Several parts of North India are still shivering under cold conditions with fog and mist disrupting air traffic. Delhiites also shivered due to cold but clear morning on Thursday with the minimum temperature remaining below normal. The Met office said that the minimum temperature at 6.4 degrees Celsius was three degrees below normal while the maximum at 20.5 degrees which was two degrees below normal.

Over 12000 chickens have been culled in Bihar’s district Katihar, Kishanganj & Purnia districts over the past two days as part of a precautionary effort to check the spread of bird flu in areas adjoining West Bengal. The sources said that nearly 7000 birds have been culled in Katihar, 2500 in
Kishanganj & about 3180 in Purnia districts though not a single case of avian influenza has been reported from anywhere in the state so far.

The Home Ministry of Goa on Thursday sounded an alert throughout the state in the wake of reports that some Karnataka based terrorists had planned to attack Goa. The arrested militants- Riyazuddin, Abu Bakar & Asad-Ullah have now been taken for brain mapping. The Goa Police has reportedly claimed that Israeli tourists were the primary target of the terrorists. Digamber Kamat Chief Minister of Goa told sources that all necessary checks were being put ….

The driver of kidney racket Upender Kumar has claimed that his life was in danger from the doctor if he disclosed any information about the operations run by the gang. Upender’s driver Jagdish Nepali, who was arrested by the police last week, admitted before the media to picking up “two patients” from a well-known hospital on January 9 this year. Jagdish Nepali told sources,”Dr. Upender has been threatening me in the jail & I ….

Three teachers Rishipal Jha, Prakash Chandra Shiv Narayan Yadav allegedly physically abused
a girl student in a school at Dehar village in Jaipur. The villagers are outraged after the incident & demanded the arrest of the three teachers. The victim Rehana student of Class VIII in school has still not been able to overcome the shock. But the girl took a daring step & informed her parents about the incident. The villagers are now demanding strict action against the teachers. However, ….

A drug dealer Ghulam Malik arrested for the second time for selling commercial quantity of narcotics, was awarded death penalty by a special court here. NDPS Special Judge P.B. Sawant awarded death to Ghulam Malik, who was earlier convicted under the provisions of the Narcotic Drugs & Psychotropic Substances Malik was convicted by the court on December 19 last. The sources said that in 2004, a Gujarat court had convicted him for conspiring to smuggle 142 kg of hashish.

Nagaland Pradesh Congress on Thursday forced the Election Commission to take action against Rajiv Pratap Rudy BJP leader for having violated the model code of conduct by casting aspersion on the role of State Governor K. Sankaranarayanan. In a complaint to the Commission, NPCC working president Khreidi Theunuo alleged that Rudy, who is the party national spokesman & BJP election in-charge in Nagaland, during party’s ticket distribution on Wednesday had cast an aspersion on the role of the Governor in ….

The sources said that the three French tourists named as Matinet Jerome, Contratti Yoann and Painicre Bernice fell unconscious after consuming drugs in a hotel in the Sonarpura area. The sources said that french tourists were brought to Bhelupur police station in an unconscious state under the influence of drugs from a hotel in Sonarpura. The Police said that they were immediately rushed to the district hospital, where, they were admitted to an emergency ward. Attending Medical Officer Dr. B.P. ….

A two days strike by Bihar government doctors to press their demands that began Thursday is hit health services in the state. Over 4,000 doctors working in various hospitals & public health centres in Bihar are protesting against the alleged failure of the state government to pay them according to central scales, implement an assured career promotion scheme & disallow lodging of police complaints against medics without verification.

The sources said that Kunal 31 years old a Bollywood Superstar who has worked in a superhit film “Dil Hi Dil Mein” has died after commiting suicide early in this morning in his home. He hanged himself by a ceiling fan in Vindermayor residence in Oshiwara on Wednesday evening. Police said that her wife was not in home when the incident occured. She was in Ahmednagar with her two daughters. He left no suicide note ….

