NEW DELHI: Indian police said on Monday they had arrested Bollywood director Mahmood Farooqui after an American woman accused him of rape. Farooqui, best known for co-directing the 2010 satire Peepli Live about farmers' suicides, was taken into custody in New Delhi on Saturday after the alleged victim went to the police. Police spokesman Rajan Bhagat said the woman, a US citizen aged 30, was visiting India at the time of the alleged attack at Farooqui's home in the capital. "Based on her complaint, the accused has been arrested and sent to judicial custody," he told AFP. Farooqui co-directed with his wife Anusha Rizwi, who on Sunday dismissed the complaint against her husband as "manipulated and false". The alleged attack occurred in March.

UN head at yoga event

NEW YORK: Thousands of people laid out their mats and stretched into yoga exercises in New York's Times Square on Sunday, including the Secretary General of the United Nations, to celebrate the first International Day of Yoga. UN chief Ban Ki-moon, dressed in white, joined the yoga gathering late in the morning in one of the most recognisable squares in the world. Ban hailed the many benefits the ancient exercise could bring to people around the world. "To all of you I say: Namaste!" the UN leader told the crowd. "My hope is that yoga will give people everywhere the sense and the oneness we need to work together to live in harmony and usher in a life of dignity for all."

Two more die of MERS

SEOUL: South Korea reported three more cases of infection with the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome and two deaths on Monday, bringing the total contagion cases to 172 and the death toll to 27. Among the three new cases was the 171st patient, who tested positive 10 days after the incubation period of two weeks. Two more infectees passed away, raising the fatality rate to 15. 7 per cent. They were suffering from other illnesses.