13/7 Mumbai blasts case cracked

13/7 Mumbai blasts case cracked, 2 from Bihar arrested: ATS

Maharashtra ATS on Monday claimed to have made a major breakthrough in the July 13 triple blasts in the city last year that claimed 27 lives, with the arrest of two of the accused hailing from Bihar.

Naqi Ahmed Wasi Ahmed Sheikh (22) and Nadeem Akhtar Ashfaq Sheikh (23) were arrested on January 12 but the mastermind of the crime Yasin Bhatkal, a top Indian Mujahideen operative, and the planters of the IEDs used in the blasts are still evading arrest, Anti-Terrorism Squad chief Rakesh Maria told reporters.

Maria said while Naqi came to Mumbai in September 2010, Nadeem, his co-villager, from Bihar's Darbhanga district, was living in Antop Hill area of the city.

Naqi, according to Maria, came in touch with Ahmed Zarar Siddibappa alias Yasin Bhatkal alias Imran in 2008.

He said Nadeem was called to Delhi by Bhatkal and handed over a cloth packet containing the explosive and detonators used in the blast that was handed over to Naqi.

Naqi, he said, was given Rs 1.5 lakh by Bhatkal as commission for the crime in which at least Rs 10 lakh, received through hawala channels, was used. He said Naqi and Nadeem had stolen two Activa scooters that were used for carrying out the explosions. Two motorcycles also stolen by them and kept for future use have also been recovered from Bihar.

Rubbishing media reports that Naqi was innocent and that he was being tortured in police custody, Maria said he was aware of Bhatkal antecedents.

Naqi not only assisted Bhatkal in scouting for an apartment in Habib Building in Byculla but also paid the money for accommodation, the ATS chief said.

Maria said while Bhatkal and two others, who had planted the explosives and whose names he refused to divulge lest it would hamper investigations, were eluding the police dragnet, another accused in the case--Haroon Rashid Naik--had already been arrested by ATS in a counterfeit currency case.

Naik, he said, had been arrested in August last year and ATS would on Monday seek a transfer warrant for him from the court. "We need the custody of Naik from Mumbra for investigation of economic trail and conspiracy in the case," he said.

Maria trashed media reports that Bhatkal was in the city for several months after the blasts and that he was to visit the landlady of the Byculla apartment when he got the whiff of impending action by Mumbai police due to lack of coordination between Delhi police's special cell and Maharashtra ATS and escaped.

Cyclone Thane in TamilNadu Updates

Cyclone Thane kills 33 in southern India

Cyclone Thane, with a wind speed of 140 kilometers (85 miles) per hour, has lashed the coastal districts of southern India, killing at least 33 people.

The cyclone ripped through the coast between Cuddalore city in Tamil Nadu state and the union territory of Pondicherry on Friday, according to India's National Disaster Management Authority.

Officials say the deaths have been mostly due to building collapses and electrocution caused by heavy rainfall and strong winds, which have uprooted trees and power lines.

Cuddalore is the worst-hit region, with an estimated 5,000 fishermen's homes damaged.

The bad weather has also affected trains and flights in the region.

The cyclones that form frequently over the Bay of Bengal bring widespread destruction and flooding to India's southern and eastern coasts.

Sleeping pills can be fatal

A recent study found those who took sleeping tablets were 36 percent more likely to die at any given time than others.

In the study American researchers focused on a brain enzyme called calcium kinase, which controls sleep in humans, said researcher Fiona Macrae, Daily Mail reported.

In an experiment conducted by the researchers, a drug was given to mice that stopped the enzyme to work in the brain and making the animal sleep more.

Encouragingly, the doses used were minimal, a study in the Journal of Neuroscience reported.

"Sleep, one of the most mysterious regular shifts in consciousness, is regulated by a delicate balance between biological processes, the environment and behaviour, but the mechanisms involved in the regulation are not well understood," said Subimal Datta, researcher, Boston University.

"Current treatments for sleep disorders do not achieve the ideal behavioural outcome, and are usually accompanied by many undesirable side effects," he said.

"A more specific, fine-tuned approach to treating these disorders by promoting alertness and treating insomnia would greatly benefit public health," he added.

Lack of sleep is linked to a host of health problems, from heart disease and memory loss to diabetes.

