230 bodies found in mass grave in Syria

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Damascus: More than 230 bodies of people believed to have been killed by the Sunni radical group Islamic State (IS) were found in a mass grave in Syria's Deir al-Zour province, a media report said Wednesday.

The bodies are believed to be belonging to the members of a tribe that fought the IS, BBC reported citing the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Last month, the UN said it had received reports of a massacre in the Syrian province in August. Investigators said that the IS executed the Sheitat tribesmen in a struggle for control of oil resources near the town of Mohassan.

In early November, IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi reportedly allowed members of the tribe to return to their homes. They were told to surrender all weapons and inform on all 'apostates' to the group.

All 'traitors' would be killed, Baghdadi warned in a statement.

The Syrian Observatory said that it had been informed by a trusted source that the 230 bodies had been found by returning members of the Sheitat in a mass grave in the desert near the village of Kashkiya, in eastern Deir al-Zou

Pak army retaliates to Peshawar attack, kills 57 militants

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Pak army retaliates to Peshawar attack, kills 57 militants

Pakistan army retaliated to the the deadly Taliban attack at Peshawar school by killing 57 militants in massive airstrikes in the Khyber tribal region where the suicide bombers were reportedly trained.

The army launched 20 airstrikes on Wednesday on several Taliban hideouts in Tirah valley area of Khyber tribal region which is adjacent to Peshawar and killed 57 militants, an army spokesman said.

The strikes were launched after reports that militants involved in the Peshawar army school attack in which 148 people, including 132 school children were killed, were trained in the Bara area of Khyber.

The military said that the ongoing operation Khyber-1 in the district is being reviewed.

Pakistan had on Wednesday pledged to announce a 'national plan' to tackle terrorism within a week with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif saying 'this entire region' should be cleaned of terrorism.

Taliban spokesman claimed that its 6 suicide bombers attacked the army school, saying it was a revenge for the military's operation against militants in the North Waziristan tribal area close to Peshawar.

The security forces have killed hundreds of militants in the region but they are still far from defeated.

The militants hide in the mountainous porous border and frequently cross towards Afghanistan to avoid attacks.

Six killed in Taliban suicide attack on Afghan bank

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KANDAHAR: Taliban militants detonated a suicide bomb and stormed a bank in southern Afghanistan today, killing at least six people as the country endures a rise in violence while US-led NATO troops pull out.   The attackers forced their way inside after the bomb exploded at the entrance of the Kabul Bank branch in Lashkar Gah, the capital of the insurgency-racked province of Helmand.   "The blast at the gate was a suicide attacker blowing himself up to open the way for others to enter the building," Omar Zhwak, provincial spokesman for Helmand, told AFP.   "The fighting is still ongoing. Our latest report show six people, including three police, have been killed and seven wounded.   "One attacker was also killed and two are still resisting. "It was the government employees' payday and they had all come to get their salaries." Farid Ahmad Obaidi, Helmand's police spokesman, confirmed the incident, which comes as Afghanistan police and army take over security duties nationwide.   Officials were unable to confirm if any civilians were trapped inside the branch.   A Taliban spokesman claimed responsibility for the attack on Kabul Bank, an institution that nearly collapsed in 2010 in a USD 900 million fraud case that underlined endemic corruption in Afghanistan.   On December 31, the NATO combat mission in Afghanistan will end after 13 years of fighting the Taliban.   It will be replaced by a 12,500-strong support mission to advise and assist the Afghan security forces.   Recent deadly attacks have targeted army buses, mine clearance teams and foreign compounds in Kabul.

