Indian Sub-continent

Patna, Oct 26 (PTI) Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Saturday launched around 35,000 schemes worth over Rs 1,600 crore, as part of his ambitions 'Jal-Jeevan-Hariyali' campaign that seeks to boost green cover and the water table in the state.

Foundation stones were laid for 32,781 schemes worth Rs 1,359.27 crore, while another 2,391 involving an expenditure of Rs 291.27 crore were inaugurated by Kumar at a function organised at the Samrat Ashok Convention Centre here.

Srinagar, Oct 27 (PTI) The shutdown in Kashmir, following the abrogation of Article 370, has crippled the valley's economy as the business community has suffered losses amounting to over Rs 10,000 crore in three months, a trade body said here.

The deadlock in Kashmir, after the Centre announced the abrogation of Article 370 on August 5, completed 84 days on Sunday with the valley in shutdown as the main markets continued to remain shut and public transport off the roads.

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — An Afghan politician confirms that U.S. peace envoy Zalmay Khalilzad is in Afghanistan’s capital for his first visit since talks between the U.S. and Taliban collapsed last month.

Sayed Hamid Gailani, leader of the National Islamic Front of Afghanistan, posted on his Twitter account late Saturday that he met with Khalilzad and his team in Kabul to discuss the country’s recent presidential elections and peace efforts.

Kanpur: Though patchwork on the potholed roads has been undertaken, there is still more work expected. The road users are surprised at dilly-dallying approach of the officials concerned. Now, the deadline for repairing of the roads has been fixed to the last day of the ongoing month.

Distressed road users did not fail to mention if the repairing had been attended before the rains there would not have so much problem during the festival days.

ISLAMABAD, Oct 26 (APP): President Dr. Arif Alvi and Prime Minister of Nepal Khadga Prasad Sharma Oli Saturday expressed their desire to further strengthen the bonds of friendship between Pakistan and Nepal and to further diversify the bilateral relations in diverse fields of mutual interest.

ISTANBUL, Oct 26 (NNN-ANADOLU) – Turkey is preparing to strengthen its national defence industry, through a boron carbide plant, to be built by a Chinese company, and operational in 2021, in the northwestern province of Balikesir, Turkish Minister of Energy and Natural Resources, Fatih Donmez, said.

The groundbreaking ceremony of the plant, undertaken by China Machinery Engineering Corporation, was held in the district of Bandirma.

DHAKA, Oct 26 (NNN-BSS) – In recent years, pursuing higher education in China has become increasingly popular for Bangladeshi students.

A two-day “China Education Expo-2019” inaugurated at a hotel in the capital Dhaka, gave hundreds of Bangladeshi students and their guardians, a look at education choices in parts of China.

Many leading educational institutions from various parts of China participated in the expo, paving the way for education aspirants here to talk face-to-face with university representatives and gather first-hand admission information.

NEW DELHI, Oct 26 (NNN-PTI) – As many as 150 people died, in different incidents of lightening, during rains in India’s central state of Madhya Pradesh, over the past two months, said the latest data.

The Climate Resilient Observing Systems Promotion Council (CROPC), which is running a “lightening resilient India Campaign” in collaboration with Union Ministry of Earth Science, compiled the data.

According to the data, over 625,000 lightening flashes were reported across the state during Aug-Sept.

26 Oct 2019; MEMO: Malaysian prime minister, Mahathir Mohammad, announced on Friday that his country is to open an accredited embassy to Palestine, Anadolu News Agency reported.

Chandigarh, Oct 26 : Manohar Lal Khattar was unanimously elected as the leader of the BJP legislative party in Haryana here on Saturday.

The announcement was made by Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad.

Prasad, along with Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) general secretary Arun Singh, attended the legislative party meeting as central observers.

Khattar's name was proposed by MLAs Anil Vij and Kanwar Pal and seconded by other BJP legislators.