Month: January 2010

Mumbai on alert once again

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Mumbai, January 28: According to intelligence reports, two terror suspects have managed to enter the city of Mumbai to carry out nefarious schemes. An alert signal has been sent across the city following the inputs of the intelligence forces.

The reports contain the names of the duo and suggest that they may disguise themselves as taxi drivers to maneuver their plans and fulfill their aim to cause harm to the city.

However, names and nationality of the duo have not been disclosed for investigation purposes.

LeT, the most potent of Pak-based terrorist groups: Think-tank

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Mumbai, January 28: Outlawed Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), which has been responsible for the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack, is the most potent Pakistan-based terror groups, chief of an eminent American think-tank has said.

Unlike the other Pakistan-based terrorist outfits, LeT has been successful in recruiting professionals and highly educated individuals from urban centres in Pakistan, Steve Coll, president of the New America Foundation told US lawmakers at a Congressional hearing yesterday.

Five killers of Bangladesh’s founding father hanged

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Dhaka, January 28: Nearly 35 years after Bangladesh’s founding father Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was assassinated, five army officers who were among those convicted for the killing were hanged at Dhaka Central Jail Thursday, bringing to an end a long manhunt and the quest for justice of Mujib’s daughter, current Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

The five condemned prisoners – Lieutenant Colonels Syed Farook Rahman, Shahriar Rashid Khan, Mohiuddin Ahmed, A.K.M. Mohiuddin and Major Bazlul Huda – were walked to the gallows shortly after midnight.

Four-year-old boy falls into borewell in Rajasthan

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Bhilwara (Raj), January 28: A four-year-old boy today fell into a 250-ft borewell while he was playing near it in Piploon village of Rajasthan’s Jahazpur district, police said.

One earth mover machine has reached the spot for rescue operation, they said adding that the town is some 80 kms from the district headquarters.

“The boy, identified as Pankaj, is stuck about 20-22 feet down in the borewell. The incident occurred in the afternoon and medical team and senior police and administration officials have rushed to the spot,” a police official said.

CPI(M) offices come under attack in Kozhikode

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Kozhikode, January 28: Unidentified persons set ablaze two CPI(M) offices in two localities in north Kerala today, triggering tension, police said today.

Additional forces have been deployed to restore law and order in the politically sensitive areas, the sources said.

The ruling CPI-M’s Local Committee office at Thuneri near Nadapuram in Kozhikode district was partially damaged as the building was set on fire in the early hours today. Crude bombs were also hurled at the office, police said.

The fire damaged furniture and a few books kept inside the building.

Soren govt inconsistent on Naxal issue: Opposition

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Ranchi, January 28: The Jharkhand opposition today accused the Shibu Soren government of inconsistency on the Maoist issue even as the chief minister met Union Home Minister P Chidambaram in Delhi and resolved to fight the Naxal menace.

“There is no consistency in the statements of the chief minister. He says one thing in Ranchi, another in Bokaro (where Soren’s residence is)and by the time he reaches Delhi he sings a different tune,” Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (Prajatantric) Principal General Secretary Pradeep Yadav told a news conference here.

Telangana deadline ends; MLAs set to resign

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Hyderabad, January 28: The all-party Joint Action Committee’s (JAC) deadline for the central government to make an announcement on the formation of Telangana state ended Thursday. The legislators belonging to all the parties barring the ruling Congress are determined to quit on Friday.

All eyes are on New Delhi as leaders of the Congress from Telangana are still hopeful that the government would announce in the next 24 hours a time-bound programme for carving out the separate state.

Regularly eve-teased; school girl sets herself on fire

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Kanpur, January 28: Molestation and eve-teasing is on the rise in different parts of India. Today a girl of 16 years of age committed suicide here after being eve teased by few boys.

Priyanka, who was a 10th standard student, was eve-teased and harassed by few boys over and over again when she used to attend her tuition classes. Unable to bear the harassment, the she set herself ablaze today.

