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Ahmedabad, January 18: In a setback to the Narendra Modi government, the Gujarat High Court Wednesday upheld the appointment of R.A. Mehta as the Lokayukta by Governor Kamla Beniwal.

A two-judge bench had last October delivered a split verdict on the government’s plea questioning Mehta’s appointment.

While Justice Akil Kureshi upheld the appointment of Mehta, Justice Sonia Gokani disagreed. The case went to a third judge, Justice V.N. Sahay, who completed the hearing Dec 29, 2011 and announced the verdict Wednesday.

New York, January 18: An Indian-origin woman gave birth to her first child during the train ride from New Jersey to New York, in what would be her most unforgettable journey.

At first, Rabita Sarker, 31, of New Jersey said she thought she was experiencing false labour pains as she boarded the train run by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey in Jersey City.

But as the Manhattan-bound entered New York, Sarker knew her baby could nor wait any longer.

Islamabad, January 18: Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani appeared to be on a “suicidal warpath”, said a daily, noting that his “raving and ranting will not hide (the) selfishness from the people who have already seen through the charade being enacted before them”.

An editorial in the News International Wednesday said that the capacity for clear, cool-headed thinking within the ruling Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) appears to be disappearing faster than ever.

Nagpur, January 18: A 19-year-old girl student has filed a complaint with Pachpaoli police station that she was lured into sexual intercourse by a neighbour who had promised to marry her, but the youth later reneged on the promise.

The victim told police that her boyfriend, Tomedev Hedau (25), an autorickshaw driver, had promised to marry her and taken her to Wardha, where they had sexual intercourse. However, the youth is now refusing to keep his promise of marrying her.

New Delhi, January 18: The Babri Masjid demolition is just an incident and there is nothing famous or infamous about it, the Supreme Court on Monday said while listing CBI’s plea for levelling charges of criminal conspiracy against senior BJP leader L K Advani, Shiv Sena Chief Bal Thackeray and 18 others to March 27.

Islamabad, January 17: A journalist working for the Voice of America was shot dead by unidentified gunmen in northwest Pakistan today, police said.

Mukarram Khan Atif was attacked at a mosque near his home at Shabqadar town, 35 km from Peshawar, the capital of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province.

Two gunmen on motorcycles arrived at the mosque during evening prayers.

One of them entered the mosque and shot Atif in the head before fleeing, police said.

Atif was taken to a nearby hospital in a critical condition but succumbed to his injuries.

A prayer leader was injured in the attack.

Bhopal, January 17 (Pervez Bari): “Aa’ina-e-Sukhan”, a collection of poems penned by noted poet Dr. Iqbal Ahmad Khan “Arif”, who is a Physicist by profession, was released at a simple but impressive function in Mulla Sajjad hall of local Saifia Science College here on Sunday.

Bhopal, January 17 (Pervez Bari): Expressing their ire vehemently, the victims and survivors of the 1984 December Bhopal Gas Tragedy, the world’s worst industrial catastrophe, against the decision of Group of Ministers, (GoM), on Bhopal of not revising the figures of deaths and injuries caused by the disaster in the curative petition pending before the Supreme Court, burnt effigies of the Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram and Dow Chemical here on Saturday.

New Delhi, January 17: A petition was filed today in a court here seeking registration of a case against Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Digvijay Singh alleging they had hurt religious sentiments by raking up the Batla House encounter issue.

The petition was filed by one Jitendra Singh in the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate V K Singh, his counsel Lal Bahadur Singh said.

The petitioner stated during Rahul’s Azamgarh visit on January 10 the issue of Batla House encounter was raised by Dijvijay Singh who had termed it fake.

Hyderabad, Jan 17 (INN): Congress MLA Gandra Venkataramana Reddy on Tuesday appealed to Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy to fill up Ministerial berths vacant from the Telangana region during the expansion of State Cabinet expected on January 19.

Talking to media persons at the Congress Legislature Party Office, the Bhupalpalle MLA said that two ministerial berths are lying vacant due to the resignation of Jupally Krishna Rao and Komatireddy Venkat Reddy from their posts for the cause of Telangana.

Hyderabad, Jan 17 (INN): Telugu Desam president N Chandrababu Naidu on Tuesday stated that the party would soon take a final decision on fielding actor Nandamuri Balakrishna in the ensuing elections.

Hyderabad, Jan 17 (INN): The CBI Special Court on Tuesday sent the Jagati Publications vice-chairman Vijay Sai Reddy to judicial remand till January 31.

Vijay Sai Reddy was produced before the court at Nampally at the expiry of CBI custody on Tuesday morning. Following court’s direction, Vijay Sai was shifted to the Chanchalguda Central Prison.

Meanwhile, the court posted the hearing on a petition of Vijay Sai Reddy seeking permission to use laptop in the jail to January 20. (INN)

Hyderabad, Jan 17 (INN): Bharatiya Janata Party’s national president Nitin Gadkari will flag off the 22-day Telangana Poru Yatra on the banks of river Krishna at Matkal in Mahbubnagar district on January 19.

Participating in the `Meet the Press’ programme being organized under the aegis of Telangana Electronic Media Journalists Association at Fateh Maidan Club here on Tuesday, BJP State unit president G Kishan Reddy said that the Poru Yatra was aimed to create awareness on the importance of formation of separate state of Telangana.

