Indian Muslim

By IANS New Delhi : The Supreme Court Friday dismissed a public interest plea seeking a direction to the president to take an early decision on the mercy plea of Afzal Guru, sentenced to death for his role in the 2001 terror attack on parliament. The bench of Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan said the court had already passed its final verdict on the issue. "We cannot direct the government to expedite its decision on the mercy plea," he said.

By IANS,

By TwoCIrcles.net Staff Reporter,

By News Agency of Kashmir Srinagar: Indian security agencies and analyst are blaming Pakistan based Lashkar-e-Tayyaba (LeT) for Mumbai terrorist attack but LeT denied that is behind the attack. Denying its hand in Mumbai attacks, Lashkar-e-Toiba, one of the militant groups active in Jammu and Kashmir, has condemned the attacks and termed it as against humanity.

By IANS, Chilpancingo (Mexico) : Seven people including two women, two children and three police officers have been shot dead by unidentified assailants in the south Mexican state of Guerrero, EFE news agency reported Friday. The miscreants attacked a house in the town of San Luis de la Loma early Thursday killing the women and the children. The assailants later ambushed the police vehicle headed for the crime scene and killed three police officers, the officials said.

By Jaideep Sarin, Chandigarh : Some of the most dreaded Khalistani terrorists, including those involved in mass killings and VIP assassinations, have found favour with...

By RIA Novosti, Grozny (Russia) : Five people, including four police officers, were killed Sunday in a suicide bomb attack in the Chechen capital of Grozny, the interior ministry said. The blast took place near a concert hall at 13:00 GMT in Grozny. The attacker detonated the bomb near the police officers at a public square. An official said nine people were also injured in the attack. Chechnya's President Ramzan Kadyrov condemned the attack and pledged to eliminate the terrorists in the Russian North Caucasus republic.

By IANS, Srinagar : National Conference patron and former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Farooq Abdullah Friday filed nomination papers for the Srinagar Lok Sabha seat. Talking to mediapersons later, Abdullah said he would work for a larger economic, tourism and employment package for the people of the state. Asked about the decision of his sister, Khalida Shah of the Awami National Conference, to contest against him, Abdullah said: "I won't comment on her decision as she is my sister and I have the conscience of a brother not to make comments in this regard."

By KUNA Islamabad : About 220 militants have been killed and more than 50 arrested in the ongoing offensive in Pakistan's northern Sawat valley since the military took command and control from the law-enforcement agencies after President Pervez Musharraf proclaimed the state of emergency in the operation, said an official here Sunday. Nearly 220 militants have been killed and over 50 arrested, including foreigners and dozens who were wounded in the last 15 to 20 days, military spokesman Waheed Arshad told KUNA on Sunday.

By TCN News, Bangalore: While welcoming the West Bengal government’s decision to give 10% reservation to Muslims in the OBC category the Popular Front of India has demanded that the state Muslims should have at least 20% quota given their population there. PFI has termed the decision of Andhra Pradesh High Court to quash the 4% reservation to Muslims there as unfortunate and one revealing communal bias.

By Xinhua Islamabad : Pakistan President General Pervez Musharraf may quit as Army Chief by the weekend, the Attorney General Malik Muhammad Qayyum said Wednesday. "If the Supreme Court announces (its) verdict by Thursday or Friday, then Musharraf may doff (his) uniform by the weekend," Malik Qayyum told reporters at the Supreme Court building here. "The issue of President Musharraf's uniform is now a matter of days," he said.

By IANS, Jammu: Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah Tuesday dismissed reports that he has resigned.

By Najiya O., TwoCircles.net, Kochi: Muslim organizations of Erattupetta area in Ernakulam vowed to fight against the state terror meted out to the Muslim-majority place in the Kottayam district of Kerala. The organizations held a protest dharna under the banner of Muslim Ekopana Samithi (a committee of Muslim organizations) yesterday evening in Erattupetta. Thousands took part in the dharna to protest against the police attempts to portray the place as the hub of terror.

By Mudassir Rizwan, TwoCircles.net, Patna: As many as 42 students from Bihar figure in the total list of 1339 that cleared the Physics, Chemistry and Astronomy Olympiad for 2014-15, results for which were declared on December 31. The list has 30 Muslim students from across India, of which 11 belong to Rahmani 30.

