Indian Sub-continent

Bhubaneswar, Feb 12 (PTI) The State Election Commssion, Odisha Saturday issued a new circular for the coming panchayat election prohibiting the presence of outsiders and political leaders in the poll-bound areas after campaigning.

All outsiders will have to leave the poll-bound areas by February 14 evening when campaigning for the first phase of election on February 16 ends, State Election Commissioner A P Padhi.

He spoke after holding a review meeting on rural and urban polls in the virtual mode with district collectors.

Ballia (UP), Feb 12 (PTI) Bairiya's BJP MLA Surendra Singh, contesting the UP assembly election as a Vikasheel Insaan Party ticket after quitting his earlier party, has been booked for allegedly violating the model code of conduct.

A case has been registered against Singh and his 100 unidentified supporters at the Haldi police station for violating the poll code during electioneering, police sources said on Saturday.

The FIR has been lodged under various sections of the Epidemic Act and the matter is being investigated, they said.

Bengaluru, Feb 12 (PTI) The following is the list of players sold on the first day of the IPL 2022 mega auction here on Saturday:

Ishan Kishan - Mumbai Indians for Rs 15.25 crore
Deepak Chahar - Chennai Super Kings for Rs 14 crore
Shikhar Dhawan - Punjab Kings for Rs 8.25 crore
R Ashwin - Rajasthan Royals for Rs 5 crore
Pat Cummins - Kolkata Knight Riders for Rs 7.25 crore
Kagiso Rabada - Punjab Kings for Rs 9.25 crore
Trent Boult - Rajasthan Royals for Rs 8 crore
Shreyas Iyer - KKR for Rs 12.25 crore

Lucknow, Feb 13 (PTI) Switching sides has always been a part of the poll scenario and this time is no different with almost all parties in Uttar Pradesh from the major ones like the BJP and Congress to smaller outfits like Apna Dal (Sonelal) seeing some legislators bidding them goodbye and some others joining them.

The maximum gains from this flight of legislators has been to the BJP followed by the Samajwadi Party, while the losers are the BSP and the Congress.

Kanpur: The district administration has thought upon a fresh idea to develop awareness and enable people to cast their vote when the voting begins here on the coming schedule of February 20.

Denizens will collect important information on "Kanpur Votes On 20 Feb" when they will go to purchase packed milk pouches and the bread packets in the next week.

UDIPI, India, Feb 12 (Reuters) - Ayesha Imthiaz, a devout Indian Muslim who considers wearing a hijab an expression of devotion to the Prophet Mohammad, says a move by her college to expel hijab-wearing girls is an insult that will force her to chose between religion and education.

"The humiliation of being asked to leave my classroom for wearing a head scarf by college officials has shaken my core belief," said the 21-year-old student from southern Karnataka's Udupi district, where protests over the head covering ban began.

AHMEDABAD, India, Feb 12 (Reuters) - Hundreds of Hindu nationalist protesters marched in the Indian state of Gujarat on Saturday, prompting the closure of stores owned by several multinational companies caught up in a furore over social media posts supporting disputed Kashmir.

The messages were posted last week by the Pakistani branches of firms including Hyundai Motor (005380.KS), Kia Motors (000270.KS), fast food chain Domino's Pizza (DPZ.N) and Yum Brand Inc's (YUM.N) Pizza Hut and KFC, which also operate in India.

KABUL, Feb 12 (Reuters) - Afghanistan's central bank on Saturday criticised Washington's plan to use half the bank's $7 billion in frozen assets on U.S. soil for humanitarian aid and set aside the rest to possibly satisfy lawsuits over the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.

U.S. administration officials said on Friday they would work to ensure access to $3.5 billion of the assets would benefit the Afghan people, amid calls for the money to be used to address a deepening economic crisis since the Taliban seized power last year. 

NEW DELHI, Feb. 12 (Xinhua) -- Indian authorities have seized drugs worth 20 billion Indian Rupees (265 million U.S. dollars) in international market from the high seas, in a joint operation conducted by the Indian Navy (IN) and the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), an official statement said on Saturday.

The narcotics seized included 529 kilograms of very high quality of Hashish, 234 kilograms of finest quality of crystal Methamphetamine and some Heroin.

According to the statement, this is the "first such operation" in which the apprehension has been made in high seas.

KABUL, Feb. 12 (Xinhua) -- Abdul Salam Rahimi, state minister for peace of the former government, has returned to Afghanistan, the Afghan caretaker government said on Saturday.

Acting Foreign Minister Mawlawi Amir Khan Muttaqi along with several other senior officials welcomed Rahimi in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs here on Saturday, the government said in a statement.

Many Afghan security forces and civil servants left Afghanistan following the takeover by the Taliban.