New Delhi, February 04: A court here on Saturday extended by a fortnight the police custody of six of the seven alleged Indian Mujahedin operatives arrested from across the country late last year for their alleged involvement in firing and triggering a bomb explosion near Jama Masjid in September 2010.
New Delhi, February 04: A Delhi court on Saturday reserved its order for February 18 for taking cognisance of the NIA’s chargesheet filed against Pakistani-American David Headley Coleman and eight others for allegedly carrying out several terror attacks in India.
Special NIA Judge H S Sharma, in an in-camera hearing, reserved its order for February 18 on taking cognizance of the chargesheet after hearing arguments from the National Investigation Agency (NIA) prosecutor.
Kozhikode, February 04: Hailing the Special CBI Court order dismissing Janata Party President Subramanian Swamy’s plea to probe Home Minister P Chidambaram in the 2G Spectrum Case, Defence Minister A K Antony today said the verdict proved Mr Chidambaram’s innocence. Talking to newspersons here, he said the verdict also proved vindicated the stance of the Congress and the party-led United Progressive Alliance Government on the issue. The verdict was also an approval of the action initiated by the government on the issue, he said.
—Agencies
Samastipur, February 04: Altogether four children sustained injuries when a bomb exploded at Hakimabad village under Mufassil police station here today. Police said the bomb was hidden in a field which suddenly exploded when the children were playing there. The injured have been admitted to a local hospital. The matter is being investigated.
—-Agencies
Guwahati, February 04: Re-polling at 34 polling booths in five hill districts of Manipur was conducted Saturday without any violent incident, an official said.
“Eight polling booths of Chandel district witnessed the highest 82 percent polling while nine polling booths of Ukhrul recorded 72.08 percent of voter-turnout. The five polling booths in Churachandpur district registered 58.99 percent polling,” Manipur chief electoral officer P.C. Lawmkunga told IANS.
“Polling was peaceful and we have not received any reports of violence so far,” he said.
Ghaziabad, February 04: A special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court here Saturday adjourned the hearing in teenager Aarushi Talwar’s murder case till Feb 29.
Satish Tamta, counsel for Aarushi’s parents Rajesh and Nupur Talwar, both doctors, submitted before the court that the trial proceedings here be stopped till the plea of the father in the Supreme Court to shift the case to Delhi was disposed of.
R.K. Saini, the public prosecutor from the CBI, requested the court to continue the trial since the prosecution had not received any communication from the apex court.
New Delhi, February 04: A special CBI court in Delhi Saturday dismissed Janata Party chief Subramanian Swamy’s plea to make P. Chidambaram a co-accused in the 2G spectrum allocation case, spelling huge relief for the home minister.
Here are the key quotes –
Judge O.P. Saini: “There is no material on record to suggest that Mr. Chidambaram was acting with such corrupt or illegal motives or was in abuse of his official position, while consenting to the two decisions. There is no evidence that he obtained any pecuniary advantage without any public interest.”
Riyadh, February 04: A Saudi man in his 40s murdered his 13-year-old son, cut his head off and kept it in his car before was arrested by police in the Gulf Kingdom.
The crime was discovered when the boy’s grandfather reported him missing and told police that when he asked his father, he simply relied :”Perhaps he could be snatched by some one or he’s just gone with the wind.”
“When police summoned the father and interrogated him, they were shocked when he collapsed and confessed to murdering his son.” Okaz daily said.
Iowa, February 04: The Muslim community in Iowa is frustrated and angry over FBI’s sending informants into mosques to spy on worshippers, seething with a sense of betrayal that has undermined trust between American Muslims and security agencies.
“That was really surprising, very sad that somebody would come or the FBI or Homeland Security would send somebody here to pretend to be Muslim and try to find out what goes on here,” Dr. Hamed Baig, president of the Islamic Center of Des Moines, told CNN on Friday, February 3.
“I feel there is no need for that.”
Beirut, February 04: In a barrage of mortar shells, Syrian forces killed 200 people and wounded hundreds in Homs in an offensive that appears to be the bloodiest episode in the nearly 11-month-old uprising, activists said Saturday.
The assault in Homs, which has been one of the main flashpoints of opposition during the uprising, comes as the UN Security Council prepares to vote on a draft resolution backing an Arab call for President Bashar Assad to give up power.
New Delhi, February 04: President Pratibha Patil Saturday greeted the nation on the eve of Milad-un-Nabi.
In her message, the president conveyed her “greetings and good wishes” to fellow citizens.
“On the joyous occasion of Milad-un-Nabi, the birthday of Prophet Muhammad, I express my greetings and good wishes to all my fellow citizens. May the message of service to humanity as taught by the Holy Prophet lead all of us to unity and fellowship,” she said.
—Agencies
Washington, February 04: Experts are encouraging sexually active adults aged 45 and over to indulge in safe sex after recent figures revealed that sexually transmitted infections in 50-90 year olds have doubled in the past ten years.
