No UPA-Left contradiction at Centre: Sonia; Karisma's husband receives extortion threat; RJD MP Shahabuddin's Delhi residence raided; President Abdul Kalam inaugurates 11th Delhi Book Fair; Militants kill father, son in Rajouri; Janmashtami celebrated with great fervour; Suspected killer of ex-Bangla Prez Gen Ziaur Rahman nabbed; Sania Mirza-- a step away from her second WTA title; Paris Hilton hell-bent on marriage; Mandy Moore floored by Hugh Grant's charm; Johnny Depp's hands too girly for a 'Pirate'; Aguilera buries the hatchet with Britney; When Reese Witherspoon nearly died by drowning; India Travel Times, Indian News, Tourism, Hotels, Airlines, Tour, Travel, Ayurveda, Yoga, Festival, Hindu, Taj Mahal, Kathakali, Dance,

Home Contact Us Dateline New Delhi, Saturday, Aug 27, 2005

No UPA-Left contradiction at Centre: Sonia

Thiruvananthapuram: Congress President and UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi has said that there was no contradiction between the UPA and the Left at the Centre, although the Congress was opposing them in Kerala. She said that the Congress required the support of the Left parties to defeat the fight communal forces at the national level, but in Kerala only the Congress-led UDF could accelerate economic growth and social harmony in the State. This was the reason why the Congress was opposing the Left in the state, she said while addressing Congress workers. "There is absolutely no contradiction in this stand as the national situation is different from the situation in the State," she said. Earlier, in the day, Sonia also inaugurated the new office building of the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC). Indirectly referring to the recent developments in the Congress within the State, she said that it was necessary for the party to remain united. She said that though there might be different perspectives on various issues, individual egos should not overwhelm the party interests. She also expressed her happiness over the success of the "Chaitanya Yatra" undertaken by KPCC President Ramesh Chennithala. ''Such programmes will help to learn directly from the people and what they expected from us," Sonia said, adding that new vigour and unity achieved by the party would help the UDF sweep the coming elections to local bodies.

Karisma's husband receives extortion threat (Go To Top)

New Delhi: The Delhi Police has registered a case following a complaint by Bollywood actress Karisma kapoor's estranged husband Sunjay Kapur that he has received extortion threats via e-mail on Friday evening, demanding 50 crore rupees. "We have registered a case and are carrying out investigations," Joint Commissioner of Police (Special Cell) Karnal Singh said today. The noted industrialist Kapur said in his complaint that he has been receiving these threats regularly from anonymous callers from last few weeks. However, initially, he ignored them, took the matter seriously after receiving an e-mail, in which Sunjay was clearly warned that he would be killed, if not paid the money. The e-mail also told Kapur that he could inform the police at his own peril. Kapur has not named anybody in his complaint. Police sources admitted the possibility of involvement of any person who knows Sunjay but refused to link the matter with Karisma, saying that it will be to early to say anything. Kapur, currently involved in a quarrel with actress Karisma Kapoor over the custody of their five-months old daughter Samiara, had petitioned the Delhi High Court seeking to prevent his wife from taking Samiara out of the country, following which Karisma has filed an affidavit accusing Sunjay of 'deserting' her. "Sunjay has made no financial contribution to the upkeep of the child and the prenatal, delivery and postnatal care of the mother," she said. Sanjay Kapur has urged a court to authorise him as the natural guardian of his and his estranged wife's 4-month-old daughter. The court issued an interim order saying Samiara could not travel overseas without her father's permission. Karisma had stopped acting two years ago after marrying Delhi based businessman Sunjay Kapur. She was married to Kapur after breaking off an engagement with Bollywood leading man Abhishek Bachchan.

RJD MP Shahabuddin's Delhi residence raided (Go To Top)

New Delhi: The official residence of Rashtriya Janata Dal Member of Parliament from Siwan, Mohammad Shahabuddin, was today raided by a team of Bihar Police to arrest him in regard to his involvement in numerous criminal cases. However, Siwan Superintendent of Police Sanjay Singh told reporters that Shahabuddin could not be arrested as he was not found in his residence during the raid. A special police team from Bihar had been camping in Delhi to execute the non-bailable arrest warrant against Shahabuddin. Eight warrants of arrests were pending against the MP in connection with different cases including murder, kidnapping and possession of illegal arms. It is believed that the raid was carried out following the strict stand taken by the Election Commission at the meeting with top Bihar officials on their visit to Patna on Thursday. It is feared that Shahabuddin would escape arrest here and go to Siwan and make attempts to surrender before the Court there to gain political advantage. Meanwhile, cases have been instituted Shahabuddin, his wife, brother and father on charges of not depositing their arms despite cancellation of their license by former District Magistrate of Siwan C K Anil. By not surrendering their arms, they would be committing an offence under the Arms Act of 1959. Earlier this year, the controversial MP's ancestral home in Siwan was also raided by the Bihar police where they had seized arms and ammunition from his home.

President Abdul Kalam inaugurates 11th Delhi Book Fair (Go To Top)

New Delhi: Books are your best friends - The thought was connoted by President APJ Abdul Kalam here today, who advocated the setting up of 'Village Knowledge Centres' to encourage reading habits in children. Inaugurating the 11th Delhi Book Fair here, the President said that the establishment of 'village knowledge centres', which would become helpdesks, confidence builders and e-governance nodal points for empowering villagers, should be the focus of Rural Development Ministry. "India has approximately 2.3 lakh village panchayats. I visualise establishment of village knowledge centers in these Panchayats to empower villagers with knowledge and to act as a nodal centre for knowledge connectivity," Kalam said, adding that through such centres demand for books and reading habits will increase. The nine-day Delhi Book Fair is held in hall numbers 8-12 and 12-A at the Pragati Maidan. Germany is the theme of the Book Fair, even as India is set to be the theme of the Frankfurt Book Fair next year.

