At least 12 people were killed and over 20 others injured when a bomb exploded outside a mosque in Pakistan”s northwest district of Hangu on Friday afternoon, police said.
Mian Muhammad Saeed, District Police Officer (D.P.O) of Hangu said that the bomb went off when people were coming out of the mosque after saying Friday prayer in Patt Bazar area of Hangu, a main district located in the country”s northwest province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
After widespread criticism of police for the manner in which Congress legislator and former minister Shankar Rao was picked up in a land grab case, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy Friday ordered a high-level probe.
The chief minister directed Director General of Police V. Dinesh Reddy to hold an inquiry by Additional Director General of Police Krishna Prasad.
The chief minister issued orders after Deputy Chief Minister Damodar Rajanarasimha and other ministers called on him and voiced their unhappiness over the way police behaved with the Dalit leader.
Brazil’s football confederation – CBF – has admitted the country must act to address safety concerns ahead of next year’s FIFA World Cup.
CBF’s concerns were made public a day after a stadium crash in Porto Alegre Wednesday that left five football fans in hospital and last Sunday’s nightclub fire that killed 231 people in the southern city of Santa Maria, reports Xinhua.
CBF president Jose Maria Marin said Thursday the incident at Arena Gremio in Porto Alegre would have no impact on the friendly between Brazil and France slated for June 9 at the same venue.
Indian cricket captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni has been appointed as vice-president of India Cements, a company which is headed by BCCI President N Srinivasan.
Dhoni, who recently resigned from Air India, is expected to play for his new employers in the BCCI Corporate Trophy which began today despite his earlier intention to take a break ahead of the important home series against Australia.
India Cements are the owners of IPL franchise Chennai Super Kings of which Dhoni has been the captain since 2008 and Srinivasan is the Managing Director-cum-vice-chairman of the company.
“Vishwaroop”, the Hindi version of Kamal Haasan’s multi-lingual movie “Vishwaroopam”, released in Uttar Pradesh Friday amid tight security.
The film is being screened in five multiplexes and two single screen theatres here, officials told IANS.
Despite warnings by the ruling Samajwadi Party not to allow the screening on grounds that it portrayed Muslims in poor light, the government late Thursday gave its nod for its release in the state.
Inspector General of Police Badri Prasad Singh told all district police chiefs to provide adequate security to all cinemas.
Iran is planning to race up its nuclear program by using new centrifuges that can quickly enrich uranium so that it could be used to make an atomic bomb sooner than had been anticipated.
The 3,000 centrifuges would take up to a year to install, so Iran still has not crossed the threshold to a nuclear weapon, CBS News reports.
But David Albright, who closely monitors the Iranian nuclear program, said that the country’s move was an ominous development.
Legendary singer-turned-actress Asha Bhosle’s debut film ‘Mai’ had a star studded premiere, with several Bollywood celebrities present at the screening of the film held on Thursday night.
Stars like Amitabh Bachchan, Anil Kapoor, Kajol, Sridevi, Shatrughan Sinha, Rekha, Sukhwinder Singh, Boman Irani and Ritesh Deshmukh were among those who came to support the 79-year-old singer.
Twelve people were killed and 20 injured in a massive explosion in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakthunkwa province, a media report said.
The huge blast took place in Pat Bazaar of Hangu, reported Geo News.
Policem said the explosion occurred near a mosque in Pat Bazaar when people were coming out of the mosque after Friday prayers.
—IANS
Former Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi has advised the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) to stop trying to convince ”weak teams” such as Bangladesh to play in their country. The flamboyant allrounder, who rejected a lucrative offer of around Rs 40 million to play in the Bangladesh Premier League, said that while he understood the honest efforts made by the board to somehow revive international cricket in Pakistan, he feels that running after teams like Bangladesh would serve no purpose, reports The Nation.
The one-man commission constituted by the Supreme Court of Pakistan to probe the 2007 Lal Masjid operation has decided to summon former president Pervez Musharraf and former premier Shaukat Aziz for questioning. The Dawn quoted an official, as saying that Musharraf and Aziz would be summoned in the second week of February. The commission decided to summon the two after a number of witnesses in their statements alleged that Musharraf was responsible for launching the military operation on Lal Masjid in July 2007.
Social networking giant Facebook has warned Wall Street that its costs will grow faster than sales this year.
The warning came as the firm expects expenses to surge 50 percent this year as it acclerates the hiring of engineers and ploughs money into new ventures such as search.
Facebook founder and chief executive Mark Zuckerberg told analysts that the ‘firm is building profits for the long-term, the Telegraph reports.
Pakistan has made a “lot of promises” but India should not take any “serious steps” towards improving ties with it unless they are translated into action on the ground, Defence Minister A K Antony said here today.
“Even though tension has much reduced (on the LoC), we cannot relax because we have to maintain a strong vigil because a lot of promises were made. Promises are not enough.
“Our considered view is that you have to wait and watch and we should not take any serious steps unless we are convinced that these promises are actually translated into action,” he told reporters.
