Seven Indians kidnapped by armed men in Afghanistan  Seven engineers working for a power plant in Baghlan province, Afghanistan were kidnapped by unknown armed men on Sunday. While no official ransom call has been made, according to news reports, terror group Taliban abducted the Indians ‘mistakenly’, thinking they were Afghan government officials. "Seven Indians and an Afghani national have been abducted in Baglan. They were engineers with electricity company KEC International Ltd. Our sources told us they are still alive,” Baghlan government said. Reacting to the incident, the Ministry of External Affairs said, “We are aware of the abduction of Indian nationals and we are in contact with the Afghan authorities.” _______________ Five Terrorists including Hizbul Commander gunned down in J&K encounter  In a major breakthrough for security forces, five terrorists including top Hizbul Mujaheedin commander Saddam Paddar was killed in an encounter that broke...

Series of earthquakes triggered in Hawaii after volcanic eruption Around two earthquakes jolts were felt in Hawaii on early Saturday morning (IST), within a span of an hour, following the Kileau volcano that erupted a day before. A 5.9 magnitude earthquake was set off at first, followed by a massive 6.9 jolt, according to the US Geological Survey. Over 1500 population of Pahoa town were asked to leave their homes as lava poured out in around 180 kms in the nearby property. The volcano comes after hundreds of earthquakes, most of them about 2.0 magnitude was recorded in the area since Monday. News reports quoted residents saying the sound of the eruption was like “putting a bunch of rocks into a dryer.” Kilauea is one of the world’s most active volcanoes, located in the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, which has closed off nearly 6,350 hectares due to “unstable geologic activity”. _________________ Ministers brave mosquitoes in Dalit houses: BJP UP Minister In a shockin...