Dantewada Maoist attack case: CRPF to appeal against acquittal

NEW DELHI: The CRPF has decided to contest the acquittal of 10 arrested accused in the 2010 Tadmetla Maoist attack case in which 76 security personnel were killed in Chhattisgarh'sDantewada district. Three years after the central paramilitary lost 75 of its men, the force has written to the Chhattisgarh government with a request to appeal against the January 7 verdict of a local court. A Chhattisgarh...

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Lawyer accuses Pak of 'blocking' book on Sarabjit

MUMBAI: Pakistani lawyer-activist Awais Sheikh has accused the authorities of stalling the release of his book on Indian prisoner Sarabjit Singh. Sheikh wrote an email to say, "At 3pm on Friday my guests and I arrived at Lahore Press Club for the launch ceremony and were shocked to see the doors locked. The administration informed us that they were unable to allow the function owing to a security...

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BJP national executive to meet today

NEW DELHI: BJP will chalk out a road-map for evolving its strategy to project itself as an alternative in the next general elections, at the meeting of its national executive and national council starting on Friday.While the BJP national executive will hold a closed-door meeting on Friday, its national council, a broader body having members from across the country, will hold its two-day meeting on...

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Assembly polls: Meghalaya, Nagaland and Tripura to get new govts today

NEW DELHI/KOHIMA/AGARTALA/ SHILLONG: Meghalaya, Nagaland and Tripura will get new governments today. Counting of votes began at 8am in all the three northeast states.Tight security for Nagaland assembly poll counting PARTY LEADS WINS CONGRESS 4 0 UNDP 1 0 NPF 15 0 OTHERS 2 0 Adequate security arrangements have been made for the counting of votes to the 59 assembly seats of the 60-member...

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No need to be ashamed of House attack: Afzal Guru's letter

NEW DELHI: Parliament attack convict Mohammad Afzal Guru had in a letter purportedly written by him over four years ago said that there was no need to be ashamed of the December 13 attack on Parliament, but had stopped short of owning any responsibility for it.In the letter written to editor of a local Urdu weekly, Guru, asked Hizbul Mujahideen chief Syed Salahuddin not to be "ashamed of December...

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Isro does it again, 7 SATS in orbit

A five-minute delay to pre-empt an encounter withdebrisdid not dampen the spirit at Sriharikota on Monday as the satellite launch vehicle PSLV-C20 took to the skies to catapult seven satellites into orbit,including Indo-Frenchsatellite SARAL.While initially the control room at Sriharikota was bristling with activity, a deadsilence prevailed as launch time drew close. While initially the launch time...

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Hyderabad blasts could be a reaction to Kasab, Afzal execution: Shinde

KOLKATA: Union home minister Sushilkumar Shinde said the twin blasts in Hyderabad could be a "reaction" to the hanging of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru and Mumbai attack convict Ajmal Kasab.Shinde said the government was apprehending some sort of reaction from terror groups following execution of the lone surviving Pakistani gunman in the 2008 Mumbai attack and Afzal and it had been issuing...

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300% rise in suspicious terror financing cases: Report

NEW DELHI: Over 1,400 instances of terror financing in country's economic channels were red-flagged by intelligence and security agencies last year, a latest report of the finance ministry says, marking a 300% jump in such suspicious transactions. The Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), which functions under the ministry, has reported that it had received 1,444 reports during 2011-12 from agencies...

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Polling begins in Meghalaya

SHILLONG: Polling began to elect 60 members to the ninth Meghalaya Assembly from among 345 candidates today with an electorate of 15.3 lakh.Banned Khasi organisation, Hynniewtrep National Liberation Council, has called a 36-hour bandh from 6 PM yesterday till today in the seven districts of Khasi and Jaintia Hills region. Prominent candidates in the fray are Chief Minister Mukul Sangma, Home Minister...

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BJP calls for shutdown in Andhra Pradesh

HYDERABAD: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has called for a shutdown in Andhra Pradesh on Friday to condemn the twin bomb blasts, which killed 14 people and injured over 100. The Bharatiya Janata Party today demanded the suspension of question hour and said that in the wake of the Hyderabad blasts there should be a discussion the the Parliament over terror. BJP state president G Kishan Reddy appealed...

