Maoists kill five policemen in Bihar, ten missing, loot 35 rifles

Five policemen were killed and 10 others injured during a fierce encounter with Maoists, who decamped with 35 rifles of the security personnel in Lakhisarai district, a senior police official said today.

Ten other security personnel went missing after the encounter and a helicopter has been pressed into service to locate them.

The Maoists opened fire at a joint team of CRPF, Bihar Military Police (BMP) and State Auxiliary Police (SAP) personnel combing Ramtalnagar village in the district yesterday, IG (Operation) KS Dwivedi told PTI over phone from the spot.

The security forces retaliated. Three BMP personnel and two policemen were killed in the encounter though their bodies were yet to be recovered due to the difficult, hilly terrain, Dwivedi said.

The Maoists took away 35 rifles and several magazines from the security personnel, he said.

"Three sub-inspectors, two havildars and five constables have not returned to their base camp after the encounter," Director General of Police Neelmani said in Patna.

Many Maoists were believed to have been injured in the encounter, but were dragged away by colleagues, Dwivedi said.

Ten BMP and SAP personnel were injured in the encounter. Seven of them were admitted to Patna Medical College and Hospital where their condition was stated to be out of danger, officials said.

Meanwhile, Tariyani block development officer Manoj Singh, his driver and a health department employee who were kidnapped by Maoists from Ladhoura village were yet to be traced, Neelmani said.

A police team led by IG (Muzaffarpur) Gupteshwar Pandey was searching for them, he said.

Maoists on motorcycles had intercepted the BDO's vehicle and took him, his driver and a public health centre employee away, he said.

A report from Gaya district said a road construction mixing plant was bombed by Maoist at Mufassil police station area last night.

Source http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_maoists-kill-five-policemen-in-bihar-loot-35-rifles_1430839

Indian arrested at US airport for carrying jihadi materials

An Indian documentary filmmaker has been arrested at the Houston airport for allegedly carrying suspicious Islamic jihad literature, brass knuckles and $10,000 in cash.

40-year-old Vijay Kumar was arrested at the George Bush Intercontinental airport on Friday after he was spotted "acting suspicious," when screeners thought they saw a possible handgun in a scan of his baggage.

Investigators found brass knuckles, a manual for a handgun and Islamic literature in Kumar's checked luggage.

State district judge David Mendoza yesterday lowered Kumar's bail from $50,000 to $5,000 after learning more details about the case and that prosecutors were willing to let him plead to time served for unlawfully carrying a weapon in an airport.

Kumar was in Houston to lecture a Hindu organisation about Islamic fundamentalism and the books packed in his checked luggage were educational tools, authorities and his lawyer told the court.

Attorneys for Kumar said that he has surrendered his passport while he mulls the deal. He does not want a criminal record to interfere next time he visits the US, his attorney Grant Scheiner said.

"I think that everybody realised that he is not a threat. He's a peaceful man," Scheiner said.

"He was here to visit the Hindu Congress of America, to deliver a lecture. It was about an interfaith discussion between Hindus and Muslims about the harms of terrorism."

Scheiner said that Kumar, who speaks very little English, carries the brass knuckles for protection in India.

When Kumar was pulled aside for secondary screening, after raising suspicion with the transportation security administration 'behavioural detection officers,' even more alarm was raised by what was found.

The title of one book was Spycraft and another was titled New Voices of Islam and police noticed mentions of "infidels" in some of the writings that could be made out clearly, the Houston Chronicle reported.

"It definitely raised our concerns," said one law enforcement official involved in the arrest.

"Not your everyday passenger would have this sort of stuff and it definitely poses a concern for anyone involved in airport security," he said.

The books and radical material was found in stacks, packed in Kumar's carry-on luggage, according to the police report.

Officers also found a pair of brass-knuckles in the luggage he had checked with his airline to be carried in the cargo hold of the aircraft.

In Texas, brass-knuckles are prohibited by law so he was booked on a felony charge of Possessing a Prohibited Weapon in a Prohibited Place (airport).

FBI agents, who were called to the secondary screening area where Kumar was being detained, checked his name on terror watch lists and 'no fly' lists, but there is no indication that his name has appeared on any of those lists.

Besides, police also confiscated more than $10,000 in cash that Kumar is accused of carrying on his trip and the per Federal law he had not declared the currency.

Police and FBI agents said they were turning their attention to Kumar's background and what he was doing in Houston, and they're also planning to examine a computer flash drive (or "thumb drive") that Kumar was carrying.

Flash drives can hold thousands of documents or diagrams, but no one had seen the contents as of Friday.

A search warrant may be required to view the thumb drive, even though international passengers typically have fewer legal protections when the government wants to look at something they were going to be carrying onto an airliner.

Kumar told police he was in Houston attending an "Islamic seminar."

A search of federal court records in Houston shows a 2007 lawsuit filed by a man with the same name, same age and same hometown as Kumar.

In that lawsuit, Kumar described himself as a native and citizen of India, who was admitted to the United States in 2004 on a student visa to the University of Connecticut.

The lawsuit said he had earlier studied at Texas Tech University after entering the US in 2003.

He then transferred to University of Connecticut, where the lawsuit said he earned an MBA degree to bolster his undergraduate engineering degree.

The lawsuit said he married a US citizen in 2004 and he filed to change his immigration status to allow him to remain in the US past his student visa in 2005.

His lawsuit claims FBI has been holding up his citizenship paperwork by claiming it couldn't complete the proper background checks.