Fire at Paragon footwear factory: Bangalore

Paragon footwear factory at Peenya here was engulfed in a massive fire on Friday September 30.

As per reports, 13 fire engines have been rushed to the spot. The incident occured at around 3 pm.

Firefighters are struggling to douse the fire, and even after three hours, the fire is yet to be brought under control, it is learnt.

The factory had several stocks of PVC materials used in footwear.

No casualty has been reported as yet.

Peenya is an industrial area in Bangalore which houses factories of several well-known companies.

Lease of life to Rajiv Gandhi's killers

Madras HC gives lease of life to Rajiv Gandhi's killers

The Madras high court on Tuesday stayed for eight weeks the hanging of the three convicts sentenced to death for conspiring to assassinate former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi.

Hearing the petitions filed by Murugan alias Sriharan, T Suthendraraja alias Santhan and AG Perarivalan
alias Arivu that their death sentence be commuted, the high court ordered an interim stay on the hanging pending disposal of the case.

The court has ordered notice to the union government returnable in eight weeks.

On Aug 11, President Pratibha Patil rejected the mercy petitions of Murugan, Santhan and Perarivalan - all linked to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) - and sentenced them to death for their involvement in Gandhi's 1991 assassination.

Rajiv Gandhi, who was prime minister 1984-89, was killed by a suicide bomber called Dhanu at an election rally in Sriperumbudur near Chennai May 21.

Fourteen other people also lost their lives in the blast.

The three condemned prisoners, who were due to hang September 9, had on Monday moved the high court to commute their sentence to life imprisonment.

Arguing for Perarivalan, senior counsel Ram Jethmalani said the clemency petition was rejected by the President after 11 years and the delay is prima facie wrong.

He said a notice seeking explanation for the delay should be sent.

Urging speedy disposal of mercy petitions, Jethmalani had said earlier that if there was a delay of two years, then the death sentence would be commuted to life imprisonment. This provision was later changed.

70,000 children infected by HIV in India

An estimated 70,000 children are infected with HIV in the country and the ailment is caused to most of them by parent-to-child-transmission (PTCT), according to a recent finding by the National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO).

Participants of a UNICEF-state AIDS Prevention and Control Society seminar in Kolkata said, quoting NACO estimates, that a small proportion of these children are infected by unsafe injections and blood transfusions.

"UNICEF supports the government in its effort to halt and reverse the HIV/AIDS outbreak in India to reduce the transmission of HIV from infected mothers to their children," the country chief of UNICEF, HIV and AIDS, Ivonne Camaroni told on the sidelines of the seminar on Thursday.

With 21,000 children infected every year through PTCT, the UNICEF wanted to provide strategic supplies of drugs and commodities, improve the capacity of staff by developing innovative communication approaches for prevention and care and helping to improve monitoring and reporting systems.

The possible factors behind infection of children were mother-to-child transmission, blood transfusion and HIV positive mothers not having availed prevention facility during pregnancy, Camaroni said.

37 feared killed in Assam bus accident

Assam wedding bus crash leaves 27 dead

A wedding celebration turned into a mourning in Assam when a bus carrying the groom and 42 more people plunged into a gorge after hitting a wooden bridge, officials said Tuesday.

A total of 37 people have been feared killed, but six survived miraculously.

The accident occurred around 11 p.m. Monday near Charabari village in Kamrup district, about 30 km off Assam's main city of Guwahati.

The bus was on its way from Guwahati to Tihu in Nalbari district.

"The marriage rituals at the bride's home in Tihu were to take place early Tuesday, and the bus was on its way with the groom when the accident took place," Police Officer A. Das said.

The dead included the groom and their relatives.

Rescue workers have so far managed to fish out 28 bodies and efforts are on to recover more bodies.

According to witnesses, the driver failed to notice the wooden bridge without any railings or signposts and the bus plunged into the deep gorge.

"Six people were rescued by locals and admitted to hospitals, while 28 bodies have been recovered so far," the police officer said.

Meanwhile, the Assam government has ordered an enquiry into the accident.

"We have already ordered an enquiry to find out why the wooden bridge had no railings or signposts alerting drivers about the bad condition of the bridge," Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi said.

"Immediate steps are being taken to make a concrete bridge there. Besides, a statewide alert has been sounded to look for such vulnerable bridges that need urgent repair or attention," he added.

