Indian Muslim

By News Agency of Kashmir

 

Srinagar: Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) is bracing up to launch a statewide rally 'Safar-e-Azadi' (journey for independence)'' from Anantnag district from May 6.

By RIA Novosti Sharm el-Sheikh (Egypt) : It is too early to withdraw foreign troops from Iraq, Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said at an international conference on Iraq here Friday. He said the main criterion in determining a withdrawal schedule should be Iraqi law enforcement's preparedness to maintain law and order. Lavrov said the presence of coalition troops in Iraq "is one of the stabilizing factors, preventing the country from spiralling into the chaos of a full-scale internal war."

By IANS Thiruvananthapuram : The father of a Kerala man allegedly killed in a fake shootout by Gujarat police three years ago and branded a terrorist asked Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan Friday to get his son's death probed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

By IANS Sharm el-Sheikh (Egypt) : Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi Friday warned the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) against making a hasty decision on Iran's nuclear case, news agency IRNA reported. The Chinese minister made the statement in his talks with Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmad Ali Aboul Gheit on the sidelines of the Sharm el-Sheikh, underlining the necessity to find a negotiated solution to the nuclear standoff. Yang called on the international community and Iraq's neighbouring states to help end the unrest in the war-torn country.

By IANS New Delhi : A city court Friday extended by 14 days the judicial custody of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Babubhai Katara and four others involved in the human trafficking racket. Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Kamini Lau extended the Tihar Jail stay of the five - Katara, his aide Rajender Gampa, betel shop owner Sunderlal Yadav, Paramjeet Kaur, the wife of a US-based expatriate who was arrested with Katara for impersonating as his wife, and Kiran Dhar, who allegedly trained women flying out illegally on how to conduct themselves before the immigration authorities.

By IANS Hyderabad : Travel agent Rasheed, accused of smuggling Indians abroad in a scam that allegedly involves several MPs and Andhra Pradesh politicians, has been remanded in judicial custody till May 18. Rasheed, whose real name is Mohammed Mazharuddin Ali and who surrendered Thursday, and Telugu Desam Party (TDP) leader and former corporator Muzaffer Ali Khan were produced before Nampally Metropolitan Court. Khan was also remanded in judicial custody for two weeks. They were shifted to Chanchalguda central jail here.

By TwoCircles.net newsdesk 

Glasgow councilor Bashir Ahmad Friday become the first Muslim candidate to be elected to the devolved Scottish parliament.

Ahmad, who was born in India before the partition but lived in Scotland for the past 35 years, was the first of four Scottish Nationalists (SNP) to be elected on the parliament's regional list for Glasgow.

By TwoCircles.net staff reporter

New Delhi : Akhil Bharatiya Muslim Yuva Ekta Committee staged a march at Jantar Mantar here Thursday to protest the staged encounter killing of Sohrabuddin Sheikh and burning of his wife Kauser Bi, and demand immediate dismissal of BJP government of Gujarat.

By IANS Sharm El Sheikh (Egypt) : The UAE has reiterated its unequivocal stance in support of the Iraqi government and people in their effort to build "stable, unified, fully independent and prosperous Iraq," Emirates news agency WAM reported. "The UAE stands strongly for respecting Iraq's territorial integrity and non-interference in its internal affairs," UAE Minister of Governmental Sector Development Sultan Al Mansoori told an international conference on Iraq currently in session in this Red Sea resort.

By IANS New Delhi : Five minor boys were allegedly sodomized in a children's home in the national capital, police said Friday. The incident occurred Tuesday when Bala, a worker with the Sahib Devi Shiksha Kalyan Samiti children's shelter in west Delhi's Subhash Nagar area, allegedly sexually molested five minors there, all of them below 10 years. Bala, 50, who resides in the same area, is absconding, police said. The matter came to light when one of the victims, Rahul, narrated the incident to his father Vinod Thukral who later complained to police.

