Mother urges fellow Chileans to cling to hope after long trek to find son

Woman’s trek to find son inspires

SANTIAGO, Chile — A woman who hitchhiked 400 kilometers (250 miles) to find her 8-year-old son safe after Chile’s earthquake and tsunami is urging her fellow citizens to persevere as the country struggles to recover.

Stewart tackles decorating disasters, party planning problems in new show, ‘Help Me, Martha’

Stewart pitches new show called ‘Help Me, Martha’

2 felons charged in Milwaukee slayings of 2 women, 2 kids and ensuing fire after $800 robbery

Police: $800 robbery preceded Wis. slayings, fire

Senior Democrat says Pentagon should consider barring Blackwater from $1B deal

Senator warns against $1B deal with Blackwater

Two injured in shooting outside Pentagon: Report

WASHINGTON - The Pentagon headquarters of the US Defence Department was locked down Thursday evening after a reported shooting outside the facility.

Ensure safety of women passengers, court to DTC

NEW DELHI - In a major ruling in favour of thousands of women travelling in Delhi’s buses, the Delhi High Court Friday called for an end to the “venomous practice” of “eve teasing” and told the state-run Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) to take steps to ensure the safety of female passengers.

Indian toddler found dead, Australian police clueless

MELBOURNE - A team of homicide detectives are searching for clues a day after a three-year-old Indian boy was found dead near Melbourne airport following his sudden disappearance from a house 20 km away.

Washington desis upset as picky gold thieves go scot-free

WASHINGTON - South Asian residents of Washington metropolitan area targeted by a group of picky burglars for their gold jewellery are upset over dismissal of 12 more charges against two suspects.

Two Indians held in Nepal for bid to kidnap schoolgirl

KATHMANDU - Two Indian men have been arrested in western Nepal for allegedly trying to kidnap a schoolgirl, police said.

Four die after drinking hooch in Chhattisgarh

RAIPUR - Four people, including a woman, died in Chhattisgarh Friday after they consumed spurious liquor, an official said.

30 injured in clash of Haryana Janhit Congress, cops

CHANDIGARH - Over 30 people, including five policemen, were injured when a rally of Haryana Janhit Congress (HJC) turned violent Friday after police stopped them from marching towards the assembly to protest against the policies of the Congress government in Haryana.

School where Pope\’s brother taught is linked to sex abuse

HAMBURG - A boarding school in Germany which was once headed by Georg Ratzinger, the brother of Pope Benedict XVI, says it is checking out a claim that a teacher committed sex abuse in the early 1960s.

PM announces Rs.200,000 compensation for stampede victims

NEW DELHI - Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Friday condoled the deaths of 63 people in a stampede in an Uttar Pradesh ashram and announced Rs.200,000 compensation from the Prime Minister’s National Relief fund for the next of kin of the victims.

Passenger ships freed from Baltic sea ice

STOCKHOLM - Passenger ships stuck in Baltic Sea ice off Sweden have been freed, an official said Friday.

Chile quake reconstruction to take three years

SANTIAGO - Chilean President Michelle Bachelet has said the reconstruction of the country’s quake-hit areas would take at least three years.

Baby starves to death as parents nurse online child

LONDON/SEOUL - A couple hooked to the internet in South Korea raised an online child but let their own baby daughter starve to death, a media report said.

Ashram stampede: Case lodged against organisers of feast

LUCKNOW - The Uttar Pradesh government Friday lodged a case against unnamed organisers of the “bhandara” (free lunch) at an ashram Thursday, when a stampede triggered by unmanageable crowds left 63 people, mostly women and children, dead and 64 injured. The name of the ashram also does not figure in the complaint.

Toddler’s death in Melbourne shocks India

NEW DELHI/MELBOURNE - The body of a three-year-old Indian boy was found dumped by a roadside in Melbourne, Australia, triggering shock and outrage in India. New Delhi termed it a “most unfortunate incident” as Canberra launched a major probe to determine the cause of the boy’s death.

Plea for voice test in 2002 Gujarat riot case rejected

AHMEDABAD - A court hearing the Naroda Gam case of the 2002 Gujarat riots has rejected the Special Investigation Team’s (SIT) plea to conduct voice tests on VHP activists Babu Bajrangi and Jaideep Patel. Eleven people were killed in Naroda Gam.

25 fall ill after shopkeeper mistakes rat poison for curry

HANOI - Twenty-five people have been hospitalised in southern Vietnam after a shopkeeper accidentally sold a woman rat poison instead of curry for a family feast, a doctor said Friday.

Pentagon subway shooting suspect dies (Second Lead)

WASHINGTON - The suspect involved in a shooting that injured two police officers outside the Pentagon office has died, an official said Friday.

Court frees two plane-spotting Britons

NEW DELHI - A city court Friday freed two plane-spotting British nationals who were accused of recording conversations between pilots and the Air Traffic Control here.

Case filed over 127 Hindus killed in 1971 in Bangladesh

DHAKA - Nearly 40 years after 127 Hindus were killed in a village in northern Bangladesh by a group of Islamist militants during the 1971 freedom movement, a case has been filed demanding the perpetrators of the carnage be booked.

Five police officers suspended for links with drug mafia

PANAJI - The Goa police Friday suspended a senior police inspector and four constables for their alleged links with the narcotics mafia in the state.

Tv footage shows cop selling Hockey World Cup tickets in black

NEW DELHI - A news channel Friday claimed security lapse at the Hockey World Cup venue in the capital after it caught a policeman on camera selling tickets in the blackmarket.

271 corruption cases registered since 2008 in Himachal

SHIMLA - The Himachal Pradesh Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau has registered 271 cases against government officials in the past two years, Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal said here Friday.