Kolkata : The Left Front Wednesday claimed that the ongoing war of words between BJP prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi and the Mamata Banerjee-led...

Mumbai : In a historic verdict, the Bombay High Court on Friday permitted the entry of women up to the restricted grave area...

New Delhi : Millions of anxious people with Rs 500 and 1,000 notes mobbed banks across India throughout Thursday to exchange or deposit them...

By IANS,

By Mohammed Siddique, TwoCircles.net,

Hyderabad : The family of a youth, who was picked up by the special investigations team of Hyderabad police on the suspicion of terror links has alleged that he was subjected to third degree torture by the police.

"After plain clothed policemen took me in to custody on Tuesday, whole night I was subjected to physical torture. They beat me up with out asking a single question", Muqeemuddin Yasser, an MBA graduate told his mother Tasneem Fatima, when she met him in Charlapally jail.

By Faisal Fareed, TwoCircles.net, Lucknow: A two-member panel probing charges of financial irregularities against the Vice-Chancellor (V-C) of Aligarh Muslim University Prof PK Abdul Azis has slated April 5 as next date of hearing. The complainants have been directed to appear before the panel on prescribed date at India Islamic Cultural Centre in New Delhi.

By IRNA Islamabad : Pakistani interior ministry said Friday it was not informed of an Al-Qaeda claim that it had a role in slaying of Pakistani former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. The Ministry said, however, that the so-called "extremist elements", who were already behind a chain of attacks this year, could be accountable. The Ministry raised the statement in reaction to Pakistan's ARY TV network that reported Al-Qaeda, led by Osama bin Laden, was to blame for Thursday's assassination.

By IANS Agartala : Separatist tribal guerrillas gunned down a tribal leader even as 12 militants surrendered to security forces in Tripura, officials said here Monday. A police spokesman said heavily armed militants of the outlawed All Tripura Tiger Force (ATTF) shot dead Sunil Debbarma, 30, at Sidhai in west Tripura late Sunday. Debbarma, a tribal leader, was vocal against the tribal militancy.

By IANS, Raipur: Three Chinese engineers, arrested in Chhattisgarh for alleged culpability in a chimney crash at the Balco power plant in which 41 workers were killed last year, were Tuesday shifted to hospital even as the issue of the large number of Chinese working in India once again hit the headlines. The engineers were employed with Shandong Electric Power Construction Corporation (SEPCO) that was building a 1,200 MW thermal power plant in Korba town, about 240 km from Raipur, for Vedanta Resources Plc-controlled Bharat Aluminium Company (Balco).

By IANS, Washington : Pakistan may be cracking down on the Afghan Taliban partly as a response to building US pressure following revelations from the arrest of Pakistani-American David Headley, according to a US South Asia expert. A US court in Chicago has charged Headley with scouting targets for Pakistan based terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) for the November 2008 Mumbai terror attacks. Along with Headley, Pakistan born Canadian terror suspect Tahawwur Hussein Rana, has also been charged with providing material support to LeT for the Mumbai attacks.

By IANS, Srinagar : Two men of the counter-insurgency force Rashtriya Rifles and a militant were killed in a gunfight between security personnel and separatist guerrillas in Jammu and Kashmir's Sopore town Tuesday morning, police said. Four people including three troopers were injured. A captain and a trooper were killed and so was a militant in the hours-long gunfight that was still going on when reports last came in.

A non-vegetarian family cornered among vegetarians during a train journey By Indscribe

Ghaziabad : The Shiv Sena's Uttar Pradesh unit on Sunday accused the BJP of "hypocrisy" over the issue of Haj House in Ghaziabad. Sena leader...

By DPA,

New Delhi : The World Bank on Friday signed a credit agreement of $50 million with India for education and skill training for minorities...

By IANS, Srinagar : Strict restrictions were Friday put in place in several places in the Kashmir valley to foil a march called by separatist leader Syed Ali Geelani. Police and paramilitary Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) have been deployed in strength in the north Kashmir towns of Sopore and Baramulla where the separatists called for a march Friday. As a preventive measure, the district magistrate of Baramulla imposed Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code in Sopore and Baramulla towns under which an assembly of five or more people is deemed 'unlawful'.

