NEW DELHI, Jan 18: Doctors have advised former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee to avoid walking for some days as he is suffering from pain in his right knee joint and back, his office said today. .........more

CBI court posts order of bail
petition of Monica to Jan 23

HYDERABAD, Jan 18: The Special CBI court today posted the orders on second bail petition of Monica Bedi, girlfriend of underworld don Abu Salem for January 23. .......more

Crisis in Karnataka
is problem among ruling
allies: BJP

NEW DELHI, Jan 18: The BJP today said the political crisis in Karnataka was within the ruling Congress-Janata Dal (secular) coalition and that it had nothing to do with the problem. ..............more

LeT ultra escapes from
police custody

LUCKNOW, Jan 18: A suspected Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) militant escaped from police custody aboard the Sealdah-Jammu Tawi Express train near the Shivpur .........more

NEW DELHI, Jan 18: Night temperature in Delhi went up to 14.4 degree celsius, the highest this winter, but morning fog blanketed the capital, reducing visibility to 600 metres, the . ............more

Goods train derails, traffic
disrupted,diverted

BATHINDA, Jan 18: As many as nine bogies of Dhanbad (UP) bound goods train from Malout today derailed on the Bathinda- Delhi track in the wee hours, ........more

India, Pak teachers
train in US, to share skill
with others

NEW DELHI, Jan 18: School teachers from India and Pakistan, who recently attended a training programme in the United States, will now act as ‘resource persons’ for English language ..........more

Aircraft’s front wheels
burst, passengers safe

PATNA, Jan 18: All passengers and the crew members onboard an Indian Airlines boeing from New Delhi to Patna had a miraculous escape today as .........more

6500 Punjab villages would be benefited with World Bank assistance ........

Vajpayee gets knee pain, backache, advised rest

NEW DELHI, Jan 18: Doctors have advised former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee to avoid walking for some days as he is suffering from pain in his right knee joint and back, his office said today.

"He has been advised to avoid exertion and walking for the next few days," a statement from the former Prime Minister’s Office said.

Vajpayee, 81, underwent a second knee replacement operation in 2001. (PTI)

CBI court posts order of bail petition of Monica to Jan 23

HYDERABAD, Jan 18: The Special CBI court today posted the orders on second bail petition of Monica Bedi, girlfriend of underworld don Abu Salem for January 23.

The second bail application of Bedi was filed by her a Delhi-based lawyer Suchir Batra along with local advocate Pradep Kumar.

After hearing arguments of prosecution and defence lawyer, CBI Judge C V Subramanyam posted the matter for orders to January 23.

Earlier, the Judge had rejected the bail application of Bedi on December 12.

Bedi is now lodged in Chanchalguda jail in connection with a passport forgery case and she is under judicial remand till January 25.

Earlier, prosecution lawyer Venkat Ramana opposed the bail plea of Bedi contending she could flee the country anytime as she has no permanent address in India.

Disputing the prosecution contention, defence lawyer Suchir Batra informed the court his client has house address of Hoshiyarpur in Punjab where her uncle stays.

He further said Bedi wanted to settle down in Hyderabad until the case was cleared and pointed out that she "is an Indian while her parents moved to Norway." (PTI)

Crisis in Karnataka is problem among ruling allies: BJP

NEW DELHI, Jan 18: The BJP today said the political crisis in Karnataka was within the ruling Congress-Janata Dal (secular) coalition and that it had nothing to do with the problem.

"However, the party was "closely watching" the emerging situation," BJP spokesman Arun Jaitley said.

The party, which is the single largest group in the 224-member Karnataka Assembly has deputed senior leader M Venkaiah Naidu to stay available for state BJP for "consultation and advise".

He refused to answer questions on whether the BJP would align with the JD(S), but said future strategy would be made known as and when it was devised.

JD(S) president H D Deve Gowda has convened his party’s national executive on February 8 to take a "final decision" following his party’s strained relations with the Congress in the state.

Mr Gowda had met senior BJP leader and former Prime Minister A B Vajpayee recently after the Congress decided to align with the Siddaramaiah faction of the APJD in three Zilla Panchayats in the state. (UNI)

LeT ultra escapes from police custody

LUCKNOW, Jan 18: A suspected Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) militant escaped from police custody aboard the Sealdah-Jammu Tawi Express train near the Shivpur railway station in Varanasi district of Uttar Pradesh early today.

Police Superintendent (city) Varanasi Anant Deo told UNI on phone that suspected LeT ultra Abu Ali Ahmed (25), who was being taken on a transit remand to Jammu and Kashmir, escaped from the train between Shivpur and Veerapatti at around 0300 hrs.

Mr Deo said that Abu Ali, a Pakistani national, lodged in the Hilli Police Station of Dakshin Dinajpur town in West Bengal since his arrest in the state on December 17, 2005, was being taken by a police team from Jammu comprising Inspector Mahendra Singh and three constables.

When the train slowed near Veerapatti, the handcuffed ultra managed to escape from the S2 sleeper coach, as the four policemen fell asleep, Mr Deo claimed.

The SP said the ultra would be apprehended soon as 20 police teams were combing a 20 km radius and further investigations were on.

"We have contacted various village pradhans in the area and sought their assitance in nabbing the anti-national," Mr Deo said. (UNI)

Delhi registers winter’s highest night temperature

NEW DELHI, Jan 18: Night temperature in Delhi went up to 14.4 degree celsius, the highest this winter, but morning fog blanketed the capital, reducing visibility to 600 metres, the weather office said today.

The minimum temperature registered in Delhi was seven degrees above normal, it said.

