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37 fall ill due to food poisoning in Jabalpur

     Jabalpur: Police have arrested seven persons, in charge of serving food at a Jabalpur college hostel mess after at least 37 people, including students fell ill after consuming contaminated food. Police said the caterers used adulterated oil and spices for dinner, which was served to the students and their guardians. The students have been admitted to city hospital and are being treated. Doctors have said their condition is stable. "We got information that few people were taken ill after having dinner at the mess. They have been admitted to hospitals and are being treated. The investigations are on," said Srinivas Rai, Superintendent of Police, Jabalpur. Most of the students complained of stomach pain and vomiting after consuming rice and vegetable curry. "We had hired a caterer. We used to call him Bhaijan. He used to cook for other hostels also," said Anil Kumar, student's coordinator. Police has said the samples of the food served to the students have been sent for investigation.

10,000 Pakistani beggars in Mecca-Medina (Go To Top)

     Islamabad: A large number of beggars from Pakistan can be seen flocking the streets of Jeddah, Mecca and Medina these days, with the holy month of Ramazan having set in, and rich Muslim families from the Middle East expected to visit the twin cities (Mecca-Medina). According to rough estimates, there are nearly 10,000 Pakistani beggars who have sneaked into these cities by falsely representing themselves as devotees to offer Umra. The menace has reached such a magnitude that a high-level meeting has been convened in Islamabad next week to devise methods to check the ill-practice and bring the visitors-turned-beggars back home. Once back, they would be interrogated, the sources said, adding that the Saudi envoy in Pakistan, Ali Saeed Awadh Asseri would also attend the meeting.

    According to The News, these beggars sneak into Mecca-Medina with the help of an international 'beggary mafia', showing themselves as couples on travel documents, and disappear to beg under the pretext of being looted or emotionally narrating tales of being victims of some horrible accident that deprived them their belongings. Since a large number of devotees visit the holy land during Ramadan with most of them belonging to well-off families, the beggars succeed in securing huge amounts of cash, the paper added. Quoting sources, the report further said that though the ill- practice had been going on for the last many years, this time the number of beggars from Pakistan had reached unprecedented levels, with most of them being illegal immigrants. They can be easily identified from their dress since they wear Shalwar Kameez, said the paper.

Bin Laden plans another 9/11: ex-CIA official (Go To Top)

     Washington: Former CIA official Michael Scheuer, who headed the "bin Laden unit" in the intelligence agency, has said that though the Saudi-born fugitive was keeping a low profile, he was still powerful, and would remain in hiding until he staged another lethal attack on the US like 9/11. "As soon as he hits us in the US again, we'll see how important he is in the Islamic world. We mistake quiet for defeat or irrelevance.......and all quiet is disquiet," The News quoted Scheuer, who retired in one year ago, as saying. Scheuer, who unsuccessfully tracked the terror mastermind for nearly two decades, said that bin Laden's right-hand-man Ayman al-Zawahiri seemed to have temporarily taken over the Al-Qaeda leadership apparently for the boss (Osama) to prepare for another US strike. The ex-CIA official, who is known as a fierce critic of the Bush administration and its "War on Terror" policy, shrugged off the reports that the al-Qaeda chief was isolated and his communication network was shattered due to a relentless hunt for him.

Saurav Ganguly's cricket academy opens (Go To Top)
by Ajitha Menon

     Kolkata: Indian cricket captain Saurav Ganguly launched his state-of-the-art cricket academy in Kolkata on Wednesday evening, saying that he would be actively involved in its operations and its growth. The Videocon School of Cricket academy was inaugurated by West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya. Speaking before the media, Bhattacharya urged Ganguly to take out time to groom youngsters in the nuances of the game. "You are no doubt the captain of India, but you are a citizen of Kolkata. You have to take some responsibility out of your busy schedule. You are moving all over the world, running the team. I know your responsibility, but you have to give inputs, some thought, some concepts on how to work along on this cricket school," he said. "Well, as you have heard from the Chief Minister that he wants that I should help few boys whenever I am free, and of course I will do that whenever I am free," he said. The `Prince of Kolkata' played a perfect host of the evening as he egged on young and upcoming cricketers to take full advantage of the academy. Ganguly's cricket school has come up on a five-acre plot of land provided by the city's Metropolitan Development Authority and will initially take in 700 students.