Gogoi also announced a compensation of Rs.100,000 each to the next of kin of those killed and Rs.50,000 each to the six injured.

Locals, however, accused the district and police authorities of failing to react promptly after the accident.

"The NDRF (National Disaster Response Force) was informed around 11 p.m. and they arrived at the accident site only around 7 a.m. Tuesday, saying they don't have night vision equipment and hence came in the morning," local community leader Bhabesh Bora told IANS.

Pakistan suicide bomb attack

35 killed in northwest Pakistan suicide bomb attack

The death toll in a devastating suicide car bomb attack in northwest Pakistan on Friday rose to 36 as more bodies were pulled out of the rubble of buildings that collapsed when the attacker detonated his explosives-laden vehicle in a congested area of Hangu city.

Two more bodies were retrieved from the debris today, officials in Hangu said. At least 10 policemen were among the dead.

Over 50 people were injured in the deadly attack carried out by the Pakistani Taliban to avenge the killing of Osama bin Laden in a US raid on May 2.

The bomber detonated his explosives near several government offices and a court complex in the heart of Hangu city of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province.

Deputy Inspector General of Police Masood Afridi said an estimated 450 kg of explosives was used in the attack.

The condition of several of the injured is critical and officials said they feared the death toll may rise further.

The powerful blast severely damaged several government buildings, including the offices of the district police chief and the district administration chief.

Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan spokesman Ahsanullah Ahsan accepted responsibility for this attack in phone calls to reporters.

He warned the Taliban would soon carry out "bigger attacks" as revenge for bin Laden's killing.

Cities across Pakistan have witnessed a string of deadly attacks in the wake of the al-Qaida chief's death.

Blind ‘can develop bat-like sonar’

It’s well-known that bats use a biological version of sonar, called echolocation, to find their way around at night. That blind humans could do it too was suspected but not known. Now, Canadian researchers have proved that they can.

In ray of hope for the blind, a research has found that visually challenged people can develop “sonar”, that is, learning to navigate like bats by “seeing” objects from sounds reflected off them.

It’s well-known that bats use a biological version of sonar, called echolocation, to find their way around at night.

That blind humans could do it too was suspected but not known. Now, Canadian researchers have proved that they can.

Intriguingly, they did so by using a part of the brain normally involved in processing visual images. They discovered this by carrying out brain scans on two male volunteers, aged 43 and 27, who had both been blind since childhood.

Each was asked to stand outside and try to perceive different objects such as a car, a flag pole and a tree by making clicking noises and then picking up their very faint echoes. Tiny microphones were placed in the volunteers’ ears to record the outgoing and incoming sounds.

The men later had these sounds played back to them, while their brain activity was monitored using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scans. During playback, they were able to identify which object was which from the echoes.

The fMRI scans showed that these echoes were being processed by brain regions normally used to process visual information; no echo-related activity was seen in the auditory brain areas, which would be expected to process sound, ‘The Daily Telegraph’ reported.

The 43-year-old, who’s lost his sight earlier, performed better. His eyes were removed at 13 months due to a rare cancer called retinoblastoma. The same test on sighted people showed no ability to echolocate, and no echo-related activity in their visual brain regions.

Dr Mel Goodale from the University of Western Ontario, led the study, said: “It is clear that echolocation enables blind people to do things that are otherwise thought to be impossible without vision, and in this way it can provide blind and vision-impaired people with a high degree of independence in their daily lives.”

The study has been published in the ‘Public Library of Science One’ journal.

Rupee gains 12 paise versus dollar

The Indian rupee gained another 12 paise to Rs. 45.18 per US dollar in early trade on Friday on sustained selling of dollars by banks and exporters amid dollar weakness overseas and firm domestic equity markets.

At the Interbank Foreign Exchange, the domestic unit opened higher at 45.19/20 per dollar as against Thursday’s closing level of 45.30/32 per dollar and improved further to 45.18 before quoting at 45.24/25 per dollar at 10.30 a.m.

It hovered in a range between 45.18 and 45.25 per dollar in morning deals.

Sustained selling of dollars by banks and exporters amid dollar weakness overseas and firm equity markets mainly boosted the rupee value against the dollar, a forex dealer said.

The euro rose against the dollar yesterday on the back of a report that China and other Asian investors are interested in buying Portuguese bailout bonds.