By Xinhua Islamabad : Some 20 music video shops were blown up in three bomb explosions in Pakistan's North West Frontier Province (NWFP) early Friday, the NNI news agency reported. Nine music shops were destroyed in Charsadda, a town some 35 km northeast of the NWFP provincial capital Peshawar, as bombs planted by unknown people exploded in CD markets, the news agency said. Some 11 music shops were destroyed in Tungi, another town in the area, when the explosives went off at 3 a.m. local time, shop owners said.

By DPA Kabul : Three soldiers of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) died and 15 others were injured Thursday in four incidents in Afghanistan. Giving details, the ISAF said Friday one of its soldiers died in combat in southern Afghanistan. As in most cases when it reports casualties, the ISAF did not give the nationality of the soldier, but the British defence ministry said one of its troops was killed by small-arms fire while manning a checkpoint near Garmsir in Helmand province.

By Xinhua Baghdad : Five policemen were killed and two others wounded in a roadside bomb attack in southern Baghdad Friday, a police source said. "A roadside bomb went off near a police patrol while passing in the Hai al-Amil neighbourhood, killing five policemen and wounding two others," the source said, adding that at least two police vehicles were damaged in the attack. Insurgents frequently attack Iraqi security forces, accusing them of collaborating with the US occupation forces.

By Aroonim Bhuyan IANS New Delhi : Devang Rawal, the young Indian who was stoned to death April 12 by a mob in Uganda, was at the wrong place at the wrong time, according to the owner of the company for which he worked. "Devang just happened to be at the wrong place and the mob attacked him," Mukesh Takka, the Indian origin owner of Translink (U) Ltd., a company importing products of Johnson & Johnson and Nestle in Uganda, told IANS here.

By IANS Patna : Incarcerated Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) MP Mohammad Shahabuddin allegedly threatened a Bihar jailor for not being allowed to meet a central minister who had come to visit him. Jailor Sanjeev Kumar has complained that Shahabuddin, who is lodged in the Siwan district jail, threatened and abused him for not being permitted to meet central Minister of State for Human Resource Development M.A.A. Fatmi.

By IANS Patna : The outcry over the killing of a Muslim man in a fake shootout in Gujarat has brought hope for justice to the widows of three brothers allegedly killed in a similar manner in a Bihar village eight months back. The widows of the three men killed in an alleged fake police encounter in Nawadaben village in Bhojpur district about 70 km from here are hopeful of justice. "In the wake of the Gujarat controversy, our case, which was suppressed by the state police till now, will also draw national attention and we might get justice," the women said here Friday.

By IANS Toronto : The lieutenant governor of Ontario has told the inquiry commission probing the 1985 bombing of Air India flight 182 that he saw secret intelligence intercepts, indicating that an attack on the airline was imminent, just days before the incident. James Bartleman, a former diplomat, testified Thursday that he saw the information in an electronic intercept from the top-secret Canadian Communications Security Establishment (CSE), an arm of the Canadian defence department.

By IANS Srinagar : The Indian Army has challenged the jurisdiction of the Jammu and Kashmir Police in charging five army personnel in the infamous fake encounter cases, where civilians were kidnapped, framed as terrorists and killed. The army, in an application filed in the court of the chief judicial magistrate (CJM) here Thursday, has challenged the chargesheet filed by the special investigation team (SIT) probing the alleged staged shootouts that resulted in the killing of five civilians in Jammu and Kashmir.

By IANS London/Dhaka : Former Bangladesh prime minister Sheikh Hasina, now in London, has urged the world to persuade the military-backed caretaker government in her country to hold free and fair elections at the earliest. "We want the international community to put pressure on the caretaker government to hold free and fair elections at the earliest," she said in a lecture on Democracy and Human Rights in Bangladesh at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS).

By IANS Hyderabad : Travel agent Rasheed, arrested on charges of smuggling Indians abroad, has told the police that several top politicians in Andhra Pradesh were involved in the racket, police sources said Friday. Rasheed, whose real name is Mohammed Mazharuddin Ali and who surrendered Thursday, also named Hyderabad-based cricket bookie Rajupitti as the kingpin of what was until recently a flourishing scam, the sources said.

