Indian Sub-continent

Jajpur (Odisha), Jun 3 (PTI) The Odisha Police has arrested a man who fled from the state after raping a minor girl and killing her mother in Jajpur district last month, police said Monday.

The accused, identified as Bijaya Behera (22), a resident of local Kumari village under the jurisdiction of Dharmasala police station area in Jajpur district, was nabbed by police team in Kerala on Sunday night, said Saroj Kumar Sahoo, inspector-in-charge of Dharmasala police station.

Azamgarh, Jun 3 (PTI) The Samajwadi Party will fight for social justice together with the Bahujan Samaj Party, said SP chief Akhilesh Yadav Monday, hours after BSP supremo Mayawati expressed dissatisfaction over the poll performance of the alliance between the two parties.

"We and Bahujan Samaj Party will fight for social justice together," said Yadav, addressing a public meeting here during his first visit to the constituency after declaration of the Lok Sabha poll results.

Bhubaneswar, Jun 3 (PTI) More than five lakh people of 1.64 lakh households in Odisha's coastal districts continue to struggle with hot and humid weather conditions due to lack of power restoration though one month has passed since the cyclone Fani made landfall near Puri on May 3.

The worst affected was Puri district where only 1,51,889 out of 2,91,171 affected electricity consumers (52 per cent) have got back power so far, an official said adding, Fani had completely damaged power infrastructure in the district.

Agartala, Jun 3 (PTI) A Mahila Congress worker from South Chandrapur village here, filed a complaint with the East Agartala Police Station on Monday saying that she has received extortion notices along with many others in the locality.

"I am a Mahila Congress worker.My family and I are being constantly threatened and attacked after since the results of the parliamentary elections were announced. Today, a letter was found in my house. The BJP and its workers, through the letter, demanded Rs 20,000 from my family, as extortion money," Rupa Dey told reporters.

New Delhi, Jun 4 (PTI) The new government at the Centre will retain the autonomy of Prasar Bharati, Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar said on Monday.

It was established through an act which safeguards its autonomy, he said after launching state-of-the-art high-definition DSNG vans at Doordarshan Bhawan here.

"Autonomy of the Prasar Bharati is important. We will retain it... We want Prasar Bharati to work smoothly and bring new programmes and find new dimensions," Javadekar said.

New Delhi, June 3; PTI/GANASHAKTI: The Centre on Monday dropped the contentious provision of mandatory teaching of Hindi in non-Hindi speaking states, as it issued a revised draft education policy amid outrage over its earlier suggestion.

The DMK and other parties in Tamil Nadu had strongly opposed the three-language formula in the draft National Education Policy and alleged that it was tantamount to thrusting the Hindi language on the non-Hindi speaking states.

MULTAN, June 2 (APP): Foreign Minister Makhdoom Shah Mehmood Qureshi said relations between Pakistan and India were heading towards improvement.

Following Pulwama incident, both the countries had banned their airspace for each other for international flights.

However, India had expressed her wish to lift the said ban as the fare of Indian planes went up thus creating trouble for their passengers.

Islamabad, Jun 3 (PTI) US special representative for Afghanistan reconciliation, Zalmay Khalilzad held discussions with the Pakistani leadership, including Prime Minister Imran Khan, on the Afghan peace process and the positive steps that Pakistan can take to advance it.

Afghan-born chief American negotiator Khalilzad has held six rounds of direct talks with Taliban envoys in the Qatari capital of Doha since the process began last fall to bring an end to what has now become the longest US overseas military intervention.

ISLAMABAD, Jun 3 (APP): Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Information and Broadcasting Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan Monday said arrival of British airways was an expression of trust in “Naya Pakistan” and its government.

In a tweet on her social media account, she said Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) accomplished what could not be done by previous governments.

Srinagar, June 3: Two Kashmiri have been killed by the Indian security forces in Shopian district of Indian administered Kashmir, an Indian official said.

The Indian security forces' spokesman alleged that the Army had laid a checkpoint at Moolu Chitragam in Shopian in the early hours. A private vehicle jumped the checkpoint. Militants got out of it and opened fire. The security personnel retaliated, leading to the death of two persons, police alleged.