A Pakistani smuggler, carrying 24 kg heroin, was on Saturday shot dead by the BSF near Indo-Pak border village of Ajnala in Amritsar.

The Pakistani intruder was repeatedly challenged by the BSF troops and asked to surrender when he was entering the Indian territory at Border Out Post at Majhmian, BSF DIG RPS Jaswal said.

He ignored the warnings and kept marching towards Indian territory and also fired gun shots on the BSF party, following which the BSF aggressively retaliated, Jaswal said, adding, the intruder was shot dead during cross firing. 24 kg heroin, having street value of Rs 120 crore as per the international black market was found from near his body.
It seems the smuggler had brought the drug consignment for his Indian counterpart and BSF will investigate his Indian contacts.

Ram Navami, birthday of Lord Ram,was today celebrated with religious fervor and gaiety in theKashmir valley, where \”Shoba Yatra\” were taken out on the occasion. People, mostly Kashmiri Pandits, visited Ram temples tojoin special prayers on the occasion of Ram Navami. The main function was held at Ram Mandir in the old city,where a large number of devotees participated in the puja. Later, a Shoba Yatra was taken out from the mandir whichpassed through different parts of the Civil Lines, includinghistoric Lal Chowk, the nerve centre of the city this afternoon.

People on both sides of the road greeted the devotees,who were singing and dancing in the city. Similar celebrations were organised at other places inthe valley.UNI BAS ASM KU AE SK1604

At least 10 Hindu pilgrims, including seven women, were killed and 50 others injured on Friday in a stampede when hundreds of thousands converged for the annual ‘Ashtami Snan’ on the banks of the OldBrahmaputraRiver outside the Bangladeshi capital.

Devotees thronged the venue of the ‘Ashtami Snan’ in Bandar upazila of Narayanganj early morning and the bathing started at 5:48 AM. The flow of devotees peaked within a few hours, Narayanganj Additional Superintendent of Police Mohammad Jakaria said.

Although the local administration had arranged for 16 quays for the ritual bath, the devotees had raced to ‘Rajghat’. The stampede took place between 9.15 to 10 am, Jakaria said.

“Most of the victims were aged over 50 years…Seven women were among the dead in the stampede during the ‘Ashtami Snan’ at Langalbandh, Narayanganj,” a police official said.

Officials said 10 people were killed and at least 50 devotees injured, who were rushed to nearby medical facilities for treatment.

“The incident took place when hundreds of people were trying to rush to the river from two adjacentghats (terminals) from the narrow bank…most of the victims apparently died instantly,” an eyewitness said.

Gold prices retreated from its three-week highs on the bullion market today following fresh bouts of selling by stockists and investors’ amid lacklustre buying sentiment.

Elsewhere, silver also declined on the back of reduced industrial demand.

Standard gold (99.5 purity) fell by Rs 170 to conclude at Rs 26,520 per 10 grams from Thursday’s closing level of Rs 26,690.

Pure gold (99.9 purity) also shed by a similar margin to end at Rs 26,670 per 10 grams from Rs 26,840 previously.

Silver (.999 fineness) dropped by Rs 235 to finish at Rs 38,775 per kg as compared to Rs 39,010 yesterday.

Meanwhile, the shiny-metal slipped below the significant USD 1,200-mark in worldwide trade, snapping seven-day rallying momentum on fresh bouts of profit taking amid caution ahead of US gross domestic product (GDP) data release and Federal Reserve commentary later in the day.

Spot gold was trading substantially weak at USD 1,199.80 an ounce and spot silver at USD 17.10 an ounce in early European trade.

Panaji: Rescuers on Friday recovered the missing body of Lt Abhinav Nagori from the fuselage of the crashed Dornier-228 maritime surveillance aircraft.

Flight data recorders have also been recovered from the fuselage and search and rescue operations have been called off.

Lt Nagori’s body, meanwhile, is being brought to Goa.

Lt Nagori was among the three crew members of the ill-fated Dornier-228 aircraft which crashed into the Arabian Sea near Goa earlier this week.

While the body of Lt Kiran Shekhawat was found on Thursday, Commander Nikhil Kuldip Joshi was rescued alive when the crash happened on Tuesday night.

