The Maharashtra Navnirman Sena has demanded police protection for Nana Patekar, apprehending a possible threat to the life of the actor who portrays a police officer in the Bollywood film "The Attacks of 26/11".        

 

"Nana Patekar is an asset to the country. He is a brilliant actor and the role played by him in the movie based on the 26/11 attacks in Mumbai is worth appreciating. Therefore, we demand that protection be provided to him," MNS MLA Ram Kadam told PTI.        

 

He said terror organisations may dislike Patekar's role in the movie and therefore the MNS perceives a threat to his life. "I have demanded police protection to Patekar from Mumbai Police Commissioner Satyapal Singh and state Home Minister R R Patil," he said.

Iran's Foreign Ministry Spokesman, Ramin Mehmanparast, said Tuesday that the Islamic republic is ready to respond to the concerns of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) after an agreement is reached.

The Sistine Chapel has closed to visitors as all but five cardinal-electors of the Roman Catholic church pursue the "deep and unhurried process" of preparing for papal conclave, the Vatican says.

Egypt's Islamist president is considering whether to give the military full control of the restive Suez Canal city of Port Said after days of deadly street clashes stoked by excessive use of force by riot police, officials said today. 

The government has proposed to lower the age for consensual sex from 18 to 16 and reintroduce the word 'rape' instead of 'sexual assault' in the new criminal law amendment bill. 

Secretary of State John Kerry confirmed to Fox News that the U.S. is training anti-Assad forces in the Syria conflict, saying Tuesday the hope is to convince President Bashar Assad to "change his current calculation." 

The CBI today questioned Aeromatrix CEO Praveen Bakshi in connection with alleged kickbacks in the Rs 3600 crore helicopter deal purportedly sent to the company from abroad in the garb of engineering contracts.             

South Korean government sources have reportedly brought to an end months of speculation surrounding whether the wife of North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un recently gave birth.

Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister today denied reports of his resigning over the killing of a youth in Baramulla, saying if his stepping down can bring a person back to life he will do so in a flash. 

Nearly 1,000 flights have been canceled in Chicago as a fierce winter storm threatens to dump as much as 10 inches of wind-whipped snow in time for the evening commute.

Days after a seven-year-old girl was raped in a school run by it, the North Delhi Municipal Corporation today announced a series of measures including installation of CCTV cameras in its educational institutes to enhance safety and security of students. 

Three persons were today detained in connection with the alleged rape and murder of three minor sisters in Bhandara district in east Maharashtra, police said.

Aggrieved family members of the 17 Indian sailors held hostage by Somali pirates on board MT Royal Grace today staged a protest here demanding the immediate intervention of government for their safe release. 

According to reports, a Navy helicopter has crashed off the Vishakhapatnam harbour. Two of its four crew members are reportedly missing.More details are awaited.

A draftsman, who had prepared the site plan of December 16 gangrape of a 23-year-old girl in a moving bus here, testified as prosecution witness before the fast-track court today.

A man of 22 trapped in a child's body is thought to be the world's smallest teacher... at 3ft tall.Azad Singh -- who has a rare hormone disorder -- weighs 2st 13lbs and wears clothes for a seven-year-old. Pupils at his all-girls school in Haryana, India, tower over him and call him "Chotu", meaning Little Sir.
Read more

Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar is reportedly considering allowing a discussion in the Lower House on Thursday on the Sri Lanka Tamils abuse issue under Rule 193, which does not entail voting.

Kumar's move is reportedly being made to assuage the feelings of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), a key ally of the UPA, which protested inside and outside  the House on Tuesday on the issue, wearing black shirts.

Expressing solidarity with agitating members, DMK representative in the Government, Minister of State for Finance S S Palanimackam also wore a black shirt though he did not participate in the protest.

Apart from weeping in the Assembly, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah today said the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act (AFSPA) should be repealed from the places where Army is not required.

Omar said the issue of AFSPA is not on the "backburner", and if Irom Sharmila can fast in protest against AFSPA for 12 long years why can't he just speak against it.

