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Leopard captured after entering school escapes from enclosure in Bengaluru

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leopard

Bengaluru: The leopard that was captured last week after it had entered a private school here and injured three forest department personnel has escaped from the enclosure in Bannerghatta Biological Park, where it was caged.

A senior official said it could have escaped late in the night and the incident came to light only this morning. An operation is on to track and recapture it.

“We will come to know about it only after investigation… Once the probe is over, we will fix the responsibility and initiate action,” he said.

The leopard had entered a private school near Varthur here on February 7 causing panic in and around the area.

However, it was tranquilised and captured after a day-long operation, during which it had attacked three forest personnel.

Meanwhile, speaking to reporters in Mysuru, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said he would seek information from forest department officials about the leopard’s escape.

“I will seek details of the animal’s escape. I will talk to the forest department officials and find out the reason,” he said.

Officials said there were three layers of barriers and it was difficult (for the animal) to escape by itself.

“We will get to how the leopard escaped only after a thorough investigation,” they said.

(Agencies)

India beat Sri Lanka by 69 runs in 2nd T20I

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INDvsSL

Ranchi: India produced an all-round performance to outclass Sri Lanka by 69 runs in the second T20 International at the Jharkhand International Stadium here on Friday to level the three-match series 1-1.

Opener Shikhar Dhawan (51 off 25) scored a quick-fire half century as India posted a challenging total of 196/6 in 20 overs.

In reply, the visitors could manage only 127/9 in 20 overs.

Ravichandran Ashwin (3-14), Jasprit Bumrah (2-17), Ravindra Jadeja (2-24), Ashish Nehra (2-26) were the pick of the bowlers for India.

India earlier lost the first match by five wickets.

Chasing a challenging target of 197, the visitors got off to a worst possible start losing experienced Tillakaratne Dilshan (0) in the first over itself off the bowling of Ashwin.

In the next over, Sri Lanka suffered another blow when Danushka Gunathilaka (2) was caught off an outside edge off the bowling of Ashish Nehra and the side was reduced to 3/2 in 1.1 overs.

Next up, some tight bowling by both Indian pacers and spinners saw the visitors lose wickets at regular intervals.

Seekkuge Prasanna (1) being out in the fourth over saw the team struggling at 16/3.

From there on skipper Chamara Kapugedera (32) and Dinesh Chandimal (31) held on to score some quick runs but in the 12th over, Jadeja produced the much needed breakthrough for the hosts to get Kapugedera out to thus put more pressure on Sri Lanka.

With wickets falling in clusters it became difficult for the middle and lower order batsmen to pile on the huge runs which were needed and eventually surrendered to the Indians.

Earlier on, put into bat, the home side got off to an explosive start with both openers Rohit Sharma (43) and Dhawan taking the initiative to go all out at the Lankan bowlers.

With good number of boundaries and sixes, the team scored 70 runs in the powerplay as Dhawan brought up his 50 in just 22 balls.

But in the final ball of seventh over, Dhawan, looking to help the ball over the wicket-keeper’s head off the bowling off Chameera, was cramped for room and the ball got to the glove of Dinesh Chandimal who accepted it gleefully. India were 75/1.

Incoming batsman Ajinkya Rahane (25) gave good support to Rohit as the duo scored at a good pace to bring up India’s 100 in the 11th over itself.

But as Rohit was looking to take on the bowlers, the visitors got the second breakthrough as Chameera clinched a stunning diving catch off his own bowling to reduce India to 122/2 in 13.1 overs.

Soon after the dismissal of Rohit, India received double blow when Rahane looking too pull it too early got the top edge and which lobbed straight to Tillakaratne Dilshan at cover point. India were 127/3 in 14.2 overs.

From there on two new batsmen Suresh Raina and Hardik Pandya took on the bowlers striking boundaries and sixes at regular intervals to take India score to a handsome total.

In the 19th over, Thisara Perera (3-33) got rid of Pandya, Raina and Yuvraj Singh in three consecutive balls to clinch a hat-trick.

