Cold wave toll 110 in northern India

    New Delhi: The cold wave death toll in northern India has touched 110 and the temperatures continue to remain below normal in most parts of the region. Nine more deaths have been reported in Uttar Pradesh, taking the deaths in the State to 92. In Punjab, one person has died in Bhatinda district. The foggy conditions across the northern region of the country have reduced visibility and disrupted all forms of traffic. A few roads accidents due to fog were also reported from Batala in Punjab. In Ludhiana, temperature was dropped by seven degrees as thick fog enveloped the state and curtailed runway visibility which disrupted flight schedules. Several trains, bound for Kalka, Amritsar and Jammu also ran several hours late. The deaths were result of intense cold that has gripped the northern part of the country for last few weeks. In Uttar Pradesh, the minimum temperature was recorded at minus three degrees Celsius in Agra. However, in Amritsar it was recorded at 0.7 degrees Celsius, in Bathinda it was recorded to 1.2 degrees Celsius and 0.5 degrees Celsius was recorded from Pathankot.

Porn racket busted in Mumbai (Go To Top)

    Mumbai: In a sting operation, the Mumbai Police on Friday night busted a huge pornography racket running at the posh Indraprastha shopping centre in Borivali here. Twenty-nine persons have been arrested in the scam for selling pornographic Multimedia Message Service (MMS) clips. Police sources said they caught the accused when they went posing as decoy customers to five shops at the shopping mall. Deputy Commissioner of Police, Mumbai, Dattatray Karale said: "We had information. We sent dummy customers and then caught them red-handed". The raid lasted for three hour and was conducted on a tip-off from a copyright company. The Police asked the shopkeepers whether they had sleazy mobile clips. The salesmen offered them various packages and even gave them an exchange offer for the chips.

Court order to arrest Mamta Banerjee (Go To Top)

     Barasat (West Bengal): The District Court today directed the Kolkata Police to arrest Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee and some others by February 27 in connection with a case of violence in February 1994. Acting on a report by Deputy Commissioner of Kolkata Police expressing his inability to arrest Mamta, the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Barasat, Siddharta Roy Chowdhury directed that the arrest warrant be forwarded to the Kolkata police again for execution. The case against her relates to the death of a man in police firing on February 22, 1994 at Barasat on a law-violation programme of Youth Congress led by Banerjee. Mamta and her associates had allegedly resorted to ransacking of the district magistrate's office and other violent activities on that day, but in the past 12 years, the case was in cold storage.

Students strike paralyses normal life in Manipur (Go To Top)
by Neeraj Kumar

    Imphal: Normal life in Manipur came to a standstill on Saturday following a 24- hour shutdown call given by various student organisations to protest the killing of a senior police officer and his escort commander earlier this week by insurgents in the Oinam Bazar of Bishenpur District. Inspector General of Police (Intelligence) T Thangthuam and his escort commander S. Khamjam Paite were killed by banned People's Liberation Army (PLA) at Oinam bazaar on December 31. Markets, educational institutions, shops, business establishments observed a complete closure while all private vehicles stayed off the roads across the State. The Kuki Students Organisation, Zomi Students' Federation, Hmar Students' Association and Zillai, along with supports from All Tribal Students' Union, Manipur and All Naga Students' Association of Manipur also showed their solidarity in support of the strike called by Paite Students' Association, Kuki Students' Organisation and Vaiphei Students' Organisation.

SC panel against entry of French ship to India  (Go To Top)

   Chennai: The Supreme Court Monitoring Committee recommended on Saturday that the French aircraft carrier bound for Indian ship-breaking yard not be allowed to enter the country because of worries of toxic waste. The Monitoring Committee on Hazardous Wastes, which reports to the Supreme Court and makes recommendations on action to be taken, said it was worried about the Clemenceau. The Clemenceau set sail from France in December for the massive Alang ship-breaking yard in Gujarat. The French Defence Ministry said the Clemenceau was still in the Mediterranean and would take two months to reach India.

Third IISER to be set up at Chandigarh  (Go To Top)

    New Delhi: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday approved the setting up of the third Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) in the country. Following the earlier announcement of setting up two such institutes in Pune and Kolkata, Dr Singh today gave the go-ahead for another IISER which would be set up near Chandigarh in Punjab. The decision was taken in the wake of United Progressive Alliance government's initiative for furthering science education in the country. The UPA coalition had earlier announced that while Indians were already making their mark in the scientific domain all over the world, it was necessary to further strengthen this thrust. One of the concrete steps taken in this regard by the government has been the decision to set up IISER. All three IISER will integrate under-graduate education, post-graduate education and research under the same umbrella.

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