Breaking news, November 21 | HIGHLIGHTS

A court here on Monday sentenced three people to 10 years of rigorous imprisonment for smuggling drugs. Sessions Judge, Hamirpur, Vikas Bhardwaj also slapped a fine of Rs 1 lakh on each of them.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi Monday congratulated Kassym-Jomart Tokayev for winning the presidential polls in Kazakhstan and said he looks forward to continuing working with him to further strengthen the partnership between the two countries.

The Supreme Court on Monday refused to entertain a plea seeking disqualification of convicted members of Parliament and state legislative assemblies from the electoral college for presidential election.

Ousted prime minister Imran Khan said on Monday that he wants a good relationship between Pakistan and India but claimed that there is "no chance" of this happening while the nationalist BJP remains in power.

The Allahabad High Court has issued contempt notices to Uttar Pradesh government officers for failing to reconstruct the main road of the Nadarganj industrial area as well as sewage and water drainage system to provide basic amenities to people.

An FIR has been registered against Mukhtar alias Baba Biryani, who was arrested for allegedly funding the Kanpur violence on June 3, police said on Monday. Mukhtar, who owns a chain of restaurants, has been booked on charges of cheating, forgery, criminal conspiracy and using forged documents related to enemy property, Deputy Commissioner of Police (central) Ravindra Kumar said.

The BJP's top leadership, including its national president J P Nadda, went into a huddle with the Delhi unit leaders to assess the party's campaign for the December 4 civic body polls in the city. Several leaders, including some Delhi BJP MPs and MLAs, said Nadda advised a "focussed, door-to-door campaign" in the coming days to reach out to voters effectively.

Nationalist Congress Party's nominee from Devgadhbaria Assembly seat in Gujarat's Dahod district withdrew from the fray on Monday, paving the way for a straight contest between BJP and AAP, a development viewed as a setback to the NCP-Congress alliance in the poll-bound state.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Monday said a sting video shot purportedly by a former Aam Aadmi Party volunteer alleging AAP sold tickets for Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) polls was "manohar kahaniyan" (fictional drama) of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and asked the saffron outfit not to indulge in politics of squabbling and hooliganism.

The AAP on Monday said Punjab has the sole right over Chandigarh and Haryana will not be allowed to construct an additional legislative assembly building in the city.

The AAP on Monday said Punjab has the sole right over Chandigarh and Haryana will not be allowed to construct an additional legislative assembly building in the city. Haryana will not be given an inch of land in Chandigarh, which was established on the land of dozens of villages of Punjab, Aam Aadmi Party's state chief spokesperson Malvinder Singh Kang said.

Ten members of an inter-state gang, which allegedly threatened senior executives of a major Japanese paint-making company to cough up Rs 15-20 crore for "settling" a fake ED case, have been arrested by a joint team of the federal agency and the Delhi Police, an official statement said on Monday.

People can pay a visit on Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, except on gazetted holidays, in five time slots of one hour each, from 10 am to 1 pm and 2 pm to 4 pm, it said.

The Allahabad High Court on Monday fixed November 30 for hearing a revision petition challenging the Varanasi district judge's order by which the lower court had refused the demand of carbon dating of a 'Shivling' claimed to have been found in the Gyanvapi mosque complex. Justice J J Munir passed the order on the revision plea filed by Laxmi Devi and others.

Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar on Monday interacted with the Indian community members here in Doha and lauded their role in deepening the links between India and Qatar.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday took a swipe at Congress saying its leaders remained oblivious to tribals for a very long time even though tribals have been living in the country since the days of Lord Ram and Lord Krishna.

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge will campaign in Gujarat from November 26 to 28, sources close to him said here. Kharge will address a public meeting in Ahmedabad on November 26 and is likely to address a press conference the next day, they said.

An earthquake shook Indonesia's main island of Java on Monday, killing at least 46 people, damaging dozens of buildings and sending residents into the capital's streets for safety.

Mauritius President Prithvirajsing Roopun paid a brief visit to temple town Ayodhya on Monday. Roopun arrived here by road from Lucknow at 9 am along with his spouse Sayukta Roopun and officials from his country, a senior official said.

Two persons were charred to death inside their car which caught fire after ramming into a tractor parked on the roadside on the Yamuna Expressway in Mathura early Monday morning, police said. They did not get a chance to come out of their four-wheeler which burst into flames immediately on impact, the police said.

A couple and their four children were found dead at their house in Rajasthan's Udaipur district on Monday, police said.

A 45-year-old man was killed in a blast of an Improvised Explosive Device (IED), suspected to have been planted by Maoists, in Jharkhand's West Singhbhum district, police said on Monday.

The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to hear the plea of residents of Gurugram's Chintels Paradiso society, a part of which collapsed in February killing two women, seeking compensation and action against the developer. A bench of Justices K M Jospeh and Hrishikesh Roy issued notice to Chintels India Private Limited and sought its reply on the plea filed by the residents.

