Nasheman

India's largest selling Urdu weekly, now also in English

You are here: Home / Archives for 2016

Archives for 2016

Vyapam scam: Prime accused, absconding for three years, arrested

by

Vyapam

New Delhi: In a joint operation, Uttar Pradesh Special Task Force and CBI today arrested from Kanpur one of the prime accused in the Vyapam scam Ramesh Shivhare, who had been absconding for the last three years.

“We have arrested Shivhare this morning. He is wanted by CBI in several cases in the Vyapam scam,” Uttar Pradesh DGP Javeed Ahmed told PTI over phone.

CBI sources said here that Shivhare is wanted in five cases probed by it which are related to alleged irregularities in the conduct of Madhya Pradesh Professional Examination Board also known as Vyapam.

They said Shivhare was absconding for the last three years and carried a reward of Rs 10,000.

A native of Uttar Pradesh, Shivhare’s wife was a local body member in Mahoba.

They said Shivhare was one of the kingpins of the scam and was nabbed in a joint operation by UPSTF and CBI from Avas Vikas colony in Kalyanpur area of Kanpur.

He will be produced before a competent court today after which he will be taken to Bhopal, they said.

Shivhare allegedly acted as a middleman and arranged for impostors and dummy candidates to appear in the examination carried out by Madhya Pradesh Professional Examination Board for a certain amount.

A resident of Uttar Pradesh, Shivhare has been evading questioning by authorities probing the case. His application for anticipatory bail was also turned down by the Madhya Pradesh High Court in 2014.

“There is material to indicate the involvement of applicant in the commission of the crime, for which reason, the Investigating Officer has been insisting for attendance of the applicant for quite some time but in vain,” a bench of Chief Justice A M Khanwilkar and Justice Alok Aradhe had said.

(PTI)

Nihal Bitla, the face of Progeria campaign in India, dies at 15

by

Nihal Bitla

Mumbai: Nihal Bitla, the 15-year-old from Bhiwandi who made headlines across the world because of his rare genetic disorder called progeria, passed away in his native town of Karimnagar, Telangana, on Monday night.

Progeria is characterised by rapid aging among children; reports from the Progeria Research Foundation in Boston said Nihal had been aging eight times faster than usual. Actor Amitabh Bachchan had portrayed a “progeria child” in a film, Paa, in 2009. Dinesh Chindarkar, who is the foundation’s representative in Mumbai, said Nihal’s family had gone to Telangana for a wedding.

“He fell ill in the evening and was rushed to a local hospital. His father, Shrinivas Bitla, told me he suffered a stroke and passed away around 11.30pm,” Chindarkar said. He said that Nihal and his family were helpful to other affected families.

(Agencies)

Pathan, Russell win match for Knight Riders against RCB

by

kkr

Bengaluru: Batting knights Yusuf Pathan and Andre Russell won the match for Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) against Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB), scoring 189/5 with five balls to spare at Chinnaswamy Stadium here on Monday in the 30th match of IPL Season Nine.

Pathan (60) and Russell (39) started hitting regular boundaries for KKR halfway after the match to bring down the asking rate from 9.3 runs an over at the beginning of the chase to 47 runs in 24 balls and 21 runs in 16 balls finally after the dismissal of Russell to one run in five balls in the 20th over.

Russell blasted four sixes and a four in 24 balls to reach 39 while Pathan remained unbeaten on 60 with half a dozen fours and a three sixes.

Pathan destroyed Watson in the 17th over, he smashed two sixes, three fours and a double to heap 24 runs.

Russell and Pathan logged a 96 runs partnership in 45 balls for the sixth wicket. Pathan reached his half century in 27 balls in the 19th over.

Except for captain Gautam Gambhir (37) in the top order, other batsmen including Robin Uthappa (1), Chris Lynn (15) and Manish Pandey (8) got out cheaply.

