India

New Delhi, Jun 26 (PTI) The National Green Tribunal Wednesday refused to unseal the Haj House in Ghaziabad for failing to setup a sewage treatment plant (STP).

The Haj House in Uttar Pradesh's Arthala village is an under-construction seven-storey building located near the Hindon river and it was sealed last year.

A vacation bench headed by Justice Raghuvendra S Rathore said the plea filed by the Uttar Pradesh State Haj Committee cannot be allowed as a larger bench has already passed orders in the matter.

Gorakhpur (UP), Jun 26 (PTI) An eight-year-old girl was allegedly raped by a 45-year-old relative who attacked her while she was sleeping in a village here, police said on Wednesday.

The accused, a resident of Sarkanda village of Mau district in Uttar Pradesh was arrested on Tuesday evening, they said.

The incident took place on Saturday in Gorakhpur's Sikriganj area when the accused came to the girl's house for some work and allegedly raped her, Superintendent of Police (south) Vipul Kumar Srivastava said.

New Delhi, Jun 26 (PTI) The Intelligence Bureau (IB) and the country's external snooping agency Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) Wednesday got new chiefs as the government cleared names of IPS officers Arvind Kumar and Samanat Goel for the coveted posts for a fixed tenure of two years.

Kumar, popularly known as "AK", and Goel, whose name had come under cloud in a CBI bribery case, are experts on Pakistan and had contributed actively in the February 26 Balakot airstrike on Jaish-e-Mohammed terror camps in the neighbouring country.

Rameswaram(TN), June 26 (PTI): Four Tamil Nadu fishermen were Wednesday arrested by Sri Lanka Navy personnel for allegedly straying into the island nation's waters, a Fisheries department official said here.

The fishermen from this island town were detained by the Lankan navy personnel near Neduntheevu, Assistant Director of Fisheries D Yuvaraj said.

Meanwhile, two people from Tamil Nadu and a Sri Lankan refugee were arrested by the island nation's Navy after they attempted to enter the Lankan territory in a country boat.

Coimbatore, Jun 26 (PTI) In a case of suspected honour killing, a 24-year old man allegedly hacked to death his younger brother and injured his lover, a Dalit, at nearby Mettupalayam in full public view, police said Wednesday.

Vinod Kumar, who was allegedly angry with his brother for being in love with the woman, saw the couple in a public place late Tuesday evening and scolded them.

He then took out a sickle and hacked his brother and also his lover before fleeing the scene even as the shocked public looked on.

New Delhi, Jun 26 (PTI) The Youth Congress has urged party president Rahul Gandhi to not quit from his post.

The Youth Congress workers from all over the country under the leadership of youth wing president Keshav Chand Yadav gathered at 12, Tughlak Lane, here and appealed their leader to continue.

Shahjahanpur (UP), Jun 27 (PTI) Two brothers were beaten to death by a group of 12 people in Uttar Pradesh's Shahjahanpur district, with police suspecting it to be case of enmity.

The incident took place in Dokri Kalan village on Wednesday night.

Twelve men, armed with lathis, attacked the bothers --Vijendra (55) and Bhusi (48) -- when they were sleeping in a hut at an agricultural field, Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Pramanad Pandey said Thursday.

Kanpur: The Mayor's wrath was worth realizing at the water-logging in the city. She did not budge in condemning the officers' laxity in nullah cleaning work. The height of their inactiveness was that they were not ready to accept faults. Instead they were finding faults with one another. 

The Mayor Pramila Pandey said three executive engineers of Nagar Nigam and JAL Nigam were found irresponsible and she would recommend the state government for the transfer.

New Delhi; GANASHAKTI: India, which is heavily dependent on Middle Eastern oil, is looking on with increasing apprehension as the US and Iran flirt with war.

The country imported 84 per cent of its crude in the last financial year, government data show, and two of every three of those barrels was sourced from the conflict-prone region. A major war in the Middle East threatens to push up consumer prices, widen the nation's external deficits, and potentially derail Prime Minister Narendra Modi's bid to revive flagging economic growth.

Madrid, June 26;  IANS/GANASHAKTI: Ladies, take note. Women who are exposed to high pollution levels in India are at significantly higher risk of suffering from hypertension, warn researchers.

The research, published in the journal Epidemiology, studied 5,531 adults from 28 peri-urban villages near Hyderabad city.