Indian Sub-continent

Bengaluru, Jan 18 (PTI) Joining the growing list of Indian states wooing Tesla's billionaire founder and CEO Elon Musk to start a manufacturing unit, Karnataka on Tuesday projected itself as the "Electric Vehicle (EV) hub" of India and an ideal destination to set up a plant.

Several Indian states like Telangana, West Bengal, Maharashtra, Punjab and Tamil Nadu have already invited Musk to set up shop.

Bulandshahr, Jan 17 (PTI) A court here on Monday sentenced a man to 20 years of imprisonment for sexually assaulting a girl two years ago.

Special Judge, POCSO, Pallavi Agrawal also slapped a fine of Rs 50,000 on Kanhaiya, a resident of a village under the Jahangirabad Police Station.

He was accused of sexually assaulting a four-year-old girl on February 27, 2020, and arrested under sections of the Indian Penal Code and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, officials said.

Budaun (UP), Jan 17 (PTI) A teenager was on Monday detained for allegedly posting an objectionable photograph of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on social media, police said on Monday.

Prince Yadav (17), a resident of Silhari village in the Sahsawan area, was produced in a juvenile court, from where he was taken to a juvenile home.

He was arrested for posting an objectionable photograph of the CM, Sahsawan SHO Sanjiv Shukla said.

The FIR in this connection was registered by Sub-Inspector Rajesh Kumar.

Kanpur: All political parties are active in  making strategies for the upcoming this year's U P Assembly elections. Beyond doubts the Congress party wants to regain its loss under the leadership of the party in charge and General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi, while BJP too wants to repeat it's feat here.

However, factionalism does prevail within the Congress party. The organisation has to bear the brunt because of this factor.

As many as 10 Assembly seats exist in Kanpur. But the Govind Nagar Assembly seat remains in the news.

KABUL, Jan 17 (NNN-ANA) – At least a child was killed and four security personnel were wounded, after a roadside bomb blast hit a security forces pick-up truck, in Bagrami district, east of the capital Kabul yesterday, the capital police said.

The incident occurred when an improvised bomb, planted at a road divider, was detonated when the vehicle was passing by an area in Bagrami district, at around mid-day, police spokesman, Mubin Khan, told reporters via text massaging.

NEW DELHI, Jan 17 (Reuters) - India's capital Delhi and financial hub Mumbai have reported a big fall in COVID-19 infections in the past two days and most of those who contracted the virus have recovered at home, authorities said on Monday.

Mumbai's daily new infections fell below 10,000 on Sunday for the first time since early this month, after touching an all-time high of 20,971 on Jan. 7. It reported 7,895 infections late on Sunday, Mumbai's municipal corporation said.

COLOMBO, Jan 17 (Reuters) - Hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic, Sri Lanka is facing its most serious financial crisis in years, raising doubts about its ability to pay its creditors.

On Tuesday, the island nation will repay $500 million towards an international sovereign bond, the first tranche of a total of $4.5 billion that it needs to pay back this year, to avoid the first default in its history. 

Here are the key details about Sri Lanka's mounting debt problems.

DEBT PROFILE

New Delhi, Jan 17 (PTI) India saw a single-day rise of 258,089 new coronavirus infections taking the tally of cases to 3,73,80,253, which included 8,209 cases of the Omicron variant detected so far, according to data updated by the Union Health Ministry on Monday.

A total of 8,209 cases of the Omicron variant have been detected across 29 states and union territories, out of which 3,109 have recovered or migrated.

Dehradun, Jan 17 (PTI) Fresh charges have been slapped on Yati Narsinghanand for abusing a journalist and photographer after being offended by a question they had asked during an interview.

The Dasna temple priest has already been sent to 14 days' judicial custody in the Dharma Sansad hate speech case.

The fresh charges were slapped on the Dasna temple head priest on the basis of a complaint filed by a journalist, Haridwar city police station SHO Rakinder Singh Kathait said.

Gwalior (MP), Jan 17 (PTI) A 14-year-old girl was allegedly raped and killed by three men, who dumped her body into the Chambal river, in Gwalior district of Madhya Pradesh, police said on Monday.

The three accused included two truck drivers.

The incident had occurred on December 27 last year. Police arrested the three men on Sunday, said Superintendent of Police Amit Sanghi.

He said the victim girl was lured by two truck drivers and a man living in her neighbourhood to accompany them to Farrukhabad in Uttar Pradesh in their vehicle.