By IANS Islamabad : Pakistan's interior ministry has requested the Supreme Court to stop suspended chief justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry from undertaking a rally by road to Lahore as there might be possible suicide attacks. In a letter to the Supreme Court registrar, the ministry said intelligence reports revealed that several suicide bombers and vehicles packed with explosives had been sent to various areas in Punjab to target VIPs, Geo Television reported late Thursday evening.

By IANS Kuala Lumpur : A Malaysian court has handed an Indian-origin Hindu man the custody of his six children, a month after they were allegedly taken away by Islamic authorities to stay with their Muslim mother. P. Marimuthu and Raimah Bibi Noordin reached a court settlement regarding child custody Thursday. Despite living together for 21 years, the couple's marriage was not seen as "legal" and they were forcibly separated last month by Islamic authorities on religious grounds.

By IANS Kuala Lumpur : A Malaysian court has slapped charges against people after an Indian worker was allegedly beaten and starved for eight months leading to his death. R. Ganesh from Tamil Nadu was eventually dumped in a jungle, about 400 km from here. Villagers discovered him and took him to a hospital where he died last week. A session's court Thursday charged the employer, his wife and their son for causing Ganesh's death. If convicted, the employer and his family may face a two years' imprisonment and a fine or both.

By IANS Lucknow : Two Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) workers, arrested in Faizabad for possession of arms while staying in the same hotel as Congress MP Rahul Gandhi, were released Friday morning. Pyare Lal Jatav and Sangram Jatav were arrested late Thursday at Faizabad's Krishna Palace hotel, where they have been staying since April 27 to organise the BSP election campaign, after they were found in possession of a pistol and a revolver.

By IANS Guwahati : At least eight people were wounded, three of them critically, in a powerful explosion at a marketplace in Assam's Tinsukia town Friday. A police spokesperson said the blast took place near a grocery wholesale market in the heart of Tinsukia, 490 km east of Assam's main city of Guwahati. "The bomb was kept on a car and was probably meant for planting somewhere else, but went off all of a sudden," senior police official Bhaskar Jyoti Mahanta told IANS. The injured were all civilians - either morning shoppers or vendors.

By IANS Dhaka : Bangladesh's Nobel laureate and rural banking pioneer Muhammad Yunus has abandoned plans of forming a political party, citing the refusal of his backers to publicly support or join his party. "I am writing this letter to you to inform you that I am standing aside from my efforts to form a political party," Yunus said in an open letter to the public. "I have seen those who initially encouraged me gradually losing their enthusiasm," he added.

By DPA Sharm el-Sheikh (Egypt) : More than 50 countries have endorsed an international proposal to help the Iraqi economy during the first day of a two-day conference in Egypt, aimed at stabilising the beleaguered nation. The five-year International Compact for Iraq includes debt reduction and aid packages but also requires the Iraqi government to take stronger steps to end sectarian violence and move toward political reconciliation between Shias and Sunnis.

By Xinhua Havana : An airplane hijacking attempt was foiled in Havana, with one military hostage dead after the kidnappers and the airport's security forces exchanged fire, the Cuban interior ministry said. The two kidnappers, new soldiers who had run away from their army base, hijacked a bus with several passengers before dawn Thursday and took it to the domestic terminal of Havana airport. They and the hostages then boarded an empty passenger plane destined to take off for Miami, the US.

By IANS Bhubaneswar : The Orissa Police Thursday recovered three powerful landmines, each weighing about 3 kg, from a road near MV-126 village in the state's Malkanagiri district. Acting on a tip-off, police personnel arrived on the spot and discovered the landmines. Later, a landmine disposal squad from Cuttack reached the village under the Kalimela police station and disposed of all the landmines, Sub Divisional Police Officer Satyabrata Bhoi said.

By IANS New Delhi : The union cabinet, presided over by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Thursday decided to move amendments to give the National Commission for Minorities greater powers to probe complaints of denial of minority rights.

The government will move amendments to the Constitution (103rd Amendment) Bill, 2004, and the National Commission for Minorities (Repeal) Bill, 2004, in the current budget session of parliament for consideration and passage.