Militants kill father, son in Rajouri (Go To Top)

Rajouri: Militants stormed a village home in Rajouri, in Jammu and Kashmir and killed two people besides critically wounding a teenaged boy, said police officials on Saturday. Officials said that militants had targeted Nisar Hussain, a farmer, for allegedly being an informer of the Indian police and armed forces in the state. Officials said that the militants barged into Hussain's house late on Friday, covering their faces and dragged him out. Hussian and his 22-year-old son were killed as they tried to resist the militants, while the younger son sustained serious bullet injuries. "The militants wanted to pull Nisar Hussian outside, but the children resisted on which they fired. Hussian died on the spot, his elder son died while on way to hospital," said JP Singh, Superintendent of Police, Rajouri. Police suspect the outlawed Hizbul Mujahideen to be behind the attack and denied allegations that Hussian was a police informer. "We believe that it is the handiwork of the Hizbul Mujahideen and its allies, they are known to kill innocent people. They slap arbitrary allegations on the victims. I want to make one thing clear that Nizar Hussanin, who was killed, had absolutely no link with the security forces, nor was he an informer," Singh added. The incident comes a day after 15 people, including three soldiers, were wounded when militants threw five grenades at different places surrounding Srinagar. Separatist violence has continued in the Himalayan state despite a peace process between India and Pakistan.

Janmashtami celebrated with great fervour (Go To Top)

Mumbai/Indore: People across India celebrated Janmashtami with great fervour on Saturday to mark the birthday of Lord Krishna. In Mumbai, young men and women formed huddles and climbed as high as 40 feet to break the "matka" a pot filled with milk to mark the occasion. The jig, attended by hundreds of people, is an annual feature in fond memory of Krishna's love for fresh butter. "We have been practising for the past two months. We exercised a lot so that we can be fit," said Prashant, a local. In Indore, jail inmates celebrated the festival with full vigour, as it is believed that Lord Krishna was born inside a jail. "Lord Krishna was born in a jail and so we thought of celebrating it. We are happy to celebrate it," said Abdul Kadir, a jail inmate. According to Hindu mythology, Krishna is the eighth incarnation of Lord Vishnu, the Preserver and one of the trinities of the Hindu pantheon, the other two being Lord Brahma, the Creator and Lord Shiva, the Destroyer. Krishna is believed to have taken human form to destroy an evil king called Kansa, who ruled some parts of the northern India with Mathura as his capital. Krishna's imprisoned parents had to smuggle out the child born at midnight to save him from Kansa. Vasudev, Krishna's father, carried his newborn child in a reed basket and left him in the care of another couple at `Gokul'-- far away from his birthplace Mathura. Thus, Janmashtami is celebrated on two consecutive days, the first is the day when Krishna was actually born, and the second, when he reached Gokul.

Suspected killer of ex-Bangla Prez Gen Ziaur Rahman nabbed (Go To Top)
by Nazrul Islam

Dhaka: Bangladesh's elite anti-crime force, Rapid Action Battalion, on Friday picked up a former army officer, believed to have been involved in the assassination of ex- president General Ziaur Rahman, from the country's capital, 24 years after the incident. The RAB has claimed the detainee as Major Mozaffar Hossain, who fled the country immediately after the killing of Ziaur Rahman on May 30, 1981, and was later sentenced to death by a military court. But his family members contradicted the RAB statement saying it was a case of mistaken identity. They have said that the detainee was Moynul Islam, a retired major of the Bangladesh Army. However, a top army official, talking to Asian News International, confirmed that the detainee was indeed Major Ziaur Rahman, the founder of Bangladesh Nationalist Party, was assassinated by a group of army officers at the Chittagong Circuit House on the night of May 30, 1981. A murder case was lodged with the Kotwali Police Station in Chittagong on June 1, accusing 10 army officers, including Major General MA Manzur, the then general officer commanding of Chittagong Cantonment. General Manzur was killed, reportedly while fleeing after the failed coup. All accused were sentenced to death by a martial law tribunal, and were hanged except Major Mozaffar and Major Khaled, who fled the country. The case, filed with the Kotwali Thana, was disposed of by the court in September 2001, 20 years after the assassination.

Sania Mirza-- a step away from her second WTA title (Go To Top)

New York: Teenage tennis star Sania Mirza has reached the final of the Forest Hills Women's Tennis Classic in New York. She is now just a step away from winning her second WTA tour title. In the title clash, which will be played later today, Sania will play against the world number 65 Lucie Safarnova of the Czech Republic. In the semi-final, the 19-year-old Hyderabadi beat the 462nd ranked Alexa Glatch of America in straight sets 6-4, 6-4. Sania, who was out of action for two weeks due to stomach strain, is seeded third in the US$ 75,000 event. Earlier in the tournament, the top seeded Akiko Morigami of Japan and the second seeded Anna Smashnova of Israel had crashed out in the first round of this Tier 4 event. If Sania manages to win the final, it would be her second WTA title of this year as well as of her career. She had won her first WTA title, Hyderabad Open, in February this year, where she had beaten Ukraine's Alyona Bondarenko in the final following her historic performance in the Australian Open where she became the first Indian woman to enter the third round of a Grand Slam. In the other semi-final match, Lucie Safarova beat the 54th ranked compatriot Iveta Benesova. Her performance here would also be a great moral booster for her before the year's last Grand Slam the US Open where she is drawn to play 56th ranked Mashona Washington of USA. The US Open is scheduled to be played from August 29 to September 11.

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