Inimical forces trying to stunt country’s growth: PM

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New Delhi, January 28: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Thursday warned that inimical forces ”both inside and outside India” were trying to stunt the country’s growth and called for defeating the ”twin threats” of terrorism and communalism.

“Inimical forces, both inside and outside India, are trying to stunt growth and well-being of the country. The twin threats of terrorism and communalism must be defeated,” Singh told NCC cadets at their Prime Minister’s Rally here.

Govt mulls introduction of grading at Class-XII level

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New Delhi, January 28: After Class-X, the government is contemplating introducing a grading system at Class-XII in CBSE stream. HRD Minister Kapil Sibal on Thursday said the idea has already been mooted and a committee will examine how grading could be introduced at Class-XII.

“This is in thinking process. No decision has been taken. After the committee gives its report, it will go the Central Advisory Board for Education and Council of Boards of School Education in India (CoBSE),” he told reporters on the sidelines of a conference on Sarva Siksha Abhiyan and other education programmes.

With time, things will be alright: Gilani on IPL issue

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New Delhi, January 28: Pakistan Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani today downplayed his country’s reaction to the non-inclusion of its cricketers in the IPL and said with time, things will be alright.

He also noted that cricket has been a “greater diplomacy” even in past.

“I think that is the mood of Parliament and the public and we have to follow their point of view as well. But I think with time things would be alright,” Gilani told CNN-IBN in an interview.

He was asked if Pakistan overreacted on the issue by cancelling official trips to the country.

PC likely to visit Islamabad for SAARC meeting

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New Delhi, January 28: In the midst of current chill in Indo-Pak relations, a SAARC Home Ministers’ conference is scheduled next month in Islamabad to which P Chidambaram plans to go subject to Foreign Office’s approval.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and External Affairs Minister S M Krishna will discuss the issue and if the External Affairs Ministry allows, the Home Minister will travel to Pakistan to attend the SAARC meeting, a highly placed source said.

The SAARC Interior/Home Ministers’ conference is scheduled to be held from February 20 for three days in Islamabad.

Sania has to fight out of it, says Father Imran

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Hyderabad, January 29: The broken engagement may affect Sania Mirza’s tennis career, according to her father Imran who hoped that his daughter will overcome the emotional setback.

Imran said that Sania’s tennis career had nothing to do with the “mutual” decision of calling off the engagement with her childhood friend Sohrab Mirza.

“It has been mutual. Everything has happened in a very nice manner because both the families are so close to each other,” Imran told reporters here.

HM convenes CM’s meet to fine tune anti-Naxal operation

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New Delhi, January 28: The Centre today said anti-Naxal operations will continue till the extremists agree to talks, adding it has convened a meeting of Chief Ministers of four Naxal affected states in Kolkata next month to fine tune the joint operations.

A Home Ministry spokesperson said the meeting, scheduled for February nine is to fine tune coordination for the inter-state joint operation against the left-wing extremism.

It would be attended by Chief Ministers of Jharkhand, Orissa, West Bengal and Bihar.

Goa police release accused’s photo in Russian rape case

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Panaji, January 28: Goa police today released the photograph of the accused involved in the rape of a nine-year-old Russian girl.

Superintendent of Police (North) Bosco George, who released the photograph this afternoon, refused to divulge more on the issue.

“I do not want to comment anything right now. We will issue this photograph to all the police stations, railway stations, airport and border posts,” he said talking to reporters at district headquarters.

Militants attack NATO trucks in Pakistan

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Islamabad, January 28: Militants staged a rare attack in southern Pakistan against trucks carrying supplies for NATO troops in neighboring Afghanistan on Thursday, wounding three people in the latest violence to plague the country’s largest city, said police.

The militants attacked the trucks with guns and grenades just after midnight as they traveled on a main highway on the outskirts of Karachi, police official Mohammed Ali said.

