New Delhi, Jan 4 (PTI) Senior Congress leader Ajay Maken Friday resigned as the party's Delhi unit chief citing health reasons, a few months before the Lok Sabha elections, sources said.

Congress president Rahul Gandhi, Delhi Congress party affairs in-charge P C Chacko and Maken held a meeting Thursday evening. Gandhi has accepted his resignation, they said.

The 54-year-old leader had taken over as the Congress's Delhi unit chief four years ago, after the party lost the 2015 assembly elections.

Mumbai, Jan 3 (PTI) Police inspector Anand Bhoir, who was arrested by the ACB for allegedly accepting a bribe of Rs 22 lakh, was suspended Thursday, police said.

Bhoir, attached to the Crime Branch, and his driver were caught while allegedly accepting Rs 22 lakh in cash from a liquor shop owner Tuesday, an official said.

After the arrest, he was suspended from service and orders were issued by the office of the Commissioner of Police, he said.

Meerut (UP), Jan 3 (PTI) Uttar Pradesh BJP leader Vineet Agarwal Sharda has said Lord Hanuman belonged to the Vaishya community, weeks after Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath termed the Hindu deity a Dalit.

Talking to PTI Thursday, Sharda claimed the Vaishya community and Lord Ram come from the same lineage and Lord Hanuman is the adopted son of Lord Ram.

Sharda, however, evaded reply to a question on Adityanath's remarks.

Jamshedpur, Jan 3 (PTI) The Jharkhand Disom Party (JDP), tribal outfit, on Thursday said it would support the BJP in five tribal-dominated Eastern region states if the Narendra Modi government grant recognition to Sarna dharma of the adivasis before the approaching Lok Sabha polls.

Sarna Dharma is centred around the worship of nature.

The JDP made the decision at a meeting of its central committee leaders, party president Salkhan Murmu, a former MP, said in a statement.

New Delhi/Chandigarh, Jan 3 (PTI) Senior advocate and Aam Aadmi Party leader HS Phoolka, who is fighting the legal battle for the 1984 anti-Sikh riots victims, resigned from the party Thursday.

The move comes amid speculation of a possible alliance between the Congress and the AAP for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

In a tweet, Phoolka said he will explain the reason behind his decision in a press briefing in Delhi Friday.

New Delhi, Jan 3 (PTI) A 15-year-old girl was allegedly sexually assaulted by her classmate, who also got two of his friends to record the alleged act, police said Thursday.

The incident took place inside the washroom of a government school in Chanakyapuri in the last week of December, they said.

The victim's classmate allegedly kissed her inside the washroom of the school and asked two of his friends to record the act, a senior police officer said.

Jammu, Jan 3 (PTI) A man was arrested Thursday for allegedly raping a woman in Jammu and Kashmir's Udhampur district, police said.

A police official said that a written complaint was received at Police Station Pancheri from a woman, a resident of Kothi laid Lower Meer, he said.

The accused allegedly dragged her to a nearby forest and rape her while she was returning home from Kaithgali towards Kothilaid, he said.

After the incident, he threatened her of dire consequences if she reported the matter to police or anyone else.

WASHINGTON (AP) — No one budged at President Donald Trump’s closed-door meeting with congressional leaders Wednesday, so the partial government shutdown persisted through Day 12 over his demand for billions of dollars to build a wall along the U.S. border with Mexico. They’ll all try again Friday.

In public, Trump renewed his dire warnings of rapists and others at the border. But when pressed in private by Democrats asking why he wouldn’t end the shutdown, he responded at one point, “I would look foolish if I did that.”

03 Jan 2019; AFP: One person was killed and at least 15 injured in violence across southern India's Kerala state which broke out after two women defied traditionalists to enter one of Hinduism's holiest temples, police said Thursday.

Clashes were reported across the state after the two women activists, escorted by police, entered the Sabarimala temple in a surprise pre-dawn operation on Wednesday.

BEIJING, Jan. 2 (Xinhua) -- China has lodged solemn representations with the United States over a newly approved law that calls for strengthened official contact and military links between the U.S. and Taiwan, a Foreign Ministry spokesperson said Wednesday.

The Asia Reassurance Initiative Act of 2018 was signed into law by U.S. president on Dec. 31.

WASHINGTON, Jan. 2 (Xinhua) -- The 19 Smithsonian museums and the National Zoo in Washington D.C. closed their doors on Wednesday as the partial U.S. government shutdown dragged on.

"Due to the federal government shutdown, all Smithsonian museums and the National Zoo are closed," the Smithsonian institution said in a statement released on Wednesday.

"Museum and National Zoo programming and events are also canceled," said the statement.

03 Jan 2019; AFP: US President Donald Trump on Wednesday offered a rather stark take on the situation in war-wracked Syria, summing it up in two words -- "sand and death" -- while remaining vague about the timing of the withdrawal of US troops.

"So Syria was lost long ago. It was lost long ago. And besides that, I don't want -- we're talking about sand and death. That's what we're talking about," Trump said during a cabinet meeting.