Roadside bomb kills 5 Afghan cops

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Kabul, August 07: Officials say roadside bombs in southern Afghanistan have killed five policemen and an Afghan guard.

Local police official Abdul Jabar says a roadside bomb late Thursday in Kandahar’s Arghandab district killed five policemen.

Another blast early Friday in the same province killed a private security guard escorting a convoy ferrying supplies for foreign troops.

Niaz Mohammad Sarhadi, the chief of the district where the blast happened, says four other guards were wounded.

Ganesh puja organisers given security lessons

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Hyderabad, August 07: The city police have asked the organisers of Ganesh pandals to be alert during the festival days to thwart any possible attempts of terror strikes.On its part, the police would be conducting checks at all the Ganesh making units in the city and every idol would be checked for possible explosives being planted while making.

Buddha Garden rape case verdict deferred

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New Delhi, August 07: A city court Friday deferred the verdict in the sensational Buddha Jayanti Park gang rape case of 2003, in which four members of the President’s Bodyguard are the accused, to Aug 13.

On July 31, Additional Sessions Judge S.K. Sarvaria had deferred the verdict till Aug 7.

According to the prosecution, the victim had gone with her friend Ashish to the park near the Rashtrapati Bhavan Oct 6, 2003 and was raped by Harpreet and Satendra while Kuldeep and Manish kept guard.

We decided to kill Birendra but spare Gyanendra, says massacre ‘plotter’

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Kathmandu, August 07: In an incredible turn of events eight years after the stunning massacre of Nepal’s King Birendra and his entire family, a 59-year-old Nepali has surfaced in the capital, claiming to have plotted the assassination in a bid to save the nation.

Tul Prasad Sherchan, who claims to have been groomed from the age of five years to head the covert operations of Nepal’s Royal Bureau of Intelligence – akin to American agency CIA and India’s RAW, created a sensation Wednesday when he walked into Nepal’s best known media club and said he had planned the killings in 1975.

Australian court hears landmark right-to-die case

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Perth, August 07: An Australian court on Friday heard an unprecedented case brought by a nursing home seeking advice on whether it can stop feeding a paralysed man who has begged to be allowed to die.

Christian Rossiter, 49, developed spastic quadriplegia after separate accidents in which he fell 30 metres (100 feet) from a building and was then hit by a car whilst riding his bicycle.

Senior Andhra cop’s family to be quizzed on constable’s death

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Bhopal, August 07: A police team from Madhya Pradesh will leave for New Delhi Saturday to quiz the family members of Andhra Pradesh anti-terror unit chief Vivek Dubey in connection with the mysterious death of a constable of the southern state’s armed reserve, official sources here said Friday.

Muralinath, 42, was found dead by the roadside in Jaitpur village in Bhind district of Madhya Pradesh July 30.

Expedite GO to curb fee hikes, demand parents

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Hyderabad. August 07: Demanding the immediate release of the much awaited Government Order from the Fee Regulatory Advisory Committee, a sub-set of the Hyderabad School Parents Association (HSPA), dubbed the Parents Association Consultation Committee (PACC) staged a dharna at Indira Park on Thursday. Reckoned by Parents Associations across the Twin Cities to be a manna from heaven at a time when many private schools have increased fees, the Government Order had reportedly been scheduled to be released beginning this week.

Congress talking about poor, working for the rich: SP

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New Delhi, August 07: Samajwadi Party on Friday demanded inclusion of 16 castes in Uttar Pradesh in the Scheduled Castes list, castigating the Congress for “talking about poor but working for the rich”.

Raising the matter in Lok Sabha during Question Hour, SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav said his erstwhile government in the state had sent a proposal to this effect in 2005 which had been rejected by the Centre then.

He said facilities given to these castes through reservation at the state level were withdrawn when the Centre rejected the proposal.

Show sensitivity to LGBTs: Chandravadan

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Hyderabad, August 07: AP State AIDS Control Society Project Director, R V Chandravadan made a strong plea for a more balanced portrayal of LGBTs (Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals and Transgendered) by the media and public relations Agencies.