Large fire breaks out in Kolkata slum

KOLKATA - A huge fire broke out in a slum area on the eastern outskirts of Kolkata Friday, a state fire department official said. No casualty has been reported in the incident so far.

Tension in Punjab town after BJP youth leader’s murder

PHAGWARA - The former chief of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s youth wing in this Punjab town was shot dead Friday by unidentified assailants, police said. Party activists blocked traffic and enforced a shutdown to protest the murder.

Elephant research centre destroyed in Kenya flash flood

NAIROBI - A research centre that has provided valuable insights into wild elephant behaviour has been destroyed by flash floods in Kenya, Save the Elephants (STE) said Thursday.

Powerful quake strikes off Indonesia’s Sumatra

JAKARTA - A 6.5-magnitude undersea earthquake struck off the western coast of Indonesia’s Sumatra island late Friday, seismologists said.

Killing of Armenians in WW-I a ‘genocide’: US house panel

WASHINGTON - A US congressional committee Thursday passed a resolution declaring that the World War I-era slayings of more than 1 million Armenians by the Ottomans was a genocide, a move opposed by the White House and sure to anger Turkey.

Three mowed down by train in Orissa

BHUBANESWAR - Three people, including two women, were mowed down by a speeding train Friday at Markona railway station in Balasore district of Orissa, police said.

Kidnapped Sikh faces Taliban threat of conversion: Father

TORONTO - Desperate for the safe release of his 32-year-old son Robin Singh from the Pakistani Taliban, Toronto-based Bishan Dass said his son faces threat of conversion.

Over 1 tonne of cocaine seized in Spain

Valencia (Spain), March 5 (IANS/EFE) More than 1 tonne of cocaine that arrived in the customs area of the port in the eastern Spanish city of Valencia hidden in the false bottom of a container shipped from the Dominican Republic was seized, investigators said.

Undertrial dies in Ghaziabad jail, 10th in a year

GHAZIABAD - A prisoner died in Dasna jail in Ghaziabad Friday, making it the 10th such death in a year.

Kidney kingpin gets bail in fake passport cases

NEW DELHI - A city court Friday granted bail to kidney racket kingpin Amit Kumar in three cases of obtaining passports on fake identity.

‘My greed responsible for sons’ death in ashram stampede’

MANGARH - Ram Kumar Milan is inconsolable after losing his three sons in Thursday’s stampede at the Bhakti Dham ashram here. He can’t stop blaming his own “greed” for free food, clothes and utensils for their death and says there’s no point in living anymore.

Teenaged girl set afire in Madhya Pradesh dies

BHOPAL - A 17-year-old girl, who was allegedly set on fire by four men after they forcibly entered her house Thursday in Hama village of Madhya Pradesh’s Chhattarpur district and misbehaved with her, succumbed to her injuries in the wee hours of Friday, police said.

Four held with weapons in Ahmedabad, police probe arms racket

AHMEDABAD - The Ahmedabad crime branch began probing an inter-state arms racket Friday, a day after four people were arrested and seven weapons seized from them, police said.

Two policemen, gunman wounded in shooting outside Pentagon

WASHINGTON - A gunman opened fire Thursday evening outside a Pentagon entrance before being severely wounded by police guards, authorities said.

Court tells Shiv Sena leader to pay for damages

MUMBAI - In a ruling that can serve as a deterrent for violent protesters, the Bombay High Court Friday ordered a former Shiv Sena legislator to cough up Rs.500,000 (Rs.5 lakh) for the damage caused to a hotel during an agitation by party activists last year.

Electrocution rumour sparked stampede, killing 63

MANGARH - As a pall of gloom hung over the Bhakti Dham ashram here a day after a stampede killed 63 women and children, an eyewitness said Friday that an electrocution rumour sparked off panic at the gate of the popular spiritual centre.

Over 100 shanties gutted in Kolkata fire

KOLKATA - More than 100 shanties were gutted when a huge fire broke out on the eastern outskirts of Kolkata Friday, a senior fire department official said. No casualty was reported in the incident.

Crimes against tourists in focus at Goa tourism roadshow

PANAJI - The Goa government is “worried about the security of tourists”, a top state official said as speakers at the launch of the union tourism ministry’s roadshow on domestic tourism here Friday voiced similar concern.

Father, daughter killed for stealing an egg

RANCHI - A father and daughter were killed in Jharkhand’s West Singhbhum district as the girl allegedly stole an egg from a neighbour’s house, media reports said Friday.

All help to crane accident victim’s family: Dikshit

NEW DELHI - Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit Friday met the family of call centre employee Abhinav Puri, crushed to death under a crane Feb 28, and assured them of all help.

Teenage girl struggling for life after being shot by Maoists

RANCHI - A teenage girl was shot by Maoist rebels in Jharkhand’s Latehar district for slapping rape charges on a Maoist leader, police said Friday. The victim is struggling for life in a hospital here.

Hooch toll rises to 44, six suppliers arrested

GHAZIABAD - The spurious liquor toll in pre- and post-Holi celebrations in Uttar Pradesh\’s Ghaziabad and Bulandshahr districts rose to 44 Friday. Six men have been arrested for the deaths while irate villagers torched a liquor shop and have threatened a massive protest Sunday.

Haryana to pay Rs.16.77 cr to Dabwali fire victims

CHANDIGARH - Fifteen years after 446 perople were killed in a fire accident in Dabwali town of the state in 1995, the Haryana government Friday sanctioned Rs.16.67 crore to be paid to the victims as compensation.

Imam pleads guilty to lying to feds investigating terrorism plot against NYC subway

Imam pleads guilty in NYC terror case

NEW YORK — An imam linked to the suspects in an aborted suicide bomb plot against New York City pleaded guilty on Thursday to lying to the FBI — a deal sparing him serious jail time but forcing him to leave the country.