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Mumbai 7/11 train blasts: 5 get death, 7 sentenced to life

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2006 Mumbai Bombings

Mumbai: Five convicts in the 2006 Mumbai local train bombings, which killed 188 people and injured over 800, were on Wednesday sentenced to death by a Mumbai special court.

Pronouncing the verdict, the special Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) court judge Yatin Shinde sentenced to death Faisal Sheikh, Asif Khan, Kamal Ansari, Ehtesham Sidduqui and Naveed Khan who planted the bombs in various trains.

The other seven accused — Mohammed Sajid Ansari, who prepared the electrical circuits for the bombs, Mohammed Ali, who provided his Govandi residence to make the bombs, Dr Tanveer Ansari, one of the conspirators, and Majid Shafi, Muzzammil Shaikh, Sohail Shaikh and Zamir Shaikh who provided logistical support – were sentenced to life.

On July 11, 2006, seven blasts tore through the first-class compartments of crowded local trains in a span of 11 minutes during the evening rush hour as millions of office-goers were heading home. The blast occurred between Khar Road-Santacruz, Bandra-Khar Road, Jogeshwari-Mahim Junction, Mira Road- Bhayander, Matunga- Mahim Junction and Borivali.

According to investigators, around 20kg of RDX were packed into pressure cookers, placed in bags and hidden under newspapers and umbrellas.

Police said the suspects targeted local trains as they were crowded and the security was not as tight as the other surveyed sites. They divided themselves into seven teams, each consisting of a Pakistani national and an Indian national, and the bombs were taken to Churchgate station on July 11 by taxis.

The anti-terrorism squad (ATS) said the suspects were linked to the banned Students Islamic Movement of India and were helped by Pakistan-based terrorist group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) to hatch the conspiracy that prompted New Delhi to freeze peace talks with Islamabad.

A charge sheet filed by the ATS in November 2006 named 30 people but four Indian suspects and all 13 Pakistani accused, including key conspirator and LeT commander Azam Cheema, are on the run.

(Agencies)

Muslim man beaten to death near Delhi over beef rumours

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Mohammad Akhlaq Beef

Dadri: A 50-year-old man was beaten to death by a mob near Delhi on Monday night, allegedly over rumours that his family had stored and eaten beef.

Mohammad Akhlaq and his son, 22, were dragged out by villagers in Dadri in Uttar Pradesh, around 45 km from the capital, and beaten with bricks. Akhlaq died and his son is critical in hospital.

When the police arrived, the mob was still assaulting the men.

Six men were arrested last night. Akhlaq’s family says they only had mutton in their fridge. The police have taken the meat sent it for forensic testing.

The police said the family had stayed at the village for around 35 years. They are investigating who spread the rumour.

“We found out that the people beat them because they consumed cow meat. More people will be arrested,” said S Kiran, a senior police officer.

Sajida, daughter of Akhlaq mentioned that it was mutton which was kept in refrigerator and not beef. She revealed that a mob consisting of 100 people attacked her house on Monday night.

They broke the doors of the house and alleged that cow meat was kept in the house. They dragged her father outside the house and beat him with bricks, she said.

Mr. N.P. Singh, District Magistrate of Gautam Budh Nagar told that police have been deployed in the area and the situation has been brought under control.

News of the arrests led to tension in the area as villagers clashed with the police, forcing them to fire in the air.

(Agencies)

Karnataka Hockey goalkeeper T Antic Sagayam passes away

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T Antic Sagayam

Bengaluru: T. Antic Sagayam (57), one of the outstanding hockey goal keepers of Karnataka has passed away this morning at St. Philomina Hospital, Bangalore after a brief illness. He was employed with BEML, Bangalore and played for its hockey team for more than two decades in an exemplary manner and was instrumental in the team winning State Super Division Hockey League title at least on seven occasions.

He represented the Karnataka State both in the Junior and Senior National Hockey Championships. In the Junior National Hockey Championship, he played in the years between 1976 and 1979 and thereafter in the Senior National Hockey Championships conducted at various places from the years 1978 to 1986.

Apart from playing in the Junior and Senior National Hockey Championships, Antic Sagayam played for Karnataka in several All India Hockey events as well as in the South Zone Hockey Championships from the years 1978 to 1984.

