Udaipur, Dec 21 (PTI) Hindustan Aeronautics Limited chairman R Madhavan Friday said the HAL was capable of producing the Rafale aircraft but suggested that the question of transfer of technology does not arise in the current order of just 36 aircraft.

The Congress has alleged that Narendra Modi government is buying the military aircraft from French company Dassault Aviation at a much higher price than what was being negotiated by the previous UPA government, which planned to procure 126 aircraft.

MOSCOW, December 22. /TASS/. The fact that the Russia-initiated resolution supporting the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF Treaty) was voted down at the United Nations General Assembly will enable Washington to ruin the document thanks to those countries that rejected it, Russia’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Saturday.

Muzaffarnagar, Dec 22 (PTI) A 52-year-old sadhu allegedly committed suicide by hanging himself from the ceiling at his residence in Uttar Pradesh's Muzaffarnagar district, police said on Saturday.

The incident took place on Friday in Dhandeda village under Kakroli police station limits, they said.

Prakashanand Giri's body was found hanging from the ceiling of a room in his house. It was recovered after breaking open the door of the room, Station House Officer Jitender Ambavat said.

His body has been sent for a post-mortem examination, he said.

Bhopal (MP), Dec 22 (PTI) A 40-year-old Pakistani man, who has been staying at a Bhopal Police Station since the last nine months after his 10-year jail term got over here, would be repatriated to his home country on December 26, officials said Saturday.

The repatriation of Mohammed Imran Warsi is taking place after over a week of software engineer and Mumbai resident Hamid Nihal Ansari being released by Pakistan after he served six years in a jail in that country on espionage charges.

ST. PETERSBURG, Russia (AP) — Russia’s nuclear power company says a Soviet-built nuclear reactor has been taken out of operation after 45 years of service.

The state-controlled Rosatom corporation said Saturday that Reactor No. 1 at the Leningrad nuclear power plant has been shut down as planned. It said it will take until 2023 to fully unload its uranium fuel.

New Delhi, Dec 22 (PTI) Former Union minister Rajiv Pratap Rudy was Saturday appointed as a BJP national spokesperson by party president Amit Shah.

A party statement said his appointment will take place with immediate effect.

A Lok Sabha MP from Bihar who had defeated RJD president Lalu Prasad's wife Rabri Devi in 2014 general elections, Rudy has held organisational responsibilities in the past as well and was also a general secretary, a key position.

SAN FRANCISCO, Dec. 22 (Xinhua) -- Autonomous car startup Zoox Inc. on Friday became the first firm in California to transport passengers in self-driving vehicles on public roads in the U.S. state of California, state transport regulators said.

The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) said in a statement that it has authorized Zoox to "participate in California's first pilot program providing 'drivered' autonomous vehicle passenger service to the public."

JIUQUAN, Dec. 22 (Xinhua) -- China launched a tech-experimental satellite as part of the Hongyun Project, a low-orbit broadband communication satellite system on Saturday morning.

A Long March-11 rocket carrying the experimental satellite blasted off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China at 7：51 a.m.. It successfully entered its preset orbit.

Imphal, Dec 21 (PTI) Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh Friday told the state Assembly that five policemen have been suspended after a man picked up by security forces in Thoubal district on Wednesday was found dead on Thursday.

In reply to a call attention motion moved by opposition Congress MLA Kh Joikishan Singh, the chief minister further informed that his government has asked the Assam Rifles authorities to make arrangements for surrender of AR personnel who were involved in the arrest of the person along with the suspended five policemen.

Ahmedabad, Dec 21 (PTI) BJP leaders, including Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, and former Gujarat police officers Friday welcomed the verdict in the Sohrabuddin Shaikh encounter case and claimed vindication of their stand, adding the court ruling has "exposed" the Congress.

They said the encounter was genuine and the entire case against policemen from Gujarat and Rajasthan, who were named accused, was part of a "political conspiracy".

Kota, Dec 21 (PTI) A POCSO court In Rajasthan's Bundi district Friday sentenced a 35-year-old man to life imprisonment for abducting and raping a 16-year-old girl.

The POCSO court No. 2 Special Judge Sushil Kumar Sharma pronounced that Vijay Kumar Goswami, a resident of Kolipura, in Karauli district will remain in jail till his natural death.

Rupnagar (Pb), Dec 21 (PTI) A 17-year-old girl was found pregnant after being repeatedly raped allegedly by her father and his friend here, police said, adding that both the accused were booked Friday.

The girl is seven months pregnant, Bharat Bhushan, SHO, Rupnagar civil lines police station, said.

She was living with her father in a village in this district.

According to police, her father and one of his friends, who was living with them, raped her repeatedly.