Indian Sub-continent

Islamabad, Dec 17 (PTI) Pakistan on Monday released Indian prisoner Hamid Nihal Ansari, who was detained by the country's intelligence agencies in 2012 and subsequently sentenced to three years' imprisonment by a military court in 2015 for possessing a fake Pakistani identity card.

Ansari, a 33-year-old Mumbai resident, was lodged in the Peshawar Central Jail after being sentenced by the military court on December 15, 2015. His three-year jail term ended on December 15, 2018 but he was not able to leave for India as his legal documents were not ready.

New Delhi, Dec 17 (PTI) A fresh Bill to make the practice of tripe talaq among Muslims a penal offence was introduced in the Lok Sabha on Monday to replace an ordinance issued in September.

Under the proposed law, giving instant triple talaq will be illegal and void and will attract a jail term of three years for the husband.

The Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill, 2018 would supercede an earlier Bill passed in the Lok Sabha and pending in the Rajya Sabha.

New Delhi, Dec 17 (PTI) Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday announced USD 1.4 billion financial assistance to Maldives after he held extensive talks with President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih during which both sides vowed to deepen security cooperation in the Indian Ocean region.

The two countries also inked four pacts, including one on visa facilitation.

"We held successful talks in a cordial atmosphere. We vowed to strengthen ties," Modi said in his press statement, with Solih by his side.

New Delhi, Dec 17 (PTI) Dengue cases in Delhi have mounted to 4,704 this year even with the onset of winter when conditions become unfavourable for the breeding of mosquito larvae, a municipal report said Monday.

At least four people, including a minor boy, have died in the city due to the vector-borne disease this year till December second week.

Three of the victims were identified by the South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) as Aman Tiwari (13), Sanskriti (21) and Gagan (23).

Bhopal, Dec 17 (PTI) Loans of up to Rs two lakh of Madhya Pradesh farmers will be waived, with Chief Minister Kamal Nath Monday signing a file to the effect.

The move follows a promise by Congress president Rahul Gandhi during the poll campaign that if people of Madhya Pradesh voted for Congress, then they would implement farmers' loan waiver within 10 days of coming to power.

Nath was sworn in as the state's 18th CM Monday.

15 Dec 2018; AFP: Seven civilians were killed as Indian troops fired on protesters Saturday after a gunfight left three armed rebels and a soldier dead in the disputed region of Kashmir, police and hospital officials said.

The fighting erupted soon after troops laid siege to a house in the southern Pulwama area in Indian-administered Kashmir where the militants were hiding, a police officer said.

KANPUR: A brawl between resident doctors and medical students resulted in intense punches at the Ganesh Shankar Vidyarthi Medical College annual programme ‘Tarang’ organised on its campus here.  The junior doctors anyhow controlled the situation and got them confined into the Boys’ Hostel-2.

ISLAMABAD (AP) — The Taliban say they are holding “another” meeting on Monday with U.S. officials, this time in the United Arab Emirates and also involving Saudi, Pakistani and Emirati representatives in the latest attempt to bring a negotiated end to Afghanistan’s 17-year war.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid offered no further details.

SRINAGAR, India (AP) — Soldiers and police fanned out across Indian-controlled Kashmir on Monday to enforce a security lockdown for a second straight day to stop anti-India protests and foil a call by separatists for a march toward India’s main military garrison in the disputed region.

Government forces patrolled streets in the region’s main city of Srinagar and sealed off all the roads leading to India’s military garrison in the city.

KANPUR: Teachers' participation in PhD entrance committee and declaration of faculty senior list at University level were the main points which were approved at the executive committee meeting of Kanpur University Teachers’ Association (KUTA) held at VSS Degree College.