"The areas where we don't need Army, AFSPA can be revoked from those places. Our discussion with the Centre on this issue is on and we have not put it on any backburner. I believe that we are right on this issue and we will continue to support our demand," Omar said while addressing the Legislative Council.

"A lady is on fast since last 12 years, only for the removal of AFSPA. In her comparison I have done nothing, I am just talking about its revocation. I never said to remove it entirely, I am not that much senseless and even if would have said that my colleagues would have stopped me from doing that. I am just saying that remove it from the parts where it is not needed," Omar said. 

Weeping in the Assembly, Omar Abdullah said every time there was news of deaths in the state, the PDP always blamed him, when it was hardly his fault.

Well, if he's the CM, he takes the rap. Cry baby.

Jammu and Kashmir chief minister broke down in the Assembly today, when the opposition, PDP, cornered him over the killing in Baramulla.

One person was killed and four were injured allegedly in firing by security forces during protests in Baramulla town in north Kashmir today. Hundreds of residents of Baramulla town took to streets to protest what they alleged ransacking of their houses by the army in the area.

The protestors pelted stones at the army personnel who allegedly opened fire to disperse the mob, official sources said. An army spokesman said he was collecting details about the incident.

Taking serious view of the alleged thrashing of a girl by policemen in Punjab's Tarn Taran district, chief minister Parkash Singh Badal on Tuesday ordered a magisterial probe into the incident. The chief minister has directed the Tarn Taran district magistrate to ascertain the and circumstances which led to this incident and submit the inquiry report within three weeks, an official spokesman said.


A village girl, who was brutally assaulted by police in Punjab's Tarn Taran District, recalled her trauma on Tuesday and demanded the dismissal of all officials who had thrashed her on the roadside.

Harvinder Kaur told journalists in Tarn Taran that some truck drivers had harassed her, and when she and her father went to the police to file a complaint, they refused to help, and instead, started beating her up.

"While I was returning from a wedding, some truck drivers harassed me. I told my father and brother about it, they went to speak to those taxi drivers, who attacked them with swords and iron rods. My father, brother and I went to the police, but they refused to lodge a complaint, they didn't even ask me what had happened. They told my father that she is mad and brutally beat me,' said Kaur.

News channels showed evidence of policemen beating the girl who had complained of sexual harassment by taxi drivers in Tarn Taran.

That's author, historian William Dalrymple with Afghanistan president Hamid Karzai. Dalrymple tweets: Just out of 90 min meeting with Karzai: "Our so-called allies behave to us just as the British did to Shah Shuja."

While on Dalrymple, read his interview with rediff.com: 'I don't believe Muslims are a problem and Islam a threat'

Humiliating. That is the only word for it. Australia's abject campaign in India was already a throwback to the dark ages of the 1980s, when Allan Border's men were lucky to beat a backyard side. Now it is at rock bottom, and so are they. Read more

"My first encounter with a Pakistani was at a corner shop in North London, where I lived at the time. He was from Lahore, he said, and left some 40 years ago for a 'better life'. He was an old man with a magnificent white beard and kind eyes. Read

The lower court in New York, which was hearing arguments on whether the US or India is the appropriate forum for the case that New Delhi Television Ltd (NDTV) had filed against Nielsen and Kantar over TV ratings manipulation, has ruled that India would be a more convenient forum than the US.

The Indian news broadcaster has decided to appeal against this verdict. NDTV said that the lower court's decision is based on "several misconceptions, legal and factual errors", and "this would be outlined in the appeal." More

"To Sanjay Gandhi, the means were not as important as the end...The appeal that someone like Narendra Modi holds is precisely this -- that he gets things done. Don't ask too many questions about how he gets it done though... But that's exactly what is dangerous because that is how authoritarianism comes in. It always comes in with public consent." Vinod Mehta, editor extraordinaire, speaks to Rediff.com's Saisuresh Sivaswamy. Read 

A special National Investigation Agency (NIA) court has issued a non-bailable warrant against Indian Mujahideen founder Riyaz Bhatkal in the Hyderabad twin blasts case, reports IBN Live.