Amethi, January 17: Congress chief Sonia Gandhi’s daughter Priyanka Gandhi Vadra Tuesday said she was open to the idea of campaigning for the party in election-bound Uttar Pradesh and “will do anything to help my brother” Rahul Gandhi.

“I am here in Amethi and Rae Bareli. My brother and I will talk to each other. I will do anything to help my brother. I will do whatever he requires me to do,” Priyanka, 40, told reporters in Amethi – Rahul’s parliamentary constituency – when asked if she would campaign with him.

The Greatest’ will enjoy his 70th birthday today, with admirers and well-wishers set to turn out in their thousands to celebrate his birthday in his Kentucky hometown.

He still inspires, even though his days are quiet. His wife, Lonnie, has revealed he loves watching films of his old fights, documentaries about his life and vintage Elvis movies.

Former US President Bill Clinton – in a special retrospective on Ali at 70 on Radio 5 Live on Thursday – sums up what Ali symbolises both to him, and to American society.

Islamabad, January 17: Pakistan plunged deeper into crisis last night after the
country’s highest court began contempt proceedings against Prime
Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani.

In the latest twist to the constitutional turmoil that has gripped the nation, the Supreme Court demanded that Mr Gilani appear later this week to explain why his government had failed to follow directives to reopen corruption investigations against the President. If convicted, he could be forced from office.

New Delhi, January 17: Angry over the attack on Ramdev, his followers today threw black ink on Sonia Gandhi’s poster outside the Congress headquarters here and clashed with party workers, earning disapproval of the yoga guru who condemned the act as “undemocratic and uncivilised”.

Some people under the banner of Yuva Bharat Kisan Panchayat gathered outside the Congress headquarters at 24, Akbar Road to protest the throwing of ink on the yoga guru here two days ago.

Jodhpur, January 17: Bishna Ram gang member, Ashok Bishnoi, who was wanted in the Bhanwari Devi murder case, surrendered before police in Jaloda village of the district today.

Bishnoi, who was allegedly involved in the disposal of Bhanwari Devi’s body, was wanted by the CBI, police said.

He surrendered early in the morning and is now being taken to Jodhpur to hand him over to the CBI.

Three more accused– Pukhraj, Dinesh and Indra– are still absconding.

Bhanwari Devi had gone missing from Jodhpur’s Bilara area on September 1 last year.

Dubai, January 16: A seven year-old Egyptian girl has miraculously survived after falling from a window on the top floor of a six-storey residential building in Sharjah’s Nabbah area late night on Thursday.

The girl, identified as Dunia, suffered fractures on both her hands and is now recuperating at Al Qasimi Hospital.

“Alhamdolillah, [thank God] she is alright. It’s a miracle. I can’t thank God enough for saving her life,” said her father.

The incident took place around 9.45 pm at the Yusuf Al Maskari building behind Al Mubarak Centre.

The following sermon was delivered by Shaikh Abdul-Aziz bin Abdullah bin Hasan AlShaikh and addresses the misguidance of people wearing Tamimah (also referred to by names such as amulets / Taweez / talisman, etc.) for the purpose of healing or preventing problems. As we can see that such acts are not only prohibited, they constitute Shirk, which is the worst forms of sin and puts the person out of Islam.

– Start of the sermon text:

Allah the Exalted said:

Lucknow, January 16: As nominations opened for 59 assembly constituencies where polling was scheduled in the second of the seven-phased Uttar Pradesh elections Feb 11, the Election Commission Monday ordered special arrangements for women voters.

New Delhi, January 16: Late Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy’s widow Y.S. Vijaya Monday withdrew from the Supreme Court her petition imputing bias to the Andhra Pradesh High Court in an illegal assets’ case involving politicians.

The apex court bench of Justice B.S. Chauhan and Justice T.S. Thakur asked senior counsel Mukul Rohatgi, who appeared for Vijaya, to withdraw the petition.

“All your case is against the lawyers and not the judges,” the bench told Rohatgi.

Cairo, January 16: An Egyptian military court on Sunday postponed the “virginity test” case filed by Samira Ibrahim against a military doctor, Ahmed Adel Mohammed, to a session on January 29. This is the third such postponement since the case was filed.

The postponement came as a result of a request from the Doctors Union, who showed solidarity with the defendant and sent a delegation of lawyers to defend him, and asked the court to give time for them to review the case.

Dubai, January 16: A Saudi Arabia man has been arrested by the country’s religious police for allegedly using Facebook to arrange dates with other men, Gay Middle East reported.

The man was reportedly arrested on December 23 and has been held by police since then in the city of Damman on the country’s Eastern coast.

According to the website, the man confessed to arranging “obscenity acts” with members of his own gender, after what the website said was “assumed to have been harsh interrogations.”

Dhaka, January 16: The first phase of Biswa Ijtema – the annual gathering of the Tablighi Jamaat Islamic movement congregation – at Tongi near the capital ended yesterday afternoon with the offering of Akheri Munajat (concluding prayers) seeking divine blessings for the people of Bangladesh and the Muslim Ummah.

The Ijtema venue on the banks of the Turag river and its adjoining areas reverberated with the word ”Amin” repeatedly uttered by lakhs of devotees from home and abroad raising their hands together in prayer.