By Xinhua Islamabad : Ten rockets were fired at an army camp in Pakistan's North Waziristan tribal region early Thursday but no one was hurt, official sources said. The rockets were fired at a camp at Dukoye area, some 60 km West of Miranshah, the headquarters of North Waziristan, but all missed targets. Pakistani forces returned fire at the direction from where rockets were fired, but there had been no information about any casualty.

By IANS Chandigarh : A woman army officer facing court martial on charges of corruption and misconduct Thursday challenged the jurisdiction of Army General Court Martial (GCM) to try her. Major Dimple Singla, the first Indian Army officer to be tried by a GCM, through her defence counsel claimed that the court of inquiry against her was biased and prejudiced. The counsel contended that Singla was never allowed to cross-examine the prosecution witnesses. Singla retired from the Army March 7.

By IANS Chandigarh : The Punjab Police Thursday ordered a probe into reports of staged killings by the force during 1982-1995 when the state was tormented by terrorist violence. Director General of police N.S. Aulakh has asked additional DGP J.P. Birdi to conduct a fact-finding inquiry into allegations that certain innocent persons were killed as "terrorists" by the police during that period while the "real" terrorists were still alive and residing under assumed names in Punjab.

By Xinhua Dhaka : In the wake of an endemic power shortage, Bangladesh has placed formal offer with India and Nepal to have access to hydroelectric potential in the two neighbouring nations, the Bangladeshi news agency UNB reported Thursday. Bangladesh Energy and Power Advisor Tapan Chowdhury Thursday disclosed the move. Dhaka is awaiting response from the two neighbours, he said. "We are waiting for the official response from New Delhi and Kathmandu," he told reporters in Dhaka on Thursday.

By IANS New Delhi : Mounting pressure on Gujarat's Bharatiya Janata Party government over the 2005 staged killing of Sohrabuddin Sheikh and murder of his wife, the Congress and the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) Thursday demanded "principal accused" Chief Minister Narendra Modi resign. Both the parties condemned the Modi government for its "typical fascist tactics" and its "communal agenda".

TwoCircles.net newsdesk 

 Aligarh: The Entrance Test to MBBS/BDS of Aligarh Muslim Univeristy went off peacefully today, without any incident. The test was conducted at 44 different Centres in the Campus, and more than 24000 candidates from all over the country appeared. The University authorities, assisted by the District administration, had made elaborate arrangements for the peaceful holding of the entrance examination.

By DPA Islamabad : Most of the two million Afghan refugees registered in Pakistan have no intention of returning home, says a report the United Nations and the Pakistani government released Thursday. According to the report, the refugees feared security risks and other hardships. Pakistani authorities have vowed to repatriate the refugees by 2009, but a joint study by the government and the United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) showed that 82 percent do not wish to leave.

By IANS

New Delhi/Ahmedabad : As more Gujarat police officials were arrested Thursday over the November 2005 staged killing of Ahmedabad resident Sohrabuddin Sheikh and his wife's subsequent murder, the Supreme Court held that it was a "prima facie" fit case to be probed by the Central Bureau of investigation.

The apex court also gave the Gujarat police "some more time" to complete its probe into the incident and deferred a final order on the issue to May 15.

By IANS Thiruvananthapuram : A court here Thursday charged Kerala Health Minister P.K. Sreemathi and seven others for culpable homicide not amounting to murder over the death of 38 newborns in a hospital due to infection. The court of additional chief judicial magistrate here passed the judgement on a complaint by a person regarding infant deaths at the state-owned Sree Avittam Tirunal (SAT) Hospital. The deaths were due to infection the infants contracted in the labour room, according to blood tests conducted at the Medical College Hospital.

By IANS Dubai : The Middle East's premier traffic and transport infrastructure show 2007 will be held in December at the Dubai International Exhibition Centre, Emirates news agency WAM reported. The Gulf Traffic Exhibition 2007 will bring together international manufacturers and suppliers offering latest products, services and technologies for the traffic and transport industry.

