Breaking News, February 6

In Tamil Nadu's Tiruvannamalai district, a woman and her daughter are locked in a straight contest for the urban local body elections. Priya (32) filed her nomination papers from ward 18 in Vandavasi municipality of Tiruvannamalai district as an AIADMK candidate. Her husband, D. Arumugam (42), who runs a banner printing firm, was the AIADMK candidate in the 2011 elections and had lost the seat to a Congress candidate. Since, the 18th ward in the Vandavasi constituency was later reserved for women, Arumugam, who is currently with the Hindu Munnani, could not contest. This led to Priya, getting the chance to fight the polls instead of her husband.

Delhi Police has made two fresh arrests in the horrific sexual assault case of a 20-year-old woman in the city's Shahdara area. The police have so far arrested 20 people including the latest two, identified as Rajesh, 43, and Darshan Singh, 41, both residents of Kasturba Nagar, Delhi. Of the 20 accused, 4 are minor.

The incident, that sent chills down the spine of the people, occurred on January 26 when the victim woman was allegedly attacked by a group of people, including women, who chopped off her hair, tore her clothes, blackened her face, and then paraded her on the streets of Shahdara area in the national capital wearing a garland of slippers.

PM Security Breach: SC-appointed five-member committee begins probe, also investigates rally site

Incumbent Charanjit Singh Channi will be the Congress' Chief Ministerial candidate in the high-stakes Punjab Assembly elections on February 20, senior party leader Rahul Gandhi announced on Sunday. The party workers were asked by tele-calls to give their opinion as to who the Congress should have in this role. Most of the workers plumped for Channi. Punjab Congress President Navjot Sidhu on Saturday had said the Chief Minister nominee should be the one who can win 60 seats in the 117-member Assembly. It was on his insistence that Rahul Gandhi was forced to declare a CM candidate in Punjab instead of going for collective leadership.

The government employees in Andhra Pradesh dropped their plans to go on strike from Sunday midnight after a breakthrough in the talks with the state government over their demands.

While the government accepted few demands of the employees' unions, the latter softened their stand on few demands, leading to an amicable solution.

The breakthrough was reached late Saturday during the talks between the ministerial committee and PRC Sadhana Samithi, the apex body of employees' unions. Both sides announced the agreement at a joint news conference.

The Parliamentary Committee on Public Undertaking has asked the government to change the code 'GAY' for the 'Gaya International Airport.

In its action taken report tabled in Parliament on Friday, the panel mentioned the issue and asked the government to make all efforts to take up the matter with the International Air Transport Association (IATA) and concerned organisations as this issue pertains to inappropriate code naming of an airport of a holy city of India.

The Committee also said that the use of 'GAY' code for Gaya airport is inappropriate for the holy city, therefore the government should try to replace this code with an appropriate one and also suggested an alternative code such as 'YAG'.

The minimum temperature across Kashmir improved as many parts of the valley received light rains, even as the MeT Office has forecast light rain or snow at scattered to fairly widespread places, officials said on Sunday. The night temperature improved across Kashmir and settled above the freezing point at most places, the officials said. Srinagar, the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir, recorded a low of 2.8 degrees Celsius – up over four degrees from the previous night's minus 1.6 degrees Celsius, the officials said. The famous ski-resort of Gulmarg recorded a low of minus 7.5 degrees Celsius, up from minus 9.8 degrees Celsius the previous night.

Jharkhand Anti Terrorist Squad (ATS) has arrested one person for allegedly being involved in the extortion business. As per a statement issued by the state's ATS, the accused has been identified as Sandeep Kumar, a key member of gangster Aman Shrivastava's gang. "He has been working with gangsters for the last 12-13 years," said the ATS. A cash amount of Rs 32,08,300 collected by extortion and important papers related to the gang's extortion business have been recovered from his possession, added the ATS.

Two powerful IEDs, weighing 10 kg each, were recovered by security forces in Jharkhand's Dhanbad district, police said on Sunday. Acting on a tip-off, a search operation was launched by a team of police and 154 batallion CRPF, following which the recovery was made from the remote Ganeshpur village in Topchanchi police station area on Saturday, they said. The improvised explosive devices (IEDs) were planted at a road, targetting the security forces, they added. The IEDs were deactivated in time, averting a major attack, police said. 

A 55-year-old woman died of shock here within a couple of hours after learning about her brother-in-law's death, police said. The deceased were identified as Rajesh Motumal Dayaramani (50) and Renu Ghanshyam Dayaramani (55), both residents of Sindhi Colony, Mecosabag. According to the family, Rajesh complained of chest pain at 8.30 pm on Friday and was rushed to a hospital but declared dead on arrival. When his nephew returned home and told Renu Dayaramani about the death, she suffered a heart attack and died on the way to the hospital. 

A man was allegedly attacked and killed by his elder brother and his sons following a quarrel over a domestic dispute in Rajouri district of Jammu and Kashmir on Saturday, police said. Accused Mohd Sharief and his sons assaulted Mohd Hafiz and his family members with sharp-edged weapons after breaking into their house in Fatehpur village, a police spokesperson said. He said Hafiz and his son Gafoor were injured in the attack and were rushed to a hospital, where Hafiz died. Police have registered a case and started a hunt to nab the assailants, who fled the scene after the incident, the spokesperson added. 

Three people died while one was injured after a car collided with a tractor-trolley near Lahli village in Haryana's Rohtak on Saturday. As per the police, of the three deceased, one has been identified as Vivek, a resident of Chunnipura in Rohtak, while another deceased has been identified as a resident from Zirakpur in Punjab. The third deceased is yet to be identified.