Lucknow, August 08: Six Bangladeshi nationals were today arrested by intelligence sleuths from Uttar Pradesh”s Saharanpur district for illegally entering the country, Home Department sources said. A team of local intelligence unit arrested six Bangladeshi nationals, who have entered the country without proper documents, from Gulal Chowk this afternoon, they said, adding all the accused hailed from Badar Bagh district of Bangladesh
—PTI–
Tezpur, August 08: Five armed NDFB militants today kidnapped a senior railway official from central Assam”s Sonitpur district, police said. Sanjay Lama (45), senior section officer of the Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) was kidnapped by the NDFB ultras from Rangapara area at around 12 noon, they said.
Lama was at work when the gunmen kidnapped him and took him to an undisclosed destination, police said, adding extortion could be the motive behind the crime. A massive hunt has been launched to rescue the railway official, they said.
—–PTI–
Islamabad, August 08: Former Pakistani foreign secretary Niaz Naik, who had been involved in back channel diplomacy with India, has been found dead in his house here, police said Saturday.
The police said they were informed that the lights in Naik’s house were on all night but there was no apparent movement there. The doors were then broken open and Naik’s body was found.
Naik had died three to four days ago, police said, adding an autopsy would reveal the cause of death.
New Delhi, August 08: A group of ministers (GoM) led by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee will look into the delay in the construction of the National War Memorial, an official said Saturday.
The proposal for the War Memorial has been in the pipeline for some years but the issue of its location has delayed its construction.
The GoM has been set up following instructions from the Prime Minister’s Office.
Dehradun, August 08: At least 15 people were killed and 50 missing Saturday in a landslide triggered by heavy rains in Uttarakhand, an official said.
The landslide occurred in Pithoragarh district, about 450 km from here.
“So far we have taken out 15 bodies from Bala village,” an Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) official told IANS.
The hilly region was lashed by downpour since Friday evening.
Rescue workers were searching 50 people missing in the landslide.
At least 46 families were affected by the tragedy, the official said.IANS
Karachi, August 08:Pakistan captain Younis Khan hoped that the success of youngsters Fawad Alam and Umar Akmal will keep the pressure on senior batsmen to perform well.
After his team’s 146-run triumph over Sri Lanka in Colombo Friday night, Younis said that it is very important for Pakistan to have talented rookies in the side because they are the ones who can force the more established players to give their best in order to keep their place in the squad.
New Delhi, August 08: President Pratibha Patil Saturday inaugurated the Armed Forces Tribunal, an exclusive court for nearly 2.5 million serving and retired defence personnel. The principal bench of the tribunal will start functioning Monday.
The tribunal will deal with nearly 9,000 cases filed by servicemen pending in various courts across the country.
Islamabad, August 08: Pakistan Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud, said to be responsible for the assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, was not killed in a US drone attack but is in hiding as part of a “strategy”, a spokesman for the group said today.
Speaking to an Arabic TV channel, Tahreek-e-Taliban spokesman Hakeemullah Mehsud, a close relative of the militant leader, said a videotape would soon be released to prove that Mehsud was alive.
Beijing, August 08: China marked the first anniversary of the Beijing Olympics today with its first national sports day that saw up to 34,000 people gather for the world’s largest martial arts exercise.
“We have established August 8 as National Fitness Day to fully embody… the government’s loving concern for the life and prosperity of the people,” Sports Minister Liu Peng said in an address outside the iconic Bird’s Nest national stadium.
“This is a vivid reflection of the legacy that the Beijing Olympics has left for the people, the society and our system.”
New Delhi, August 08:The annual conference of the Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI), the country’s largest travel trade body, to be held in Dubai this year, will showcase the key features of India’s medical tourism.
“We would showcase India at the 58th Indian Travel Congress (annual convention) in Dubai this year. This will give boost to India’s tourism, especially given the fact that not many tourists from the Middle East visit India,” TAAI president Rajinder Rai told reporters here Saturday.
Melbourne, August 08: Amid reports that scores of Indian students were among those duped in a massive education scam in Australia, India today said it will be “ruthless” with the rogue education agents who take gullible youths for a ride.
The Indian government will go after unscrupulous education agents in the country as part of its effort to control the student crisis, External Affairs Minister S M Krishna told a press conference here.
Bhubaneswar, August 08: A Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) team Saturday arrested two officers of the Indian Bureau of Mines on bribery charges in Orissa’s Angul district, officials said.
A CBI team from Bhubaneswar raided the guest house of Mahanadi Coalfield Ltd (MCL) at Talcher in Angul district and arrested two officers of the joint coal stock measurement team. The CBI team also seized Rs.4.23 lakh from the room.
“On specific information we raided the room in the guest house of Mahanadi Coalfields Ltd,” Deputy Superintendent of Police (CBI) P.K. Panigrahi said.
Mumbai, August 08: Expect the unexpected when it comes to Test cricket says Indian batting ace Sachin Tendulkar, who recalled how Wasim Akram peppered him with bouncers even as he expected yorkers in his maiden Test series in Pakistan.
