Car bomb explodes in central Damascus killing at least 10

DAMASCUS, SYRIA: A Syrian government official says a car bombing in central Damascus has killed at least 10 people.

The official says the bomb exploded on Monday near the Sabaa Bahrat Square, one of the capital's biggest roundabouts where the Syrian Central Bank is located.

The blast was followed by a massive cloud of smoke that is rising from the residential and commercial area.

The official spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to give official statements to the media.

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Stalin, 3 DMK MLAs suspended for 2 days from TN assembly

CHENNAI: Opposition DMK MLAs, including M K Stalin, the leader of the its legislature wing, were on Monday suspended for two days from the Tamil Nadu assembly for unruly behaviour in the House.

Stalin and party MLAs Govi Chezhiyan, Thangam Thennarasu and Moideen Khan had to be physically removed by Marshals after they squatted in front of the chair of speaker P Dhanapal.

At the end of a discussion on the Mullaperiyar and Cauvery disputes, DMK wanted to raise some points which the Speaker did not allow.

Agitated DMK members then trooped down to the Speaker's chair, inviting warnings from him to return to their seats.

But some of them squatted before the Speaker's chair instead, prompting him to summon the Marshals.

Noisy scenes prevailed for a while even as the DMK members were removed physically.

Later, the House adopted a resolution moved by finance minister O Panneerselvam to suspend the DMK members for two days.

DMK president M Karunanidhi, who represents the Tiruvarur constituency in the assembly, was not present in the House.

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2002 hit-and-run case: Salman Khan's appeal adjourned to April 29

MUMBAI: A court on Monday adjourned till April 29 the appeal filed by Bollywood actor Salman Khan against a magistrate's order invoking the charge of 'culpable homicide not amounting to murder' in the 2002 hit-and-run case.

The matter was adjourned as Sessions Judge U B Hejib was on leave.

The 47-year-old actor has contended that the magistrate had erred in invoking the charge of 'culpable homicide not amounting to murder' (Section 304 part II of IPC) in the hit-and-run case. The offence under this section attracts ten year jail and is triable by a sessions court.

Earlier, Khan was tried by a magistrate for lesser charge of causing death by negligence (Section 304A of IPC), that provides for a maximum punishment of two years in jail.

After examining 17 witnesses, the magistrate had come to the conclusion that culpable homicide charge could be made out against the actor and transferred the case to the sessions court for retrial.

Khan has pleaded that the magistrate's order was "erroneous, bad in law and contrary to evidence on record."

The magistrate had failed to appreciate that he (Khan) had neither the intention (to kill people) nor the knowledge that his rash and negligent driving would kill a person and cause injury to four others, he said.

One person was killed and four others injured when the Land Cruiser allegedly driven by Khan crushed a group of people sleeping on the pavement outside a bakery in suburban Bandra in the wee hours on September 28, 2002.

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Jet Airways forays into visa services, ties-up with Dubai's Dnata

The author has posted comments on this articlePTI | Apr 8, 2013, 07.59PM IST

MUMBAI: Private carrier Jet Airways today forayed into visa services and forged a partnership with the Dubai-based Dnata to offer these services to the UAE-bound travellers from the country.

"The new partnership will offer guests travelling from here to Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Sharjah the option to individually secure their visa prior to departure," Jet said in a release.

Dnata's is one of the largest suppliers of combined air services, offering ground handling, cargo, travel and flight catering services to a host of countries.

Travel specialists will assist guests through the visa process, collect all the necessary documents and submit the visa applications to the UAE government on behalf of the traveller, the release said.

The agreement also involves offering Marhaba (welcome) bookings services, by offering a wide-variety of meet and greet services at the Dubai airport including assistance at the baggage belt area and airport formalities for fast track immigration clearance and access to Marhaba lounges.

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PM Manmohan Singh condoles Thatcher's death

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today expressed "deepest sadness" over the demise of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, describing her as a "transformative figure" under whom the UK registered important progress in national and international arenas.

"People of India join me in sending our sincerest condolences to the Thatcher family, the government and people of the United Kingdom," he said in his condolence message.

Singh said Thatcher was "a transformative figure under whom the United Kingdom registered important progress" in the national and international arenas.

Thatcher, Britain's first woman Prime Minister, also known as the 'Iron Lady', passed away today following a stroke at the age of

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Advani, Modi to skip BJP's first major Karnataka poll rally on Monday

BANGALORE: Karnataka's ruling BJP formally launches its campaign for the May 5 assembly poll with a rally on Monday but, contrary to announcements, senior party leader LK Advani and Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi are giving it a miss.

The Bharatiya Janata Party has not given a reason for the two not attending the rally, which the state leaders have been projecting as one that "will show the party's strength".

Though state party leaders had been saying for days that Advani and Modi would also address the rally, their names were missing from the list of speakers announced Friday in New Delhi by party general secretary and Bangalore South Lok Sabha HN Ananth Kumar.

Incidentally, Modi had also missed the first meeting of the recently re-constituted BJP parliamentary board in New Delhi Friday at which the first list of 140 candidates for the Karnataka poll was approved.

Modi has returned to the board after a gap six years.

The two misses by Modi are giving rise to speculation in political circles, including in the BJP, that he appears reluctant to closely associate with the campaign in Karnataka as the party is in a shambles due to corruption scandals, dissidence and desertions.

Strengthening the speculation was chief minister Jagadish Shettar's announcement on Saturday that Modi would campaign in five districts, whereas Karnataka has 30 districts.

Shettar did not identify the districts nor did he give the number of meetings Modi would address in the five districts.

With Modi leading the BJP to victory for the third time in the Gujarat assembly polls and a section in the party projecting him as the party's prime ministerial candidate, the Karnataka unit was hoping for an extensive campaign by him.