Yuzvendra Chahal 2/27 emerged the most successful bowler for RCB, he claimed danger man Russell in the 18th over, caught near the boundary line by Stuart Binny while attempting a big six.

Shane Watson leaked 38 runs in three overs claiming just a wicket.

Earlier, RCB set a target of 186 runs for KKR, scoring 185/7 in 20 overs.

Lokesh Rahul and skipper Virat Kohli hit 52 each to propel RCB to a respectable total after swashbuckling hitter Chris Gayle (7) failed yet again.

Starting off slowly, RCB managed just two runs in the first over off Andre Russell.

Gayle launched a six off Morne Morkel in the second ball of the second over, only to get out on the next ball with a reckless shot, giving a simple catch to keeper Robin Uthappa.

With the latest dismissal, Gayle’s “unit-score innings” streak continues in the IPL from the World Twenty20.

Opening the innings for RCB, Rahul’s 32-ball-52 witnessed six fours and two sixes while Kohli managed four fours in his 44-ball-52.

AB De Villiers (4) was the other trump card which failed to make a mark for the home team.

Australian all rounder Shane Watson (34) kept the runs flowing in the last overs with five fours and a six in the company of local boy Stuart Binny (16), who cracked two sixes and a four when it mattered the most.

KKR bowlers Russell (24/1) and Morne Morkel (28/2) produced economical spells while Sunil Narine, Umesh Yadav and Piyush Chawla were expensive, though the last also claimed two wickets.

Excellent performance with bat and the ball earned the man of the match award to Russell, he hit the highest number of sixes in the match.

With the latest win, KKR claimed the second spot among all teams in IPL Season Nine with 10 points, five victories and three losses in eight matches while RCB plummeted to the seventh position with just four points, two wins and five losses in seven matches.

Brief Scores:

Kolkata Knight Riders 189/5 in 20 overs (Yusuf Pathan 60, Adnre Russell 39; Yuzvendra Chahal 2/27, Sreenath Aravind 1/16) beat Royal Challengers Bangalore 185/7 in 20 overs (Lokesh Rahul 52, Virat Kohli 52; Morne Morkel 2/28, Piysh Chawla 2/32).

(IANS)

Parliament panel raps govt for terror attack in Pathankot airbase

by

Pathankot

New Delhi: A Parliamentary panel has rapped the government for its failure to prevent the Pathankot terror attack, saying “something is seriously wrong” in the country’s counter-terror establishment and the airbase’s security was not robust.

In its 197th report, Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs also observed that the role of Punjab Police is also very “questionable and suspicious” during the January 2 terror attack.

The panel said it has failed to understand that in spite of terror alert sounded well in advance, how terrorists managed to breach the high-security airbase and subsequently carried out the strike.

The committee said it is constrained to note that despite concrete and credible intelligence inputs received from abducted and released SP of Pathankot and his friend and through interception of communication between terrorists and their handlers by the terrorists disclosing that they were planning an attack on a defence establishment, the security agencies were so ill-prepared to anticipate threats in time and counter them swiftly and decisively.

The committee said it “feels that something is seriously wrong with our counter-terror security establishment.”

During its visit to the airbase, the panel found that there was no roads around the perimeter wall of the strategic airbase.

There were growth of long shrubs and trees on the premises which have helped terrorists in hiding and making difficult for security forces in flushing out the terrorists.

“The committee during its visit found that airbase’s security cover was not robust and it had a poorly guarded perimeter wall,” the report said.

The panel said there cannot be two opinion on the fact that Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad terror group was behind this ghastly attack which was established through interception of calls between terrorists and their handlers based in Pakistan, thanks to their use of robbed mobile phones from Pathankot SP and his friend.

Besides, weapons, ammunition and many items found in the possession of killed terrorists are also said to be having ‘Made in Pakistan’ marking.

“In view of the ease with which the terrorists sneaked into our side from Pakistan, the Committee understands that the attack cannot take place without active support from the security and intelligence agencies of Pakistan as four armed men cannot easily pass through heavy Pakistani defence establishment situated near border area,” it said.