Meanwhile, oil was higher in Asian trade today as the U.S. currency weakened against the euro, boosting investor appetite for dollar-priced commodities, including crude, analysts said.

New York’s main contract, light sweet crude for July delivery, gained 29 cents to $100.52 a barrel.

IIT-JEE results 2011

IIT-JEE 2011 results declared

The much awaited results of Joint Entrance Exam-2011 for admissions to various courses in the 15 IITs, IT-BHU and ISM Dhanbad were declared by Indian Institute of Technology-Kanpur on Wednesday at 8 am.

This year IIT-Kanpur was the nodal agency for conducting the Joint Entrance Exam. A total of 4,68,240 candidates appeared in JEE-2011 out of which 13,602 candidates have been declared qualified to seek admission for 9618 seats in the IITs.

Immadi Prudhvi Tej (Registration no. 6076440) who appeared in JEE from IIT-Madras zone has topped this year's All India list of successful candidates.

While Shubham Mehta of IIT-Bombay zone bagged the second position in the merit list, Archit Gupta of IIT-Kanpur zone got 14th position and is almsot the zone topper.

Dravyansh Sharma with AIR 7 has topped the IIT-Delhi zone. Amol with AIR 41 has been declared as the topper of the IIT-Guhawati zone. Ankit Jalan with AIR 45 and Kunal Chawala with AIR 6 have topped IIT-Kharagpur and IIT-Roorkee zone respectively.

Among girls, this year 1,491 students could qualify. A total of 1,08,647 girls had appeared in JEE-2011.

Janga Varun of IIT-Madras zone has secured AIR 9 in JEE-2011 and is the country topper in the OBS category. Similarly, Ashish Sonone with AIR 718 is the country topper in the SC category. Banoth Ramakrishna with AIR 77 and Pratyush Nalam with AIR 408 are the toppers ST and PD (Physical Disable) categories.

Indian Maoists killed 10 policemen

Nine Indian police 'killed, mutilated 'by Maoists

Suspected Maoist rebels killed at least nine Indian policemen and then mutilated their bodies in a gruesome attack in the eastern state of Orissa, a top police officer said on Tuesday.

The policemen from Raipur, the capital of the neighbouring state of Chhattisgarh, had gone on an anti-Maoist sweep through a remote and forested area near the border with Orissa before coming under attack.

"Police have recovered the bodies of nine security personnel from the gunbattle site and all have been mutilated by the Maoists," a spokesman for Chhattisgarh police, Rajesh Mishra, told AFP.

"The Maoists have done this to create terror among the forces," he added.

A search party has been sent out to try to find a 10th member of the team whose whereabouts are unknown, he said.

Raipur police chief Mukesh Gupta and other police sources told AFP that the victims were ambushed when they were returning from their mission in a tractor after their police jeep had broken down in the forest.

The attack took place 40 kilometres (25 miles) inside Orissa in Nuapada district, about 175 kilometres from Raipur.

On other occasions in the past, the Maoists have either mutilated the bodies or tied land mines on them to frighten other police involved in the fight against the insurgents.

Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh condemned the attack and told reporters that "the mutilation of bodies has exposed the real face of the left-wing extremists."

The Maoist movement, which began in 1967, feeds off land disputes, police brutality and corruption, and is strongest in the poorest and most deprived areas of India, many of which are rich in natural resources.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has called the insurgency India's main internal security threat and has urged state governments to increase welfare measures, especially in Maoist-hit regions, to help counter the ultra-leftists.

Some 171 suspected left-wing guerrillas were killed last year along with 713 civilians in Maoist-linked violence compared to the previous year's tally of 591. A total of 285 policemen also died in 2010.

More girls being aborted selectively

Selective abortion of girls in India prevented about 4.2 to 12.1 million girls from being born between 1980 and 2010, with the largest number of girls being aborted in the 1990s decade, a latest survey has shown.

Selective abortion of girls, especially for pregnancies after a first born girl, has increased substantially in India. Most of India’s population now live in States where selective abortion is common, says the study “Trends in selective abortions of girls in India: analysis of nationally representative birth histories from 1990 to 2005 and census data from 1991 to 2011’’ published in the latest edition of The Lancet.