(IANS)

Our son victim of Hindutva politics, say parents of JNUSU president

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Kanhaiya-Kumar

Patna: A day after the president of Jawaharlal Nehru University Students’ Union Kanhaiya Kumar was arrested on the charge of sedition, his parents in Bihar said their son is not anti-national and is being victimised for his opposition to Hindutva politics.

“My son is not anti-national. There is no question of his following an ideology of anti-nationalism. He is a nationalist like hundreds of thousands of youths of his age,” Kanhaiya Kumar’s father Jaishankar Singh, who is suffering from paralysis, said on Saturday.

Kanhaiya’s mother Meena Devi said her son is a nationalist, but not a supporter of RSS-BJP’s Hindutva politics.

“We are proud of his Left ideology. There is nothing wrong in it. He has been fighting against right wing politics and now being targeted for it,” she said.

His parents live at Bihar Maslanpur village in Begusarai district, considered a stronghold of the Left wing or communist politics in the state. There was a time when Begusarai was known as ‘Leningrad’ of Bihar, but no more.

Singh said his son was arrested under a conspiracy by his political rivals. “My son is a Left party activist and rivals of Left ideology are playing dirty politics.”

Meena said that she is confident and sure that his son will win the battle against Hindutva politics.

Most of the villagers of Kanhaiya’s native place are sad over his arrest on the charge of sedition.

“We had celebrated last year when Kanhaiya was elected JNU students’ union president. It was a proud moment for us. But now we are upset at his arrest. It is a matter of disbelief for us to accept that he is anti-national,” a village youth Santosh Kumar said.

Another villager Ramchander Singh supported Santosh’s view and said Kanhaiya cannot be anti-national. “Our soil has produced only nationalists so far.”

Kanhaiya Kumar was arrested on Friday allegedly for raising anti-India slogans at an event organised by students on JNU campus to commemorate the death of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru, who was executed in 2013.

(IANS)

Was offered Rs 1,200 crore, plum position in BJP to withdraw stir: Hardik Patel

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Hardik Patel

Ahmedabad: Patel quota stir spearhead Hardik Patel has alleged that he was offered Rs 1,200 crore and a plum position in BJP’s national youth wing by the Gujarat government to withdraw the agitation seeking reservation for his community under the OBC quota last year.

The large-scale protests by Patidars had triggered violence in many parts of the state, culminating in the arrest of Hardik and his aides under the charge of sedition. The claim of “monetary offer” was made in a letter received on Friday by various media houses, which members of the Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS), of which Hardik is convener, claimed is written by Hardik who is currently lodged in Surat jail. However, the letter did not bear any official stamp of authorities of Lajpore jail in Surat.

The letter is addressed to Hardik’s father Bharatbhai Patel and his mother. “I was offered Rs 1,200 crore by Gujarat government to withdrew the Patel quota agitation. The offer was made to me by an IAS officer of the government who had come to meet me in jail,” the letter alleged. “They also offered me that they will make me national youth president of the ruling party. However, I have rejected both the offers,” it said.

Repeated attempts to contact the state BJP leaders for reaction did not fructify.

Hardik (22) was booked in two cases of sedition, one in Ahmedabad and another in Surat, besides under sections 121 (A) (conspiracy to wage war against government) and 120 (b) (criminal conspiracy) along with his aides by Ahmedabad crime branch. “I have full faith in the judiciary and I will come out of the jail by legal process and carry on the agitation,” the letter stated.

In the chargesheet filed last month, Ahmedabad Crime Branch termed the quota agitation as a “pre-planned conspiracy” hatched to put pressure on the state government to accept their “unconstitutional demand of quota.” A separate chargesheet was filed against him last month by Surat police for sedition and other charges for allegedly instigating a fellow Patel youth to kill policemen rather than committing suicide during the agitation.

(Agencies)

Bypoll to three assembly constituencies, first phase of ZP, TP polls begin

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(AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)

(AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)

Bengaluru: Byelections to three Assembly constituencies, Hebbal in Bengaluru, Devadurga in Raichur district and Bidar and election to 550 Zilla Panchayat (ZP) seats and 1,945 Taluk Panchayat (TP) seats across 15 districts is being held on Saturday.

