Indian Sub-continent

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — More civilians were killed by Afghan and international coalition forces in Afghanistan in the first half of this year than by the Taliban and other militants, the U.N. mission said in a report released Tuesday.

The report apparently refers to civilians killed during Afghan and U.S. military operations against insurgents, such as airstrikes and night raids on militant hideouts. Insurgents often hide among civilians.

Srinagar, Jul 30 (PTI) Seeking to put to rest speculations about a possible "major development" in Jammu and Kashmir, Governor Satya Pal Malik said on Tuesday that "everything is fine, everything is normal" and rejected as "invalid" government orders that had generated panic in recent days.

Bengaluru, July 30 (PTI) The BJP government in Karnataka on Tuesday scrapped the birth anniversary celebrations of the controversial 18th century ruler of the erstwhile Mysore Kingdom, Tipu Sultan, an annual event the party had been opposing since 2015 when it was launched during the Congress rule.

Within three days after coming to power, the Yediyurappa government issued an order cancelling the "Tipu Jayanti" celebrations, initiated by the Siddaramaiah led Congress ministry as an annual affair on November 10, 2015 amid opposition from the BJP and right wing organisations then.

Mumbai, Jul 30 (PTI) Four opposition Congress-NCP legislators in Maharashtra resigned from the State Assembly on Tuesday, amid talk of their joining the ruling BJP.

NCP MLAs Shivendrasinhraje Bhosale (Satara), Vaibhav Pichad (Akole) and Sandeep Naik (Airoli) and Congress MLA Kalidas Kolambkar (Naigaon) handed over their resignation letters separately to Speaker Haribhau Bagade at the state legislature building Vidhan Bhawan in south Mumbai.

Islamabad, Jul 30 (PTI) At least 17 people, including two pilots and three military personnel, were killed and 12 others injured when a Pakistan Army aviation aircraft on a routine training flight crashed in a residential area in the garrison city of Rawalpindi early on Tuesday.

The plane crashed in the suburbs of Mora Kalu village, killing 12 civilians and five crew members and destroying five to six houses, the Pakistan Army said.

Islamabad, Jul 29 (PTI) Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan on Monday termed the practice of forced conversions as "un-Islamic" and said there was no precedent in Islamic history for forcefully converting others, according to media reports.

Addressing an event in connection with National Minorities Day at the Aiwan-e-Sadr (President's House) in Islamabad, Khan also vowed to protect and develop worship places of minorities in Pakistan and also facilitate them to the maximum level to perform them religious rituals.

Kolkata, Jul 30 (PTI) Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) supremo Raj Thackeray will arrive in the city on Tuesday evening.

He will meet West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee at state Secretariat Nabanna on Wednesday.

"They are likely to discuss electoral reforms, demand for return to ballot papers and the political situation in the country," a source close to the MNS chief told PTI.

Nagpur, Jul 29 (PTI) A woman naxal was killed on Monday in an encounter with elite C-60 commandos in Maharashtra's Gadchiroli district, police said, adding that the number of Maoist fatalities might rise.

As per preliminary information, the gun-battle broke out around 12 noon when a commando team was on an anti-naxal operation in the Kothami forest in Ettapalli taluka of the district, around 170 km from Nagpur.

New Delhi, Jul 29 (PTI) Lok Sabha on Monday passed the National Medical Commission Bill for replacing the corruption-plagued MCI with a new body, in what has been described by the government as one of the biggest reforms that will end 'inspector raj' in the medical education sector.

The bill also has a provision for making national standards in medical education uniform by proposing that the final year MBBS exam be treated as an entrance test for PG and a screening test for students who graduate in medicine from foreign countries.

Chandigarh, Jul 29 (PTI) At least 28 cattle have died after consuming stale, leftover food of hotels and restaurants in Punjab's Mohali, officials said on Monday.

Though dairy farmers have claimed that more than 90 buffaloes and cows have died in the past four days at Mohali's Kandala and Shafipur villages, the district authorities have pegged the death count to 28.

Mohali Deputy Commissioner Girish Dayalan has marked an inquiry into the incident to his Additional Deputy Commissioner and sought a report within three days.