The 2011 census has revealed about there were 7.1 million fewer girls than boys aged 0-6 years, a substantial increase in the gap of 6 million fewer girls recorded in the 2001 census and 4.2 million fewer girls recorded in the 1991 census. These declines in girl to boy ratios are larger in better-educated and in richer households than in illiterate and poorer households, and now imply that 90 per cent people in India live in States where selective abortion of girls is common.

In the study, the authors analysed census data to determine absolute numbers of selective abortions and examined over 250,000 births from national surveys to estimate differences in the girl-boy ratio for second births in families in which the first born child had been a girl. The Lancet article is written by Prof. Prabhat Jha, Centre for Global Health Research, Dalla Lala School of Public Health, University of Toronto and colleagues from India including the former Registrar-General of India, D. Jayant K. Banthia.

The study has found that this girl-boy ratio fell from 906 girls per 1000 boys in 1990 to 836 in 2005: an annual decline of 0.52 per cent. Declines were much greater in mothers with 10 or more years of education than in mothers with no education, and in wealthier households compared with poorer households. But, if the first child had been a boy, there was no fall in the girl-boy ratio for the second child over the study period, strongly suggesting that families particularly those that are more wealthy and educated, are selectively aborting girls if their first born child I also a girl.

After adjusting for excess mortality rates in girls, the authors ranges estimates the number of selective abortions of girls rose from 0-2.0 millions in the 1980s, 1.2-4.1 million in the 1990s, and to 3.1-6.0 million in the 2000s. Each 1 per cent decline in child sex ratio at 0-6 year age implied between 1.2 and 3.6 million more selective abortions of girls.

The authors point out that between 2001 and 2011 censuses, more than twice the number of Indian districts showed declines in the child sex ratio compared to districts with no change or increases. They also point out that a Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques Act in 1996 to prevent the misuse of techniques for the purpose of prenatal sex determination has been effective nationally but a reliable monitoring and reporting of sex ratios by birth order in each district could be a reasonable part of any effort to curb the growth of selective abortions of girls,’’ the paper recommends.

9 million users connect to 3G in 4 months

As many as 9 million consumers have taken a third generation (3G) mobile connection since the services were launched in the country four months ago.

This number assumes significance when one considers that there are only 11 million wireline broadband customers till date.

The leader of the 3G pack is Bharti Airtel with 3 million subscribers followed by Tata DoCoMo with 1.5 million users. Idea Cellular, Vodafone and BSNL have over a million 3G customers each. Reliance Communications did not give out its numbers but sources said that it also has close to a million 3G connections. “The initial trend clearly shows that 3G is giving a boost to broadband uptake in the country. Wireless is the way forward,” said Mr Alok Shende, Principal Analyst, Ascentius Consulting.

The initial numbers have added up despite the poor quality of service being experienced by consumers. While 3G is expected to give data speeds of about 500-600 kbps, consumers across the country are complaining of frequent call drops, poor speeds and erratic connectivity as operators have not yet fully set up their networks. “There is no excuse for operators to offer poor 3G connectivity given that technology is available to them.

The initial uptake shows that there is a huge pent-up demand for broadband and operators should use that opportunity. At present, they are not even doing personalised marketing to high-end consumers who already have a 3G handset,” said Mr Kunal Bajaj, Director of technology advisory firm Analysys Mason. Another issue is the high cost of roaming. Most operators are charging as much as Rs 15 per MB of data even if the subscriber is roaming on the same network.

But operators say that these are only teething troubles and they are well on their way to meet the target of 100 million 3G connections by 2015 as projected by analysts. Mr Shireesh Joshi, Chief Marketing Officer -Mobile Services, Bharti Airtel, said, “The initial response from customers has been overwhelming - but we believe the revolution has just begun. The game changing differentiator for 3G in India will be content and services and not price points.”

2G scam

2G scam: Morani's bail plea dismissed

A special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court here Monday dismissed the anticipatory bail plea of Cineyug Films' founder Karim Morani, named as co-conspirator in the 2G spectrum allocation scam , and asked him to appear before the court Tuesday.

Special CBI Judge O.P. Saini said: "Morani's bail application is dismissed. He will have to appear before the court tomorrow at 10 a.m."

Morani had been exempted from personal appearance in court due to ill-health.

The CBI's first chargesheet April 2 had named, besides former communication minister A. Raja, former telecom secretary Siddharth Behura, Swan Telecom promoter Shahid Balwa, Raja's aide R.K. Chandolia, Swan Telecom's Vinod Goenka, Unitech's Sanjay Chandra and three executives of the Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group: Gautam Doshi, Hari Nair and Surendra Pipara.

