Indian Sub-continent

Kolkata, Sep 8 (PTI) West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday said she and her counterparts in neighbouring Bihar and Jharkhand will join hands with several other opposition parties to oust the BJP from power in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

While addressing a party programme here, Banerjee, also the Trinamool Congress supremo, claimed that the BJP would face a rout because of its arrogance and people's anger.

New Delhi, Sep 8 (PTI) The government on Thursday imposed a 20 per cent export duty on non-Basmati rice except for parboiled rice to boost domestic supplies amid a fall in area under the paddy crop in the current Kharif season.

According to a notification by the revenue department, an export duty of 20 per cent has been imposed on 'rice in husk (paddy or rough)' and 'husked (brown) rice'.

Gonda (UP), Sep 8 (PTI) A court here on Thursday awarded a man 20 years of rigorous imprisonment for abducting and raping a minor girl.

The court also awarded three-year jail to his father, the co-accused in the case.

New Delhi, Sep 9 (PTI) The Supreme Court on Friday granted bail to Kerala-based journalist Siddique Kappan, arrested in October 2020 while on his way to Hathras in Uttar Pradesh where a Dalit woman had died after allegedly being gang-raped.

A bench headed by Chief Justice Uday Umesh Lalit directed Kappan to remain in Delhi for the next six weeks after the release from an Uttar Pradesh prison.

The bench imposed certain conditions on him including asking him to surrender his passport and report to the police station on every Monday.

Kanyakumari, Sep 9 (PTI) Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Friday hit back at the BJP over its 'Parivar Bachao' remark, saying the Bharat Jodo Yatra is being undertaken to undo the damage done by the BJP-RSS in the country.

Speaking to the media during the yatra which started from Kanyakumari on Thursday, Gandhi accused the BJP of taking control of institutions of the country and pressurising those who are against them.

Kanpur: Preparations have begun to shut down 52 illegally settled leather industries near Chakeri Airport here.

The Air Force had objected that the number of birds was increasing due to the leather industries, which could affect the air services.

DM Visakh Ji held a meeting with various departments and ordered the Pollution Control Board to investigate.

In the investigation, it was found that industries started setting up there without environmental clearance.

COLOMBO, Sept 8 (NNN-XINHUA) – Thirty-seven state ministers were sworn in by President Ranil Wickremesinghe today.

The President’s Office said that, the state ministers took oaths at the Presidential Secretariat, in the capital, Colombo. Among those sworn in, Shehan Semasinghe was sworn in as state minister of finance, Pramitha Bandara Tennakoon, as state minister of defence, Tharaka Balasuriya as state minister of foreign affairs.

The state ministers will assume duty soon, officials said.

ISLAMABAD, Sept 8 (Reuters) - A Pakistani court ruled on Thursday that it will indict former Prime Minister Imran Khan on charges of contempt of court, his lawyer and local broadcasters said, which could lead to his disqualification from politics if convicted.

The ruling has stoked more political instability in the South Asian nation of 220 million, which is facing the worst-ever flooding.

NEW DELHI, Sept 8 (Reuters) - Indian and Chinese troops have begun disengaging from the Gogra-Hotsprings border area in the western Himalayas, the Indian government said in a statement on Thursday, two years after clashes at the frontier strained diplomatic ties.

The statement comes ahead of a meeting in Uzbekistan next week which Chinese President Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi are expected to attend.

India said disengagement was taking place in a coordinated and planned way and is meant to keep border peace.

ISLAMABAD (AP) — The Taliban and the Abu Dhabi-based firm GAAC Solutions signed a contract Thursday for the Emirati company to provide flight services and manage planes landing and taking off on key airports in Afghanistan.

The flight guidance services deal will also include equipping the facilities and training Afghan staff at country’s three major airports, including the one in the capital of Kabul, the Taliban said.