By IANS, Lahore : Gunmen Monday night attacked the Jinnah hospital in this eastern Pakistani city, killing at least 12 people, including four policemen, and injuring several others, media reports said. About three to four gunmen stormed into the emergency ward of the hospital where several injured people of Friday's mosque attacks were admitted, Xinhua reported. The attackers held patients and hospital staff hostage to thwart the police who arrived at the scene. They later escaped after a brief exchange of fire with security forces.

By Agence India Press, New Delhi: The Cabinet Committee today decided to raise the cost of Haj pilgrimage form the current Rs 12, 000 to Rs 16, 000. The Hai pilgrimage is to start tomorrow with a total of 160,491 Indian pilgrims to visit Macca this year. A team of 10 Indian doctors was dispatched in the first week of October to coordinate with Saudi health agencies for devising strategies to tackle swine flu. Two isolation rooms have been created in the 30-bed hospital run by the Indian Haj Mission in Mecca to handle swine flu-related cases.

By SPA Islamabad : Turkish President Abdullah Gul, who arrived in Pakistan Sunday night, held talks with his Pakistani counterpart Pervez Musharraf and caretaker Prime Minister Mohammadmian Soomro Monday, said an official statement. Addressing a joint press conference with Gul, Musharraf said Pakistan was paying due attention to the regional situation focusing on the global war on terror, Afghanistan situation and other burning issues. He welcomed Turkey's cooperation in all fields with Pakistan, and said it was critically required.

By TwoCircles.net staff reporter

New Delhi : In an analysis of recent Uttar Pradesh Assembly election results, Urdu daily Hindustan Express eulogised Sunday Muslims' mature and united political consciousness and decision making skill in electoral politics.

In the election for 402-member Assembly, the paper says, Muslims left no stone unturned in making the communal and fascist forces lick the dust.

By TwoCircles.net Staff Reporter, Mumbai: The genuineness of National Investigation Agency (NIA) in probing and prosecuting Hindu extremists in various blasts is now under public...

By IANS, Patna: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has come out in open support for the women's reservation bill, putting the ruling Janata Dal-United (JD-U) in a dilemma as party president Sharad Yadav has opposed the legislation. "I am in support of the women's reservation bill in its present form, it should be pushed through soon," Nitish Kumar told reporters here Saturday.

By, Amit Khurana, Agence India Press

By TCN News Popular Front of India successfully started its first state conference - Resurgence, today on Madurai Tippu Sultan ground, Vandiyoor ring road, Madurai. All India Imams Council state president Abdul Kader Muneeri prayed the Almighty for the success of the conference. Four officers took the flag to the state president M. Mohamed Ali Jinnah by a well disciplined flag march.

By Xinhua Kabul : U.S. troops based in Afghanistan's eastern Kunar province opened fire on a civilian vehicle Saturday morning, killing two persons, spokesman of provincial government Zarghon Shah Khaliqyar said. "The U.S. troops mistakenly opened fire on a local car in Manogai district at around 8: 00 a.m. local time this morning, leaving two civilians dead and injuring three others," Khaliqyar told Xinhua. He did not give more details. The U.S. military officials were not immediately available to make comment.

Jaipur : Eid-ul-Fitr was celebrated with gaiety and fervour in Rajasthan Tuesday. Prayers were offered at congregations held at various places. In state capital Jaipur,...

By TCN News, New Delhi: The holy Quran – which is a repository of knowledge of plants, flowers and agri-products that have medicinal attributes – and Hadith offer wonder drugs for treating “all diseases, except death,” asserted Dr Abdulaziz Abdullah Jifrey, former vice president of the Saudi Otorhinolaryngology Society.

By NNN-IRNA Tehran : Iran Peace Museum sponsored by the society advocating victims of chemical weapons echoes the nation's message of peace and friendship to the world and gives documents about the crimes perpetrated by the US-backed Saddam's regime against Iranians in 1980s. "The Peace Museum brought together the voices of Iranian "victims of chemical warfare to speak of the sinister ills of war," a brochure reads on entry of the museum.

By TCN News,

New Delhi: Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Monday held a high-level meeting with Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, National Security Adviser...

By Sheikh Imran Bashir, Agence India Press Srinagar: Curfew was today lifted in the Kashmir valley. The decision to end the curfew, clamped on July 6 after incidents of violence, came after the situation remained generally peaceful. However, as a preventive step, prohibitory orders were imposed in Baramulla, Anantnag and Pulwama districts besides some parts of Srinagar.

