Shimla, Apr 30 (PTI) The Himachal Pradesh police has formed an eight-member SIT to investigate the rape of a 19-year-old woman in a moving car in Shimla on Sunday night, an official official said.

The Special Investigation Team will be headed by Additional Superintendent of Police Parveer Thakur, according to an order issued by DGP Sitaram Mardi this evening.

The order came as the opposition Congress cornered the Jai Ram Thakur government on the law and order situation following the incident.

UNITED NATIONS, April 30 (Xinhua): UN Special Envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen on Tuesday expressed cautious optimism about the prospects of the political process in Syria.

"After eight years of conflict, this process will be long and difficult. But I think it is possible to move forward step by step," Pedersen told the Security Council in a briefing.

Many earlier differences over the constitutional committee, a key element in the Syrian political process, have been narrowed down, he said.

Hyderabad, Apr 30 (PTI) Days after remains of two minor girls were unearthed, police Tuesday arrested a 28-year old man who allegedly raped and killed them and another girl and buried the bodies in abandoned irrigation wells in a village in Telangana.

M Srinivas Reddy, resident of Hajipur village in Yadadri Bhuvanagiri district, was arrested Tuesday following his interrogation, police said.

POWAY, Calif. (AP) — In the minutes after the gunman fled the scene of a shooting that killed a woman inside a Southern California synagogue, a wounded Rabbi Yisroel Goldstein wrapped his bloodied hand in a prayer shawl, stood on a chair and addressed the panicked congregation, vowing to stay strong in the face of the deadly attack targeting his community.

“We are a Jewish nation that will stand tall. We will not let anyone take us down. Terrorism like this will not take us down,” Goldstein recalled telling his congregants after the gunfire erupted Saturday at Chabad of Poway.

HAVANA, April 29 (Xinhua) -- China will assume greater responsibilities with an aim to make more contributions to the improvement of global governance, China's Ambassador to Cuba Chen Xi said on Monday.

"We are aware of our responsibility to contribute to a new world order, just and orderly global governance," the diplomat said in a conference with experts and academics from Cuba's Center for International Policy Research (CIPI). "This is a fundamental principle for Chinese diplomacy."

UNITED NATIONS, April 29 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese envoy on Monday asked the international community to stick to the two-state solution in addressing the Palestinian-Israeli issue, and warned against unilateral action that escalates tension in the region.

RAMALLAH, April 29 (Xinhua) -- Despite the severed Palestinian-U.S. ties, Washington is trying to push ahead with its "Deal of the Century," Nabil Shaath, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' foreign relations advisor, said on Monday.

But U.S. President Donald Trump's support has encouraged the Israeli government to take more steps against the Palestinians, including a possible annexation of part of the West Bank to keep only Jewish settlements there, he added.

30 Apr 2019; DW: A secretly filmed video dealt a heavy blow to Australia's One Nation party ahead of an election, after the country's Nine Network TV showed a clip of populist leader Steve Dickson groping and propositioning strippers during a US trip in September.

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Joe Biden accused President Donald Trump of abusing the powers of his office and ignoring everyone but his political base Monday in his first public rally as presidential candidate, arguing in the crucial battleground state of Pennsylvania that strengthening unions and promoting social and economic unity can restore Democrats to the White House.

QINGDAO, April 29 (Xinhua) -- The Sino-Russian "Joint Sea-2019" exercise for both navies began Monday afternoon.

Set to run from April 29 to May 4, the drill focuses on joint sea defense.

The first two days of the exercise will be conducted mainly on the harbor shore, and marked by games and exchanges, opening up of warships, as well as cultural and sports events.

Beijing, Apr 30 (AFP/PTI) President Xi Jinping urged China's youth on Tuesday to be loyal to the Communist Party as he sought to whip up patriotic sentiment in a nationalist speech marking the centennial of a student protest.

Xi delivered his hour-long plea at the Great Hall of the People to commemorate the May Fourth Movement, a landmark protest against colonialism and imperialism that rocked China in 1919.

30 Apr 2019 (AP) - Suicides among U.S. kids aged 10 to 17 jumped to a 19-year high in the month following the release of a popular TV series that depicted a girl ending her life, researchers said.

The study published Monday can’t prove that the Netflix show “13 Reasons Why” was the cause, but there were 195 more youth suicides than would have been expected in the nine months following the show’s March 2017 release, given historical and seasonal suicide trends, the study estimated.