Police officer suspended, three cops sacked for engineer’s murder

LUCKNOW - Auraiya district superintendent of police Ekramul Haque was suspended and three policemen were dismissed for ‘dereliction of duty’ after an engineer was murdered last week allegedly by a ruling party legislator, a top Uttar Pradesh police official said here Wedensday.

Ugandan rebels kill about 400 in Congo: Aid group

FREIBURG - A German aid group has said that Ugandan rebel group the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) has killed at least 400 people over Christmas in the Democratic Republic of Congo, a far higher figure than previously reported.

In 2008, corruption dented Indian judiciary’s image (Yearender - 23)

NEW DELHI - Hit by at least three scandals involving judges, the halo around India’s higher judiciary dimmed a little in 2008. But, led by its first Dalit chief justice known for his no-nonsense approach to issues of public importance, the institution also demonstrated its resolve to weed out corrupt elements from it.

Four arraigned in China’s baby food scandal

SHIJIAZHUNG - A Chinese court Monday arraigned four people involved in the tainted baby food scandal, which killed six babies and affected nearly 300,000, for violating public security.

He had helped Indian Army track enemy footprints during two wars (Feature)

VAV - He could identify an enemy soldier by just seeing the footprints in the desert sand in Kutch and had played a crucial role in helping the Indian Army capture border areas during the 1965 and 1971 wars. Known as ‘The old war camel’, Ranchhod Pagi, now 108, is raring to go again.

Student trespasses defence area in Bangalore, shot dead

BANGALORE - A 20-year-old student was shot dead early Sunday by army guards after he hid in the compound of an army officer’s house in the high security defence area in Bangalore while trying to escape from the police, officials said.

Mayawati suspects ‘drunkard’ legislator was ‘used’ by opposition

LUCKNOW - Uttar Pradesh’s opposition Samajwadi Party had apparently ‘used’ a Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) legislator to ‘get involved’ in the murder of a government engineer, Chief Minister Mayawati said here Saturday.

Ugandan rebels kill more than 40 Congolese civilians

KAMPALA - Ugandan rebel outfit the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), currently facing a regional military offensive in the north-east of Congo, killed 43 civilians and abducted others in deadly attacks around Christmas, military officials said Saturday.

Israeli attack on Gaza sparks protest, calls for restraint

WASHINGTON - Western leaders admonished Israel to end attacks and exercise restraint after it conducted airstrikes in the Gaza Strip Saturday - a move that sparked protests across the Arab world.

Nepal government signs pact with Terai rebels

KATHMANDU - Nepal’s Maoist-led government Friday held formal talks with an armed rebel group active in the southern Terai plains and signed an agreement as part of its ongoing effort to restore law and order in the troubled lowlands.

Two probes into Scarlett’s death gain momentum

PANAJI - The investigations related to slain British teenager Scarlett Keeling seems to be gathering momentum with the Goa police likely to send summons to her mother for neglect and the Central Bureau of Investigation preparing a team to fly to Britain to record her statement over the murder.

BSP leaders on overdrive to collect funds for Mayawati’s birthday bash

LUCKNOW - Ever since Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati declared that her birthday Jan 15 would be observed as ‘Aarthik sahyog diwas’ (financial support day), party leaders and units across the state have been bending over backwards to ensure the collection drive for the occasion is a stupendous success.

British TV to air Ahmadinejad, not Queen’s Christmas speech

LONDON - Britain’s Channel 4 television plans to air a speech by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad Thursday as an alternative to the traditional Christmas Day speech by Queen Elizabeth II.

‘Ghajini’ gets two courts’ nod for Thursday release

CHENNAI/MUMBAI - Aamir Khan-starrer ‘Ghajini’, Bollywood’s big-ticket release this season, will hit the screens Thursday, as scheduled, after two high courts cleared its release Wednesday.

CBI ordered to restore passport to oil-for-food scam accused

NEW DELHI - The Delhi High court has directed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to release the passport of Aditya Khanna, an accused in the oil-for-food scam in Iraq.

Lawyer files criminal complaint against Daler Mehndi

MUMBAI - Bhangra pop singer Daler Mehndi’s campaign against the terror attacks has led him into trouble. A criminal complaint has been filed against the singer by an advocate alleging his song ‘Jaago India’ as ‘demotivating and in bad taste’.

Faith in Jesus blossoms in Nepal’s prisons

KATHMANDU - When the first Christian missionaries started trickling into Nepal after the forbidden Himalayan kingdom was opened to outsiders following a pro-democracy movement in 1950, they chose to take the word of god to people who were treated as outcasts: lepers, prisoners and some of the most disadvantaged communities.

No to tainted legislator as Madhya Pradesh’s Leader of Opposition

BHOPAL - Even as the Congress is yet to select the Leader of Opposition in Madhya Pradesh, the Association for Democratic Reforms - a network of over 1,200 civil society groups - has urged it not to consider any legislator with a criminal background for the post.

Regulator’s letter forged, says Pyramid Saimira

CHENNAI - Entertainment firm Pyramid Saimira Theatre will lodge a criminal complaint with the police to investigate the origin of the letter purportedly sent by the market regulator asking the firm’s promoter to make an open offer at Rs.250 per share, saying it was forged.