By IANS, Gandhinagar : A day after he was questioned by a Supreme Court-appointed panel over his alleged role in the 2002 Gujarat riots, Chief Minister Narendra Modi shared the dais with Chief Justice of India K.G. Balakrishnan here Sunday at the first annual convocation of the Gujarat National Law University. Modi was reportedly keen that his questioning at the hands of the Special Investigation Team (SIT) be completed Saturday itself due to the convocation Sunday. "He wanted the questioning done with and over before the GNLU convocation," sources close to him said.

By IANS

New Delhi: Five Delhi Congress legislators Monday met party general secretary Shakeel Ahmed to demand that a Muslim candidate be fielded from the capital's...

By IANS, New Delhi: Quashing rumours of Sania Mirza playing for Pakistan after her marriage to cricketer Shoaib Malik, All India Tennis Association (AITA) Thursday issued a statement confirming her participation for India till the 2012 Olympics. "Sania Mirza and her parents have informed AITA that she will continue to play for India after her marriage with Shoaib Malik," AITA secretary-general Anil Khanna said.

By IANS, Hyderabad : An explosive situation prevailed in Osmania University here Sunday night as violence over Telangana issue, police firing and arson rocked the campus. Police and paramilitary forces laid siege to the campus as the tension spread to neighbouring residential neighbourhood with residents coming out in support of students. The sprawling campus plunged into darkness as police cut off electricity and stopped even ambulances from entering the university, eye witnesses said.

By Xinhua Dhaka : A four-day South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) youth camp, the first rally of youths of South Asia under the auspices of the regional forum, will be held in Bangladesh in November. The "First SAARC Youth Camp-2007" will be held in Savar, 30 km north of capital Dhaka, an official announcement was quoted by private news agency UNB as saying Tuesday.

By Anas Nilambur,

By IANS, Lucknow : The Election Commission Saturday said it would study a speech by Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) candidate Akhilesh Das in which he is alleged to have derogatorily called Samajwadi Party (SP) candidate Nafisa Ali "budhiya", or old woman. "I am taking the CD of the speech made by the BSP candidate along with me. After screening, we will take necessary action," Election Commissioner S.Y. Qureshi said at a press conference here.

By IANS Hyderabad : The Maoist movement in Andhra Pradesh received a major setback Wednesday when the police gunned down a top leader and his wife. Communist Party of India-Maoist central military commission member G. Saraiah alias Azad and his wife Padma, also a Maoist guerrilla, were killed in a gun battle with the police in the forests of Kantanapalli in Eturu Nagaram mandal of Warangal district, about 200 km from the state capital here. The police said the gun battle took place when the personnel of the elite anti-Maoist force Greyhounds were combing the forests.

By Xinhua Jerusalem : The meeting between Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas ended on Monday evening in Jerusalem with what the Israeli side called "positive" results. David Baker, a spokesman for the Israeli prime minister's office, told Xinhua that the meeting was positive, and the two sides made some progress in certain elements regarding the joint statement during their two-hour long discussions. The spokesman, however, didn't reveal the details about the so-called progress.

By IANS Islamabad : Nawaz Sharif, another former prime minister of Pakistan, Thursday held President Pervez Musharraf "responsible" for the assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto during an election rally in Rawalpindi and said any inquiry should be conducted only after he steps down. "Pervez Musharraf is responsible and accountable for what happened today," Sharif told NDTV in an interview. "I hold his policies responsible for landing this country into the terrible mess," a shaken Sharif said.

Book: Saiyid Hamid - Muslim face of India Compiler: Mushtaque Madni Publisher: P.A. Inamdar, “Daulat”, 963 New Nana Peth, Pune 411002 Pages: 152+16 Price: Rs 400 Year: 2009 By M Zeyaul Haque,

By IANS/AKI, Bari (Italy) : The escort who revealed she spent the night with Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has claimed she was held prisoner and gang-raped by a businessman and two other guests at his villa. Patrizia D'Addario alleges local businessman and chairman of a minor league soccer team, Salvatore De Lorenzis, held her against her will at the villa in the southern Puglia region from Monday to Thursday. High on drugs, De Lorenzis repeatedly attacked her together with two other guests and filmed the rapes, D'Addario alleges.

