NEWS HIGHLIGHTS

Following are the news highlights at 1900 hours today:

GENERAL

Srinagar/Jammu: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) probing the funding of subversive activities in Kashmir conducts fresh raids in the residences of separatists leaders and other locations in the state and seized foreign currency, say NIA officials. (DEL 17)

New Delhi: Army Chief Gen Bipin Rawat and top brass of the force pays tributes to the two soldiers who were killed in a militant attack near Qazigund on the Srinagar-Jammu national highway. (DEL 14)

New Delhi: Two helicopters of the People's Liberation Army of China hovered over Chamoli district in Uttarakhand yesterday, triggering concern in India's security establishment about the PLA's fourth such incursion into Indian airspace since March this year. (DEL 11)
 

New Delhi: The government says it is open to the suggestions made by various groups on the cattle slaughter notification and was not viewing it as a prestige issue, amid a raging row over the order. (DEL 9)

New Delhi: Army Chief Gen Bipin Rawat says the process to allow women in combat role, currently an exclusive domain of men, is moving fast and initially women will be recruited for positions in military police. (DEL 8)

New Delhi: External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj assures a Pakistani man medical visa for his father provided the case was recommended by the country's adviser on foreign affairs Sartaj Aziz. (DEL 20)

New Delhi: Union minister Maneka Gandhi, who was diagnosed with gallstones, undergoes surgery at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) here. (DEL 18)

Chennai: Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi says the opposition would unitedly "fight and defeat" the BJP and RSS's attempts to "thrust one idea" on a country that celebrates diversity. (MDS 6)

Kochi: Former environment minister Jairam Ramesh has describes as "unfortunate" the withdrawal of the US from the Paris climate deal, but advises the Indian government not to take "panga" or confront the Americans over the issue. (MDS 3)

Balasore (Odisha): India successfully test-fires an indigenously developed quick reaction surface-to-air short range missile from a test range along the Odisha coast. (CAL 1)

LEGAL

New Delhi: The state consumer commission asks the Indian Railways to pay Rs 75,000 to a man for the inconvenience he suffered when his reserved seat was occupied by unauthorised persons for most part of his journey. (LGD 4)

New Delhi: A dispute between novelist Chetan Bhagat and a royal family of Bihar over alleged depiction of the princely state of Dumraon in poor light and use of objectionable words in his novel "Half Girlfriend" has been settled in a Delhi court after the writer offered an apology saying the work was based on "fiction". (LGD 6)

FOREIGN

London: Three knife-wielding attackers in fake suicide vests unleashed a terror rampage in the British capital, plowing a van into pedestrians on the iconic London Bridge before stabbing revellers in a nearby market, killing seven people for which Prime Minister Theresa May blamed the "evil ideology of Islamist extremism". (FGN 33)

Kathmandu: The parliamentary voting to elect veteran politician Sher Bahadur Deuba as the 40th prime minister of Nepal had to be postponed till Tuesday as the main political parties failed to forge a consensus to conduct the House proceedings. (FGN 32)

Karachi: Pakistani forces says they have killed a number of key commanders of the Islamic State group in an operation based on intelligence reports that the militants were holding two Chinese nationals abducted from the restive Balochistan province last month. (FGN 28)

London: Britain's main parties suspended their election campaign for the general polls for the second time in two weeks after a terror attack in London, which killed seven persons and injured 48 others. (FGN 21)

London: A 21-year-old British man dubbed "Jihadi Jack" has been captured by Kurdish fighters in Syria where he was accused of joining the Islamic State terror group, media reports say. (FGN 19)

Islamabad: The Pakistan Army released a video purportedly showing "destruction" caused by it to the Indian military posts across the Line of Control, the second such video in two weeks amidst a flare-up in border tensions.