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Parliament attack accused Geelani released New Delhi, Oct 30: Delhi University lecturer Syed Abdul Rehman Geelani, who was acquitted on Wednesday in the December 13, 2001 Parliament attack case, was released from New Delhi's Tihar jail on Thursday. The Delhi High Court acquitted Geelani and Navjot Sandhu in the case by absolving them of all charges. The court's decision has been hailed by people in his hometown Baramullah, in Kashmir, as an example of the fairness of the Indian judicial system. His friends and former colleagues at Delhi University have also welcomed the court order. After being charged with waging war against the country, Geelani had been suspended from his job as a lecturer in Arabic Studies at Delhi's Zakir Hussain College. Maoists gun down three Chhattisgarh cops Raipur, Oct 30: Maoist rebels in Chhattisgarh blew up a security post late on Wednesday killing three policeman and seriously injuring another. The incident took place at around 10:00 p.m. (local time) in Narayanpur, 200 km from state capital Raipur. The injured policemen, of the paramilitary Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), have been admitted to a local hospital. CRPF Assistant Commandant, R.S Ramnivas, said: "The Naxalites triggered a landmine in which three of our men were killed." Police are tracking the rebels, who are believed to belong to the outlawed Maoist Communist Centre (MCC). MCC is one of the many Maoist rebel groups that make up the naxalite movement, which started in India in the 1960s among groups which split from the main communist party. The movement which initially started off as a peasant rebellion against an out-dated land-distribution system, is named after the town of Naxalbari in West Bengal where it was launched. The Maoists are waging an armed struggle against the Indian government for radical redistribution of land from the rich to poor farmers. Prince Charles meets Sonia (Go To Top) New Delhi, Oct 30: Britain's Prince Charles on the second day of a visit to India on Thursday met the main opposition Congress leader Sonia Gandhi. Charles's nine-day tour to the former British colony has been clouded by a controversial new book on Princess Diana, written by Diana's former butler, Paul Burrell. But the Prince of Wales seemed to leave the dispute behind as he rushed from one engagement to another on a trip that focuses on the environment, heritage restoration, two-way ties and helping young business people. Charles also visited monuments and a shelter for homeless women. Charles's tour will take him to the desert cities of Jaipur and Jodhpur before ending in Mumbai where he will sound the clapperboard for the start of shooting of a Bollywood film about the first major Indian revolt against British rule in 1857. Candidates must show campaign expenses every three days: EC (Go To Top) New Delhi, Oct 30: The Election Commission has said that candidates contesting this year's Assembly polls must show the accounts of poll expenditure to the observers or returning officers once every three days. The Commission said that these accounts would be publicly displayed on the notice board of the returning office. This was disclosed after a meeting of about 500 observers here on Thursday. Earlier, addressing the observers, Chief Election Commissioner J.M. Lyngdoh said they should be firm and should perform their duties fearlessly. Lyngdoh, who recently said the Commission was receiving a large number of poll-related complaints from Mizoram, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Delhi going to polls in November and December, said that the observers should keep their "eyes and ears open" and enforce the model code more strictly. As many as 164 observers would be engaged in Madhya Pradesh, followed by 131 in Rajasthan, 62 in Chhattisgarh, 36 in Delhi and 28 in Mizoram. Pakistan's pro-democracy leader arrested (Go To Top) Islamabad, Oct 30: Pakistan's pro-democracy leader Javed Hashmi has been arrested on charges of abetting mutiny. Sources said the Alliance for Restoration of Democracy (ARD) president was picked up at about 12:30 am in a raid conducted by the Islamabad police. During the raid, sources said, commandos and personnel of the Elite Force surrounded the Parliament Lodges and took away Hashmi to the secretariat police station, reports Dawn. PML-N's information secretary Siddiqul Farooq, in a press statement, however maintained that Hashmi was arrested by the ISI. Fernandes heads new political party (Go To Top) New Delhi, Oct 30: Defence Minister George Fernandes has been named as the president of a newly formed political party. Leaders of two regional parties of Bihar, Samata Party and the Janata Dal-United (JD-U), announced their merger into a new Janata Dal (People's Party) earlier this week. Both parties are coalition partners in the federal ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) led by Bharatiya Janata Party. The merger comes a few weeks before five states go to the polls. Reports also said that the new front would help the NDA to counter the polarisation of the political forces against the BJP which leads the coalition. The Samata and JD(U) fought the 1999 Lok Sabha elections on one symbol of the JD(U) and won 22 seats in the Lok Sabha. But soon 12 lawmakers broke away to form the Samata Party. Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgarh, Delhi and Rajasthan will go to poll on December 1 and elections in Mizoram will be held on November 20. Pak should redouble efforts to stop Kashmir
infiltration: Rocca (Go
