Lucknow, Jan 13 (PTI) A day after it was virtually left out being part of an anti-BJP alliance formed by the Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party, the Congress on Sunday declared it will contest all the 80 Lok Sabha seats from the state on its own.

However, the grand old party of India has kept the doors of a possible alliance open saying if any secular party which is competent to fight the BJP and willing to go with it (Congress), then it will be accommodated.

DUBAI, Jan. 12 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced on Saturday the formation of an Arab force and alliance capable of encountering regional challenges, Al Arabiya TV reported.

"The United States is not going to leave the Middle East region," Pompeo said in an interview with Al Arabiya on Friday.

Guwahati/New Delhi, Jan 12 (PTI) M P Bezbaruah, who was appointed as the head of a Centre-nominated committee to assess the implementation of Clause 6 of the Assam Accord, has declined to be a part of it, leaving the nine-member body in the lurch.

Bezbaruah is the fifth member to leave the committee. He has written to the Union Home Ministry in this regard.

Hyderabad, Jan 12 (PTI) This is a love story that could have gone awry, but all's well that ends well.

The protagonists-- a Muslim couple in Vikarabad district of Telangana-- tied the knot in a hospital after their parents, who initially did not agree to their wedding, came around when they allegedly attempted suicide.

Police Saturday said 21-year-old Nawaz and Reshma, 18, were related and wanted to get married.

However, their parents did not agree,they said.

New Delhi, Jan 12 (PTI) Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's office has received an anonymous email that threatened his daughter to kidnap her, sources said Saturday.

They said the Chief Minister's Office received an anonymous mail on January 9 following which the mail was forwarded to Delhi Police Commissioner Amulya Patnaik.

A Protective Service Officer has been deployed for Kejriwal's daughter by North district Police.

Kochi, Jan 13 (PTI) India got its largest startup ecosystem Sunday when Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan inaugurated here a 1.8-lakh-square-feet facility housing incubation set-ups across a string of segments in modern technology.

KHARTOUM, Jan. 12 (Xinhua) -- The death toll in Sudan's protests has risen to 24, said Amer Mohamed Ibrahim, head of a Sudanese government fact-finding committee in charge of investigating the recent protests in Sudan on Saturday.

The Attorney General in Sudan Omer Ahmed Mohamed received reports from the head of the higher committee and heads of the states' committees to follow the investigations on the recent protests in Gadarif, Nahral-Neel, White Nile, Khartoum and Northern States, said Ibrahim at a press conference in Khartoum.

New Delhi, Jan 13 (PTI) The government will construct 44 strategic roads along the border with China and over 2100 km of axial and lateral roads in Punjab and Rajasthan, abutting Pakistan, a CPWD document shows.

According to an annual report (2018-19) prepared, and released earlier this month by the Central Public Works Department, the agency has been asked to construct 44 "strategically important" roads along the India-China border to ensure quick mobilisation of troops in case of a conflict.

New Delhi, Jan 12 (PTI) A 17-year-old rape victim was allegedly forced to drink poison by two bike-borne men when she was returning home from tuition in Dwarka district's Hastsal area, police said Saturday.

The incident took place on Thursday evening, they added.

CARACAS, Jan. 12 (Xinhua) -- Ten member countries of the Lima Group have distanced themselves from interfering in Venezuela's internal affairs, Venezuelan Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza said Saturday.

Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Peru, Panama and Saint Lucia, once urging Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro to cede power, have rectified their position, Arreaza said at a news conference at the headquarters of the ministry.

12 Jan 2019; AA: The UN human rights body's experts expressed “alarm” over alleged 59 extra-judicial killings by police in northern Indian state, where many victims belong to Muslim community.

The UN Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner (OHCHR) said in a statement on Friday that its experts have written a letter to the government of India on 15 of the cases in Uttar Pradesh since March 2017.

Hyderabad, Jan 13 (PTI) Three persons have been arrested for allegedly raping a 16-year-old girl on multiple occasions over the last four years, the city police said Sunday.

A demonstration was held in the Kamatipura area here Sunday after the girl alleged that apart from the three arrested men, she was sexually exploited by eight others including a `panch' witness.

The police arrested three persons including a relative of the girl on December 31 after she filed a complaint against them.