New Delhi, Dec 13 (PTI) The Supreme Court is scheduled Friday to pronounce verdict on pleas seeking court-monitored probe into India's multi-billion dollar Rafale fighter jet deal with France.

A bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi had reserved its verdict on a batch of pleas on November 14.

Advocate M L Sharma was the first petitioner in the case. Later, another lawyer Vineet Dhanda had moved the apex court with the plea for court-monitored probe into the deal.

AAP leader Sanjay Singh has also filed a petition against the fighter jet deal.

New Delhi, Dec 13 (PTI) The Supreme Court Thursday dismissed a petition seeking directions for the immediate execution of the four men convicted in the Nirbhaya gangrape and murder case of 2012.

"What kind of prayer you are making?" a bench of Justices Madan B Lokur and Depeak Gupta said. "You are making the court a joke," it added.

13 Dec 2018; DW: The commission will have two divisions: one to investigate the public sector and one for law enforcement agencies. The announcement attempts to nullify a major issue facing Scott Morrison's government ahead of elections.

Australia is to have a national anti-corruption commission aimed at stamping out corrupt and criminal behavior in police and politicians, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said Thursday.

CHICAGO, Dec. 12 (Xinhua) -- "We would much rather have the trade and be able to grow a crop for a fair price," said Lynn Rohrscheib, chairwoman of the Illinois Soybean Association (ISA), in an interview with Xinhua.

Besides being ISA chairwoman, Rohrscheib herself farms near Fairmount, a village in Illinois. As a ninth generation farmer, she grows corn, soybeans and a little wheat.

13 Dec 2018; DW: As carmakers wrestle for the emerging electric car market, a German company sealed a key deal to mine a massive lithium deposit under a salt flat in Bolivia. The metal is crucial for making car battery cells.

Lithium deposits hidden below Bolivia's Uyuni salt flat are believed to be the largest in the world. On Wednesday, Germany's privately owned ACI Systems agreed to a partnership with Bolivian state company YLB to exploit the element.

Agartala, Dec 13 (PTI) Opposition Congress in Tripura Thursday alleged that ruling BJP activists had attacked the houses of the party's supporters after the Congress' win in three states in the just concluded assembly elections.

President of Tripura PCC, Birajit Sinha alleged inaction by the police despite lodging an FIR police and remained mere spectator.

BJP, he said, was frightened by the assembly poll results of five states which went to poll recently and they were seeing the "spectre of defeat" in the coming general elections to be held next year.

COLOMBO, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) -- Sri Lanka's Supreme Court on Thursday ruled against President Maithripala Sirisena's decision to dissolve Parliament and conduct a snap Parliamentary election in early January.

Kolkata, Dec 13 (PTI) The West Bengal government has sanctioned Rs 21 crore for setting up a world-class laboratory in the city for preserving and digitising films that form a part of the state's cultural identity, an official said.

A nine-storeyed laboratory will shortly come up in Tollygunge, where a major chunk of production houses and studios of the Bengali film industry are based, he said.

HONOLULU (AP) — Authorities say the pilot of an airplane that crashed off Hawaii during a military exercise is in serious condition.

Honolulu Emergency Services spokesman Dustin Malama says the 47-year-old appears to have traumatic injuries and was taken to a hospital.

The U.S. Coast Guard says the pilot is a civilian contractor for the Hawaii Air National Guard who was participating in a military exercise called Sentry Aloha at the time of the crash.

Raipur, Dec 12 (PTI) The constituencies with high population of Scheduled Tribe (ST) and Scheduled Caste (SC) communities in Chhattisgarh, have contributed hugely in steering Congress towards a thumping victory in the state.

The state has 29 seats- in the 90-member assembly- reserved for ST candidates, and the Congress won 25 of them, besides bagging seven of ten SC reserved seats.

13 Dec 2018; DW: A reporter known for his bylines in right-wing newspapers has been charged with spying and rebellion. Press freedom groups have called for his release, saying he has a right to report "regardless of his personal views."

The German Foreign Ministry on Wednesday confirmed to DW that German journalist Billy Six has been arrested in Venezuela.

The ministry said it has extended consular services to the journalist, who is known for his bylines in the Berlin-based right-wing Junge Freiheit newspaper.

13 Dec 2018; AFP: A Buddhist monk has been killed by a leopard while meditating in a protected forest for the big cats, the fifth such attack in the area this month, Indian police said Thursday.

Rahul Walke Bodhi was seated beneath a tree in Ramdegi forest in western India for morning prayers on Tuesday when the leopard pounced.

The 35-year-old monk was fatally injured, police in Maharashtra state said.

Two other devotees meditating with him at the time escaped unscathed to alert police, who started a search for his body.