Indian Sub-continent

Ahmedabad, Dec 10 (PTI) The Gujarat High Court has questioned how people could be stopped from "eating what they want" outside their house as it slammed the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) for its drive against handcarts selling non-vegetarian food items on streets.

The HC made the remarks on Thursday while disposing of a petition petition filed by nearly 20 street vendors claiming the AMC's recent anti-encroachment drive was targeted at handcarts selling non-vegetarian food items, an allegation denied by the civic body.

Kanpur: The first phase of Kanpur Metro will be opened for the public on December 28 this year.

The first-ever service will operate on a 9-km-long corridor, stretching from IIT Kanpur to Motijheel in the city.

As many as 8 overhead stations including IIT, Kalyanpur, SPM Hospital, University, Gurudev, Geeta Nagar, Rawatpur, Lala Lajpat Rai Hospital and Motijheel will be covered. 

The Prime Minister is expected to participate in the IIT-K convocation programme and inaugurate the metro, during his Kanpur in the last week of December.

Agartala, Dec 9 (PTI) Four insurgents, including a cadre of a Manipur-based outfit, surrendered before BSF authorities in Unakoti district, officials said on Thursday.

The militants belonging to the National Liberation Front of Tripura (NLFT) and Kanglei Yawolkanna Lup (KYL), laid down arms at BSF Sector Headquarters in Panisagar, they said.

Lucknow Dec 9 (PTI) BJP MLA from Ayodhya's Gosaiganj seat, Indra Pratap alias Khabbu Tiwari, has been disqualified from the membership of the UP Assembly following his conviction in a 28-year-old case, Vidhan Sabha secretariat said here on Thursday.

Tiwari was sentenced to five years in jail by a Special Court for using a fake mark sheet to get admission in college.

Panaji, Dec 9 (PTI) Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram on Thursday said political approach of his party and that of the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress must converge for good of the country.

The former Union minister also appreciated a recent statement by Shiv Sena Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut that the Congress must take lead in bringing together all UPA constituents to take on the BJP at the national level.

New Delhi, Dec 9 (PTI) A total of 622 Indian fishermen are lodged in foreign jails, including 574 in Pakistan, the government informed Rajya Sabha on Thursday.

In a written reply to a question in the Upper House, Minister of State for External Affairs V Muraleedharan said the length of time Indian fishermen spend as undertrials in foreign jails and their terms of imprisonment differ from country to country and depend on several factors, including local laws and charges imposed on them by the local courts.

New Delhi, Dec 9 (PTI) Lok Sabha on Thursday passed two bills to fix the tenures of directors of the Central Bureau of Investigation and the Enforcement Directorate to a maximum of five years, with the government rejecting the opposition charge that the move will rob the investigative agencies of their "autonomy".

Patna, Dec 09 (PTI) RJD state headquarters here on Thursday went into celebratory overdrive, when news broke that the party's de facto leader Tejashwi Yadav has tied the knot with a childhood friend.

The eligible bachelor said 'I-do' at a farm house in Delhi, in the presence of his parents Lalu Prasad Yadav and Rabri Devi, his eight siblings and their families, Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav with whom the first family of Bihar politics shares family ties besides close relatives.

Jamshedpur, Dec 9 (PTI) A BJP youth leader died at a hospital in Jharkhand's East Singhbhum district on Thursday morning after being stabbed with a dagger, police said.

Suraj Kumar Singh (26), the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) general secretary of the district, succumbed to his injuries at the Tata Main Hospital here.

State BJP president Deepak Prakash alleged that criminals are ruling the roost under the JMM government led by Hemant Soren.

Mumbai, Dec 10 (PTI) The rupee declined further by 8 paise to a fresh 16-month low level of 75.68 in early trade on Friday due to continued foreign found outflows and losses in the stock market.

At the interbank foreign exchange market, the rupee opened lower at 75.65 against the previous close of 75.60 and fell further to a low of 75.68, down by 8 paise, in early morning deals.