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Walt Disney CEO meets PM

     New Delhi: Walt Disney CEO Michael D Eisner met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh here today. Eisner and the Chief Operating Officer of Walt Disney Robert Iger had earlier met president Dr A P J Abdul Kalam on Monday. Disney, the leading children's entertainment company has recently launched two channels aimed at interacting and entertaining kids. Walt Disney is planning to diversify its operations in India and construct one of Disney theme parks in the country. Eisner's India visit is aimed at testing the ground in India, which is being considered as a lucrative potential growth market for the company.

Next Ramakrishna Mission president after May 7
by Sutirtha Sanyal

     New Delhi: The Ramakrishna Mission Holy Order, which lost its 13th president Swami Ranganathananda, aged 96, will choose his successor after 13 days on May 7. Sources said that a special hawan would be held on May 7, and only after that the holy order would begin deliberations on choosing a successor. Sources said that till such time a new president is selected, the three vice presidents and one General Secretary will carry on the duties of the president, adding that normally one of the three vice presidents is chosen as president, though "there have been exceptions".

19 undertrials escape from Hazaribagh district jail (Go To Top)

     Ranchi: At least 19 undertrials escaped from the Jai Prakash Narayan Central Jail in Jharkhand's Hazaribagh district, which is represented by former External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha. Five persons were also injured in the ensuing melee, which was activated when unidentified attackers hurled bombs and opened fire in the district and sessions court here today. As 41 prisoners from Jai Prakash Narayan Central Jail were about to board a prison van after being produced in the court, the attackers hurled three bombs and opened indiscriminate firing injuring three policemen, Hazaribagh Superintendent of Police Ashish Batra told reporters. Police opened retaliatory fire on the attackers and the prisoners who were trying to flee the scene in the melee. While 19 prisoners escaped, two of them sustained serious injuries, he said. The injurd were admitted to Hazaribagh Sadar Hospital. A search operation was launched by the district police to track down the criminals, who came suspectedly from Nalanda in Bihar in three four-wheeler, and the escaped prisoners, he said.

Shahabuddin's supporters blame Siwan DM, SP  (Go To Top)
by Arunoday Prakash

     Siwan: Supporters of controversial RJD MP Mohammad Shahabuddin today staged a dharna in Siwan to protest what they call the atrocities of the district administration on the MP. The President of Siwan's District Board and staunch Shahabuddin supporter, Lilawati Giri, called the DM and the SP of Siwan as mentally sick. While some sources said that the dharna, which was staged near the Jai Prakash Chowk-the place where the former JNU president Chandrashekhar was killed- saw a very thin attendance, the RJD activists said that there were a large number of people at the dharna site. The District Board chief of Siwan said that the District Magistrate of Siwan, C.K.Anil and the Superintendent of Police Ratna Sanjay are are after the MPs life. She said that they have made it a point to harass the MP, for reasons better known to them. "We all are with our MP, whole of Siwan is behind him like a rock. We will die for him, perish for him. Both the DM and SP are just harassing the MP," said Giri. The dharna saw two of Rabri cabinet ministers, close to Shahabuddin, being present there. Former Ministers Awadh Bihari Chaudhary and Ejaz-ul-Haq were present at the dharna site. However, the district RJD chief, Pashupati Nath Pathak, was conspicuous by his absence. "We were there in a huge numbers. Awadh Bihari and Ejaz-ul were also there. However, the RJD chief of the district was unable to come as he is not well,' said Giri. "Whatever the DM and the SP are doing is not right, they are not above the law. We would continue our protest, we have with us the support of whole of the district," she said. While Giri claimed that around 5,000 tuned out during the dharna, another source on the basis of anonymity said that the number was hardly around 200. "Times have changed. The same Shahabuddin's nomination rally saw more than 75,000 people. But today there were hardly 200 people over there. All are afraid of the district administration. MPs days are not good," said the source.

Huge cache of arms seized in Delhi encounter (Go To Top)

     New Delhi: Police have recovered two kg of RDX, two foreign made pistols, one AK-56 rifle, one satellite phone, four detonators and two long-duration timers from the Maruti car that belonged to the terrorists killed in last night's encounter near Pragati Maidan. Two voters' ID-cards bearing the names Mansoor Ahmed Khan and Mohd Amin Bhat were recovered from them. The IDs were found to be issued from Kishtwar in Doda, J&K. However, their actual names are yet to be ascertained. "The diary has a reference to one Osama and Sabir from Sialkot, but the election ID procured from them tells another tale," said Karnail Singh, Joint Commissioner of Police, Special Cell. The Delhi Police killed two suspected Lashkar-e-Toiba terrorists in an encounter in central Delhi on Monday. The encounter took place near Pragati Maidan at 9.30 pm after the Special Cell of the Delhi Police, acting on a tip-off, chased the militants. They had reportedly come to exchange an arms consignment. "We had received information in April that LeT was making its base in New Delhi. So our team started working on these basis. Then later we came to know that a Pakistani militant has also arrived", said Singh. "We got to know everything by technical observation. We came to know that they will be there around 9.15 pm and we came to know about the car number also by technical observation. We spotted them on the main road and followed them into a by lane. When they fired at us, we fired back. The militants died in this exchange of fire. They were declared dead at the hospital," said Karnail Singh. This is the second such encounter in the last two months. Earlier, three Pakistani militants were shot dead while they were planning to carry out a suicide attack at the Indian Military Academy at Dehra Dun.

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