Live! Mob calls for assaults on foreigners in Sweden

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Sun, 31 January 2016

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21:32 Mob calls for assaults on foreigners in Sweden

Tensions over Europe's migrant crisis led to arrests and violence in Sweden and the UK over the weekend, with a masked mob calling for attacks on foreigners in Stockholm and clashes between pro- and anti-migrant demonstrators in the British town of Dover.

In Sweden, nearly 100 men gathered Friday night in the capital, handing out leaflets calling for attacks on migrants, Stockholm police spokesman Albin Naverberg told CNN.

Some of the men were wearing black clothes and masks, he said.

Reports of attacks on people from immigrant backgrounds surfaced in Swedish media and on social media, but police said they had received no reports of assaults on civilians.

One man was arrested in an attack on a plainclothes police officer, although the officer was not seriously injured, and five others were detained for disorderly conduct, Naverberg said. All six were released Saturday morning.

Transgenders, who are striving hard to find a place in mainstream society, will soon turn entrepreneurs in Kerala with the launch of a taxi service

which will be owned and operated by them, a first in the state.

After unveiling the first Transgender Policy in the country with an aim to end societal stigma towards the Transgender community, the state government is now getting ready to launch 'Gender Taxi', owned and operated by transgenders.

The objective of 'G-Taxi' programme is to provide a better means for livelihood for the minority group and to ensure them non-discriminatory treatment in society.

The state-run Gender Park, under the Department of Social Justice, has drawn up a programme to roll out G-Taxi on the model of its successful all-women cab network She-Taxi.

The Colombian national health institute has revealed that more than 2,100 pregnant women in the country have been infected with the mosquito borne Zika virus, as the disease continues to spread across America.

The Daily Star reported that the virus has been linked to the devastating birth defect microcephaly, which prevents foetus brains from developing properly as there is no vaccine to it.

The Government has urged women to delay pregnancy for six to eight months to avoid potential infection.

The Islamic State terror group has warned Britain of an attack more severe than the Paris assaults, saying the country will receive the "lion's share"

of the slaughter for its "declaration of war against Muslims".

In the latest edition of its Arabic newspaper 'al-Naba' (The News), ISIS warns that the UK should be prepared for an attack more severe than in Paris last November which claimed 130 lives.

According to 'The Sunday Times', the article eulogises Mohammed Emwazi, the British murderer dubbed Jihadi John who was killed by a US drone strike.

It said "his words will never die" and that his message of slaughter did not end "with the blood of the soldiers of the caliphate who sent it to France in their own special way".

Britain will receive the "lion's share" of the slaughter "in response to its declaration of war against the Muslims", the group said in reference to last month's UK Parliament vote on airstrikes against ISIS in Syria.

The inquiry committee, set up by Uttarakhand government to examine the controversial infertility medicine produced by Ramdev's pharmacy, has

submitted its report which is "not in favour" of the Yoga Guru.

The state government had formed the three-member committee last year to probe 'Putrajeevak Beej', an ayuvedic product which allegedly promises a male child.

The report has been sent to Uttarakhand Chief Minister Harish Rawat and will be submitted to the Union government after he gives the go ahead, state's Principal Secretary, Health, Om Prakash, said.

"The inquiry report on Putrajeevak medicine is not in favour of Ramdev. The report has been sent to Chief Minister Harish Rawat," Prakash said, while refusing to divulge the details.

Vice Admiral Sunil Lanba today took charge as the Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief of the Western Naval Command from Vice Admiral S P S Cheema at a ceremonial parade held here.

Rediff.com columnist and BharatShakti.in Nitin Gokhale notes that the vice admiral will have four months at the Western Naval Command before he takes over as the Chief of the Naval Staff.

Calling the personnel who participated in the parade as his 'ship mates', Vice Admiral Cheema expressed his gratitude to all personnel of the command for their support and their dedicated efforts in the functioning of the command.

Recounting his service, he said he has seen many changes in the Indian Navy in terms of technology, quality of manpower and resources.

Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin spied on 'Chairman' Mao Zedong and other world leaders in the 1940s by analysing their excrement to construct psychological portraits, a former Soviet agent has claimed.

Former Soviet agent Igor Atamanenko claims to have uncovered this unusual project while doing research in the archives of the Russian secret services. The secret lab was headed by Stalin's henchman Lavrenti Beria.

Under this, special toilets were allegedly installed for the Chinese Communist Party leader Mao to use when he visited Moscow for 10 days in December 1949.

During those 10 days, Mao was piled with food and drink and his waste products whisked off for analysis.

At least 12 people were killed on Sunday in a double bomb blast near the Shiite shrine of Sayyida Zeinab, south of the Syrian capital Damascus, a monitor said.

