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Sun, 07 April 2013
Iran calls for calm in North Korea showdown

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20:30   Brigadier to face action for taking away official property
An Army Brigadier will face disciplinary action after he was indicted by a Court of Inquiry (CoI) for allegedly borrowing money from his subordinates and taking away property from his official residence during his posting in Sikkim. 

A CoI was initiated against Brigadier L I Singh for allegedly borrowing money from wet canteen contractors of units and from subordinate officers and it has recommended disciplinary action against him, sources told PTI here. 

The officer has been ordered to be attached to the Binagudi-based 20 Mountain Division for further disciplinary proceedings which may also include facing a General Court Martial (GCM), they said.
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20:15   Kerry mourns 'selfless, idealistic' US diplomat
US Secretary of State John Kerry today railed against the "cowardly" terrorists responsible for the attack that killed five Americans in Afghanistan, including a "selfless, idealistic" young diplomat on a mission to donate books to students. 

In the deadliest day in eight months for the United States in the war, militants killed six Americans in separate attacks Saturday, the violence occurring hours after the US military's top officer arrived in Afghanistan for consultations with Afghan and US-led coalition officials. 

Kerry, in Turkey for meetings with the country's leaders, said 25-year-old Anne Smedinghoff of Illinois had assisted him when he visited Afghanistan two weeks ago. She served as his control officer, an honor often bestowed on up-and-coming members of the US foreign service.
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19:50   Iran calls for calm in North Korea showdown
Iran's foreign ministry today urged against "provocative conduct" in the Korean peninsula, saying stability there has been compromised by an American military build-up, media reported. 

"Our advice to all sides involved is to not stoke tensions by engaging in provocative conduct," ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said in remarks reported by the Mehr news agency. 

"The climate should not remain one of threats," he said. Mehmanparast accused arch-foe United States of provoking the crisis. "The military build-up and provocative acts... by a country situated thousands of kilometres (miles) away is destabilising this region," he said referring to the United States.
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19:22   Chopper deal: CBI likely to start questioning this week
CBI is likely to start questioning suspects this week in connection with its ongoing probe into alleged kickbacks in the Rs 3,600-crore VVIP helicopter deal. CBI sources said the agency is likely to call former Air Chief S P Tyagi and his cousins for questioning. 

They said they are planning to question all the accused who are present in India, but did not elaborate on which suspects will be summoned initially. The agency has already issued look-out notices against Tyagi and other accused to prevent them from leaving the country, they said.
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19:21   Savita inquest to examine hospital care
The quality of care provided by the Irish hospital, where Indian dentist Savita Halappanavar died after being denied an abortion, is expected to be among the key factors to be examined at the inquest that opens tomorrow. 

A draft review into the 31-year-old's death was told that staff at the University College Hospital Galway attributed Savita's crucial symptoms of shivering and teeth chattering to the cold rather than to a life-threatening infection.
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18:52   NATO strike kills 10 children in Afghanistan: officials
A NATO air attack in eastern Afghanistan has killed at least 10 children, officials said today. The children were killed during a joint Afghan-NATO operation in the Shigal district of restive Kunar province bordering Pakistan late yesterday. 

"Ten children and eight militants were killed in the strike, six women were wounded," Wasifullah Wasifi, the spokesman for Kunar province, told AFP. Shigal district governor Abdul Zahir confirmed the death toll and said people had brought the children's bodies to the centre of the town. The wounded women were taken to Kunar's central hospital, he said.
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18:22   Media demonising Muslim community: Markandey Katju
"Discrimination" against Muslims is giving rise to a feeling of injustice among them, Press Council Chairman Markandey Katju today claimed and rebuked the media for what he described as "demonising" Muslim community through "irresponsible" journalism. 

"Whenever a bomb blast occurs or such incident takes place, within an hour or so many TV channels start showing that an email or sms has come from the Indian Mujahideen, JeM or Harkatuljihad-e-Islam, or some Muslim name, claiming responsibility.
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18:19   2 more cases of bird flu in Shanghai, 20 so far in China
China continues to grapple with rising number of bird flu cases as two more people were confirmed infected with the deadly H7N9 strain, taking the total to 20 while official media blamed the outbreak on intense farming and density of population.