District administrations and the police have made elaborate security arrangements to ensure smooth conduct of the polls. Electronic voting machines would be used in both the elections. The voting would be held from 7 am to 5 pm.

The ZP/TP elections in Betadur in Dharwad district, where Lance Naik Hanmanthappa Koppad was cremated on Friday, has been put off to February 15.

The ZP/TP elections are being held in two phase. In the first phase on Saturday – Bengaluru Urban, Bengaluru Rural, Ramanagara, Chitradurga, Davanagere, Kolar, Chikaballapur, Shivamogga, Tumakuru, Belagavi, Haveri, Bagalkot, Uttara Kannada, Dharwad, and Gadag is going to polls.

Byelections to the three Assembly constituencies, including Hebbal in Bengaluru, and polls to 550 zilla panchayat (ZP) seats and 1,945 taluk panchayat (TP) seats across 15 districts, will be held on Saturday.

The polling will be held between 7 am and 5 pm. While the bypolls to the three Assembly segments of Hebbal, Devadurga, reserved for the Scheduled Tribe in Raichur district and Bidar will be monitored by the Election Commission of India, the ZP/TP polls will be held under the aegis of State Election Commission.

The district administrations and the police have made elaborate security arrangements to ensure smooth conduct of the polls.

As many as 20 candidates are in fray for the high-profile the Hebbal seat, which witnessed high-voltage campaigning by political parties in the last 10 days. The Congress has fielded C K Abdul Rahaman Sharief, while two-time MLC Y A Narayana-swamy is contesting on a BJP ticket. Ismail Shariff is the JD(S) candidate.

Up north, Bidar is witnessing a pitched battle between Rahim Khan of the Congress and Prakash Khandre of the BJP with Ayaz Khan of the JD(S) in the fray. In Devadurga, it is an all-in-the-family fight between Rajashekhar Naik (Cong), K Shivanagouda Naik (BJP) and Karemma Gopalakrishna (JD-S).

The results of the three bypolls will be out on February 16.

ZP/TP elections

Saturday will also witness the ZP and TP elections being held in 15 districts in the first phase. These include Bengaluru Urban, Bengaluru Rural, Ramanagaram, Chitradurga, Davangere, Kolar, Chikkaballapur, Shivamogga, Tumakuru, Belagavi, Haveri, Bagalkot, Uttara Kannada, Dharwad, and Gadag.

A total of 2,087 candidates are in the fray for 550 ZP seats and 6,288 candidates for 1,945 TP seats. The second phase of the ZP/TP elections for the remaining 15 districts will be held on February 20.

Election officials said carrying the electoral photo identity card (EPIC) or documents specified by Election Commission of India is mandatory to exercise franchise. Taking photographs using camera or mobile phones inside the polling stations is prohibited. Counting of votes for both the first and second phase of the ZP/TP elections will be taken up on February 23. For both the Assembly byelections and the local body elections, electronic voting machines would be used.

The outcome of both the bypolls and the ZP/TPs will once again prove to be a litmus test for the popularity of the Siddaramaiah government. The Congress, after managing to gain control over the BBMP despite the BJP emerging the number in terms of seats, is facing the polls with more confidence.

(Agencies)

DMK, Congress join hands for Tamil Nadu assembly polls

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Congress-DMK

Chennai: Congress and DMK today entered into an alliance to face the coming Tamil Nadu Assembly polls, joining hands after three years.

Senior Congress leader and leader of the opposition in Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad met DMK president M Karunanidhi at his residence and announced the tie-up with the regional party which he described as “the most dependable partner”.

Azad told reporters after meeting the DMK patriarch here that issues such as seat sharing and being part of the DMK led government were not a priority now and that the main goal was to ensure that DMK comes to power.

He said that the election would be fought under the DMK leadership and put on Karunanidhi’s party the responsibility of roping in more constituents into this alliance, including DMDK.

As to what had changed between 2016 and 2013 when DMK snapped ties accusing the Congress of betraying Sri Lankan Tamils, Azad said that there were “compulsions and pressures” in politics and that the two parties had won elections together in the past also.

