Five killed in twin blasts

Five persons, including a 15-year-old boy, were killed and 80 injured as terrorists set off bomb blasts in the communally-sensitive town of Malegaon in Maharashtra, where police had to open fire to quell angry mobs, and Modasa town in Gujarat’s Banaskantha district.

Four persons perished and more than 70 were injured when a bomb went off at a hotel near a mosque at busy Bhikhu Chowk area in Malegaon. Curfew was imposed in the town after the blast and stone-pelting by a mob.

One person was killed in the blast at Modasa town in Gujarat’s Sabarkantha district.

Police was yet to confirm how the blast occurred, but witnesses said the bomb was thrown by a motorcycle borne duo. Earlier, 17 crude bombs were found at Ahmedabad’s Kalupurdarvaja locality.

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Warangal in grip of viral fever

Fevers continue to rage through Warangal, Adilabad, Rajahmundry, Visakhapatnam and nearby areas this year too.

In Warangal, hundreds of people, mostly from Agency areas, are bedridden because of viral fever. This is the fifth consecutive year in which viral fever outbreaks have occurred in the district.

Dengue fever, malaria, brain fever or encephalitis, and Chikun Gunya have become all too common in the area because of the absence of sanitation and lack of medical care.

In 2003, when the viral outbreak reached epidemic proportions, more than 200 children died of encephalitis.

Around 50 people have died this year from various fevers, of which seven deaths occurred last month. However, local people claim that more people have died.

Agency areas of Eturnagaram, Govindaraopet, Tadwai, Mangapet, Kothaguda and Gudur are now reeling under the effects of the viral fevers.

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30-km flyover for Shamirpet

The state government on Thursday approved the construction of a 30-km elevated expressway from Parade Grounds to Shamirpet at a cost of Rs 500 crore.

The construction of the elevated expressway will be the part of the conversion of the Rajiv Rahadari (Hyderabad to Karimnagar) two-lane highway into a four-lane road. This will be one of the longest elevated expressways in the country. At present, the 12-km P.V. Narasimha Rao Expressway connecting the city with the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport road is the longest such construction.

The Chief Minister, Dr Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy, who approved the expressway project, also cleared the construction of three four-lane roads after discussions with the Roads and Buildings Minister, Mr T. Jeevan Reddy and officials.

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Srija to canvass for Praja Rajyam

Srija, the daughter of actor Chiranjeevi who married her boyfriend Sirish Bharadwaj against her father’s wishes, on Wednesday said that she would campaign for Prajya Rajyam.

She said that the Praja Rajyam would be a great success.

Ms Srija along with her husband, Mr Sirish Bharadwaj, visited the Simhachalam temple here on Wednesday. She said that she was in touch with her family and had the blessings of her father.

After Srija’s marriage with Mr Bharadwaj, the Chiranjeevi family had cut off contact with her. The father and daughter made up after the birth of Srija’s child.

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Divorce in 30 minutes in deed

Getting a divorce is a messy, lengthy and nerve-racking affair. But typists outside the Secunderabad Family Court are now providing a short cut.

More and more couples are opting to sign the unofficial divorce deed prepared by these typists. You can complete the formalities and get divorced in less than half an hour. So what if it is not completely legal?

This quickie divorce is attracting many since even mutual consent divorces take up to six months in the Family Court while contested cases sometimes take more than two years.

“Nowadays, no one is ready to wait even for six months,” said Mr Rajesh, an advocate of the Family Court.

They want divorce in no time and are even willing to settle for non-official documents to nullify their marriage.” So they pay a nominal amount to the typists who happily rattle out the deeds.

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MBBS courses may go holistic

With heart diseases turning into an epidemic in India, medical students may well brace up to study spirituality as part of their MBBS curriculum.

Renowned cardiologists from across the globe have resolved to recommend the Medical Council of India and the Union ministry of health to teach students the anatomy of the soul along with the anatomy of the body.

“Medical sciences today is only teaching about the body. At a time when India is home to 60 million coronary heart patients, it is imperative that the MBBS course includes the physiology and pathology of the mind and soul too. This perhaps is one way to counter the epidemic of Coronary heart diseases in our country,” Dr Satish Gupta said.

Now, even as part of preventive cardiology, even general physicians have been advising Indians on how to counter obesity, high cholesterol, hypertension.

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Krishna-Godavari basin oil starts to flow

Reliance Industries Limited has started production of hydrocarbons in its KG-D6 block of Krishna-Godavari Basin, pushing India towards energy independence.

The RIL chairman, Mr Mukesh Ambani, announced on Sunday that the initial crude production of 5,000 barrels per day would rise to 5.5 lakh barrels per day over the next six to eight quarters.

“A first-of-its-kind hydrocarbons production from any deep water field in the country, Reliance KG-D6 will account for 40 per cent of country’s current indigenous hydrocarbon production,” Mr Ambani said. The production from KG-D6 facility will save India an annual foreign exchange outflow of $20 billion.

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Boy dies after teacher ‘slap’

A Class VII student of a private school in Eluru died on Thursday after he was allegedly slapped by a teacher.