He was making the comments as part of his keynote speech at the National Public Relations Education Day.

The theme was Public Relations Education — a Prerequisite for Excellence in Professional Practice.

Chiru’s Mrugaraju inspired tiger-feeding stunt

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Hyderabad, August 07: It was not just alcohol which influenced 25-year-old M Ramesh to offer a stock of grass to the ferocious white Tiger in Nehru Zoological Park on Wednesday.

It was a film. Megastar Chiranjeevi’s Mrugaraju is the one which inspired him to feed the beast.

“I am from Mogalturu, the native place of Chiranjeevi,” he says with a sense of pride while groaning in pain on the bed, in the Osmania General Hospital.

Men may not beat bigamy laws

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Remember Chandra Mohan, the then Deputy Chief Minister of Haryana. He is the son of Bhajan Lal, a big gun in Congress political circles who had disowned his son because he had converted to Islam to marry another woman while his first wife was still alive. Chandra Mohan’s lady love was none other than a former legal luminary of Chandigarh, now named Fiza. The case of conversion to beat the bigamy law created a furore in both social and legal circles. Chandra Mohan, who had renamed himself Chand Mohammed soon had a change of heart and re-embraced the Hindu Dharma and reverted to his Hindu.

I’m Not Just Fighting for Muslims

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Mumbai, August 07: It’s a case of “Chinese whispers,” says Bollywood actor Emraan Hashmi, now that the hype and hoopla surrounding his controversial search for a home is over.

“I wanted to draw attention to discrimination in general, but what ultimately came out of my quotes and interviews was that Muslims in the city are being wronged,” says the star, who recently alleged that he wasn’t sold a home in Mumbai’s upmarket Pali Hill neighbourhood, because he is Muslim.

‘Militants’ planning attacks in Delhi arrested: report

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New Delhi, August 07: Indian police have arrested two suspected members of the outlawed Hizbul Mujahideen militant group who were allegedly planning attacks in the capital New Delhi, a report said Friday.

The suspects, identified as Javed Ahmed and Ashiq Ali, were taken into custody in New Delhi on Thursday night, the Press Trust of India reported.

The arrests came amid tightened security ahead of India’s Independence Day celebrations on August 15.

He did it again; Rahul’s yet another night out in Dalit village

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Amethi, August 07: Congress General Secretary and local MP Rahul Gandhi again spent a night with the Dalits here last night and lent an ear to their problems during a village chaupal.

Mr Gandhi reached Dalit-dominated Kansapur village in Sangrampur block, about 20 kilometre from Munsiganj at around 2230 hrs last night and stayed in the village till 0300 hrs this morning.

About 300 people of the village, mostly Dalit women, gathered at the doorstep of one poor farmer Awadhesh Srivastava, where Rahul heard the people one by one by sitting on a cot.

Barak hints at another war with Lebanon

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jerusalem, August 07: The Israeli Defense Minister has hinted at Tel Aviv’s intentions for lunching another offensive against Lebanon saying the war would be more devastating than the one in 2006.

“We cannot accept that a neighboring UN member state should have in its government representatives of a militia that has more than 40,000 rockets,” Ehud Barak said Thursday referring to Lebanon’s Hezbollah resistance movement.

Civilian killed in crossfire in Reasi

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Srinagar, August 07: A civilian was killed in a crossfire between security forces and militants during an encounter in Mahore area of Reasi district last night, sources here today said.

”A civilian, identified as Qasim Gujjar, son of Aliya Gujjar of Thuroo Arnas was killed in the crossfire between militants and security forces in remote village Deed Mangli last night,” sources told UNI.

However, the militants engaged in the encounter managed to escape after a half-an-hour long gunbattle but a civilian was killed, sources added.

Delhi has paid over Rs.200 crore for Himachal dam: Dhumal

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Shimla, August 07: The Delhi government has provided Rs.214.83 crore to Himachal Pradesh for a hydroelectric project that will provide drinking water to the national capital, Himachal Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal has said.