Shanghai, China's biggest metropolis with 23 million people is bearing the brunt of the new avian influenza as two more cases were confirmed there taking the total to ten in the city, four of whom died.
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17:33   16-year-old girl gang raped, one accused held
 A minor girl was allegedly gang raped by four persons in Sasaram district of the state, police said today, following which one person has been arrested. 

The 16-year-old girl was returning to Khekhani village last night after attending a cultural programme when she was waylaid by four persons and brutalised at a secluded spot, the official said.
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16:52   S Korea: NKorea may be preparing to test missile
A top South Korean national security official said today that North Korea may be setting the stage for a missile test or another provocative act with its warning that it soon will be unable to guarantee diplomats' safety in Pyongyang. 

But he added that the North's clearest objective is to extract concessions from Washington and Seoul. North Korea's warning last week followed weeks of war threats and other efforts to punish South Korea and the US for ongoing joint military drills, and for their support of UN sanctions over Pyongyang's Feb 12 nuclear test. 

Many nations are deciding what to do about the notice, which said their diplomats' safety in Pyongyang cannot be guaranteed beginning this Wednesday.
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16:30   Boss, read the true history before speaking
Nine years after advent in public life, Rahul Gandhi addressed the Confederation of the Indian Industry. Media conferred on him the title 'Boss'. The Boss told captains of industry: 

"They used to look at India and say, Boss, the Hindu rate of Growth. They have been saying like this for 3,000 years. Now the Hindu Rate of growth is like the European rate of growth'. This less serious comment calls for serious response. Otherwise illiteracy about India will continue to persist for lack of literacy among Indians who speak for India. 

But, it calls for a peep into the world and the Indian economic history which most Indian academics, particularly economists, seem to be least interested in and therefore less aware of.

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16:10   SC stays execution of eight death row convicts
The Supreme Court has stayed the execution of eight death row prisoners, convicted in different murder cases, whose clemency pleas were rejected by President Pranab Mukherjee last week. 

Staying the execution of Suresh, Ramji, Gurmeet Singh, Praveen Kumar, Sonia and her husband Sanjeev, Sundar Singh and Jafar Ali for four weeks, a two-judge bench during an urgent hearing held late yesterday evening expressed concern that a situation like the Jammu and Kashmir incident should not arise.
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16:08   Hinduism does not favour conversions: RSS Chief
RSS Chief Mohan Bhagwat today said that Hinduism does not favour conversions. "Hinduism doesn't accept conversions. Hindus try to reverse conversions," Bhagwat said, inaugurating a Rs 18 crore convention centre of the RSS here, the first of its kind in Kerala. 

"Conversions are not necessary. If you have the basic human values, what you wear, what you eat and what you pray all these are immaterial," he said, adding, Hindu society needs to spread this message world over.
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16:07   Afghan attacks raise fears over Taliban strength
The death of at least five Americans, in the deadliest day for foreigners in Afghanistan this year, has highlighted fears about Taliban strength ahead of NATO's withdrawal in 2014. 

A suicide car bomber struck a NATO convoy in the southern province of Zabul yesterday, killing three US soldiers and two civilians, including a female American diplomat travelling with Afghan officials to distribute books to students.
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15:41   Bodies of 11 Thane victims handed over to families
Bodies of 11 victims of Thane building collapse were brought here today and handed over to their families in different villages of Kalichak block II of the district. 

The bodies were brought in body bags by road from Kolkata, where they were flown down yesterday, official sources said adding a pall of gloom descended on the area after their arrival.
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15:41   Thane collapse: 2 kids to be handed over to orphanage
Failing to trace their parents, authorities here have decided to hand over, for now, two girls who were rescued from debris of the unauthorised building that collapsed in Shil Phata area here to an orphanage. 

