Press Trust of India

Muslims across Maharashtra held protests, after offering Friday prayers, against Israel for its offensive in Palestine, which has claimed hundreds of lives.

In many major mosques here, special prayers were said against Israel and the US, condemning the continued attacks on Palestinians, especially women and children since the past few weeks.

The Raza Academy and other organisations had given a call for special prayers in all mosques in the city and in Maharashtra for the safety and security of Palestinians.

Sushma Swaraj’s statement on Palestine in the Rajya Sabha so pleased Jerusalem that Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman thanked her that evening over the telephone. But the goodwill thus generated was fading by Wednesday when New Delhi, having changed its mind, voted with the resolution at the UN “condemning Israel for disproportionate use of force in Gaza”.

The World Health Organization (WHO) Friday called for safe passage in the Gaza Strip to evacuate the injured in the 18-day Israeli offensive which has left more than 800 Palestinians, mostly civilians, dead and over 5,000 injured.

The WHO highlighted the importance of putting up this humanitarian corridor for the safe transfer of the wounded out of the Strip to receive treatment.

Four hospitals in Gaza have been damaged since Israel began its military operations against the Strip July 8.

A key accused wanted for blackmailing businessmen and VIPs with the help of women has been arrested here, police said Friday.

V. Jayachandran was arrested late Thursday outside the MLAs’ hostel where he was staying in a room booked in the name of former Congress legislator T. Sarathchandra Prasad.

Prasad said he had nothing to do with the accused.

Jayachandran, hailing from Chertalai in Alappuzha district, was on the run after his accomplices — two women, an advocate and two other men — were arrested early this month, said police.

A film based on the Park Street rape case, blocked by the censor board here, has been given the go-ahead by the Film Certification Appellate Tribunal (FCAT) under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, its producer said Friday.

The 107-minute Bengali film directed by Partha Mukherjee and produced by Debjani Roy was “banned” from being screened by the regional office of Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) on grounds that Kolkata’s Raj-era Park Street was shown in “poor light” in the context of the rape incident, said Roy.

Algeria Friday declared a three-day national morning for the victims of the Air Algerie flight AH 5017 that crashed over Mali the previous day with no survivor yet found from the plane wreckage, media reports said.

The aircraft with 116 passengers and crew on board, operated by Spanish charter firm Swiftair on behalf of Air Algerie, was flying from Burkina Faso to Algeria, but disappeared from the radar 50 minutes after taking off.

Hundreds of thousands of Iranians rallied Friday across the country to mark Quds (Jerusalem) Day in solidarity with the Palestinians, condemning Israel’s continued occupation of Palestinian land and the ongoing bloody attacks on the Gaza Strip.

In Iran’s capital Tehran, the participants chanted slogans and carried banners in the rally, underscoring the trial of Israeli authorities for what they called “war crimes” against Palestinians in Gaza, Xinhua reported.

Two Hindu pilgrims (Kanwariyas) from Rajasthan were Friday killed in two separate road accidents here, police said.

Ishwar alias Kalu, 30, and Sandeep Kumar, 21, both from Alwar district of the state, were killed in two separate road accidents.

A pick-up van hit Ishwar and his colleague Pushpender on the Delhi-Jaipur National Highway near Pachgaon when they were returning home with holy Ganga water.

Ishwar died on the spot while Pushpender has been critically injured.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon Friday called for an unconditional humanitarian ceasefire in the strife-stricken Gaza Strip during the Muslim holiday of Eid ul-Fitr that will begin Monday.

“This truce should last through the Eid ul-Fitr holiday period,” Ban said in a statement after meetings with US Secretary of State John Kerry and Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shukry.

Two police constables were killed and two others were injured Friday in a bomb blast triggered by insurgents in Meghalaya.

“ULFA (United Liberation Front of Asom) and GNLA (Garo National Liberation Army) militants planted a powerful improvised explosive device (IED) bomb by the roadside in Tebrongre area of West Garo Hills district, killing two constables and injuring two others,” IGP (Operations) G.H.P. Raju told IANS.

He said the police constables were conducting a road patrol in the militant-hit area between Dadenggre and Rongram.

Ukraine Friday said it will hand over the satellite images of the crash site of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 to international experts.

According to an order from President Petro Poroshenko, the experts, including those from the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe and law enforcement agencies of the countries which lost their citizens in the disaster, will be granted control of the images, Xinhua reported.

Flight MH17, while flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, crashed July 17 in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine, killing all 283 passengers and 15 crew on board.

As hundreds of UPSC aspirants held noisy protests Friday, the Narendra Modi government appealed them to be “patient” about their demand for scrapping the Civil Service Aptitude Test (CSAT) and said “no injustice” will be done to them.

