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Thai police: Bangkok bomber did not act alone

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Erawan shrine reopens as police release sketch of man suspected to be behind attack that left 20 people dead.

Bangkokbombing

by Al Jazeera

Thai police have released a sketch of the main suspect in a deadly bombing that killed at least 20 people in the capital Bangkok, as the national police chief said the attack was carried out by “a network”.

Police chief Somyot Poompanmoung said on Wednesday that the attacker did not carry out Monday’s attack by himself, without elaborating further.

He made the comment as he headed into a meeting of national police commanders, adding that he was carrying orders from the prime minister who “is worried about the security of people and tourists in Thailand”.

“He didn’t do it alone, for sure. It’s a network,” Poompanmoung told the Associated Press.

Police say two other suspects have been identified in CCTV footage of the blast site.

Officials various times said that they did not rule out any group, including elements opposed to the military government, though they said it did not match the tactics of Muslim fighters in the south or “red shirt” supporters of the previous administration.

Foreigners dead

The sketch released shows a fair-skinned man with thick, medium-length black hair, a wispy beard and black glasses. It is unclear whether the man was Thai or a foreigner.

The attack left at least 11 foreigners dead, with Chinese, Singaporeans, Indonesians and a family from Malaysia among the victims.

More than 100 other people were wounded by the blast that shredded bodies at one of the city’s busiest intersections.

On Tuesday, the police released grainy closed-circuit television (CCTV) footage of a young man wearing a yellow t-shirt.

Police say the sketch could help locate the yellow-shirted man seen in the CCTV footage. A 1 million baht ($28,000) reward has been offered to anyone who can give police information leading to his arrest.

Police also said they would take the sketch to a court and ask that an arrest warrant be issued for a man matching the description.

Shrine reopened

On Wednesday, Buddhist monks led prayers for the reopening of a Bangkok shrine located in busy Ratchaprasong commercial district.

A small explosion on Tuesday by a bridge at the city’s Chao Praya River has been tied to Monday’s bomb.

Colonel Kamthorn Ouicharoen, of the Thai bomb squad police, confirmed the bridge bomb was the same type as the one detonated at the Erawan shrine.

Thailand has experienced a near-decade long political crisis that has seen endless rounds of street violence, but never anything on the scale of Monday’s bomb.

Al Jazeera’s Scott Heidler, reporting from Bangkok, said the bombings came just as tourism is rebounding in Thailand.

“The arrival numbers of the all-important Chinese market doubled for the first half of this year compared to the same period last year,” he said.

About 10,000 additional security forces have been deployed in Bangkok after the bombing, reassuring some tourists.

“At first I was shocked to hear about the blast. After assessing the situation, I think Bangkok might be safer after the bomb,” one Chinese tourist told Al Jazeera.

Brothers behead girl over affair with cousin

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Phool Jahan

Shahjahanpur: A 17-year-old girl was allegedly beheaded by her brothers in Jalalabad area as they were opposed to her marriage with their cousin, police said today.

Phool Jahan was having an affair with her cousin Achchan and both the families were ready for the marriage, but the girl’s brothers Gul Hasan and Mohammad alias Nanhu were against it, Senior Superintendent of Police Bablu Kumar said.

He said that on August 17 afternoon, Gul and Nanhu saw Phool Jahan visiting Achchan’s house in Kalan village.

Agitated over this, Gul and Nanhu beheaded Phool Jahan and moved around the village carrying her head, the SSP said.

Nanhu was arrested last night from Paraur and the knife used in the incident has been recovered, the SSP said, adding Nanhu has confessed the crime.

Kumar said the second accused would be arrested soon.

(Agencies)

Two labourers suffocate to death in manhole; contractor blamed

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manhole

Bengaluru: Two workers died of suffocation when they were trying to clear a clogged manhole here on Tuesday near CPWD Quarters in Jayamahal Road.

The deceased are Prasanna Kumar(29), from Singapur Layout and Yatish Raju(31) of Thanisandra.

