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Gunmen shot dead fourteen people, mainly goldsmiths, at a bustling trade market in southwest Baghdad on Tuesday, an Interior Ministry source told Reuters.
The attack, involving ten gunmen, took place at a busy market with tight police security in the Bayaa district of the Iraqi capital, the source said, asking not to be named.
(Writing by Matt Robinson; Editing by Matthew Jones)
Lahore, May 5 (ANI): Pakistan’s intelligence agencies have warned the concerned authorities that terrorists may use ‘rigged’ explosive-laden vehicles to target important establishments across Punjab.
According to intelligence inputs, militants may use Suzuki minivans to strike, The Daily Times reports.
Following the report, the Punjab Home Department has directed all security agencies to beef up security in and around all important establishments and government buildings in the province.
Security officials have also been asked to maintain a tight vigil and scan all vehicles entering or leaving the province from each entry and exit point. (ANI)
Tasmanians are still waiting to hear the outcome of talks at Government House in Hobart to decide who will govern the state.
A media statement is expected to be issued by Government House this afternoon.
Liberal leader Will Hodgman emerged smiling from a meeting with Governor Peter Underwood this afternoon, but told reporters he could not comment on the meeting’s outcome.
Caretaker Premier David Bartlett also had little to say after delivering his advice to Mr Underwood.
The state election two weeks ago delivered a hung parliament with Labor holding 10 seats, the Liberals 10 and the Greens five.
Mr Bartlett had repeatedly said he would resign his commission because the Liberals won more votes.
He made a brief statement to the media, saying only that he had tendered his advice.
“That advice contains within it the commitments followed in full to the letter that I made to the Tasmanian people in recent times,” he said.
Mr Underwood can take the Labor leader’s advice and invite the Liberals to form minority government or he can order Mr Bartlett to test his premiership on the floor of the house.
The Governor has seven days to decide whether or not to release Mr Bartlett’s advice.
Bikaner, Apr. 1 (ANI): Acute water shortage in Rajasthan is forcing residents of a village near Bikaner to maintain a tight vigil on village water bodies to prevent water theft.
Four security guards have been appointed to protect the pond round the clock from both outsiders and animals.
“There are 8000-9000 villagers in our village, and, they depend on the water for their needs. So, four security guards protect the pond by turns,” said Ram Lal, a villager.
Guards distribute water to villagers according to the number of members in each family.
“We guard the water from outsiders. The villagers have appointed us,” said Hari Singh, a security guard.
For five years, the area has not received any rainfall.
The state government has declared a drought in twenty-seven districts of Rajasthan. (ANI)
London, March 29 (ANI): Actor Billy Burke has revealed that sets of the Twilight films always get chaotic, thanks to the fans of the film’s stars Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart.
“There”s loads of fans always trying to be on set – the hotel itself was a bit like a compound; it was surrounded 24-7 by fans and paparazzi,” the Mirror quoted him as saying.
“During the first movie, there were people coming around all the time but there was more of an ease first time around – with the second and third films, as you can imagine, security got a lot more tight,” he added.
Burke, who plays Kristen”s on-screen dad in the vampire films, doesn”t mind mixing with the fans.
“I”m fine signing autographs or taking pictures, I don”t have to deal with the fans the way Robert and Kristen have to,” he said.
Burke will reprise his role for the third installment ‘Eclipse’. (ANI)
Sachin Tendulkar has inspired Mumbai Indians to a crushing 98-run victory over Delhi Daredevils in the Indian Premier League.
Tendulkar cracked 63 off 32 balls as Mumbai scored 7 for 218 off its 20 overs.
Australian paceman Dirk Nannes was the most economical of the beleaguered Delhi bowlers, finishing with figures of 0 for 35 off his four overs.
Delhi struggled to keep up with the required run rate thanks largely to some tight bowling from West Indian pair Kieron Pollard (1 for 24) and Dwayne Bravo (2 for 11) as well as Sri Lankan all-rounder Sanath Jayasuriya, who took 2 for 17.
A quick-fire 24 from Virender Sehwag was the highlight of the Daredevils’ innings as they lost their last six wickets for 41 runs to slump to 120 all out with 21 balls remaining.