As he was an outstanding hockey goalkeeper, he was called upon to attend the national coaching camps as a probable player of the Indian Hockey Team for the World Cup 1981, Asiad 1982 and Olympics 1984.

His funeral mass and cremations were held late this evening. KSHA has lost one of the outstanding hockey players who served the Association in an exemplary manner and condole his death.

Land scam: HDK demands Minister Deshpande’s resignation

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Kumaraswamy

Bengaluru: JDS Karnataka unit president H D Kumaraswamy today sought resignation of Industries Minister R V Deshpande for “illegally” acquiring reserved forest land near here.

He threatened that if Deshpande does not resign in the next ten days, he would file petition before the Green Bench against cabinet ministers including Chief Minister Siddaramaiah.

Kumaraswamy had alleged last week that Deshpande and 49 others had illegally acquired vast tracts of reserved forest land near here.

“Last week, I had released government documents, exposing Deshpande’s illegal acquisition of forest land in the city.

The Chief Minister so far has not taken any action in this regard. If he continues to protect the minister I will file a petition before the Green Bench against him, Revenue Minister Srinivasa Prasad, Forest Minister Ramanath Rai and Deshpande,” Kumaraswamy told reporters here.

The former chief minister had tabled documents to support his claims of a “land scam.” He had claimed that government was proposing to fix the guideline value of land at Rs 22,000 per sq feet and once that was done the value of the “scam” would be more than Rs 14,000 crore.

Kumaraswamy had alleged that these people, including Deshpande, had “illegally” acquired more than 177.28 acres in Jakkur-Allasandra plantation village, which was declared Reserved Forest in 1940 by erstwhile Mysore Government.

Replying to a query, Kumaraswamy said: “Siddaramaiah, government and BJP are silent over the issue … they are silent because I suspect they also must have illegally acquired the reserved forest land.”

Kumaraswamy said the scam was brought to the notice of the government by chief conservator of forests by writing a letter to the government, seeking an inquiry.

The Chief Minister, after forming the government, had promised strict action against land grabbers, but so far no action had been taken, he said.

“Whose interest or whom are the Chief Minister protecting – the land-grabbers or poor people, who are the rightful beneficiaries of government land to build houses. The Chief Minister should respond immediately,” Kumaraswamy said.

Deshpande had denied the charge linking him last week and argued that it was not possible for anybody to purchase reserved forest land.

“Is it possible to purchase land declared as reserved forest? It is not possible. I request Kumaraswamy to review his allegations against me,” he had said.

(PTI)

Yemen: Wedding party death toll jumps to 131

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Many women and children among the dead in attack initially reported as a ‘mistake’

Monday's accidental attack on a Yemeni wedding party drew references to the United States' December 2013 drone bombing of another wedding party in Yemen, which resulted in the death of the 15 people. (Photo: AFP)

Monday’s accidental attack on a Yemeni wedding party drew references to the United States’ December 2013 drone bombing of another wedding party in Yemen, which resulted in the death of the 15 people. (Photo: AFP)

by Lauren McCauley, Common Dreams

The death toll from the bombing of a Yemeni wedding party on Monday has jumped to 131 people, “making it one of the deadliest attacks on civilians in Yemen’s war,” Reutersreports.

Initially reported as a “mistaken” air strike by the Saudi-led coalition, the U.S. backed group is now denying its role in the civilian tragedy as a coalition spokesperson “suggested local militias may have been responsible” for targeting the party, which included many women and children.

Earlier:

Saudi Arabia-led airstrikes “mistakenly” struck a wedding party in Yemen early Monday killing at least 38 people, many of which were women and children.

The U.S.-backed coalition was purportedly targeting Shiite rebels, known as Houthis, when it bombed a celebration in al-Wahga, a village near the strategic Strait of Bab al-Mandab. One senior government official declared the two airstrikes a “mistake.”

According to the BBC, “First reports from the village said that 12 women, eight children and seven men had been killed, with dozens more wounded, when the air strike hit two tents during a wedding for a local man linked to the Houthi group.”

