The Kerala High Court Friday has made a unique request to the central state government; it asked whether a law could be framed that would bar sari-clad women from travelling on two-wheelers to avoid accidents. This observation was made while the court was hearing a petition filed by a woman called Susamma over compensation for a road accident. In the past few months, Kerala has seen many road accidents involving women travelling by two-wheelers as their sari pallu (end) gets stuck in the rear wheel

Border Security Force (BSF) troopers gunned down a Bangladeshi national in Tripura and captured two elephants he and his associates were allegedly trying to smuggle into India. "The Bangladeshi nationals along with two elephants entered Indian territory and were challenged by the BSF troopers. Two Bangladeshis managed to escape leaving behind the elephants and their slain associate," a police spokesman said.

Investigations into the unexplained deaths of over 50 chickens in a farm landed a 26-year-old housewife in jail for attempting to murder her husband, police said. Poultry farm owner, K. Jayaraman, complained to police when he noticed several of his chickens suddenly dying. His enquiries that his neighbour’s wife had accidently fed the chickens rice which was laced with rat poison, intended for her husband. The woman claims her husband had tortured her.

All bars in India should be converted into yoga centres in order to have a better society and healthy living, said Yoga guru Baba Ramdev while laying the foundation stone of a yoga centre being built in the place of a nightclub that closed down four years ago. Sread over a 8,500 square feet area, the property is estimated to be worth $9.6 million

An old couple were arrested, along with 11 accomplices, from a village in Maharashtra for attempting to ‘sacrifice’ their grand-daughter in hope of getting a ‘hidden treasure,’ said police. Police made the arrests and saved the life of the five-year old girl just when the group were about to kill and bury her. A three-feet-deep pit had been dug inside the grandparent’s house.

Hindu leaders locked in a violent land dispute with Muslims in Indian Kashmir have asked people to stop paying government taxes, seeking to expand their street protests into a mass civil disobedience movement. The dispute about whether some forest land should be given to a Hindu shrine trust has pitted Muslims in the Kashmir valley against Hindus in Jammu.

Pakistan will hold presidential elections on Sept. 6, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) announced. The polling, if necessary, will take place from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at provincial and national assemblies simultaneously, Dawn TV channel reported. The Electoral College for the election includes the members of the four provincial assemblies, the National Assembly and the Senate.

A crocodile killed and devoured a 25-year-old man in Bangladesh who waded into a pond next to a shrine hoping to be blessed by the animal. Hundreds of people visit the shrine every day to offer hens and goats to the five crocodiles living in the pond. Part of the ritual also involves bathing in the water. "He went into the pond hoping to be blessed when a crocodile attacked him and dragged him into the deep part of the pond," police said. "This is a very unusual incident."

Roy Joseph and his wife Biji of Kerala, released after being jailed in Saudi Arabia for the past two years, reached their home last weekend. The couple was convicted for employing a Nepali maid, who had no valid documents to work in Saudi Arabia and who was suspiciously found dead near their home two years ago. She used to look after their twin kids Steffi and Albert, then aged two. "She was found dead near our home... Till today, nobody has told us how and what happened to her. Whether it was a murder or an accident. But we suffered for two years," said Joseph.

Nepal’s Supreme Court has ordered the government to ensure basic health care and education for virgin girls worshipped as "living goddesses" in a centuries-old tradition in the Himalayan nation. A few children, some as young as three or four, in the Kathmandu valley are picked by Buddhist priests as kumaris, or "living goddesses." They are then confined to temples until puberty, visited by thousands of devotees. Critics say the tradition violates the children’s rights and leaves them unprepared to face real life when they return to their families after reaching puberty.