‘Big B is the king of Twitter’

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Tags: Big B, king, twitter
KOLKATA: Leaving behind all other actors in the film industry, megastar Amitabh Bachchan has been ranked number one on Twitter, in terms of both popularity and activity. In an analytics report of the most popular Bollywood stars on the social networking site, Big B with 12 million followers on Twitter topped the popularity list. Digital services provider ‘TO THE NEW’ rated various Bollywood celebrities on the basis of their popularity and their engagement with fans on Twitter. The rank is based on an algorithm which combines the scores received for each measure i.e. total number of followers, absolute increase in followers and tweets per day.\ 72-year-old megastar is followed by superstar Shah Rukh Khan (10.4 million followers) at number two and Abhishek Bachchan (5.4 million) at the third position. Hrithik Roshan (7.7 million), Aamir Khan (10.1 million) and Salman Khan (9.5 million) have also made it to the list of top 10 most popular Bollywood actors. Actresses in the list include Priyanka Chopra (8 million), Deepika Padukone, Sonam Kapoor and Sonakshi Sinha. With an average of 20 tweets, re-tweets and replies per day, Bachchan also came out as the most active one among all. His son Abhishek came second with an average of ten tweets. Anupam Kher, SRK and Sonakshi are also among the most active ones.

Marines row: Italy threatens to withdraw its ambassador from India

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ROME: Rome threatened to withdraw its ambassador from India on Wednesday as a diplomatic row over two Italian marines accused of killing Indian fishermen during an anti-piracy mission escalated.

The soldiers say they fired on the two fishermen after mistaking them for pirates while guarding an Italian oil tanker off the southern Indian state of Kerala in 2012.

They had been living in the Italian embassy in the Indian capital while they waited to be tried, and were not supposed to leave the country.

But the Indian Supreme Court gave marine Massimiliano Latorre leave to spend four months at home after he suffered a cerebral ischaemia -- a restricted blood supply that can lead to a stroke -- in September.

On Tuesday it rejected Latorre's request to extend his leave to undergo further treatment in January, and refused to allow his co-accused Salvatore Girone to return home to see his family for Christmas.

But Italy's foreign minister Paolo Gentiloni hit back strongly at the court's decision.

"Faced with such an attitude by the Indian authorities, the government reserves the right to take all necessary measures, starting with the recall of the Italian ambassador from New Delhi, although that would not mean breaking off diplomatic relations," he told a parliamentary committee.

Defence Minister Roberta Pinotti said Latorre's health "is the government's priority and nothing will be done to put it in danger", hinting that Rome could break its promise to return him to India.

The marines were granted a home visit to vote in national elections last year, but India was furious when the Italian government initially said it would not send the men back.

A subsequent U-turn, which followed intense Indian diplomatic pressure, triggered the resignation of Italy's then foreign minister.

Italy has been contesting India's right to try the men in the courts since March.

It maintains that the pair should be tried on home soil since the shootings involved an Italian-flagged vessel in what Rome says were international waters. But India insists the shooting took place in its waters.

Pak should hand over Hafiz, Dawood to India: Naidu

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NEW DELHI: India Thursday asked Pakistan to hand over Mumbai terror attack accused Hafiz Saeed and Dawood Ibrahim, who also figures in the country's most wanted list, to it if the neighbouring country is serious about fighting terrorism.

Union Minister M Venkaiah Naidu said Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif should seize the opportunity in the wake of terror attack on Peshawar school and take bold steps to combat terrorism.

"If Pakistan is serious in fighting terrorism, it should arrest Hafiz Saeed and Dawood Ibrahim and hand them over to India... I hope Nawaz Sharif will seize this opportunity to take bold steps against terrorism," he told reporters outside Parliament.

Saeed is the "chief promoter" of terrorism in the world, Naidu said, calling him "an enemy of humanity".

SC extends bail of Jayalalithaa, sets up special bench

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 NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court Thursday extended by four months the bail of former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa in a disproportionate assets case and asked the Chief Justice of Karnataka High Court to constitute a special bench to decide her plea expeditiously within three months.

A bench headed by Chief Justice H L Dattu ordered that the hearing in the high court on the appeal filed by the AIADMK Chief challenging her conviction and sentence in the case, be conducted on a day-to-day basis.

"Keeping in view the facts of the case, we request the Chief Justice of Karnataka High Court to constitute a special bench for hearing of appeal on day-to-day basis. The hearing should be completed within three months," the bench, also comprising Justice A K Sikri, said.

