Indian Muslim

By IANS

Islamabad : Pakistan's Supreme Court Friday reinstated Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry in a judgement that was seen as a major blow to President Pervez Musharraf.

Justice Kalil-ur-Rehman Ramday, heading a 13-member bench, in a short order declared the presidential reference illegal, ultra vires the constitution and without lawful authority, the Online news agency reported.

Hundreds of lawyers chanted "Go, Musharraf go, Live long CJP" slogans soon after the verdict was announced at around 4 p.m.

By NNN-Petra

Amman : The Royal Committee of Jerusalem Affairs has warned the Israeli authorities of implementing new projects in Jerusalem in the frame of its continued aggression against the city.

The committee stressed that these measures would not only hinder the peace process between the Palestinians and Israelis, but with the Arabs and all the Muslims.

The Commission, in a press release published today by its Secretary General Abdullah Kan'an, called on the Israeli government to take immediate action to stop these projects if it wants peace.

By IANS

Islamabad : Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf has accepted the resignations of two senior law officers who pleaded the government's case on suspension of the country's top judge.

Attorney General of Pakistan Makhdoom Ali Khan and his deputy Tariq Mehmood Khokar had earlier resigned following the Supreme Court's verdict last month reinstating Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry.

By IANS New Delhi : Congress president Sonia Gandhi may ask the Maharashtra government to file a report on the undue delay in the implementation of the recommendations of the Srikrishna Commission that probed communal violence in Mumbai in 1992-93 - soon after the fall of the Babri Masjid. "The Congress president has taken a serious view of the delay in the implementation of the Srikrishna Commission recommendations. She is likely to seek a report on the action taken by the state government on the commission report," said an informed source in the party.

By Xinhua Amman : Visiting Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Jordanian Prime Minister Marouf Bakhit on Thursday discussed the ongoing preparations for holding the U.S.-proposed international peace conference. Bakhit told reporters after the meeting that it was important to push the political process forward in one hand, and to alleviate the suffering of the Palestinians through the removal of barriers and release the largest possible number of Palestinian prisoners and detainees on the other.

By IANS Srinagar : Three people were killed and eight others wounded when an over-loaded minibus carrying devotees from the Hazratbal shrine turned turtle near here Friday. Police here said the mini bus, returning with devotees after the special Friday prayers at Hazratbal, overturned at Zakura locality, 14 km from here. "Three people died on the spot while another eight sustained serious injuries in the accident. All the injured have been shifted to hospital," said Javaid Ahmad Koul, superintendent of police (Hazrtabal).

By IANS Bangalore : It was happiness beyond words, a sense of absolute relief that could not be verbalised. Indian doctor Muhammad Haneef's family just savoured the moment as news came in that an Australian court had restored his visa. "We have no words to express our joy. We are very, very happy," said Afshaq Ahmed, father-in-law of Haneef, whose work visa was cancelled hours after he got bail from a Brisbane court last month after being charged with supporting a failed terror plot in Britain.

By DPA Seoul : A South Korean hostage remained voluntarily in Afghanistan at the hands of her Taliban captors so that other hostages could be freed instead, two former hostages have told Al-Jazeera in an interview. The pair Kim Ji An and Kyun Ja said late Thursday their fellow hostage Lee Ji-yong had let one of them be freed in her stead because she had more experience of Afghanistan and spoke the language, the two women said. "We were very worried when we heard that Ji-yong volunteered to be left behind," they said.

By IANS Karachi : At least four people were killed and several injured Saturday when a portion of a bridge under construction here collapsed, Geo News reported. According to eyewitnesses some 25 persons were trapped under the debris of the collapsed Northern Bypass bridge in Sher Shah area. An eyewitness said he heard many people trapped under the debris crying for help. A coach with passengers and several vehicles went down with the collapsed portion of the bridge and were seen buried under the rubble.

By Xinhua Islamabad : A blast rocked the military area in northwest Pakistan's Peshawar city Saturday injuring two people, private Dawn news TV channel reported. The report said the explosion occurred in Peshawar cantonment, damaging many vehicles.

By NNN-IRNA Tehran : New Chairman of the Assembly of Experts and Head of the Expediency Council Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani has said that success of Iran and Iraq in expanding mutual cooperation would lead to laying the cornerstone of an Islamic common market. Rafsanjani made the remark in the opening ceremony of the first international conference on "Reconstruction of Iraq's Economy, Assessment of Investment Opportunities, Exports of Goods and Commodities, Methods to Guarantee Turn-over of Investors' Capitals" here Sunday.

