AYDIN, 05 Feb 2019; AA: Turkish coast guard units on Sunday rescued 52 irregular migrants, including 25 children, in the western province of Aydin.

The units sprang to action after learning a rubber boat carrying the migrants was stranded in the Aegean Sea due to engine failure.

The migrants included 45 Afghans, six Iranians, and a Gabonese. They were transferred to the provincial migration office.

New Delhi, Feb 4 (PTI) A petition was filed in the Supreme Court Monday challenging the constitutional validity of 1993 Central law on land acquisition in Ayodhya near the disputed Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid site.

The plea contended that Parliament has no legislative competence to acquire land belonging to the state.

New Delhi, Feb 4 (PTI) Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra Monday returned from abroad and met Congress president Rahul Gandhi at his Tughlaq Road residence.

Party sources said Priyanka Gandhi would be present at a meeting of AICC general secretaries and in-charges of various states, called in Delhi on Thursday evening to plan the strategy for the Lok Sabha election due by May.

Mumbai, Feb 5 (PTI) The Shiv Sena Tuesday attacked the Modi government over the face-off between the West Bengal government and the CBI, alleging that it was "orchestrated" for political gains in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.

The Sena, in an editorial in party mouthpiece 'Saamana', said what was happening in Kolkata was a "threat to democracy".

Kolkata, February 3; GANASHAKTI: Kolkata and Red Flag became synonymous today as over million of foot soldiers of the Red Flag bearers in the state transformed the over 3.8 Sq Km of the Brigade Parade Grounds into”Red Sea of Humanity” will indeed herald the change in the country in the coming elections.” It is the Anti people Policies which needs to be changed, and alternative policies to be forged if our country is to be saved from further disaster” he said in the million strong Brigade rally.

Kolkata, Feb 4 (PTI) West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee Monday said that her dharna against the CBI's attempt to grill the Kolkata Police chief in the chit fund scam cases will continue till Friday in view of the upcoming boards examinations.

Banerjee is sitting on a dharna at the Metro Channel in Esplanade area in the heart of the city, the same spot she had sat on a 26-day fast in 2006 against the acquisition of farmland at Singur for the Tata Motors factory.

Kolkata, Feb 4; PTI: West Bengal Governor K N Tripathi has submitted a report to Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on the situation that unfolded in the city after a CBI team was allegedly obstructed by the police from questioning Kolkata Police chief Rajeev Kumar in the Saradha scam, Raj Bhavan sources said Monday.

The contents of the report were, however, not immediately known.

"The governor has submitted his report to the MHA (Ministry of Home Affairs). Today, in the morning, he spoke to Union Home Minister Rajanth Singh," sources told PTI.

04 Feb 2019; AFP: The toll from a dam collapse at a mine in southeast Brazil has risen to 134 deaths after more than a week of searches, with 199 missing, authorities said Monday.

The count showed the gradual recovery operation of bodies more than a week after the January 25 disaster at the dam, owned by Brazilian mining giant Vale, near the town of Brumadinho.

KUNDUZ, Afghanistan, Feb. 5 (Xinhua) -- At least 10 Afghan soldiers and eight Taliban militants were killed following clashes in northern province of Kunduz overnight, a local source said.

"Fresh clashes erupted in Talawla, an area on northern outskirts of provincial capital Kunduz city at midnight after Taliban militants stormed security checkpoints. The clashes also caused five soldiers and several militants injured," the source told Xinhua anonymously.

Guwahati, Feb 4 (PTI) Assam government Monday said sealing of the Indo-Bangla border in the state is going slow due to various reasons, including scarcity of funds to the implementing agency -- Central Public Works Department (CPWD).

In a written reply to a query by AGP MLA Satyabrat Kalita, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Chandra Mohan Patowary said putting up of barbed fence along the international border between India and Bangladesh was being done by the Centre.

WASHINGTON, Feb. 4 (Xinhua) -- The color of the sea will become darker by the end of this century due to the climate change, according to a study published on Monday in the journal Nature Communications.

Researchers from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) found that by the year 2100, over half of the world's oceans will shift in color, as the algae population change.

The study has shown that blue regions such as the subtropics will become even more blue, reflecting less phytoplankton and life in general in those waters.

Ahmednagar/Mumbai, Feb 4 (PTI) Social activist Anna Hazare, whose indefinite fast for appointment of anti-corruption watchdogs entered the sixth day Monday, has refused to call off his protest saying the government is handling the issue of corruption in a casual manner.

The talks between Union minister Subhash Bhamre, state minister Girish Mahajan and Hazare in the latter's Ralegan Siddhi village in Ahmed Nagar district, the venue of his fast since January 30, remained inconclusive Monday.