By DPA Baghdad : The head of Al Qaeda-linked "Islamic State in Iraq", Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, was killed in a military operation in western Baghdad, the al-Iraqiya news channel reported Thursday. Al-Iraqiya quoted Abdul-Karim Khalaf, head of the operations' centre of the Iraqi interior ministry, as saying "Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, leader of what is called the Islamic State in Iraq, was killed today in the Ghazalya district of western Baghdad." The report also said that the interior ministry had the body of the dead militant.

By DPA Kabul : A serving legislator who had also held the post of prime minister during Afghanistan's civil war was shot dead in Kabul, and a roadside bomb that targeted an army bus in the same city Thursday killed one and wounded 26, police said. Abdul Saboor Farid, a member of the upper house of parliament from Kapisa province, was shot dead in front of his house in the northern part of Kabul Wednesday night, said Zemaria Bashary, an interior ministry spokesman.

By IANS Mumbai : The noose around Alistair Pereira, the 21-year-old man sentenced to six months jail for killing seven pavement dwellers, tightened Thursday with the Bombay High Court asking police to probe how he had managed to get Rs.500,000 within half an hour to pay the victims of his hit-and-run driving. However, the young businessman, who is out on bail, got a temporary respite when a division bench comprising Chief Justice Swatanter Kumar and Justice S.C. Dharmadhikari adjourned the case till June 6.

By IANS Ranchi : A special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court Thursday awarded four to five years' imprisonment to six people accused in one of the cases relating to the multimillion rupee misappropriation scandal in Bihar that came to be known as the "fodder scam". The special CBI court of Manoranjan Kavi passed the sentence in a case related to fraudulent withdrawal of Rs.550,000 from the Pakur treasury between 1995 and 1996. The court had convicted the six accused April 30.

By IANS Hyderabad : An elderly couple was burnt to death Thursday by fellow villagers in Andhra Pradesh's Medak district who alleged they were killing their cattle with black magic. Six people have been arrested. Police said Sailu, 70, and his wife Pochamma, 65, both labourers, were burnt to death in Ulitimaipalli village in Medak, about 100 km from Hyderabad, on suspicion they were practicing "bhanamati", a local term for black magic.

By RIA Novosti Cairo : Iraq's prime minister called on donor states to write off the Iraqi government's debts accumulated during Saddam Hussein's rule. "We are calling on all our friends participating in the conference to write off Iraq's debts," Nuri al-Maliki said at the opening of an international conference on Iraq in the Egyptian resort city of Sharm el-Sheikh. He said it will make it possible for Iraq to start implementing large-scale construction projects and plans to restore the country's infrastructure.

By IANS New Delhi : Security outside Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's official residence was beefed up Thursday following a suicide attempt by a businessman. Kishori Lal Saigal reportedly stopped his Maruti Zen near a police control room van positioned opposite the prime minister's residence across the road and shot himself in the shoulder with a gun, highly placed sources told IANS. "Earlier we thought it was a property dispute. But our inquiries have now revealed that he was upset because his wife was having an affair," said a senior police officer.

By IANS New Delhi : He was the head priest of the Krishna temple and looked up to with reverence by the devout, but he coldly planned and executed the murder of his aide - first killed him with poison, threw acid on the face to disfigure it and then wrapped it in polythene and a quilt, and was about to dump it in the river when he was caught.

By IANS Mumbai : The noose around Alistair Pereira, the 21-year-old sentenced to six months jail for killing seven pavement dwellers, tightened Thursday with the Bombay High Court asking the police to probe how he had managed to get Rs.500,000 within half an hour to pay the victims. However, the young businessman, who is out on bail, got a temporary respite when a division bench comprising Chief Justice Swatanter Kumar and Justice S.C. Dharmadhikari adjourned the case till June 6.

By IANS Islamabad : Hundreds of Pakistani opposition members were detained Thursday and main roads leading to the capital blocked to impede a rally in support of suspended chief justice Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry. The measures came as a panel of judges met for the seventh hearing of charges of misconduct and abuse of office against Chaudhry, who was suspended by President Pervez Musharraf March 9, reports DPA.

