Indian Sub-continent

Lucknow, Feb 11 (PTI) Union Minister of State for Home Ajai Mishra Teni's son Ashish Mishra moved the Allahabad High Court on Friday seeking rectification of his bail order in the case of Lakhimpur Kheri violence.

Ashish Mishra moved the Lucknow bench of the high court seeking insertion of sections 302 for murder and 120 B for criminal conspiracy which were inadvertently not mentioned in the high court order granting him the bail.

Kabul, Feb 12 (AP) The Taliban released two foreign journalists working with the U.N. refugee agency and several of the aid organization's Afghan staff on Friday, UNHCR said, hours after news broke about their detentions in the capital, Kabul.

The announcement followed a tweet by the Taliban-appointed deputy minister of culture and information, Zabihullah Mujahid, who said they were detained because they didn't have documents that properly identified them as UNHCR. Mujahid said they were freed after their identities were confirmed.

Panaji, Feb 11 (PTI) Senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of distracting the attention of people of Goa from real issues like environment and employment.

Criticising Modi over his statement that if Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru wanted, Goa could have been liberated "within hours" in 1947 when India attained independence, Gandhi said the prime minister does not understand the situation of those times and what was happening post-World War II.

Patna, Feb 11 (PTI) The BJP in Bihar, which has been on a collision course with Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's JD(U) for some time, on Friday asserted that the coalition government will complete its full five-year term.

State minister Syed Shahnawaz Hussain, a national spokesman of the party, made the averment here at a press conference he addressed jointly with Sanjay Jaiswal, the Bihar BJP president.

"The government will complete its five years in power without any ifs or buts ( bina kintu parantu ke'), said Hussain.

New Delhi, Feb 11 (PTI) Student outfits protested on Friday to demand the resumption of offline academic activity at Jamia Millia Islamia (JMI) and were assured by university officials that it will soon be reopened in a phased manner.

The left-affiliated All India Students' Association (AISA), along with other student outfits and JMI students, demanded reopening of the campus.

New Delhi, Feb 11 (PTI) The civil aviation ministry on Friday scrapped the requirement of drone pilot licence for operating drones in the country.

The Remote Pilot Certificate (RPC) issued by a DGCA-approved drone school through the single window DigitalSky Platform shall be sufficient for operating a drone in India, according to an official.

The official also said that no remote pilot certificate shall be required for operating a drone up to 2 kg for non-commercial purposes.

Raipur, Feb 12 (PTI) A Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) officer was killed during an exchange of fire with Maoists in Chhattisgarh's left-wing extremism affected Bijapur district on Saturday, officials said.

The incident took place at Timmapur-Putkel under Basaguda police station area of the district when a CRPF patrol comprising personnel from the 'F company' of its 168th battalion was out for a road opening and sanitising duty.

Jaipur, Feb 12 (PTI) A seven-year-old differently-abled girl was allegedly raped by a youth in Rajasthan's Chittorgarh district, police said on Saturday.

The accused, Manoj Jhakar (19), has been arrested, they said.

On Thursday, the girl's mother was busy cooking and her father had gone out for some work when the accused took her and her younger brother to the fields on the pretext of showing them a cartoon film on his mobile phone. He raped the girl in the fields, the police said.

Melbourne, Feb 12 (PTI) The current situation at the Line of Actual Control (LAC) has arisen due to the disregard of written agreements by China not to mass soldiers at the border, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said on Saturday.

Speaking at a joint press conference along with his Australian counterpart Marise Payne, Jaishankar further said when a large country disregards written commitments, it's an issue of legitimate concern for the entire international community.

Kanpur: In view of the second e-bus mishap within nearly two weeks, it has been decided by the authorities concerned to take off the electronic bus plying on the road." The plying of e-buses are being withdrawn for three days," said Raj Sekhar, divisional commissioner here.

The speeding e-bus whacked the people when traffic was on a halt due to red traffic light.

One of the injured was hurriedly taken to Lala Lajpat Rai Hospital with multiple fractures, the police let out.