The DMK-Congress split had also come against the backdrop of the arrests of former Union Minister A Raja and Karunanidhi’s daughter Kanimozhi, a Rajya Sabha MP, in the alleged spectrum allocation scam.

Congress had contested the last Lok Sabha elections on its own and had drawn a blank. It had contested the last Assembly elections along with DMK but secured just five seats. Assembly strength in the state is 234.

Congress is out of power in the key southern state for nearly five decades and has generally been aligning with either of the Dravidian party- DMK or AIADMK. It has contested alone too but without much success.

(PTI)

Devadasi system still prevalent among Hindus; stop it: Supreme Court

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devdasi

New Delhi: Condemning the prevalence of the illegal practice of “dedicating” young girls as Devadasis in Hindu society, the Supreme Court on Friday described the practice as an “evil” done to women, who were later even subjected to sexual exploitation and pushed into prostitution.

Taking a stern view, a Bench of Justices F.M.I. Kalifulla and S.A. Bobde directed all States and Union Territories, especially Karnataka, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, to strictly enforce the Centre’s to check “undesired and unhealthy” practice of forcing young girls to serve as Devadasis.

A devadasi is a girl “dedicated” to worship and service of a deity or a temple for the rest of her life. The dedication takes place in a ceremony which is similar in some ways to marriage. In most of the cases devadasis are being used as prostitutions.

(Agencies)

Report: Death toll from Syrian conflict now 470,000

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Syrian girls react following a reported Syrian regime air strike in a rebel-controlled area in the northern city of Aleppo on February 8, 2016. (AFP/Ameer al-Halbi)

Syrian girls react following a reported Syrian regime air strike in a rebel-controlled area in the northern city of Aleppo on February 8, 2016. (AFP/Ameer al-Halbi)

by Andolu Ajansi

A report by the Syrian Center for Policy Research has said that nearly 12 percent of the Syrian population have been killed or injured in civil war.

According to the report released on Thursday, 470,000 Syrians were killed and 1,900,000 others injured in the war which has entered in its fifth year, following the involvement of other actors such asRussia, Iran and Hezbollah.

This is far above the United Nation’s last death-toll figure of 250,000. The UN stopped collecting statistics about the casualties of Syrian stalemate 18 months ago.

In addition, the conflict-hit country’s infrastructure and health system were nearly decimated, researchers said. It added that 400,000 people were killed directly by the violence and another 70,000 lost their lives due to lack of food and medicine plus disease and sanitation problems.

Thursday’s report also said life expectancy had dropped from 70 to 55.4.

The report said that 45 percent of the Syrian population had been displaced, more than four million have become refugees in other countries and six million others were internally displaced. The report also touched upon economic losses in Syria, saying the war had cost $255 billion and that almost 14 million people had lost their livelihoods.

It also added that poverty increased by 85% in 2015 and health, education and income standards have sharply deteriorated.

Pakistan foils plot to free Daniel Pearl’s killer

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Brazen Hyderabad jailbreak plan halted by intelligence agents with arrest of 97 “hardcore terrorists”, military says.

Mugshots of arrested suspects who planned to free the alleged murderer of a US journalist in 2002 [Reuters/PTV]

Mugshots of arrested suspects who planned to free the alleged murderer of a US journalist in 2002 [Reuters/PTV]

by Al Jazeera

Pakistani intelligence agents arrested 97 insurgents, including three commanders, who planned a prison break aimed at freeing the killer of US journalist Daniel Pearl.

Army spokesman Lieutenant General Asim Saleem Bajwa said in a conference in Karachi on Friday that three armed groups – al-Qaeda, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, and Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) – were working together on the plot to free British-born Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, currently on death row for the 2002 murder of Pearl.

“A deputy leader of al-Qaeda in the Subcontinent named Mussanah was mastermind of the plan and was arranging all the finances while he was aided by the deputy chief of Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, Naeem Bukhari,” Bajwa said.

“These arrests were made over a period of time, starting from the first arrest made a few months ago.”

