North Korea ship crew uncooperative: investigators

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Pyongyang, August 09: The crew of a North Korean ship carrying a cargo of sugar that was detained off the Andaman and Nicobar islands, was not cooperating with Indian investigators, an official said on Sunday.

The MV Musen dropped anchor off Hut Bay island on Wednesday without permission. When a coastguard vessel approached, the ship tried to escape, and was detained after a more than six-hour chase.

“We are not getting any cooperation from their side,” said an official of the Joint Investigating Team, who asked not to be identified as he is not authorised to speak to the media.

2 injured in grenade attack on CRPF picket in J-K

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Srinagar, August 09: Two persons, including a CRPF jawan, were injured in a grenade attack by militants on a security picket in an old city of Jammu and Kashmir, a police spokesman said today. CRPF constable Anu Kumar and selection grade constable of Fire services Fayaz Ahmad were hit by splinters when a grenade exploded at Habba Kadal locality last night, he said.

Recipe: Chicken Tikka

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Cook the yummy succulent chicken tikka at home this weekend.

Ingredients: • 500 gms Boneless, skinless chicken breastscut in cubes
• 3 tbsp Tomato paste
• 2 tbsp Lemon juice
• 2 tsp Ground coriander
• 2 tsp Curry Powder
• 1/2 tsp Paprika
• 2 cups plain Yoghurt
• 4 Garlic Cloves (finely chopped)
• 1 inch Fresh Ginger (chopped)
• 2 tsp Ground cumin
• 3 tbsp Butter

Procedure: • Mix all ingredients except chicken together in a bowl.
• Refrigerate overnight.
• Add chicken and marinate it in the above-mentioned bowl.

England pull out of World Badminton C’ship

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Hyderabad, August 09: Despite India’s Home Minister personally assuring all the participating teams viz-a-viz adequate safety measures during the forthcoming World Badminton Championships in Pune, England on Sunday announced their decision to pull out of the tourney, scheduled to begin tomorrow.

An organiser of the world championship confirmed England’s withdrawal.

The official, on condition of anonymity, said that a statement would be issued later in the day, detailing the exact reasons behind the withdrawal.

SP demands judicial probe into J-K sex scandal

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Srinagar, August 09: The J-K unit of Samajwadi Party today demanded a judicial inquiry into the infamous sex scandal which rocked the valley in 2006 so that culprits are brought to justice.

“The best way of dealing with the sex scandal, which is being used as a tool most of the time by certain politicians for their vested interests, should be that it is investigated by a Supreme Court judge so that culprits are identified and punished as per law,” state president of SP Sheikh Abdul Rehman told reporters here today.

Father brands kids with hot iron, held

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Bhuvneshwar, August 09: A man was arrested in Cuttack district of Orissa for branding his two children with a hot electric iron as punishment for not studying, police said Sunday.

Pratap Das, 35, resident of Gopinathpur village in Cuttack, about 45 km from state capital Bhubaneswar, allegedly took the iron and burnt his children – Dipali, 9, and Jagannath, 8,- Saturday after he found them playing outside the house.

The children have burn injuries on their back.

Iraq confirms first H1N1 flu death

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Baghdad, August 09: Iraq’s Health Ministry confirmed Sunday the country’s first H1N1 influenza death.

“A young woman who was already ill and living in poor circumstances died of swine flu,” Deputy Health Minister Amar al-Khuzaie said.

The H1N1 flu outbreak, declared a pandemic in June, has spread around the world and could eventually affect 2 billion people, according to World Health Organization estimates.

The virus has killed more than 800 people worldwide since emerging in April.

–Reuters

Two suburban trains collide in Mumbai

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Mumbai, August 09: Two suburban trains collided near Mahim railway station of Western railway this afternoon, injuring a woman passenger. A Borivali-bound train stationed at platform No 1 at the Mahim railway station, was hit by an Andheri-bound train, injuring a woman passenger, police said.

The injured woman passenger was rushed to the nearby hospital, police said. Train services on the western Railway has been diverted on the fast track, a railway official said.