One of the girls is an 8 months old baby while the other is six years old and her name is Sandhya. Their families could not be traced. At present lady police constables are looking after them, and it was decided to hand over them to Maa Niketan orphanage here for now, officials said.
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15:04   56 Indian fishermen in Lankan custody
Sri Lankan navy has arrested 30 Indian fishermen for allegedly poaching in the country's waters, taking the total number of those captured to 56 in the last two days. 

After the arrest of 26 Indian fishermen and seizing six trawlers on Friday, another batch of 30 Indian fishermen have been arrested and their six trawlers seized by the Sri Lanka Navy last night, officials said today.
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14:29   EC to review poll arrangements in Karnataka
With the poll process in Karnataka set to begin on April 10, the Election Commission will take an elaborate review of the arrangements when its team visits Bangalore from tomorrow. 

Chief Election Commissioner V S Sampath along with Election Commissioners H S Brahma and S N A Zaidi will hold a meeting with representatives of all political parties on April 8 and hear their grievances. They will hold another meeting of top election officials on April 9 to discuss threadbare the poll and security arrangements.
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14:11   Maoists blow up buildings, attack PS in Jharkhand
Maoists blew up two government buildings and attacked a police station in separate areas of Jharkhand on the final day of its 48-hour bandh today. About 50 ultras used dynamite to blow up the Block Development Office at Hariharganj in Palamu district in the wee hours, Assistant Superintendent of Police P Murugan said. 

Another group of Maoists also blasted Chenpur Block Development Office at about the same time in Gumla, he said. There was no casualty as no one was present in both the buildings.
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14:10   Musharraf's nomination papers accepted from third seat
Pervez Musharraf's nomination papers for a parliamentary constituency in the port city of Karachi were rejected today while his papers for another seat in northern Pakistan were accepted by election authorities. 

Election officials rejected the former military ruler's papers for parliamentary constituency number 250 in Karachi. 

Jamaat-e-Islami leader Niyamatullah Khan, who intends to contest the May 11 polls from the same seat, had yesterday objected to Musharraf's candidature on the ground that he had twice violated and the Constitution and placed judges under house arrest after declaring an emergency in 2007.
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14:09   Japan to order shooting down of N. Korea missile: reports
Japan will order its armed forces to shoot down any North Korean missile headed towards its territory, press reports said today as Pyongyang was reportedly readying to fire one. 

The order may be issued by Defence Minister Itsunori Onodera today or "in a day or two," the Yomiuri newspaper and the Jiji news agency reported. The order would not be made public so as not to alarm the public, the Kyodo news agency quoted government sources as saying.
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13:38   State Department diplomat killed in Afghanistan
A young diplomat from River Forest was among five Americans killed Saturday during a car bomb blast in Afghanistan, her family said.

A sixth American was killed in a separate attack in Afghanistan's east.

Anne Smedinghoff was 25, said her father Tom Smedinghoff.

A statement from her parents, Tom and Mary Beth Smedinghoff, e-mailed to the Washington Post reads:

The world lost a truly beautiful soul today.  

Our daughter, Anne, a U.S. Foreign Service Officer, died in the service of her country as she was traveling with a group to deliver books to a local school in the Zabul Province of Afghanistan.  

She joined the Foreign Service three years ago right out of college and there was no better place for her.  

Anne absolutely loved the work she was doing. Her first assignment was in Caracas, Venezuela. She then volunteered for an assignment at the U.S. Embassy in Kabul, which she began in July, 2012. Working as a public diplomacy officer, she particularly enjoyed the opportunity to work directly with the Afghan people and was always looking for opportunities to reach out and help to make a difference in the lives of those living in a country ravaged by war. 

We are consoled knowing that she was doing what she loved, and that she was serving her country by helping to make a positive difference in the world.  

She was such a wonderful woman--strong, intelligent, independent, and loving.  Annie, you left us too soon; we love you and we're going to miss you so much.

Tom & Mary Beth Smedinghoff
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13:00   More judges needed, states should take initiative: PM
Terming as "grossly inadequate" the current judge to population ratio, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today assured Chief Ministers of more central funds for creation of infrastructure for subordinate judiciary to address the issue of pendency of over three crore cases.