The civil services aspirants held fresh protests in two places in the national capital. When hundreds of students tried to march to parliament, police detained around 300 of them. On Thursday violent student protests

Delhi Metro Friday shut two stations due to a protest by the UPSC aspirants, even as about 300 demonstrators were detained when they tried to march towards parliament, police said.

The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) aspirants are demanding scrapping of the Civil Service Aptitude Test (CSAT).

The Central Secretariat and Udyog Bhavan Metro stations, both on the yellow line, were closed from 12.45 p.m. to 3 p.m., inconveniencing commuters.

The rules pertaining to handling of bio-medical waste in the country have been amended for the safety of the population, parliament was told Friday.

Under the new amended rules, the repackaging and sale of used medical equipment like syringes, needles, saline bottles and vials is not permitted, Health Minister Harsh Vardhan told the Lok Sabha in response to a question.

The responsibility for implementation of these rules, however, lies with state pollution control boards or committees, he added.

Union ministers Rao Inderjit Singh and Krishan Pal Gujjar Friday said the central government was ready to take charge of building the Kundli-Manesar-Palwal (KMP) Expressway.

Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Defence, Planning, Statistics and Programme Implementation Rao Inderjit Singh and Minister of State for Road Transport and Highways Krishan Pal Gujjar were reviewing the expressway along with union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari.

India’s Abhinav Bindra won the gold medal in the 10m air rifle event at the Barry Buddon Shooting Centre here Friday.

The silver went to Bangladesh’s Abdullah Baki while England’s Daniel Rivers got the bronze.

Indo-Asian News Service

Jet Airways Friday appointed Raj Sivakumar as its chief commercial officer with immediate effect.

Sivakumar will be responsible for the overall development and implementation of sales strategy for driving the airline’s market share and maximising revenues.

In a similar move, Rajeev Nambiar has joined the airline’s management team as vice president – sales (India).

The Indian challenge at the $50,000 Russian Open Grand Prix came to an end after shuttler B. Sai Praneeth lost his men’s singles quarter-final match here Friday.

The sixth seeded Indian lost 21-23, 17-21 in 42 minutes to Russian second seed Vladimir Malkov.
(IANS)

An Indian Air Force (IAF) helicopter crashed in Uttar Pradesh’s Sitapur district Friday, killing all seven people on board, police said.

The helicopter was on way from Bareilly to Allahabad. Just before the crash, the pilots reportedly contacted the Air Traffic Control (ATC) and alerted them about a technical glitch.

But before the ATC could guide them or send help, the chopper nose-dived into an agricultural field near Palitpurwa village under the Atariya police station and caught fire.

A constable of the Jammu and Kashmir Police was seriously injured when separatist guerrillas shot at him in the state’s Anantnag district Friday, police said.

“Militants shot at a police constable from close range in Bijbehara market in the afternoon, critically injuring him,” a senior police officer told IANS here.

The injured constable has been shifted to Srinagar for treatment, he said.

A recent study has revealed that television programmes running in the back ground have a negative impact on the children, during their play and learn phase. University of Iowa researchers found that background television could divert a child’s attention from play and learning and that non-educational programs could negatively affect children’s cognitive development. The team found a relationship between the content children were exposed to and their executive function, an important facet in learning and development.

Three people, including a school student, were killed and two others injured when lightning struck them in Tripura Friday, an official said.

Ashes Nath, 13, a class VII student, Ram Bahadur Reang, 45 and Khagendra Reang, 55, were killed on the spot when lightning struck them in separate incidents in Kanchanpur area of northern Tripura.

“Nath was returning home from school while the other two men were working in their rubber gardens when lightning struck them,” an official of the state disaster department said.

Reang was a leader of the ruling Communist Party of India-Marxist.

A delegation of members of parliament from Delhi, led by the Union Health Minister, Dr Harsh Vardhan met Minister of State (I/C) for Petroleum and Natural Gas Dharmendra Pardhan here to discuss the issue of the supply of Piped Natural Gas (PNG) in the union territory. Pradhan informed the MPs that promotion of Piped Natural Gas (PNG) across the country has been identified as a priority area by the Government.

Officials of ceasefire monitoring group recently held a review meeting with the NSCN-K, an outfit led by S S Khaplang. The two sides discussed an array of issues, including the continuous involvement of the outfit in extortion and illegal taxation. The issue of illegal taxation, extortion and carrying of arms by cadres dominated the Ceasefire review meeting held at Police Complex in Chumukedima. Chairman of Ceasefire Monitoring Group Major Gen (Retd) N K Singh insisted that NSCN (K) give up extortion activities.

Governor of Nagaland and Tripura Padmanabha Acharya recently interacted with northeastern students, social activists and NGOs in New Delhi. Several issues were discussed in the session held at the Nagaland house. The Governor assured that efforts will be made to develop infrastructure and take up other problems of the northeast. (ANI)