SHANGHAI, Nov. 12 (Xinhua) -- China's e-commerce giant Alibaba Monday said the Singles' Day sales on its online shopping platforms reached a record 213.5 billion yuan (30.7 billion U.S. dollars).

The total sales on its platforms including Tmall and Taobao on Sunday represented an annual increase of about 27 percent from 168.2 billion yuan a year ago, Alibaba said.

Alibaba launched the annual online shopping promotion on Nov. 11, 2009, a day celebrated by many Chinese young people as Singles' Day.

Hyderabad, Nov 12 (PTI) Taking a dig at some BJP-ruled states over their "name-changing spree", AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi targeted BJP president Amit Shah, saying his surname was a Persian word and wondered if it would be changed.

He was addressing an election campaign here Sunday evening for the December 7 assembly polls.

"Shah is a Persian word...will they change it or not... don't know," the Hyderabad MP said.

Port Moresby; 12 Nov 2018; AFP: Papua New Guinea has deployed a multi-national force of warships, fighter jets and elite counter-terrorism troops to protect world leaders attending a major summit in its crime-plagued capital this week.

About 4,000 military personnel, around half of them foreign, will work with hundreds of police to patrol Port Moresby for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum from Saturday, which will attract representatives from 21 nations.

New Delhi, Nov 12 (PTI) The Supreme Court Monday said it was "quite shocked" that the Bihar police was unable to trace and arrest former state minister Manju Verma, who had stepped down from the cabinet in the wake of the Muzaffarpur shelter home scandal, in a case related to alleged recovery of illegal ammunition from her.

A bench of justices Madan B Lokur and Deepak Gupta summoned the Bihar director general of police (DGP) to explain why the state police had failed to trace the whereabouts of Verma and arrest her in connection with the case.

New Delhi, Nov 12 (PTI) Nearly 280 fresh cases of dengue have been reported over the last one week in the national capital, taking the total number of people diagnosed with the vector-borne disease this season to 1,875, a municipal report released Monday said.

According to the report, there has been one death due to dengue this year till November 10.

At least 1,114 cases were reported in October only.

Also, 450 cases of malaria and 141 of chikungunya have been reported this season till November 10 the report said.

11 Nov 2018; AFP: People in Russian-backed separatist controlled areas of eastern Ukraine voted for new leaders on Sunday in polls condemned as illegal by Kiev and Western countries.

The elections in the Donetsk and Lugansk "People's Republics", which broke away from Ukraine's pro-Western government in 2014, took place after the killing of the rebel Donetsk "president" in a bomb attack in August.

New Delhi, Nov 12 (PTI) The National Commission for Women on Monday expressed serious concern over the killing of a woman for objecting to smoking in Uttar Pradesh last week and sought to know what action has been initiated.

"The commission is seriously concerned about the brutal crime committed on the woman. Considering the gravity of the matter, it is requested that the commission may be apprised about the action taken in the matter at the earliest," the NCW said in a letter to UP Director General of Police (DGP) O P Singh.

New Delhi, Nov 12 (PTI) The Delhi government will come up with over 600 Mohalla Clinics, with close to half of it to be opened at schools run by it, an official source said.

In a review meeting on the Mohalla Clinic project on Monday, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal directed the officials to ensure adequate availability of medicines and staff in the state-run clinics and hospitals, the government source said.

French police stopped two topless protesters who approached the motorcade of US President Donald Trump as he made his way up the Champs-Elysees to a ceremony in Paris marking 100 years since the end of World War I.

One of the protesters, with slogans written on her body, got within metres of the rear of the motorcade after jumping over a barricade.

She was grabbed by a police officer, while a second woman could be seen being hauled away by security services on the edge of the famous avenue, live television pictures showed.

Chandigarh, Nov 11 (PTI) Haryana Chief Secretary D S Dhesi said Sunday it was unfair to blame the state for Delhi's poor air quality, saying that crop residue was burnt only on one per cent of the total sown area of paddy.

Dhesi alleged that the role of Haryana was being adversely publicised regarding the pollution in the National Capital Region.

Jaipur, Nov 12 (PTI) A Rajasthan minister, who was dropped by the Bharatiya Janata Party in its first list of candidates for the assembly election, resigned from his post and the party on Monday.

Surendra Goyal, the public health engineering and ground water minister who represents the Jaitaran constituency, tendered separate resignations to Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje and the party's state president, Madan Lal Saini.

New Delhi, Nov 12 (PTI) Around 70 per cent voter turnout was registered in the first phase of the Chhattisgarh Assembly polls, the Election Commission (EC) said Monday.

The turnout was likely to go up as the final figures were yet to be received, Senior Deputy Election Commissioner Umesh Sinha said.

In the first phase, voting was held in 18 of the 90 Assembly seats in Chhattisgarh.

Till 5.30 pm, the overall voter turnout was 58.55 per cent, the EC said.