—-PTI–

LTTE network shattered forever: Sri Lanka

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Colombo, August 09: The possibility of the Tamil Tigers regrouping again has been ‘thwarted completely’ with the arrest of their new leader Kumaran Pathmanathan, Sri Lankan Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa said in remarks published Sunday.

According to Rajapaksa, Pathmanathan, better known as KP, was arrested in an Asian country and flown to Colombo on the night of Aug 6.

‘The arrest of the LTTE mastermind KP has thwarted completely the possibilities of LTTE raising its ugly head again,’ Rajapaksa was quoted as saying by the state-run Sunday Observer.

Former England Test batsman Crawley to retire

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London, August 09: Former England Test batsman John Crawley said he will retire at the end of the season after almost 20 years in the first-class game.

The 37-year-old, who plays for Hampshire after beginning his career with Lancashire, has scored over 24,000 first-class runs with 54 centuries.

“I have enjoyed a fantastic career, meeting some amazing people and collecting some incredible experiences along the way,” he said yesterday.

“However, I have now realised that the time has come to close this particular chapter of my life and have decided to retire at the end of this season.”

Singapore PM warns of more retrenchments in 2009

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Singapore, August 09: Singapore’s Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong warned the city state to brace for further job retrenchments in 2009, although he said the economy did better than expected in the first half of the year.

“We might see another wave of retrenchments later in the year, so we must stay on guard for more challenges to come,” Lee said in a recorded speech on state television on Saturday, the eve of national day.

Centre to introduce measures to check fake drugs

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New Delhi, August 09: The Centre has decided to introduce a slew of measures, including roping in private detective agencies and setting up a separate intelligence network, to check the growing menace of spurious and adulterated drugs in the country.

Union Health Ministry sources said steps are also being taken to set up drug testing centres at various ports besides offering rebates in ceiling price to drug manufacturers adopting latest packing technology to counter the menace.

Milk to get costlier by Re 1 in Delhi and NCR

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New Delhi, August 09: Dairy chain majors Amul and Mother Dairy have increased the prices of milk by rupee one in Delhi and NCR with effect from today, on the back of a rise in the prices of milk procurement.

Mother Dairy has increased the prices of its three variants, whereas Amul has revised the price of double toned milk only.

Double toned milk of Mother Dairy will now be available at Rs 19 per litre and toned and bulk vended milk (token milk) would now cost Rs 20. Skimmed milk of Mother Dairy will now cost Rs 17 a litre.

Include monkey chasers under NREGA: HP to Centre

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Shimla, August 09: Grappling with the problem of monkeys and other wild animals destroying crops in a big way, the Himachal Pradesh government has requested the Centre to include the appointment of animal chasers under its flagship NREGA scheme.

“A request has been sent to the Union Rural Development ministry recently for inclusion of daily wagers ‘rakha’ (one who drives away animals) to protect the crops from monkeys and other wild animals,” state Rural Development and Panchayati Raj secretary Srikant Baldi told PTI.

Shabir shah operated in GMC

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Srinagar, August 09: Jammu and Kashmir Democratic Freedom Party (JKDFP) chief Shabir Shah was operated at the Government Medical College (GMC) hospital here, hospital sources said.

Shah,who was admitted in the hospital a few days back, was operated in his left foot and later sent to a nursing home of the hospital for recovery last evening, they said.

He had some problem in the foot and was operated, they said, adding, his condition was fine but he will take some days to recover fully.

The sources said he was also given treatment for urinary problem.

Landslide kills 46 in Uttarakhand

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Uttarakhand, August 09: At least forty-six people were killed in a landslide triggered by heavy rains in Uttarakhand, police said on Sunday.

Three villages in the hilly Pithoragarh district were swept away in the landslide after a cloudburst on Saturday, local police official M.S. Sathnam said.

Seventeen bodies have so far been recovered, he said, with rescue efforts on Saturday by local emergency personnel and the Indo-Tibetan Border Police hampered by bad weather.

“It has stopped raining now, and rescue work is underway in full swing,” he said.

