Washington, May 01: The decision by India and Pakistan to resume their dialogue is a “positive step” that will help in the war on terror in the region, the White House has said.
“Obviously there is a long way to go. But certainly the de-escalation of tension between the two countries” would help in the fight against Taliban and Al Qaeda in Pakistan and Afghanistan, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said Friday.
Tehran, May 01: Iran has a “powerful fist” that will “knock the teeth out” of any opponent, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has said.
“Today Iran is the world’s most powerful nation. We like all nations and are glad to see their prosperity. However, we remain a powerful fist that will knock the teeth out of anyone,” Ahmadinejad said, according to the Iranian news agency ISNA.
Ahmadinejad spoke during his visit Friday to Kish island in the Persian Gulf on the occasion of the National Persian Gulf Day.
Paris, May 01: The first European ban on the wearing of the Islamic burka in public is poised to come into force in Belgium. A parliamentary vote on a Bill which bans face coverings has raised fears among Muslim groups and human rights campaigners that other countries could follow suit. France is already considering similar legislation.
Mumbai, May 01: As he awaits the outcome of the “biggest and most challenging” case in his career, Ajmal Kasab’s lawyer is satisfied with the defence he made of his client’s innocence in the 26/11 trial.
“I am hopeful that Kasab’s defence of his innocence in the case would be considered by the court while delivering the verdict on May 3,” K P Pawar told PTI.
Jeruslem, May 01: Barack Obama could call a world summit by the end of the year to pave the way for a Palestinian state should hoped-for peace talks bring no breakthrough in coming months.
The US President is understood to have informed European leaders of his plan to break an Israeli-Palestinian deadlock if negotiations have not borne fruit by September or October, the Israeli newspaper Ha’aretz cited unidentified Israeli officials as saying.
Jaipur, May 01: A second suspect in the 2007 Ajmer Dargah blast case, allegedly linked with some Hindu outfits, has been arrested by Rajasthan ATS from Madhya Pradesh.
“Chandrashekhar, who is suspected to be a key member of the terror module involved in the blast in which three persons were killed, was arrested yesterday from Shajapur,” ATS sources said here today.
He is believed to have links with Hindu outfits, the sources said, adding he will be produced before a local court in Ajmer.
New Delhi, May 01: Diplomat Madhuri Gupta, accused of passing classified information to Pakistani intelligence agencies, was today produced before a Delhi Court which sent her to 14 days judicial custody.
Gupta, who was posted as IFS- Group B officer in the Indian High Commission in Pakistan, was arrested on April 23 for allegedly violating The Official Secrets Act.
The woman officer was produced before the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Kaveri Baweja after the end of her police custody.
Hyderabad, May 01: All of Friday, the Hyderabad police kept the security staff of malls and entertainment centres on tenterhooks as they infiltrated plainclothes cops carrying dissembled ‘bombs’ through chinks in the armour.
Men in mufti smuggled in — each separately — innocuous-looking ball-bearings, nails and other material that would add up to an improvised explosive device (IED) in a terrorist’s hands. Police brass tried to assess the alacrity of popular private establishments in detecting these bomb materials being smuggled in.
Hyderabad, May 01: The media frenzy surrounding Sania Mirza’s marriage to Shoaib Malik may be a reflection of public interest in the subject. Some may however also blame the media for intensifying it. It is akin to the issue as to whether violence in the media breeds violent trends in the society or just reflects the actual situation. One may also ask what is wrong with all this passion in this entertainment-starved nation. The question here is whether it is normal.
Dehradun, May 01: The ban on polythene has been carried out in some districts of the state and in a recnt development Uttarkashi district has banned the use of polythene during the duration of the oncoming Chardham Yatra. The state government is now mulling complete ban on polythene in the whole state in due course of time.
Lucknow, May 01: Inspired by B.R. Ambedkar’s fight against social discrimination, a senior official in Uttar Pradesh has penned “Babasaheb Charit Manas”, a collection of poems on audio CD eulogizing the Dalit icon and architect of the Indian constitution.
London, May 01: MI5 agents illegally interrogated British Muslims who were detained while on safari holidays in Africa, it was claimed yesterday.
The new allegations mirror cases first raised by The Independent last year in which the security service was accused of harassing and intimidating north London community workers who had returned from Somalia.
Now two British men from west London who visited Tanzania for a week-long safari in May last year say they were arrested and held for “days” in inhumane detention on the orders of MI5.
New Delhi, May 01: A large population living on the fringes of the Capital – in several colonies along the state border or in satellite towns in Haryana and Uttar Pradesh – travel by their own vehicles in Delhi. Of the 35-40 lakh vehicles on Delhi roads every day, 12 lakh vehicles, almost one-third move across the city border every day.