The incident took place on Tuesday late night when Yatish slipped into the sewage. Mason Prasanna Kumar who tried to rescue him also fell into it. The third worker started screaming for help. A man from a nearby apartment tried to help them but the fumes caused him to faint. Neighbours heard the commotion and alerted the fire and emergency personnel, who pulled the workers out.

At Mahaveer Jain Hospital, to where the three were shifted, two were declared brought dead.

A senior police officer said no PWD official was present at the spot, and blamed contractor Nagaraju for not providing any safety gear to the workers.

(Agencies)

Midnight swoop: Five agitating FTII students arrested

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FTII students arrested

Pune: In a post-midnight swoop, Maharashtra police arrested five students of Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) from the campus for rioting, damaging properties and other charges.

The arrests came after a group of striking students confined FTII Director Prashant Pathrabe and other staffers in his office for eight hours, and vandalised office furniture and fittings on Monday.

The students, numbering more than two dozen, were protesting against what they alleged was “irrational and unjustified” pro-rata course project assessment of the 2008 batch.

“The students shouted slogans in his office, physically prevented him and other staffers from leaving the office, snapped communication lines and damaged office computers. They demanded that he should immediately cancel the project assessment or they would not release them,” an official said on Wednesday.

The students also formed a human chain to stop Pathrabe from stepping out, threw rapid fire questions at him repeatedly, shouted slogans like “PM Narendra Modi & Arun Jaitley murdabad” and caused mental torture to the officials.

Following the incident, Pathrabe lodged a complaint with Deccan Police Station late Tuesday.

The police swung into action by registering a FIR against 15 students and sent teams to the campus at around 12.45 a.m.

In the action, at least five were picked up and arrested on various charges, including rioting under the Indian Penal Code, and other non-bailable offences, around 2 a.m., the police official said.

They will be produced before a magistrate later today.

Police teams are on the lookout for the others, including at least three women, who they believe maybe hiding in or around the FTII campus.

The police crackdown caps the 72 day old agitation in which a section of the students are opposing the appointment of BJP member and TV actor Gajendra Chauhan as FTII chairman.

Last week Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi visited the FTII and expressed solidarity with the students.

Later, he took a delegation of the FTII students to meet President Pranab Mukherjee.

(IANS)

No-detention till class 8, reviving tenth boards under review

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smriti irani

New Delhi: A crucial day-long meeting of the highest advisory body on education began here today to consider reviewing the no-detention policy up to class 8 and reintroduction of class 10 board examination.

The meeting is being chaired by HRD Minister Smriti Irani, where the Women and Child Development Minister Maneka Gandhi suggested supplying of sanitary napkins in schools to reduce dropout rates among girls.

The suggestion was supported by several states and a commitment was given by the government at the meeting to implement it soon.

The meeting would also consider a proposal for extension of the Right to Free and Compulsory Education Act up to class 10 in the secondary level and to nursery in the pre-school stage.

This is the first meeting of the newly reconstituted Central Advisory Board of Education (CABE) under the NDA government.

On the agenda would be discussions on the proposed new national education policy where the states’ participation is crucial.

State Education Ministers and secretaries along with academicians and nominated members of CABE are attending the meeting.

At the inaugural discussion, Irani laid emphasis on states’ participation in the framing the education policy while Health Minister J P Nadda underscored the need for inclusion of courses on health studies in the curriculum along with emphasis on pictorial content in study materials.

He also supported the suggestion of a few members for issuing health cards to students in schools.

The focus of the day-long meeting would, however, be on a report of a CABE sub-committee which had suggested review of the no-detention policy up to class 8.

The committee suggested to end the policy in a phased manner and reintroduce class promotion from class 5 onwards.

“We need to stop, re-assess and then move forward. At this stage, it would be prudent to reiterate the need for assessment of the learning outcomes and make it consequential by linking it to promotion or otherwise to the next class beyond grade 5,” the committee had said in its report.

A few states have already repealed the policy, which had come into effect with the implementation of RTE by bringing in necessary amendments to the state rules.

