Al Jazeera urges Germany to release its journalist

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Doha: Al Jazeera has urged Germany to immediately release its journalist Ahmed Mansour, detained at a Berlin airport on the request of the Egyptian authorities.

Mansour, the senior Al Jazeera Arabic TV journalist, was detained at Berlin's Tegel airport on Saturday while trying to board a Qatar Airways flight from Berlin to Doha.

In a phone call, Mansour told Al Jazeera that he would remain in custody until Monday when he would face a German judge who would decide on his case.

Mansour was sentenced in absentia to 15 years in prison by Cairo's criminal court in 2014 on the charge of torturing a lawyer in Tahrir Square in 2011. He has denied the charges.

In October 2014, Interpol rejected Egypt's request for an international arrest warrant against him.

'The crackdown on journalists by Egyptian authorities is well-known. Our network, as the Arab world's most-watched, has taken the brunt of this,' acting director general of Al Jazeera network Mostefa Souag said.

'Other countries must not allow themselves to be tools of this media oppression, least of all those that respect freedom of the media as does Germany.'

'Ahmed Mansour is one of the Arab world's most respected journalists and must be released immediately,' Souag added.

Describing his client's arrest as politically motivated, Mansour's lawyer Saad Djebbar said: 'This is a ploy to terrorise Al Jazeera journalists and paralyse Al Jazeera from doing its work.'

Three Al Jazeera English journalists were wrongly accused of colluding with the banned Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, the Doha-based state funded broadcaster reported.

Peter Greste was released in February without charge after 300 days in detention, while two of his colleagues, Baher Mohamed and Mohamed Fahmy, face a retrial.

IANS

Record-Breaking Event at Rajpath

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Terming the participation of thousands of people during the first International Yoga Day at Rajpath as 'overwhelming', a representative of Guinness Book of World Records hoped that the event will set a world record.

The mega event witnessed participation of more than 35,000 people including school children, NCC cadets, army personnel and officials.

The Ministry of AYUSH, the coordinating ministry, had set sights on registering the event in Guinness Book of World Records for 'largest yoga demonstration or class at a single venue and largest number of people of various nationalities performing yoga at one place'.

The representative said various parameters like tickets and video recordings would be reviewed before finalizing whether the event made it to the world records.

A senior AYUSH Ministry official said although the target was 35,000, the Ministry had provided about 37,000 mats for the event and all were occupied.

'I was told by an official that there were more participants who were lined up for the event but could not do so,' the official said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi along with officials of various ministries also practised yoga 'asanas' during the event at Rajpath.

Celebrations were today held in the national capital after the United Nations had in December declared June 21 as
International Yoga Day, with 177 countries voting in favour of the resolution.

The proposal had been mooted by the Prime Minister during his first address to the UN General Assembly in September last
year.

PTI

Land Revenue Commissioner revokes Collector's order on Dileep's land

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Thrissur: The Land Revenue Commissioner dismissed the District Collector's report regarding the land along the NH in Chalakudy where the multiplex theatre complex belonging to cine actor Dileep is located.

The Collector's report had said that the land was not poromboke. The Land Revenue Commissioner revoked the order after conducting a detailed probe following a direction from the High Court.

Earlier, allegations were raised that moves were being made to hand over the land worth crores handover to Dileep.

The complainant had approached High Court stating that despite the revenue officials report mentioning the land as poromboke, the Collector granted the actor 80 cents of land.

Centuries back Chalakudy palace stood on the same plot. Also, nobody was given compensation when land was acquired for highway in the past.

Meanwhile, stating that the complaint is fabricated, Dileep said he was granted bank loan as he possesses valid land documents. 

Sri Lankan navy arrests 26 Indian fishermen

Colombo: The Sri Lanka navy arrested 26 Indian fishermen and seized three Indian fishing trawlers allegedly for poaching in Sri Lankan waters, the navy media unit said on Sunday.

