KUNDUZ, Afghanistan, March 23 (Xinhua) -- At least 10 civilians were killed and eight others wounded following airstrikes targeting militants in northern Afghan province of Kunduz overnight, a local official said Saturday.

"Fighting and clashes during a military operation have been ongoing in Taluka, an area some 8 km north of provincial capital Kunduz city within the past days. Security forces launched airstrikes against militants in Taluka Friday night, but the strikes also caused civilian casualties," Yousuf Ayoubi, a provincial council official, told Xinhua.

Ahmedabad, Mar 22 (PTI) Former VHP leader Pravin Togadia on Friday said his newly launched political party will contest on around 100 Lok Sabha seats across the country, including 15 seats in Gujarat.

Togadia, who recently floated the Hindusthan Nirman Dal (HND), released a list of 41 candidates.

A "very destructive" category 4 cyclone slammed into Australia's remote northern coast on Saturday, while a second, equally powerful storm bore down on the country's west.

Cyclone Trevor, pushing a big storm tide and packing winds of up to 250 kilometres per hour (150 mph), made landfall on the sparsely populated Northern Territory coast near the Gulf of Carpentaria town of Port McArthur, the Bureau of Meteorology reported.

MOSCOW, March 22 (Xinhua) -- Russia will take necessary measures if the United States implements its plans to conduct anti-missile tests, the Russian Foreign Ministry said Friday.

The ministry said it noted recent reports by U.S. media about Pentagon's intention to test the SM-3 Block IIA interceptor against intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM) in 2020 and recalled similar plans announced in U.S. Missile Defense Review published in January.

Mumbai, Mar 22 (PTI) A 57-year-old IAS official allegedly committed suicide by hanging after firing two rounds from an airgun at his wife in the early hours of Friday in Maharashtra's Solapur district, police said.

Vijaykumar Bhagwat Pawar hanged himself after shooting at and injuring his wife Sonali in Marvade in Mangalwedha town in Solapur, over 380 kilometres from here, an official said.

New Delhi, Mar 22 (PTI) The AAP would start its campaign for Delhi's full statehood from Saturday under the leadership of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, the party said in a statement.

The Aam Aadmi Party said the main agenda of this campaign would be to highlight how people of the national capital "were cheated by the BJP".

It said the campaign for full statehood will start on the death anniversary of freedom fighters Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev.

Thane, Mar 22 (PTI) A 23-year-old man, who was in a relationship with a woman, has been brutally killed allegedly by her relatives, who dumped his body in bushes in Murbad town of Thane district in Maharashtra, police said Friday.

Deputy Superintendent of Police (Murbad) Rajendra More gave the name of the victim as Kalpesh Chowdhari, a resident of Kakadpada in Murbad taluka.

Two of the three accused were arrested Friday, the police said.

Ghaziabad, Mar 22 (PTI) A police team here seized 109 kg gold bricks worth Rs 38 crore and arrested four people on Friday, police said.

During a routine checking, a light commercial vehicle was intercepted near the Modinagar police station and the gold bricks were recovered, Deputy Inspector General of police Upendra Agarwal said.

The preliminary investigation has revealed that the gold consignment was being transported to Haridwar from Delhi to process them into gold biscuits, he added.

23 Mar 2019; AFP: A priest was stabbed in front of his congregation live on television during morning mass on Friday at Canada's biggest church, in what police described as an isolated incident.

Footage broadcast on a Catholic television station and picked up by the top-rated CTV network showed a man in jeans, parka and white baseball cap approach Claude Grou at St Joseph's Oratory in Montreal, in front of 60 horrified parishioners.

23 Mar 2019; DW: Prosecutors in Frankfurt issued a statement on Friday to say the suspects were detained in police raids involving 200 officers in the Frankfurt region earlier in the day.

Commenting on the raids, Hesse state interior minister Peter Beuth said: "Police intervened in a timely manner to prevent possible attack plans at an early stage."

22 Mar 2019; AFP: The Muslim call to prayer rang out across New Zealand on Friday followed by two minutes of nationwide silence to mark a week since a white supremacist gunned down 50 people at two mosques in the city of Christchurch.

As the call was broadcast around the country, thousands -- including Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and wounded survivors -- stood in a park opposite the mosque where the killing began, as the nation of 4.5 million came to a standstill.

Two Kashmiri separatists were killed by Indian security forces in what has been alleged as a fierce gunfight in restive India-controlled Kashmir, police said on Friday. Three Indian security forces’ personnel were also injured.

The gunfight broke out Thursday morning at village Kalantara Kandi in Baramulla district, about 47 km west of Srinagar city, the summer capital of India-controlled Kashmir.