"The judge to population ratio at the current level of 15.5 judges per million is indeed grossly inadequate. We need to alter this equation so as to address the problems of pendency and delays in disposal of cases," he said. 

Singh was speaking at a conference of Chief Ministers and Chief Justices presided over by Chief Justice of India Altamas Kabir.
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12:56   South Korea-US military meet delayed on North Korea threats
South Korea and the US postponed a major military meeting due to take place in Washington, an official said today as Seoul was on high alert for potential attacks from North Korea. 

General Martin Dempsey, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, and his Seoul counterpart General Jung Seung-Jo were to coordinate policy on the North and other issues during the annual Military Committee Meeting on April 16. 

But the meeting between the two allies had been delayed at Seoul's request, a spokesman for Seoul's Joint Chiefs of Staff told AFP.
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12:21   Thane building collapse: Five more arrested
Five more persons, including an assistant municipal commissioner and a NCP corporator, were today arrested in connection with the building collapse in Thane district, police said today. 

With this, the total number of arrests has gone up to eight. The five arrested persons are Assistant Municipal Commissioner Babasaheb Andale, constable S Sayeed, local NCP corporator Hira Patil, Thane Municipal Corporation clerk Kisan Madke and collection agent Jabbar Patel, they said.
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12:09   Get Aadhaar to obtain PAN card now
The Unique Identification (UID) Aadhaar number will soon be a "valid" proof of identity and address to obtain a PAN card. 

A proposal for inclusion of Aadhaar in the existing list of valid proof of identification and proof of address for allotment of PAN was sent to the Finance Ministry by the Unique Identification Authority of India sometime back. 

The Ministry has decided to notify rules in this regard.
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12:08   24x7 security helpline for train passengers soon
With a view to strengthen safety of passengers and check crimes against women in trains and stations, Railways will soon launch a 24x7 helpline which will be tracked on real-time basis across the country.  

The proposed pan India toll-free helpline, first-of-its- kind in Railways, is going to be launched shortly to provide round-the-clock security-related assistance to passengers, a senior Railway Ministry official involved with the project said.
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11:44   Rahuls ten year plan
Not more than 200 people select the 5000 or so candidates who are elected as members of Parliament and State Assemblies. 

Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi, in his 75 minute talk, walking up and down the stage, at the Confederation of Indian Industries, on Thursday, was trying to make a simple point: an abysmal gap exists between the elected representatives and the country's one billion people. 

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11:43   Bangladesh unrest exposes political divide
Saturday's protests were officially called and led by the Hefazat-e-Islam party - a conservative Muslim party which usually resides on the sidelines of politics in Bangladesh.

It is likely however, that most religious Muslim parties took part. Most of the opposition, including the powerful Bangladesh National Party (BNP) lent their support to the march.

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11:26   Nuclear capable Agni-II missile successfully test fired
The medium range nuclear capable Agni-II missile was today successfully test-fired with a strike range of more than 2,000 km from the Wheeler Island off Odisha coast. 

"The trial of the surface-to-surface missile was conducted from a mobile launcher from the Launch Complex-4 of Integrated Test Range (ITR) at around 10.20 am," defence sources said. 

"Agni-II Intermediate Range Ballistic Missile (IRBM) has already been inducted into the services and today's test was carried out by the Strategic Forces Command (SFC) of the Army as part of training exercise with logistic support provided by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO)," the sources said.
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11:23   Salman Khan's appeal to be heard by Sessions Court tomorrow
Actor Salman Khan's appeal, against a magistrate's order invoking the charge of 'culpable homicide not amounting to murder' in a hit and run case against him, would come for hearing before a sessions court tomorrow. 

The appeal, filed by the actor a month ago, would be heard by Sessions Judge U B Hejib. The actor has not been summoned to appear before the court yet and the matter would be argued by his lawyers in the sessions court tomorrow, sources told PTI. 

The appeal would be decided first and then the main case would be heard, sources said.
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11:21   US delays missile test over N Korea tensions: official
The Pentagon has delayed an intercontinental ballistic missile test due to take place in California next week amid soaring nuclear tensions with North Korea, an official has said. 

