International

By IANS, Toronto: Canadian custom officials have seized an illegal consignment of 'gutka' (chewing tobacco) from an Indian shopkeeper in the city of Winnipeg. Gutka as well as many ayurvedic medicines from India are banned in Canada. The illegal consignment of gutka, weighing 150 kg, was brought into Canada from the US, the authorities said Monday. Fifty-year-old Yog Rahi Gupta, who owns the Indian Spice House in the city, and his 53-year-old wife have been charged for bringing the contraband into Canada.

By DPA, Singapore : A Singapore court Thursday sentenced an Indian national to 17 years in jail for killing a pregnant prostitute, a media report said. Madhuri Jaya Chandra Reddy, 21, who pleaded guilty to culpable homicide, is to also be caned 12 strokes. After having sex with a prostitute from Sri Lanka, Radika Devi Thayagarajah, 21, he quarrelled with her about the payment and eventually strangled the woman to death in a hotel room Sep 2, the online edition of Straits Times newspaper reported.

By IRNA, New Delhi : About 90 per cent of the New Moore Island that surfaced in the Bay of Bengal in the aftermath of Bhola cyclone in 1970 have submerged as per satellite images collected by the Jadavpur University. "Satellite images have confirmed that about 90 per cent of the Island, about three km long and 3.5 km wide, have submerged," sources in the School of Oceanography Studies of the University said in Kolkata, capital of West Bengal state, Thursday. Local fishermen had also confirmed the disappearance of a major part of the Island, they said.

By IANS

Kathmandu : In a year when nearly 500 people are said to have summited the Mt Everest, the darker side of the expeditions has also begun to surface, with six deaths and now the news of a woman climber being abandoned on the way to the summit.