The RTE Act, which makes education a fundamental right of every child between the age of 6 and 14, came into effect on April 1, 2010. It requires all private schools, except for minority institutions, to reserve 25 per cent of seats for underprivileged children.

(PTI)

UAE allocates land for Abu Dhabi’s first Hindu temple

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Indian Prime Minister Modi lauds decision to provide land for temple during landmark two-day visit to UAE.

modi-uae

by Al Jazeera

The Indian government has lauded a decision by the United Arab Emirates to allocate land for the building of the first Hindu temple in Abu Dhabi.

Narendra Modi, India’s prime minister, currently on a two-day trip to the UAE, said in a tweet on Sunday, that he was thankful to the UAE government, describing the move, “a great step”.

There are currently two Hindu temples and one Sikh gurudwara in Dubai, but none in Abu Dhabi.

On Sunday, Modi became the first Indian premier to visit the country in 34 years, meeting with Abu Dhabi’s Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan and Dubai ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum. The trip is seen an important step in burgeoning trade relations between India and the UAE, and the decision to allocate land for a temple in Abu Dhabi underpins the strategic vision of the two nations. The UAE, a federation of seven emirates, is home to about 2.6 million Indian expatriates who comprise a third of the total population and outnumber the local Emirati population. Annual Indian remittances from the UAE are estimated at $14bn. India is the UAE’s second-largest trading partner and the UAE is India’s third largest trading partner behind the US and China. Trade between the two reached $60bn last year.

Samir Saran, vice president of the Observer Research Foundation, a think tank based in Delhi, told Al Jazeera that UAE got it right by allocating land for such a venture.

“There will be those who will think that it is about him [Modi] demanding a temple or pushing a religious agenda. It is none of that. It was simply a case of him being the first leader from India to go to UAE after a long time, and it was a goodwill gesture.

“It is still a relationship centred around trade … Modi certainly didn’t go lobbying for a temple,” Saran said. 

In July 2013, The Times of India, citing a source within the Bochasanwasi Shri Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha (BAPS), said a Muslim businessman had donated five acres of land for the building of a temple in Abu Dhabi.

According to the source, the move came after the BAPS had traveled to UAE on invitation from the Invest AD group based in the Dubai.

It is not clear if Sunday’s announcement referred to the same land. 

Sri Lanka PM claims victory over ex-president in polls

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Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s attempt to stage a comeback in parliamentary elections has ended in defeat.

Elections Commissioner Mahinda Deshapriya said the vote had been one of the most peaceful in Sri Lanka's history [AFP]

Elections Commissioner Mahinda Deshapriya said the vote had been one of the most peaceful in Sri Lanka’s history [AFP]

by Al Jazeera

Former president Mahinda Rajapaksa’s attempt to stage a comeback in Sri Lanka’s general election has ended in defeat as results showed the alliance that toppled him making decisive gains.

The ruling United National Party (UNP) was likely to fall just short of an outright majority but Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe should still command enough support to form a stable government.

“I offer my grateful thanks to all parties and individuals who worked untiringly during the election period to ensure victory for the people,” Wickremesinghe, 66, said in a statement on Tuesday.

“Let us together build a civilised society, build a consensual government and create a new country.”

If confirmed, the outcome would be a triumph for President Maithripala Sirisena, who beat his former ally Rajapaksa in a presidential vote in January and called early parliamentary polls to secure a stronger mandate for reforms. Rajapaksa was Sri Lanka’s president for nine years until his January 8 election defeat.

Defeat for Rajapaksa will keep Sri Lanka on a non-aligned foreign policy course and loosen its ties with China, which during his rule pumped billions of dollars into turning the Indian Ocean island into a maritime outpost.

Victory over former mentor

With results from 18 of Sri Lanka’s 22 districts in, Wickremesinghe’s UNP had won about 105 seats in the 225-seat parliament.

A total of 196 seats are up for grabs in multi-member constituencies with a further 29 to be allocated by proportional representation in the 225-seat chamber.

