Thiruvananthapuram, Jan 31 (PTI): The Kerala government Thursday set apart Rs 100 crore in the 2019-20 budget for the Travancore Devaswom Board, which manages the Sabarimala temple that faced an unprecedented a dip in revenue due to the recent floods and violent protests over the women's entry issue.

Finance Minister T M Thomas Isaac presented the annual budget for the year 2019-20 in which he lashed out at the "vicious propaganda" unleashed by some "politicians" that the government was "siphoning off the money" of the Sabarimala Ayyappa temple.

KANPUR: The banned currency notes were laying in the thick shrubs of the Sanjay Van in Kidwai Nagar area on Thursday. The notes were thrown on the ground in the polythene packets. The daily morning walkers were too surprised to find wads of abandoned banned currency notes while strolling in the gardens.

Ranchi, Jan 31 (PTI) A minor was allegedly raped by five youths at Bundu area of Ranchi district and the accused were arrested, a senior police officer said on Thursday.

The incident took place of Tuesday when the girl left home to visit her maternal uncles house at Bundu, about 40 km from here, superintendent of police (rural) Ashutosh Shekhar said.

But before going her uncle's house, the girl had spent time with her boy friend. Then when they were on their way to the girl's uncle's house, the five accused thrashed the boy and snatched away their mobile phones.

Jaipur, Jan 31 (PTI) A four-year-old nomad girl was allegedly raped by a man of the same community near her home in Rajasthan's Sikar district, police said Thursday.

The 28-year-old accused took the minor to a cremation ground located near their huts and committed the crime on Wednesday night, Station House Officer of the Khatushyamji police station Surendra Kumar said.

The accused was caught the same night, the SHO said, adding he has been placed under arrest under relevant sections.

The girl was admitted to a local hospital, Kumar said.

WASHINGTON, Jan. 30 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday publicly belittled his intelligence officials over the sharp disagreements in their foreign policy viewpoints related to Iran and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK).

"The Intelligence people seem to be extremely passive and naive when it comes to the dangers of Iran. They are wrong!" said Trump in a Wednesday tweet.

BEIJING (AP) — China urged Washington on Thursday to accept its industrial development after U.S. intelligence officials said Beijing steals or copies foreign technology, as the two sides prepared for another day of talks aimed at ending a tariff war over Beijing’s technology ambitions.

It is “totally unreasonable to make random accusations,” said a foreign ministry spokesman, Geng Shuang.

31 Jan 2019; AP: A new report estimates that nearly half of all U.S. adults have some form of heart or blood vessel disease, a medical milestone that’s mostly due to recent guidelines that expanded how many people have high blood pressure.

31 Jan 2019; DW: The latest standoff between Italy and the EU over sea rescues has ended with 47 migrants landing in Sicily. The German charity Sea Watch now fears it could be prosecuted and its boat impounded.

A charity rescue ship with 47 migrants aboard arrived at a Sicilian port on Thursday after spending two weeks at sea while Italy demanded other European states take them in.

31 Jan 2019; DW: When opposition leader Juan Guaido declared himself Venezuela's interim president last week, Recep Tayyip Erdogan was one of the few state leaders to call Nicolas Maduro to express his unwavering support for the embattled leader. In a sense, the Turkish president was paying his respects to Maduro, who came out in support Erdogan after the failed coup in Turkey in July 2016.

JERUSALEM; 31 Jan 2019; AA: An Israeli rights group said Thursday that Saleh Barghouthi, a Palestinian taxi driver killed by Israeli forces last month, was shot at point-blank range in what appeared to be an “extrajudicial killing”. 

In a statement, B’Tselem, an Israeli rights NGO, said that -- contrary to assertions by Israel’s Shin Bet security agency and the Israeli army -- Barghouthi had not tried to resist arrest or run anyone over in his car.

MOSCOW, Jan. 30 (Xinhua) -- Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said he is ready to hold talks with the country's opposition with the help of international mediators, RIA Novosti reported on Wednesday.

"I am ready to sit down at the negotiating table with the opposition so that we can speak for the good of Venezuela, for the sake of peace and the country's future," the Russian news agency quoted Maduro as saying in an interview.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Democrats in the House offered a border security plan that would not provide a penny for Donald Trump’s border wall, ignoring — for now — an early-morning warning from the president that they’d be “wasting their time” if they don’t come up with wall money.