Puppalla Durga Pavan, a native of Thallagokavaram village and a student of Siddartha Quest School, was wandering in the school campus munching a samosa at around 4.30 pm when the incident occurred.

His English teacher got angry at finding him loitering in the campus after school hours and admonished him. The teacher then whacked him on the backside but the boy turned suddenly and the blow caught him on the cheek.

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Rs 40 crore drug racket busted: MD booked

A massive drug racket having links with the Chennai and Mumbai underworld was busted in the city by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence.

DRI sleuths seized 100 kg of Ketamine, a hallucinatory drug, Ephedrine, a sex performance enhancer, and Acetic Anhydride, which is used to prepare heroin, in raids conducted in the city and Nellore. The seized drugs are valued to be around Rs 40 crore.

Three companies, Krebs of Nellore, and SS Research and Hygia from Hyderabad, were involved in the racket. Mr P. Venkateswaralu, 42, of SS Research, Shahul Hameed, 46, Sebastian Toni Raj, 34, M. Murali, 44, and Katif Salih Shafi of Chennai, and V. Kiran Raj Bhandari, 45, of Mumbai were arrested. They were produced in a Secunderabad court on Wednesday.

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Soumya’s cousin also dead

The mystery behind the killing of AP student Soumya Reddy, 23, in Chicago, deepened with the police discovering the body of her cousin, Vikram Reddy, a software engineer, from a nearby lake.

Soumya Reddy, who was pursuing her masters in electrical engineering (not medicine as reported) at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, was found dead in a car near the Sunfish Lake boat ramp on Sunday. She had bullet holes in her body. Police later found that the Ford Taurus car in which her body was found belonged to Vikram Reddy.

Mr Biswas, the consulate general in Chicago, said the St Louis police later found a body in a lake but was not ready to confirm if it was Vikram. Family members were tight-lipped though some relatives said the cousins may have gone to the lakeside together.

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Deaths in blasts surpass Kargil

Statistics by Mr Shivraj Patil’s home ministry indicate over 650 people were killed in terrorist attacks nationwide since 2005, way above the 524 people, almost all military, killed in the 1999 Kargil war.

Home Ministry records show casualties in terror attacks, comprising civilians and security forces’ personnel, shot up from 85 in 2005 to 236 in 2006. Prior to 2004, when the Congress-led government assumed office, MHA figures show 54 lives were lost in terror strikes in 2003, 38 in 2002, nine in 2001, three in 2000 and one person in 1999: in the IC-814 hijacking — a total of 105.

More died in this year's attacks (150) than in the 1999-2004 period.

From 2005 onwards, the MHA recorded 526 civilian and security force casualties in terror attacks till March this year, including the March 2008 Jaipur serial blasts.

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Teacher held for blast role

Two persons, including a former lecturer of Rajasthan University, were detained here on Sunday by the Delhi police and the anti-terrorist squads of the Mumbai and Rajasthan police in connection with Saturday’s serial blasts. Three people were detained on Saturday night. Efforts are on to trace Abdul Subhan Qureshi, alias Tauqeer Bilal, a Mumbai-based software engineer-turned-Simi activist and Ashfaq, who allegedly masterminded the Jaipur blasts.

While teams from the Delhi police’s special cell have left for Jaipur, Ahmedabad and Mumbai to question Abu Basher, the alleged mastermind of the Ahmedabad serial blasts, the Mumbai ATS is concentrating on tracking Tauqeer, who had met Bashar after the Mumbai serial blasts. The ATS has handed over the task of tracing the person who sent the email just after the Delhi blasts to the local police. The Delhi police is likely to seek Bashar’s remand.

Delhi police commissioner Y.S. Dadwal on Sunday claimed the police is “near to cracking” the serial blasts case. The police said it was working on the sketches of the suspects on the basis of information provided by a 10-year-old boy who allegedly saw bombs being planted at Central Park in Connaught Place.

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US Congress gets 123 deal

US President George W. Bush has commended the 123 Agreement to the US Congress for its approval.

The White House said in a statement it was transmitting the text of the agreement and other relevant documents to legislators “to ensure passage on the agreement this year.” Mr Bush has also invited Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to the White House on September 25. “The President looks forward to welcoming Prime Minister Singh to the White House on September 25 to strengthen the strategic partnership and to build upon our progress in other areas of cooperation, such as agriculture, education, trade and defence,” White House press secretary Ms Dana Perino said in Washington.

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‘Big’ exercise starts with a bang

The world’s largest particle collider passed its first major tests by firing two beams of protons in opposite directions around a 27-km underground ring on Wednesday in what scientists hope is the next great step to understanding the makeup of the universe.

After a series of trial runs, two white dots flashed on a computer screen at 10.26 am (1.56 pm IST), indicating the protons had travelled clockwise along the length of the $3.8 billion Large Hadron Collider, described as the biggest physics experiment in history. “There it is,” project leader Lyn Evans said when the beam completed its lap.

Champagne corks popped in labs as far away as Chicago, where scientists watched the proceedings by satellite. Five hours later, scientists successfully fired a beam counterclockwise.