Since his surprise victory over his former mentor, Sirisena has struggled to impose his authority over his United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) party and was powerless to prevent Rajapakse’s Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), from standing as one of its candidates.

Sirisena threatened to invoke his executive powers to prevent his combative predecessor from becoming prime minister, but Rajapakse was banking on a strong showing to force Sirisena to back down.

Rajapaksa was hailed a warrior king for defeating Tamil Tiger separatists to end a nearly 26-year civil war. But he is accused of using his popularity to take control of parliament, the courts, the armed forces and all government institutions.

He was also accused of widespread human rights abuses and of suppressing freedoms.

Elections Commissioner Mahinda Deshapriya said the vote had been one of the most peaceful in Sri Lanka’s history. About 70 per cent of the 15 million registered voters voted in Monday’s elections.

Police spokesman Ruwan Gunasekara said 35 people were arrested countrywide for election law violations.

The mood on the streets was subdued on Tuesday, with celebrations and street processions banned for a week after the polls under Sri Lankan election laws.

No survivors in Indonesia plane crash, officials say

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Search officials say all 54 on board Trigana Air passenger plane dead, as they find black box on the crash site.

The aircraft was also carrying about $470,000 destined for remote villages [AP]

The aircraft was also carrying about $470,000 destined for remote villages [AP]

by Al Jazeera

Search and rescue teams have found the flight recorder for a Trigana Air passenger aircraft that crashed in eastern Indonesia, killing all 54 on board, according to officials.

“At 1:40 local time the Trigana Air black box was found,” Transportation Ministry official Julius Arivada Barata told the Reuters news agency by text message on Tuesday.

Major-General Heronimus Guru, operations director at Indonesia’s National Search and Rescue Agency, told a news conference in the capital, Jakarta, on the same day that all passengers on the plane were dead and their remains were being put into body bags and recovered.

Officials have declined to comment on the cause of Sunday’s crash until the results of an investigation by the national transport safety committee, but Guru said the terrain in Indonesia’s easternmost province may have been a factor.

“There’s a possibility the aircraft hit a peak and then fell into a ravine because the place that it was found is steep,” Guru said.

Earlier, the National Search and Rescue Agency said the twin turboprop ATR-42-300 probably hit a peak on Sunday before crashing into a ravine in the Bintang Mountains district, about seven nautical miles from Oksibil.

ATR is a joint venture between Airbus and Alenia Aermacchi, a subsidiary of Italian aerospace firm Finmeccanica.

Plane was carrying money

There were 44 adult passengers, five children and infants and five crew on the short-haul flight from provincial capital Jayapura south to Oksibil town.

The aircraft was also carrying about $470,000 destined for remote villages, as part of an assistance programme. There was no suggestion the money was somehow linked to the crash.

Officials from Trigana were not immediately available to respond to questions from Reuters. The airliner has been placed on a European Union list of banned carriers since 2007 over safety or regulatory concerns.

All on board were Indonesian, officials said.

The aircraft made its first flight 27 years ago, the Aviation Safety Network says. Trigana Air Service has a fleet of 14 aircraft, aged 26.6 years on average, according to the airfleets.net database.

Trigana has had 14 serious incidents since it began operations in 1991, online database Aviation Safety Network says. Besides the latest crash, it has written off 10 aircraft.

Indonesia has a patchy aviation record, with other two major crashes in the past year.

In December, an AirAsia flight went down in the Java Sea, killing all 162 aboard. More than 100 people died in June in a crash of a military transport plane.

Modi announces Rs.1.25 lakh crore Bihar package

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Modi

Ara: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday announced a Rs.1.25 lakh crore Bihar package to “change the face of Bihar”.

Modi inaugurated a national highway project in Ara town of Bhojpur district and said: “I am announcing a package of Rs.1.25 lakh crore. This package will change the face of Bihar.”

He said Rs.40,000 crore left from an earlier aid to the state will also be given, taking the total amount of central assistance to Rs.1.65 lakh crore.

He promised to “implement the package fully”.