The suspects had been involved in several major attacks in the southern port city of Karachi and elsewhere, and planned to killed 35-40 hostages and break about 100 inmates out of a prison, he added.

Defense and security analyst Talat Masood told Al Jazeera that freeing “their companions” from jail was only to prove their power.

“Pakistan army is doing their best to eliminate terrorism and these arrests are one of their big achievements,” he said.

“However, arresting militants and busting their attacks is not the only solution to eradicate terrorism in the country. Pakistan needs to work on cross-border relationships, especially with Afghanistan, which will help them track terrorists very easily,” said Masood.

Pearl’s death

Pearl, 38, was the South Asia bureau chief for The Wall Street Journal when he was abducted and beheaded in Karachi in 2002, while researching a story about Islamist fighters.

A graphic video showing Pearl’s decapitation was delivered to the US consulate in the city nearly a month later.

British-born Sheikh was arrested in 2002 and sentenced to death by an anti-terrorism court, while three other co-accused received life imprisonment.

In January 2011, a report released by the Pearl Project at Georgetown University in the US following an investigation into his death made chilling revelations when it claimed the wrong men were convicted for Pearl’s murder.

The investigation – led by Pearl’s friend and former Wall Street Journal colleague Asra Nomani and a Georgetown University professor – claimed the reporter was murdered by Khalid Sheikh Mohammad, the alleged mastermind behind the September 11, 2001 attacks, not Sheikh.

Mohammed was arrested in Pakistan in 2003 and is being held in Guantanamo Bay.

Syria: Russian PM warns of world war if troops sent in

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Dmitry Medvedev tells German paper proposal to send Arab ground forces to fight ISIL “draws everyone” into war.

Dmitry Medvedev

by Al Jazeera

Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has warned that the deployment of foreign ground troops in the Syrian conflict could result in a world war.

Medvedev was quoted as saying in an interview published late on Thursday by the German newspaper Handelsblatt that “a ground operation draws everyone taking part in it into a war”.

When asked about a recent proposal from Saudi Arabia to send in ground troops to Syria, the Russian prime minister answered that “the Americans and our Arab partners must consider whether or not they want a permanent war”.

Al Jazeera’s Rory Challands, reporting from Moscow, said Medvedev’s comments were an explicit warning to the United States and its regional allies, including Saudi Arabia.

“He basically told them to back off on sending troops because if they did, this might result in some sort of interminable or even a world war,” Challands said.

Medvedev also criticised Western powers’ refusal to collaborate with Russia in Syria. The prime minister said ties at the level of defence departments were only sporadic.

US defence chief Ashton Carter, meanwhile, welcomed a commitment from Saudi Arabia to expand its role with ground troops in Syria against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group.

At a gathering of more than two dozen defence ministers at NATO headquarters, Carter said on Friday key ally the United Arab Emirates agreed to send special forces soldiers to Syria to assist in the development of local Sunni Arab fighters focused on recapturing Raqqa, ISIL’s de facto capital.

Carter declined to say how many Emirati commandos would go to Syria. He said they would be part of an effort led by the US and bolstered by Saudi special forces to train and enable local Arab fighters who are motivated to recapture Raqqa.

Saudi Arabia’s Brigadier General Ahmed Asseri said his country was ready to send troops into Syria if there was a consensus in the anti-ISIL coalition. But he declined to elaborate, saying: “It is too early to talk about such options. Today we are talking at the strategic level.”

Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov intends to meet with his Saudi counterpart Adil al-Ahmad al-Jubayr in Munich, Germany on Friday, a Russian news report said.

Vyacheslav Matuzov, a former Russian diplomat, told Al Jazeera that Russia was not fuelling the Syrian conflict, rather it had prevented it from spreading.

Matuzov said he understood that a “cessation of hostilities” pact that world powers had arrived at in Munich on Thursday meant the only solution for the conflict had to be political.

“I think all groups would understand there is no solution but a political solution. Those who do not agree to stop fighting will be enemies, and will be destroyed, as I understand to be the result of Munich,” he said.

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