By RIA Novosti Cairo : An international conference on Iraq opened in the Egyptian resort city of Sharm el-Sheikh Thursday with participants trying to adopt an agreement on assistance to Iraq. Delegations from 60 countries, most of them represented at the foreign ministerial level, are participating. The UN secretary general, the Arab League head and the EU high representative for foreign policy are also taking part in the conference.

By IANS Hyderabad : The alleged kingpin of the human trafficking racket, in which several MPs and legislators are said to be involved, surrendered before police here Thursday. Mohammed Rasheed Ali, a travel agent and resident of Malakpet area here, surrendered at the Central Crime Station (CCS) of the Crime Branch after several days of evading arrest. He told reporters at CCS that he was innocent and had decided to surrender as he was receiving threatening calls from political leaders. "I will tell everything in the court and I hope that police will protect me."

By IANS Kolkata : An Indian American doctor has threatened to mobilise US congressmen and senators against Indian authorities denying him information under the Right to Information (RTI) Act in a case relating to his crusade against the corrupt healthcare system here.

By IANS Ranchi : A special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court Thursday awarded four to five years imprisonment to six accused in one of the cases relating to 1996 multimillion rupee fodder scam in Bihar. The special CBI court of Manoranjan Kavi passed the sentence in a case related to fraudulent withdrawal of Rs.550,000 from the Pakur treasury between 1995 and 1996. The court had convicted the six accused April 30.

By DPA Tehran : Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Thursday that the US could choose between friendship and continued hostility with Iran. The remarks by Ahmadinejad, carried by the news network Khabar, came on the verge of probable direct talks between the foreign ministers of Iran and the US on the sidelines of the Iraq conference in Egypt's Sharm el-Sheikh.

By IANS Islamabad : Ahmad Faraz, a poet well-known in the world of Urdu poetry, Wednesday led a group of writers that joined lawyers and human rights activists in support of Pakistan's suspended top judge Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry, shouting slogans against the government. Also demonstrating in Lahore was the country's top human rights activist, Asma Jahangir, as the Supreme Court and the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) simultaneously took up Chaudhry's case.

By IANS New Delhi : One person was injured in firing just outside Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's official residence at 7, Race Course Road here. The firing occurred outside the Jaipur Polo Grounds across the road from the prime minister's residence, police said. "It was apparently a property dispute between two factions. A rival gang, was trailing the victim, and fired at him," a senior police official said. The injured, identified as Kishori Lal, has been taken to Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital.

By IANS Guwahati : Two people were critically wounded Thursday in a powerful bomb blast near a Food Corp of India (FCI) depot in the heart of Assam's main city Guwahati. A police spokesperson said the explosion took place near a rice depot of FCI where dozens of labourers were working. FCI's executive director was kidnapped April 17. "Two of the workers were seriously injured. We suspect it to be an improvised explosive device (IED) planted near the boundary wall of the FCI depot," a police official told IANS. The two were shifted to a hospital with multiple wounds.

By IANS Srinagar : The governor of Jammu and Kashmir has ruled out any demilitarisation in the state even though he agreed the security situation had improved remarkably.

By DPA Islamabad : Pakistan's Nuclear Regulatory Authority Thursday played down a series of advertisements it placed in national media asking citizens to inform authorities of any "lost and missing" nuclear material. The organization this week published quarter-page ads in Urdu-language newspapers warning people that radioactive material that may have gone missing from medical or industrial research facilities could be harmful. "The adverts are nothing to worry about as we are only trying to fully account for every bit of radioactive material," spokeswoman Sherin Akhtar said.

By IANS Kabul : An Indian NGO has taken up the task of improving the Afghanistan capital's sanitation by setting up public toilet complexes and launching an intensive campaign to create awareness among people in different parts of the country. Sulabh International will set up five public toilet complexes here besides other basic infrastructure with aid from the Indian government. A 21-member delegation led by E. Yasin of the Kabul municipality was in New Delhi last week to get a first hand look at the pay and use toilet systems managed by Sulabh.