The warrant has also been issued against nine other Indian Mujahideen suspects in connection with the blasts. Others against whom warrants have been issued include Iqbaal Bhatkal, Mosin Chaudhary, Ariz Khan, Md Khalid, Mirza Shadaab Beg and Yasin Bhatkal.

The NIA is now going to seek custody of Obaid, an alleged terrorist lodged in Bangalore jail. This comes after the Andhra Pradesh government handed over the Hyderabad twin blasts case to the NIA.

Meanwhile, a 12-year-old Indian-origin girl in UK has stunned everyone after she scored an incredible 162 on her IQ test - even higher than Einstein and Stephen Hawking.

Neha Ramu, daughter of an Indian doctor couple, achieved a score of 162 on a Mensa IQ test - the highest score possible for her age. The score puts the tween in the top one per cent of brightest people in the UK and means she is more intelligent than physicist Hawking, Microsoft founder Bill Gates and scientist Albert Einstein, who are all thought to have an IQ of 160.

"Neha scored 162 on the Cattell IIIB test, putting her within the top one per cent of people in the country," a spokesman for British Mensa said. Neha's parents lived in India before moving to Britain when their daughter was seven, 'The Telegraph' reported.

Neha had always performed well at school, but it was only when she took an entrance exam for her school, achieving a perfect score of 280/280, that they realised her potential. She took the test for Mensa, a society for people with high IQs, two years later, and achieved the maximum possible score for someone aged under 18.

The first FIR against Varun was lodged on March 17, 2009 at Barkhera police station and the second one a day later in Dal Chand for allegedly making speeches with communal overtones.

A third FIR was lodged on March 28, 2009 when Varun's supporters attacked police after the court remanded him in judicial custody. On February 28, the court acquitted the Pilibhit MP in the second case on the basis of eyewitness accounts and a report of Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL), Chandigarh, which concluded that video CD of the alleged 'hate speech' had been 'doctored'. The court said 51 of the 53 eye-witnesses testified in favour of the BJP leader.

A Pilibhit court today acquitted BJP MP Varun Gandhi in the second 'hate speech' case registered against him in the run-up to 2009 Lok Sabha polls. The court cited 'lack of evidence' while acquitting him.

The BJP leader faced charges under IPC and Representation of People Act for promoting enmity among people and supporting acts prejudicial to communal harmony while making allegedly inflammatory speeches.

Varun Gandhi has already been acquitted for the first case on February 28.

Women personnel and officers constituted a mere 2 per cent of the more than two lakh troopers recruited by paramilitary forces in the last three years and in the initial few months of 2013, Lok Sabha was informed today.

While 20,73,48 personnel were recruited by the central police forces between 2010-13, the number for women stood at 4,733, which is about two per cent of the total induction, as per figures mentioned in a written reply by Minister of State for Home RPN Singh.

The recruitments were made in various ranks in forces like CRPF, BSF, ITBP, SSB, CISF and Assam Rifles.

In India and Pakistan, political parties pick their symbols from a list approved by their country's respective election commissions. Many are borrowed from items of everyday life, and span from the elephant to the toothbrush. This was a practice introduced after the end of British rule to help the large number of illiterate voters in both countries distinguish between political parties in elections. Here's a look at the curious range of symbols that parties in both countries can choose from. Read

The trend of employees working from home is here to stay in India despite companies like Yahoo! banning the practice, experts have said.

The decision by new Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer to ban work from home plans has set off a debate as to whether this was a wrong decision or a necessary evil. Success of working from home concept is largely dependent on three factors -- the individual's role, the individual's own approach towards work and at what stage of evolution an organisation is to explore this kind of an arrangement.

Shiv Sena today strongly opposed the upcoming visit of Pakistan Prime Minister Parvez Ashraf to India, saying he should be allowed here only if he gets the severed head of the Indian soldier killed on the Line of Control (LoC) in January.

The government "should not roll out the red carpet for the Pakistani Prime Minister till he gets back the severed head of the Indian soldier killed on the LoC," senior Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut said.

