Indian Sub-continent

Kolkata, Feb 18 (PTI) West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee Monday wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi urging him to initiate a high-level probe into financial impropriety and possible misappropriation of savings of common people due to the debt crisis in Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services (IL&FS) Ltd.

The crisis has put to peril "lakhs and lakhs of employees" of private and public sector enterprises who had put their hard-earned money into the company, she said.

New Delhi, Feb 18 (PTI) BJP's association with the Shiv Sena goes beyond politics and is bound by a desire to see a strong India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said Monday after the two parties agreed to contest the Lok Sabha and Maharashtra Assembly elections together.

He said the decision to contest together strengthens the NDA significantly.

Dhar (MP), Feb 18 (PTI) Irked over not being served chicken meat in his meal, a 60-year-old man allegedly killed his 32-year-old son in Dhar district of Madhya Pradesh Monday, police said.

Accused Chhotu Baghel stabbed his son Hira Singh to death in a fit of rage at their residence in Kharwali village, around 90 kms from here, after the latter ate chicken meat himself this morning, said Tanda police station in-charge MT Baig.

The wife of the deceased said that Chhotu was angry after Hira didn't share the meat with him.

MALE, Feb 19 (NNN-AGENCIES) – Maldives authorities detained former president Abdulla Yameen after he was accused of trying to bribe witnesses in his money laundering trial, officials said.

The arrest came after the Criminal Court began a hearing into allegations that Yameen received nearly $1.5 million in illicit payments just before he lost an election in September and was forced out of power.

GENEVA, Feb. 18 (Xinhua) -- An estimated 574,000 people in camps close to Bangladesh's Cox's Bazar face the coming cyclone seasons with only rotting bamboo and shredding plastic to protect them, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) warned here Monday.

IFRC said in a statement that a survey found that that 82 percent of the 700,000 people in sprawling camps there urgently need sturdier shelters to protect them from extreme temperatures, monsoon downpours and two cyclone seasons a year.

KANPUR: City’s Indian Institute of Technology will speed up research works on cybersecurity. Intricate technological complexities of those companies going to set up at the state’s six defence corridors will also be given proper study at the Centre of Excellence in Defence Technology here.

This centre is ready for starting its research initiatives at the Institute. Advanced Know-how for the CRPF personnel will also be developed here.

Islamabad, Feb 18; PTI/GANASHAKTI: In a tit-for-tat action, Pakistan Monday called back its High Commissioner from India for "consultations" amid heightened bilateral tensions after the Pulwama terror attack, days after New Delhi asked its envoy in Islamabad to return.

Foreign Office spokesperson Mohammad Faisal said envoy Sohail Mahmood left New Delhi on Monday morning.

"We have called back our High Commissioner in India for consultations. He left New Delhi this morning," he said on Twitter.

New Delhi, Feb 18 (PTI) A man facing prosecution in a molestation case has been asked by the Delhi High Court to plant 50 trees in a government school here while granting him anticipatory bail.

Justice Sunil Gaur said the principal of the school shall ensure that the tree plantation drive takes place and the investigating officer will file a compliance report in the court.

New Delhi, Feb 16 (PTI) A man has been held guilty of digital rape of a US citizen by a Delhi court, which said her testimony could not be said to be unreliable as she came all the way from her country to depose in the case.

When someone rapes a person using their finger or fingers it is termed as digital rape.

Palghar, Feb 18 (PTI) Eight mandal unit chiefs of the BJP in Palghar district of Maharashtra have resigned amid apprehension that the Lok Sabha seat here, currently held by the party, may be given to the Shiv Sena as part of pre-poll alliance for the upcoming general elections.

Palghar BJP unit chief Pascal Dhanare said on Monday that eight mandal presidents of the party in the district have resigned and four more are likely to follow suit.