Pathankot, Punjab: Two people were killed and one was seriously injured here after an old shell exploded in the shop of a scrap dealer Monday afternoon, the police said.
The accident occured in the Mamun Cantonment area when some people were trying to dismantle an old shell to extract the metal in order to sell it.
Baghdad, March 01: Iraq’s national security adviser has warned of a “tough time” in a security vacuum if the country takes a long time to form a new government after elections next Sunday.
Safa Hussein’s remarks come amid fears it could be several months before a government is in place after the war-torn nation’s March 7 parliamentary ballot.
“If it takes a long time, we will have some difficulties,” said Hussein, who listed how quickly a government can be put in place as his top security concern, adding that he considered one month a “short time.”
Baghdad, March 01: Iraq’s parliamentary election will mark the most “decisive” moment for the country since the 2003 US-led invasion which ousted leader Saddam Hussein, the UN envoy to Baghdad said on Monday.
Ad Melkert added that while he was concerned over the level of violence in the run-up to Sunday’s poll, he had not seen any widespread sectarian or communal confrontation.
“I think one could say that the conduct and outcome of the elections will be the most decisive moment for Iraq’s future since 2003,” he told reporters at a briefing.
Cairo, March 01: When her divorce finally came through after a painful four-year procedure, Mahasen Saber became the target of reproving looks and gossip in society.
But she fought back, and the young Egyptian mother decided to take to the high-tech airwaves on the Internet with the launch of “Radio Divorcees”.
“Our society burdens women with the greatest share of responsibility for divorce. The woman is wrong, the woman is bad — she’s the reason a marriage failed,” said the 30-year-old.
Libya, March 01: Neutral Switzerland has dented its reputation as a global mediator as weaknesses in its foreign policy are exposed in its escalating row with Libya, analysts said.
Relations between Bern and Tripoli have been strained since July 2008, when one of the sons of Libyan leader Moamer Gathafi, Hannibal and his wife were arrested in Geneva after two domestic workers complained they had mistreated them.
London, March 01: Britain’s insurance giant Prudential (Pru) has reached agreement on a $35.5-billion deal to buy the Asian arm of embattled US insurer AIG, it was announced on Monday.
It said the deal would transform Pru into the largest insurer in Asia. In New York, AIG confirmed the sale of its Asian arm, AIA, to Prudential.
Reports said the takeover by Prudential of AIA is one of the biggest foreign
purchases by a British firm.
Aurangabad/Jamui, March 01: Four persons were shot dead in separate incidents in Bihar’s Aurangabad and Jamui districts, police said today.
Unidentified men gunned down two persons identified as Daroga Yadav and Gunni Bhuian at Aurangabad’s Pirwan village late last night, they said.
Efforts were on to nab the killers, police said, adding the motive behind the killing was yet to be ascertained.
In another incident, Jeevan Singh and Kanaiha Mondal were shot dead by unidentified assailants at Gaura village in Jamui late last night, they said
–Agencies
Vienna, March 01: Diplomats gathered on Monday at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna to mull the agency’s last Iran report which spelled out concerns about possible ongoing nuclear weapons work.
The blunt report by new IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano, as well as reactions to it in the IAEA’s governing board this week, could be a first step towards additional UN sanctions against the Islamic republic, diplomats said ahead of the meeting.
Hyderabad, March 01: Demanding rollback of hike in prices of petroleum products, the BJP today said it would seige Parliament on April 21 to protest spiralling prices of essential commodities.
“The party would organise a historic rally at Delhi on April 21 against the price rise in which 10 lakh party activists across the country would participate and seige the parliament,” BJP spokesperson Prakash Javadekar told reporters here.
New Delhi, March 01: Pakistan hockey player Irfan Muhammad was handed a one-match suspension for using illegal equipment in the match against India in their World Cup group opener.
Irfan, who is a defender, will now miss Pakistan’s next game against Spain Tuesday at the Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium.
New Delhi, March 01: New Zealand rallied to beat Canada 3-2 in a Pool A match of the Hockey World Cup at the Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium here Monday.
Priyesh Bhana, Nicholas Haig and Ryan Archibald scored for New Zealand while Mark Pearson and Philip Wright struck for Canada.
Canada led 2-1 at halftime. Both teams were locked 2-2 before Archibald put New Zealand ahead minutes before the final hooter.
—Agencies
New Delhi, March 01: Clouds of colour in the air, faces unrecognisable but for big smiles, frenzied dancing, and the sweetest of sweetmeats…India Monday immersed itself in Holi – a festival that leaves few untouched, be it young or old, rich or poor, Hindu or Muslim.
Kathmandu, March 01: Concerned at the protracted political stalemate in Nepal, the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) has sent its politburo member Sitaram Yechury to hold dialogue with Nepal’s key politicians. Yechury Monday met Nepal President Ram Baran Yadav.