By DPA Washington : US President George W. Bush will during a prime-time televised address Thursday announce withdrawal of 30,000 US troops from Iraq by next July, the Washington Post reported citing government sources. The announcement will endorse proposals from Washington's top military commander in Iraq, General David Petraeus, who in testimony to Congress this week outlined the achievements of major troop surge launched in January and recommended cutting troop numbers in Iraq from 160,000 to "pre-surge" levels of 130,000.

By Xinhua

Moscow : Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and his French counterpart, Bernard Kouchner, Tuesday expressed opposition to military action against Iran.

Their comments appear to be aimed at lowering the tension raised by Kouchner's remarks Sunday that France had to prepare for the possibility of war against Iran.

By Xinhua Ramallah : Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said Thursday that it was time to create an independent Palestinian state alongside Israel to end 60 years of suffering. Abbas made the remarks during a joint news conference with visiting US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in the West Bank city of Ramallah after their meeting. He reiterated that Jerusalem should be the capital of the future state.

Rome, Sep 21 (Xinhua) Mohamed ElBaradei, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), has said that Iran does not currently pose an immediate threat to the international community. "Iran does not constitute a certain and immediate threat to the international community," the UN nuclear chief said Thursday in an interview with Italian RAI television while in Italy for an IAEA conference. ElBaradei made the remarks amid rising international tension regarding the nuclear deadlock with Teheran.

By IANS Islamabad : Former Pakistan prime minister Benazir Bhutto and key opposition leader Maulana Fazlur Rehman "have joined hands to stab the opposition in the back, after being prodded by Uncle Sam", a media report Sunday said. "There are some among the opposition who believe that Maulana Fazl's somersaults are also the result of a conspiratorial wink from Washington. Fazl was always considered the government's man disguised as an opposition leader," The News said.

By NNN-KUNA Kabul : Four Red Cross officials, kidnapped in central Afghanistan last week, were safely released by their captors Saturday. The two Afghans and two foreign nationals, one from Myanmar and Macedonia each, were seized by armed men, believed to be Taliban militants, in Said Abad district of the central Maidan Wardak province last week. According to local officials, the four people were involved in efforts to secure release of a German national, who was kidnapped by Taliban militants more than two months back.

By IRNA United Nations : Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki of Iran said Wednesday that the new US initiative for Middle East peace is only a propaganda fuss not an effective move. He made the remarks in a meeting with the Secretary-General of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, held on the sidelines of the newly-ended 62nd UN General Assembly. The meeting was held before Mottaki left New York for Tehran at the end of his two-week visit to the city.

By IANS Islamabad : Officials from Pakistan and Iran will meet here Oct 15 to take forward the Iran-Pakistan-India (IPI) gas pipeline project even as New Delhi has stressed that it is still a part of the venture. A Petroleum and Natural Resources department official said here that Iranian officials were to reach Islamabad for talks to finalise the project. But the attendance of Indian representatives was still unconfirmed, the Daily Times said Saturday.

By Xinhua

Baghdad : Two leading Iraqi Shiite political rivals agreed Saturday to jointly prevent further violence and bloodshed in the country bogged down by factional scuffles.

Ranchi, (IANS) A leader of a breakaway group of the outlawed Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist) has been arrested in Palamau district of Jharkhand, police said Monday. Pramod alias Kanna, a zonal commander of the Tritiya Prastuti Committee (TPC), was arrested Sunday after the police raided his hideout in the Paki jungle in Palamau, 190 km from Ranchi. The police seized a pistol and Maoist literature from him.

By NNN-KUNA Moscow, Russia : Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert held talks immediately after arriving in Moscow Thursday with President Vladimir Putin to discuss situations in the Middle East. Interfax news agency quoted sources at the Kremlin as saying the summit talks dealt with Putin's recent visit to Tehran and the situation in the Middle East in general. Both men also discussed ongoing preparations for the US-proposed international conference on the Palestinian statehood, due in Washington in Fall, said the sources.

By Xinhua Kabul : The Taliban has disclaimed any link to the attack on former prime minister and Pakistan People's Party chief Benazir Bhutto that left more then 100 people dead last week, a local Afghan newspaper reported Tuesday. "Taliban does not attack outside Afghanistan and was not involved in attack on Benazir Bhutto in Karachi city of Pakistan," Daily Outlook quoted Taliban commander Mullah Hayatullah Khan as saying.

