Press Trust of India

Press Trust of India (PTI) is India’s premier news agency, having a reach as vast as the Indian Railways. It employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.

Mumbai murder convict nabbed in Goa after jumping parole

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A murder convict from a Maharashtra prison, who had jumped parole five years back and was absconding ever since, has been nabbed by Goa Police.

Sudesh Naik, inspector in-charge of Margao police station, told reporters Saturday that parole-jumper Mustaka Ahmed Karambelkar, a native of Ratnagiri district in Maharashtra, was convicted for murder. He was arrested Friday night.

“He was lodged in a prison in Kolhapur district and had jumped parole in 2010. He has been living in Goa for over a year now,” Naik said. The arrest was made following a tip off, he said.

Finally, the Tamils booted out Rajapaksa

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Just six years after he crushed the Tamil Tigers in a brutal war that also left thousands of innocent Tamils dead, the Tamil community finally had its revenge. If Mahinda Rajapaksa is no more the president of Sri Lanka, it is primarily because Tamils overwhelmingly voted against him.

This is ironical because it is the same Tamil community which, by boycotting the 2005 presidential election on the orders of the then powerful Tamil Tigers, helped Rajapaksa score a wafer-thin victory over Ranil Wickremesinghe, now the prime minister.

Van Gaal expects David de Gea to stay at United

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Louis van Gaal expects David de Gea to commit his long term future to Manchester United, despite interest in the goalkeeper from Real Madrid.

Van Gaal, who revealed that the club’s injury crisis has now diminished to the extent that only Ashley Young is ruled out of Sunday’s encounter with Southampton, sanctioned an 18-month contract for former Barcelona goalkeeper Victor Valdés Thursday in an effort to step up the competition for De Gea at Old Trafford, reports telegraph.co.uk.

Fresh moves to recover black money: Swamy

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With the BJP under attack from the opposition over the black money issue, party leader Subramanian Swamy Saturday said the central government would initiate fresh moves to recover the money stashed in tax havens.

Participating in an interactive session here organised by the Merchants Chamber of Commerce, Swamy said the centre was cautious in its approach to the issue as “a lot of people, including prominent figures, would be hurt in the process”.

Man slashed in New Zealand gurdwara

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A man was slashed in the face with a kirpan — a ceremonial religious knife — after an altercation at a gurdwara in New Zealand, media reported.

Police were called to the Otahuhu gurdwara in Auckland and confirmed that they had taken a man to the Manukau station after the incident Friday, the New Zealand Herald reported.

Vicky Singh, 24, who was praying in the gurdwara, said he heard two men shouting and he rushed to the back of the temple building.

Bangladeshi man arrested in Ghaziabad

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Police have arrested a Bangladeshi man who had obtained a voter identity card and a driving license in India, and was travelling frequently between the two countries.

Police from Indirapuram were conducting a verification drive ahead of Republic Day and detained a man for his suspicious behaviour.

During interrogation he said his name was Abdul Barikh and that he was a resident of Khulna district of Bangladesh, a police official said Saturday.

He said he frequently travelled between the two countries.

Sunny Saturday in Delhi, fog again likely Sunday

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It was sunny Saturday in the national capital after a foggy start, which affected train movement, while the maximum temperature settled four notches below the season’s average at 18.3 degrees Celsius. The Met Office has forecast dense fog Sunday morning.

“There will be dense fog early morning (tomorrow) but the day would be clear. The fog will return in the evening,” an India Meteorological Department official said.

The maximum and minimum temperatures are likely to hover around 19 and 7 degrees Celsius.

No plan to question Tharoor any time soon: Delhi Police

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The Delhi Police Saturday said they do not plan to call Congress leader Shashi Tharoor for questioning in his wife Sunanda Pushkar murder case any time soon.

“The city police will first question the other 11 people including Pushkar’s son Shiv Menon, her two brothers Ashish Dass and Rajesh Pushkar and her cardiologist Rajat Mohan,” an official said.

If need be, Tharoor would called later, he added.

“Police will question relatives, family friends of the couple, Tharoor’s personal assistant, PSOs, servants and others and then, if need be, Tharoor will be called,” the official said.