He said all political parties should oppose the visit of Ashraf to India. Ashraf is scheduled to visit India on Saturday to offer prayers at the Sufi shrine of Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti at Ajmer.

Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi today rubbished speculation about prime ministership, telling his party that he was only interested in discharging the responsibility of party vice-president. He said he was interested in meeting people and strengthening the party and the alliances. He added that there was an immediate need to end high command culture within the Congress.

Maharashtra Police has formed teams to pursue different lines of investigation and track the rapists and murderers of three minor sisters in Bhandara, government told the Lok Sabha today.

In a statement in the House, Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde said he was "deeply shocked at the despicable, ghastly and brutal manner" in which the three minor girls from the same family were brutally raped and murdered and then thrown into an abandoned well near Murwadi village.

"I am sure that the collective conscience of all the members of the House would be equally revolted to know about the horrendous incident," he said. Noting that the Centre has received a report from the Maharashtra government, Shinde gave the sequence of events that took place since the three girls -- aged 6, 9 and 11 -- went missing on February 14.

The Bangladesh government today reacted sharply to top opposition leader Khaleda Zia's refusal to meet visiting President Pranab Mukherjee, saying it "is a departure from democratic norms and courtesy".

Addressing a press conference, Foreign Minister Dipu Moni said it was "very unfortunate" that Zia's meeting with Mukherjee was cancelled by her. "It should not have happened".

She said it is a part of democratic norm that whenever foreign dignitaries visit the country, they meet both the head of government and the leader of the opposition. "In that sense, it is a departure from democratic norms," Moni said, adding however that India-Bangladesh relations would not suffer because of the incident as "our relations are on a firm footing".

She said not all parties are democratic in the same manner and not all parties practice the same level of democracy. Moni was asked if Zia's calling off her meeting with the Indian President was a breach of protocol and violated courtesy.

Nasheed had left the Indian High Commission on the assurance that he will not be arrested. 

Former Maldives president Mohammed Nasheed has been arrested in Male.  Nasheed had sought refuge at the Indian High Commission in Male on February 13. He left the High Commission on February 23. He is now likely to be produced in court tomorrow.

Read the Nasheed's interview with the TOI on Sunday: Maldives is a keg today

Church officials are expected to decide next week when the days-long voting process to choose the new leader of the Roman Catholic Church will start. Once it does, the 115 cardinals eligible to vote (those under age 80) will be shut away from the public in Casa Santa Marta, a church-owned hotel on the outskirts of Vatican City. A bus will shuttle some to the Sistine Chapel for meetings each day, and those who choose to walk will be closely guarded. Read

Student organizers of the Wharton India Economic Forum withdrew their invitation to Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi to address the event through a video link, sparking an animated debated in India over freedom of expression. Read

Just in: Mukul Sangma was today sworn in as the 23rd Chief Minister of Meghalaya.

Lok Sabha plunged into turmoil soon after Speaker Meira Kumar welcomed a Parliamentary delegation from Macedonia led by Trajko Veljanoski.

Some Congress members from Punjab were seen in the Well raising slogans against the Akali Dal government in the state over the incident of police beating up a woman and her aged father who were complaining of molestation. Partap Singh Bajwa, Ravneet Singh and Santosh Chowdhary (all Cong) were in the Well waving copies of newspapers and raising slogans. Senior leader Girija Vyas was seen urging them to protest from the aisle.

Amid the din, Speaker Meira Kumar adjourned the House till noon.

On the Foreign Policy: Extremists are destroying the fabric of Pakistani society. Where is the government? Read

Salman Khan's blockbuster Ek Tha Tiger is set to release in Japan. The Yash Raj Films production is the first Bollywood biggie to be officially released in the Land of the Rising Sun on a commercial basis. Instead of screening the original prints with subtitles, the makers have decided to dub it into Japanese. Read more

The Centre has cleared the decks for a new surrender policy for Maoists that promises to increase the incentive from a mere Rs 20,000 to over Rs 2.5 lakh. According to the policy that was deliberated at the conference of DGPs and IGs of Naxalite-affected states today, the Centre would directly fund the incentives now that such provisions had been made in Budget 2013. Read

Rahul Gandhi has rejected the invite by Wharton University to address the Wharton India Economic Forum. He was invited several days ago, reports CNN IBN. 