By DPA Baghdad : Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki has said Iran was willing to hold fresh talks with the US over Iraqi security. Mottaki said late Wednesday he considered an earlier US initiative about dialogue with Iran as a positive step. The Iranian minister said his talks with the US would focus on Iraq and the US forces there, adding that Iranian diplomats in US custody should be released. He said the Iraqi government should be responsible for their release.

By IANS, New Delhi: A city court Tuesday extended the judicial custody of a suspected associate of Maoist leader Kobad Ghandy by 14 days. Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Kaveri Baweja sent Arvind Joshi to judicial custody till May 25. Joshi was arrested from Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh Feb 21 and was brought here March 19 in connection with a warrant issued against him. Joshi, who hails from Uttarakhand, was allegedly in possession of the hard disk of a laptop seized from Ghandy last year.

By IANS, Kolkata : Four people, including two Nepalis, were arrested Friday for being allegedly involved in a fake currency racket and counterfeit notes with a face value of Rs.47.18 lakh were recovered, police said, hinting at a Pakistani link to the racket. Acting on a tip-off, Special Task Force officials arrested Upendra Chowdhury and Kumar Gautam of Nepal and Nausad Khan and Jafar Ali Khan of Bihar from 6 Chowringhee Lane near New Market. Fake Indian currency in the denomination of Rs.1,000 and Rs.500 were seized from them, said STF chief Rajiv Kumar.

By DPA, Istanbul: At least four people were killed when a roadside bomb hit a minibus carrying military personnel in Istanbul Tuesday, Turkish media reported. The blast occurred as the minibus was passing a cemetery on its way from a military housing complex. One of the victims was the 17-year-old daughter of an officer. At least nine people on the bus were injured in the blast. Huseyin Avni Mutlu, the governor of Istanbul, said the bomb was detonated by remote control, according to the state-run Anatolian Agency.

By IANS, New Delhi: Disgraced former Haryana police chief S.P.S. Rathore, in jail for molesting teenager Ruchika Girhotra in 1990, will get no pension from the government, the home ministry said Wednesday. "Pension of S.P.S. Rathore, a retired IPS officer of the 1965 batch, has been withheld in full on permanent basis," a home ministry statement said. The action was taken following his "conviction in the molestation case of Ruchika, a minor girl", the statement said.

By IANS, New Delhi: A court Wednesday sent a Delhi resident arrested on charges of raping his 27-year-old Brazilian tenant to a day's police custody. Baljeet Singh was produced before Metropolitan Magistrate Munish Markan, who handed over his custody to Delhi police for one day. "Police asked the court for a five-day custody but got it for one day," said Shakti Chand, counsel for Singh. According to police, the victim, a mass communications student in Noida, was staying in south Delhi's C.R. Park area since June 19.

By IANS, Bhubaneswar : Suspected Maoists Thursday killed a boy and torched the house of a home guard in Orissa’s Mayurbhanj district, police said. "A group of about 20-30 suspected rebels dragged 15-year-old Sukanta Murmu from his house at Handibhanga village and later killed him by silting his throat," a police officer told IANS. The rebels also torched the house of Rama Marandi, a home guard in the same village of Mayurbhanj district, about 300 km from here.

By TCN News, Ahmadabad: The Special Investigative Team, (SIT) has excused itself from the investigation of Ishrat Jahan fake encounter case. In a letter written to the Gujarat High Court, the SIT has said that it is already burdened with the investigation of several cases related to Post-Godhra riot. On 12th of August 2010, the Gujarat HC had instructed the SIT to investigate Ishrat Jahan case and submit its report within 3 months. The HC had given this instruction dismissing the plea filed by Ishrat’s family seeking the transfer of the case to the CBI.

By TwoCircles.net Staff Correspondent Kasargode: The People’s Democratic Party yesterday accused the central government of waging a hidden war against their leader Abdunnasir Maudany. Meanwhile, the hearing on the bail plea submitted on behalf of Maudany began in a Bengaluru court yesterday and has been adjourned to today. Maudany has reportedly reiterated his stand that the case was politically motivated and based on suspicion.

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By Dr Rahmatullah, Congratulations, TCN, for good move.