By IANS, Bareilly: While night curfew in the trouble-hit areas of Uttar Pradesh's Bareilly district will continue, the authorities Saturday decided to lift all restrictions on vehicular movement. "Be it two-wheelers or four-wheelers, from today (Saturday) there will not be any restrictions on the movement of vehicles on the roads," District Magistrate Anil Garg said at a press conference here. "The situation is completely peaceful now," he said. Earlier, barring autos and rickshaws, the authorities had restricted the movement of vehicles on roads.

By IANS,

By IANS Kuala Lumpur : Two ethnic Indians have been arrested in Malaysia in connection with the illegal DVDs featuring clippings of disgraced ex-minister Chua Soi Lek's sex romp. The arrested Indians are believed to be sellers of pirated DVDs, the Sin Chew daily reported Saturday. Scores of the illegal DVDs with Chua's sex romp are being peddled door-to-door at Ringgit 10 (about $3) each, despite a ban by the police and a warning that possession of the DVDs is punishable.

By IANS, Durban : Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan admitted his team Kolkata Knight Riders is under a lot of pressure to perform due to the multiple-captaincy controversy in the second edition in Indian Premier League (IPL). Shah Rukh said a fan following in a city like Kolkata also adds to the pressure. He hopes to win the IPL trophy this time around for Kolkata and take out a victory march in the city.

By IANS Lahore/London : Former Pakistani prime minister Nawaz Sharif, permitted by the Supreme Court to return home from exile, has cautiously postponed his plans to do so till end-November - even as he has vowed to contest the parliamentary elections. "Our party (Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz) is preparing to contest the elections... I will be leading the campaign," he told reporters in London soon after the Supreme Court delivered its verdict.

By Sahil Makkar, IANS, New Delhi : On death row for the last three years, India's most controversial convict, Mohammed Afzal, wants a speedy conclusion to his ordeal and says Bharatiya Janata Party's prime ministerial candidate L.K. Advani would act swiftly in deciding his plight one way or the other while the present government is dilly-dallying his death sentence.

By Raqib Hameed Naik, TwoCircles.net New Delhi: Saurabh Kumar Sharma, ex-joint secretary of JNU Students’ Union and a member of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi...

By IANS, New Delhi: Delhi police Wednesday claimed to have busted a gang involved in trafficking of fake currency notes with the arrest of three people in the capital. The trio, identified as Surender Singh (25), Shiv Kumar Giri (26) and Jaiprakash (22), was arrested July 26 and fake notes in Rs.100 and Rs.20 denomination amounting to Rs.52,960 recovered from them, police said. The gang used to circulate low denomination fake notes at crowded places in Delhi, particularly to the uneducated and economically backward, they said.

By IANS Islamabad : Senior official in foreign ministry M. Sadiq has been appointed as Pakistan's new foreign office spokesman. During the weekly press briefing to media here Monday, outgoing spokesperson Tasnim Aslam introduced M. Sadiq to the journalists. Tasnim Aslam has been appointed Pakistan's ambassador to Italy and will take charge in October.

By IANS,

Srinagar/Jammu/New Delhi : There was tension in Muslim dominated Srinagar and trouble in Hindu majority Jammu Tuesday as the government cancelled its land allotment to the Amarnath shrine board, ending one controversy but beginning another over an issue that has rapidly gained a communal edge.

By TwoCircles.net Staff Correspondent, Mumbai: Maybe you don’t know it because most of the media highlighted only the death sentence of 26/11 accused Kasab, pronounced by the special anti-terror court of Judge M L Tahaliyani on May 6. While convicting Kasab the judge had questioned Mumbai Police on failure of ballistics experts in proving whose bullets killed Karkare, but media trashed it.

By Tanvir Salim for TwoCircles.net

Tehran, Dec 31 (IRNA-Itar-Tass) -- The Bushehr nuclear power station will operate 50 percent of its capacity even in summer of 2008, said on Sunday Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki. "Half of the station's capacity will be put into operation next summer," the Iranian foreign minister told reporters. "Following the delivery of fuel by Russia, which will be made in eight stages, conditions will be created for its loading (into the reactor) and for putting the station into operation," he added.

By Mumtaz Alam Falahi, TwoCircles.net, New Delhi: Two weeks after the President of India forwarded it to the Union Home Ministry for further action, the petition by the Association for Welfare, Medical, Educational and Legal Assistance (AWMELA) on the Batla House encounter seems to have been lost at the ministry.

