26/11 case: Govt may spend Rs 30 lakh to defend Kasab

Mumbai: Maharashtra government may spend upto Rs 30 lakh as legal aid expenses to defend the prime accused in 26/11 terror strike, Mohammad Ajmal Amir Kasab.
Sources say that the state has recommended Rs 2,500 as daily fee for Kasab's defence counsel Abbas Kazmi.
However, an advocate belonging to the state's legal aid panel who defends an accused gets only Rs 900 per day which far less than what has been proposed as Kazmi's fee.
Kasab's previous defence counsel Anjali Waghmare was getting Rs 900 as daily fee. Kazmi is,however, not a member of the state's legal aid panel.
Kazmi was appinted as Kasab's lawyer after Waghmare was removed from the case for not informing the court earlier that she was a prosecutor in the Cama Hospital shootout case, which is clash of interest.
Kasab is the ony terrorist captured alive in the 26/11 attack and his trial is being conducted at a special court inside the high-security Arthur Road Jail.

Terror links: Kerala ATS finally questions Madhani

Thiruvananthapuram: The Anti-Terror Squad of the Kerala Police on Wednesday questioned People’s Democratic Party chairman Abdul Nazer Madhani for several hours. Madhani had supported the CPI(M), which handles the Home Department in the state Cabinet, in the just concluded elections. Though Madhani’s links with suspected LeT militants had come to the fore during the campaigning, the Left Government was reluctant to probe his role as it was banking on the PDP voters to see it through. According to sources, the police grilled Madhani based on the confessions of Sarfras Nawas and Sainudheen, who had been arrested in connection with the Bangalore blasts. Nawas had told the Karnataka Police that he had met Madhani in his residence at Kollam a few months after the PDP leader was released from Coimbatore jail, where he had been housed as an undertrial in the Coimbatore blast case. Nawas, suspected to be the financier of the terror recruitment in Kerala, was accompanied by Abdul Raheem, who had been killed in Kashmir last October. Madhani had also faced charges for harbouring the daughter of Sainudheen alias Sathar Bhai, a close aid of Riyas Bhatkal, founder of Indian Mujahideen. Yoosaf, who had been converted to Islam by Madhani, had deposed before the police that Sainudheen had been a frequent visitor to the PDP leader’s house in Kochi. He also told the police that Madhani’s wife Soofiya had conducted jehadi classes in a building near their house.
Besides, several other PDP activists, who had been arrested after Kerala’s terror links with the Valley was exposed, had given statements to the police about their associations with Madhani. Some of the absconding leaders of the state terror network were also Madhani’s aides in the past. In the thick of allegations, Madhani had denied the charges and claimed he was ready to face any investigation in this regard. He had been confident that the Kerala Police would not disturb him, while he feared the Karnataka Police would not be that accommodating.
Last week, the Kerala Police had brought Nawas from Karnataka, making Madhani’s questioning inevitable. Sources said they would also question Soofiya who had allegedly been part of the conspiracy behind the torching of a Tamil Nadu bus in 2005, to exert pressure on the TN Government to release Madhani.

Mogadishu mired in fresh mayhem

Fighters in Somalia's capital, Mogadishu, have advanced to the edge of the presidential palace in some of the fiercest clashes in months.

Pro-government forces have been locked in battle with radical guerrillas and 25,000 civilians have reportedly fled. Sources say the government's leadership is crumbling and many of its troops have defected to the rebels. Our correspondent says Mogadishu has seen plenty of fighting over the years but this appears on a different scale. Wednesday's fighting focused near the presidential palace in the Wardigley district and in the north of the city at the Bondere and Karan areas.

West's worst nightmare

It is estimated more than 120 lives have been lost since a combined force of militant Islamic groups, al-Shabab and Hisbul-Islam, launched an offensive at the weekend. Now they have boxed in the government forces and African Union (AU) troops supporting them to a narrow pocket of territory inside the capital.
Military and intelligence sources say it is by no means certain the fragile Western-backed interim government can defend itself, according to BBC East Africa correspondent Peter Greste.
If not, Somalia becomes the West's worst nightmare: A strategically placed country under the control of Islamic militants with links to al-Qaeda.
One assessment reckons the government, which has been fighting radical Islamists for three years, can only count on some 4,000 fighters against 6,000 from al-Shabab.