“If we want to solve people’s problems then the only way ahead is development,” Modi said.

He questioned Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s anger when he had called Bihar “bimaru” (sick). “They say Bihar is not ‘bimaru’, and then they make demands…,” Modi said.

Modi also said: “I will change the destiny of the country.”

He said the central government was formulating special schemes to empower women and OBCs in the state of Bihar.

He spoke a few lines in Bhojpuri language and greeted the people.

Modi was earlier received at the Patna airport by Governor Ram Nath Kovind and Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.

Modi laid the foundation stone of a four-lane road connecting Patna and Buxar in Ara, the district headquarters of Bhojpur, about 60 km from Patna.

All private schools in Ara were closed on Monday and Tuesday due to restrictions on plying of school buses on several route through the town and for security reasons.

The four-lane highway and other projects were approved by the previous Congress led UPA government.

Modi will later in the day address the Bharatiya Janata Party third parivartan rally in Saharsa district in flood-prone Kosi region.

He has already addressed two election rallies in Muzaffarpur and Gaya ahead of the forthcoming assembly polls.

(Agencies)

President Pranab Mukherjee’s wife Suvra Mukherjee passes away

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Suvra Mukherjee

New Delhi: She had always remained in the background, smiling graciously at invited guests from her wheelchair during events held at the Rashtrapati Bhavan. First Lady Suvra Mukherjee, President Pranab Mukherjee’s wife of 58 years, died here on Tuesday, it was announced.

The first lady was admitted to the Intensive Care Unit of the Army’s Research And Referral Hospital here two weeks back. President Mukherjee cut short his two-day visit to Odisha and returned to the national capital that evening itself. She was known to be suffering from a heart ailment.

“Suvra Mukherjee died after a cardiac arrest. She was on ventilator till the time of her death,” Army’s Research And Referral Hospital PRO Sanjay Kumar told IANS.

Married to Pranab Mukherjee on July 13, 1957, Suvra Mukherjee was an accomplished Rabindra Sangeet exponent. The couple have two sons and a daughter. Her son Abhijeet Mukherjee is a Congress MP from Jangipur, West Bengal, while daughter Sharmistha is an accomplished dancer and has joined the Congress party. Another son is Indrajit Mukherjee.

Suvra Mukherjee was born in Narail, Bangladesh, where her relatives still live.

During his state visit to Bangladesh in March 2013, President Mukherjee paid his first visit to his “sosur bari”, or in-laws’ house, where the couple were given the traditional welcome accorded to newly-weds, complete with conch-shells being blown and ‘uloo dhoni’ and ‘mangal deep’ aarti.

The grand family welcome at Bhadrabila village, some 9 km from Narail town, probably made up for the physical stress she had to endure, being wheel-chair bound throughout the trip.

She is not known to have accompanied her husband on a foreign tour after that.

Her ancestors had migrated to India in early 1950s after the 1947 partition.

In an interview to Times of India in July 2012, just after Pranab was named as the next president, Suvra told the daily that she and her husband had never had a fight.

“We are not like today’s couples. It’s not a lovey-dovey relationship and we don’t express our emotions overtly. It’s all in the mind and heart. We don’t really indulge in small love talk. At our age, it’s more about depending on each other wholeheartedly. His love for me is different. Every day, after his bath he comes to me, touches my forehead and recites some mantras. He does this every day of the year and yesterday was no exception. This is how he expresses his love. We’ve been married for 55 years and we haven’t fought for a single day!”

Being a music lover, her concern before shifting to the palatial 360-room Rashtrapati Bhavan was to find an appropriate place for her musical instruments, harmonium and tanpura.

In fact, her love for Rabindra Sangeet found a reflection in the melodies played by the Rashtrapati Bhavan band during the formal events, like At Home and dinner receptions for foreign dignitaries.

The band has begun interspersing usual melodies with well-known melodious Rabindra Sangeet numbers.

Bengali sweets, like sandesh, also made its entry into Rashtrapati Bhavan.

(IANS)

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