Union parliamentary affairs minister M Venkaiah Naidu on Friday said political parties must reach a conclusion on the long-pending women's reservation bill and attacked the Congress over the alleged remarks of its leaders. Participating in a debate on 'Commitment to Constitution' in the Lok Sabha, Naidu also pitched for a common civil code and inter-linking of rivers. He said there was a need to focus on the women's reservation bill that provides for 33 percent seats in parliament and state assemblies for women. "We have been talking about it but not working (on) it. We must come to a conclusion," he said. The bill was passed by the Rajya Sabha in 2010 but is yet to be passed by the Lok Sabha.

Sensex makes good gains on GST hopes
The S&P BSE Sensex ended the day 169 points, or 0.65 per cent, higher at 26,128 while the 50-stock barometer Nifty50 closed at 7,942, up 59 points or 0.75 per cent. The benchmark indices ended the week higher with the BSE Sensex climbing a per cent and Nifty50 1.10 per cent. Hindalco and SBI were the top gainers on the BSE benchmark.  The smart gains on Friday could be bucking the weak trend seen in other Asian and European markets. The possibility of a breakthrough on the GST bill buoyed investor sentiments.

YSR Congress MP booked for assaulting Air India official
A criminal case has been registered against a YSR Congress MP from Andhra Pradesh for allegedly slapping a station manager of Air India (AI) at Tirupati airport.Lok Sabha MP P Mithun Reddy went to the cabin of AI manager at the airport Rajasekhar on Thursday afternoon and picked up an “argument” with him regarding boarding passes for his relatives for a flight.He later “shouted” at the manager before allegedly slapping him, Yerpedu police station sub-inspector Ramakrishnaiah said based on a complaint lodged by the victim.Following the complaint, a case was registered last night against the MP along with his 15 other followers under sections 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 353 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty) and 448 (house-trespass) of IPC, he said.

Temples in Kerala out of bounds for beggars, lottery vendors
Begging and selling of lottery tickets in temples and its surroundings in Kerala have been prohibited from Thursday. A division bench of the Kerala High Court issued the order taking suo motu cognisance of the growing menace of begging in and around various temples in the state, especially at the famous hill shrine of Sabarimala, where beggars from neighbouring states come in hordes during pilgrimage season. The bench, comprising Justice Thothathil B Radhakrishnan and Justice Anu Sivaraman, said the prohibiton should be strictly implemented in all temples, including 'Sabarimala sannidhanam', Pamba and other major shrines under Travancore and Cochin Devaswom boards. The bench also directed revenue authorities, District Collectors, Executive Magistrates and Revenue Divisional Officers (RDO)s to ensure compliance with the direction. The court also banned sale of lottery tickets inside temple compounds and said any violation should be brought to the police's notice.

Four minors gang-rape teenage girl in Mumbai, circulate video on WhatsApp
 A teenage girl was allegedly gangraped by her friend and three other boys, with the crime coming to light after her aunt came across the video of the incident that they had circulated on WhatsApp. All the four accused who are minors have been taken into custody, DCP (Detection) Dhananjay Kulkarni said.The four boys, studying in classes IX and X, allegedly gangraped the 15-year-old girl on November 8 and made a video of the crime.They then threatened the girl not to reveal the incident or else they would post the video online, Malad police station's senior inspector Shashank Sandbhor said.

One of the accused is a friend of the girl. She had gone for studies at his home in suburban Malad, where he and three of his accomplices allegedly gangraped her, he said.The accused later posted the video of the incident on the internet and some social networking sites, police said.The video later went viral on mobile messaging application WhatsApp and caught the attention of the victim's aunt, who then informed her parents.

Nuclear-capable Agni-I missile successfully test-fired
India on Friday successfully test-fired the indigenously built nuclear-capable Agni-I missile from the Abdul Kalam Island off the Odisha coast. The surface-to-surface missile, capable of hitting targets up to 700 km away, was fired from launch pad-4 of the Integrated Test Range (ITR) at 10.02 a.m. as part of Strategic Forces Command (SFC) training exercise.Defence ministry sources said the trial was successful."The exercise was undertaken as a part of periodic training activity by SFC," official sources said.The trajectory of the trial was tracked by a battery of sophisticated radars installed at various places, telemetry observation stations, electro-optic instruments and naval ships. The missile is 15 metres long and powered by solid and liquid propellants at a speed of 2.5 km per second.

HSBC to shut down India private banking business
HSBC Holdings Plc is shutting its private banking unit in India, marking the exit of another foreign bank from the cut-throat wealth management business in Asia's third-largest economy. "After a strategic review of the global private banking operations in India, we have decided to close the business," an India spokesman said on Friday. "This marks further progress in the HSBC group strategy to simplify business and deliver sustainable growth." Many foreign wealth managers had scrambled to open up shop in India a few years ago and aggressively ramped up operations to take advantage of robust economic growth, only to find themselves struggling.