July 20, 1944 – symbol of German anti-Nazi resistance

July 20, 1944 - symbol of German anti-Nazi resistance Berlin – July 20, 1944 has become a symbol of the military anti-Nazi resistance in Germany, marking the day when 36-year-old Colonel Claus Schenk Count of Stauffenberg tried to kill Adolf Hitler in order to start talks with the Western Allies for an end to World War II.

Stauffenberg planted a bomb hidden in a briefcase in Hitler’s eastern headquarters Wolfsschanze in Eastern Prussia during a briefing with Hitler.

He then travelled back to Berlin, waiting for the death of the

dictator with his fellow plotters in the Bendler Block, the General

Army Office of the Army High Command.

However, when the bomb went off, its impact was broken by a heavy table. Of 24 people present, four died, yet Hitler only received minor injuries.

Meanwhile back in Berlin and convinced that Hitler was dead, Stauffenberg put in motion Valkyrie, a plan originally conceived by the German military to suppress a possible rebellion during World War II which was adopted by the resistance plotters.

However, the plan failed when it emerged in the evening of July 20 that Hitler had survived the attack. In a hastily convened court- martial on the same night, Stauffenberg was sentenced to death alongside General Friedrich Olbricht, the head of the group, and two fellow plotters, Albrecht Mertz von Quirnheim, and Werner of Haeften.

The group was immediately executed in the courtyard of the Bendler Block. Another conspirator was forced to commit suicide. dpa

Former Rwandan justice minister sentenced for genocide role

Nairobi/Kigali – Agnes Ntamabyariro, a former Rwandan justice minister, has been sentenced to life imprisonment for her role in the 1994 genocide, reports said Tuesday.

The BBC reported that Ntamabyariro, who had a Hutu father and Tutsi mother, was convicted in a Kigali court Monday for conspiracy and incitement related to the genocide.

Hutu militia slaughtered over 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus within 100 days following the assassination of president Juvenal Habyarimana on April 6 1994.

The most prominent figures have been tried at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) in Tanzania. (dpa)

High Court refuses to extend Sanjeev Nanda”s interim bail

New Delhi, Jan 9 (ANI): The Delhi High Court on Friday refused to extend Sanjeev Nanda”s interim bail in connection with the BMW hit-and-run case.

Justice Kailash Gambhir dismissed the petition which means Sanjeev has to surrender himself on Saturday.

On December 19, the court had granted three-week interim bail to Sanjeev, who is undergoing five years jail term.

On December 16, the court had issued notice to the Delhi Police on contentions of Nanda””s counsel and senior advocate Ram Jethmalani that the convict””s grandfather was not well and wanted to see him.

On September 5, Nanda sentenced to five years in jail by a Delhi court.

The court convicted Nanda under the Section 304 (2) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), dealing with culpable homicide not amounting to murder. The law prescribes ten years imprisonment as maximum punishment.

The ten-year-old case involving Nanda, allegedly in an inebriated state is accused of mowing down seven people with his high speeding BMW car in the wee hours of January 10, 1999 in Lodhi Colony area. Six persons died on the spot while one survived. (ANI)

Drug-runner who filmed himself masturbating at 150 km/h jailed

Melbourne, Jan 7 (ANI): A drug-runner who admitted to police that he had been masturbating while driving at 150 km/h has been sentenced to two months jail.

On July 16 last year, Brendon Alan Erhardt, 39, was pulled over by police, 25km south of Daly Waters.

He told the officers he had been masturbating shortly before being stopped for speeding on the 130km/h stretch of the Stuart Hwy.

He had filmed himself travelling at a speed of 150kmh.

Erhardt was coming back to the Northern Territory from Adelaide, where he had used an inheritance from his dead mother to buy a Holden SV6 and 5kg of cannabis.

In his car, police found 10 packages of cannabis hidden in a blue esky in the boot, two cannabis plants on the back seat, two drug pipes and a loaded .22 rifle.

“(It is) conduct one might expect of a much younger immature person to engage in,” the Age quoted Magistrate Sue Oliver, as telling Darwin Magistrate”s Court.

Erhardt pleaded guilty” to six charges, including carrying an unregistered and loaded firearm, driving dangerously and driving unlicensed.

Magistrate Oliver said his behaviour was strange and humiliating, while sentencing him to two months in prison.

“The circumstances of the driving are bizarre to say the least. And I would have thought it would cause him some embarrassment to have it aired in a public forum,” she said.

Erhardt has been slapped with 2,000-dollar fine and has also been disqualified from driving for six months. (ANI)

Heather Locklear’s DUI case dismisses after she pleads no contest

Washington, January 3 (ANI): A U.S. court has dismissed American actress Heather Locklear’s DUI case after she pleaded no contest.

A source close to the case has revealed that the Santa Barbara court, California, sentenced Locklear to three years” informal probation, and fined 700 dollars as part of the plea deal with prosecutors.

The 47-year-old actress, who was not present in court, was also directed to complete a 12-hour DMV road and safety class.

Her attorney Blair Berk refused to comment on the case, reports People magazine.

Locklear was formally charged with DUI in November, following a September arrest in which a 911 caller described her as “driving erratically”. (ANI)