Bangalore, May 01: Karnataka Government today said underworld elements and betting lobby were behind the April 17 twin low-intensity bomb explosions outside the Chinnaswamy Cricket stadium before an IPL match.
“Underworld normally has links with betting lobby. Some elements wanted to scare away people and shift the two IPL semi-finals from the city to Mumbai,” Home Minister V S Acharya told reporters here.
The probe into the explosions and recovery of crude bombs outside the stadium was progressing, he said but declined to divulge details.
Islamabad, May 01: Pakistan’s former spy agent, who had been taken hostage along with two others for over a month by a terrorist group, was found dead in North Waziristan, local administration said.
The administration of the area has confirmed the death of Khalid Khawaja, Squadron Leader (retd) of the Inter-Service Intelligence (ISI). He was shot in the chest and head and his dead body has been recovered in Mir Ali (Miran Shah) beside a road with a tag of ‘Asian Tigers’, Online news agency reported.
New Delhi, May 01: Suspended IPL Commissioner Lalit Modi has agreed to hand over the documents related to franchise bids and media rights of the Twenty20 league which the BCCI had sought for.
BCCI secretary N Srinivasan had written a letter to Modi asking to return the missing documents to BCCI CAO Ratnakar Shetty and Modi has agreed to do that, a television channel claimed.
Shetty has been authorised by BCCI to look for the missing documents.
Ajmer, May 01: In a significant development in the 2007 Ajmer Dargah bomb blast case, the Rajasthan Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) has arrested a second suspect.
Chandrashekhar Barot was picked up from Chhapra village in Shajapur on Friday night.
The arrest comes just two days after another suspect, Devendra Gupta was nabbed by the Rajasthan ATS on Wednesday night when he had gone to meet his ailing mother, sources said.
Hyderabad, MAy 01: National Panthers Party chairman Bhim Singh met Telugu Desam Party president N Chandrababu Naidu here and agreed to expand cooperation among “secular and democratic parties”.
The two discussed the present situation in Jammu and Kashmir as well as north-east region, according to Panthers Party AP unit president S M Bhatia.
“The two leaders also agreed to expand cooperation among the secular, nationalist and democratic parties so as to forge an effective alternative to the ruling UPA at the Centre,” Bhatia said.
Bogota, May 01: Police and armed forces have destroyed 22 laboratories situated in the Colombian jungles where narcotics were being refined.
Over one tonne of cocaine, nine tonnes of coca leaves and drug-processing chemicals were found and destroyed Friday, officials said.
The discovery was made in the jungles of Cumaribo and Marandua in Vichada province where an organisation led by one of Colombia’s most-wanted criminals, Pedro Oliveiro Guerrero alias Cuchillo, had set up two clandestine aircraft landing strips as well.
Chennai, May 01: Having won a four year court battle over her remarks on pre-marital sex, popular south Indian actress Khushboo has now set her eyes on politics and admits her liking for Congress.
“I am silently involved in lot of social work including in the areas of HIV/AIDS, transgenders and cancer. But being in politics gives a larger platform and to work better,” she told PTI in an interview here.
New Delhi, May 01: Come summer vacations and parents have one more reason to worry about for their naughty children, who apart form picking a fight with other kids or breaking a neighbour’s window pane while playing cricket, could also innocently invite trouble over Internet.
During school holidays kids are likely to spend more time on the Internet than perhaps they normally do and thus become an easy prey for cyber criminals, say internet security experts.
New Delhi, May 01: A day after Prime Ministers Manmohan Singh and Yousuf Raza Gilani agreed to resume talks at the level of foreign ministers, Pakistan said the meeting in Thimphu had gone “better than expectations”, but sustained efforts would be needed to bridge the “trust deficit” between the two sides.
Mumbai, May 01: Delhi girl Manasvi Mamgai was tonight crowned Pantaloons Femina Miss India World for this year.
The 22-year-old girl has also won also the WGC Femina Miss Golden Heart title and Femina Miss Catwalk, among others.
The other winners were Nicole Faria of Bangalore, who won Miss India Earth 2010 title, while Neha Hinge took the title of Miss India International 2010, according to the pageant’s website.
–PTI
Mumbai, May 01: The Kurar police arrested a 23-year-old man on Wednesday for allegedly assaulting and misbehaving with three girls, aged between between four and six years, on the pretext of teaching them dance moves. Sandip Kewde has been remanded to judicial custody.
Mumbai, May 01: Final-year students of the three-year LLB course were stumped to see questions for short notes in the long answer section and vice versa on Friday morning. But the university was quick to send out messages to all centres asking them to reverse the pattern. “Fifteen minutes into the exam and we realised that mistake. We sent messages to every centre.