Indian Sub-continent

New Delhi, Sep 25 (PTI) India witnessed a 16 per cent increase in the number of tuberculosis cases reported in 2018 against the previous year's figure of 18 lakh, according to an official report released on Wednesday.

According to the 'India TB Report 2019', of the total notifications, 25 per cent (5.4 lakh) cases were reported from the private sector, a 40 per cent increase from last year.

This indicates an increased engagement with private sector providers and patients seeking care from them.

Kolkata, Sep 25 (PTI) VHP hit out at West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee Wednesday for creating panic over NRC and said her comment that FIRs would be filed in case of loss of requisite documents is indulgence to infiltrators.

Banerjee's comment is detrimental to national security, Vishwa Hindu Parishad international secretary general Milind Parande said.

Gurgaon, Sep 25 (PTI) A man was arrested here on Wednesday for allegedly raping his minor stepdaughter, a police official said.

The nine-year-old went to her aunt's residence in Delhi's Uttam Nagar and told her about the incident, following which a zero FIR was registered against the accused at Uttam Nagar police station, Gurgaon police PRO Subhash Bokan said.

Dhanbad (Jharkhand), Sep 25 (PTI) Two minor girls, both sisters, were allegedly raped by four men at Kenduadih, about 15 km from here, police said on Wednesday.

The main accused, a friend of the elder sister, had called her to meet him on Tuesday evening, the Superintendent of Police of Dhanbad (Rural) district, Aman Kumar, said.

Hyderabad, Sep 25 (PTI) AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi on Wednesday hit out at Donald Trump for hailing Prime Minister Narendra Modi as father of India, alleging the US president lacked knowledge about the country's great past and Mahatma Gandhi, the father of the nation.

Even late Jawaharlal Nehru and Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, giants of Indian politics, were not called father of nation, he told reporters here replying to questions on Modi's visit to US and Trump sharing stage with him at Houston.

Chandigarh, Sep 25 (PTI) A brother of a Germany-based handler of the terror module busted by the Punjab Police recently was arrested for alleged involvement in the dropping of arms and ammunition by drones from across the border, police said on Wednesday.

Gurdev Singh, a resident of Jhaj village in Hoshiarpur, was nabbed by a team of the state special operation cell (SSOC) of the Punjab Police from PAP Chowk in Jalandhar, a police official said.

Fake currency with a face value of Rs 3 lakh was also recovered from his possession, police said.

New Delhi, Sep 25 (PTI) As the first astronaut from UAE lifted off into space, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday said India takes inspiration from it for its human space programme.

Hazzaa al-Mansoori became the first astronaut from the UAE to fly to the International Space Station on Wednesday.

"Very happy to learn of the successful start to what will surely be a fabulous journey into outer space by our brother Hazza. I laud the vision of Sheikh @MohamedBinZayed! Congratulations UAE!" Modi, who is in New York, tweeted.

Kolkata, Sep 25 (PTI) The special crime branch of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has once again summoned former Kolkata police commissioner Rajeev Kumar to appear before it on Thursday in connection with the Saradha chitfund scam case.

"We have asked him to appear before the CBI office here tomorrow," a senior CBI official told PTI.

The central agency has given multiple notices to Kumar, who is currently the Additional Director General in the West Bengal Crime Investigation Department, to appear before it for questioning as a witness in the multi-crore scam.

New Delhi, Sep 25 (PTI) India on Wednesday slammed the UK's Labour Party after it passed a resolution calling for international intervention on the Kashmir issue.

Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Raveesh Kumar described the Labour Party's move as an attempt at "pandering to vote-bank interests".

There is no question of engaging with the Labour Party or its representatives on this issue, he said.

Muzaffarnagar, Sep 26 (PTI) A man has been jailed by a court in Uttar Pradesh's Muzaffarnagar district for sexually harassing an eight-year-old girl when she went out to defecate.

The special court sentenced Sohanbir to three and a half years in jail on Wednesday for the incident that happened in August, 2018.