salman_jobs A Pakistani anti-terrorism court has issued death warrants against eight terror convicts, weeks after the government lifted a self-imposed moratorium on death penalty in terror related cases following the brazen Peshawar school attack.
The court issued warrants for the hanging of four Lashkar-i-Jhangvi militants Mohammad Shahid Hanif, Mohammad Talha Hussain, Khalil Ahmed and Mohammad Saeed in two sectarian killing cases, the Dawn reported.
Bangladesh’s opposition leader Khaleda Zia has been confined to her office since last night after police besieged the former premier’s office ahead of the first anniversary of last year’s controversial elections boycotted by her party.
Zia, the chief of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party who had refused to participate in what she branded a “farce” election, remained cordoned off inside her Gulshan office here since last night and security forces, including women police, were deployed outside the building.
Nepal’s three major political parties are closer to reach an agreement on federal structure, one of the key issues hampering the drafting of the new constitution, a senior minister said on Sunday.
The three parties — Nepali Congress, CPN-UML and UCPN-Maoist — held positive talks at a meeting held at the Prime Minister’s residence in Baluwatar in the capital to narrow down the differences, Minister for Law and Justice Narahari Acharya said.
They “have come closer to a deal on the most contentious issue of federal structure,” he said.
Pakistan”s frontline paceman Junaid Khan has reportedly impressed the national selection committee in hopes of being named in the final 15-man World Cup squad as the January 7 deadline draws nearer. Khan has bowled well on his comeback after being on the sidelines for several weeks, courtesy of a knee injury, which the bowler suffered in the UAE during the ODIs against Australia. Khan has picked up seven wickets from three matches in the ongoing Pentangular Cup so far, The Express Tribune reported.
A hundred football stars are reportedly feared to have been caught in an alleged 30 million pounds investment scam and include players like former English midfielder Jimmy Bullard and Irish legend Robbie Keane. Police is reportedly of the opinion that the alleged fraud might be the biggest scam ever to hit the British game. Up to hundred players including former Tottenham Hotspur, Liverpool and Ireland legend Keane and ex-Fulham midfielder Bullard are said to have been lured by promises of a huge 20 percent-a-month return, the Mirror reported.
He might have copped a lot of criticism for his uninspiring leadership in overseas Tests but Mahendra Singh Dhoni has got a supporter in Michael Clarke who said the wicket-keeper batsman has done a “wonderful job” as India captain.
Clarke, who had to relinquish captaincy job due to a chronic injury during the ongoing series against India, said he was amazed at how Dhoni held the the captaincy while playing all three forms of the game.
An 16-year-old Dalit girl was allegedly strangulated to death and her body set afire by robbers when she resisted their attempt to loot her house in Ganeshpura area here, police said today.
The incident took place last night in the house of fruit seller Mahesh Jatav.
According to Jatav’s complaint, six robbers barged into his house while the family members were asleep, SP Rajendra Prasad Pandey said.
The robbers entered the upper floor of the house through terrace.
At least 18 suspected Taliban militants were killed Saturday, in an airstrike by the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) jets in the southwestern Afghan province of Paktika, an Afghan police official said.
The airstrike was carried out by helicopters in the strife-torn district of Yahya Khel near Afghanistan’s border with Pakistan, according to Nabi Jan Malakhel, a police official.
“The bombing took the lives of 18 Taliban (militants), including several foreigners,” Malakhel said.
External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj has written back to Sartaj Aziz, Pakistan Prime Minister’s Adviser on Foreign Affairs, dismissing his contentions that BSF soldiers killed two Pakistani troopers “in cold blood”, said an official statement Saturday.
Aziz, in a letter to Sushma Swaraj Friday, had protested the killing of two Punjab Rangers personnelin Zafarwal sector and demanded a probe into the incident and for “bringing the perpetrators to account”.
Former West Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee Saturday termed the BJP as the main threat to the Left parties in the state, and said a confrontation between the two forces was in the offing.
Speaking at a programme organised to celebrate the 49th anniversary of the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) mouthpiece “Ganashakti”, he said people of the state which had a cherished history of peasants and workers movement spearheaded by the Left, would never accept communal forces.
The Somali government Saturday said there was an Ebola outbreak in the country, saying there were no cases of the disease there.
Health Minister Ali Mohamed Mohamud refuted media reports that there was a suspected Ebola case in the town of Buulo Sharey in the lower Shabelle region, reported Xinhua.
“As soon as we heard the rumours of a case of Ebola in Somalia, we acted quickly and decisively to isolate the alleged victim, a Somali citizen named Abdulkadir Jinow Barow, and those who had been in contact with him,” he said.
The immense demographic dividend and potential of the youth can be productively channelized for growth and development of the country only when the higher education system is provided a “job orientation”, Health Minister J.P. Nadda said Saturday.
Ahead of the annual bird census on January 9, Odisha government has imposed restrictions on all activities at the Nalabana Bird Sanctuary in Chilika Lake.