The sources said that Simi Valley’s 41 years old woman was arrested in the stabbing death of her mother. Police tracked down Lauren Donohue in Santa Clarita some time after the Tuesday stabbing death of Rose Weiss, 69, of Simi Valley. Police originally responded to a “check the welfare” call of a resident in the 5300 block of Diane Street. Patrol officers arrived & found Weiss dead of apparent stab wounds. Police said that the motive for the killing remains ….

Joginder 48 years old a resident of Faridabad was found dead in Lajpat Nagar area of South Delhi. The sources said that the Joginder was a driver by profession had come to visit relatives in Dayanand Colony of Lajpat Nagar. Police said that he was attacked by four or five men.They said that there were stab wounds on Joginder’s body & an attempt was also made to set him on fire. A case has been registered & the body sent ….

Government of Uttar Pradesh transferred 22 senior IPS officers, including the Inspector generals of two zones & DIGs of three ranges besides police chiefs of six districts. The sources said that Pravin Kumar would be the new IG of Kanpur zone in place of Shiv Narain Singh, who had been given the responsibility of Varanasi. DIG, Jhansi, P.C. Mina has been shifted to Allahabad in the same capacity while DIG, Basti, Prabhat Kumar has been replaced by P.V. Ramashastri, the ….

Some persons have been attacked a divisional president of minority cell of Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) with in Hankar Tola locality near here. The police said that Forty-four years old Kasim Ahmed was attacked with knives last evening. The attackers fled after exploding a crude bomb when local residents challenged them. Police said that the injured leader was rushed to the hospital where his condition was stated to be out of danger. The cause of the fatal attack was stated ….

Amar Singh Samajwadi Party Leader blamed Sharad Pawar president of BCCI for selling the right of teams for the Indian Premier League to industrialist Mukesh Ambani & bollywood star Shahrukh Khan. Amar Sinh told in a rally,”Sharad Pawarji is the president of the BCCI & seems more interested in sports. The BCCI sold off rights to Mukesh Ambani & Shahrukh Khan & did not bother about the suicides by farmers, even in his home state ….

The Supreme Court has said that the government cannot differentiate between two sets of employees as being “important” & “unimportant” for the purpose of promotions. The SC ruled that such differentiate would be in violation of the fundamental rights of the employee. The apex court passed the ruling by dismissing an appeal filed by the Food Corporation of India (FCI) challenging a direction of the Calcutta High Court for evolving an “Assured Career Promotion” ….

A new tough & point-based immigration policy will come into force in UK from February 29. The move will affect thousands of Indians settled in that country & those planning to travel there. The Indians planning to travel to UK will have to qualify under the point-based system that will be operational in this country from April one. British Home Officials said,”The regulations will start coming into force from February 29 when any highly-skilled foreign nationals currently working in Britain ….

Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee asked the political parties to be careful in selecting candidates, repeating Vice President Hamid Ansari’s concern a day earlier over high percentage of legislators facing criminal charges. Chatterjee told reporters after addressing valedictory of All India Conference of Whips,”Parties should be more careful in selecting the candidates”. Inaugurating the conference yesterday, Vice President Hamid Ansari had said that 23 per cent of MPs in current Lok Sabha are facing ….

The police said that the Bishop Jayapal David of Tirunelveli suffered minor injuries when a group of persons allegedly attacked him at Tirunelveli. They tore the bishop’s clothes & seriously wounded his car driver. The incident is said to be a fall out of a dispute over recent Tirunelveli Diocese elections. The police said that three persons had been arrested in connection with the incident. The Bishop was addressing a meeting of the Tirunelveli Diocese priests organised to discuss the ….

Buddahadeb Bhattacharjee Chief Minister of West Bengal last night ordered an administrative inquiry into the death of five activists of the Forward Bloc in police firing at Dinhata in Coochbehar district during the party’s anti-government protest. The deaths were “unfortunate”, Chief Minister Buddahadeb Bhattacharjee said. He said he had also talked over telephone with the F B state General Secretary Ashok Ghosh over the firing. Bhattacharjee said that the police had been asked to maintain ….