Indian Sub-continent

COLOMBO, Dec. 6 (Xinhua) -- Representatives of international financial institutions agreed that Sri Lanka needs a coordinated assistance program to come out of the current economic crisis, the President's Media Division (PMD) said in a statement on Tuesday.

The agreement was reached following a round table discussion held among representatives of the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe in Colombo on Tuesday, said the PMD.

ISLAMABAD, Dec 4 (APP): Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on Sunday said that he did not see the need to hold early elections in the country as was being demanded by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Chairman and former prime minister Imran Khan.

The foreign minister, in an interview with Al-Jazeera, said that the current government inherited from its predecessor “a divided country and a collapsed economy.”

However, he said the incumbent government was looking for solutions to internal problems and consensus at the international level.

DHAKA, Dec 5 (NNN-BSS) – A 5.2-magnitude earthquake struck Bangladesh’s capital, Dhaka and parts of the country this morning, according to a meteorologist of the Bangladesh Meteorological Department (BMD).

Kazi Zebunnesa, a meteorologist from Bangladesh Meteorological Department, said that, the epicentre of the earthquake was at a depth of 10 km in the Bay of Bengal.

The meteorologist said, the epicentre was 520 kilometres away from the Agargaon Seismic Centre in the capital, Dhaka. The earthquake occurred at around 9:02 a.m. local time.

NEW DELHI, Dec. 4 (Xinhua) -- The quality of air in India's Delhi deteriorated to the "Severe" category on Sunday, and as a result restrictions on construction and demolition were re-imposed to bring down air pollution levels.

Taking a note of the rise in air pollution levels, the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) said in an order that as the air quality index (AQI) had slipped into the "Severe" category owing to calm wind and stable atmospheric conditions, all actions would be implemented with immediate effect to bring down air pollution levels.

Kanpur: Police have constituted a team under ASP to examine the 13 complaints filed against Samajwadi Party MLA Solanki from the Sisamau area here.

He is reportedly in jail for allegedly harassing and setting a woman's house on fire in a bid to allegedly capture her house located in the city's posh area.

As many as 13 complaints, including that criminal intimidation, money dispute, and land grabbing, were filed against the MLA.

ISLAMABAD (AP) — The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for last week’s shooting at the Pakistani embassy in Afghanistan in which the head of the mission escaped unharmed but a guard was wounded.

In a brief statement late Saturday, IS claimed two of its fighters attacked “the renegade Pakistani ambassador and his guards” while they were in the Pakistani embassy’s yard, wounding a guard and inflicting damage to the building. It gave no further details.

Dec 3 (Reuters) - Pakistan's new army chief on Saturday said the military was ready to defend "every inch of our motherland" if attacked, during a visit to the Line of Control (LoC) that divides the disputed Kashmir region, which is claimed by both Pakistan and neighbouring India.

The visit came less than a week since General Asim Munir took charge of Pakistan's powerful military, and were among his strongest public statements on arch-rival India since taking up the role.

Barwani (MP), Dec 3 (PTI) A government school teacher has been suspended for attending the Rahul Gandhi-led Bharat Jodo Yatra in Madhya Pradesh's Barwani district, an official said on Saturday.

Rajesh Kannoje, a teacher with a primary school under the state's Tribal Affairs Department in Kanasya, was suspended on November 25, a day after he took part in the yatra. The issue came to light after his suspension order surfaced on social media.

New Delhi, Dec 3 (PTI) Being the conscience-keeper of democracy, the court cannot turn a blind eye when the ends of justice are being bulldozed in broad daylight, the Delhi High Court has observed, setting aside an order cancelling the lease deed of a charitable hospital built on public land.

Kanpur: A vegetable vendor lost both his legs after being run over by a train here on Friday. He was assembling his belongings allegedly thrown on the tracks during an anti-encroachment drive. The incident happened in the Kalyanpur area.

An eyewitness claimed that the victim went to the tracks to pick up his belongings and his weighing scale, allegedly thrown by the men in khaki on railway tracks. He was run over by an oncoming train.

Locals claimed that the Indira Nagar police station in charge and head constable Rakesh Kumar chased the street vendors off GT Road.