In its April 25 supplementary chargesheet, the CBI named DMK chief M. Karunanidhi's daughter Kanimozhi and Kalaignar TV managing director Sharad Kumar as co-conspirators after it traced an illegal money trail of Rs.214 crore in the scam.

The supplementary chargesheet also named Karim Morani as well as Asif Balwa and Rajiv B. Aggarwal of Kusegaon Realty.

Except for Morani and Pipara, who is in judicial custody at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) here, all those named in the CBI chargesheets are in Tihar Jail.

50 most-wanted fugitives hiding in Pakistan

India lists 50 most-wanted fugitives hiding in Pakistan

Turning more heat on Pakistan, India today released a list of 50 "most-wanted fugitives" hiding in that country. The list includes underworld don Dawood Ibrahim, 26/11 mastermind and LeT founder Hafiz Saeed and dreaded terrorist Zaki ur Rehman Lakhvi and has been given to the Pakistan government, which has continuously denied that terrorists and criminals that India wants are hiding there.

Hafiz Saeed, who is involved in Mumbai terror attack and various other attacks in India, tops the list which also includes Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Maulana Masood Azhar, the main accused in the 2001 Parliament attack case. He was released in exchange of hostages in the Khandhar hijack episode in 1999.

The government's action comes in the midst of acute discomfort for Pakistan which has been tying itself in knots over the charge of sheltering al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden, who was killed in a unilateral US Special Forces action in Abbottabad on May 2.

The list includes names of al Qaeda operative Illyas Kashmiri, who is accused of transnational crime and conspiracy to commit various terrorist acts in India, close associates of Dawood Ibrahim, Memon Ibrahim alias Tiger Memon, Shaikh Shakeel alias Chhota Shakeel, Memon Ayub Abdul Razak, Anis Ibrahim Kaskar Shaikh, Anwar Ahmed Haji Jamal and Mohammed Ahmed Dosa, all involved in the 1993 serial bombings in Mumbai.

Hizbul Mujahideen chief Sayeed Salauddin, Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front founder Amanullah Khan, Punjab terrorists Lakhbir Singh, Paramjit Singh Panjwar, Ranjit Singh alias Neeta and Wadhawa Singh were also named as most-wanted fugitives.

Names of Mumbai terror attack case accused Sajid Majid, Major Iqbal, Major Sameer Ali, Sayed Abdul Rehman alias Pasha and Abu Hamza were also included in the list of fugitives.

Here's the full list:

Mohd Hafiz Saeed;
Sajid Majid;
Syed Abdur Rehman;
Major Iqbal;
Ilyas Kashmiri;
Rashid Abdullah;
Major Sameer Ali;
Dawood Ibrahim
Memon Ibrahim;
Shaikh Shakeel;
Memon Ayub;
Anis Ibrahim Kaskar Shaikh;
Anwar Ahmed;
Munaf Abdul;
Mohd Tainur;
Mohd Ahmed Dosa;
Javed Patel;
Slaim Abdul;
Riyaz Abu Bakar Khatri;
Khan Bashir;
Yakub Khan;
Mohd Shafi;
Irfan Ahmed Feroz Abdul,
Ishaq Atta,
Sagir Sabir Ali,
Aftab Batki,
Maulana Mohd,
Mohd Yusuf Shah,
Cheema QAzam,
Syed Zabuiddin,
Ibrahim Athar,
Azhar Yusuf,
Mistri Zahur,
Sayeed Shahid,
Shakir Mohd,
Abdul Rauf,
Aminullah Khan,
Suffiah Mufti,
Nachan Akmal,
Khan Wazhul,
Yakub Khan Channeparambil Mohd,
Lakhbir Singh,
Paramjit Singh,
Ranjit Singh,
Wadhawa Singh,
Aabdu Hamza,
Zaki ur Rehman Lakhvi,
Amir Reza Khan

Air India Cancels 126 Domestic Flights

AI estimates total loss of Rs 26.5 cr due to pilot strike.

National carrier Air India Ltd. said it canceled 126 local flights Friday as a strike by a group of pilots against what they say are unfair wage practices entered its third day.