For 50 years Manipur has been riven by a bloody feud between militants and the state. For the last 10, Sharmila Irom has starved herself in a bid to stop it. The Independent pays tribute. Read

Headlines Today reports that Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi has been invited to Wharton University.

A day after cancelling the keynote address by Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, reports emerged on Tuesday that Wharton University has now invited Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) convenor Arvind Kejriwal to address the Wharton India Economic Forum on March 23 in Philadelphia.

The Wharton University cancelled the Narendra Modis keynote address citing fears of "polarising reactions".

Though confusion still prevails as to who will replace Modi, the University sources said that Kejriwal should not be seen as a replacement for the Gujarat Chief Minister and the AAP convenor will address the forum via video-conferencing but not as a keynote speaker.  

SBI, the lead banker in the 17-lender consortium to Kingfisher Airlines, has identified some properties for attachment, according to a top SBI official. "Efforts are afoot to make some recoveries.

Already certain properties have been identified towards attachment by the bank as against loans disbursed to the airline. Allocations have been made in the bank's NPA which stood at (around) Rs 22,000 crore as of Dec 2012," A Krishnakumar, Managing Director and Group Executive (National Banking) said.

A sub-committee has also been formed, involving about four banks to examine availability of assets of the borrower and will also solicit needful legal advisors before the next stage of opting for litigation, he said.

"I hadn't been to Kolkata for 30 years. Then, it had been a crumbling, anarchic, messy, congested, dusty, frantic confusion of people, cars and animals. I was looking forward to seeing how a country with similar economic growth rates to China had fared in its architectural aspirations.Tellingly, almost nothing had changed." Read the report here

The Comptroller and Auditor General's (CAG) final report on the farm loan waiver scheme has been tabled in Parliament. Announced by the UPA-I government in 2008, the scheme had written off debt of almost 4 crore farmers totalling to about Rs. 52,000 crore. Highlights of the CAG report are as follows: NDTV has the story. Read

Pakistan Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf will visit India on Saturday to offer prayers at the Sufi shrine of Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti at Ajmer though no official meetings have been lined up so far, sources said today.

This is likely to be Ashraf's last foreign visit before the term of his government ends on March 16. Preparations for the day-long visit on March 9 were being finalised, diplomatic and other sources told PTI. No official meetings with the Indian leadership have been finalised so far, a diplomatic source said.

China's Export-Import Bank will provide a loan of $278.2 million to Sri Lanka to help lay a rail track to a key port which Beijing is building that has stoked concern in neighboring India. Read

"Coal smoke, engine oil, sweet milky tea, cooking fires made from dried cowpats: if only I could smell that combination again. When a person can't smell India he knows his nose is really in trouble." An ode to Indian on the Economist. Read

At the Large Hadron Collider near Geneva, two armies of scientists struggled to close in on physics' most elusive particle. Read

Brahmaputra Dams Promise Prosperity But at a Big Cost. Read

Ask someone to identify the foundations of modern Western civilization, and expect to hear the Renaissance, the Enlightenment, or the Industrial Revolution.

But as watershed periods in the development of Europe, all three may pale in comparison to the Black Death. According to economists Nico Voigtlnder and Hans-Joachim Voth, the 14th-century plague -- which wiped out between one-third and one-half of the continent's population -- may have been the factor most responsible for producing European prosperity. Read

The debate over Narendra Modi's aborted address at Wharton seems new and top of the mind.But actually, it is almost as old as the principle of free speech itself. And it is a debate that has been played out year after year in university after university since time immemorial. Read Vir Sanghvi's post.

Aam Aadmi Party leader Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday rubbished media reports which said that he has replaced Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi as one of the keynote speakers at the 17th Wharton India Economic Forum 2013 to be held on March 23.

Kejriwal said he did not believe he was ''replacing anyone'' as he had been approached by the organisers to speak at the event much before the Modi controversy.