And the Associated Press notes that the village in which the strikes took place “lies in the battered Taiz province, where civilians routinely fall victim to daily Saudi airstrikes as well as rebel mortar shells.”

The United Nations estimates that roughly 4,900 people have been killed and more than 25,000 wounded in the six months since the Saudi-led bombing campaign began in March. Further, roughly 21 million of Yemen’s population of 25 million have been impacted by the conflict.

The incident immediately drew references to the United States’ December 2013 drone bombing of another wedding party in Yemen, which resulted in the death of 15 people. Among those who connected the two attacks, blogger Marcy Wheeler wrote on Twitter:

Dujuan brings flooding to eastern China

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The former typhoon which brought death and destruction to Taiwan has now hit the mainland.

Dujuan weakened as it moved across the cooler waters of the Taiwan Strait [AFP]

Dujuan weakened as it moved across the cooler waters of the Taiwan Strait [AFP]

by Al Jazeera

Typhoon Dujuan has begun to disintegrate over eastern China after unleashing its full force on the neighbouring island of Taiwan.

At least two people were killed and more than 300 injured as the typhoon tore across central Taiwan on Monday night.

Dujuan struck Taiwan as the equivalent of a Category 4 storm (on the five point Saffir-Simpson scale).The highest gust recorded on the island was 246km/h, 30km south of Yilan City.

Torrential rain, with as much as 750mm in some areas, resulted in flash flooding and mudslides.

At least 1.8 million homes were without power, although 1.3 million of those have since been reconnected.

Around 12,000 people were evacuated from their homes in advance of Dujuan’s arrival and this may have contributed to the very low death toll.

The track of Dujuan was slightly further to the south than predicted, meaning that Taipei missed the very worst of the weather, although the city’s famous Taipei 101 skyscraper suffered some damage.

Dujuan weakened as it moved across the cooler waters of the Taiwan Strait before making landfall between Putian and Xiamen, China, at 00:00 GMT on Tuesday.

Dujuan’s track and strength is very similar to that of August’s Typhoon Soudelor, which caused at least 26 deaths in China and estimated damage and financial losses of $3bn.

Although Dujuan’s winds are weakening rapidly, it is likely that flooding rain will cause disruption and a threat to life for the next few days.

Bangladesh investigates Italian aid worker’s killing

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Tavella Cesare shot while jogging in Dhaka in what government authorities say was an apparent “planned murder”.

Nothing was taken from the victim and police ruled out robbery as a motive [Mahmud Hossain Opu/Al Jazeera]

Nothing was taken from the victim and police ruled out robbery as a motive [Mahmud Hossain Opu/Al Jazeera]

by Al Jazeera

An Italian aid worker living in the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka has died after he was shot in an apparent “planned murder”.

Tavella Cesare, 50, was shot three times while jogging at the Gulshan diplomatic zone on Monday night.

A witness told Al Jazeera that he took Cesare to a local hospital, where the victim was pronounced dead.

“It appears to be a planned murder,” Asaduzzaman Khan, Bangladeshi home minister, told the Samakal newspaper.

“Police will also look into whether it was a part of any conspiracy to destabilise Bangladesh.”

Nothing was taken from the victim and police ruled out robbery as a motive.

Mokhlesur Rahman, Dhaka police inspector general (IG), told Al Jazeera that investigators are searching to see if any closed-circuit television cameras captured the incident.

Paolo Gentiloni, the Italian foreign minister, told national news agency Ansa that his office was checking an online claim by a group affiliated with the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).

Muntasirul Islam, a police spokesperson, said authorities were also trying to substantiate the purported claim.

Britain’s foreign ministry warned of an increased terrorism risk in the country.

Police in Dhaka said they had no leads in tracing the three unidentified assailants who, riding on a single motorcycle, drove up alongside the victim.

“We have no idea, we can’t say anything definitively for now,” Rahman said, declining to comment on the ISIL claim of responsibility.

“Let the investigation happen.”

Witnesses said the attackers fled the scene after Cesare fell to the ground, according to police.

Cesare was taken to a nearby hospital, where doctors pronounced him dead.

His colleague Alo Rani Dhali said Cesare had come to Bangladesh in May to work in the food security sector for a Netherlands-based church cooperative called ICCO.