Veteran Parliamentarian and former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, founder member of the Bharatiya Janata Party who is held in high esteem across the political spectrum, was today conferred with Bharat Ratna, the country’s highest civilian award, by President Pranab Mukherjee.

In a departure from protocol, Mukherjee drove to Vajpayee’s residence at Krishna Memon marg in Lutyens’ Delhi and presented to the ailing BJP leader the prestigious award, the country’s highest civilian honour.

“Atal ji gave his life to Bharat Bhakti. He was honoured with Bharat Ratna.

Atal ji is an inspiration for so many Indians like me. We got an opportunity to confer Bharat Ratna on Atal ji who dedicated his life to nation,son of mother India,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted.

“I thank the President for personally conferring the Bharat Ratna to Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee,” he said.

The event, which was attended by Vice President Hamid Ansari, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Rajnath Singh along with some close family members, was kept away from the media glare.

Out of the four rapist in the Ranaghat nun gang-rape case the main accused identified as Sikander Sheikh alias Salim, was picked up from Nagpada area in south Mumbai on Wednesday night by West Bengal police in coordination with their Mumbai counterparts, a police officer here said.

Sikander Shaikh had been living in Mumbai from the age of 18. He was into small theft and robbery.He was involved with a bar girl for some time. After the girl reported to the police of his harassment towards her he fled Mumbai and since then has been shuttling between Bangladesh,Bengal and Mumbai.

The nun, 71, of Jesus & Mary Convent School at Gangnapur in Nadia district, was allegedly gang-raped by hoodlums in the early hours on March 14 in the school.

A study of the CCTV footage at the convent in Ranaghat subdivision had shown visuals of four persons who were allegedly involved in the crime. The gang broke into the convent and raped the woman after gagging her.

The gang had looted Rs 12 Lakhs from the convent.

Sikander Shaikh was arrested after a trap was made by Mumbai Police. Mumbai Police used the help of a convict to call him and make an offer of counterfeit notes worth Rs 1,000 to be bought at Rs100 per note. Shaikh was even offered an instalment basis payment to make it more real.

As the time and location was fixed for the deal Mumbai Police immediately nabbed him.The location was Rhea road slums which is a haven for Bangladeshi immigrants.Like Rhea road Vadala Slums, Dyaneshwar Nagar are also inhabited by Bangladeshi immigrants. As many section of the media has quoted them as illegal immigrants they are actually now legal immigrants with valid ration cards, Aadhar cards and Voter ID.

These Bangladeshi’s enter India from Phulbari in West Bengal which has a porous border with India and anyone could have easy access to India. After having comfortably settled in Mumbai they now call their relatives from across the border who land in Mumbai and get into all sorts of illegal activities.

The administration has done little to check on these people and the authenticity of their identity as claimed to be Indians.

Indigenous traditional owners of the lands have rejected Indian mining giant Adani’s 16.5 billion dollar mine, rail and port projects in Australia’s coal-rich Queensland state, in what is being described as the biggest case in recent history involving native title law.

The Wangan and Jagalingou (W&J) people, the traditional owners of the lands earmarked for the mine and of much of the Galilee Basin, have rejected the Indigenous Land Use Agreement with Adani to build coal mine in the area.

Reports said that Adani took legal action to override the W&J people and, if successful, it would allow the Queensland government to compulsorily acquire the land and issue a mining lease for the Carmichael mine.

The W&J were now seeking talks with the new Labor government to convince it to?refuse support to Adani’s legal action against them,?rule out any compulsory acquisition, and?reject his application for a mining lease for Carmichael.

W&J spokesperson Adrian Burragubba, said: “The new Queensland Labor government has an opportunity to step up now, and do the right thing. We call on Premier Palaszczuk and Minister for Mines Anthony Lynham to rule out compulsorily acquiring our land. They must reject Adani?s mining lease application for Carmichael.

“If they approve Carmichael, they will be responsible for the death of our land, and our connection to it going back to time immemorial.”

“The W&J people have never given our consent to Adani’s massive mine and never will. It will destroy our ancestral lands and waters, our totemic animals and plants and our dreaming.?We are putting the government on notice that we will do whatever it takes to stop it.”