"It is being reported in some sections of media that I have replaced Mr. Narendra Modi for this Wharton lecture. I think this is incorrect because they have been in touch with me for more than 15 to 20 days. And, I understand from the newspapers reports that Modi''s cancellation took place one or two days back," he added.

President Pranab Mukherjee and Bangladesh Prime Minister Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina today jointly inaugurated the locomotives and wagons supplied under a USD 800 million line of credit extended by India, reflecting growing bilateral ties in infrastructure sector.

The freight train flagged off at the Dhaka cantonment railway station comprised two locomotives, 20 broad gauge tank wagons and one brake van.

Following the programme, President Mukherjee left for Narail on a private visit to the ancestral home of his inlaws. Later in the afternoon, the President is scheduled to visit poet Rabindrantah Tagore's house at Shilaidaha before wrapping up his three-day state visit to Bangladesh, his first foreign trip since becoming the President in August last year.

Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) supremo Mayawati on Tuesday alleged that the Akhilesh Yadav-led Government in Uttar Pradesh exemplifies ''goonda raj'' and that there is an administration of Samajwadi Party (SP) goons in the state.

"The Samajwadi Party Government in Uttar Pradesh will complete an year on 15th of March. But in the one-year of rule so far, the government has failed in every aspect. There is no development and the law and order situation has deteriorated. In true sense, it is the rule of Samajwadi Party goons in Uttar Pradesh now," she told media outside the Parliament here. Mayawati said no arrests have been made so far despite the FIR being lodged in connection with the cop's killing.

A toothbrush, a stapler, a baby's cot and a pressure cooker. These are just some of Pakistan's 27 newly approved election symbols that will decorate ballot papers when voters go to the polls later this year. Read

WSJ columnist Sadanand Dhume on why he is not speaking at Wharton. Read

China today hiked its defence budget by 10.7 per cent to $115.7 billion well above this year's Indian defence spending of $37.4 billion.The hike in the defence spending was announced as the Chinese legislature, the National People's Congress (NPC) opened its annual session, which this year also marks the once-in-a-decade power transfer. Read

Barack Obama is a "dithering" president whose controlling tendencies and extreme risk-averse attitude to foreign policy has damaged US interests in the Middle East, according to a new book by a senior former State Department adviser. Read

This year's Nobel Peace Prize nominees include Pakistani teenage women education activist Malala Yousafzai, and US soldier Bradley Manning, who had been accused of leaking classified material to WikiLeaks.  

This time a record 259 nominations have been received for Nobel Peace Prize, out of which fifty nominations were for organizations.  

The secretive committee that awards the prize doesn't identify the nominees, but those with nomination rights sometimes announce their picks, CBS News reports.  

The nomination period for 2013 ended on Feb. 1. The previous record of 241 nominatio

Nirbhaya, the victim of a gang rape in a Delhi bus, who became the focus of women around India and their fight against gender-based violence, is among ten extraordinary women being honoured on Friday with the Secretary of State's International Women of Courage Award.First Lady Michelle Obama will join Secretary of State John Kerry as he presents the annual award recognizing women around the globe who have shown exceptional courage and leadership in advocating for women's rights and empowerment, often at great personal risk. Read

A parley over Bangladesh's Chandpuri hilsa fish in Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wajed's house put on the table Dhaka's chief concern about the fallout of the Shahbag upsurge: fear that the Opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) of Begum Khaleda Zia will boycott the general election and rob it of credibility. Read the full story on the Telegraph.

Barack Obama's threats to use military force to prevent Iran securing a nuclear weapon are more than idle bluffs, vice-president Joe Biden told the biggest pro-Israeli lobbying group Aipac on Monday.

 

Biden said that while the US preferred a diplomatic solution to the standoff with Iran, a military option remained on the table. "The president of the United States cannot, and does not, bluff. President Barack Obama is not bluffing," Biden told the audience in Washington. Israel is seeking assurances of support from the US, should it decide to launch air strikes against Iran's nuclear facilities.

