Hyderabad, December 31: Over 430 people were today taken into preventive custody here during the bandh organised by Joint Action Committee (JAC) of various political parties in support of a separate statehood for Telangana.
Pro-Telangana agitators and political leaders were taken into preventive custody when they tried to organise dharnas, rasta rokos and forcibly close the establishments, City Police Commissioner B Prasada Rao said.
London, December 31: A British computer expert and his four bodyguards kidnapped in Iraq in 2007 were seized in an operation masterminded by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, media reported on Thursday.
Peter Moore was released unharmed on Wednesday after an “unspeakable” kidnap ordeal during which three of the bodyguards died.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown and his government hailed Moore’s release, which it said was due to improved reconciliation in the violence-scarred country.
New Delhi, December 31: The Directorate General of Civil Aviation has instructed all airlines not to check-in any passenger who has a Chinese visa stapled on his or her passport.
The instruction, issued late last evening, asks all airlines to “ensure that they do not check-in any passenger with stapled Chinese visa on their passports,” official sources said here.
The DGCA instruction comes weeks after India declared as “invalid” the standalone paper visas given by the Chinese embassy here and consulates in Mumbai and Kolkata to Indians from Jammu and Kashmir and Arunachal Pradesh.
Panaji, December 31: Goa Police are investigating the death of a 23-year-old girl, who allegedly consumed narcotics at a music festival here.
Neha Bahuguna died at a city hospital yesterday.
Police Department spokesman Atmaram Deshpande said the medical report attributed the death to drug overdose.
The girl, reportedly from Delhi, was working in Bangalore and was down in Goa to participate in `Sunburn Goa Festival-2009′ organised at Candolim beach.
She was transported from the festival venue to the hospital in a serious condition, police said.
Washington, December 31: The White House fired a salvo at former vice president Dick Cheney in reply to his sharply critical comments on President Barack Obama’s response to the botched terror attack on a US airliner on Christmas Day.
“It is telling that Vice President Cheney and others seem to be more focused on criticising the Administration than condemning the attackers,” White House Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer wrote on the White House’s official blog Wednesday.
Abhuja, December 31: Muslim leaders in Nigeria have denied allegations that the international terrorist network Al Qaeda is active in the country, media reports said Wednesday.
Islamic clerics interviewed by Abuja newspaper the Daily Trust said the 23-year-old Nigerian who attempted to blow up an Airbus flight from Amsterdam to Detroit Dec 25 was an isolated case.
“There is no connection between the accused and any religious group in Nigeria,” Islamic scholar Abdulfattah Adeyemi was quoted as saying.
Jakarta, December 31: Former president Abdurrahman Wahid, Indonesia’s first elected leader after the 1998 fall of the Suharto regime, died Wednesday after long-term illnesses, relatives said. He was 69.
Wahid’s brother, Solahuddin Wahid, confirmed to the private television station MetroTV that Indonesia’s fourth president, who served from 1999 to 2001, died at a Jakarta hospital.
Abdurrahman Wahid, known by his nickname Gus Dur, which means Honoured Holiness Abdurrahman, suffered from heart failure among other ailments, Akmal Taher from Cipto Mangunkusumo Hospital said.
Bangalore, December 31: City-based women’s organisations today staged a protest here demanding resignation of excise minister M P Renukarcharya, who is facing criminal charges in a sexual harassment case, from the Yeddyurappa cabinet.
About 70 women belonging to ten women organisations led by Jayalakshmi, a former nurse who filed the complaint against the minister, shouted slogans and demanded that chief minister B S Yeddyurappa drop Renukacharya.
Kabul, December 31: Afghan government investigators Wednesday accused foreign troops of dragging 10 people, including eight children, from their homes and shooting them dead.
Anti-US protests erupted in at least two cities over the alleged killings as President Hamid Karzai’s office published its report, likely to enflame tensions between the Afghan government and its Western military backers.
Bhopal, December 31: A spectacular hot air balloon race was organized by Indian Army here on Wednesday.
Four army teams from Baroda participated in the race.
“We have collected all the hot air balloons of the Indian Army and four balloons will be competing in this race. They will first attempt a precision dropping of a marker at a point on the land and then at a distance of 10 to 15 kilometres from here, will have to land at a marked point to win. They have been given a GPS to track the point of landing.
Riyadh, December 31: Prince Naif Bin Abdul Aziz, Second Deputy Premier and Minister of Interior, has stressed that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is one of the best countries in the world in terms of security and economy.
He also affirmed that the Kingdom’s economic position confirms the enhancement of security. ‘There will be no security without a stable economy,’’ he added.
Addressing a ceremony honoring civilian and military retirees of the Ministry of Interior here Tuesday night, Prince Naif said the state budget indicates the economic strength of the country.
Colombo, December 31: Breaking his silence on the Ferozeshah Kotla pitch fiasco, Sri Lankan captain Kumar Sangakkara said the track did not look “normal” soon after the first five overs and was too dangerous to continue playing.
“Even after 6-10 overs, we could feel that the pitch was not normal. But the Match Referee (Alan Hurst) said ‘I cannot do anything. It was a call for the on-field umpires to take’.
Jeddah, December 31: Ziyad Bin Abdullah Aal Al-Sheikh said that three veiled Tuareg tribesmen shot him and his five friends in a remote region of West Africa.
