Indian Sub-continent

Srinagar, Nov 25 (PTI) Six Kashmiri militants and a soldier were Sunday killed in an encounter between ultras and security forces in Shopian district of Jammu and Kashmir, a defence official said here.

The six were killed in an encounter at Hipura Batagund village in Kapran area of Shopian district of south Kashmir, Srinagar-based defence spokesman Col Rajesh Kalia said.

He said a soldier also lost his life in the operation.

Col Kalia said the identity and group affiliation of the slain militants is being ascertained.

Muzaffarnagar, Nov 25 (PTI) A 26-year-old married woman was allegedly raped by three people at her home in the absence of her husband in Uttar Pradesh's Shamli district, police said Sunday.

The accused had threatened the woman of dire consequences if she disclosed the matter to anyone, Station House Officer Bhagat Singh said.

On Saturday, the three men entered the woman's home forcefully and raped her when her husband was not around, he said.

The accused were absconding, the SHO said, adding a case was registered against them.

Lucknow, Nov 25 (PTI) Terming VHP's "Dharm Sabha" and visit of Shiv Sena President Uddhav Thackerey to Ayodhya an open "challenge" to Supreme Court, All India Muslim Personal law Board (AIMPLB) Sunday said a situation is being created against the Muslims.

"It is not the matter of giving a mosque but its a matter of principle that how many mosques will we have to sacrifice gradually. If we talk to someone, it will withdraw and another one will come.

Raipur, Nov 25 (PTI) Two Naxals were killed and a police personnel was injured in encounters in Chhattisgarh's insurgency-hit Bijapur district Sunday, police said.

The gun-battles took place when teams of police's District Reserve Guard (DRG) of and Special Task Force (STF) were out on anti-Naxal operations in Gangaloor and Madded areas.

Superintendent of Police Mohit Garg told PTI that a combined squad of DRG and STF was cordoning off the jungles between Nilamadgu and Korinjed in Madded area, 450 km from Raipur, when it came under fire from the rebels.

New Delhi, Nov 25 (PTI) The BJP is practicing a frightening level of communal polarization in election-bound states and this is a huge challenge for the Congress, its strategist and former minister Jairam Ramesh has said.

In an exclusive interview to PTI, parallel to the Ram Temple buildup in Ayodhya Sunday, Ramesh said for every Amit Shah, the BJP chief, there are 10 Amit Shahs of the RSS practicing covert polarization.

25 Nov 2018; DW: Thousands of people are rallying for a temple to be built at the site of a mosque that was razed in 1992 by fanatics. Many Hindus, and some historians, claim that the mosque was built on the site of Lord Rama's temple.

Huge crowds of saffron-clad protesters waved swords and chanted "Praise Be to Ram" Sunday in the northern Indian city of Ayodhya, demanding that a temple be built on the site of a demolished Moghul-era mosque.

25 Nov 2018; AFP: President Maithripala Sirisena on Sunday reignited the power struggle that has crippled Sri Lanka's government for more than a month, vowing never to reappoint arch-rival Ranil Wickremesinghe as prime minister.

Wickremesinghe's party has a majority in parliament and Sirisena's bid to bring back the country's former strongman Mahinda Rajapakse has already failed.

KANPUR: In a massive checking drive conducted against illegal vendors at the Central railway station and its outer areas here on Saturday, the railway protection force has caught as many as 17 vendors.

Talking about this operation, Rajiv Verma, inspector, RPF said the campaign against them would carry on continuously. This initiative was taken up following a complaint made directly to the union railways minister through a tweet.

Lahore, November 24, 2018; PTI: Pakistani police have arrested over 100 members of the Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan, including the radical Islamist party's chief who had given a protest call for Sunday against the acquittal of Christian woman Asia Bibi.

Last month, Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) disrupted daily life across Pakistan by staging widespread protests following Bibi's acquittal in a blasphemy case by the apex court.

Thane, Nov 23 (PTI) A 25-year-old Navi Mumbai man has been sentenced to life imprisonment by a local court for killing his wife in 2014.

Thane Principal District Judge V G Bisht Thursday also imposed a fine of Rs 1,000 on Nareshkumar Vishnu Sahu.

Additional Public Prosecutor Rekha Hirwale said Sahu and his wife Pooja, residents of Nageshwar Shiv Mandir locality in neighbouring Navi Mumbai's Sanpada area, had frequent quarrels over their one-year-old daughter.