However, inclement weather in other parts of north India delayed departure of flights from the Delhi Airport.

A Jet Airways flight to Lucknow took off at 0855 hrs from here, 25 minutes behind schedule, due to bad weather at the up capital, an airline official said.

Inclement weather in Leh also delayed an Indian Airlines Delhi-Leh flight, scheduled for departure at 0645 hrs, by 0415 hrs, an ia official said.

There were no reports of delays in train departures from Delhi because of weather. (PTI)

Goods train derails, traffic disrupted,diverted

BATHINDA, Jan 18: As many as nine bogies of Dhanbad (UP) bound goods train from Malout today derailed on the Bathinda- Delhi track in the wee hours, but no casualty was reported the losses to Railways and Food Corporation of India is said to run over crores.

According to Railway sources, the 40 bogie goods special train of Delhi Division loaded with wheat had left the Bathinda station at 1230 hours and nine of its bogies derailed between villages Kotfatta and Maiserkhana at around 0100 hours.

Of the nine bogies five bogies were completely damaged. Each bogie was carrying as much as 56 tonnes of wheat, the sources said.

The bogies from number 25 to number 33 derailed. As many as 24 bogies were sent to Kotfatta Railway Station while another eight were sent to the Maiserkhana Railway Station.

All train traffic on the track had to be either cancelled or diverted through other routes.

According to the Divisional Railway Manager of Delhi Division Pardeep Kumar who reached in the morning with the relief train claimed that the track was likely to be cleared by late tonight.

An accidental relief train carrying 300 people from Delhi and another carrying 150 people from Bathinda was rushed to the spot in the morning to restore the traffic on the route as early as possible.

"Though no exact damage can be assessed as of now but it is estimated roughly to be around Rs two crores", Kumar said, adding that the enquiry into the incident shall be sought and written explanations from the persons who were on duty shall be called.

"Our prime motive is to restore traffic on this route first and then think about rest of the things", said Pardeep Kumar while adding that the reason for the accident shall be ascertained later.

Section Engineer R C Dhingra when contacted said that he cannot comment on the issue or the reason behind the incident as it is too early to do so.

As many as four passenger trains were cancelled on this route while all the rest of the trains were diverted to the Dhuri-Jakhal route, said the Railway authorities.(PTI)

India, Pak teachers train in US, to share skill with others

NEW DELHI, Jan 18: School teachers from India and Pakistan, who recently attended a training programme in the United States, will now act as ‘resource persons’ for English language teachers in their respective regions.

Thirteen teachers from Government schools in Chandigarh, Delhi and Punjab and 11 teachers from secondary schools of Pakistan attended the six-week south Asian teachers training project at the George Washington University last year, an American Embassy release said here today.

The teachers learned advanced methodologies for teaching English and developed greater awareness of US Culture and Society, it said.

The teachers trained under the programme would interact with their counterparts from all over the country and share their knowledge at workshops in Delhi and Lahore. (PTI)

Aircraft’s front wheels burst, passengers safe

PATNA, Jan 18: All passengers and the crew members onboard an Indian Airlines boeing from New Delhi to Patna had a miraculous escape today as both the front wheels of the plane burst.

Director of Jaya Prakash Narayan International Airport Atul Dixit told PTI that the tyres of the IA flight no 809 burst due to ‘heavy landing’ on the runway.

The pilot, however, managed to control the plane and the passengers were taken out of the flight, he said.

The plane arrived from New Delhi at around 1547-hours.

No passenger even suffered minor injury, he said. (PTI)

Minor girl from Bihar raped in Faridabad

FARIDABAD, Jan 18: A minor girl, resident of SGM Nagar here, was repeatedly raped by her neighbour for a couple of days till she managed to flee, sources said.

Rachna (name changed) of Bhagalpur (Bihar) was living with her parents in SGM Nagar. She was lured by her neighbour Monu, who took her to his residence on January 4 evening.

The accused then offered tea (mixed with sleep inducing drug) to Rachna and raped her with the help of his mother and another women Lakshmi at home. And the next day, assisted by his mother, Monu took the girl to Delhi. There he stayed in a hotel and raped her till she could manage to escape from his clutches, the police said yesterday.

An FIR has been lodged with the NIT Police Station on the basis of the medical examination report of the victim.

The accused was arrested but both the women, who assisted him were absconding, police said. (UNI)

6500 Punjab villages would be benefited with
World Bank assistance

CHANDIGARH, Jan 18: A project with a cost of Rs 1819.35 crore would benefit 4900 plartially covered villages and 1600 not covered villages in Punjab with the facilities of water supply and sanitation under World Bank assistance during this year.

Avtar Henry, Food, Civil Supplies and Public Health Minister, Punjab, said here today that a World Bank team comprising of four members headed by G V Abhyankar visited the state recently to review the progress achieved by the Department of Water Supply and Sanitation in the implementing of World Bank project.

The team held extensive discussion with senior officers of the department and expressed their satisfaction about the implementation of schemes. They assured that further flow of funds to the state would start soon, an official release here today quoting Henry said.

Henry said that to start with the department proposes to carry out pilot project in 85 villages (five villages from each district) of the state.

"It had been decided to provide the beneficiaries with a minimum service level of 70 litres of water per capita per day. Other features of the project include cost effective technology for water quality affected habitations, water conservation, ground water management and ground water recharge measures for source sustainability,", he said.

He said that project would be implemented by involving the beneficiaries.

The beneficiaries would contribute 10 per cent of the capital cost whereas funds for the remaining 90 per cent cost would be provided by the World Bank. (PTI)