Dozens more were wounded in the blasts, one of which was caused by a car bomb, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor said.

The monitor had initially reported eight deaths in the blasts.

It said the cause of the second blast was not immediately clear.

Syrian state media also reported the explosions.

A Palestinian opened fire at a checkpoint near a Jewish settlement in the West Bank today, wounding three Israelis before being shot dead, officials said, the latest in four months of violence.

The Israeli army said a shooting attack had occurred near the Beit El settlement, close to Ramallah. Israeli medics said two of the three wounded had serious injuries.

"A gunman opened fire near Beit El, north of Jerusalem," the Israeli military said in a statement.

17:01 2.8 million cancer deaths in China in 2015

Some 2.8 million Chinese may have died of cancer in 2015 or over 7,500 deaths daily, according to a new study.

"With increasing incidence and mortality, cancer is the leading cause in China and is a major public health problem," the study in the world's most populous nation says.

It also estimated that nearly 4.3 million were diagnosed in 2015, with 12,000 new cases daily.

The figures marked a sharp rise in new diagnoses. Figures released in 2013 estimated that there were 3.12 million new diagnoses and over two million deaths in 2012.

BBC presenter Terry Wogan, host of Britain's flagship television chatshow in the 1980s and of Eurovision over three decades, died of cancer today aged 77, his family announced.

"Sir Terry Wogan died today after a short but brave battle with cancer. He passed away surrounded by his family," said a family statement.

Irish-born Wogan had a successful television career and hosted a hugely popular radio show for 27 years, retiring in 2009.

China today hit out at US' "irresponsible" move to send a warship near a disputed island in the strategic South China Sea to challenge its sovereignty, warning that America's deliberate provocations would have

"extremely dangerous consequences" to regional stability.

The Chinese armed forces will take whatever measures necessary to safeguard China's sovereignty and security, no matter what provocations the US side may take, China's Defense Ministry spokesman Yang Yujun said.

Yang's statement came hours after the USS Curtis Wilbur, a guided missile destroyer, sailed within 12 nautical miles of the Zhongjian Dao (Triton Island), part of the Xisha Islands (Paracel Islands)-- an archipelago claimed by China, Taiwan and Vietnam.

A huge cache of detonators and gelatin sticks, illegally kept in Bobbili village in the district, was seized today and two godown owners were arrested in the case, police said.

The seizure was made when police raided the two godowns, police Sub-Inspector S Naidu said.

Over 700 gelatin sticks, nearly 900 electric detonators, 4,000 non-electric detonators and 600 metres of safety fuse were seized from the godown of G Lakshmi Narayana.

Besides, about 3,273 gelatin sticks, 4,000 electric detonators and 4,100 non-electric detonators were recovered from another godown of G Tavitaiah, he said.

The future of the biggest push to date to end Syria's brutal civil war looked highly uncertain today with the main opposition group threatening to walk away before planned peace talks even begin in earnest.

Representatives from the umbrella body for mainstream opposition groups, who arrived in Geneva late yesterday, are refusing for now to enter the hoped-for talks with President Bashar al-Assad's government.

The High Negotiations Committee, set to meet with UN envoy Staffan de Mistura today, are demanding that humanitarian aid first gets through to besieged towns, that bombing of civilians ceases and that hundreds of prisoners are released.

Bernie Sanders rallied supporters in Iowa with political red meat Saturday, highlighting his ideological purity on issues of concern to liberals and saying he would not let Hillary Clinton "distort" his record.

"I am disturbed, I have to say, (that) the tone of Secretary Clinton's campaign is such that they are just bringing forth a lot of inaccurate statements regarding what I believe," Sanders told canvassers in Charles City.

Saturday night in Cedar Rapids, he really let it fly.

"I am disappointed by the tone of her campaign," he said, citing recent Clinton attacks, including criticism of him calling Planned Parenthood part of the "establishment" and repeated jabs over his gun control record.

A day after three alleged ISIS sympathizers were remanded in 10 days' NIA custody, the father of an arrested Kashmiri youth claimed that his son was "innocent" and had gone abroad for a job to support his

family.

"I am a poor man and have debt on me. My son went abroad to relieve us of the debt. He is innocent and has no connection with ISIS," Abdul Sattar Sheikh, the father of Sheikh Azhar-ul-Islam, said.

Azhar, hailing from central Kashmir's Ganderbal district, was one of the three youths, who were arrested on Friday for purportedly being on a mission to carry out terror attacks in India and some other countries.

Three people were arrested and explosives weighing 1000 kilograms were also recovered from them at Sagar in Madhya Pradesh today.

Besides the massive haul of explosives, around 132 detonators and other materials were also seized by the police.

Meanwhile, the questioning of the three men is underway.

Further details awaited.