Seven security personnel were killed in the terror attack on Pathankot airbase carried out by JeM on January 2.

The Parliamentary Standing Committee said despite the fencing, floodlighting and patrolling by BSF personnel, Pakistani terrorists managed to sneak into India from across the border.

“The Committee understands that in this attack, the role of Punjab Police is also very questionable and suspicious as even after abduction of Punjab Police SP, the Punjab Police took long time in arriving at the conclusion that their abduction was not just a criminal robbery but it was going to be serious national security threat,” it noted.

The panel said it failed to understand why the terrorists let the SP and his friend off, which should be thoroughly examined by National Investigation Agency.

“Besides, the Committee is of the view that the role of narco-syndicate active in border areas of Punjab should also be investigated as the terrorists might have taken help of channels or networks used by smugglers to infiltrate the border, shelter and carry out terror attack,” it said.

The committee recommended that in view of the serious attacks from across the international border in the area, the government should pay attention to effectively sealing the border through enhanced patrolling, fencing, flood lighting etc.

“The Committee recommends that the Pathankot airbase which is very close to border should be declared high security zone and should be properly secured through round-the-clock patrolling and making it out-of-bounds for general people residing around the airbase,” it said.

The panel noted that the submission of the Home Ministry that the NIA is handling the investigation of this case and terrorists belonged to the Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad, led by Maulana Masood Azhar, were found to be behind the attack but the Committee would like to be apprised what made the government of India to seek help of Pakistan into probe of this terror attack and invite a Joint Investigation Team from Pakistan to India.

A Pakistani Joint Investigation Team had visited India last month as part of its investigation into the case.

(Agencies)

Religious freedom in India on ‘negative trajectory’: USCIRF

by

USCIRF

New Delhi: Religious freedom in India was on a “negative trajectory” in 2015 as religious tolerance “deteriorated” and religious freedom violations “increased”, a US report on international religious freedom has said.

In its annual report, the Congress-mandated US Commission for International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) asked the Indian government to publicly rebuke officials and religious leaders that make derogatory statements about religious communities.

“In 2015, religious tolerance deteriorated and religious freedom violations increased in India,” the report said.

Members of USCIRF were denied visas by Indian government early this year on the argument that religious freedom is enshrined in the constitution and any foreign third party has no locus standi to comment or investigate on it.

“Minority communities, especially Christians, Muslims, and Sikhs, experienced numerous incidents of intimidation, harassment, and violence, largely at the hands of Hindu nationalist groups,” the report alleged.

USCIRF alleged that members of the ruling BJP tacitly supported these groups and used religiously-divisive language to further inflame tensions.

“These issues, combined with longstanding problems of police bias and judicial inadequacies, have created a pervasive climate of impunity, where religious minority communities feel increasingly insecure, with no recourse when religiously-motivated crimes occur,” said USCIRF which has retained India in the Tier-2 Countries on religious freedom. India has been placed in Tier-2 since 2009.

Others listed in the Tier-2 countries are Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Cuba, Indonesia, Kazakhastan, Laos, Malaysia, Russia and Turkey.

(Agencies)

Movie Review: ‘Santa Banta Pvt Ltd’ can easily be termed as the most senseless & boringly routine film

by

Santa Banta Pvt Ltd

Director: Akashdeep Sabir
Star Cast: Boman Irani, Vir Das, Neha Dhupia, Lisa Haydon, Johnny Lever, Ram Kapoor, Sanjay Mishra, Ayub Khan et al
Music: Jaidev Kumar, Jassi Katyal & Nadeem -Amjad

Santa Singh & Banta Singh are the globally famed iconic characters just like the Hollywood characters Laurel & Hardy. But director Akashdeep Sabir in lieu with his writing team has made a complete mess of the lively characters of Santa & Banta. It is better to read a joke book on Santa & Banta rather than watching this completely messed up film Santa Banta Pvt Ltd.