The navy said the Indians were arrested on the sea north of Point Pedro late on Saturday and they were brought ashore on Sunday, Xinhua reported.

The arrested fishermen and trawlers were brought to the Kankesanthurai harbour in the north of the country and handed over to the officials of the Department of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources in Kankesanthurai.

Indian fishermen continue to fish in Sri Lankan waters despite warnings from Sri Lanka that they will be arrested.

Earlier this month, the Sri Lankan navy arrested 14 Indian fishermen while they were allegedly poaching in the country's waters in the northern sea.

The government said last month that Sri Lanka and India will, in the spirit of goodwill and understanding that exists, continue to engage in dialogue on the fishermen issue to seek satisfactory short-term and long-term solutions.

Sri Lanka said it recognises that the issue of Indian fishermen fishing in Sri Lankan waters is one that requires the careful attention of the authorities on both sides, especially in view of the impact on livelihoods of both Sri Lankan fishermen in the North of the country as well as Indian fishermen.

The matter of Indian fishermen apprehended in Sri Lankan waters was approached from a humanitarian perspective in view of the livelihood dimension involved, it said.

Consultations between the two governments on these issues have taken place at various levels over time and are continuing, the statement said.

IANS

Lighting of lamp not a religious custom, Mammootty tells Abdu Rabb

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Thiruvananthapuram: The lighting of lamp during inaugural functions can't be construed as a ritual followed by any particular religion, cine actor Mammootty told Education Minister Abdu Rabb.

The venue was inaugural of P N Panicker commemorative function held at Thiruvananthapuram here. 

The cine star first lit the lamp and invited the minister to follow the suit when the latter refused. This is when Mammootty conveyed the minster his stand at the dais itself. 

'It is high time for Muslim League to end such believes. Being a person who follows Islam, I used to light lamps at functions and haven't found any problem yet,' Mammootty said.

Endorsing Mammootty's opinion, chief guest P J Kurien said yoga and lighting of lamp are not religious rituals but part of Indian culture. 

India remains target of terrorist attacks: US report

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Washington: The US on Friday acknowledged that India remains one of the most persistently targeted countries by insurgents and transnational and domestic terrorist groups, even as New Delhi blames Pakistan for supporting terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir.

Approximately 400 people were killed in 2014 in terrorist attacks, including operations launched by Maoist insurgents, according to the State Department's annual Country Reports on Terrorism 2014.

'The level of terrorist violence in India was substantially unchanged from 2013, demonstrating that India remains one of the most persistently targeted countries by insurgents and transnational and domestic terrorist groups,' it said.

On September 3 last year, Al Qaeda announced the establishment of a new branch in the Indian subcontinent, the Congressionally mandated report released by Tina Kaidanow, the State Department's coordinator for counterterrorism, noted.

India had deepened counterterrorism cooperation with the US, highlighted by a September 30 summit between President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Narendra Modi where both sides pledged greater cooperation in countering terrorist networks and in information sharing, the report noted.

'Even though only a small number of Indian nationals are believed to have joined the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), the Indian government closely monitored the domestic threat it and other terrorist organisations posed,' it said.

India continued to attribute attacks and fatalities in Jammu and Kashmir and against Indian facilities in Afghanistan, to transnational terrorist groups, such as Lashkar e-Taeba (LeT), which the report acknowledged 'continued to operate, train, rally, propagandize, and fundraise in Pakistan'.

At their September 30 summit, the report noted, Obama and Modi stressed 'the need for joint and concerted efforts against networks such as Al Qaeda, LeT, Jaish-e-Mohammed, and the Haqqani Network, and reiterated their call to bring the perpetrators of the November 2008 terrorist attacks in Mumbai to justice'.

Modi also joined President Obama in reaffirming 'deep concern over the continued threat posed by terrorism, most recently highlighted by the dangers presented by ISIL'.

'Given India's large Muslim population, potential socio-religious marginalisation, and active ISIL online propaganda efforts, there remains a risk of increased ISIL recruitment of Indian nationals,' the report suggested.

