Indian Sub-continent

New Delhi, Mar 6 (PTI) The Supreme Court has stayed operation of the death sentence awarded to a man convicted for raping and murdering an 11-year-old girl in Dehradun in 2018.

The apex court, which was hearing an appeal filed by the convict against the January 2020 verdict of the Uttarakhand High Court which had confirmed the death penalty awarded to him by a trial court, directed that psychological evaluation of the appellant be done and its report be placed before it.

Lucknow, Mar 6 (PTI) Voting for the seventh and final phase of the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections covering 54 seats, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi's parliamentary constituency Varanasi, will be held on Monday to decide the phase of 613 candidates.

Polling will start at 7 am and will continue till 6 pm in Azamgarh, Mau, Jaunpur, Ghazipur, Chandauli, Varanasi, Mirzapur, Bhadohi and Sonbhadra districts.

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — Officials vowed Saturday to hunt down and arrest the masterminds behind a deadly mosque attack in Pakistan a day earlier claimed by an Islamic State affiliate. The assault killed 63 people and wounded nearly 200.

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — The Islamic State says a lone Afghan suicide bomber struck inside a Shiite Muslim mosque in Pakistan’s northwestern city of Peshawar during Friday prayers, killing at least 56 worshippers and wounding 194 people.

The Islamic State affiliate in the region known as Islamic State in Khorasan province and headquartered in Afghanistan claimed Friday’s devastating attack in a statement translated by the SITE Intelligence group.

New Delhi, Mar 5 (PTI) The Delhi High Court has asked advocates, litigants and staff members to strictly refrain from feeding monkeys inside the court premises.

In a circular issued by its administrative branch on Friday, the high court also requested all concerned persons to ensure that the windows of court buildings and all blocks are not left open or unattended.

Peshawar, Mar 5 (AP) The Islamic State says a lone Afghan suicide bomber struck inside a Shiite Muslim mosque in Pakistan's northwestern city of Peshawar during Friday prayers, killing at least 56 worshippers and wounding 194 people.

The Islamic State affiliate in the region known as Islamic State in Khorasan province and headquartered in Afghanistan claimed Friday's devastating attack in a statement translated by the SITE Intelligence group.

Islamabad, Mar 5 (PTI) The global money laundering and terrorist financing watchdog FATF has retained Pakistan on its terrorism financing grey list and asked Islamabad to address at the earliest the remaining deficiencies in its financial system, according to a media report on Saturday.

Pakistan has been on the grey list of the Paris-based Financial Action Task Force (FATF) since June 2018 for failing to check money laundering, leading to terror financing, and was given a plan of action to complete it by October 2019.

New Delhi, Mar 5 (PTI) Against the backdrop of the Ukraine crisis, the National Medical Commission (NMC) has said foreign medical graduates with incomplete internships due to situations beyond their control like COVID-19 or war can finish the same in India.

In a circular, the NMC said the same may be processed by the state medical councils, provided the candidates have cleared the Foreign Medical Graduate Examination before applying for completion of internship in India.

Srinagar, Mar 4 (PTI) Congregational prayers were held at the Jamia Masjid in Srinagar's old city area on Friday for the first time in 31 weeks as the number of Covid cases in Jammu and Kashmir showed a rapid decline.

Hundreds assembled at the mosque in the morning for the weekly Friday prayers after over seven months, officials said.

Jaipur, Mar 4 (PTI) A 15-year-old girl was allegedly gang-raped in Rajasthan's Sawai Madhopur district, police said on Friday.

The victim lodged a complaint at Malarna Dungar police station on Friday, they said.

Station House Officer (SHO) Dhanraj said an FIR has been registered against accused Ramnaresh, Dinesh and Indraj and others under Section 376D (gang rape) of the Indian Penal Code and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.