Indian Sub-continent

Chennai, Nov 30 (PTI) The Madras High Court has directed the Kancheepuram district Collector to demolish, within four weeks, an illegal structure, a church, constructed by a pastor on government 'meikal poramboke' land.

Justice S M Subramaniam, who gave the direction last week, also directed the Collector to conduct an enquiry in respect of the negligence, dereliction of duty and lapses committed on the part of the local RDO and the Tahsildar in Sriperumbudur in not initiating action in spite of the complaint and permitting such illegal activities to go on.

Thane, Nov 30 (PTI) A BJP corporator was arrested on Tuesday in a molestation case, after being on the run for the last three months in Maharashtra's Thane district, police said.

Sandeep Gaikar, a corporator in the Kalyan Dombivili Municipal Corporation (KDMC), was produced before a local magistrate, who remanded him to police custody for three days, an official said.

An offence was registered against Gaikar at Bazarpeth police station in September, after a woman from Dombivili accused him of allegedly molesting and stalking her, he said.

Bareilly (UP), Dec 1 (PTI) A 12-year-old girl was allegedly raped by a lawyer in Baradari area here, police said on Wednesday.

The incident took place on Tuesday when the girl was playing outside her house and Taurn alias Govind reached there and took the girl to her office and raped her, SSP Rohit Singh Sajwan said.

The lawyer also threatened the girl with dire consequences if she informed anyone about the incident.

NEW DELHI, Nov 30 (NNN-PTI) – Chief Minister of the Indian capital city, Arvind Kejriwal, today urged the federal government, to immediately ban international flights from countries affected by the new Omicron variant of COVID-19.

He questioned the Indian government, over its delay in this regard, in a post on social media, writing: “Many countries have stopped incoming flights from Omicron-affected countries. Why are we delaying? Even in the first wave, we had delayed stopping foreign flights.”

Kanpur: The Test match remains a connoisseur's delight. New Zealand pulled off a draw against India at Green Park here. It was a result that sends an impression of a win for the visitors.

It was a perfect battle between bat and ball. Everything was up for grabs in the first innings and it turned out to be a test of character in the second.

Credit goes to New Zealand who have pulled off a memorable draw.

The match produced everything one could have wished.

New Delhi, Nov 29 (PTI) AAP national convenor and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Monday said his party has "the most honest, dedicated and patriotic leaders".

His remarks came after Aam Aadmi Party MLA Raghav Chadha won the "Stylish Politician of the Year" award at the second season of the India Fashion Awards.

"We have the most honest, most dedicated and most patriotic leaders in our party. Now, we have the most stylish too! Congrats @raghav_chadha," Kejriwal tweeted.

Kolkata, Nov 29 (PTI) West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee will be on a three-day visit to Mumbai from November 30, during which she is scheduled to meet NCP supremo Sharad Pawar and her Maharashtra counterpart Uddhav Thackeray.

She is also expected to meet industrialists in Mumbai on December 1 and invite them to Bengal Global Business Summit, to be held in April next year.

Chennai, Nov 29 (PTI) Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin on Monday urged the Centre to remove 11 per cent import duty levied on cotton, rework terms for e-auction of cotton to help Micro Small and Medium Enterprises and extend 5 per cent interest subvention to spinning mills for procurement.

New Delhi, Nov 29 (PTI) The government has no proposal to recognise Bitcoin as a currency in the country, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman told the Lok Sabha on Monday.

She also informed the House that the government does not collect data on Bitcoin transactions.

Replying to a question on whether the government has any proposal to recognise Bitcoin as a currency in the country, the finance minister said, "No, sir".

New Delhi, Nov 29 (PTI) Prime Minister Narendra Modi may visit the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in January that could be his first trip abroad in 2022, people familiar with the development said on Monday.

Both sides are having talks to firm up the visit which is likely to be focussed largely around the ongoing Dubai Expo.

The India pavilion at the Expo has drawn a huge crowd.

The people cited above said the dates for the proposed visit are yet to be finalised.