To Top) Washington, Oct 30: Christina Rocca, US Assistant Secretary of State for South Asian Affairs, has said Washington wants Pakistan to "redouble" its efforts to curb infiltration into Indian Kashmir. "We look to Pakistan to do everything in its power to prevent extremist groups operating from its soil from crossing the line of control. The government has taken many steps to curb infiltration, but we are asking it to redouble its efforts," Rocca said during a hearing on the challenge of terrorism in Asia and the Pacific held by two panels of the U.S. House of Representatives International Relations Committee in Washington. Rocca's comments on Wednesday came on the day on which Pakistan welcomed Indian proposals to revive the flagging peace process between the nuclear rivals, but in the same breath urged New Delhi to drop its opposition to talks on the core Kashmir dispute. While broadly agreeing to India's bunch of peace proposals made last week, Islamabad refused to budge from its stand on settling the issue of Kashmir, over which the foes have fought two of their three wars. India says dialogue is not possible until "cross-border terrorism" in Kashmir, which it says Pakistan actively supports, is brought to an end. Islamabad rejects the charge, and counters that India's repression in its only Muslim-majority state is the cause of a 14-year insurgency that has killed tens of thousands of people. Chopper crashes in Lakshadweep, one killed (Go To Top) Mumbai, Oct 30: One passenger was killed after a Dauphin helicopter crashed into the sea about two miles short of a Lakshadweep island on Thursday. Reports reaching here said that the crash took place off the island of Agatti. Four people, including two crew members, survived the mishap. The passenger, an accounts officer with the Lakshadweep administration, died in the hospital, airport officials said here. The chopper had taken off from Kalmat and had picked up the three passengers at Bangaram and was on its way to Agatti when it fell into the sea. Ratan Tata is 'Entrepreneur of the Year 2003' (Go To Top) New Delhi, Oct 30: Tata Sons Chairman Ratan N Tata has been awarded the 'Entrepreneur of the Year 2003' by Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani. The award was bestowed on Tata by global consultancy firm Ernest and Young for achieving a makeover of "far reaching dimensions". "From a relatively unwieldy conglomerate, Tata has now changed the complexion of the group to make nimble-footed and cohesive," Ernest and Young said in recognition of the Chairman of the Tata group of companies. Tata will now represent India at the E&Y World Entrepreneur of the Year Award scheduled to be held in June next year in Monte Carlo, Monaco. Mittal Group purchases Romanian steel firms (Go To Top) London, Oct 30: The LNM Group, the world's second largest steel producer, has signed an agreement with the Romanian Privatisation Authority to purchase Siderurgica Hunedoara and Petrotub Roman. The total value of the deal is approximately 155 million dollars, and includes equity payments and investments worth 65 million dollars, assumption of commercial liabilities of 60 million dollars and other debts of 30 million dollars. Rousing welcome for India U-19 team in Pak (Go To Top) Karachi, Oct.30: Cricket ties between Pakistan and India are set for a long-awaited revival with the arrival of India under-19 team here on Thursday to participate in the Videocon Asian Under-19 Championship. The 17-member Indian team comprising 14 players and three officials flew in here from Dubai; stopped over at the Quaid-e- Azam International Airport for a while, before boarding a flight for Lahore in the afternoon, the News reported. Much to its surprise, the team was given a rousing reception, and their coach Robin Singh said that this tour coming after six years would help ease existing tensions between the two countries. The quadrangular Asian U-19 tournament, involving India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and hosts Pakistan, will be played from October 31 to November 6 at Lahore and Karachi. However, India will play all their matches in Lahore. Sindh Minister for education Irfanullah Marwat received the team along with President Sindh Cricket Association (SCA) Haseeb Ahsan, Senior Vice President Aslam Sanjrani and Manager National Stadium Karachi (NSK) Razaullah Khan. The tourists were presented with Sindh's traditional ajraks and caps. The team: A T Rayudu (capt), Robin Utappa, Shivkant Shukla, Sahil Kukreja, Sunny Singh, Avinash Yadav, V R V Singh, Suresh Raina, Rakesh Solanki, Raiphi Gomez, Dinesh Karthik (vice-captian and wicketkeeper), Irfan Pathan, Piyush Chawla and Saurav Sarkar. Coach: Robin Singh. Physio: Kinjal Suratwala. Sania Mirza wins gold (Go To Top) Hyderabad, Oct 30: Indian tennis sensation Sania Mirza won the gold in women's singles event at the ongoing Afro-Asian Games here on Thursday. He win gave India the third gold medal in tennis, even as the total gold tally went up to nine. Sania defeated her country-mate Rushmi Chakravarty 7-6, 6-3 at the tennis complex at Fateh Maidan. "I am very happy to register this win at the first Afro-Asian Games and before my parents and home crowd," said a beaming Sania after defeating Rushmi, who had to satisfy with silver. Sania had stormed into the final by defeating Czarina Arevalo of the Philippines on Wednesday. She faced some resistance from Rushmi in the first set, but then played some sizzling cross court shots to win the second straight set. After Sania's gold medal, the hosts India now share the third position on medals tally with Japan. China continues to be on top with 17 gold while South Africa is at number two with 12 gold medals. Sania, the country's first Wimbledon Girls