Indian Sub-continent

Ferozepur, Jan 11 (PTI) A farmer has killed his wife and two children at Armanpura village in the border district here, police said Friday.

Accused Paramjit Singh Pamma, who owned six acres of land, was allegedly in debt, police said, adding that Pamma has been absconding after committing the crime on Thursday .

He killed his wife Pinder Kaur (35), and two children -- an 11-year-old girl and a 6-year-old boy -- while they were sleeping, police said.

The matter is under investigation, officials said.

New Delhi, Jan 11 (PTI) Former CBI chief Alok Verma submitted his resignation from service on Friday, a day after he was removed from his post by a high powered committee.

Verma said in his resignation letter, accessed by PTI, that it was a moment of "collective introspection".

New Delhi, Jan 11 (PTI) India has granted consular access to Christian Michel, a British national who was brought here from the UAE last month in connection with the Rs 3,600-crore AgustaWestland chopper deal.

The British High Commission had sought consular access to Michel after he was arrested in the first week of December.

Mumbai, Jan 11 (PTI) The Bombay High Court on Friday asked the BEST Workers' Union to "take the first step" towards resolving its dispute with the state and Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation and end the civic bus service employees' strike, now in its fourth day.

The court also asked the union to hold a meeting of its office-bearers in the evening in a bid to break the stalemate.

Advocate General Ashutosh Kumbhakoni told the court that the Maharashtra government had set up a committee, headed by the chief secretary, to hold talks with the union.

New Delhi, Jan 11 (PTI) BJP president Amit Shah Friday projected the Lok Sabha polls as a clash of ideologies and likened it to the third battle of Panipat between Marathas and the Afghans army, saying the election results will be equally significant for the country.

In his inaugural address at a party convention here, he dismissed the proposed grand alliance of opposition parties against the BJP as a "sham", saying they are a disparate group with neither a leader nor any policy and have been brought together by their greed of power.

New Delhi, Jan 11 (PTI) The roads around Ramlila Maidan and adjoining areas near New Delhi railway station turned saffron as thousands of BJP leaders from across the country are descending down in the national capital for the party's two-day national council meeting which began here Friday.

Bengaluru, Jan 11 (PTI) A court here has closed a sedition case against the Amnesty India, pertaining to a petition filed by the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) against the human rights body on August 15, 2016.

The complaint relates to an event the Amnesty India had held as part of a campaign to seek justice for alleged human rights violations in the state of Jammu and Kashmir.

The First Information Report (FIR) in the case mentioned a number of offences, including sedition, unlawful assembly, rioting and promoting enmity.

New Delhi, Jan 11 (PTI) Industrial output growth dropped to a 17-month low of 0.5 per cent in November on account of contraction in manufacturing sector, particularly consumer and capital goods.

Factory output as measured in terms of the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) had grown by 8.5 per cent in November 2017, as per data released by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) Friday.

The previous low was in June 2017, when IIP growth contracted by 0.3 per cent.

The growth for October 2018 was revised upwards to 8.4 per cent from 8.1 per cent.

KANPUR: A minor delinquent died under mysterious circumstances at the child reformatory in Naubasta area here on Friday evening. On receiving information from the police, the family members reached the Hallet Hospital. Cause of his death would be clear after the post-mortem report.

Muzaffarnagar (UP) Jan 10 (PTI) Three stray cows died while they were being shifted to a shelter home in Uttar Pradesh's Shamli district on Thursday, prompting authorities to order a probe, officials said.

Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had on January 3 given all district magistrates a week to ensure that all stray cattle across the state are shifted to cow shelters.

In parts of the state, farmers have reportedly herded stray cattle into places like government schools to save their crops.