Four Nepal police personnel who were on election duty were killed and eight others injured on Monday when a jeep carrying them skidded off the road in Sudurpashchim province, police said. The jeep fell some 300 metres down the hilly road at Ningladi stream in Baitadi district when it was returning to duty after handing over ballot boxes to the district headquarters, according to the police.

Police have seized heroin worth around Rs 70 lakh and arrested two men in this connection in Madhya Pradesh's Gwalior district, an official said on Monday. Acting on a tip-off, the police increased surveillance and intercepted a car with two men at MH crossing in Murar area late Sunday night.

Pakistan on Monday reopened its key Chaman border crossing with landlocked Afghanistan for trade and pedestrian movement after shutting it down a week earlier after an Afghan gunman shot and killed a Pakistani soldier and wounded two others, a Pakistani official said. The deadly shooting on Nov. 13 shuttered the border, which is also known as Friendship Gate, causing heavy losses to traders and stranding thousands of people on both sides.

The southern Chinese metropolis of Guangzhou locked down its largest district Monday as it tries to tamp down a major COVID-19 outbreak, suspending public transit and requiring residents to present a negative test if they want to leave their homes.

The Supreme Court on Monday said that a three-judge bench headed by CJI D Y Chandrachud would hear a plea of the Enforcement Directorate seeking transfer of a corruption case related to the 'Nagrik Apurti Nigam' or the PDS scam outside Chhattisgarh.

Sharpening its attack on the BJP, senior AAP leader Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia on Monday said the saffron party has "no vision" for the civic body as he announced a new campaign for his party to "alert voters" to choose the Aam Aadmi Party in the MCD polls.

A private bus rammed into a motorcycle and caught fire, leaving two men dead and six others injured near Lohra village here, police said on Monday.

A man was killed after a truck knocked down his motorcycle on the Mumbai-Bengaluru highway in Maharashtra's Pune district, while in another accident a trailer hit four vehicles on the same route, police said on Monday. The accidents took place around 10.30 pm on Sunday, a couple of hours after a vehicle pile-up on Navale bridge on the route in which 24 vehicles were damaged, an official from Bharti Vidyapeeth police station said.

Maoists torched three vehicles, two machines engaged in road construction work and four mobile towers at separate places in Chhattisgarh's Kanker district, police said on Monday. As per preliminary information, no harm was reported to any person in the incidents which took place between Sunday night and wee hours of Monday at separate places, Kanker Superintendent of Police Shalabh Sinha said.

Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar has met several world leaders, including UN chief Antonio Guterres, on the sidelines of the FIFA World Cup here in Qatar. Dhankhar is in Doha for a two-day visit to represent India at the inauguration of FIFA's showpiece event. He is visiting Doha at the invitation of Qatar Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani. 

"AAP asked for votes in exchange for money for the MCD elections", said BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra in a press conference. 

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi will address two public rallies in Gujarat on Monday as part of the campaign for party candidates for the upcoming Assembly polls in the Bharatiya Janata Party-ruled state.

Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena has approved the filing of a petition in the Supreme Court challenging its decision to acquit three convicts in the 2012 Chhawla rape-and-murder case who were awarded the death sentence, official said on Monday.

At least two persons were killed and some others were seriously injured when a goods train derailed at Korei railway station in Odisha's Jajpur district on Monday, Railway officials said.

 In the history of India-US relationship, 2022 has been a huge year and the next year is going to be even bigger, a top White House official said on Sunday.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address three public rallies in Gujarat on Monday, the third day of his visit to the state where the Assembly polls are scheduled next month.

MCD polls: Election commission processes nearly 4,500 applications seeking permission to conduct roadshows, rallies

Ahead of the December 5 bypoll to Padampur assembly seat, the BJD government in Odisha raked up a 'shelved' railway project connecting Bargarh and Nuapada, accusing the Centre of neglecting the people's demand for improving the connectivity there.

Hong Kong leader John Lee tested positive for COVID-19 after returning from the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meetings in Thailand, the city government said Monday.

Six persons were booked on Sunday for allegedly luring some people to convert to Christianity, police said. After getting information that religious conversion is going on in Vanshi Nagar locality here where 60-70 people were present, a police team reached there, Additional Superintendent of Police Rahul Bhati said. Later, the FIR was lodged against six persons under provisions of the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion Act, 2021, he said.

North Korea's foreign minister called UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres "a puppet of the United States" as she slammed the UN chief for joining US-led condemnation of the North's recent intercontinental ballistic missile test.

A 22-year-old gunman opened fire inside a gay nightclub in Colorado Springs, killing five people and leaving 25 injured before he was subdued by "heroic" patrons and arrested by police who arrived within minutes, authorities said Sunday.