Cancellations over the three days and a freeze on fresh ticket bookings have cost the airline 265 million rupees ($5.98 million) in lost revenue, Air India said.

"The number of flights successfully operated [Friday] was 39," the airline said.

Long-haul international flights are operating normally, said the airline, which usually runs 320 local and overseas flights daily.

The Indian federal government merged Air India and Indian Airlines in August 2007, but the company--which has a workforce of 31,000--hasn't been able to bring several departments under one common salary structure.

This has led to strikes by different sections of its workforce on numerous occasions in the past few years.

The ongoing strike was called by former Indian Airlines pilots, belonging to a union named Indian Commercial Pilots Association, who are now flying with Air India.

Air India employs a total of 1,500 pilots.

The airline said it had to cancel 57 flights on the first day of the strike and 96 on the second.

Air India says that the Indian Commercial Pilots Association strike is illegal due to an earlier assurance by the union to the Delhi High Court that it wouldn't strike work.

The airline has said that no strike is legally permitted as a case is pending before a tribunal set up to look into issues such as pay parity and to make recommendations on different productivity-linked incentive schemes.

It sacked seven striking pilots till Thursday and suspended four more. It didn't elaborate in the statement if more employees will be fired.

US charges Pakistanis over Mumbai attack

Four newly-indicted figures are linked to the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba that is blamed for the deadly raid.

Four Pakistanis have been charged as co-conspirators in the 2008 attack on Mumbai that killed 166 people, including six Americans, US prosecutors said in Chicago.

The four who were charged on Monday, had been previously mentioned, but not named, in indictments charging American David Headley and Tahawwur Rana, Pakistani-born Chicago businessman, with helping to identify targets in India's commercial capital.

Headley and Rana have also been charged in a plot to attack a Danish newspaper that was never carried out.

Headley pleaded guilty in March 2010 and is cooperating with US investigators about making several trips to India, and later to Denmark, to scout targets for the coordinated and deadly attack.

Rana has been held since his arrest in 2009 as a conspirator with Headley, and his US trial is scheduled to begin on May 16. His attorney was not immediately available for comment.

New indictments

All of the four newly-indicted figures are linked to the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba, the armed group that is blamed for the attack on Mumbai.

Those newly indicted were Sajid Mir, Abu Qahafa, Mazhar Iqbal, and a fourth defendant known only by the alias "Major Iqbal."

All four are believed to be in Pakistan.

They were charged with six counts of aiding and abetting the murder of US citizens.

Other charges related to the Mumbai attack included providing support to Lashkar-e-Taiba, identified as a terrorist organisation by the United States.

Mir was also charged in the plot against Denmark's Jyllands-Posten newspaper after it published cartoons of Prophet Muhammad that enraged many Muslims and prompted protests.

Patrick Fitzgerald, US attorney in Chicago, had requested the superseding indictment handed up by a grand jury on April 21 charging the four to be sealed to give the government time to alert US agencies and consult foreign authorities.

The Mumbai attack strained already tense India-Pakistan relations.

India has said it is not satisfied with the pace of Pakistan's investigation, and has demanded more people be put on trial for the attack, including Hafiz Mohammad Saeed, the founder of Lashkar-e-Taiba.

India Food Inflation Eases Slightly

India's food inflation rate eased slightly in the week ended March 26, but fell short on market expectations of a bigger relief from sticky prices.

The year-on-year food inflation rate fell to 9.18% from 9.50% in the previous week, according to data issued Thursday by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry. However, the index of food articles was up 0.4% to 179.5 during the week, from 178.7 in the previous week.

The data will fuel worries that inflationary pressures won't ease sharply soon, firming expectations of a rate increase in May when the central bank meets to review monetary policy.

Indian government bonds slipped after the data, with the most-traded 8.08% paper due in 2022 falling to 100.09 rupees ($2.28) from 100.13 rupees before.

"Inflation is showing signs of downward stickiness and the RBI [Reserve Bank of India] will have to continue increasing rates to bring it under control," said Manoranjan Sharma, chief economist at Canara Bank.

Mr. Sharma said rising crude oil prices will further stoke inflationary pressures, adding to the urgency to tighten monetary policy.

"If oil prices continue to rise the government at some point of time will have to pass on the burden to consumers," which will push up inflation, he added.