Tendulkar was speaking here yesterday at the launch of a book ‘Shadows across the playing field, authored by India’s Minister of state for External Affiars Shashi Tharoor and former PCB Chairman and diplomat Shaharyar Khan .
Ahmedabad, August 08: An NRI couple, who arrived here from Atlanta in US, today tested positive for swine flu, state health officials said.
“The couple was admitted to the city civil hospital early this morning. They were tested for swine flu and the test results were positive,” Health Secretary Ravi Saxena said.
The couple had come from US on July 31 and developed symptoms of the disease from August 5, Saxena said adding that they initially went to a private hospital from where they were shifted to the civil hospital.
Bangalore, August 08: Hundreds of pro-Kannada activists have been detained in and around Bangalore after their plan to protest the unveiling of Tamil saint-poet Thiruvalluvar here Sunday.
Former legislator and Kannada Chaluvaligaru (Kannada protagonists) leader Vatal Nagaraj was arrested Saturday while late Friday Karnataka Rakshana Vedike (Karnataka protection forum) president T.A. Narayana Gowda was picked up along with hundreds of his supporters, police said.
Moscow, August 08: Indian and Russian scientists are close to final development and testing of the air-launched version of the BrahMos supersonic cruise missile.
A top Russian defence official said a new takeoff engine for launching of the missile in air and at extreme high altitudes had been developed.
Alexander Leonov, Director of the Russian Machine Building Research and Production Center, said: “we are ready for test launches.”
Kochi, August 08: Unable to come to terms with the demise of his wife, a heartbroken 79-year-old man died at her funeral while performing the last rites.
Following this, the couple were buried together in the same tomb.
Mathai was at the funeral of his wife Chinnamma (77) yesterday at nearby Tripunithura when he suddenly fell unconscious, family sources said adding he died on way to a hospital.
The family then decided to bury the couple in the same tomb.
–PTI
Mumbai, August 08: The International Cricket Council has warned about the potential downside of the inflow of huge amounts of money into cricket and said unregulated cash flow could harm the development of the game.
In his annual report for 2008-09, ICC’s Chief Executive Haroon Lorgat has said while the ICC welcomed innovation and enterprise in taking the game to new audiences, they must be done in a manner that benefited the game.
Mumbai, August 08: With ‘brain drain’ being a cause of concern for the country, former President A P J Abdul Kalam today said he believed that there was hardly any such phenomenon as the migration of the professionals was too low.
“I don’t believe in brain drain. India produces three million graduates every year. If 10 per cent of them leave the country, it is not brain drain,” Kalam said while interacting with students at St Xavier’s College here.
He asked the students to work for the country’s progress through their participation in developmetal politics.
Chandigarh, August 08: Bollywood actor Shahid Kapoor is upbeat about his soon-to-be-released film “Kaminey” opposite Priyanka Chopra but rues that it has been given “A” certification by the Film Censor Board.
Twenty-seven-year-old Shahid, who was in the city today to promote his film, said he was surprised why the film had been given the ‘Adult’ certification.
Port Blair, August 08: The North Korean cargo ship which illegally entered the country’s territorial waters had done so due to mechanical problems, its captain today claimed.
The captain said this during interrogations, according to sources in the Coast Guard (CG), which intercepted the sugar-laden ship near Little Andaman island, 200 nautical miles south of here.
The interrogation of the captain, whose name was not given out, and that of the ship’s 38 other crew was continuing here and more details are expected.
Jerusalem, August 08: The US ignored its close ally Israel’s request for its nod to attack Iran’s nuclear facilities during the peak of the opposition movement against Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s re-election.
Kuwaiti newspaper al-Jarida quoted a US diplomatic source based in Jerusalem as saying that after the opposition riots broke out in Iran following June’s Presidential Elections, Israel asked Obama administration to give green light to strike Tehran’s nuclear facilities and other vital installations, news portal Ynetnews reported.
Jakarta, August 08: India, Indonesia and Pakistan have become key fronts in Asia’s fight against HIV/AIDS, health experts said ahead of the International Congress on AIDS in Asia and the Pacific next week.
Delegates from 65 countries will gather on the Indonesian resort island of Bali from Sunday to Thursday to discuss strategy and “renew our commitment to fight the disease,” congress chairman Zubairi Djoerban said.
London, August 08: Novel marine microbes could open the way to more efficient and greener ways to manufacture new drugs for epilepsy, diabetes, flu and other viruses.
Micro-organisms account for more than 95 percent of ocean biomass but relatively little is known about them and their potential applications.
Researchers from Heriot-Watt University (HWU) and Plymouth Marine Lab (PML) in Britain along with Ingenza Ltd are looking for industrially relevant enzymes in marine microbes, which will reduce waste and increase productivity in the manufacture of drugs and agrochemicals.
New Delhi, August 08: After the success of “Slumdog Millionaire”, Indian films have gained worldwide appeal, says Hollywood script guru Chadwick Clough, who is set to popularise Indian themes in international movies by partnering with a scriptwriting workshop.