Six Chinese bloggers have launched a “ride-share” hitchhiking programme to ease the burden of holiday travel for people who fail to get tickets ahead of the Spring Festival.
The programme was launched by the bloggers for the holiday travel season last year, and relaunched it again this year, Xinhua reported.
It is aimed at helping those people who cannot get tickets to go home, especially migrant workers with limited access to official ticketing systems.
Those failing to snap up tickets can now turn to shunfengche.org via text messages, a mobile app and microblog.
A young boy and a girl, suspected to be lovers, were today found dead on the railway tracks near Peddampet village here, police said.
Dismembered bodies of the duo were found along side the tracks after they allegedly jumped before a running train, Station House Officer, Railway police, Ramagundam Chakrapani said.
Both are yet to be identified, he said, adding further investigations are on.
—PTI
Director-producer Karan Johar has teamed up with actor Akshay Kumar for the first time on a film to be directed by ‘I Hate Luv Storys’ helmer Punit Malhotra.
Akshay will play one of the leads in the two-hero movie, the shooting of which is scheduled to begin early next year. The other male lead will be announced next week.
A man was sentenced to death by a local court here for the rape and murder of a minor girl.
Additional District Judge S N Tripathi yesterday held Akhtar guilty and sentenced him to death.
32-year-old Akhtar had on April 4 last year lured the 13-year-old girl to a secluded place and raped her. He later killed her in Ujhani area.
—PTI
A sub-inspector of Kolkata Police was arrested today on the charge of raping a woman at her home, the police said.
The SI, identified as Rajib Chakraborty, allegedly raped the woman, who was living separately from her husband for some months, according to the police complaint filed by the woman.
The complaint was lodged with Patuli police station in the southern fringes of the city.
The accused was posted with the city police’s special section port division (SSPD).
—PTI
The Nizamabad Police is today interrogating MIM legislator Akbaruddin Owaisi, facing sedition charges for his alleged “hate speech” in December last year.
Akbaruddin, who is in judicial remand and lodged at the Adilabad district jail, was brought to Nizamabad town this morning and was being questioned by investigating officer at the Armed Reserve headquarters, they said.
A court in Nizamabad had earlier granted the police two-day custody of Akbaruddin (for February 1 and 2) to question him in connection with the December 8 speech delivered by him in Nizamabad town.
In a suspected case of honour killing, a 26-year-old man was shot dead at Saidpur village here allegedly by family members of a girl with whom he had a relationship, police said today.
The deceased Nath Ram was in love with a girl whose family disapproved of the relationship, they said.
Ram was shot dead yesterday by her kins in Saidpur village under Charthawal police station, they added.
Police has registered a case against Sachin and Monu, brothers of the girl, in connection with the killing after Ram’s uncle Ramesh filed a complaint.
Three persons, including a village sarpanch, have been booked for allegedly gangraping a 22-year-old woman a month back, police said today.
One of the accused was arrested yesterday in connection with the offence.
The woman, a resident of Nagarsul village in Yeola taluka of Nashik district, was allegedly gang raped about a month back.
However, police allegedly did not file her complaint then, the victim claimed.
A 77-year-old man allegedly committed suicide along with his only son by consuming poisonous substance as they were suffering from depression, police said today.
Sant Parkash Singh, retired from Intelligence Bureau as a Section Officer, and his unmarried son Gurpal, a Chartered Accountant, were found dead yesterday after a neighbourer entered the house using a duplicate set of keys, they said.
A private college administrator here has been booked for allegedly threatening students, who had complained against the institute to an NGO regarding lack of basic facilities there, police said today.
First year BDS students of Aditya Dental College in Beed district of Maharashtra had complained to Mumbai-based NGO – Forum for Fairness in Education that the college did not have basic facilities like lights, fans in classrooms, laboratories, etc.
Increasing radicalisation within Pakistan’s military could lead to its nuclear weapons being hijacked by radical Islamists, a Pakistani scientist has warned.
“Safety and security of Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal is of a major concern. The growing radicalisation within the military, given attacks on its own internal bases, could lead to these nuclear weapons being hijacked by radical Islamists,” said Pervez Hoodbhoy, who was here for the London launch of his book ‘Confronting the Bomb’.
Nuclear-powered Pakistan is too dangerous area of the world to simply walk away, U.S. Defence Secretary nominee Chuck Hagel has told lawmakers during his confirmation hearing.
“I think Pakistan is too dangerous and that area of the world is so clearly in the national security interests of this country that we just can’t walk away from it and not deal with them,” Mr. Hagel, the two-time former Senator from Nebraska said on Thursday in his answers to a 112-page questionnaire for the Senate Armed Services Committee.
A Pakistani national was on Thursday sentenced to seven-year jail term by a Delhi court for illegally staying in India and also getting prepared fake documents showing his nationality as Indian.
Sajjad Haider, a native of Lahore, was awarded the jail term by Additional Sessions Judge Pawan Jain who held him guilty of cheating, impersonation, forgery, using forged documents as genuine and under the provisions of Foreigners Act.