Foreign radicals

Many of the guerrillas are well-trained foreign radicals with reinforcements expected in the next day or so, says our correspondent. A moderate Islamist president took office in January but even his introduction of Sharia law to the strongly Muslim country has not appeased the guerrillas.
Meanwhile, the UN special representative for Somalia said the international community must do something.
Ahmed Ould Abdallah told a meeting of the AU in neighbouring Ethiopia: "What we have in Somalia is a government - weak, fragile - but it is a government and we have a moral, political obligation to help it."
The AU announced a boost for its under-resourced peacekeeping effort in Mogadishu - with the surprise offer of a battalion from Sierra Leone.
Although the mission has been able to keep the port and airport open it has been unable to stop the fighting or provide more than very limited protection to civilians.
The UN meanwhile warned that drought had left nearly half the Somali population malnourished and some 3.2 million people in urgent need of food aid.
The Horn of Africa nation of an estimated nine million has experienced almost constant conflict since the collapse of its central government in January 1991.
It is estimated that more than 16,000 civilians have been killed by fighting since the start of 2007 and more than one million are internal refugees.

அண்ணல் நபி அவர்களின் கரிசனை!

நபி (ஸல்) அவர்கள் கூறினார்கள், நானும், கரிந்து போன முகத்தையுடைய பெண்ணும் மறுமை நாளில் இந்த இரு விரல்களைப் போன்று இருப்போம். யஸீத் பின்ஸாரி (ரலி) அவர்கள் இந்த நபிமொழியைக் கூறியவண்ணம் தம் நடு விரலையும், சுட்டு விரலையும் சுட்டிக் காட்டினார்கள். கரிந்து போன முகத்தையுடைய பெண் - அதாவது, தன் கணவனை இழந்துவிட்ட, குடும்பச் சிறப்பும் நல்ல அழகும் இருந்தும், இறந்து விட்ட கணவனின் குழந்தைகளுக்காக - அவர்கள் தன்னைவிட்டுப் பிரிந்துவிடும் வரை அல்லது இறந்து விடும்வரை - திருமணம் செய்து கொள்ளாமலிருக்கும் பெண். அறிவிப்பாளர் : அவ்ஃப் பின் மாலிக் (ரலி) (அபூதாவூத்)

Is drink dragging you down?

Women in rural Kenya recently took matters into their own hands by raiding local drinking places where illegal brew is consumed. They say their men are useless after drinking Chang'aa, and can't even perform their marital duties.
Last year the government in Botswana put the price of beer up by a staggering 70 per cent. Bars and bottle stores also had their opening hours reduced. So who is ultimately responsible for how much we drink?
Is the consumption of alcohol, illegal or otherwise affecting you? Do you worry about the amount of alcohol you drink? Has the recession driven people to drink cheaper illegal brews that aren't regulated? Send us your views.
If you would like to join Africa Have Your Say to debate this topic LIVE on air on Thursday 14 May at 1600 GMT, please include a telephone number. It will not be published. You can also send an SMS text message to +44 77 86 20 20 08.

Obama defends abuse photos U-turn

The release of more photos of prisoner abuse by US soldiers is "of no benefit" and may inflame opinion against the US, President Barack Obama has said.

The pictures were not "sensational" and every case of abuse had been dealt with by the military, with action taken where appropriate, he said. The White House previously said it would not fight a court ruling ordering the release of the pictures. US civil liberties activists accused Mr Obama of adopting Bush-era policies. The pictures were due to be released by 28 May, according to the court order. The order was issued by an appeals court in September 2008, in response to a Freedom of Information Act request by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).

The US defence department had been preparing to release the images, reportedly taken in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the dispute could now end up before the US Supreme Court.
Speaking outside the White House, Mr Obama said he would not tolerate the abuse of prisoners.
However, he had, he said, directed his legal team to fight the court-ordered release of the photos because he was concerned they might "inflame anti-American opinion and put our troops in greater danger". The Pentagon had not sought to conceal anything, he added, and appropriate action had been taken against individuals involved in abuses. The president had been advised against publication by Defence Secretary Robert Gates, Centcom commander Gen David Petraeus and the commander of US forces in Iraq, Gen Ray Odierno, a Pentagon official said.

