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India seeks Nepal's help to nab Dawood

          New Delhi/Kathmandu: The Indian government today said that it had approached Nepal to supply it with details of a Kathmandu-based multi-media company said to be operated by mafia don Dawood Ibrahim. The paper said that India had requested Nepal to enquire into the ownership and financing of Space Time Network. "As you know we have an going cooperation with Nepal on issues relating to terrorism. And as part of this interaction, we share with Nepal information available about individuals or organizations, which are engaged in acts of terrorism. You all know Dawood Ibrahim is on the list circulated by the U.N.," External Affairs Ministry spokesman Navtej Sarna told reporters in New Delhi.

India to send experts to assess flood threat from Tibet (Go To Top)

         New Delhi: The Indian government today said that it would send a team of experts to Tibet to assess a possible flood threat posed by a swollen artificial lake there. "I understand that a four-member team has been constituted and it will inspect the landslide area and artificial lake (in Tibet) as soon as possible. We are awaiting the clearance from the Chinese side. And the timing of the visit would ultimately depend on the physical conditions prevailing in the concerned parts of Tibet," External Affairs Ministry spokesman Navtej Sarna told reporters here. The lake's size has been reported to be increasing by the hour and there is a possibility that its waters could swamp the 1500 MW Nathpa Jhakri hydroelectric project in neighboring Himachal Pradesh. Built at a cost of 1.95 billion dollars, the Nathpa Jhakri project on the River Sutlej is said to be one of the most advanced in India. The project houses one of the largest underground desilting complexes as well as one of the deepest surge shafts in the world.

EPF interest rate to be 8.5 per cent for current fiscal (Go To Top)

         New Delhi: The Employees Provident Fund Organisation today decided on an interim interest rate of 8.5 per cent for the current financial year for over 3 crore subscribers. Announcing the decisions taken at the Central Board of Trustees, its chairman and Union Labour Minister Sis Ram Ola said the there was a broad consensus on the rate, which would come down from 9.5 per cent now to 8.5 per cent.

SC gives CBI three months to complete probe into Telgi scam (Go To Top)

          New Delhi: The Supreme Court today asked the CBI to expedite its inquiry into the Telgi stamp paper scam and complete its investigations within three more months. The tow-judge bench order was passed five months after the probe into Rs 30,000 crore scam was handed over to the agency. It was passed by Mr.Justices S B Sinha and S H Kapadia before whom the CBI filed a status report detailing the investigation done so far by the agency.

Protests in Manipur intensify (Go To Top)

          Imphal: The protests in Manipur against the brutal murder a 32-year old woman, Manorama Devi, are getting intense. The protestors are threatening to block traffic and are forcing all government offices to close from today. They are demanding that the Armed Forces Special Powers Act, which according to them is being misused by the state, should be repealed. On Sunday, some well-known artists and national award winners also joined the protests. The police had to open fire on the protesters with rubber bullets, following which over 15 people got injured.

SC objects to delay of public prosecutor in Best Bakery case (Go To Top)

          New Delhi: The Supreme Court today objected to any delay in appointment of a public prosecutor in the Best Bakery trial and asked the Gujarat government to report within a week the steps taken by it to apprehend the accused in the case. The Supreme Court's observations came even as the trial will be heard in a Mumbai sessions court today.

9 people killed, several injured in two Karachi explosions (Go To Top)

          Karachi: Karachi was rocked again on Sunday evening by two separate bomb blasts in which, at least nine people were reported killed and dozens injured. The blasts took place at a restaurant close to a madrassa in the west of the city. The explosions came a day after two people were killed by a car bomb blast near a car rental agency, but it was not known whether these three incidents were connected. "There was an explosion in a restaurant close to Jamia Binoria seminary which was followed by another big blast caused by a bomb fitted in a motorbike parked outside the restaurant," senior Karachi police official Fayyaz Leghari was quoted by The Nation as saying. So far, there has been no claim of responsibility for the attack. Informed sources said that the school has had problems with sectarian violence in the past. In May, assailants shot dead its leader, Mufti Nizamuddin Shamzai - a prominent supporter of Afghanistan's former Taleban regime - in a drive-by attack.

Rapist Dhananjoy refuses to take food, falls sick (Go To Top)

          Kolkata: After having lost all hope of avoiding the gallows, Dhananjoy Chatterjee, who has been held guilty of raping and then murdering a girl in 1989, has refused to take food and has stopped talking to other jail inmates. After starving himself for two days, he is said to have fallen sick with complaints of low blood pressure. He has also vomitted several times over the past couple of days. The jail doctor has advised medication for him, but Chatterjee has refused to take any medicine or consult any doctor. He was even administered saline and is now reported to be recuperating. As per the law, Chatterjee can't be executed until he is physically fit. He was first sentenced to death by a trial court in 1991, but has managed to evade the gallows for more than 14 years. Recently, the Supreme Court held him guilty of rape and upheld the lower courts' order for execution. Thereafter, Dhananjoy's family sent a petition for mercy to President APJ Abdul Kalam, which he turned down. Now, his family has decided to move the SC once again to get the punishment commuted to a life sentence on the grounds that he has been awaiting execution for 10 years.