India

New Delhi, Sep 18 (PTI) Foreign Minister of Saudi Arabia Faisal Bin Farhan Al Saud arrived here on Saturday on a three-day visit during which he is expected to discuss with Indian leaders the situation in Afghanistan as well ways to boost bilateral ties.

According to the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), Al Saud will hold talks with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Sunday and call on Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday.

Bhubaneswar, Sep 19 (PTI) The highest number of victims who were trafficked for forced labour last year were from Odisha, which also saw cyber crimes shoot up by a whopping 30 per cent amid the coronavirus lockdown, according to NCRB report.

The state registered one of the highest rates of murders and attempts to murder in the country, as well as the biggest crime rate per lakh population in cases of hit and run, dacoity and criminal intimidation, the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) said in its latest report.

New Delhi, Sep 19 (PTI) Amid a decline in Covid cases in the country, India may soon reopen its doors for foreign tourists for the first time in one-and-a-half years, officials said.

First five lakh foreign tourists will be issued visas free of cost in an attempt to revive the tourism, hospitality and aviation sectors badly hit by the COVID-19 pandemic since March 2020 when a nationwide lockdown was announced.

New Delhi, Sep 19 (PTI) Theories abound as to why Sir Syed Ahmad Khan decided to establish an educational institution in Aligarh and not any other city but a new book seeks to offer a definitive response to it.

The reason perhaps lies in the "aab-o-hawa" (water and air), among other factors, offered by the region that the Islamic educationist-reformer found after rigorous research and got convinced about establishing a school that would go on to become the prestigious Aligarh Muslim University (AMU).

Kanpur: Locked houses, death cases and stingy silence surround Kursauli village under Kalyanpur Block of Kanpur Nagar district.

With panic spreading due to the death of at least 12 people in the last month here due to a mysterious fever, many residents left their respective houses.

Additional chief medical officer of Kanpur Nagar district Dr Subodh Prakash said surveys were being conducted in the village to look for mosquito larvae in and out of the houses, news reports said.

Kanpur: About 300 people have been admitted to the Lala Lajpat Rai Hospital here owing to the rising outbreaks of viral fever, dengue, and malaria in the state.

This tally includes numerous children as well. Several patients have been diagnosed with dengue and malaria.

The hospital authorities stated that despite the high number of cases, no deaths due to the outbreak was reported yet.

Lucknow, Sep 18 (PTI) The way to Delhi goes via Uttar Pradesh, said Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav stressing that the upcoming state Assembly elections are crucial to restore democracy, secularism and brotherhood.

The former Uttar Pradesh chief minister also said the challenge before the media is to maintain objectivity and transparency as strong journalism leads to strong democracy.

Dehradun, Sept 17 (PTI) The Chardham Yatra in Uttarakhand will begin on Saturday after its prolonged suspension due to COVID-19.

A day after the Uttarakhand High Court vacated its stay on Chardham Yatra, the state government on Friday issued a detailed SOP to start the yatra from Saturday with strict adherence to COVID-19 norms.

Imposing a daily limit on the number of pilgrims visiting the Himalayan temples, the SOP put a cap of 1,000 pilgrims daily on Badrinath, 800 on Kedarnath, 600 on Gangotri and 400 on Yamunotri.

Guwahati, Sep 18 (PTI) Two suspected militants of a newly formed outfit have been killed and their camp busted by security forces in Assam's Kokrajhar district, a top police officer said on Saturday.

Additional director general of Assam Police GP Singh said in a tweet that a camp of United Liberation of Bodoland (ULB) at Ultapani area of Kokrajhar was busted by security forces during an operation that had commenced on Friday night.

New Delhi, Sep 18 (PTI) BJP MP and former minister Babul Supriyo, who recently announced that he was quitting politics, joined the Trinamool Congress in Kolkata on Saturday.

"Today, in the presence of national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee and RS MP Derek O'Brien, former Union Minister and sitting MP Babul Supriyo joined the Trinamool family," the party said in a tweet.