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Two prisoners commit suicide in Agra jail
by Brajesh Kumar

     Agra: Irritated prisoners attacked police men in Agra jail, after two prisoners identified as Kuldeep and Aslam were found dead inside their jail quarters this morning. A suicide note has been recovered from one of the deceased, in which he alleged the jail administration of harassment. The angry prisoners started protesting and soughting slogans against the jail officials following which, an exchange of firing took place between them and policemen there. The prisoners handed over the dead bodies to the administration, only after the district magistrate and the superintendent of police reached the site. Three jail officials have been suspended and a high level probe has been ordered into the incident. However, jail officials say that only one out of the two was a suicide. The other prisoner died due to an illness. A probe has been ordered in both cases. According to reports, a huge amount of mobile phones and weapons have also been recovered from the jail during a search of the premises.

Coast Guard rescues five Lankan fishermen (Go To Top)

     Chennai: India's Coast Guard has rescued five Sri Lankan fishermen after their boat developed an engine snag on the high seas. According to official sources, the five fishermen had left Sri Lanka's Trincomalee Harbour on August 28, and they were discovered after 20 days of remaining adrift on the high seas. They said that they had been caught in a severe cyclonic storm in the Bay of Bengal. Following an SOS from the Sri Lankan authorities, the Coast Guard ship "Varaha" sailed into the sea and located the estranged boat 172 nautical miles east-south east of Chennai. The fishermen have been identified as Lesley Kuraka , Guna Rathna , Veera Singh , Guwan Pathikar and Sarath. Kuraka thanked Indian officials for their timely help. "Last month, 28th, we five people left from Trincomalee in Sri Lanka for fishing in the sea unfortunately due to the heavy storm we crossed the Indian border. The Indian coast guard officials saved our lives, we are thankful to them," Kuraka said. All five have since been handed over to the Sri Lankan consulate in Chennai.

50 feared dead in Pakistan head-on bus collision (Go To Top)

     Hyderabad (Pakistan): More than 50 passengers were feared dead early near Hyderabad city in Pakistan on Sunday morning, when two buses carrying devotees collided head-on while swerving to save a car. The incident occurred at Indus Highway near Manjhan and Khanote. Latest reports reaching here said that all the deceased were charred alive, after the two buses caught fire after the collision. Quoting a Geo TV report, The News reported that 40-50 passengers were feared dead. According to the report, one bus was going to Dadu from Karachi, while the other was coming to Hyderabad from Sehwan. Eyewitnesses said both the buses were overloaded and passengers were sitting on roofs. Those on the top saved themselves by jumping from the buses, but passengers inside the buses could not come out and burnt alive.

Bush to visit India, Pakistan early next year (Go To Top)

     Washington: US President George Bush is likely to visit Afghanistan, Pakistan, India and Bangladesh, early next year, perhaps in February. This would be his first ever visit to South Asia. Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf and Indian Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh had extended invitations to Bush when they met him in New York on the sidelines of the UN Summit earlier this month. The US President is learnt to have accepted both the invitations and agreed to undertake the visit on mutually agreed dates soon. Quoting highly placed diplomatic sources in the US State Department, The News reported here that Washington was getting engaged with the Capitals of India, Pakistan and Afghanistan to work out the dates for the maiden visit of the US president. They added that the visit would take place before March. According to the paper, Pakistan's Ambassador to the US Jehangir Karamat confirmed the visit, saying that the schedule was yet to be discussed. During his visit to Islamabad, Bush is expected to be urging the leaders in Pakistan for holding the general elections, to be held in 2007, in a fair and transparent manner for the sake of sustainable democracy in the country.