Baripada (Odisha), Apr 24 (PTI) A local court Wednesday sentenced a man to 20 years' rigorous imprisonment (RI) for raping a girl in Mayurbhanj district of Odisha four years ago.

Additional district and sessions judge of Baripada, Dr V Sujata, passed the verdict after finding Bailochan Mohanta guilty of raping the girl.

Mohanta's two associates, Purusattam Mohanta and Bailochan Behera, were awarded three years' RI by the judge.

Kota, Apr 24 (PTI) A special court Wednesday sentenced a man to 20 years in jail here for raping a three-year-old girl after abducting her from home last September.

The special court, set up under the provisions of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences [POCSO] Act also imposed a fine of Rs 2.10 lakh on convict Ajay Rai alias Taxi, 25.

Thane, Apr 25(PTI) A 33-year-old man has been sentenced to 10 years' rigorous imprisonment by a Thane court in Maharashtra for raping a minor girl in 2015.

District and special POCSO court judge S B Bahalkar on Wednesday pronounced the punishment to the accused, Shivmani Ramdulhar Jaiswar, who worked as a carpenter, and also imposed a fine of Rs 27,000 on him.

Tehran, Apr 24 (AP) Iranian lawmakers overwhelmingly approved a bill that labels all US military forces as terrorist, a day after Washington ratcheted up pressure on Tehran by announcing that no country would any longer be exempt from US sanctions if it continues to buy Iranian oil.

The bill is a step further from the one last week, when lawmakers approved labelling just US troops in the Middle East as terrorist, in response to the US terrorism designation for Iran's Revolutionary Guard earlier this month.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Some top Democrats vying for the White House in 2020 are clamoring for impeachment proceedings against President Donald Trump, but many of their congressional colleagues — who would have to manage such efforts — are far more wary.

The same day House Speaker Nancy Pelosi urged rank-and-file Democrats to proceed with caution following the release of special counsel Robert Mueller’s report detailing 10 areas of potential obstruction of justice, Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren doubled down on her impeachment call.

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Afghan and international forces killed more civilians than the Taliban and other militants in the first three months of this year, a new U.N. report said Wednesday. This is the first time in recent years that civilian deaths attributed to government forces and their allies exceeded those caused by their enemies.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un arrived in Russia by train on Wednesday, a day before his much-anticipated summit with President Vladimir Putin that comes amid deadlocked diplomacy on his nuclear program.

Kim, dressed in a black coat and a fedora, met with Russian officials at Russia’s Khasan train station near its border with the North. The official website of the Primorye governor released pictures of Kim stepping off the train and given the traditional Russian bread and salt at the station.

CARACAS, April 23 (Xinhua) -- Five people have been arrested and 19 others are being sought after attacks against the National Electric System (SEN) between March 7 and 28, Venezuela's Communication and Information Minister Jorge Rodriguez said Tuesday.

Speaking from the Miraflores Palace, Rodriguez presented a report on the investigation into the attacks against the electric system which caused widespread outages in March.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Two U.S. soldiers in a remote area of Texas were confronted by Mexican soldiers who thought the Americans had crossed into Mexico, U.S. officials said Tuesday. The Mexican troops reportedly removed a weapon from the American soldier who was armed.

U.S. Northern Command, which manages military support for Customs and Border Protection, said the Americans were in a CBP vehicle in a remote area in the vicinity of Clint, Texas.

24 Apr 2019; DW: A court in Hong Kong handed down sentences of up to 16 months to eight leaders of the city's "Umbrella Movement" on Wednesday, a month after they were found guilty of organizing a 79-day pro-democracy protest in 2014.

The movement had demanded Hong Kong's 5 million voters be given the right to choose the leader of the semi-autonomous Chinese territory.

What were the sentences?

COLOMBO, April 24 (Xinhua) -- Investigations by Sri Lankan police have confirmed that nine suicide bombers were involved in Sunday's attacks, eight of whom have been identified, State Defense Minister Ruwan Wijewardene said on Wednesday.

The leader of a local extremist group that carried out the bombings was one of the suicide bombers, the minister told a press conference.

Wijewardene said, so far 60 suspects had been arrested over the explosions and 32 of them had been handed over to the Criminal Investigations Department.

WASHINGTON (AP) - The struggle between House Democrats and the Trump administration over investigations intensified as a former White House official defied a subpoena and the Treasury Department ignored a deadline for providing President Donald Trump’s tax returns.

Rep. Elijah Cummings, the chairman of the House Oversight Committee, said the White House has adopted the “untenable” position that it can ignore requests from the Democratic majority in the House.