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Hyderabad is before Christ

Hyderabad is not 400 years old as claimed by historians but was populated even 2,500 years ago, say archaeologists.

Excavations by the State Department of Archaeology and Museums have unearthed implements of the New Stone Age as well as Iron Age burials in Hyderabad. “The history of Hyderabad goes back to the Neolithic Period,” said Prof. P. Chenna Reddy, director of archaeology.

The department has discovered an Iron Age site studded with Cairn Circles, also called megalithic burials, close to the entrance of Ramoji Film City on the Hyderabad-Vijayawada National Highway. Similarly, New Stone Age implements were recovered from Kethepalli village.

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Two killed in trainer crash

A Cessna 152 trainer aircraft crashed in the residential area of Subashanagar in SR Nagar on Monday morning killing two persons on board and injuring three others on the ground.

The plane of AP Aviation Academy took off from Begumpet airport at around 11 am, but soon lost balance and plunged down, hitting an electric pole and crashing into buildings in the densely populated area.

Assistant flight instructor, Captain Niraj Jain of Delhi, and flight cadet, P. Srinivas, a resident of Pradhampuri Colony in Sainikpuri, died in the crash.

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Capital starts race to clear deal

Washington is scrambling to get the India US nuclear deal past the Congress despite dissenting voices from some Democrats who hope to deprive US President George W. Bush of a major foreign policy triumph.

US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice said on Sunday that time was running short but she will have conversations with House International Affairs Committee chairman Howard Berman and Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman Joseph Biden on Monday or Tuesday. The US Congress meets Monday.

The first thing “is that we still have a little more to do on the determinations for the Hyde Act, and we will try to complete that,” Ms Rice said in Algiers.

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United States struggles with 3 storms

Some Southeastern states declared emergencies and officials urged residents to head inland on Thursday as tropical storm Hanna headed toward the Atlantic coast, where it could bring high winds and rain from South Carolina to Maine.

Meanwhile, disaster planners eyed ferocious-looking hurricane Ike strengthening in the Atlantic.

And with power outages and problems from hurricane Gustav lingering in Louisiana, Arkansas and Mississippi, the Federal Emergency Management Agency and relief groups found themselves juggling three storms.

Rain and wind from Hanna could start as early as on Friday night in the South, where some residents shuttered houses and stocked up on food and sandbags. Tropical storm watches and warnings were issued from Georgia to near Atlantic City, New Jersey.

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Unites States plans nuclear rewrite to build Nuclear Suppliers Gconsensus

The draft of the India-specific waiver is likely to undergo further changes to make the language more acceptable to the NSG and to enable a consensus.

“The US has pledged to revise the draft and serious attempts are being made,” a diplomat said on the sidelines of its plenary in Vienna on Thursday.

US under secretary of state William Burns indicated the possibility of tweaking the language when he said some countries had raised “important questions that need to be addressed”.

The discussions, he said, were “constructive... and clearly aimed at reaching an early consensus.” New Delhi emphasised it cannot go “beyond” its commitment to Parliament, and said it would walk out of the deal if not satisfied.

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United States: No deal if India tests

In a major embarrassment for the Manmohan Singh government, a US state department letter to a Congressman, written in January but made public only now, made it clear the United States will terminate all nuclear cooperation, including fuel supply, if India conducts a nuclear test.

The letter reinforces the supremacy of America’s Hyde Act over its 123 Agreement with India, and says the “fuel supply assurances” were “not legally binding” but simply a commitment by President George W. Bush. These assurances, the Washington Post quoted the state department letter as saying, would not “insulate India against the consequences of a nuclear test or a violation of non-proliferation commitments.”

This disclosure comes on the eve of the NSG’s crucial Vienna meeting Thursday. It negates some of the Prime Minister’s statements within Parliament and outside: that the nuclear deal does not in any way affect India’s right to test and that the deal would ensure uninterrupted supply of fuel.

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Kidney racket in Andhra Pradesh again

Police on Monday busted a major racket in the State which had conducted 23 kidney transplantations by using fake documents.

Sleuths of the West Zone Task Force arrested five brokers involved in the kidney trade, including one hailing from Karnataka.

The organ traders created fake seals of different government departments to run their racket.

Since the Human Organ Transplantation Act restricts live kidney transplant in unrelated persons, the racket created fake documents to prove that donors and the recipients are relatives.

One of the organ traders, Dasari Surdershan Yadav, had earlier worked as a businessman in Karnataka. His accomplice, Atkuri Srinivasu, 35, hails from East Godavari district.

The other brokers arrested were Bellina Sai Kumar, Eppa Jayaram Reddy and Turaka Pichaiah, a native of Guntur.

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Survivors look for separated families

The flood situation continues to be grim with people climbing on rooftops of educational institutions for safety, even as such buildings are showing signs of collapse.

For over one lakh people who have taken shelter in Saharsa town after the breach in the Kosi embankment, the situation is serious with fresh discharge of 2.5 lakh cusecs of water into the river by Nepal.

People are making a frantic search for their dear ones separated during their flight to safety.

Even colleges, school buildings and dharmshalas face the threat of collapse with thousands of people having taken shelter on rooftops.

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