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By Aijaz Afaqui, Growing up in the India of 1970s and 1980s, I often found myself debating the identity crisis facing the Muslim community with my father.

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By IANS, Washington : A total of 99 people have been arrested and at least 69 minors were rescued in an anti-child prostitution operation in the US, a media report said.

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By IANS, Lucknow: Three engineering students of a private college here were Wednesday booked for brutally assaulting one of their batchmates, who is being treated at a hospital, police said.

By Xinhua Islamabad : Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf has said that he will quit as army chief before Dec. 1, the government's top lawyer said Thursday. "The president has said that he will give up his uniform before Dec. 1," Attorney General Malik Mohammad Qayyum told a news conference. Qayyum said that the Supreme Court of Pakistan would decide on Musharraf's re-election case next week.

By Xinhua Jerusalem : Israel's defense establishment recommends the government to refrain from making further goodwill gestures to Palestinian National Authority (PNA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas until after the U.S.-sponsored peace conference, local Jerusalem Post reported on Friday. The goodwill gestures being considered pending a successful outcome to the peace summit include releasing more security prisoners, removing roadblocks and transferring additional territory and West Bank villages to PNA security control.

By Xinhua Colombo : The Sri Lankan military Tuesday said they killed five Tamil rebels in an attack in the northern part of the country. The Media Centre for National Security said in a statement that the troops launched an attack on three bunkers of LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) at Kilali in the Jaffna peninsula around 5 a.m. local time. Two rebels' bunkers were destroyed, the statement said, adding that five rebels were killed in the confrontation. There was no casualty for the troops, said the statement.

By Mohammed Najeeb Islamabad, Nov 29 (IANS) Attired in a black sherwani, Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf Thursday took oath as head of state for five more years, this time as a civilian, vowing to hold parliamentary elections in January come what may. The country's opposition boycotted the official ceremony where Musharraf, who stepped down as the army chief Wednesday after ruling the country in uniform for eight years following intense Western pressure.

By IANS Kolkata : Priyanka Todi, wife of graphics designer Rizwanur Rahman who died under mysterious circumstances here Sep 21, Saturday blamed her brother-in-law Rukbanur for the circumstances leading to the tragedy.

By Muhammad Najeeb, IANS Islamabad : Political parties in Pakistan seem to be flaunting their knowledge of the English alphabet. While the manifestos of two parties are based on five Es and Ds, another party is to unveil a list of poll promises focussing on five Rs. The Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid-e-Azam (PML-Q) announced its manifesto based on five Ds - Democracy, Development, Devolution, Diversity and Defence.

By Xinhua Baghdad : A bomb went off in the headquarters of anti-al-Qaida group in a northern Baghdad Sunni neighborhood on Saturday, wounding eight of the group members, a well-informed police source said. "An explosive charge detonated in the morning in the headquarters of the Sahwah, or Awakening Council, in the Adhamiyah neighborhood, wounding eight of the council's members," the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

By Syed Zarir Hussain, IANS Imphal : Separatist rebel armies continue to keep Manipur under siege, leading to a sense of hopelessness among large sections of the state's 2.3 million people. Manipur, bordering Myanmar, is the only state in India's restive northeast where none of the frontline separatist groups has entered into a ceasefire with the government as a prelude to the beginning of peace talks.

By IANS Islamabad : An influential Pakistani newspaper Thursday appealed for calm ahead of the general elections, now rescheduled to Feb 18, warning that "indiscretions" by politicians could enable anti-democratic elements to get an upper hand. "Let our leaders note that their indiscretions could complicate the situation and things could get out of control, thus giving anti-democratic elements an opportunity to cancel the election," Dawn noted in an editorial headlined "A plea for sanity".

By SPA Madinah : King Fahd Complex for Printing the Holy Quran is devoted to the service of the Holy book and the Prophet's (May Peace be Upon Him) Teachings. It also received all attention and care of the government of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques.

By DPA Baghdad : Seven civilians were killed in separate incidents of violence in Iraq Thursday, according to security sources and media reports. In Arbil, in the northern Kurdish region, city police department chief Abdel-Khaleq Talaat told reporters that an element belonging to the Kurdish Peshmerga forces shot at a family, killing four of them on the spot and wounding two. Talaat described the Peshmerga militant as "mentally deranged." The militant had stormed into the family's home and opened fire.