Rachel von Simson, medical student at King’s College London and Ranjababu Kulasegaram, consultant genitourinary physician at St Thomas’ Hospital London, revealed that 80 percent of 50-90 years olds are sexually active.
Statistics show an increase in cases of syphilis, chlamydia and gonorrhoea in the UK, USA and Canada in 45-64 year olds.
Hyderabad, January 04: The Bharatiya Janata Party’s decision to contest the 2014 elections on its own reflects the growing gap between it and the Telangana Rashtra Samiti and may as well signal the end of the honeymoon betwe-en the two parties.
The BJP’s recent proposal of getting the wife of late Rajeshwar Reddy, independent MLA from Mahbubnagar, unanimously elected was turned down by the TRS. In the last bypolls, TRS chief K. Chandrasekhar Rao had backed the BJP in Nizamabad and ensured a big win for the party.
Washington, February 04: Young adults aged 18 to 24 years who stop smoking for at least two weeks report substantially fewer respiratory symptoms, especially coughing, a new study has said.
For the finding, Karen Calabro, DrPH and Alexander Prokhorov, MD, PhD, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Centre, Houston, compared self-reported respiratory symptoms among two
groups of college students who participated in programs designed to motivate them to stop smoking.
Islamabad, February 04: The body of a young woman with deep wounds on her head was found stuffed in a sack near a mosque in Rawalpindi, police said.
The victim was identified as Nazima Perveen, 22.
She had been missing since Thursday after she left her home to teach the Holy Quran to children in Gulistan Colony, the daily Dawn reported Saturday.
“She gave lessons to one of her students but did not turn up at the houses of other two students,” said police officer Ashraf Butt, who is leading the probe.
–IANS
Hyderabad, February 04: With the focus now shifting away from the Emaar-APIIC township scam case, the pace has picked up in the Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy assets case. The Central Bureau of Investigation has now shifted its focus to the alleged irregularities in granting of projects and leases to investors in the companies owned by Mr Jagan Mohan Reddy. Former chief secretary, presently state election commissioner P. Ramak-anth Reddy appeared before the CBI on the second consecutive day on Friday.
Washington, February, 04: Three of the largest US banks have been sued for deceptive foreclosure practices, including illegally seizing houses of thousands of homeowners in the state of New York.
On Friday, the New York Attorney General’s Office launched suits against JP Morgan Chase, Bank of America and Wells Fargo over their use of the private electronic mortgage registry, the Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems (MERS).
Cairo, February 04: Thousands of protesters clashed with police outside the interior ministry in Cairo on Saturday as the unrest has now spread across the country.
Riot police clashed with anti-military protesters in different parts of Egyptfor the second straight day, leaving at least four people dead and over 1,000 injured in the latest unrest sparked by the worst soccer violence in the country that claimed 74 lives this week.
Damascus, February 04: Syrian government has denied as baseless reports about shelling the central city of Homs at the hands of the Syrian military forces, the state-run news agency says.
The government “denies shelling by the army in certain districts of Homs, as peddled by television stations that are inciting violence,” SANA news agency reported on Saturday.
The denial came after Syrian opposition groups claimed that dozens of civilians have lost their lives in an attack by the army on the violence-hit city.
Syria’s government, however, blamed the attack on “armed gunmen.”
Gaza, February 04: Residents of a small Palestinian village, including 10-year-old boy, have gone on hunger strike to draw international attention to their plight, Press TV reports.
Some 20 residents of Khirbat al-Tawil village, south of Nablus in the occupied West Bank, went on a 24-hour hunger strike on Friday to protest against Israel’s occupation of their lands.
Israel has been pushing forward with plans to demolish the homes of 18 families who live in Khirbat al-Tawil.
On January 17, the villagers received a seventh and final warning to leave the area.
Tehran, February 04: Iran plans to establish a national satellite launch base in the southeast of the country, adjacent to the Sea of Oman and the Indian Ocean, Press TV reported.
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has ordered the cabinet to approve the plan and earmark funding for the project, space agency chief Hamid Fazeli said.
RIA Novosti reported that earlier Friday, Iran successfully launched an observation satellite, Navid (Harbinger), to take pictures of the Earth at low altitudes of 250 to 370 km.
Washington, Februaey 04: To make America more attractive to highly-skilled foreign students and workers, the United States has announced a series of reforms, including changes in the F-1 and H-1B visa rules, that may benefit professionals from India.
The interim measures are aimed at improving the competitiveness of US companies in the world market and stimulating US job creation before comprehensive immigration reforms for “fixing our broken immigration system,” the Department of Homeland Security announced.
Hyderabad, February 04: The Golconda Fort transports you into a time warp. It’s not just a fort, but a tiny little kingdom in itself, untouched by the ravages of time. Of course, the only alien giveaways are the plastic covers and litters strewn around everywhere. But learn to ignore them like you would do so anywhere else in the city, and a visit to Golconda is like discovering a time machine.
A trippy experience