In a statement dated Monday, ISIL reportedly said a “security detachment” had tracked and killed Cesare with “silenced weapons”, according to the SITE intelligence group’s website.

It warned that “citizens of the crusader coalition” would not be safe in Muslim nations. Almost 90 percent of Bangladesh’s 160 million population practises Islam.

Dhaka police were questioning witnesses including street beggars who allegedly heard the shots and saw the attackers flee, local broadcaster Somoy Television said on Tuesday.

Modi leaves for home after concluding US, Ireland visit

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modi

New York: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday left for home after concluding his seven-day visit that took him to Ireland and the US.

“An extraordinary visit ends, with a relentless focus on the future. PM @narendramodi emplanes for New Delhi,” external affairs ministry spokesperson Vikas Swarup tweeted.

Modi had visited Ireland on September 23 and then left for the US, during which he was in New York and also visited San Jose on the West Coast.

(IANS)

Big boost to economy : Reserve bank cuts rate by 50 basis points

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RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan

RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan

Mumbai: In a big boost to the economy and borrowers, the Reserve Bank today cut interest rate by 0.50 per cent and relaxed norms for home loan seekers.

In its monetary policy review, RBI reduced the key rate (repo) by 50 basis points from 7.25 per cent to 6.75 per cent with immediate effect.

The central bank cut the GDP forecast to 7.4 per cent for the current fiscal from (rpt) from 7.6 per cent, while projecting retail inflation at 5.8 per cent for January. RBI kept the cash reserve ratio (CRR), portion of deposits mandatorily kept by banks with the central bank, unchanged at 4 per cent.

Consequently, the reverse repo rate adjusted to 5.75 per cent, and the marginal standing facility (MSF) rate and the Bank Rate to 7.75 per cent.

RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan said: “Further monetary policy accommodation will be conditioned by the abating of recent inflationary pressures, the full monsoon outturn, possible Federal Reserve actions and greater transmission of its front-loaded past actions.”

Looking forward, he said inflation is likely to go up from September for a few months as favourable base effects reverse.

“The outlook for food inflation could improve if the increase in sown area translates into higher production. Moderate increases in minimum support prices should keep cereal inflation muted, while subdued international food price inflation should continue to put downward pressure on the prices of sugar and edible oil, and food inflation more generally,” he said.

Taking all this into consideration, he said, inflation is expected to reach 5.8 per cent in January 2016, a shade lower than the August projection.

In a bid to give boost to housing sector, the RBI proposed to reduce the risk weights on affordable housing applicable to lower value but well collateralised individual housing loans.

At present, the minimum risk weight applicable on individual housing loans is 50 per cent, it said. Rajan also affirmed RBI’s commitment to be “accommodative” in the future even after today’s “front loaded” action.

“The bulk of our conditions for further accommodation have been met,” Rajan said in the fourth bi-monthly review of the monetary policy in the current fiscal.

The repo rate, at which RBI lends to the system, has now come down 6.75 per cent, the reverse repo rate at which it accepts banks’ excess liquidity will be 5.75 per cent, while the cash reserve ratio has been kept unchanged at 4 per cent.

This is the fourth policy rate cut by Rajan this year, and takes up the cumulative rate cuts to 1.25 per cent. The RBI has been under pressure from various quarters to give a fillip to the sagging growth by a rate cut, and itself acknowledged the need to do so when it cut its growth projection by 0.2 per cent to 7.4 per cent for the fiscal.

“Continuing policy implementation, structural reforms and corporate actions leading to higher productivity will be the primary impetus for sustainable growth,” Rajan said.

He made it clear that the RBI has “front-loaded policy action by a reduction in the policy rate by 0.50 per cent”, and this action shall ensure that the real interest rates will continue to be in the 1.5-2 per cent band.

Rajan reiterated the need for banks to pass the benefits of the RBI actions to their lending rates and added that with this cut, the focus of the monetary policy will now shift to working with the government to remove impediments to pass a bulk of the cumulative 1.25 per cent cuts to borrowers.

Banks have so far passed only an average of 0.30 per cent to the borrowers as against RBI’s 0.75 per cent cut and blame the delays in repricing of deposits for the lag. He added that deposit rates have “reduced significantly” and further transmission “is possible”.