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Day 2 of nationwide strike: Cops on alert in Noida; UP govt forms panel to probe violence

NEW DELHI: Normal life in several parts of the country continued to remain affected on Day 2 of the nationwide strike called by the trade unions. Cops in Noida are on high alert, after widespread violence on the first day of the strike. According to TV reports, several schools and offices in Noida have been closed. The UP government has formed a two-member panel to probe the violence in Noida on the...

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Hold panchayat polls as per existing quota: SC to Andhra Pradesh

NEW DELHI/HYDERABAD: The Supreme Court on Monday cleared the decks for elections to the panchayati raj (PR) institutions in the state and an upbeat chief minister Kiran Kumar Reddy wants to hold the polls at the earliest. With state election commissioner P Ramakanth Reddy stating that his department is fully prepared, the PR polls, touted as an acid test for the chief minister as well as new entrant...

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British PM David Cameron arrives in Mumbai on three-day India visit

MUMBAI: British Prime Minister David Cameron arrived here on Monday morning on a three-day India visit during which will he meet captains of industry and hold talks with top leaders who are likely to seek more information on the VVIP helicopters scam involving an Anglo-Italian firm. Cameron is likely to be pressed for more information on the Rs 3,600 crore helicopter scam involving AgustaWestland...

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Malik aimed to boost his relevance at home, Pak?

NEW DELHI: The Indian security agencies suspect that JKLF chief Yasin Malik may have secretly met 26/11 mastermind Hafiz Saeed during his stay in Pakistan, apart from sharing the dais with him at a protest in Islamabad. Even as his alleged one-on-one meeting with the LeT boss is kept carefully under wraps, Malik, intelligence officials say, ensured a photo opportunity alongside Saeed to "score"...

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Snowfall closes Srinagar-Jammu highway

SRINAGAR: The Srinagar-Jammu highway remained closed due to fresh snowfall in the Bannihal sector of the over 300-kilometre road Saturday, an official here said. Snowfall in the Bannihal sector and landslides in Seri area of Ramban district in the Jammu region have forced closure of the Srinagar-Jammu highway, a traffic official told IANS. "The highway has been closed for vehicular traffic today...

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Indian universities crying for better leadership, say 90% academics

NEW DELHI: A global survey of the academic community on the leadership challenges faced by the Indian higher education system has revealed that the sector is facing shortage of capable leaders with 92% of the respondents saying that this trend is expected to continue until 2020. Just 5% of the respondents said that there was no paucity of leaders. The results of the survey were unveiled at the Education...

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Hyderabad is the world’s second most affordable office market: Survey

BANGALORE: Hyderabad is the world's second most affordable office market after Surabaya in Indonesia, according to a survey, while Chennai and Pune are at fifth and sixth positions, reinforcing India's reputation as among the cheapest destinations for foreign firms to set up operations. "Tier II cities in China and India continue to dominate the list of top-10 most affordable markets globally,"...

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Battle lines drawn up in Tripura

AGARTALA: Battle lines have been drawn up for Thursday's polls to the 60-member Tripura assembly where heavyweights chief minister Manik Sarkar, TPCC president Sudip Ray Barman and president of Indigenous Nationalist Party of Tripura Bijay Hrankhwal are among 249 candidates in the fray.The Left Front is hoping to script history by returning to power for a fifth consecutive time.The main contest...

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Afzal Guru hanging: Fourth day of curfew in tension torn Kashmir

SRINAGAR: Uninterrupted curfew restrictions continued for the fourth day on Tuesday in Kashmir Valley to prevent violence in the wake of Afzal Guru's hanging in New Delhi's Tihar jail. Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said he would help arrange a visit to the parliament attack convict's family to offer prayers at his grave.While speaking to a radio channel on Monday evening, Omar said that if Afzal Guru's...

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Reeling under Qaida attacks, Mali to get Indian support

NEW DELHI: India gathered with European and African nations in Brussels this week to commit itself to stabilizing Mali which is reeling under al-Qaida attacks. It's the first time India will be involving itself in the political process as well as reconstruction of a country so far from its immediate sphere of influence. The move displays a growing confidence within the Indian foreign policy system....

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