Source http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_indian-arrested-at-us-airport-for-carrying-jihadi-materials_1428033

Tharoors celebrate Onam at poor home

It isn't quite how you expect to find your MP - on a swing with his new bride. But that's how Sunanda and Shashi Tharoor were spotted at a welfare home for the under-privileged in Tharoor's constituency of Thiruvananthapuram.

On 'Thiruvonam', the most auspicious day of the 10-day Onam festival, the Tharoors shared a vegetarian meal served in a plantain leaf at the home. They distributed gifts, and looked on enthusiastically as Onam folk songs were performed.

The couple was married this weekend. "I had a great time. After my wedding ceremony, the best moment that I have had is at this orphanage," said Sunanda, showing none of the nerves of a rookie political wife.

Sunanda's share in the Indian Premier League team for Kochi catapulted her then-companion and now-husband into a national controversy. Confronted with charges of misusing his public office to promote private interests, Tharoor was forced to resign. Sunanda surrendered the 70-crore sweat equity she had been promised in return for marketing the Kochi cricket team.

Recently, the couple has been photographed at places of worship of different faiths - including shrines in Maharashtra, and the Ajmer Dargah.

In the midst of the celebrations today, Shashi Tharoor said that his message is " 'Onashamsakal' which means wish you all a happy Onam. It's a time for wishing everybody prosperity, joy and peace and we wish that for everyone in Kerala, India and the world."

The cameras kept rolling.

Read more at: http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/tharoors-celebrate-onam-at-poor-home-46610?cp

Source http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/tharoors-celebrate-onam-at-poor-home-46610

Read more at: http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/tharoors-celebrate-onam-at-poor-home-46610?cp

Still have concerns over nuclear bill

The Communist Party of India (Marxist) today said it still has concerns over the Civil Nuclear Liability Bill though government dropped a controversial addition in a clause bowing to opposition pressure, which it termed was “good“.

“The word ‘and’ should not have been there at the first place. But now the government has changed it. That is good.

Our demands have been partially met. But we have other concerns (on the bill),” CPI(M) Polit Bureau member Sitaram Yechury told reporters.

He said the party was of the view that there should not be any sealing on the liability in case of a nuclear accident.

“You can set a minimum on liability as many other countries have done,” he suggested.

Mr. Yechury also said there should not be any ambiguity on India joining any conventions dealing with liability.

Left parties had opposed the cap of Rs. 1,500 crore on the liability of a nuclear plant operator, saying it was “hardly significant”, pointing out that a nuclear accident would be much more devastating than the Bhopal gas disaster.

The Cabinet this morning put its stamp of approval on the Civil Liability for Nuclear Bill, deciding to omit the word ’and’ — connecting two sub-clauses of Clause 17 of the draft legislation.

Source http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article583875.ece

Death toll reaches 40 in Himachal road accident

The death toll in a truck road accident in Himachal Pradesh’s Mandi district, has gone up to 40, police said on Thursday, Aug 19.

The accident occurred on Wednesday, Aug 18, evening, when an overcrowded truck skidded off the road and fell into a 200-foot deep gorge in Himachal Pradesh’s Mandi district.

The accident spot is some 175 km from state capital Shimla.

According to the police sources, the victims were mostly from Sudhyani village and were on their way home after attending a ceremony.

Superintendent of Police S M Agnihotri said the bodies would be handed over to the families after conducting post-mortem at the Zonal Hospital in Mandi.

He said one family has lost eight members in the accident.

Witnesses told police that the truck was overcrowded and the driver lost control over the vehicle while negotiating a turn.

Source http://news.oneindia.in/2010/08/19/death-toll-reaches-40-in-himachal-road-accident.html

Declare assets or face jail, Jharkhand tells employees

All state government employees in Jharkhand have been asked to declare their assets every three years or face a year's imprisonment, a press statement said Tuesday.

"Jharkhand Governor M O H Farook has passed an order under which all the state government employees will have to declare their assets every three years till retirement. If any employee fails to declare assets then he or she will be liable for punishment of one year in jail," the statement said.

"The newly-appointed employees will have to declare their assets within three months of appointment," it added.

The new circular, applicable to all state government employees except fourth grade employees, will cover around 60,000 employees, including over 1,200 officers.

Earlier, only IAS and IPS officials had to declare their assets every year but their declaration of assets was not monitored. More than 80 percent of IAS and IPS officials did not declare their assets for two to three years.

Under the new circular, it is mandatory for all employees to declare their assets.

Source http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics/nation/Declare-assets-or-face-jail-Jharkhand-tells-employees/articleshow/6324437.cms

Farooq hopes for normalcy in Kashmir

Union minister for New and Renewable Energy Farooq Abdullah today expressed hope that the situation in Kashmir will improve and normalcy would be restored soon in the bruised valley.

"Kashmir won't go anywhere. The situation was worse in 1989 than what it is now. But things changed and normalcy returned to the valley. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's recent peace steps will improve the situation there," the former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister told reporters here after inaugurating a solar energy system in Van Vihar Zoo.

Asked whether a sense of anger and alienation in Kashmir triggered off violence and unrest in the valley, Abdullah said there were many reasons for it.

"There are many factors. Some agencies want to destabilise the government in Kashmir and others want to secede from India," he said.

The Valley was rocked by violence following the death of a teenager on June 11 after allegedly being hit by a teargas shell at Gani stadium near Rajouri Kadal. After that street protests continued in the Valley which claimed 52 lives.

Source http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics/nation/Farooq-hopes-for-normalcy-in-Kashmir/articleshow/6298875.cms