The restrictions on visit of VIPs, research scholars and other developmental activities with involvement of boats will remain in force till January 10 in the 15.59 sq km bird sanctuary area, Divisional Forest Officer, Chilka Wildlife Division, Bikash Ranajn Das said on Friday.
Nearly 500 Hindus, including women and children, converted to Buddhism Saturday in half a dozen villages in Bihar’s Gaya district, officials said.
All those converted to Buddhism are resident of Khanjahapur, Usri, Bara, Joda Masjid, Kukra, Beldari, Bansibigha and Tapsi villages under Manpur block in Gaya, about 100 km from here, said a district police official.
“The conversion took place at a Buddhist temple in Khanjahapur village,” said the official.
Basant Mahto, a member of Bodh Gaya-based Mahatma Budh Gayan Ashram, played an important role in the event.
NASA has revealed that scores of giant asteroids are on course to hurtle close to Earth before the end of February.
According to the researchers, some asteroids are more than 1km wide, the size of a double decker bus, and threaten devastating consequences if they were to strike our planet, the Daily Express reported.
Intense clashes were raging since Saturday morning between the Syrian troops backed by the Lebanese Hezbollah and the Al Qaeda-linked Nusra Front militants in Lebanon.
According to the anti-government Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), violent clashes flared up in the area of Flaita, in the western part of al-Qalamoun, in Lebanon, Xinhua reported.
Meanwhile, al-Mayadeen TV denied reports that the Nusra fighters managed to storm a Hezbollah position in Flaita, adding that the clashes raged on. No reports of losses, however, have yet emerged.
With just three months remaining for roll out of the Indian Accounting Standards (IAS) converged with International Financial Reporting Standard (IFRS), companies in India as well as their subsidiaries will find it difficult to voluntarily adopt the practice, a research firm said Saturday.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Saturday that the country`s scientists “have placed us at the forefront of the world in many areas”.
“Whenever the world shut its door on us, our scientists responded with the zeal of a national mission,” Modi said while addressing the 102nd Indian Science Congress 2015.
“When the world sought our collaboration, they reached out with the openness that is inherent in our society,” he added.
IANS
Pakistan on Saturday tabled two major bills in the National Assembly to amend the country’s Constitution for creation of special military courts for speedy trial of terrorists in the aftermath of the deadly Peshawar school attack.
The bills were presented to the parliament after political parties and Army agreed in a marathon meeting yesterday on the mode of setting up the courts.
The 21st Constitutional Amendment Bill and Pakistan Army (Amendment) Bill 2015 were presented in the National Assembly by Minister for Law, Justice and Human Rights Pervaiz Rashid.
The threat of the LTTE has not been wiped out and the rebel group is still active overseas, a top Sri Lankan defence official has warned while criticising the opposition for seeking to reduce military presence in the Tamil-dominated north.
“Prabakaran was killed but if anyone thinks that the danger has been wiped out its not true. Those who fled are very active overseas,” Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa said at a campaign rally of his brother and incumbent President Mahinda Rajapaksa.
The Pakistan government on Saturday challenged LeT operations commander Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi’s bail in the Islamabad High Court, saying an anti-terrorism court ignored testimony in the 26/11 case while granting bail to the 2008 Mumbai terror attack mastermind.
“We have challenged the Anti-Terrorism Court Islamabad’s decision to grant bail to Lakhvi in the Islamabad High Court,” Prosecution chief Chaudhry Azhar told PTI.
Pakistan on Saturday appeared to threaten India with retaliation over the killing of its soldiers in cross-border firing, saying it will now “communicate in the language they understand”.
“In the past six-seven months, we have tried to better our ties with India so that peace can prevail. But it seems that they do not understand this language,” Defence Minister Khawaja Asif told reporters outside the Parliament.
“I believe, we will now communicate with India in the language they understand,” he said.
As the two police constables accused of gang-raping a teenage girl in a police station here remained elusive for the third day, Uttar Pradesh government on Saturday asked Special Task Force of state police to trace the duo and suspended two policemen of the station.
Additional Director General of Police (Crime) H S Awasthi said that the STF has been roped in as constables Veer Pal Singh Yadav and Avnish Yadav, both dismissed, were absconding after the crime on the new year eve.
A car of AAP’s Tughlakabad assembly poll candidate Sahi Ram was on Saturday set ablaze as supporters of Aam Aadmi Party clashed with BJP activists during the shoot of a TV news debate in which leaders of both the parties were engaged in a heated argument.
“During the shoot, heated argument ensued between the two groups which turned into a scuffle and someone set Sahi Ram’s car on fire. We are probing the incident,” said a senior police official.
The national capital saw an overcast Saturday with some rain. The Met office has forecast a clear sky with moderate fog in the morning Sunday.
“There will be moderate to dense fog Sunday morning. However, a partly cloudy sky will become mainly clear from morning onward. Very light rain or thundershowers may occur till night,” said an official of the India Meteorological Department (IMD).
The maximum and minimum temperatures Sunday are likely to hover around 17 and 10 degrees Celsius respectively.