The defense official told AFP that Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel rescheduled the Minuteman 3 test at Vandenberg Air Force Base for some time next month due to concerns the launch "might be misconstrued by some as suggesting that we were intending to exacerbate the current crisis with North Korea." 

"We wanted to avoid that misperception or manipulation," the US official added.
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11:20   Armstrong asks court to dismiss SCA lawsuit
Lance Armstrong has asked a Texas court to dismiss a lawsuit by a Dallas promotions company seeking repayment of more than $12 million in bonuses paid for winning the Tour de France. 

SCA Promotions sued Armstrong and his manager Bill Stapleton in state district court in Dallas in February, claiming Armstrong committed fraud by using performance-enhancing drugs to win the Tour seven times. 

SCA paid Armstrong's team management company Tailwind Sports for several of those victories, which have been stripped away.
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11:19   Decade after Saddam's ouster, Iraq seeks stability
A decade after US-led forces took control of Baghdad on April 9, 2003, sealing the ouster of Saddam Hussein's brutal regime, Iraq remains plagued by deadly attacks and never-ending political crises. 

Remembered the world over for the iconic images of Iraqis pulling down a statue of Saddam in central Baghdad's Firdos Square -- helped in no small part by an American military unit -- the fall of the capital is a far more emotive day in Iraq than the anniversary of the invasion itself two weeks earlier.
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11:17   Gunmen kill 11 in northern Nigeria
Eleven people have been killed in a house-to-house raid by gunmen in Nigeria's northern state of Adamawa, police said. "We have information that 11 people lost their lives in Midlu village including two private security men" police spokesman Mohammed Ibrahim said yesterday. 

The security men were killed at the house of the Adamawa Deputy Governor Bala James Ngilari though he was not at the home at the time, Ibrahim added.
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01:24   WB: Trinamool Cong leader arrested on molestation charge
PTI reports: A local Trinamool Congress leader and four of his associates have been arrested in West Midnapore district of West Bengal on molestation and other charges lodged against them in March, police said on Saturday.

Jaladhar Panda, Binpur block vice-president of Triamool Youth Congress, and four others were arrested on Friday night and produced before the court on Saturday.
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00:34   Deadly blast at Iraq political rally, 22 killed
A suicide bomb and grenade attack has killed at least 22 people and injured about 50 at a political rally in the eastern Iraqi city of Baquba, reports BBC.

A grenade was thrown into the crowd gathered inside a large tent and, seconds later, a suicide bomber blew himself up in the same tent.
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00:33   120 Lankan Tamil refugees rescued from sea, arrested
One hundred twenty Tamil refugees from Sri Lanka were on Saturday rescued by the Coast Guard from a stranded vessel in the sea and arrested, reports NDTV.

The police said the refugees, mostly from camps in Tamil Nadu, were illegally heading to Australia, but their vessel developed a snag in the Bay of Bengal near Nagapattinam.

Read the full report here

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00:31   Modi will be 'yamraj' for Congress in polls: BJP
Hitting back at the Congress, which compared Narendra Modi to 'yamraj', the Lord of Death in Hindu mythology, the BJP on Saturday said the Gujarat Chief Minister will prove fatal for the ruling party in the next Lok Sabha polls.

"Yes, Narendra Bhai is yamraj but only for those who had and have been adopting terrorism, corruption and conspiracies against the nation. Congress has rightly seen Modi ji in the form of yamraj as he will prove to be so for them in coming general elections," BJP vice-President Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said while addressing party workers at the foundation day rally in Rampur.
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00:30   Maoists blow up railway track in Jharkhand, Bihar
Maoists blew up railway tracks in Latehar district of Jharkhand and Vaishali district of Bihar on Saturday, the first day of a two-day Jharkhand-Bihar bandh called by them.

Maoists blew up a stretch of railway track between Chhipadohar and Barwadih railway stations in Latehar district, railway sources said.

"The track has been blown up between Chhipadohar and Barwadih railway stations. Rajdhani Express is at Kumandih railway station in Latehar district," Divisional Commander of the Railway Protection Force Shashi Kumar told PTI over phone.

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