-AAP
Katra, Sept 18 (ANI): Security has been beefed up at the famous Vaishno Devi Temple near Jammu ahead of the nine-day “Navratri” festival.
Paramilitary and police personnel are patrolling and frisking people at important points in Katra, which is thronged by thousands of devotees every year, especially during Navratri.
The nine-day Navratri festival will begin from Saturday and the authorities claim to be in full control of the situation.
“There is much fanfare in Katra during Navratra festival and the inflow of tourists also rises manifold during those days. We have made proper security arrangements. We have taken the help of the CRPF. This time, we also have one contingent of Haryana police,” said Ashok Sharma, Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP).
The devotees making their way to the shrine were also put through rigorous checking, a routine, exercised with extra care, considering the sensitive nature of the shrine and keeping recent threats in mind.
The devotees complied without complaining.
“There was not much trouble during the security check. We were checked several times but we did not face any problem. It was all done very safely,” said Vijay Kumar, a devotee.
‘Navratri’, which literally means nine nights, is observed twice a year.
The festival lasts for nine days in honour of nine manifestations of Durga, goddess of power ,and fall in the months of April-May and September-October.
It is believed that during the Navratri, Goddess Durga descends on earth to rid it of the demons and blesses her devotees with happiness and prosperity. (ANI)
London, September 8 (ANI): Jailed rape suspect Jack Tweed has been on suicide watch after reportedly telling doctors, “If I had a gun I’d kill myself.”
Jade Goody’s widower, who is allegedly being kept in segregation, was said to have received a string of abuse and threats from other inmates at Pentonville jail in London.
“He has been put on an unusually tight watch and has to be checked on every 20 minutes which is virtually unheard of,” the Mirror quoted an insider as saying.
“He told psychiatrists he wanted to end it all. He is very depressed. If the mental health team are invoking that kind of thing it means they take his threat very seriously,” the insider added.
The 22-year-old is behind bars after a 19-year-old clubber claimed he raped her as his pal joined in.
Tweed is said to have attacked the girl at a party at his home after inviting the teenager and two of her female friends back to his rented house from a London nightspot in the early hours. (ANI)
Washington, Aug 25 (ANI): ‘The Hills’ star Heidi Montag was seen flashing her assets at the Miss Universe contest, held on August 24.
Montag, 22, wore tight sequined pants and a matching bra, which exposed most of her cleavage, as she sang her new song “Body Language”, and did a few sexy body rolls and dance moves.
According to a source at the event, the worse Montag performed, the better the attention she will be getting.
“Everyone is going to talk about Heidi’s performance and the worse she is the more talk there will be,” Fox News quoted the source as saying. (ANI)
London, July 9 (ANI): Britney Spears gave onlookers an eyeful when she stepped out into the streets of Paris without her bra.
The pop princess, presently on her Circus tour, was seen nipping out in a tight yellow dress during a visit to the Eiffel Tower.
The singer was reportedly spending some time with her sons, Jayden James and Sean Preston, while sightseeing the French capital, reports British tabloid The Sun.
And despite reports that she has gone back to junk-food, the Womanizer hitmaker appeared healthy and glowing. (ANI)
Lahore, June 27 (ANI): Pakistan intelligence agencies have warned that extremists may strike the US embassy, consulates and other strategically important American establishments in the country.
According to an intelligence report, a militant named Muhammad Ayub, who belongs to Quetta, has been assigned the work to carry out terror strikes on US buildings, The Daily Times reports.
The Interior Ministry’s Crisis Management Cell has alerted all the provincial governments regarding the impending threat.
Security forces have been put on high-alert in the light of the threat, and asked to maintain a tight vigil across US establishments. (ANI)
Guwahati, June 24 (ANI): Security has been tightened in Assam following the 12-hour ‘Asom Bandh’ called by the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) on Thursday.
Guwahati has been put on high alert, while security has been beefed up in sensitive places like railway stations, railway tracks, bus stands, airports, parking lots, refineries and other vital installations.
“Alert has been sounded across the state in view of the bandh tomorrow. Security has been tightened and special arrangements have also been made to ensure law and order during the bandh hours,” said Inspector-General of Police (CWR) GP Singh.
