Indian Sub-continent

Bhubaneswar, Sep 3 (PTI) The police on Tuesday arrested a top executive of a private company here for allegedly raping a woman on the pretext of giving her a job.

The accused is a resident of Uttar Pradesh, while the victim hails from Chhattisgarh, a police officer said.

The incident happened here last week.

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pakistan’s military spokesman said on Wednesday that India’s actions in disputed Kashmir were endangering regional peace, after New Delhi revoked the autonomy of Indian Kashmir last month.

“The situation in Kashmir has become a big danger in the region...the Indian action in Kashmir is sowing seeds of war,” said Major General Asif Ghafoor, chief spokesman for Pakistan’s armed forces in a televised press conference.

“We do not want to take the conflict to that point where the regional and world peace is endangered,” he added.

KABUL (Reuters) - The Afghan government has concerns about the draft peace agreement reached between U.S. and Taliban negotiators and wants further clarification, President Ashraf Ghani’s main spokesman said on Wednesday.

The deal, which would see around 5,000 U.S. troops withdrawn and five bases closed in exchange for guarantees that Afghanistan would not be used as a base for militant attacks on America, was presented to Ghani this week by the special U.S. envoy for peace in Afghanistan, Zalmay Khalilzad.

Lucknow, Sep 3 (PTI) The Uttar Pradesh Electricity Regulatory Commission on Tuesday approved up to 12 per cent hike in power tariff for various categories of power consumers to make up for increased expenditure of state distribution utilities.

The commission, however, also abolished the regulatory surcharge of 4.8 per cent for state discoms, giving relief to customers from a sharp increase.

The new tariffs will come into effect from the date to be notified by the government, an official release said.

New Delhi, Sep 3 (PTI) Karnataka Congress leader D K Shivakumar was arrested by the ED on Tuesday in connection with a money laundering case, officials said.

The former cabinet minister and sitting MLA from Kanakapura seat appeared before the agency for the fourth time for questioning on Tuesday.

He was placed under arrest under provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), they said.

Baghpat (UP), Sep 4 (PTI) A class 3 student was allegedly raped by three brothers, all minors, at a primary school in a village here, police said on Wednesday.

The girl was raped by a 13-year-old student and his two brothers aged 10 and 11 respectively in the bathroom of the government primary school on August 16. All the three are students of the same school and study in class 5, 7 and 8 respectively.

Police have detained the three, who will be produced in a juvenile court, here on Wednesday, police said.

Raebareli (UP), Sep 4 (PTI) In a suspected case of honour killing, a woman was killed by her cousin for marring a man of other caste eight years ago, police said on Wednesday.

The accused Pankaj was arrested and further probe was on, they said.

The incident took place on Monday evening in Ichhwapur Garhi village in Salon area when Anju (23) was going to fields with other women and her cousin Pankaj repeatedly hit her with a cricket bat, killing her on the spot, police said.

Jammu, Sep 4 (PTI) A coordination committee headed by chief secretary was constituted in Jammu and Kashmir on Wednesday for Census-2021, an order issued by the General Administration Department (GAD) stated.

It said the chief secretary will be the chairman of the seven-member panel and the director of Census operations its convenor.

Kolkata, Sep 4 (PTI) West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday accused the Centre of delaying payments for the 100-day rural job scheme and restricting works under the programme.

She also claimed the state was ranked on the top in work under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA), against all odds.

Ahmedabad, Sep 4 (PTI) Union Home Minister and BJP president Amit Shah on Wednesday underwent a minor surgery for removal of "lipoma on the back of his neck" at a private hospital in Ahmedabad, the party said.

He was later discharged, the BJP's central media department said in a statement.