Indian Sub-continent

New Delhi, Oct 28 (PTI) Commerce and Industry Minister Suresh Prabhu has said India and the US have exchanged offers for a possible trade deal with a view to resolving issues related to bilateral commerce.

"The negotiations are ongoing. Of course, at this stage they have given an offer and we have also given a counter-offer and we are working on it," he said at an event here Saturday.

The statement assumes significance as India has deferred a notification for hiking import duties on as many as 29 US products.

By Sajjad Hussain

Islamabad, Oct 28 (PTI) Pakistan President Arif Alvi on Sunday ruled out establishing any kind of relations with Israel as he strongly rejected reports that an Israeli aircraft carrying some officials secretly landed in Islamabad and flew away after several hours at the airport here.

"Islamabad is not establishing any kind of relations with Israel," Alvi told the media before his departure for Turkey on a three-day official visit in the wee hours of Sunday.

By Sanjeev Chopra

New Delhi, Oct 28 (PTI) Congress leader Shashi Tharoor has said Narendra Modi could have succeeded as prime minister because he often got his diagnosis right but "failed" on account of poor prescriptions.

It is time for Modi to go, he said, highlighting a range of contradictions in the prime minister's style of working over the last four and a half years.

Banda (UP), Oct 28 (PTI) A 37-year-old man allegedly committed suicide by hanging himself in Tindwari Police Station premises here, police said Sunday.

Bablu Singh went inside a room in the police station premises on Saturday night and hanged himself from the ceiling, police official Bharat Lal Kumar Pal said.

Singh and others were called at the police station on a complaint of power theft.

The victim's father Ram Asrey Singh alleged that his son was harassed in the police station due to which he died.

KANPUR: There is a clear indication of rising in the dengue patients. Out of 157 samples tested in the medical college microbiology laboratory, as many as 63 cases were identified positively. Thus, the figure of dengue patients has reached beyond the number of 500.

This was a quite distressing situation in view of the effective drive launched to minimise the larvae through spraying in the changing season by the Health Department here.   

Colombo, Oct 27; PTI: Sri Lanka President Maithripala Sirisena on Saturday suspended the parliament till November 16 after sacked Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe sought an emergency session to prove his majority, deepening the political crisis in the island nation.

Sirisena's move is seen as an effort to allow former strongman Mahinda Rajapaksa to buy more time to seek majority in the parliament.

Hardik Patel asks the regional parties to unite if they want any election after 2019. Patel was speaking to The Indian Express ahead of the 9th State Convention of the Sambhaji Brigade Maharashtra in Alibaugh.

Patel stressed that forthcoming Lok Sabha elections in 2019 will be a contest between Modi and the farmers.

New Delhi, Oct 27 :  Delhi's air quality remained very poor for the fourth day Saturday with five areas of the national capital recording severe pollution levels, as authorities warned the situation may deteriorate further next week due to localised emissions during festival and stubble burning.

The Central Pollution Control Board recorded the overall  Air Quality Index of Delhi at 341. The highest AQI of this season was recorded on Friday at 361.

Raipur, Oct 27;PTI:  Four personnel of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) were killed and two injured after Naxals blew up a mine-protected-vehicle (MPV) in poll-bound Chhattisgarh's Bijapur district Saturday, police said.

The incident occurred around 4 pm near Murdanda camp of the CRPF under Awapalli police station, when its 168th battalion was out on "area domination" operation, Bijapur Superintendent of Police Mohit Garg told PTI.

When the MPV carrying six personnel was around one km away from the camp, ultras triggered a powerful land mine blast, he said.

Agartala, Oct 27 (PTI) At least 20 CPI(M) supporters were injured when a mob attacked a rally taken out by the party in South Tripura district Saturday, police said.

The CPI(M) activists took out a rally demanding a probe into the Rafale deal when a mob attacked them, the police said.

Superintendent of Police, Jai Singh Meena said that a rally was organized by CPI(M) supporters at Belonia town, about 110 km from here this morning, which came under attack from about 25 people.