The central bank is targeting to get headline inflation at 6 per cent by January 2016 and Rajan said it will reach 5.8 per cent by then. In the way forward, the focus will now shift to getting the number down to 5 per cent by FY17. Largely due to the base effects, the number had come at 3.66 per cent in August.

Apart from the rate action, Rajan introduced a slew of actions on the financial markets front, starting with setting the foreign portfolio investment limits in rupee terms, rather than in dollars.

FPI investments in government bonds will be increased in phases to 5 per cent of the outstanding stock by March 2018, which can bring in an additional of Rs 1,20,000 crore, over and above the existing limit of Rs 1,53,500 crore, Rajan said.

A majority of analysts were expecting Rajan to cut rates at the policy review, largely because of inflation being under control, and possibilities of it staying low in the immediate future on compressed commodity prices. However, more than the rate action, it was the guidance in the future stance, which the market was watching the most.

The Finance Ministry had also been building pressure on the RBI to cut rates, which will serve as a booster for the economy, where the GDP expansion has slipped to 7 per cent for the June quarter.

Citing wholesale price-based inflation continuing to be in the negative zone, Chief Economic Advisor Arvind Subramaniam had said the economy run the risk of deflation as well.

However, in its Monetary Policy Report, RBI said concerns around deflation are “overstated” and an “array of facts” like the sequential pick-up in growth can be presented to counter the argument.

“The prescription is that monetary policy should act aggressively to pre-empt deflation,” it said, adding that the government will also have to work hard to push growth. At 3.66 per cent in August, the consumer price inflation is within RBI’s comfort zone, given its stated target of keeping it at 6 per cent by January 2016.

A week ahead of the review, Rajan had given mixed signals of the stance he will be taking at the review, saying the inflation is low due to base effects — it was very high same time last year — and also flagged worries on inflation expectations in the economy, which continue to be very high.

The comments had come a day after US Federal Reserve decided to delay it’s rate hike, further fuelling expectations of a rate cut in India.

Apart from the US Fed’s actions, the 13 per cent shortfall in monsoon till now, which can impact inflation going forward, is another key factor.

The RBI shifted its stance in January this year with the first rate cut, after picking up signals of ebbing in the inflation trajectory.

(PTI)

 

Shiv Sena praises Manmohan Singh, says can’t forget his contribution

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manmohan singh

Mumbai: The Shiv Sena today sought to play down the “praise” lavished on Prime Minister Narendra Modi over attracting foreign investments, saying the contributions of P V Narsimha Rao and Manmohan Singh towards bolstering India’s economy can’t be forgotten.

“Though Prime Minister Narendra Modi is immensely popular in foreign countries, people like Narsimha Rao and Manmohan Singh laid the foundation of India’s economic progress and opened the country’s gates for other nations. How can we forget their contribution?” the Sena said in its mouthpiece ‘Saamana’.

The comment from the party, which is an ally of the BJP-led government at the Centre and in Maharashtra, comes in the backdrop of Modi’s address to the Indian diaspora yesterday where the PM deprecated the culture of graft in the country in a veiled attack on corruption in the UPA regime.

“In our country it doesn’t take much for allegations to come up against politicians… Someone made 50 crores, someone’s son made 250 crores, (someone’s) daughter made 500 crores, (someone’s) damaad (son-in-law) made 1000 crores…” Modi had said.

The Sena said that both the formers Prime Ministers gave a direction to the country’s economy when it was in a bad shape.

“Though Manmohan Singh believed in an ideology not similar to ours, we have to accept he wanted the best for our nation,” the Sena said.

The party further said that a revolution in Doordarshan and the telecommunication sector first happened during the regime of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, which was carried forward by her successor and son Rajiv Gandhi.

“Doordarshan started telecasting its programmes pan-India since 1982. It was on August 15, 1982 that Indira Gandhi’s Independence Day address to the nation was first telecasted on DD in colour,” Sena said.

“Later, it was Rajiv Gandhi who brought an era of computers and ensured that every village had phone and STD booths. He and his advisor Sam Pitroda are known as the architects of Indian telecommunication sector,” the Sena added.

(Agencies)

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