“The Delhi government has deposited Rs.214.83 crore with Himachal Pradesh for the construction of the Renuka Dam (in Sirmaur district), that will provide drinking water to Delhi,” Dhumal told the state assembly on Thursday.

US deficit climbs to $1.3 trillion

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Washington, August 07: The US budget deficit reached USD 1.3 trillion for the current fiscal year in July, official data showed, news set to fuel opposition to US President Barack Obama’s ambitious health care and climate change proposals.

The deficit for the first 10 months of fiscal year 2009, which began October 1, reached USD 1.3 trillion, close to 880 billion dollars greater than the deficit recorded through July 2008, said the US Congressional Budget Office (CBO).

US reopens H-2B visa prog for foreign workers

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Washington, August 07: The US has resumed accepting applications for the H-2B foreign temporary worker visa after receiving far fewer petitions from US employers than anticipated.

The congressionally mandated annual cap for H-2B visas sought by semi-skilled Indian workers is 66,000, and the government has issued only 40,640 this fiscal year, which ends September 30.

Pro-Chavez activist charged for TV attack

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Caracas, August 07: A Venezuelan court accused a radical supporter of President Hugo Chavez on Thursday of assault and illegal use of a firearm — accusations stemming from an attack against an opposition-sided television channel.

The court upheld seven criminal charges against Lina Ron, the leader of a leftist political party, for her role in this week’s attack on the Globovision TV channel’s studios. The court ruled that Ron must remain in custody while she awaits trial.

Japan Airlines books $1 billion loss in Q1

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Tokyo, August 07: Japan Airlines Corp. said Friday it posted a USD 1 billion loss in the April-May quarter, larger than its loss for all of last year, as ticket sales suffered due to the weak economy and swine flu fears.

Asia’s biggest airline said its net loss was 99 billion yen (USD 1 billion), versus a 3.4 billion yen loss a year earlier. Sales fell 32 percent to 334.9 billion yen from billion yen.

Canada rejects NATO call to Afghan stay past 2011

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Ottawa, August 07: Foreign Minister Lawrence Cannon has reaffirmed Canada’s 2011 exit from Afghanistan despite reported pleas from NATO’s chief for an extension of Canada’s deployment in the war-torn country.

“Our government is abiding by the motion passed in Parliament in 2008 — that is that our combat forces will leave by 2011,” Cannon said.

Earlier, NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen remarked while visiting a Canadian development project in Kandahar, in southern Afghanistan, that he would like to see Canada stay beyond 2011.

Easily distracted? You could have low memory capacity

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Washington, August 07: ‘That blasted siren. I can’t focus.’ That reaction to an undesired distraction may signal a person’s low working-memory capacity, according to a new study.

Based on a study of 84 students divided into four separate experiments, University of Oregon (UO) researchers found that students with high memory storage capacity were clearly better able to ignore distractions and stay focussed on their assigned tasks.

US Air Force sets up new command for nuclear forces

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Washington, August 07: The US Air Force on Friday launches a new Global Strike Command responsible for nuclear forces after two major mishaps raised doubts about the supervision of the country’s atomic weapons.

The opening of the command marks a shake-up that followed the botched handling of nuclear weapons and the subsequent sacking of the air force’s top civilian and military leaders last year.

Lankan govt, rebels confirm new LTTE leader’s arrest

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Colombo, August 07: Tamil Tiger rebels have acknowledged their new leader has been arrested in Malaysia and handed over to the Sri Lankan military.

Notably, there is a contradiction regarding the place of LTTE chief’s arrest. According to rebels, Selvarasa Pathmanathan was arrested in Malaysia, but Sri Lanka’s Defence Minister Gotabhaya Rajapaksa had earlier claimed that the Tiger rebel was detained in Thailand.

In a statement, LTTE says that Selvarasa Pathmanathan was captured near a hotel on Wednesday by the Malaysian Royal Intelligence Corps.