Latest Nigeria massacre deadliest by Boko Haram?

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Hundreds of bodies remain strewn in the bush in the Nigerian town of Baga after Boko Haram attacks that Amnesty International described as the “deadliest massacre” by the militant group, media reported Saturday.

Fighting, which started Wednesday, continued Friday in Baga, a town in the northeastern Nigerian state of Borno on the border with Chad where Boko Haram fighters seized a key military base Jan 3 and attacked again Wednesday, Al Jazeera quoted Mike Omeri, a government spokesman, as saying.

Cilic withdraws from Australian Open

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US Open champion Croatian Marin Cilic Saturday withdrew from the Australian Open tennis tournament, starting Jan 19, with a shoulder injury.

“I have a right shoulder injury which has hampered me for some time now,” Cilic said in a statement Saturday.

Cilic beat Kei Nishikori to win his first Grand Slam title in September last year. The 26-year-old was struggling with a right shoulder problem for more than a month and skipped the Brisbane International tennis tournament.

Australia child deaths: Thousands attend funeral

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Thousands of people Saturday attended the funeral ceremony of eight Australian children found dead in the northeastern city of Cairns last month.

Almost 5,000 people heard prayers and tributes to the children at a memorial service called Keriba Omasker, which means “our children” in the ancestral language of the children, the Brisbane Times reported.

Prime Minister Tony Abbott and other Australian political leaders laid wreaths.

Hearses took the children’s bodies to Martyn Place Cemetery, where they will be laid to rest.

Radhika Apte lands role in British play

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Actress Radhika Apte has been roped in for an untitled British play, which revolves around an Indian woman striving to make it big in London’s Broadway shows.

The actress, who auditioned for the role via Skype, is excited to be a part of the play as it gives an opportunity to cross borders and learn things.

India positive for Paris 2015: Javadekar

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India was positive of a good outcome at the Paris 2015 climate change negotiations which must yield an agreement to keep the global temperatures from rising over two degrees Celsius, Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar said Saturday.

“We are very positive of the Paris 2015 outcome. We want it to come out with a good outcome which will help the earth to mitigate the challenge of climate change and keep the global temperature rise below two degrees Celsius,” Javadekar told women journalists at an interaction at the Indian Women’s Press Corps.

Uma Bharti urges PSUs to join clean Ganga mission

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Minister of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation Uma Bharti Saturday urged public sector undertakings to join the clean Ganga mission of the government.

She exhorted the PSUs to come forward and contribute to the government’s efforts to clean the Ganga of all pollutants.

She gave the call in her address on the 58th annual day celebrations of the National Projects Construction Corporation Limited (NPCC) – a PSU under the water resources ministry.

Bomb attack at Bangladesh law minister’s home

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A handmade bomb exploded inside premises of Bangladesh Law Minister Anisul Huq’s house in Dhaka Friday following attacks on the homes of two high court judges amid the opposition BNP’s blockade. The minister was not at home at that time.

Banani Police station officer Mahbub Hossain said a handmade bomb exploded inside the premises of Huq’s house at Banani around 8 p.m. Friday but there were no casualties, bdnews24.com reported.

Huq’s personal assistant M. Masum said that the minister was not at home at the time of the blast.

Review permits for restricted Shimla roads: Court

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The Himachal Pradesh High Court Friday directed the state chief secretary to constitute a committee to examine all the permits issued for use of restricted roads in the state capital.

It asked the committee to cancel all those permits which have not been issued in accordance with the mandate of Shimla Road Users and Pedestrians (Public Safety and Convenience) Act of 2007.

Hearing a petition by Dharam Pal Thakur on vehicular problems of Shimla, a division bench of Chief Justice Mansoor Ahmad Mir and Justice Tarlok Singh Chauhan passed these orders.

Cosby jokes in Canada about sex abuse scandals

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American comedian Bill Cosby joked during a show in London, Canada, about the accusations of sexual abuse made against him and said he is “far from finished”, US media reported Friday.

According to news sources, a woman in the audience got up to go get a soft drink and the actor told her: “You have to be careful about drinking around me.”