In a phone conversation with Okaz, Aal Al-Sheikh related the story of the confrontation that left four Saudi tourists dead and two injured during a hunting trip in the desert region of Tillaberi, in the southwest of Niger.
“We were coming from Niamey, the capital of Niger, where we stayed for one day after arriving from Casablanca to which we flew from Riyadh,” Aal Al-Sheikh said.
Riyadh, December 31: King Abdullah, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, with Sudan President Omar Hassan Al-Bashir in Riyadh, Wednesday.
The two leaders discussed bilateral relations and regional and international issues.
–Agencies
London, December 31: Scandal-hit Tiger Woods has checked into rehab in a last-ditch bid to repair his battered public image, say reports.
The shamed golf ace was reported to be “in recovery” at either the exclusive Meadows or Cottonwood clinics in Arizona, according to LA-based celebrity website X17.
A source told X17: “Tiger’s handlers feel that if he blames his cheating on addiction, the public will forgive him.”
However, it is not clear what sort of addiction Tiger is seeking treatment for. But the insider claimed it “obvious” that sex addiction would be at the top of the list.
New Delhi, December 31: Well-known TV actor Shekhar Suman is ready to share the onus as the host of unique reality show “Raaz…Pichhle Janam Ka”,replacing Ravi Kishaan only for one episode.
The special episode, which will feature Ravi undergoing past life regressin therapy with the help of therapist Trupti Jayin, will be telecast Monday on NDTV Imagine.
While Shekhar has already undergone it on the show, Ravi had been waiting to get a first-hand experience of the therapy that helps people in understanding the reasons behind their present-day fears, phobia and physical ailments.
Tirupati, December 31: Former APSRTC chairman Gone Prakash Rao today said the ongoing Telangana agitation was not severe compared to the 1969 movement.
Talking to newsmen at the Press Club, he alleged that CWC member and veteran Congress leader G Venkataswamy and TRS chief K Chandrasekhara Rao were using the present Telangana movement for their selfish interests.
Mumbai, December 31: Priyanka Chopra described being a women is no longer a disadvantage in India after a report named the 27-year old Bollywood actress as India’s top brand endorser in 2009.
According to the report by TAM AdEX, a division of TAM Media Research, Priyanka, 27, has edged past endorsement giants like skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni and actors Shah Rukh Khan, Aamir Khan and Amitabh Bachchan.
Priyanka, who is awaiting the release of her next movie Pyaar Impossible, is all smiles.
Jeddah, December 31: Prince Khaled Al-Faisal, Emir of Makkah region, said that a quick collection of information about government officials believed to be involved in the flood disaster through his investigation committee has helped the committee to make prompt decisions.
The Prince was speaking during his tour of flood-affected areas in Jeddah Wednesday.
New York, December 31: When Shelly Kakar and husband Gagandeep ‘Calvin’ Kakar decided to take a vacation to India in November, little did they know the end of a reunion back home would be so traumatic.
The Long Island-based couple was slated to get back to New York on December 10, but since his pregnant wife was not keeping well, Kakar chose to fly the December 25 Northwest Airlines Flight (from Delhi to Detroit via Amsterdam) that was subjected to an attempted terror attack.
Vadodara, December 31: The Pakistani Marine Security Agency (PMSA) has released nine fishermen, who were detained for straying in international waters.
The move of the agency came as a surprise to the fishermen as they were detained three days ago and were released last night.
The fishermen who are detained by the PMSA are made to languish in the jails for a couple of years before their release.
Mathura, December 31: RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat favours opening of more Hindi-medium schools than English-medium ones.
“The demand for running more English-medium schools from Vidya Bharati should not be entertained.
“We can save our mother tongue by promoting Hindi-medium schools,” Bhagwat said yesterday while interacting with managers and principals of schools run by Vidya Bharati and key office bearers of the Sangh here.
He said he is in favour of imparting education that protects Indian culture and traditions.
Chandigarh, December 31: In the latest development in the Ruchika Girhotra molestation case, the Ministry of Home Affairs has advised the family to file case of abetment of suicide against ex-Haryana DGP SPS Rathore.
The government’s step follows Home Minister P Chidambaram’s assurance of full support in the case of molestation of Ruchika by Rathore in 1990.
The Home Minister had yesterday discussed the possibility of slapping the charge of abetment of suicide of a minor against Rathore with Ruchika’s father Subhash Chander Girhotra and his lawyer Pankaj Bhardwaj
New Delhi, December 31: Apprising allegations as fake and denied any kind of involvement in the sex video tape, former Andhra Governor has asserted that “my death will answer all allegations levelled against me”. The matter had put the state on agitation which forced him to resign from the post.
“”I am at the fag end of my life and such allegations at this time pain me. My death will answer such allegations,” the 85-year-old Tiwari told a Hindi news channel from his Dehradun residence.
New Delhi: A quota of a different kind awaits medical students who are keen to pursue a post graduate course in medicine. The Union Health Ministry is mulling reservation of 25 per cent seats in PG courses for MBBS doctors who have practised for three years in rural areas.
The proposal, which was forwarded to the Health ministry by the Medical Council of India (MCI), is one of the many steps which the government is planning to take to address the problem of few doctors being keen to practise inrural areas.