BEIJING, Feb.2 (Xinhua) -- Construction of China's first public-private partnership (PPP) funded high-speed railway has kicked off, China Railway Construction Corporation said Saturday.

The 266.9-km railway will start from the city of Hangzhou, crossing Shaoxing and ending in Taizhou, all cities in east China's Zhejiang Province.

The rail line is designed to run at a top speed of 350 km per hour, according to the company.

Chennai, Feb 2 (PTI) A 48-year-old man was arrested Saturday at the airport here by the cyber crime sleuths in connection with alleged offensive posts in the social media against Muslims, police said.

Kalyanasundaram Rangasamy had allegedly made defamatory comments offending Muslims recently, police said, adding they were on the lookout for him for the offence for quite some time.

Bengaluru, Feb 1 (PTI) A Mirage-2000 trainer aircraft of the Indian Air Force crashed Friday at the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited Airport here killing both the pilots, a Defence official confirmed.

Though the pilots made a bid to eject, they were caught in the flames as the plane crashed with a huge explosion, the official added.

"This morning, a Mirage 2000 trainer aircraft on an acceptance sortie after upgrade crashed at the HAL Airport, Bengaluru," a Defence public relation officer said in a statement.

New Delhi, Feb 1 (PTI) A doctor has been arrested for allegedly raping a minor patient in outer Delhi's Sultanpuri area, police said Friday.

The accused has been identified as Joginder Singh, a resident of Rohini.

According to the police, the alleged rape took place on Wednesday morning when the girl had gone to the doctor's clinic for treatment.

KANPUR:  In view of the poor tax collection the Municipal Commissioner has directed the tax inspectors to speed up the revenue realisation in the review meeting held on Friday. The lowest amount of Rs 8.70 crore has so far collected. Out of a total of 4,06,076 Lakh properties in the municipal precincts, the tax has been realised from 1,07,591properties only. Even the Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and the Urban Development Minister, UP Govt, have also expressed their respective annoyance over the poor revenue collection.

Caracas, January 30; GANASHAKTI: Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro assured Wednesday that the main reason for the growing pressure exerted by the United States against his government is the desire to seize its oil and mineral resources.

In an exclusive interview with the Russian outlet Sputnik, the president made reference to the mineral and natural wealth of his country as the reason behind Washington supporting coup efforts against his country.

WASHINGTON (AP) — After a gunman killed 20 first-graders and six educators at Sandy Hook Elementary School seven years ago, the FBI released 1,500 pages of documents from its investigation.

Its report on the 2017 massacre in Las Vegas was just three pages.

The brevity prompted disbelief and disappointment from survivors and relatives of victims. Even President Donald Trump said he was surprised, though he said he understood the FBI had not determined a motive in the Vegas shooting.

MOSCOW, Jan. 31 (Xinhua) -- Russia has no plans to evacuate citizens from Venezuela despite the risk of a large-scale armed conflict or foreign invasion, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said Thursday.

"We are not talking about the evacuation of either Russian diplomats, their families, Russian citizens, or employees of overseas agencies and companies. This I can confirm," Zakharova told a news briefing.

WASHINGTON, Jan. 31 (Xinhua) -- The United States is seeking to achieve "a set of concrete deliverables" through working-level negotiations with Pyongyang ahead of the scheduled leaders' summit, said U.S. envoy to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) on Thursday.

01 Feb 2019; DW: A free trade agreement between Japan and the EU entered into force on February 1, covering 635 million people and almost one-third of the world's economy.

Dubbed the world's largest free trade agreement, the EU-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement removes duties on almost all agricultural and industrial products and opens up the service sector and procurement. It also moves to eliminate non-tariff barriers to trade.

BEIJING, Jan. 31 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Premier Li Keqiang on Thursday said China was ready to tap more cooperative potentials and enhance all-round cooperation with Qatar to benefit the two peoples.

The remark came as Li met with visiting Qatari emir Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad al-Thani at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.

Hailing Qatar as China's important cooperation partner in the Middle East and the Gulf, Li said relations between the two countries had enjoyed healthy and stable development, with cooperation in trade, investment and other fields growing rapidly.

LONDON (AP) — Nearly a third of U.K. firms may shift operations abroad because of Britain’s pending departure from the European Union, a survey of 1,200 company directors suggested Friday, as political stalemate over a Brexit deal heightened jitters among businesses.

The survey by employers’ group the Institute of Directors found that 16 percent of businesses already had relocation plans while a further 13 percent were “actively considering” a move.