Srinagar, Jan 11 (PTI) Former IAS officer Shah Faesal, who quit the service recently, Friday shared his future plans, saying he would not join any mainstream political parties "as of now", or separatist Hurriyat Conference, but would be happy to contest the upcoming parliamentary elections.

The 2010-batch officer said he was deeply inspired by the style of politics of Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, but the "situation" in Jammu and Kashmir would not allow him to pursue politics their style.

New Delhi, Jan 11: In a big setback to CBI Special Director Rakesh Asthana, the Delhi High Court Friday refused to quash the FIR lodged against him on bribery allegations and set a a 10-week deadline to complete the investigations.

Holding that permission for prior sanction to prosecute Asthana was not required considering the facts of the case, the court vacated its interim order that granted the CBI's No. 2 protection against criminal proceedings which in effect meant there is no bar on his arrest.

New Delhi, Jan 11 (PTI) India has granted consular access to Christian Michel, a British national who was brought here from the UAE last month in connection with the Rs 3,600-crore AgustaWestland chopper deal.

The British High Commission had sought consular access to Michel after he was arrested in the first week of December.

BEIJING, Jan. 12 (Xinhua) -- As the Chang'e-4 probe made the first-ever soft landing on the far side of the moon, a senior Chinese space expert said China will deepen its lunar exploration and venture further into the unknown.

Mumbai, Jan 11 (PTI) The Bombay High Court on Friday asked the BEST Workers' Union to "take the first step" towards resolving its dispute with the state and Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation and end the civic bus service employees' strike, now in its fourth day.

The court also asked the union to hold a meeting of its office-bearers in the evening in a bid to break the stalemate.

Advocate General Ashutosh Kumbhakoni told the court that the Maharashtra government had set up a committee, headed by the chief secretary, to hold talks with the union.

11 Jan 2019; AFP: An 18-year-old Saudi woman who fled her family seeking asylum in Australia will fly to Canada late Friday, the head of Thai immigration police said, in a surprise twist to a saga partly played out over Twitter.

Rahaf Mohammed al-Qunun was granted refugee status by the UN days ago after arriving in Bangkok over the weekend and amassing a large Twitter following as she made desperate pleas for help from the airport.

New Delhi, Jan 11 (PTI) Industrial output growth dropped to a 17-month low of 0.5 per cent in November on account of contraction in manufacturing sector, particularly consumer and capital goods.

Factory output as measured in terms of the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) had grown by 8.5 per cent in November 2017, as per data released by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) Friday.

The previous low was in June 2017, when IIP growth contracted by 0.3 per cent.

The growth for October 2018 was revised upwards to 8.4 per cent from 8.1 per cent.

New Delhi, Jan 11; PTI: Nepal on Friday strongly pitched for convening of the SAARC summit, saying differences should be resolved through dialogue and the grouping should collectively deal with terrorism and other key challenges facing the region.

Nepalese Foreign Minister Pradeep Kumar Gyawali also cited last year's historic talks between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Singapore, saying dialogue was the only way to address differences.

New Delhi, Jan 11 (PTI) The roads around Ramlila Maidan and adjoining areas near New Delhi railway station turned saffron as thousands of BJP leaders from across the country are descending down in the national capital for the party's two-day national council meeting which began here Friday.

KANPUR: As we know the National Green Tribunal is determined to bring improvement in the environmental condition, it has fielded as many as 23 judges to study the situation in the whole of the country. On Friday the solid waste management monitoring committee visited the city areas and found the grim situation. The panel president Justice (retd) D P Singh appeared deeply annoyed with the state of affairs and did not fail to indict the officers concerned in this regard. They had no genuine answer.

New Delhi, Jan 11 (PTI) BJP president Amit Shah Friday projected the Lok Sabha polls as a clash of ideologies and likened it to the third battle of Panipat between Marathas and the Afghans army, saying the election results will be equally significant for the country.

In his inaugural address at a party convention here, he dismissed the proposed grand alliance of opposition parties against the BJP as a "sham", saying they are a disparate group with neither a leader nor any policy and have been brought together by their greed of power.

KANPUR: A minor delinquent died under mysterious circumstances at the child reformatory in Naubasta area here on Friday evening. On receiving information from the police, the family members reached the Hallet Hospital. Cause of his death would be clear after the post-mortem report.