The banned ULFA has called a 12-hour ‘Asom Bandh’ on Thursday beginning from 5 am to protest the killing of two of its cadres in an alleged fake encounter on Sunday, besides killing members of other militant outfits in the past few months by security forces.
The outfit has, however, exempted students appearing in different examinations, water and milk supply, hospitals and medical facilities, electric supply and the press from the purview of the bandh.
Moreover, the state government has also issued directives to all deputy commissioners and sub-divisional officers to make sure normal operation of offices during the bandh.
A strict vigil was being maintained at the Kamakhya Temple, where a four-day Ambubachi Fair is being markedd by thousands of people. (ANI)
Ahmedabad, June 23 (ANI): Gujarat police has said that they were taking all precautions ahead of the Lord Jagannath Rath Yatra, which commence on Wednesday.
Security forces staged a flag march in the city on Monday.
Police have planned foolproof security on the entire 14-kilometer route of the procession and particularly in the sensitive areas of the city.
“We are taking the inputs on Gujarat very seriously. We have done detailed investigations regarding those inputs and we are taking all the precautions required,” said S S Khandwawala, director general of police.
Various CCTVs have been installed at strategic places to monitor the crowd. uring the procession, the idols of Lord Jagannatha, Balabhadra and Goddess Subhadra, the deities of the Sri Mandira, are taken out.
Thousands of devotees pull the chariots with the idols from the Jagannath Temple to the Gundicha Temple. For seven days, the deities stay at the Gundicha Temple and then return. (ANI)
Washington, May 20 (ANI): In a new research, behavioural ecologists working in Bolivia have found that wild spider monkeys control their diets in a similar way to humans, contrary to what has been thought up to now.
Rather than trying to maximize their daily energy intake, the monkeys tightly regulate their daily protein intake, so that it stays at the same level regardless of seasonal variation in the availability of different foods.
Tight regulation of daily protein intake is known to play a role in the development of obesity in humans, and the findings from this research suggest that the evolutionary origins of these eating patterns in humans may be far older than suspected.
The research also provides valuable information about which trees are important for the monkeys’ diet, which is relevant to conservation.
In addition, it may help to improve the care of captive primates, which can be prone to obesity and related health problems due to their diet.
Dr Annika Felton, a Departmental Visitor at the Fenner School of Environment and Society, The Australian National University, Canberra, Australia, spent a year in the Bolivian rainforest, familiarizing the Peruvian spider monkeys to her presence and then observing their feeding habits.
She followed 15 individual monkeys (7 adult males, 8 adult females), conducting continuous observations of the same animal from dawn to dusk, and following each of the monkeys for at least one whole day a month.
During observations, she recorded everything they did and ate and for how long.
Where possible, she counted every fruit and leaf they ate, and collected samples of what they had eaten from the actual trees the monkeys had chosen.
The samples were then dried and sent to the laboratory in Australia where they were analysed for their nutritional content.
It is unusual for a study of feeding habits in wild primates to be conducted in this detailed way.
It enabled Dr Felton and her colleagues to calculate how much an individual monkey had consumed and the nutrients involved.
According to Dr Felton, “We found that the pattern of nutrient intake by wild spider monkeys, which are primarily fruit eaters, was almost identical to humans, which are omnivores.”
“What spider monkeys and humans have in common is that they tightly regulate their daily protein intake, that is, they appear to aim for a target amount of protein each day, regardless of whether they only ate ripe fruit or mixed in other vegetable matter as well,” she said. (ANI)
New Delhi/Patna/Oraiya (Uttar Pradesh), May 6 (ANI): Tight security arrangements have been made across the country for the fourth phase of Lok Sabha elections to be held on Thursday.
A total of 85 parliamentary constituencies across the states of Bihar, West Bengal, Haryana, Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and New Delhi will go to polls.
A total of 1,315 candidates, including 119 women, are in the fray in this phase that will witness polling to 85 Lok Sabha seats in eight states and union territories.
Polling for all 25 seats in Rajasthan, 10 in Haryana and seven in Delhi will be completed in one-go.
Prominent among the candidates are BJP President Rajnath Singh contesting from the Ghaziabad Lok Sabha constituency, Congress’ Pranab Mukherjee from Jangipura, SP supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav from Mainpuri and RJD chief Lalu Prasad from Saran and Pataliputra.