Burragubba said his people have never given consent to Adani’s massive mine and never will.

He claimed Adani has support at the highest level of the Australian and Indian governments.

“The worst part of it is that the Federal and Queensland governments have sided with Adani. Both Federal Environment Minister Greg Hunt, and the former QLD LNP government approved the mine. They?re fighting on the side of a rich foreign multinational against us, and betraying their obligations to protect W&J?s rights,” he said.

Refuting the allegations, an Adani spokesman was quoted as saying in the media that the company was continuing “to negotiate with the W&J’s authorised representatives and would prefer a negotiated outcome that recognises all parties’ interests.”

Another W&J spokesperson Murrawah Johnson said, “This won?t be easy. The cards are stacked against us. So we’re now calling on the community ? including other Traditional Owner groups and environmentalists who share our vision to join us in our battle.

“We’re telling the Queensland government we will not stand by and allow them to take our land. And we?re telling Adani that?’No Means No!’: they need to cancel the Carmichael mine, leave our land alone, and go home.”

NEW DELHI: Stressing on the importance of technological innovation to boost economic growth, Lok Sabha MP Shashi Tharoor today said that India should go beyond “frugal invention” and focus on undertaking more original research.

Mr Tharoor, a former Union Minister of State for External Affairs, also said in the context of regional cooperation that India has not been able to achieve much through SAARC because of Pakistan.

Speaking at ‘The Growth Net’, a discussion on initiatives for and challenges in the path of robust growth, the MP from Thiruvananthapuram said that government should push for investment in research and development.

“We have not gone beyond ‘frugal innovations’, though it has led to Indian companies doing some serious research in coming up with products that not only have improved on the existing ones but also cater to international markets,” said Mr Tharoor.
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“What we don’t have enough of is original innovation, that is, coming up with products which are simplified versions of more complex and expensive things. So more of R&D investment, integrity and incentive should go into government policies,” he added.

Talking on bilateral and regional trade, Mr Tharoor said that the South Asian neighbourhood has failed to take significant strides in this area due largely to political reasons.

“We as a country are living in the middle of what the World Bank has described as the least economically-integrated region of the world and that is largely due to political reasons,” he said.

Opining that “Pakistan’s chip on the shoulder has been a major obstacle for India in getting SAARC to bring consensus on several issues,”

Mr Tharoor pitched for the country to move to meaningful sub-regional integration within SAARC countries like Bhutan and Bangladesh.

Offering a suggestion for increasing workers’ productivity, he said that they should be made partners in business to target sustainable economic growth.

“Workers should essentially be given incentives to be more productive; give them direct co-relation to the productivity and allow them to share it,” he said.

Emphasising the need for producers to have viable markets, he said, “What worries me most is the decrease in commodity prices. Even as the finance minister talks of decreasing energy prices, the fact is that we are more of producers of commodities than consumers.”

Four suspected insurgents were killed and 22 others arrested during a firefight with security forces in Thailand’s deep south, police said today, in the latest clashes to hit the restive region.

Thai military, police and rangers laid siege to To Kood village in Pattani province yesterday evening after a tip-off about potential militants – who are fighting for greater autonomy for the Muslim-majority southernmost provinces.

“There were about 30 suspected militants when we surrounded the village but some managed to flee to nearby mountains,” local commander Mana Dechawarit told AFP. “The clash lasted for one hour.”

According to official police reports the dead suspects were all Muslim men aged between 23 and 32.

Those arrested were also all Muslim men, currently detained in a military camp, Mana said.

A patchwork of disparate but seemingly well-organised rebel groups are calling for a level of autonomy for the culturally distinct south, bordering Malaysia, as well as an amnesty for their prisoners and wanted fighters.

Thailand, a predominantly Buddhist nation, annexed the region more than 100 years ago and stands accused of perpetrating severe rights abuses as well as stifling the distinctive local culture through clumsy – and often forced – assimilation schemes.

Conflict analysts Deep South Watch say more than 6,300 people – the majority civilians – have been killed in the bitter 11-year insurgency mainly in the southernmost provinces of Pattani, Narathiwat and Yala.

Mana said none of the 50 security force members involved in the raid was injured in the clash, during which police seized three AK-47s, one pistol, and one grenade.