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SC says no to mercy petition

          New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday refused to entertain the petition challenging an order of the West Bengal Governor rejecting the mercy petition of Dhananjoy Chatterjee sentenced to death for rape and murder of a school girl in Kolkata in 1990. "In view of the fact that the President of India is seized of the matter under Article 72 of Constitution, we close the matter at this stage," a vacation bench of Justices K G Balakrishnan and P V Reddi, said.

Flood situation continues to be grim in Tripura (Go To Top)

          Agartala: Incessant rains have submerged large portions of low-lying areas in Tripura, throwing normal life out of gear. People have been shifted to temporary relief camps as heavy downpours continued to lash the state for the third day and showed no sign of abating. The deluge is considered to be the worst in the last five years. State authorities said they have opened more relief shelters in the worst-hit areas. "Total number of flood affected are over 300,000 people. There are 80,000 families affected. Relief we are giving as per the government norms," Kesabh Majumder, state minister for Relief and Rehabilitation, said. Landslides at three points on the National Highways, the life line of the state, have cut off Tripura from the rest of the country. In the absence of proper medical facilities, victims fear the outbreak of water, borne diseases. The state government has also sought military and paramilitary forces for rescue operations. The region's major rivers, Khowai and Howrah, are flowing above the danger mark making relief efforts difficult. Weather officials said the state has received 230.2 mm of rainfall since Tuesday.

British DPM Prescot meets Advani  (Go To Top)

          New Delhi: The British Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott met former Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani in the capital today. Prescott is here on a two-day visit mainly to further consolidate the new momentum in bilateral ties. After meeting Advani, Prescott said the two countries together played a major role in bringing about remarkable changes in the global scenario. "We did some remarkable things together in getting the climate changed another kind of important global problem which required a global solution. And together Britain and India played a major part in bringing that about," Prescott said. Prescott is carrying a message from British Premier Tony Blair for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh whom he will be meeting later in the day. "I am here of course on behalf of the British Prime Minister to see the new Prime Minister and to hopefully point out the importance of developing relationship that began with the last government," he added. The visit is part of a British Government initiative to work with the Indian Government to further enhance the strong relations between the two countries. Prescott hopes to have friendly and productive discussions covering a range of bilateral, regional and internatinal issues with the Prime Minister and senior leaders in the new Government. He also met External Affairs Minister K Natwar Singh. Prescott will interact with the Confederation of Indian Industry tomorrow.

New Pak PM in place of Jamali by month-end: Paper (Go To Top)

          Islamabad: It is most likely that Pakistan Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali will be unceremoniously removed from the post by the month end, before President Pervez Musharraf embarks on a 18-day foreign visit on July 3. According to The News, serious efforts are being made to complete the whole process, including the exit of Jamali and installation of a new man and a vote of confidence for him from the National Assembly, before Musharraf leaves for his trip to of Scandinavian nations. Quoting an official, it further claimed that the official plan is that the NA's budget session will be prorogued to be summoned in a couple of days again for election of the new prime minister and voting out Jamali in case he doesn't resign and give a vote of confidence to the new man. The country's Commerce Minister Humayun Akhtar would likely replace Jamali, said the report adding that the former remained tight-lipped throughout Thursday while feigning ignorance about what was going on behind the scenes to bring about a change of guard.

Bhupathi, Mirnyi in second round of men's doubles (Go To Top)

         London: Third seeded Mahesh Bhupathi and his partner Max Mirnyi of Belarus cruised into the men's doubles second round at Wimbledon with an easy straight set victory over Hicham Arazi and Joshua Eagle here. The Indo-Belarrusian pair won 6-3 6-4 against Morocco's Hicham and Australian Eagle in the first round last night. The duo will meet the winners of the match between Dutch duo Raemon Sluiter/Martin Verkerk and Spaniards Juan Ignacio Carrasco/Tommy Robredo in the second round.

Irfan all set to shift from mosque to a posh new home (Go To Top)

          Baroda: It can best be described as a real-life rags to riches story. India's star pace bowler Irfan Pathan is all set to move to a posh new home, from his present humble home inside a mosque, where his father works as a cleric, in Baroda of Gujarat. The 19-year-old cricketer made news when he took 12 wickets in three test matches in India's first test tour of Pakistan for over 14 years. Pathan owes it to sheer luck as he was tossed into the choppy waters of Test cricket against Australia at Adelaide after speedster Zaheer Khan pulled out with an injury. Since then, the left-arm seamer from Baroda has made rapid strides and within a few months, has cemented his place as a strike bowler. Pathan's family who would soon be shifting to their new home, said they owed it to God and Irfan's hard work for transforming their fortunes. "It is due to God's grace and my brother's hardwork. We liked this place, and I am sure we will like our new house too. He should continue to play well," said Shagufta, Pathan's sister. Star-struck neighbours were buoyant at having Pathan as their new neighbour. "We were very happy when we heard that star cricketer like Irfan Pathan was going to be our neighbour. He is a very modest person. They are very sober people," said Mohammed Shafique Shaikh. Pathan joins a young league of cricketers, - Virender Sehwag, Zaheer Khan and Ashish Nehra, who have risen from humble families to make a career in the most money spinning sports in India.