"The bail granted by this court on October 17 is extended by another four months, that is, till April 18, 2015," the bench said.

It also asked senior advocate KTS Tulsi, appearing for Jayalalithaa, who was awarded four years jail term along with a fine of Rs 100 crore in the DA case, to provide a copy of documents of the case to BJP leader Subramanian Swamy.

Swamy, during the brief hearing, raised the issue of law and order in Tamil Nadu, saying the posters of the slain LTTE chief Prabhakaran are being pasted across the state.

"We gave you (Swamy) the liberty that if there is anything against you, you just mention that before us. We will take a call," the bench said.

On October 17, the apex court had granted conditional bail to Jayalalithaa, who was sent to jail by a trial court on September 27, saying that hearing on her appeal against conviction in High Court should be completed in five months from now.

The apex court, which had also granted bail to the AIADMK chief's close aide Sasikala and two of her relatives, had refused to dispose of the bail plea while posting the case for hearing today.

The 66-year-old politician, who had moved the Supreme Court for bail on October 9 after she was denied bail by the Karnataka High Court, had submitted that she had been sentenced to only four years jail in the case and she was also suffering from various ailments, as grounds for her immediate relief.

The Special Court had held Jayalalithaa and three others guilty of corruption. The court had also slapped a fine of Rs 100 crore on the AIADMK chief and Rs 10 crore fine on each of the three other convicts.

Son strangles father to death

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THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: In a macabre incident, a son strangled his father to death. He later informed the police and surrendered. The dead has been identified as K Raveendran Nair of Jagathy. The crime was committed by Nair’s eldest son Rajesh (33).

Nair’s wife died of dengue fever five years back. He was in a relationship with another woman but that did not last long. He was working as a driver and was staying in a lodge in Karamana. His two children had disowned him for his illegal relationship with women.

Rajesh had a fight with his father for his misbehaviour towards the former’s wife. When the situation went out of control, he took a towel and strangled his father to death. He immediately informed the police and they in turn took him into custody.

Nurse dies in accident

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KOCHI: A 28-year-old nurse, Reeba P Elias, a native of Poykattussery, died in an accident near Angamaly on Tuesday. The accident took place when a truck hit the scooter she was riding from behind. The scooter was caught under the lorry and dragged for a few metres. She was run over by the truck. In the impact, the victim sustained critical injuries on her head and died on the spot. She was working as a staff nurse at the Little Flower Hospital, Angamaly. A hunt is on to trace the vehicle involved in the accident and its driver.

Chandy, VS to meet Modi over rubber price

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THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A high-level delegation including Chief Minister Oommen Chandy and Opposition leader V S Achuthanandan will visit Prime Minister Narendra Modi to appraise him of the crisis faced by rubber farmers due to its fall in price.

Ahead of this a meeting of rubber farmers would be convened here on December 18, the chief minister told the state assembly. The decision was taken on the basis of discussion held with a recommendation team that included former ministers. It has also been decided to increase the production of rubberized bitumen from 8000 tons to 50,000 tonnes aimed for construction of rubberized roads in the state.

The need of rubberized tarring in the entire country would be brought to the notice of the Central Government. It is a matter of protest that the Central Government has not taken into consideration the persistent request of the State to include rubber as a farming commodity.

More pressure will be exerted to consider this. It has also been decided to formulate a new package for rubber re plantation. The need to increase the subsidy for the same from Rs 25,000 to Rs 50,000 was also raised in the meeting.

It has also been stressed in the meeting that the import duty of rubber should be increased from 20% to 25%. The team would also raise the need of an independent market for the rubber wood. The need to call a confederation of rubber producing countries by India will be stressed. The rubber price has fallen from RS 240 to RS 109. As this is causing huge loss rubber growers have stopped collecting milk from rubber trees. If this situation prolongs then rubber farming would be in peril which would affect industries. Rubber import should be banned temporarily, he added.