Noting that on December 16, India banned Islamic State under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, the report said, the 'Indian government officials have raised concerns over the use of social media and the internet to recruit, radicalise, and foment inter-religious tensions'.

IANS

3.2 lakh textbooks that listed Karunanidhi as CM recalled in TN

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Chennai: The Tamil Nadu government has recalled around 3.2 lakh textbooks on account of a glaring factual error. Even four years after AIADMK government coming to power, the books mentioned DMK leader M Karunanidhi as the chief minister of the state.

The recalled books include 2.5 lakh economic and 70,000 history textbooks.

Karunanidhi had occupied the CM's post till 2011. Following AIADMK's landslide victory in Assembly polls, party supremo J Jayalalithaa became the CM. AIADMK leader O Panneerselvamoccupied the chair for a brief period when Jayalalithaa was convicted in the disproportionate assets case.

Ruling out the possibility of a printing error, authorities clarified that the mistake crept in as the books were printed ahead of the schedule. The error was noticed only when the books were distributed on Monday. 

MG University to shut down off-campus centres

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Athirampuzha: As per an order from the Governor, the MG University is shutting down its off-campus centres. The university has received an instruction in this regard.

At present, 77 off-campus centres are functioning under the university. Sources said the existing students would be allowed to complete the courses they are pursuing. The university will now directly handle the classes of the students. The university will hand over orders to all off-campus centres on Saturday itself explaining the guidelines.

Even the government took steps to stop the grants to the university for launching off-campus centres without permission.

The monthly expenditure of the varsity is estimated to be around Rs 8 crore. The grant and aid from government contributes to Rs 6 crore. Against this background, the university started such centres to generate fund for day-to-day expense and so.

The move had invited widespread protests and the Deputy Director of Distance Education Bureau had submitted a report to the Governor against such centres.

Serbia beats Brazil 2-1 in FIFA Under-20 World Cup final

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AUCKLAND, New Zealand: Nemanja Maksimovic scored in the 117th minute to give Serbia a surprise 2-1 win over Brazil on Saturday in the final of the Under-20 World Cup.

The match seemed destined for a penalty shootout but a late Serbia counter-attack bore fruit as Stefan Ilic and Andrija Zivkovic combined to put Maksimovic in behind the defense and he calmly slotted his low shot past goalkeeper Jean.

The victory, and Serbia's first title as an independent nation, owed much to goalkeeper and captain Pedrag Rajkovic who pulled off a series of saves to repeatedly deny Brazil its longed-for victory.

Brazil's 'next generation' had been chasing a sixth under-20 title and defeat inflicted another wound on a nation still dealing with its humiliating exit from the senior World Cup last year.

AP

After iPhone and iPad, Apple Watch likely to be made in India

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Taiwan's Quanta Computer Inc, the world's top contract PC manufacturer which makes laptops and assembles watches for Apple Inc, said on Thursday it is considering establishing a manufacturing base in India.

'We're gathering materials for evaluation. We're looking into it,' Quanta vice-chairman CC Leung said after the company's annual investor conference.

Quanta's move comes after rival Foxconn, the maker of iPhones and iPads announced that it will likely plow billions of dollars into establishing 10 to 12 facilities in India by 2020. Government officials have said Foxconn is in talks with main client Apple on the potential investments.

Quanta's manufacturing facilities are all currently in China.

Leung said the company has no specific investment plans at present. There are a number of considerations that must be taken into account when evaluating India's suitability for manufacturing, he added.

'Can you get convenient transportation and access to ports? Can you get the whole tech supply chain together?' he said.

Quanta also manufactures laptops for Hewlett-Packard Co and is the main assembler for the recently-released Apple Watch.

The company said that its PC shipment volume and revenue contribution from PCs should remain about the same this year as last year, despite a 6.2% drop in industry-wide shipments as predicted by market watchers International Data Corp.Reuters