Doubles Champion, had earlier this month defeated Rushmi in the final to win ITF title at Jakarta. India win gold, silver in AAG men's doubles tennis (Go To Top) Hyderabad, Oct 30: India predictably won gold and silver medals in the Afro-Asian Games men's doubles tennis event on Thursday. Mahesh Bhupathi and Rohan Bopanna defeated Sunil Sipayea and Vinod Sridhar to clinch the title. The score at the end of the match read 6-4 3-6 6-3. Ponting tops Ceat cricket ratings (Go To Top) Mumbai, Oct 30: Australian cricket captain Ricky Ponting who led his country to 2003 World Cup win has bagged the International Cricketer of the Year award constituted by India's Ceat Cricket Rating (CCR). CCR also rated Ponting as the batsman of the year 2002-2003 and his side as the "team of the year." The ratings were announced by the Ceat International in Mumbai on Wednesday. Cricket's all-time greats Sunil Gavaskar, Clive LLoyd and Ian Chappel were the adjudicators in the selection panel. Batting maestro Sachin Tendulkar was honoured with the title "Cricketer of World Cup 2003". Other Indian cricketers who got top ratings include Harbhajan Singh, Virender Sehwag, Yuvraj Singh and Mohammad Kaif. Chappel said India's rich talent has not been moulded into a champion team like the Aussies. "As far as India is concerned they have got a lot of very good individual players, probably haven't put it all together as well as a team as Australia have done," the former Aussie skipper said. Former Indian Test cricketer Vijay Hazare was selected for the lifetime achievement award. The CCR is computed on the basis of performance in both the shorter and longer versions of the game.
London, Oct 30: Having been stopped from stalking singer Britney Spears, Masahiko Shizawa, a Japanese fan, has now trained his ire on the city of Los Angeles, accusing its officials of causing him "emotional distress." Offended at a search of his hotel room last year, Shizawa, 43, has sued the city for robbing him of his dignity, says a report in People News. The Japanese businessman has filed a two million dollar lawsuit. "Loss of human dignity" is the reason behind the lawsuit, and nothing whatsoever to do with Britney Spears, claims Shizawa, who was issued a restraining order earlier this month after he was accused of being "abnormally obsessed and fixated with" Spears. Dismissing threatening notes and various other inconsequential stalking-type bits of evidence against him, Shizawa now appears to be circumventing the legal process by making sure that he remains in the news, a media stalker if you will. 'Bling' star Nelly robbed off his jewels! (Go To Top) London, Oct 30: Rap star Nelly's jewellery worth a princely amount of 700,000 dollars was stolen from his Las Vegas hotel suite. The Bling star was on stage attending a music awards ceremony when a thief broke into his room at the Aladdin Casino resort and stole the expensive jewellery. According to Sun, the thief also managed to get into Grammy winner Michelle Branch's room, and got away with credit cards, a laptop and 3,000 dollars. Sting credits career to mom's extra-marital fling with milkman (Go To Top) Washington, Oct 30: The new autobiography of Sting bares it all, charting the course of his musical career. According to Teen Hollywood, Sting admits that he was deeply disturbed seeing his mother having sex with the milkman. This incident, he says, left an indelible impression on his mind and he took refuge in piano lessons to block out the memory. "As I turn the handle on the door, there is a sudden panic on the other side of the glass. I manage to open the door only a crack before it is violently shut again. I have seen nothing, but I run and behind me I hear the front door slam. My mother doesn't find me when she comes up to my room," Sting pens down in his tale. The former 'Police' member admits that he would have become a delinquent without the piano as an outlet for releasing his pent up emotions. However, Sting remains clueless about whether his late father, who was incidentally the milkman's boss, had any inkling about the affair. The milkman was fired shortly after the rocker found him making love to his mum. 'Jude led me to depression', says Sadie Frost (Go To Top) London, Oct 30: It's official! British actor Jude Law and his wife Sadie Frost have been granted divorce by a London court. According to the Sun, Frost accused Law of ill-treating her terribly during their six-year marriage that she had to seek medical treatment. Sadie was given a decree nisi on the grounds of Jude's unreasonable behaviour. Apparently, in her sworn affidavit, Frost is claimed to have written: "The respondent's behaviour increased the effects of post-natal depression, leading me to have to take treatment three times." Meanwhile, Sadie's pal says that she wanted to tell the whole world about Law's misbehaviour and announced three months ago that she was divorcing the "Talented Mr Ripley" star. . "She wrote this knowing it would be made public. She wanted the world to know what kind of person Jude is and how she had to go to hospital with baby blues as a result of Jude's bad behaviour." Sadie was also admitted to an LA hospital after an alleged suicide bid in January and had to check into London's Cromwell Hospital with post-natal depression. Court papers show it was then they began leading separate lives. They have since had a series of bust-ups, which friends blame on Jude being jealous of Sadie's new toyboy Jackson Scott, 22. Jude has since found love with Sienna Miller, 21. The judge took just 70 seconds to end their union with neither Sadie nor Jude present in London's High Court. The couple have three children. -ANI |