The scripted scenario of Santa Banta Pvt Ltd starts off with the animated introduction of 2 best friends namely Santeshwar Singh Solad aka Santa (Boman Irani) & Banteshwar Singh Bolad aka Banta (Vir Das) leading their crazy but simple lives in Punjab. Meanwhile, in Fiji, the High Commissioner Shankar (Ayub Khan) suddenly gets kidnapped under mysterious circumstances, an incident that causes immense unrest amongst the RAW (Research & Analysis Wing) officials in India as well as in Fiji. The Indian RAW officials, then, plan to send 2 secret agents Santa & Banta in order to rescue Shankar. When the Indian RAW officer (Vijay Raaz) fails to track down the RAW assigned Santa & Banta, he gets petrified & scared. That’s when he bumps upon the Santa – Banta namesake in the form of Boman Irani & Vir Das. The duo, then, get transported to Fiji with the sole objective of tracing Shankar. When Santa -Banta reach Fiji, what happens after that is beyond their imagination. Out there, they land up meeting Shankar’s wife Kareena Roy (Neha Dhupia), Shankar’s best friend Sonu Sultan (Ram Kapoor) & also Fiji’s RAW agents Cutie (Lisa Haydon) & Akbar Illahabaadi (Sanjay Mishra) and the ‘gang’ of Kukri yielding Nepal’s No. 1 Don (Johnny Lever). After their initial hiccups while ‘investigating’ the case, one fine day Kareena Roy meets Santa & Banta and confesses that she has a strong feeling that her husband has not been kidnapped, but, he has gone underground on his own. In the meantime, Sonu Sultan discovers the truth about Santa & Banta and engages his henchmen to bump them off.

Once again we would like to say that director Akashdeep Sabir and his writing team have failed miserably or was this just a ploy to have an entertaining wining & dining holiday in Fiji at the expense of the producer, the financer & the cinegoers all rolled into one. The poor sufferers!

Performance wise only Boman Irani & Vir Das bring a very few moments of laughter in the entire dull & routine proceedings of the film. As for the heroines Neha Dhupia & Lisa Haydon, they are nothing better than glamour doll. While Boman Irani & Vir Das hold the fort throughout the film, the rest of the cast comprising of seasoned actors like
Johnny Lever, Ram Kapoor, Sanjay Mishra, Ayub Khan et al were so busy holidaying in Fiji that they have just sleep walked through the entire film.

Tail Piece: No more comments please but if you are still keen to see Santa Banta Pvt Ltd, do so at your own risk.

Movie Review: ‘Baaghi’ is more like an old wine packaged in a new bottle as it has nothing new to offer

by

Baaghi

Director: Sabbir Khan
Star Cast: Tiger Shroff & Shraddha Kapoor.

The director (Sabbir Khan) – hero (Tiger Shroff) team of Heropanti is seen once again in Baaghi. But the magic this team created in Heropanti is seriously missing in Baaghi. Need anything more be said.

The scripted scenario of Baaghi starts off with the introduction of Ronny (Tiger Shroff) and the kidnapping of Sia (Shraddha Kapoor). Desperate for money for the treatment of a young boy, Ronny undertakes the task of getting back Sia from the clutches of the villainous Raghav (Sudheer Babu). As he boards the flight, the viewers are treated to a flashback of events that connects Ronny’s yesterday with his today. The flashback of events reflect the blooming love story between Ronny & Sia and how Sia’s money minded father (Sunil Grover) plays the villain in their love story and agrees to marry her off to Raghav, who lures him with oodles of money. Because of a certain misunderstanding between Ronny & Sia, their relationship goes for a toss. Ronny, meanwhile, at the behest of his late father Colonel Samarjeet Singh, unwillingly becomes the student in the Kerala based Academy Of Kalaripayattu, that’s run by Guruji (Grandmaster Shifuji Shaurya Bharadwaj). In due course of time, Guruji tames the wild & carefree Ronny into an extremely disciplined student… in other words, a rebel with a cause. But, when Guruji gets to know about his son Raghav’s plan of forcibly marrying Sia, he raises a strong objection. That’s when the emotionless Raghav kills his father. And when Ronny gets to know that Raghav, who has Sia as his captive, is also the one who killed Guruji, all hell breaks loose & Ronny becomes uncontrollable. But, the catch is that, in order to reach Raghav, Ronny has to tackle a battalion of henchmen because Raghav stays in the well protected ‘layered’ building, whose each floor is also the domain of his extremely well trained henchmen.