By IANS London : In yet another case of suspected 'honour killings' in families of South Asian origin, a court was told that a Sikh woman sentenced her daughter-in-law to death after finding out that she was having an affair. This is the latest in a series of cases in which individuals of South Asian background have been attacked or killed for allegedly bringing dishonour to the family. In the case currently being heard at the Old Bailey, Bachan Athwal, 70, arranged for 27-year-old Surjit Athwal to "disappear off the surface of the earth" for allegedly having an affair.

By RIA Novosti New York : More than 100 members of the media were killed worldwide in 2006, making it the bloodiest year on record for journalism, the head of the UN cultural organization has said. In a statement on the eve of World Press Freedom Day Thursday, UNESCO Director General Koichiro Matsuura urged the world to "commemorate media professionals who have lost their lives and honour those who bring us information despite danger and risk".

By IANS Dhaka : Preparing for a long haul in office, till it conducts elections around end-2008, Bangladesh's interim government says it needs to appoint more advisors to cope with the workload. The country's constitution stipulates that a caretaker government should have a chief advisor and no more than 10 advisors to perform ministerial functions. But the government has now sought views of the Law Commission on how to circumvent this and augment the strength of the council.

By Xinhua Abu Dhabi : A senior official of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) said the government is working to draft a law allowing therapeutic abortions, as part of the country's prevention programme of genetic disorders. "We are studying it from two ways: on the mother or child's health. But the choice to have the abortion will be under the umbrella of religion. Whatever we decide has to be within the religious and social environment," Ali Shakar of the ministry of health was quoted as saying in Gulf News Thursday.

By TwoCircles.net staff reporter

Hyderabad : Civil Liberties Monitoring Committee India, in a memorandum sent Wednesday to Congress president and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, urged the Union Government to direct Chief Minister YS Rajshekhar Reddy to initiate a Central Bureau of Investigation probe into the involvement of city police in fake encounters.

By IANS Kuala Lumpur : Twenty-one Indian workers who arrived in Malaysia for a better future now want to return home, saying they were beaten by their employer and denied salary. The men, aged between 20 and 40, had borrowed heavily from friends and relatives in India to reach this country. They all worked at a restaurant in Pandamaran Jaya, Klang. They claimed they had not been paid by their employer and were even beaten on several occasions, the New Straits Times reported.

By IANS Dhaka : Bangladesh's most respected institution, the judiciary, has been politicised and the damage will take more than 20 years to repair, laments Chief Justice Ruhul Amin. He told a gathering of lawyers in Noakhali that the damage wrought by political appointments to the judiciary in the recent years "will take more than 20 years to remedy", The Daily Star reported. The current interim administration echoes him.

By DPA Kabul : Abdul Saboor Farid, a former mujahideen prime minister and now a parliament member, has been assassinated here, police said. Farid, a member of the upper house from Kapisa province, was shot dead in front of his house in the northern part of Kabul Wednesday night, said Zemaria Bashary, an interior ministry spokesman. Farid was shot several times from a moving Corolla model car in Khairkhana as he was entering his house. No group has taken responsibility for the murder.

By IANS London : A Sikh customs officer at Heathrow airport was allegedly murdered by her mother-in-law and husband after they had lured her to India on the pretext of attending a family wedding, a court here has heard. Surjit Kaur Athwal, a 27-year-old mother of two, was allegedly strangled to death in India in 1998 by her husband Sukhdave Athwal, 42, and his mother, Bachan Athwal, 68, but the matter came to light so late because family members who knew the truth feared for their lives, a court here was told Wednesday.

By IANS Islamabad : The Pakistan government has expressed concern over rising Talibanisation in the North West Frontier Province (NWFP) and asked the provincial administration to take measures to counter it. A formal letter has been sent to the NWFP authorities and the government expected a positive response, Interior Ministry spokesperson Javed Iqbal Cheema was quoted as saying by Aaj television.