Former Karnataka chief minister DV Sadananda Gowda had said the state unit had requested Modi to devote about 10 days for campaigning.

Modi had campaigned for the party in the 2008 assembly polls. Though the party did manage to come to power after the polls, Modi's campaign did not seem to have had any major impact.

The party continues to lose legislators and ministers to the Karnataka Janata Party formed by its former leader BS Yeddyurappa.

On Saturday three legislators, including Tourism Minister Anand Singh, quit the party. Anand Singh and another legislator, Suresh Babu, are from Bellary district in north Karnataka.

At least one more legislator from Bellary, G. Somashekara Reddy, brother of jailed mining baron G. Janardhana Reddy, is expected to quit the party soon to join a new outfit floated by Reddy loyalist and former BJP minister B. Sriramulu.

The party has, however, managed to retain two ministers who are self-proclaimed Yeddyurappa loyalists.

The two, Housing Minister V. Somanna and Industries Minister Murugesh Nirani, added some drama to the still dull campaign scene earlier this week by publicly shedding tears that they were sorry for not joining Yeddyurappa. Both will contest the poll on the BJP ticket.

Elections are to be held for 224 seats of the 225-member assembly. One member is nominated. Nominations open April 10 and close April 17. Vote count is on May 8.

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US made secret deal with Pak on drone strikes: Report

NEW YORK: In a secret deal, Pakistan allowed American drone strikes on its soil on the condition that the unmanned aircraft would stay away from its nuclear facilities and the mountain camps where Kashmiri militants were trained for attacks in India, according to a media report.

Under secret negotiations between Pakistani intelligence agency ISI and America's CIA during 2004, the terms of the bargain were set, the New York Times reported today.

"Pakistani intelligence officials insisted that drones fly only in narrow parts of the tribal areas — ensuring that they would not venture where Islamabad did not want the Americans going: Pakistan's nuclear facilities, and the mountain camps where Kashmiri militants were trained for attacks in India," the paper said.

Pakistani officials also insisted that they be allowed to approve each drone strike, giving them tight control over the list of targets, the NYT added.

The "secret deal" over drone strikes was reached after CIA agreed to kill tribal warlord Nek Muhammad, a Pakistani ally of the Afghan Taliban who led a rebellion and was marked by Islamabad as an "enemy of the state," the NYT reported, citing an excerpt from the book 'The Way of the Knife: The CIA, a Secret Army, and a War at the Ends of the Earth'.

A CIA official had met the then ISI chief Ehsan ul Haq with the offer that if the American intelligence agency killed Muhammad, "would the ISI allow regular armed drone flights over the tribal areas," the report said.

The ISI and CIA also agreed that all drone flights in Pakistan would operate under the American agency's "covert action authority", which meant that the US would never acknowledge the missile strikes and that Pakistan would either take credit for the individual killings or remain silent.

While Pakistani officials had in the past considered drone flights a violation of sovereignty, it was Muhammad's rise to power that forced them to reconsider their line of thought and eventually allow Predator drones.

The ISI-CIA's "back-room bargain" sheds light on the beginning of the covert drone war which "began under the Bush administration, was embraced and expanded by President Obama."

The deal resulted in the CIA changing its focus from capturing terrorists to killing them, and helped "transform an agency that began as a cold war espionage service into a paramilitary organization."

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Urdu does not belong to any particular community, Markandey Katju says

HYDERABAD: P ress Council of India chairman Justice (retd) Markandey Katju today said that Urdu belonged to all and not restricted to any particular community.

"A misconception has been created that Hindi and Urdu belonged to particular communities...Urdu belonged to all," Katju said.

He was speaking at a function organised by the Urdu Journalists Association here in his felicitation.

Katju also appealed to Andhra Pradesh government to look into the problems faced by small newspapers and Urdu publications.

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US civilian adviser killed in Afghan operation that left 11 suspected Taliban militants dead

KABUL, AFGHANISTAN: Officials have confirmed an American civilian adviser was killed in a military operation in eastern Afghanistan that also left 11 suspected Taliban militants dead.

The American was one of three US civilians killed on Saturday. Two also died in a suicide bombing in the south, along with three soldiers.

Col Thomas Collins, a spokesman for US-led forces in Afghanistan, said on Sunday that the adviser was killed during fighting in Kunar province.

Provincial government spokesman Wasifullah Wasify says 11 Taliban militants also were killed, and four Afghan security forces, six civilians and 10 Taliban militants were wounded.

Afghan forces have increasingly been taking the lead in combat operations as international forces prepare to withdraw by the end of 2014. US and other foreign troops work largely in a training and advisory role.

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Pakistan a fake country, will reunite with India one day: Katju

HYDERABAD: Pakistan is "a fake country", and one day will reunite with India along with Bangladesh, Press Council of India chairperson Justice (Retd) Markandey Katju said on Sunday.

He also said that whereas today an overwhelming majority of Hindus and Muslims were "communal", it was not so a century ago.

"A fake country was created in the name of Pakistan. It is an artificially created entity by the British to make Hindus and Muslims keep fighting with each other, to stop India from becoming a powerful industrialised nation," he said, answering questions after a symposium on 'Reporting Terror: How Sensitive is the media?" here.

"Pakistan is a fake country and one day India, Pakistan and Bangladesh will reunite. It may take 15-20 years. Those who have divided us will not easily allow us to reunite. They will still want us to keep fighting. But we will reunite in the next 15-20 years under a strong secular modern-minded government," he said.

"Eighty per cent of Hindus and eighty per cent amongst Muslims are communal. This is the bitter truth," he said, adding that "in 1857, there was zero per cent communalism in the country. Though, there were differences between Hindus and Muslims."

Discrimination against minorities exists in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, he added.

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