Director Sabbir Khan has seriously gone wrong this time around. Baaghi which ultimately turns out to be a poorest albeit xeroxed copy of the Hollywood film The Raid Redemption fails to hold the cinegoer’s interest. Even its action scenes based on Kalaripayattu, which could have been the highlight of the film, are routinely structured. Besides Sabbir Khan has conveniently forgotten to tie up many of loose ends and even some of the characters of the film seems to have got lost in the overall milieu.

Performance wise Tiger Shroff has acted well in his 2nd film especially in action sequences which really seems to be his strongest point and his real forte. Shraddha Kapoor though a fine actress just succeeds in lending an able support to Tiger Shroff. And the chemistry that he shares with Shraddha Kapoor is good enough. Sudheer Babu an actor from down south is one more addition to the villainous avatar in Bollywood. He makes a good debut. Sanjay Mishra is as usual good in comic parts. A special mention must be made of Grandmaster Shifuji Shaurya Bharadwaj for his unabashed & raw screen presence.

Tail Piece: Baaghi is more like an old wine packaged in a new bottle as it has nothing new to offer.

Southern Films Round Up

by

vishal

Vishal’s Kaththi Sandai’s Heroine To Be Finalised

Vishal’s Kaththi Sandai’s heroine to be finalised, meanwhile Vishal’s Maruthu is fast getting ready to hit the celluloid silver screen on 20th May, 2016 and the tall & handsome actor will start shooting for Kaththi Sandai, to be directed by Suraaj, soon. The film will mark the comeback of Vaigaipuyal Vadivelu as the lead comedian and Soori has also been included for an important role to provide comic relief. The heroine of the flick was yet to be finalized. But now it seems Tamannah has bagged the female lead role in this film. If this is true this will be her first film with Vishal & 2nd with director Suraaj after the Dhanush starrer Padikkadhavan.

Kamal Haasan To Reprise His Earlier Role Of Ulaganyagan

Kamal Haasan to reprise his earlier role of Ulaganyagan. It is being said that Ulaganayagan Kamal Haasan will be reprising on of the famous character of his yesteryear film in his new film launched recently. It will be the extremely hilarious Balram Naidu the star played to perfection with a unique Teluguish Tamil accent in the 2008 blockbuster Dasavatharam. Noted dance master Raghuram who played Balram Naidu’s associate in the film is no more. Hence Tollywood star comedian Brammanandam has been roped in for that role. The yet to be titled film will be directed by T. K. Rajeev Kumar in Tamil, Telugu & Hindi languages. Ramya Krishnan & Kamal’s daughter Shruthi Haasan are the other prominent cast members. Isaignani Ilaiyaraja has been roped in for the musical score.

Vijay’s ‘Theri‘ Creates History In A Chennai Multiplex

Vijay’s ‘Theri’ creates history in a Chennai Multiplex. Ilayathalapathy Vijay’s latest release Theri has been creating box office records at various centers across the globe Here comes the latest addition. Theri has created a new record in Mayajal, which was probably the 1st Multiplex which was started in Chennai suburbs. The 1st 13 days after the Atlee directed film’s release of the film has seen a record number of footfalls and generated humungous revenue. Sources close to Mayajal have revealed that over 1 lakh people have watched the film in their screens so far. The precise count is 1,00,077. With this the film has generated a whopping revenue of Rs.1.21 crores.