—-Agencies

Sania overcomes Fichman, enters Vancouver final

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Vacouver, August 09: India’s Sania Mirza came back strongly after dropping the first set to beat Canadian Sharon Fichman 6-7(6), 6-3, 6-2 and enter the women’s singles final at the Odium Brown Vancouver Open tennis championships here.

Top seed Sania’s title-clash will be with another Canadian, second-seeded Stephanie Dubois, who beat American Mashona Washington, also in three sets 6-2, 4-6, 6-3 Saturday.

CAG writes to Oil Ministry to access RIL books

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New Delhi, August 09: Unable to access RIL’s books for two years for auditing the government’s gas contract with the Mukesh Ambani-led firm, the country’s apex audit institution CAG has sought the Petroleum Ministry’s help in the matter.

The Comptroller and Auditor General has written to the ministry as it has not been able to access the accounts of RIL to conduct the audit of the government’s production-sharing contract with the company for Krishna-Godavari basin gas, a top official associated with the matter said.

Maruti zips past eighty-lakh-mark in 25 years

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New Delhi, August 09: Embarking on its journey 25 years ago with just over 800 units, country’s largest car maker, Maruti Suzuki India, has driven past the milestone of producing 80 lakh cars.

Since the rollout of the first ‘Maruti 800’ from its Gurgaon plant on December 14, 1983, the company has so far produced a total of 81,05,228 cars of its 14 s as on July 31 from its Gurgaon and Manesar in north India facilities.

Maruti 800 alone accounts for over 27 lakh units, of which more than 25 lakh units were sold in the domestic market and the rest exported.

Sukhbir to return as Deputy CM of Punjab tomorrow

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Chandigarh, August 09: A month after he stepped down, Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Singh Badal will return as Deputy Chief Minister of Punjab tomorrow following his election to the Assembly. 47-year-old Sukhbir, son of Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, was sworn in as Deputy Chief Minister in January, becoming the first father-son duo to hold the top two posts in a government, but had to resign due to his failure to get elected to Assembly within the stipulated six-month period.

Egyptian cell ‘planned Israeli envoy killing’

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Cairo, August 09: Egyptian police say they have foiled a plan by a terror cell to blow up Muslim and Christian holy sites and assassinate the Israeli envoy to Cairo.

Three terror suspects from the al-Zeitoun cell — which is allegedly linked to al-Qaeda — admitted to having plotted to kill the Israeli ambassador Shalom Cohen and then bomb the Israeli embassy in Cairo, Egyptian newspaper al-Masry al-Youm reported on Saturday.

The report added that the plot, which was meant to be executed last year, failed due to the tight security around Cohen’s home and the Israeli embassy.

SC notice to Moser Baer on alleged tax evasion

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New Delhi, August 09: The Supreme Court has issued a notice to Moser Baer India Ltd why it should not be asked to pay income tax to the tune of Rs 2,978 crore.

A bench headed by Justice S H Kapadia sought the reply from the manufacturer of computer-related products, including floppies and compact discs, on the income tax department’s plea alleging that the company had evaded tax in 2000-01.

The department said that the company was not entitled to deduction even though the value of export of CDs was less than 75 per cent of the total sales made during 2000-01.

–Agencies

Malaysia not breeding ground for terrorists: Deputy PM

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Kuala Lumpur, August 09: Malaysia should not be branded or perceived as a breeding ground for terrorists just because of the involvement of one or two people, Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin has said following the reported killing of Malaysia-born militant Noordin M. Top in Indonesia.

Hajjarian ‘to be freed from prison’

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Tehran, August 09: Amid government efforts to allay concern over the health of prominent reformist Saeed Hajjarian in prison, his doctor says he is seriously worried about his physical condition.

Iranian Prosecutor General, Qorban-Ali Dorri-Najafabadi, said Saturday that Hajjarian, who suffers from partial paralysis, will be soon released at the request of his personal physician.

China secrets agency says Rio spied for 6 years

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Beijing, August 09: China’s state secrets watchdog has accused mining multinational Rio Tinto of engaging in commercial spying for six years, saying in a report that data found on Rio computers showed the spying came at a huge loss to China.

Rio has said four employees detained in China, accused of espionage, did nothing unethical and has denied they bribed Chinese steel mills for information.