By M Reyaz, TwoCircles.net, In 2008 during my final year of BA (Honours), I went to Lahore, Pakistan to participate in an inter-college drama festival. The hospitality of our host at GC University as also general Pakistanis had left us Indians humbled. They went an extra mile in making us feel comfortable. I remember at Anarkali market, how shopkeepers would insist on not taking money once they realized that we are Indians, or generously gave discounts. “Aap Mehman Ho Hamare,” they would often say.

By Syed Zarir Hussain, IANS Guwahati : Terrorist attacks are claiming more civilian lives in India's northeast than in Jammu and Kashmir. The region is also witnessing more insurgency-linked violence. According to latest central home ministry figures, there were 1,489 incidents of violent incidents in the northeast in 2007 compared to about 1,000 in Jammu and Kashmir. "Civilian casualties in the northeast during the same period stood at 498 as against 158 civilian in Jammu and Kashmir," said the home ministry report titled "Status Paper on Naxal Activities" released Tuesday.

By TwoCircles.net staff reporter New Delhi: “Kabir Puraskar” or Kabir Award is awarded each year to promote communal harmony by recognizing acts of physical or moral courage during communal or caste conflicts. This year the award goes to Khalifa Gufran of Saharanpur, Uttar Pradesh. In a statement released by the Ministry of Home Affairs Mr. Gufran was praised for his courage and helping the district administration in diffusing tense situations on more than one occasion.

By Special Correspondent, TwoCircles.net,

'Road connectivity, hospitals, drinking water to all villages in next 4 years' By News Agency of Kashmir

By IANS,

New Delhi : Many aspects of India's freedom movement and lesser-known freedom fighters will soon find their place of pride in a new audio-visual museum to be set up at the Jamia Milia Islamia here.

The museum, to be called The Independence Experience, will be constructed over an area of five acres at an investment of Rs.600 million.

By TwoCircles.net News Desk, New Delhi: The All India Muslim Majlis-e Mushawarat has expressed its dismay at the clean chit given by the National Human Rights Commission to the Delhi police in the Batla House encounter case. AIMMM President Dr Zafarul-Islam Khan said that the hasty NHRC report seems to be solely based on police briefing and papers offered by the police which have been denied to relatives of the encounter victims.

By TwoCircles.net Staff Correspondent, Kochi: It is not right to put the blame of all cases without evidence on Ma’dani, opined Justice VR Krishna Iyer. He added that there were special interest groups behind the moves against Ma’dani.

By TCN Staff Reporter,

By Sujoy Dhar

IANS

Naxalbari (West Bengal) : At his humble mud house here in north Bengal, Kanu Sanyal battles senility, age and a blurring eyesight. But the fire of the ultra-left revolution, known as the Naxalite movement after the village where it began 40 years ago, has not dimmed in his heart although he no longer supports his own anarchist past.

By Devanik Saha Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Bihar are the worst states for women, an IndiaSpend analysis of social indicators and demographic data of Indian...

By NNN-KUNA Beirut : Head of the Arab Region Parliamentarians Against Corruption (ARPAC), Kuwaiti MP Nasser Al-Sanae, announced Saturday that the third Arab parliamentarians' conference on combating corruption would be held in Bahrain on November 3-4. In a release issued by the Beirut-headquartered ARPAC, Al-Sanae said participants in the conference would include MPs from all member states: Kuwait, Jordan, Palestine, Yemen, Egypt, Morocco, Bahrain, Algeria, and Lebanon, as well as representatives of Arab and international bodies like the World Bank.

By Xinhua Washington : More than 19,000 militants have been killed in Iraq since the insurgency there began more than four years ago, according to newly released U.S. military statistics. The statistics, reported by USA Today on Thursday, showed that 4,882 militants have been killed so far this year, a 25 percent increase on the total number killed last year. The increase, the report said, reflects more aggressive tactics adopted by the American forces and an additional 30,000 U.S. troops ordered by the White House this year.

By TwoCircles.net news desk, Mumbai: A convocation ceremony of Markazul Ma’arif Educational & Research Centre (MMERC) was held on 25th August in Mumbai wherein speakers appreciated the Diploma in English Language and Literature (DELL) course run by MMERC. Audience during MMERC Convocation 2008

By Mudassir Rizwan, TwoCircles.net,

By IANS

Raipur : A special court here Thursday acquitted former Chhhatisgarh chief minister Ajit Jogi's son Amit Jogi of involvement in a political murder in June 2003.