Mr. Sharma expects the RBI to increase its two main policy rates by 25 basis points at the next review on May 3 and by 50-75 basis points in 2011.

The RBI has raised its borrowing rate by a cumulative 2.25 percentage points and the lending rate by 1.75 percentage points since March 2010, as it grapples with intolerably high inflation driven by supply shortages and rising demand pressures.

The general inflation rate was 8.31% in February. The central bank has raised its inflation estimate for the end of March thrice, the last time to 8% from 7% at its March 17 policy review.

Economists say the central bank has been slow in anticipating price pressures and that inflation will likely overshoot the 8% projection.

Bank of Baroda Chief Economist Rupa Rege Nitsure expects inflation to accelerate to 8.9% in March, contrary to the RBI's view.

Thursday's data also showed the index for primary articles rose 0.5% to 188.2 in the week to March 26. It was little changed at 12.97% during the week on an year-on-year basis. The fuel products index was unchanged from the previous week at 158.5.

400 ill by adulterated "kuttu ka atta' floor

Over 400 take ill after eating adulterated kuttu atta

Over 400 people were hospitalized in Delhi and neighbouring cities in Uttar Pradesh with symptoms of food poisoning on Tuesday.

All the patients, who were admitted to different hospitals in the capital and Meerut, Ghaziabad and Bulandshahr, had allegedly consumed adulterated buckwheat (kuttu atta) on Monday night.

In all, 115 people were taken to Guru Tegh Bahadur hospital, Hedgewar hospital and Lal Bahadur Shastri hospital in east and northeast Delhi with complaints of vomiting, stomachache, diarrhoea and dizziness.

Although no one is reported to be in a serious condition, police said they have detained several people in connection with the alleged food poisoning. Separate cases have been registered at Nand Nagri, Kalyanpuri and Mayur Vihar police stations. The state health department has ordered an investigation into the matter.

In Ghaziabad, Meerut and Bulandshahr, at least 150 were admitted to hospitals while 200 others were discharged after treatment. They were also reported to have consumed kuttu atta, a flour used during navaratra, which is under way.

In Delhi, it all started at 7am when several people made a beeline to different hospitals with symptoms of food poisoning. Medical Superintendent of Lal Bahadur Shastri Hospital Dr Veer Singh said that the hospital had received 58 patients with abdominal pain, vomiting and nausea. "None of them is in a serious condition. Some have even been discharged," he added.

At GTB hospital and Dr Hedegwar hospital, officials confirmed that they received about 40 patients with similar complaints. "After enquiring from patients we found all had consumed food made from buckwheat, a compulsory ritual for the ongoing Navratra festival," said the official. Some patients were also taken to private nursing homes in the locality.

Police said they have registered a case under sections 272, 273 and 336 of IPC against Nandu Masala Mill, owned by Nand Kishore, 45, located in Mandoli area. Kishore has been arrested in connection with the incident and flour samples from his mill have been seized by the SDM of the area. "Nandu Masala Mill is found to be the manufacturer of the buckwheat flour consumed by the victims.

The District Administration and emergency services have been alerted and teams of Food and Adulteration Department have also been put in service," said Delhi Police spokesperson Rajan Bhagat adding the victims had purchased the buckwheat in the retail open market. Ten people have been detained in connection with the incident, he said.

"People are advised to check the expiry date of the packet containing kuttu flour and the name of flour mills before using it. They are also advised not to purchase kuttu flour from open sacks," the spokesperson cautioned. The district administration and emergency services have been alerted and teams of the food and adulteration department have also been pressed into service.

Delhi Health Minister A K Walia ordered a probe into the matter and said more teeth would be given to the Food Adulteration Act to include maximum punishment of life imprisonment and a penalty of up to Rs 10 lakh for those involved in such illegal activities."

In Uttar Pradesh, the state's Food and Drug Authority swung into action but after the problem assumed epidemic proportions. By afternoon, at least 72 were undergoing treatment at the Bulandshahr district hospital, 60 were admitted to Ghaziabad district hospital and 24 were at Meerut district hospital.

Following orders from the state government, raids begain across 12 districts of the NCR and adjoining areas and Lucknow on Tuesday evening. In Ghaziabad, police unearthed a small factory in kavinagar area where adulterated kuttu flour was being packed. Police seized 40 bags of flour and arrested 15 labourers from the factory, whose owners managed to flee.