 

Read more on The Guardian

A man dressed as the caped crusader Batman has handed over a wanted man at a Bradford police station before disappearing into the night. Police said the costumed crime-fighter marched the 27-year-old man into Trafalgar House Police Station, in the early hours of 25 February. The man was charged with handling stolen goods and fraud offences. Police said: "The person who brought the man in was dressed in a full Batman outfit. His identity remains unknown."

 

Despite speculation on social media the arrested man could know the mysterious crime-fighter, West Yorkshire Police said: "We do not know the identity of the man dressed as Batman and do not know if he is friends with the man who was handed in."  

 

Image: A man dressed as Batman and a burglary suspect stand in a police station in Bradford, England, on February 25, 2013, in this handout photograph taken from video.

Photograph: Reuters

 

Read more on BBC

BBC: The security headquarters in Port Said, Egypt, is on fire amid fresh fighting between police and protesters. The blaze started on the ground floor of the building, with unconfirmed reports that it spread to the governorate building next door.

 

Earlier thousands of people joined a funeral procession for three civilians killed in overnight clashes, which also left two policemen dead. Port Said has been rocked by weeks of intermittent violence.

 

Protests, often leading to clashes, have been taking place there since January, when 21 local football fans were sentenced to death over football riots which left 74 people dead in February 2012. At least 400 people were injured in the fighting which began on Sunday morning.

BBC: Nasa's Curiosity Mars rover has been put into "safe mode" after a computer glitch caused by corrupted files. The robot, which is analysing rock samples on the Red Planet, is now running from a back-up computer.

 

Nasa engineers are looking into possible causes for the files on the robot's flash memory being damaged. The fault means the rover's work has been put on temporary hold while the back-up computer is reconfigured so it can take full control.

CNN: Vote counting began in Kenya Monday after largely peaceful elections in which millions of voters stood in line to choose their next president in a tightly contested general election.

 

The Elections Commission said some polling stations would remain open late to accommodate those still in line and to make up for having opened late. Though some people waited in the sun for more than eight hours to cast their ballots, there was "no reporting at all" of intimidation, said John Stremlau, the Carter Center vice president for peace programs.

 

The center, at the invitation of Kenyan authorities, placed 60 observers in all 47 counties. In Nairobi, some lines stretched for more than a kilometer (0.6 miles), he said. But the observers' initial reports were "universally complimentary to the citizens of this nation in showing their determination to have their votes counted," he said.

Al Jazeera: Unidentified armed men have ambushed a convoy carrying Syrian soldiers who had crossed into Iraq from the site of weekend fighting, killing 42 Syrians and seven Iraqis, security officers said.

 

The soldiers crossed into Iraq from the Yaarabiya border crossing, the scene of heavy fighting on Saturday between rebels and troops loyal to President Bashar al-Assad, said Lieutenant Colonel Mohammed Khalaf al-Dulaimi of the border protection forces on Monday.

 

The soldiers were first transported by Iraqi authorities from Nineveh province to Baghdad, and they were on their way back to be handed over to Syrian authorities on the border with Anbar province in western Iraq when the attack took place, Dulaimi said. Armed men attacked the convoy from two sides with mortar rounds, automatic weapons and mines, killing 42 Syrian soldiers and seven Iraqis. Eight Syrians and four Iraqis were wounded, and three vehicles in the convoy destroyed, he said.

BBC: A plane has crashed in Goma, the main city in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, witnesses say. There are no confirmed casualty figures so far. However, the plane came down in a residential area, killing dozens of people, AFP news agency quotes police sources saying.

 

DR Congo has a poor air safety record, with 74 people killed in a crash at the airport in the central city of Kisangani two years ago.

Wharton invites Kejriwal after snubbing Modi

PIX: Prez receives Bangladesh's second highest award

TN: Man dies after self-immolation against SL govt

Raj softens stand against NCP; slams IPL matches

Will watch other Afzal-like cases before concluding: Omar

NSG to probe officer who spoke to Pak spy about Hyderabad blasts

Raja Bhaiya quits, CBI to probe UP senior cop's murder

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