India

New Delhi, Aug 4 (PTI) Three high court judges were today appointed to the Supreme Court, taking the total number of judges in the apex court to 25.

Notifications announcing the appointments of Uttarakhand High Court Chief Justice KM Joseph, Madras HC Chief Justice Indira Banerjee and Orissa HC Chief Justice Vineet Saran to the Supreme Court were issued today.

Their warrants of appointment were signed by the President last night.

Malkangiri (Odisha), Aug 4 (PTI) A 15-year-old tribal girl was allegedly kidnapped and gangraped in a forest at Erbanpali in Malkangiri district, the police said today.

Two youths riding a motorcycle abducted the girl from her house when she was alone last evening. They took her to a nearby forest and raped her.

After the accused left the spot, the girl returned home and informed her parents about the incident, the police said.

By Aamir Latif

KARACHI; 3 Aug 2018; AA; In a first, Pakistan’s small yet unique communities such as the African origin Sheedi and the pagan worshippers Kalash have secured parliamentary representation, marking a major milestone in the country’s election history despite rigging allegations.

Tanzeela Qambrani is one such silver lining. The 39-year-old woman is the first ever member of the Sheedi community, which traces its roots in Africa, to get counted among lawmakers.

Ahmedabad, 2 Aug 2018; PTI:  Members of Dalit and Rajput communities clashed in an Ahmedabad neighbourhood after Karadia Rajputs, an OBC group, allegedly objected to a Dalit youth wearing shorts and sporting a moustache, police said today.

The clash took place in Kavitha village on Tuesday night, following which members of both the groups have filed complaints against each other at Bavla police station, P D Manvar, deputy superintendent of police, said.

He added that up to five people from the Rajput community have been detained for questioning.

Balasore, 2 Aug 2018; PTI:  India today successfully test fired an indigenously-developed supersonic interceptor missile from a test range off the Odisha coast to validate "some improved features", defence sources said.

The state-of-the-art missile was test fired from a canister at 11.24 am engaging a simulated target at low altitude, the sources said.

Kochi, Aug 2 (PTI) The Kerala High Court today dismissed a petition for declaring sacramental confession among Christians unconstitutional, noting whether or not to confess one's sin was an individual's right.

A division bench of the court comprising Acting Chief Justice Hrishikesh Roy and Justice A K Jayasankaran Nambiar said nobody was compelled to follow the custom.

Aizawl, Aug 2 (PTI) Security forces seized 217 kg of gold and arrested five Myanmarese nationals from near the Mizoram-Myanmar border in Champai district, police said today.

The five Myanmarese nationals were arrested yesterday from Vaphai village in the district for allegedly smuggling gold bars worth around Rs 927 lakh, they said.

The gold and the arrested persons were handed over to the officials of the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence in Champhai town, the police added.

New Delhi, Aug 2 (PTI) Congress President Rahul Gandhi today attacked External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj over the Doklam issue, alleging that she had "buckled and prostrated herself in front of Chinese power".

His assertion came a day after Swaraj told Parliament that the India-China face-off over Doklam was resolved through "diplomatic maturity without losing any ground" and status quo has been maintained.

New Delhi, Aug 1 (PTI) The Kerala government today told the Supreme Court that the custom of barring entry of women between the age group of 10 to 50 years into the Sabarimala temple in Kerala is not permissible under the Constitution.

It said that celibate status of deity cannot be a ground for barring entry of women as it is a Hindu temple and not a temple of a particular denomination.

New Delhi, Aug 2 (PTI) A BJP member in the Lok Sabha today demanded that the National Register of Citizens (NRC) should be prepared for the whole country, triggering protests from Opposition benches.

The remarks come against the backdrop of the draft NRC in Assam, released earlier this week, triggering a major political controversy over alleged exclusion of names of lakhs of people.

During the Zero Hour, Nishikant Dubey claimed that the census exercise did not happen in many places, including the North East and Jammu and Kashmir.