Yechury, who arrived in Kathmandu on a three-day visit Sunday, met Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal and Maoist foreign affairs chief Krishna Bahadur Mahara Sunday.
Islamabad, March 01: Pakistani security forces on Monday rescued two Sikhs kidnapped by the Taliban in the country’s restive northwest. A third kidnapped Sikh was beheaded by his captors after their demand for ransom was not met.
Government and military officials, as also the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), while confirming the rescue of the two Sikhs, told Online news agency that the security forces Monday carried out a successful operation in an area bordering Orakzai and the Khyber Agency in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) bordering Afghanistan.
Dhaka, March 01: One of the five Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) militants, arrested in Bangladesh last week, was convicted and jailed in India for involvement in hijacking of an Indian Airlines plane to Kandahar in December 1999.
Nannu Mian alias Belal Mandol alias Billal, who was arrested here Saturday along with four other militants, returned home recently after serving 10 years in a prison in Guwahati in India.
Bangalore, March 01: Two people were killed, including one in police firing, as protests in Karnataka over the publication of a translated version of Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasreen’s article in a Kannada daily turned violent Monday, police said.
Curfew has been clamped in Shimoga city, about 280 km from here, and prohibitory orders imposed in Hassan district, around 200 km from here, police said.
Kolkata, March 01: Nasima Khatun, 16, cannot hold a pen in her hands and write. A polio attack when she was five has left her hands crippled. But she has appeared for the Class 10 board exams in West Bengal and wrote the papers holding the pen in her mouth.
“Crippled hands and penury could not stop Nasima from appearing in the board exam. She is very studious and always scored good marks in her school exams,” said Sheik Shafi Alam, headmaster of Golabari Pallimangal High School where she studies.
Dharamsala, March 01: Exiled Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama has expressed sympathy with the bereaved family members of the earthquake victims of Chile, an official statement said Monday.
An earthquake of 8.8-magnitude rocked the South American nation Saturday that has claimed at least 711 lives.
In a letter to Chile President Michelle Bachelet dated Feb 28, the Nobel laureate expressed his sadness at the loss of many lives and the extensive damage to roads and buildings, said the statement on the website of the Tibetan government-in-exile here Monday.
New Delhi, March 01: Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh arrived here Monday evening after a historic three-day visit to Saudi Arabia.
The prime minister was accompanied by Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma, Petroleum Minister Murli Deora and Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor.
During the visit, the two sides signed 10 agreements on bilateral cooperation ranging from security, science and technology, culture and media, and an extradition treaty.
Hyderabad, March 01: Hyderabad Metro Rail is expected to trigger mammoth economic activity in and around the city and provide employment to about 50,000 people, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister K. Rosaiah said Monday.
The chief minister, who reviewed the Rs.12,132-crore project at a meeting here, said it would provide employment for about 5,000 engineers and about 45,000 skilled and unskilled workers.
On Board PM’s Special Aircraft, March 1: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today said he had asked Saudi Arabia to use its ‘good offices’ to persuade Pakistan to desist from the path of terror.
Singh was asked by reporters on his way back home from Riyadh whether India would like to see Saudi Arabia as a credible interlocutor in dealing with some Indo-Pak issues, an apparent reference to remarks made by Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor that created a flutter.
Karachi, March 01: Two key militant commanders, who were said to be close aides of Taliban leader Mullah Omar and the slain Pakistani Taliban chief Behtullah Mehsud, have been arrested here and a huge cache of arms and ammunition seized.
Mullah Tayyab Popalzai, who was the spokesman for Mullah Omar when the Taliban were in power in Afghanistan, and Hakeemuddin Mehsud were arrested from the Saeedabad lwhich is heavily populated by Pashtuns late last night.
Colombo, March 01: Veteran Sri Lanka batsman Sanath Jayasuriya came under fire today for his decision to enter politics while still playing for the national team.
Jayasuriya will contest April 8 parliamentary elections as a candidate for President Mahinda Rajapakse’s Freedom Alliance party in his home constituency of Matara.
The 40 year-old, the oldest cricketer still playing at the top level in the world, retired from Test cricket in 2007 but has vowed to continue his international career in the shorter forms of the game.
Santiniketan (WB), March 01: Visva Bharati university authorities today set up a committee to probe the clash between the students of Sangeet Bhawan, Kala Bhawan with Vidya Bhawan when some Vidya Bhawan students allegedly barged into the girls hostel.
The boarders of a girls hostel of the university had yesterday alleged that boys of Vidya Bhawan had barged into their hostel in the wee hours and attacked students of Sangeet Bhawan and Kala Bhawan, who came to their rescue.
Poonch (JK), March 01: Seven persons today crossed the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir in the weekly bus service via Chakan-Da-Bagh crossing point in the district, officials said here.
While three persons from Jammu and Kashmir crossed over to Pakistan Occupied Kashmir, four persons from POK arrived in Jammu and Kashmir
–Agencies