By IANS Melbourne : India's top tennis player Sania Mirza Thursday moved into the third round of the Australian Open tennis tournament here with a three-set win over Swiss qualifier Timea Bacsinszky. World No. 31 Sania won 6-1, 4-6, 7-5 in one hour and 44 minutes. She prevailed despite committing six double faults, though her first serve was quite successful when she got them in. In the third round, Sania will face the winner of the match between Chinese Li Na and Italian Maria Elena Camerin, to be played later Thursday.

By IANS Chennai : Six policemen and two secretarial staff of the Adhiyamankottai police station in Tamil Nadu's Dharmapuri district have been brought to Chennai to undergo lie-detectors tests over an incident where arms were looted form a police station. The station house staff had said Maoists had looted the firearms on Feb 8 night and they were later recovered from a banana grove behind the police station. The eight policemen were brought to Chennai Monday for narco-analysis tests and lie detector tests at a special facility in Ayanavaram on the city outskirts.

By IANS Bhubaneswar : Suspected Maoists set ablaze a youth after tying him to a tree with an iron chain in Orissa's Angul district, an official said Saturday. The incident occurred in Nuasahi village, located in the middle of a forest, some 200 km from here Friday night, Additional District Magistrate Bandhu Billor told IANS on phone. "We suspect it may be the handiwork of Maoists. The police are investigating the matter," Billor said. He said the villagers heard a blast and rushed to the spot to see the youth in flames, tied to a tree with a chain.

By IANS Bhubaneswar : Maoists Wednesday brutally killed a village leader in Orissa's Malkangiri district, the police said. A group of Maoists entered Peta village, some 700 from here, and dragged Kanha Madkami to a nearby forest and slashed his neck with weapons. The 50-year-old managed to escape, but they shot him dead, a district police official told IANS. Madkami died on his way to hospital. The rebels who claim to be fighting for the cause of the poor and downtrodden are active in more than half of Orissa's 30 districts. They often attack police and landlords.

By KUNA New Delhi : A Minister in India's Northeastern state of Assam Thursday escaped unhurt in a blast that injured seven others. A blast by an insurgent group at a market in Assam's Karbi Anglong district today during a public meeting addressed by state?s Hill Areas Development Minister Minister H Khorsing Ingti, injured seven people, news agency Indo Asian News Service reported. The Minister, however, escaped unhurt, the news agency said, quoting an officer of the Assam Police.

By IANS, Phulbani (Orissa) : Police have arrested at least five Maoist guerrillas in Orissa and seized from them weapons including a gun and bullets, officials said Friday. Police nabbed the Maoists Thursday from Goshma forest located on the border of two districts Kandhamal and Ganjam, some 200 km from state capital Bhubaneswar, a senior police official who led the police party told IANS. Maoists are active in over half the state's 30 districts. In February, they killed 14 policemen in multiple attacks on police stations and a government armoury in Nayagarh district.

By IANS, Chennai : Two Sri Lankan Tamils were jailed Tuesday evening for depositing fake Rs.1,000 notes amounting to Rs.200,000 in a private bank here, police said. The suspects were identified as K. Parameswaran, 22, and J. Prince, 28, both from Jaffna, Sri Lanka. They were residing in Chennai's southern suburb for over a year. After they attempted to deposit a similar amount into one of their accounts in a different branch earlier in Rs.1,000 denomination notes, the bank's cashier tipped off the police, leading to the arrests.

By IANS, Raipur : A man axed to death his alcoholic father who turned down the family's request to give up drinking in Chhattisgarh's Dhamtari district, the police said Saturday. The incident took place late Friday in interior Amabahar village in Dhamtari district, some 110 km from here. The police have arrested Ramcharan, 35, for killing his father Murharam, 60. O.P. Pal, district superintendent of police, told IANS that Ramcharan repeatedly hit Murharam on his head with an axe after he returned home in a drunken state and began fighting with the family members.

By IANS, Lucknow : The Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) has sought a financial grant of Rs.48 million from the human resource and development (HRD) ministry to offer better residential facilities to its students, a university official said Thursday. ''AMU Vice-Chancellor P.K. Abdul Azis has just submitted a plan to the HRD ministry for offering better residential facilities to the hostel inmates,'' AMU spokesman Rahat Abrar told IANS on phone.

By IANS, New Delhi : The government has proposed to make education in madrassas more attractive and improve the standard of education among Muslims in India, according to an official. The proposal under Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's new 15-point programme for the welfare of minorities focuses on revising madrassa modernisation programme.

