Indian Sub-continent

New Delhi, Dec 31 (PTI) Billionaire Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries Ltd on Friday announced the buyout of British battery maker Faradion Ltd for an enterprise value of GBP 100 million, as the oil-to-retail conglomerate continued with the acquisition of end-to-end technology for its multi-billion-dollar clean energy portfolio.

Malkangiri (Odisha), Dec 31 (PTI) Security forces uncovered an arms dump of the banned CPI (Maoist) outfit along the Odisha-Andhra Pradesh border on Friday, police said.

Acting on a tip-off, Odisha Police and Border Security Force (BSF) personnel launched an intensive combing operation in Swabhiman Anchal in Jodambo police station area.

New Delhi, Dec 31 (PTI) A commando of CRPF's jungle warfare unit CoBRA was injured in a Naxal triggered explosion in Chhattisgarh's Sukma district on Friday, officials said.

The improvised explosive device (IED) blast was followed by an exchange of fire between the troops on patrol and the Maoists around 1 pm along the Palodi-Kistaram axis of the district.

A personnel of the 208th battalion of the Commando Battalion for Resolute Action (CoBRA) has been injured during the anti-Naxal operation and he is being evacuated, they said.

CHENNAI, Dec 30 (Reuters) - Foreign automakers have indicated an interest to the government of India's Tamil Nadu state in acquiring Ford Motor Co's (F.N) plant there, the state industries minister said on Thursday, after inconclusive talks with the Tata Group.

Ford India said in September it would wind down operations at a factory in Western Gujarat state by end-2021 and vehicle and engine manufacturing at the Tamil Nadu plant by 2022, as it did not see a path to profitability in the country. 

Banda (UP), Dec 29 (PTI) A debt-ridden farmer allegedly committed suicide by hanging himself in Khaptiha Kalan village here, police said on Wednesday.

Ramswaroop Yadav (38), who farmed on five bighas of land, had taken a loan of Rs 46,000 from the Pailani branch of Aryavart Bank under the Kisan Credit Card and he had received a notice for recovery of the loan recently, police quoted his uncle, Ghasita Yadav as saying.

The crop sown on the agricultural land had dried up and that might be the reason he committed suicide, the uncle told police.

New Delhi, Dec 29 (PTI) The Congress on Wednesday slammed the government over the purchase of a luxury car for Prime Minister Narendra Modi's cavalcade at a time when the economy has taken a hit due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Recalling the prime minister's description of himself as fakir' (ascetic), Congress spokesperson Gourav Vallabh said every person in the country desires to be a fakir like Modi who flies in an Rs 8,000 crore aircraft, rides in Rs 20 crore car and spends Rs 2,000 crore on building a home .

New Delhi, Dec 29 (PTI) The Delhi Police has arrested two people for allegedly raping a 34-year-old woman in west Delhi's Hari Nagar area, officials said on Wednesday.

Around 3 am on Monday, the woman asked an unknown person to drop her at a relative's house. The man, who was accompanied by another person in the car, picked her from Sagarpur.

They allegedly raped her after stopping the car at a secluded place in Nihal Vihar area, Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police (West) Prashant Gautam said.

New Delhi, Dec 29 (PTI) Prime Minister Narendra Modi's planned visit to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in the first half of next month has been postponed, people familiar with the development said on Wednesday.

The prime minister was scheduled to visit the strategically important Gulf nation around January 6, they said.

Firozabad (UP), Dec 29 (PTI) Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra Wednesday attacked the government over "privatisation" of some institutions, saying it is a way to end reservation.

During an interactive session with women as part of her party's "ladki hoon, lad sakti hoon" campaign here, she said all political parties have started talking about women after the Congress raised their issues.

Mathura, Dec 29 (PTI) A 36-year-old Ukraine national allegedly committed suicide here in a temple where he was staying by hanging from a wooden hook in his room, police said on Wednesday.

The incident happened in Govind Kund area on Tuesday night, SP Rural Shrish Chandra said.

A suicide note with a request to perform his last rites in Brijbhumi was also found on him, he said.

His room was found open in the morning when he was found dead, he said.