Indian Sub-continent

Agra, Nov 19 (PTI) The staff at the district hospital here found themselves in a baffling situation on Friday, when a priest came wailing with a request to bandage the broken arm of an idol of Lord Krishna.

The staff was faced with a priest who came distraught to the hospital urging them to attend to the deity's idol, whose arm he accidently broke while giving it a bath in the morning.

Phulbani, Nov 19 (PTI) A court in Odisha's Kandhamal district sentenced a 32-year-old man to 10 years of imprisonment on Friday for abducting and raping a girl four years ago.

Phulbani Pocso judge Bhaskar Chandra Sahu also imposed a penalty of Rs 18,000 on Achyuta Sahu.

The man had kidnapped the minor near her house on the pretext of buying her sweets from a market on August 3, 2017, and took her to an under-construction building and raped her, according to the prosecution.

Kanpur: Devotees took a bath at Sarsaiya Ghat here on the occasion of Kartik Purnima.

Prakash Parv was celebrated when God Ram returned back to Ayodhaya after defeating Ravana, said a devotee.

This festival is celebrated with great joy on the banks of river Ganga in Kanpur, Banaras and Prayagraj, he enlarged.

Kartik Purnima is also celebrated as Dev Deepawali and marks the fifteenth lunar day of the Hindu month of Kartik.

Jammu, Nov 18 (PTI) Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Ghulam Nabi Azad on Thursday demanded a judicial inquiry into the Hyderpora encounter in which police claimed to have killed two terrorists and two terror associates.

The administration on Thursday ordered a magisterial probe into the encounter amid protests by families of three of the four persons killed in the encounter claiming their relatives were innocent.

Chandigarh, Nov 19 (PTI) Punjab Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu on Friday dubbed Prime Minister Narendra Modi's announcement of repealing the three farm laws as a "step in the right direction".

He further said the "sacrifice of farmers has paid dividends".

"Repealing of black laws a step in the right direction . Satyagrah of Kisan morcha gets historic success .You're sacrifice has paid dividends . Revival of farming in Punjab through a road map should be the top priority for the Pb govt .accolades," said Sidhu.

Jaunpur (UP), Nov 19 (PTI) Three sisters allegedly ended their lives by jumping before a train here, police said on Friday.

Preeti (16), Kajal (14) and Aarti (11), daughters of late Rajendra Prasad Gautam of Ahiroli village, jumped before Jansadharan Express train at Fattupur railway crossing on the Sultanpur rail section under Badlapur police station limits on Thursday night, City Superintendent of Police Sanjay Kumar said.

Police suspect that poverty could have driven the siblings to take such an extreme step.

Srinagar, Nov 19 (PTI) Normal life was affected in the Kashmir valley on Friday due to a strike called by the Hurriyat Conference to express solidarity with the families of the civilians killed in the Hyderpora encounter earlier this week, officials said.

Most of the shops, fuel stations and other business establishments in Srinagar were shut, the officials said.

Public transport was largely off the roads, but private cars and auto rickshaws were seen plying in some areas of the city, they said.

New Delhi, Nov 19 (PTI) The announcement made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday to repeal the three contentious farm laws is expected to bring to an end the year-long confrontation between the government and the farmers, which has left more than 700 dead in its wake.

The three laws raised concerns that this will lead to the abolishment of the minimum support price (MSP) guaranteed by the government on select crops and leave farmers at the mercy of big corporates.

Kanpur: Integrated Command Control Centre (ICCC) will help improve traffic flow, pick up traffic violations and control pollution in the cities, besides a host of other services and utilities.

There are 10 smart cities declared by the Centre, while the state government has named seven cities of the state as smart cities.

Lucknow, Kanpur, Agra, Varanasi, Prayagraj, Aligarh, Jhansi, Bareli, Saharanpur, and Moradabad figure on the list of smart cities in the centre's list.

New Delhi, Nov 19 (PTI) Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday announced that the government has decided to repeal the three farm laws, which were at the centre of protests by farmers for the past year, and appealed to the protesting farmers to return home.

Addressing the nation on the auspicious occasion of Guru Nanak Jayanti, Modi insisted that the laws were in the benefit of farmers and then apologised to people of the country while adding that the government could not convince a section of farmers despite its clear heart and clean conscience.