More than 20 women have told the media about supposed encounters with the famous comedian, who typically accuse him of drugging them with pills to sexually abuse them.

Mamata thanks Facebook friends for one million ‘likes’

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West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee Friday thanked her Facebook fans as the number of ‘likes’ on her official page crossed the one million mark.

“Thank you so much my Facebook friends! On last Sunday, my Facebook Page likes have crossed one million mark in number,” she said in her Facebook page.

The Trinamool Congress supremo added: “To convey my thanks in a special way, I have some musicals played by Bickram Ghosh, Ustad Rashid Khan, Pandit Tejendra Narayan Majumder, Usha Uthup, Pulak Sarkar, Gopal Barman, Joyti Goho and Allarakha, to share with you.”

(IANS)

Renewal of mining leases should be challenged: Swamy

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The government’s decision to renew over two dozen iron-ore mining leases, ahead of a central government ordinance endorsing auctioning of natural resources, should be challenged in court, according to BJP MP Subramanian Swamy.

Speaking to reporters Friday, Swamy, who was in Goa to address legislators, also said that auctioning was the best way to maximise revenue generation.

When asked for his comments on the Goa government’s decision to renew 29 mining leases, Swamy said: “Someone should challenge it in court.”

Bomb threat at Amity’s Gurgaon campus

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A phone call warning Friday that a bomb had been planted at the Amity University campus near here turned out to be a hoax after an extensive search did not reveal any explosives, police said.

A Haryana Police team also comprising bomb detection and defusing searched the campus near Pachgaon, some 26 km from Gurgaon city, after a phone call from Delhi Police control room was forwarded to Gurgaon police control room saying that the bomb has been planted at Amity campu”, police officer Rajesh Kumar told IANS.

After more than two-hour search, it was found that it was an hoax.

Former Bengal women panel chief Jasodhara Bagchi dead

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Renowned academician, feminist and former chairperson of West Bengal Commission for Women Jasodhara Bagchi died at a city hospital Friday following old age ailments, family sources said. She was 77.

She is survived by her husband and two daughters

Educated at President College here, Somerville College, Oxford, and New Hall, Cambridge, Bagchi began as a lecturer in English at the Lady Brabourne College, and later moved on to Jadavpur University.

Paris gunman killed in police raid on kosher market as hostages freed

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French police stormed a printing plant north of Paris on Friday, freeing a hostage and killing two brothers linked to al-Qaida who were suspected of slaying 12 people at a Paris newspaper two days ago.

Police union representative Christophe Crepin, said it appeared that the gunman who took hostages at a kosher market had also died in a nearly simultaneous raid there. At least four hostages are believed to be dead, according to Reuters.

Seven killed as Paris double hostage crisis ends

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At least seven people were killed Friday, including three gunmen, after security forces brought to an end two tense hostage dramas in separate locations in the French capital.

While Cherif and Said Kouachi, the two brothers wanted in the attack on the offices of Charlie Hebdo magazine that claimed 12 lives, were killed in a printing company’s office at Dammartin-en-Goele, northeast of Paris, the third gunman, along with four hostages, were killed at a Jewish grocery store at Porte de Vincennes in southern Paris, media reported.

Elements from both sides raking up ‘ghar wapsi’ issue: Naqvi

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Trying to do a balancing act on the religious conversions, union Minister of State for Minority Welfare and Parliamentary Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi Friday said “some elements from both sides” were raking up the issue to become “champions of communalism”.

Talking to reporters here, he found fault with certain people from both sides for making ‘ghar wapsi’ (home coming) an issue and said this should be checked.

Dempo, Bengaluru face-off in Federation Cup final

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Dempo SC rode on Australian striker Tolgay Ozbey’s brace to prevail over local rivals Salgaoacar FC 2-0 and march into the Federation Cup football tournament final Friday for a title contest with Bengaluru FC.

In the semi final, Bengaluru FC blanked Sporting Clube de Goa 3-0 at Vasco, courtesy goals from Australian Sean Rooney, Indian skipper Sunil Chetri and midfielder Eugeneson Lyngdoh.

The final will be played Sunday.