Indian Sub-continent

Rewari (Haryana), Dec 28 (PTI) A newborn girl was allegedly tied to a stone and thrown into a canal in the Kosli area here, police said.

Passersby saw the body afloat in the canal on Tuesday and informed the police, they said.

A police team reached the spot and took the body to its possession, a police official said.

Police said the girl was two days old.

Chaibasa (Jharkhand), Dec 28 (PTI) Naxals shot down a 25-year-old scribe working with the Jharkhand forest department in West Singhbhum district on Tuesday suspecting him to be a police informer, police said.

Superintendent of Police Ajay Linda said the Naxals also set ablaze an earth moving machine.

After killing the man, the Naxals left behind a pamphlet near his body saying that he had paid the price of being a police informer.

Linda said that investigation into the incident is on.

KABUL, Dec. 28 (Xinhua) -- Police have nabbed around 100 people on involvement in criminal activities over the past one week in Afghan capital Kabul, the spokesman for Kabul police Mubin Khan said Tuesday.

All the arrested men, according to the official, had been involved in criminal activities ranging from armed robbery to theft.

The Taliban administration is committed to ensuring law and order in the country, Mubin Khan said.

DHAKA, Dec. 28 (Xinhua) -- Bangladesh Railway has signed a deal with a Chinese firm to purchase 580 wagons to expand its freight train service capacity.

Bangladesh Railway and CRRC Shandong Co., Ltd. signed the deal at a ceremony held in the capital Dhaka on Tuesday.

Bangladesh's Railways Minister Nurul Islam Sujan, representatives from the Bangladesh Railway and the Chinese firm, among others, attended the ceremony.

The minister said the new railway wagons will help Bangladesh Railway further enhance the quality of domestic rail freight services.

BENGALURU, Dec 28 (Reuters) - India has approved Merck's (MRK.N) COVID-19 pill and two more vaccines for emergency use as the world's second most populous country braces for a possible spike in coronavirus cases due to the rapidly spreading Omicron variant.

Asia's third-largest economy has already said it will allow COVID-19 booster shots for some of its population as some Indian states logged an uptick in Omicron cases.

28 Dec 2021; MEMO: The visiting Turkish land forces head met with the Pakistani army chief on Monday to discuss various issues, including defense cooperation and regional security, reports Anadolu Agency.

The meeting between Lt. Gen. Veli Tarakci, the chief of General Staff of Turkish Land Forces, and Pakistan Army Chief Gen. Qamar Javed Bajwa was held at the army headquarters in the northeastern garrison city of Rawalpindi.

Coimbatore, Dec 27 (PTI) All the mangled remains of the helicopter, which crashed at Nanjapachatram near Coonoor in the Nilgiris district killing 14 including the country's first Chief of Defence Staff Bipin Rawat have been collected from the site.

All the parts were brought to Sulur air base here with the engine and other larger parts being lifted with an electric rope and transported by lorries to Sulur, police said on Monday.

New Delhi, Dec 27 (PTI) Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to visit the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in the first half of next month which would be his first trip abroad in 2022, people familiar with the development said on Monday.

Both sides are looking at firming up the visit around January 6 but there is no finality on the dates yet, they said.

Kanpur: The whole of the day passed amid cloudy weather. There was absolutely no sign of sun. Though showers also brought a colder feel. 

The showers did take place as was forecast. 

Nature's fury was in full impetus as colder conditions and showers kept up Tuesday's temperature harsher. 

However, the highways remained occupied with heavy vehicles.

As the schools remained closed during these harsh days the little ones did not dare to cross the door of their respective homes.

On the roads, vehicles did move on as the sound of horns.

Etah (UP), Dec 27 (PTI) A 55-year-old Etah businessman was shot dead on Monday evening in Aligarh, police said.

SHO Vijay Singh of Aligarh's Kwarsi police station said businessman Sandeep Gupta was gunned down at 8 pm by two motorcycle-borne sharpshooters who intercepted the trader's car at Centre Point on Samad Road in the city and pumped several bullets into the vehicle.

After the shootout, the trader was rushed to a local hospital here, where he was declared brought dead, the SHO said.