Lakshmi Menon To Romance With Dhanush!

The Marathon man Dhanush has his Thodari directed by Prabhu Solomon & Kodi by Durai Senthil Kumar ready for release and he has already started shooting for Gautham Vasudev Menon’s Enai Nokki Paayum Thotta. Meanwhile Dhanush will begin work for the Karthick Subbaraj project from Sept this year and sources reveal that it is Lakshmi Menon who is going to play his love interest. Official announcement on this is awaited.

Tabu To Reprise Anausya Bharadwaj

Tabu to reprise the role of Anausya Bharadwaj. It’s known that Kshanam is being remade into Hindi. From day one, the names of superstars like Salman Khan have been doing the rounds for the role of the male lead. While Sallu ‘bhai’ is still the one who might reprise Adivi Sesh’s role, Anasuya Bharadwaj’s role will most probably be reprised by Tabu, as reported by a national daily. It’s also said that the Hindi writers are making suitable changes to the script to accommodate Tabu in a bigger way. If Tabu is finalised, she will have played a cop’s role for yet another time after Drushyam, which incidentally was also a remake movie.

Bicchagadu To Release In May 2016

Bicchagadu to release in the month of May, 2016. The dubbed version of Pichaikkaran, the Tamil action thriller starring the music director – turned – actor Vijay Antony and Satna Titus in lead roles, will hit the screens in the month of May, 2016. Titled as Bicchagadu, it tells the story of a rich man metamorphosing into a beggar for a purpose. The film is directed by Sasi. Music by Vijay Antony, it has cinematography by Prasanna Kumar. Editing is by Veera Senthil Raj. The film not only garnered critical appreciation but also had a decent enough run. The overall review says, “Director Sasi’s forte has been selecting a story with human values & emotions and creating powerful scenes with touching dialogues.

Rashmi To Rock In Antham

Rashmi to rock in Antham. The 1st look of Antham was released recently, marking the occasion of Rashmi Gautam’s birthday. The film has Rashmi paired up wtih Charan Deep. Done with the shoot, the film is currently in post production stage. Belonging to the genre of suspense thriller, the film boasts of Rashmi’s show. Director – producer GSSP Kalyan said that the movie has been so titled because he is a big fan of Ram Gopal Varma. “That’s why I have gone for this title. This is a suspense thriller which we haven’t seen before. Rashmi Gautam’s performance will be a major highlight. Her act is apt for a lady oriented film like this. The audience will be thrilled by Rashmi’s performance in the last leg. Vasu Dev & Sudarshan are the other important cast members.” Director Kalyan has written the story & the screenplay.

Premam To Be Filmed In Goa

Premam to be filmed in Goa. Premam, the Naga Chaitanya starrer, will be shot in Goa for a period of 2 weeks. Once done, the film will have been done but for post production works. This Telugu remake of a Malayalam film, is directed by Chandoo Mondeti. Shruti Haasan has gotten into Sai Pallavi’s shoes for this film. Anupama Parameswaran & Madonna Sebastian are the other female leads. Premam is slated for a Jul, 2016 release, although its release in May, 2016 seemed a possibility only a few weeks ago. It has been getting delayed for some reason or the other. The original Premam has its share of admireres among the Telugus. It has to be seen if the Telugu remake manages to acquire a mini – cult status.

Rana Daggubati Starts Training For Baahubali 2

Rana Daggubati starts training for Baahubali 2. After completing some high octane, never – before – seen underwater action sequences for his tri – lingual film Ghazi, the hunky actor Rana Daggubati has started training heavily for Baahubali 2. After losing weight for his submarine based war film Ghazi where he essays the role of a naval officer, Rana has been bulking up to reprise his role of Bhallala Deva in Baahubali 2.

