Indian Sub-continent

KABUL, Feb. 15 (Xinhua) -- Afghan people marked the 30th withdrawal anniversary of former Soviet Union troops from the war-ravaged country on Friday.

In a gathering held at the Presidential Palace, participants including former resistance leaders paid tribute to those who sacrificed their lives for jihad, or holy war, against the invading forces to defend their country's freedom.

Government Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah said that the current achievements in the past decades were the results of the struggle of the people of Afghanistan.

37 Indian Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) soldiers have been killed in Indian administered Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district on Thursday when a suicide bomber rammed an explosives-laden vehicle into the bus they were travelling in.

20 people were injured in the attack that reduced the bus to a heap of iron.

New Delhi, Feb 14 (PTI) A Delhi court Thursday sent corporate lobbyist Deepak Talwar, arrested in money laundering case, to 14-day judicial custody.

Special Judge Santosh Snehi Mann sent Talwar to the judicial custody after the Enforcement Directorate (ED) said that it does not need him for further interrogation in its custody.

New Delhi, Feb 15 (PTI) The Supreme Court Friday decided to hear a fresh plea challenging the constitutional validity of the 1993 central law by which 67.703 acre land, including the disputed premises of Ram Janambhoomi-Babri Masjid at Ayodhya, was acquired.

A bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan tagged the matter with the main petition in which a constitution bench is dealing with the main title dispute.

Islamabad, Feb 15 (PTI) Pakistan is committed to implementing the decision of the International Court of Justice in the Kulbhushan Jadhav case, a senior Pakistani official said as the country's delegation left for the Hague on Friday for the oral proceedings in the case that will commence at the world court from February 18.

Indian national Jadhav, 48, was sentenced to death by a Pakistani military court on charges of espionage and terrorism in April 2017. India moved the ICJ in May the same year against the verdict.

New Delhi, Feb 15 (PTI) India's first semi-high speed train, the Vande Bharat Express, was flagged off by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday from the New Delhi Railway Station amid sombre mood in the backdrop of the terror attack in Pulwama.

Railway Minister Piyush Goyal and members of the Railway Board were present on the occasion and will be on board the train on its inaugural journey

Ludhiana (PB), Feb 14 (PTI) Three more persons, including a juvenile, were held Thursday in connection with the gang rape of a 21-year-old woman near Issewal village here, taking the total number of those nabbed in the case to six, police said.

"All six accused involved in the gang rape have been arrested," Punjab DGP Dinkar Gupta told the media here Thursday.

New Delhi, Feb 14 (PTI) West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday dismissed remarks by Samajwadi Party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav praising Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Parliament, attributing them to his old age.

Yadav Wednesday created a flutter in Lok Sabha when he said he wished to see Narendra Modi back as prime minister, a sentiment acknowledged by the BJP leader with folded hands. Modi also thanked Mulayam Singh Yadav for his "blessings".

NEW DELHI, Feb. 12 (Xinhua) -- A MiG-27 fighter jet belonging to Indian Air Force (IAF) crashed in India's western state of Rajasthan on Tuesday evening, officials said.

The fighter jet crashed during a training mission above Pokhran in Jaisalmer district, about 452 km west of Jaipur, the capital of Rajasthan.

"A MiG-27 aircraft crashed during a routine mission today evening," a local government official said, adding "the pilot ejected safely."

A police team rushed to the crash area.

Shillong, Feb 13; PTI/GANASHAKTI: The CBI on Wednesday allowed Kolkata Police Commissioner Rajeev Kumar to return to Kolkata after questioning him for five consecutive days here in connection with chit fund scam cases, an official said.

A team of 12 senior CBI officers examined Kumar for his alleged role in tampering of evidences in the Rs 2,000 crore Saradha chit fund scam, which the agency is probing.

Kumar was also questioned about the Rose Valley ponzi scam.