The other prominent candidates are National Conference’s Farooq Abdullah (Srinagar), Congress’ Kapil Sibal (Chandni Chowk), Sachin Pilot (Ajmer), Shekar Suman (Patna Saheb), BJP’s Shatrugan Sinha (Patna Saheb) and HJC’s Bhajan Lal (Hisar).
In Patna, Border Security Personnel (BSF) personnel of staged a flag march on the streets of Pataliputra parliamentary constituency to ensure fair polling.
“We want people to know that we have enough forces and have made proper arrangements for their security so that they fearlessly cast their votes,” said R Malgar Giri, Senior Superintendent of Police, Patna.
Voters said that were satisfied with the security arrangement.
“Administration has made good security arrangements to ensure peaceful polling. BSF personnel have been deployed. We also want that there should be peaceful polling,” said Mohammad Miraj Akhtar, a resident.
BSF personnel also staged a flag march in Oraiya region of Uttar Pradesh.
The counting of votes will take place on May 16.
The 543-member House will be constituted before June 2. (ANI)
Washington – A pilot flying a small plane violated the tight airspace regulations around Washington, prompting orders to briefly evacuate Congress and parts of the White House, media reports said.
The US Senate adjourned into a quick recess but returned to session minutes later after the all-clear signal was given. MSNBC television reported that the pilot complied with demands to alter course.
People at the White House’s north lawn were told to get inside by the Secret Service. Extra precautions to protect the airspace around Washington were enacted following the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.(dpa)
Kanpur, Apr 25 (ANI): Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will address an election rally at the Motijheel Maidan today.
Dr. Singh will address a rally for Congress candidate and Union Minister of State for Home Shriprakash Jaiswal.
During his visit, the Prime Minister will also be felicitated by Ganga devotees for declaring the river as a national heritage.
It would be the first visit of Dr. Singh to the city since the Ganga being given heritage status.
Tight security arrangements have been made in view of his visit.
The polling will be held here under third phase on April 30. (ANI)
Guwahati, Apr 22 (ANI): Authorities in Guwahati have beefed up security at a school where Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh is expected to cast his vote in the second phase of Lok Sabha polls.
Singh along with his wife Gursharan Kaur are expected to cast their votes on Thursday.
Police officials said ordinary voters would not be put to trouble by the extra security for the Prime Minister.
“Normal checking will be carried out on PM’s arrival. The rest of the voters can also come here and vote. Normal arrangements will be put in place. No inconvenience will be caused to any voter. But every body will be checked,” said G P Singh, Inspector General of Police.
Students at the school said they were excited about the Prime Minister’s visit.
“We are very happy that the Prime Minister is coming here. We hope the voting goes on smoothly and everything has been cleaned here for the PM’s visit,” said Parag Sharma, a student.
Singh is officially a voter from Guwahati.
A powerful bomb blast in a crowded parking area killed four people in Guwahati in the first week of April, ahead of Singh’s visit to the state. olice suspected that the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) was behind the blast. (ANI)
Shillong, Apr 12 (ANI): Security has been tightened in Shillong in view of a shutdown call given by a rebel tribal group to protest against Congress party president Sonia Gandhi’s visit on Monday.
A 24-hour shutdown called by Khasi rebel group Hynniewtrep National Liberation Council (HNLC) started at 6:00 a.m.
Around 1,500 armed police personnel have been pressed into service to avoid any kind of untoward incident ahead of her visit.
A team of Special Protection Group (SPG) met state police officials to review security arrangements.
Governor Ranjit Shekhar Mooshahary also held review meetings with senior state government and police officials.
Meanwhile, patrolling has been intensified and control rooms have been set up for emergency. (ANI)
GHAZIABAD: The two alleged call girls accused of kidnapping and torturing a 4-year-old child, who was rescued on Wednesday, were arrested on Friday.
District police chief Akhil Kumar said: “We will soon seek their police remand for carrying out brain mapping and narco-analysis. We are sure the women are not disclosing an important clue in the kidnapping case. They are tight-lipped. But, we will get the facts.”
As earlier reported, a 4-year-old baby girl was kidnapped from Bhovapur, in Kaushambi early this week. He was rescued from a house in Khoda Colony, where the two women live.
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