The Islamic State group has released a video purporting to show a French-speaking jihadist threatening attacks against the West and executing so-called apostates and spies in Iraq.

The footage, posted on jihadist websites yesterday, is said to have been produced by the IS media office in Iraq's Nineveh province, and shows young men testifying to have acted against the jihadists before being shot dead execution style.

The French-speaker wears a beige mask and military fatigues and carries a handgun. Curls of blond hair can be seen below his mask.

The video appears to have been made after the November 13 Paris attacks that killed 130 people and were claimed by IS.

Datta Padsalgikar has been appointed as Mumbai's new Police Commissioner. He will take over from Javed Ahmed who retires on January 31. Ahmed will be India's Ambassador to Saudi Arabia.

Padsalgikar a 1982 batch officer will be the first Maharashtrian to take over as the Mumbai police chief after almost a decade.

Padsalgikar known to have a clean image was seen as a personal choice by Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis who went on a limb to get Padsalgikar as Mumbai.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi shared his thoughts with the nation on the 16th edition of his 'Mann Ki Baat' programme.

This edition was also the first in the year 2016.

"Mann ki Baat has bound me with you so tightly that I feel strong urge to share it with you, whatever I see or think," PM Modi told the listeners.

"Yesterday, I went to Rajghat to pay homage to revered Bapu. This event is organised every year in honour of the martyrs," Modi said.

"Today, the 'charka' of solar power is running. People are writing to me about this solar 'charka'. They write to me telling me how solar power has changed their lives. Bapu was very conscious about this fact and that is how the 'charka' has reached till here," the PM stated.

"Khadi has the power to give livelihood for crores. It is essential for Khadi to find a place in the markets of India," the PM added.

"Khadi has become a symbol, a distinct identity in itself. Even in fashion, Khadi has made a place for itself," he said.

"Yesterday, on the the occasion of Martyrs Day, I tried to reach out to as many as possible to tell them about Khadi. Our foremost values are reflected in khadi," the PM said.

The Indian Air Force hascompleted security audit of its almost 950 flying and non-flying bases in the aftermath of Pathankot terror attackand is likely to seek permission of the Defence Ministry to induct more Garud commandos.

Top sources in the Air Force said the audit, ordered after the attack on its air base in Pathankot earlier this month, has identified the chinks in the security and measures would be taken to plug them.

Asked if the Defence Security Corps, made up of retired soldiers, would be replaced with other security personnel, the sources said Garud commandos are already present at its facilities and, if needed, more will be added.

00:58 Masked gangs attack migrant children in Sweden

Dozens of masked men believed to belong to neo-Nazi gangs carried out a number of assaults on migrants in Stockholm overnight amid rising tension over immigration, Swedish police said today.

Police had beefed up their presence in the city centre, deploying anti-riot and helicopter units after learning that extremists were planning 'aggression on unaccompanied migrant minors' in the city late yesterday.

"I was passing by and saw a masked group dressed in black... start hitting foreigners. I saw three people molested,' the Aftonbladet daily quoted one witness as saying.

Police spokesman Towe Hagg said by midday police had not received any complaints of assault but one 46-year-old man was arrested after striking a plain clothed officer.

Three further people were briefly detained for public order offences and one more faces charges for carrying a knife.

As many as 100 people, their faces covered, had descended in the early evening on the Sergels Torg pedestrian square, a popular meeting point for young people, including unaccompanied migrants.

Aftonbladet quoted witnesses as saying the masked group targeted 'people of foreign appearance' and handed out leaflets urging the infliction of 'deserved punishment on children of the North African street'.

Internet site Nordfront, an online forum for the neo-Nazi SMR movement, said its 'sources' had revealed that around '100 hooligans' from the AIK and Djurgarden football clubs had gathered yesterday in order to 'sort out the criminals coming in from North Africa'.AFP

00:05 16th edition of PM's 'Mann ki Baat' today

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will share his thoughts with the nation through 'Mann ki Baat' programme today.

The 16th edition of his 'Mann ki Baat' programme will be broadcast on All India Radio at 11 am.

In his earlier 'Mann ki Baat' programmes so far, more than 61,000 ideas have been received on the website 'MyGov' and 1.43 lakh audio messages have been received.

Each month, some selected calls become a part of the broadcast.

The 'MyGov' toll free number 1800-11-78-00 has been activated for receiving ideas and suggestions from the people.

00:02 Top headlines at this hour

In HCU, Rahul compares Rohith's death to Mahatma Gandhi's killing
Top LeT commander, 2 other terrorists killed in encounter
Ex-Army chief, hero of '71 war Gen Krishna Rao passes away
Sharif: Pathankot attack hit talks, will finish probe soon
Kamduni gang rape: 3 sent to gallows, 3 get lifer
Debutant Kerber upsets record chaser Williams

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