Mumbai, Jan 5 (PTI) Fugitive diamond merchant Nirav Modi, a prime accused in the PNB fraud case, told a court here Saturday that he cannot return to India due to safety concerns and also because his case has been politicised.

Modi's lawyer filed his reply to the Enforcement Directorate's (ED) plea seeking to declare the diamond merchant a fugitive under the Fugitive Economic Offenders Act (FEOA) before the special court for cases filed under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

04 Jan 2019; AFP: President Donald Trump said Friday he was prepared to keep the US government closed for a year or more, as he stood firm on his contentious demand for billions of dollars to fund a border wall with Mexico.

Trump confirmed he said as much in a meeting earlier Friday with top Democrats that failed to produce a deal on ending the two-week shutdown.

"Absolutely I said that," Trump said, adding. "I don't think it will. But I am prepared."

Police in Torrance, California has confirmed shooting at Gable House Bowl. The number of victims and the nature of their injuries are not yet known. Also not known is the identity and motive of the shooter.

SAN DIEGO (AP) — A decorated Navy SEAL pleaded not guilty Friday to charges of premeditated murder and other crimes in the stabbing death of a teenage Islamic State prisoner in Iraq last year and the shooting of unarmed Iraqi civilians.

Special Operations Chief Edward Gallagher will stand trial Feb. 19 before a jury that will be one-third enlisted personnel. Gallagher has been jailed since his arrest on Sept. 11, and a judge said he will determine next week whether the 19-year Navy veteran should be released before trial.

WASHINGTON, January 5. /TASS/. A record-high number of Americans want to permanently move to another country, suggests a Gallup opinion poll whose data was made public on Friday.

BEIJING, Jan. 4 (Xinhua) -- Lunar rover Yutu-2 has been driving on the far side of the moon after separating from the lander and scientific devices on both the lander and rover are currently gathering data, the China National Space Administration (CNSA) said late Friday.

At 17:00 local time in Beijing, the three 5-meter antennas of the low-frequency radio spectrometer on the lander have fully spread out, said the CNSA in a statement.

ANKARA; 05 Jan 2019; AA: Turkey's aerospace and defense industry exports surged 17 percent year-on-year in 2018.

According to data compiled from Turkish Exporters Assembly by Anadolu Agency, the sector's exports surpassed the target of $2 billion last year, hitting a record high level of $2.035 billion.

The defense and aerospace industry showed the best performance in terms of growing exports, among all sectors in 2018.

CAIRO (AP) — U.S. television network CBS says Egypt’s president has told it in an interview that his country and Israel, with whom it fought four wars, are cooperating against Islamic militants in the Sinai Peninsula.

Excerpts from the interview released by CBS over the weekend also quote President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi as denying there are political prisoners in Egypt, where he has overseen one of the largest crackdowns on dissent in the country’s modern history.

Beijing, Jan 4 (PTI) China has developed a massive bomb, said to be the country's answer to the US-built 'Mother of All Bombs', the most powerful non-nuclear weapon, official media reported on Friday.

China's defence industry giant NORINCO for the first time showcased the aerial bomb, the country's largest non-nuclear bomb, state-run Global Times reported.

It is dubbed as the Chinese version of the "Mother of All Bombs" due to its huge destruction potential that is claimed to be only second to nuclear weapons, the daily said.

GROZNY, January 4. /TASS/. An international coalition’s airstrike targeting the militants of the Islamic State terrorist group (outlawed in Russia) has killed a resident of Chechnya’s Nadterechny District Khava Akhyadova, 35, and a four-year-old boy in the Syrian province of Deir ez-Zor, Kheda Saratova from the civil society and human rights council under the Chechen president told TASS on Friday.

BEIJING, Jan. 4 (Xinhua) -- China's foreign ministry on Friday refuted a travel advisory issued by the United States, and said China always welcomes foreign citizens and protects their lawful rights.

The remarks came after the U.S. State Department updated a travel advisory warning, saying visitors to China are at risk that the Chinese government may take exit bans to prohibit them from leaving the country.

UNITED NATIONS, Jan. 4 (Xinhua) -- Three days after the top UN envoy in Somalia was ordered to leave the country by its government, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has decided to appoint a new special representative.

Guterres "intends to appoint in due course a new Special Representative for Somalia and Head of United Nations Assistance Mission in Somalia (UNSOM)," said Farhan Haq, deputy spokesperson for the secretary-general, in a statement on Friday.