Indian Sub-continent

KABUL, Dec 7 (NNN-ANA) – The Taliban caretaker government in Afghanistan, has established a military unit, to protect the forests and prevent deforestation in the mountainous country, a spokesman of the government said, today.

Approved by the cabinet of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, the 450-member military unit, would be deployed in both crop-yielding, such as pistachio and regular forests countrywide, deputy spokesman of the caretaker government, Inamullah Samangani, wrote on Twitter.

New Delhi, Dec 7 (PTI) Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), the nation's largest oil firm, has renewed a deal to buy up to 2 million tonnes of crude oil in 2022 from Russia's Rosneft, the Russian oil producer said.

IOC had in February 2020 signed a deal with Rosneft Oil Company to import up to 2 million tonnes of oil via the port of Novorossiysk. In 2021, the deal envisaged supply of up to 1.7 million tonnes of crude oil but IOC bought just on parcel or shipload as the cost of transporting the oil made it uneconomical, when compared to alternatives.

Mumbai, Dec 6 (PTI) The RBI on Monday imposed several restrictions on Nagar Urban Co-operative Bank Ltd, Ahmednagar, Maharashtra, including a cap of Rs 10,000 on withdrawals for customers in the wake of deterioration of its financial position.

The restrictions, imposed through directions under the Banking Regulation Act (as applicable to co-operative societies), 1949, shall remain in force for a period of six months from the close of business on December 6, 2021 and are subject to review, the Reserve Bank said in a statement.

New Delhi, Dec 6 (PTI) BJP MP Nishikant Dubey on Monday sought a ban on cryptocurrencies, asserting that they are based on dark net technology and would be used for drugs, prostitution and terrorism.

Raising the issue during the Zero Hour in the Lok Sabha, he likened the situation prevailing in the country with respect to cryptocurrencies with 'Tulip mania' in Holland in 1600s.

Ghaziabad, Dec 6 (PTI) Former UP Shia Waqf Board chairman Waseem Rizvi on Monday converted to Hinduism at a ceremony in a temple here.

The ceremony took place at the Dasna Devi temple.

Now, he will be known as Jitendra Narayan Singh Tyagi, temple priest Yati Narsinghanand Saraswati said declaring his new name.

New Delhi, Dec 6 (PTI) India and Russia on Monday vowed to deepen collaboration in the space sector, including in the human spaceflight programme, and signed an agreement for cooperation in the building as well as operation of launch vehicles.

The pact was signed during the India-Russia summit held between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin

Lucknow, Dec 6 (PTI) The BSP on Monday expelled its Chillupar MLA Vinay Shankar Tiwari, his elder brother and former MP Kushal Tiwari from the party with immediate effect.

The party also expelled their relative and former chairman of the UP Legislative Council, Ganesh Shankar Pandey, a release issued by party's Gorakhpur mandal incharge Sudhir Kumar Bharti said.

These leaders have been expelled for creating indiscipline in the party and improper behaviour with senior leaders, Bharti said in the release.

Allahabad, Dec 7 (PTI) Two more people have been arrested in connection with the murder of four members of a Dalit family in Gohri village of Prayagraj, police said on Tuesday.

A 50-year-old man, his 45-year-old wife, and their two kids, a daughter, aged 17, and a son, 13, were murdered with sharp weapons while they were asleep in the village under the Phaphamau police station area of Prayagraj on the night of November 24.

Lucknow (UP), Dec 7 (PTI) Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Tuesday asserted that the people wearing red caps, a trademark headgear of his party members, are red alerts also for the BJP as they will oust it from the power in the next UP assembly polls.

Yadav made the retort soon after Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in a dig at the Samajwadi Party, said in Gorakhpur that those wearing red caps are after red beacon and are a red alert to Uttar Pradesh.

New Delhi, Dec 7 (PTI) Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday demanded in the Lok Sabha that the next of kin of farmers who lost their lives during the agitation against farm laws be given compensation as promised by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Making a Zero Hour mention, Gandhi also slammed the Modi government for its inability to maintain data on the death of farmers during the year-long agitation and tabled in the House a list of farmers from Punjab and Haryana who died during the stir.