Huma Qureshi Looses Her Cool Learning Malayalam

Huma Qureshi looses her cool learning Malayalam. Actress Huma Qureshi who is making her Mollywood debut opposite Mammootty in Uday Ananthan’s White found it quite a task learning Malayalam. A teacher who teaches at the a school in London, Parvathy was assigned the task to teach her the language. Parvathy says that Huma was all game to learn the language but lost her cool time and again with words like “mazha” & “puzha” getting in her way. Huma admitted that it was a Herculian task and the dubbing was done by someone else.

Poonam Back In Action

Poonam back in action. Known for her physical strength than acting, the sexy siren Poonam Pandey returns to Kannada after Love Is Poison in which she was seen as an item dancer. She has a different role to perform in the maiden direction & production of Yuvaraj. It is Rs.3 crore budget cinema from Yuvaraj. Although Poonam Pandey is the main stay of the film, 4 youths are found in this horror thriller packed with romance & suspense. Yuvaraj has obtained 30 days call sheet from Poonam Pandey. He has experience of working in Telugu & Tamil films.

Akira Due For Release On 6th May 2016

Akira is due for release on 6th May, 2016. The biggest on 29th of April – Chakravyuha has made the well made and highly expected Akira to defer the release by one week. With power star Puneeth Rajakumar Chakravyuha’s release Akira announced the release for 6th May, 2016. Akira of Aneesh highly expected film with 2 heroines Aditi & Krishi Tapanda in Naveen Kumar’s direction has already made big news in songs and film is also sold for Telugu remake rights. For Akira power star Puneeth Rajakumar has also delivered a song. Akira by S2 Entertainment SS Reddy & Chetan Kumar Production has some lovely tunes from Ajanish Lokanath.

Baghdad car bomb kills at least 13 Shia pilgrims

by

Attack targets pilgrims commemorating death anniversary of Imam Musa al-Kadhim in Iraq’s capital.

The pilgrimage has in recent years turned into a huge event that brings Baghdad to a standstill for days [Husseini/Reuters]

The pilgrimage has in recent years turned into a huge event that brings Baghdad to a standstill for days [Husseini/Reuters]

by Al Jazeera

A car bombing has killed at least 13 Shia pilgrims commemorating the death anniversary of a revered imam in Baghdad, according to Iraqi officials.

A parked explosives-laden car detonated shortly after midday on Monday in the southwestern Saydiyah neighbourhood, a police officer told the AP news agency

Tens of thousands of Shia Muslims have been making their way this week to the northern Baghdad neighbourhood of Kadhimiyah, where the 8th century Imam Musa al-Kadhim is buried.

Kadhim, the seventh of 12 imams revered in Shia Islam, died in 799AD.

The pilgrimage has in recent years turned into a huge event that brings Baghdad to a standstill for days.

Security forces had previously said they would be blocking major roads in Baghdad on Monday and Tuesday to prevent potential attacks on pilgrims.

On Saturday, a car bomb killed at least 23 people and injured 38 others near the Iraqi capital.

The bomb targeted an open air market frequented by Shia in Nahrawan. The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) group claimed responsibility for the bombing.

UN arbitration court reportedly asks India to release Italian marine

by

Salvatore Girone Massimilliano Latorre

Rome: A U.N. arbitration court has ruled that India should release an Italian marine, who has been detained in Delhi for more than four years, and allow him to return home, the Italian Foreign Ministry said on Monday.

India in 2012 arrested two Italian marines on suspicion that they killed two fishermen that they had mistaken for pirates while they had been escorting an oil tanker. One of the pair returned to Italy with health problems, but India has refused to let the other man, Salvatore Girone, leave the country.

The case has soured relations between India and Italy, but the two countries agreed last year to move the case to the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague and abide by its decisions.

The Italian Foreign Ministry said in a statement that in an initial ruling, the court had decided that Girone should be allowed home. It said it would be in immediate contact with India to try to make sure he would return as soon as possible.

The court will continue to review the merits of the case against the two marines.

(Agencies)

KNOW US

GET INVOLVED

PROMOTE

Archives