Telangana Committee next week: Chidambaram

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New Delhi, January 28: The much-talked about Committee to examine the demand for separate Telangana will be announced next week, Home Minister P Chidamabaram said today.

“We are almost at the end of concluding that exercise. If all goes well, we should have a committee by the end of this week. We will announce the committee by next week,” he told reporters declining to give out the names.

The Home Minister said the government would have more or less finalised the names and will do by the the end of this week. “Perhaps by the next week, the committee will be announced,” he said.

No difference with Centre on fighting with Naxals: Soren

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New Delhi, January 28: Amidst reports that Jharkhand had stopped operations against Naxals, Chief Minister Shibu Soren today ruled out any difference with the Centre on the issue of controlling Maoist violence and expressed his resolve in checking the menace.

Soren, who held an hour-long meeting with Home Minister P Chidambaram, the first after he took over the reins of the state last month, told reporters that his government was not opposed to any offensive against Maoists.

“There is no difference between us and the Centre. We are working with each other.

97% Return from Shariah MF

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Kolkata, January 28: Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance has quietly gave a 97% return on its lesser-known pure stock pension plan or Shariah fund in just eight months of its inception.

The pure stock pension plan, which is a niche fund, saw a return of 97% as against a 72% return by the Nifty Index, as on December 31, 2009.

Four Indians attacked in Australia

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Melbourne, January 28: In fresh incidents of violence against Indians in Australia, four community youths, including three cabbies, were attacked in two separate incidents in Brisbane, a media report said on Thursday.

“Four more attacks on Indians in Brisbane, Queensland, took place,” news reported without giving out any more information about the victims.

“Three of them have been directed at cab drivers, one who told how he was punched and dragged from his taxi,” it said.

UK says strong Afghan forces key to settlement

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London, January 28: Any Afghan settlement involving the Taliban will depend on building strong government forces able to handle security, Britain said on Thursday as ministers from 60 countries met to hammer out a strategy to end the war.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai said building up those forces would require foreign backing for more than a decade.

The London conference is expected to back efforts to win over Taliban foot soldiers with money and jobs and review a U.N. terrorism blacklist to encourage fighters to change sides.

Tata Steel standalone Q3 net soars, beats forecast

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Mumbai, January 28: Tata Steel Ltd, the world’s No.8 steelmaker by output, reported quarterly profit from its Indian operations more than doubled, beating forecasts, on strong demand from the auto and construction sectors.

The company, which acquired Europe’s second-largest steelmaker Corus in 2007, said standalone net profit rose to 11.92 billion rupees ($258 million) for the fiscal third quarter to end-December from 4.66 billion a year ago.

Tata Steel will report consolidated third-quarter results, to include the Corus numbers, next month.

Constable injured in grenade attack in JK

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Srinagar, January 28: A policeman was wounded in a grenade attack by militants in Ganderbal district of Jammu and Kashmir, officials said today.

Constable Abdul Qayoom received minor splinter injuries when militants hurled a grenade towards a police party at Lar bypass, 25 km from here last evening, they said.

The officials said the police party was patrolling the area in the official vehicle when the ultras attacked them.

SP asks Amar Singh to resign from Rajya Sabha

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New Delhi, January 28: On his 54th birthday, Amar Singh was handed out a rude gift by the leadership of the Samajwadi Party (SP) that asked him to resign his membership of the Rajya Sabha.

Shortly after replacing Singh as party general secretary, newly appointed spokesman Mohan Singh launched a frontal attack on his predecessor, saying.

Cash looted from bank employees

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Jaipur, January 28: Two unidentified persons today allegedly looted cash worth lakhs of rupees from two bank employees in Ajmer district, police said.

The employees were on their way to Bhawta branch near Mangaliawas town of the district, 132 kms from here, when two motorcycle-borne miscreants stopped them and snatched the bag containing the cash, Additional SP Ajmer (Rural) Himmat Abhilash Tank said.

A hunt has been launched to nab the accused, he said.

—PTI