By IANS,

Lucknow : The Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) will set up a state-of-art information and communication laboratory for its engineering students, a university official said Friday.

"An alumnus of the university, M.P. Varshney, has donated Rs.1 million for setting up the lab," AMU spokesperson Rahat Abrar told IANS on phone.

The lab will be equipped with all the latest information and communication technology devices, including fast-speed computers, Internet and other facilities, he added.

By IANS, Kolkata : Three members of a Bengali TV reality show, including two producers and a contestant, were remanded in five days police custody by a West bengal court Saturday for allegedly pushing the caretaker of a hotel from the fifth floor for asking them to stop their night-long drinking. The team of "Fatafati" - a reality show aired on ETV Bangla - went to Midnapore town, about 165 km from here, to shoot for a special episode Friday.

By Mumtaz Alam Falahi, TwoCircles.net, New Delhi: In an unprecedented move showing Jamiat Ulema-i-Hind (JUH) getting closure to Jamaat-e-Islami Hind (JIH), Maulana Syed Jalaluddin Umri, Ameer of JIH, has been invited to address the Executive Council meeting of JUH scheduled in Hyderabad on November 8-9.

By IANS, Mumbai : The Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) Saturday said it would launch a campaign to counter what it termed as the government’s conspiracy against ‘sadhus, sadhvis and sena’ (mendicants and military) and to express solidarity with those arrested for the Malegaon blast. VHP joint secretary V. Abdeo said here that besides sit-in and demonstrations across the country, the VHP activists would send SMSes and e-mails abroad too to air solidarity with the people nabbed for their suspected involvement in the Sep 29 Malegaon blast that killed six.

By DPA, Tel Aviv : An explosion ripped through a car in North Tel Aviv Monday morning, killing an alleged underworld kingpin, and lightly wounding two bystanders, Israeli media said. Police would not confirm the identity of the fatality, who media reports said was Yakov Alperon, the head of one of Israel's most notorious and largest crime families. Nor were police prepared to say that the blast was the result of a bomb planted in the rented car in which Alperon was.

By Sarwar Kashani, IANS, Srinagar : Where do the unexpectedly high voting percentages in the first two phases of elections in Jammu and Kashmir leave the separatist leadership that had called for a boycott? That question could get increasingly important for separatists in the Kashmir valley if the next few phases of the assembly elections go the way of the first two.

By RINA, New Delhi: Charanjeet Singh Atwal, Deputy Speaker, Lok Sabha and Justice Mohammad Suhail Ejaz Siddiqui, Chairman, National Commission for Minorities Educational Institutions, are among those to be honoured this year with Maulana Mohammad Ali Jauhar Award. Others to be honoured with Maulana Mohammad Ali Jauhar Award 2008 are Manorama Deevan, Chief Editor, Press Asia International, Shahid Ali Khan (IPS), Mohammad Ateeq Siddiqui, Editor, AlYaum, New Delhi, Dr. Haneef Tareen and Saulat Public Library, Rampur.

By IANS, London: The days of slum life are finally over for 10-year-old Azharuddin Mohammed Ismail, the star of Oscar winning "Slumdog Millionaire", as a trust has completed all formalities of buying a flat for the child and will soon hand over the keys of the house to him. The Jai Ho Trust, backed by film director Danny Boyle and producer Christian Colson, has bought a 250 sq ft apartment here for Azharuddin, reported newsoftheworld.co.uk "We signed the papers on Monday. We have the keys and we will hand them to the family," said a spokesperson from the trust.

By DPA, Wellington : New Zealand police said Thursday they were looking for the owner of a bloodstained bag found near the place in suburban Auckland where an Indian taxi driver was stabbed to death in his cab. Hiren Mohini, 39, who migrated to New Zealand from Mumbai six years ago to give his wife and two daughters aged five and three a safe place to live, was killed by a passenger he had picked up in the city early Sunday morning.

By IANS, Guwahati: Five militants from a banned outfit in Manipur were arrested in Assam Thursday when the group was on way to a base camp for arms training, officials said. A police spokesperson said the rebels from the outlawed People's Revolutionary Party of Kangleipak (PREPAK) were arrested from near Jorabat on the outskirts of Guwahati. "Based on specific inputs that a group of PREPAK militants were travelling in a vehicle, we set up road checks and intercepted their vehicle and managed to arrest them," a police official said.

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