Dhan Singh Rawat (Banswara), who are contesting as independent candidates, are among those who were suspended on Thursday night after they did not withdraw nomination papers.

The party termed the action "expulsion" for six years.

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — An explosion ripped through a mosque inside an Afghan army base in the country’s volatile eastern Khost province as Friday prayers were drawing to a close, killing 27 soldiers and wounding 57, the military said.

The blast may have been set off by a suicide bomber or a remotely detonated bomb but nothing was officially confirmed and details were sketchy. No group immediately claimed responsibility for the explosion.

23 Nov 2018; AFP: Religious freedom is under threat in one of every five nations around the globe, in part because of an increase in "aggressive ultranationalism", a Catholic NGO said in a report Thursday.

Aid to the Church in Need found incidents of religious persecution in 21 countries in the two years to June 2018, including Niger, Myanmar, India and China.

Acts of discrimination were reported in 17 other countries such as Algeria, Turkey and Russia, it said.

KARACHI, Pakistan (AP) — Armed separatists stormed the Chinese Consulate in Pakistan’s southern port city of Karachi on Friday, triggering an intense hour-long shootout during which two Pakistani civilians, two police officers and all three assailants were killed, Pakistani officials said.

The killed Pakistani civilians were a father and a son had come to the consulate to pick up their visas to China, police said.

KANPUR: Not only the railway passengers but also the railways would now take a sigh of relief from an unnecessary delay of the trains. The trains coming from New Delhi used to stand. The much-awaited 17-km long third railway track for the passenger trains has now been opened.

Srinagar, Nov 22 (PTI) The decision of Governor Satya Pal Malik to dissolve Jammu and Kashmir assembly was taken in haste and not keeping in mind the constitutional spirit, CPI(M) leader M Y Tarigami said here on Thursday.

The governor abruptly dissolved the state assembly Wednesday night, hours after the PDP staked claim to form a government with the backing of rival NC and the Congress.