The ACLU said the president's "decision not to release the photographs makes a mockery of President Obama's promise of transparency and accountability". "It's absolutely essential that these photos be released so the public can examine for itself the torture and abuse that was conducted in its name," ACLU attorney Amrit Singh said. The human rights group Amnesty International also criticised the president's decision, saying human beings had been "tortured and denied basic rights". But the switch was welcomed by Senator Lindsey Graham, a Republican, and Senator Joe Lieberman, an independent. "The fact that the president reconsidered the decision is a strength not a weakness," they said in a joint statement.
The BBC's Richard Lister in Washington says that although President Obama has insisted on the need for open government, it appears that on this issue he has been persuaded that - for now at least - such transparency risks doing more harm than good.

US soldier charged with murders

A US soldier has been charged with five counts of murder a day after five fellow soldiers were shot dead at a military counselling clinic in Iraq.

Sgt John Russell was also charged with one count of aggravated assault, spokesman Maj Gen David Perkins said. Sgt Russell, serving with the 54th Engineering Battalion based in Germany, was taken into custody after the shooting in Camp Liberty, Baghdad. One Navy doctor, an Army doctor and three enlisted personnel were killed. The clinic provides troops with help for personal issues or combat stress.

Maj Gen Perkins said Sgt Russell had been referred to the clinic by his superiors, and that his weapon had been taken away about a week before the incident. Details of the shooting are still unclear. "We have many different accounts into exactly what happened," Maj Gen Perkins said.
Sgt Russell was "probably" on his third tour of duty in Iraq, but was due to return home soon, officials said. An inquiry is under way into whether there are sufficient mental health facilities in Iraq for troops. Almost one in five US soldiers deployed in Iraq suffer from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, according to the US military's Battlemind website. Incidents of US troops shooting fellow soldiers are rare. The last such reported incident took place on 14 September 2008, when Sergeant Joseph Bozicevich allegedly shot dead two of his superior officers. This case is still being investigated. Monday's shooting was the deadliest single incident involving US forces since 10 April, when five soldiers were killed by a truck bomb in the northern city of Mosul.

UN gets Israeli cluster bomb maps

Israel has handed over details of where it dropped cluster bombs in Lebanon during the war in 2006, UN peacekeeping forces have confirmed.

The UN says Israel used some four million cluster bomblets on Lebanon, of which about a quarter did not explode. The data will be assessed and then passed on to the Lebanese army.
The UN has repeatedly called on Israel to provide information to help speed up the clearance operation and prevent further casualties among civilians. Most of the cluster bomblets were fired in the last 72 hours of the 33-day war with Hezbollah militants in Lebanon in July and August 2006. According to the UN Mine Action Coordination Centre, about 300 civilians have since been killed or maimed by left-over munitions. The majority of the victims were children, often from rural areas in south Lebanon, who had used the bomblets as toys. Although cluster bombs are not illegal under the laws of war, campaigners say their use in populated areas constitutes an indiscriminate attack on civilians. In a statement the Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Siniora confirmed that he had received a call from the Unfil commander General Claudio Graziano who informed him about the details Israel had provided. Mr Siniora said the maps and locations should have been handed over immediately after the end of hostilities in 2006. (What Next? anyway the UN will not take any action against Israel for this Horrible attack. Better we can close the UN atleast - Editor)

1 killed, 13 injured in poll violence in TN

Chennai: One man was killed and 13 injured in election related violence in three places in Tamil Nadu Wednesday, police said. DMK member S Thangavel died after being stabbed during a clash between supporters of the ruling party and AIADMK in Dindigul town, about 350 km from Chennai. Police officials said Thangavel's death was followed by pelting of stones by DMK supporters and tension prevailed in the town. In Chennai, seven people were injured and four cars were damaged during a clash between supporters of the ruling DMK and MMK.
"MMK volunteers objected to alleged bogus voting by DMK workers, leading to a violent clash between the two groups at Ice House (in central Chennai)," a police official said.
"Swords, wooden clubs and stones were used during the fight. Police reinforcements were rushed to the spot to contain the violence," he added. No arrest has been made so far.
Violence at a polling station in Cuddalore, about 230 km from here, left six injured.
"We are receiving reports of sporadic violence but overall there is peace and everything is under control in Tamil Nadu," Director General of Police K.P. Jain told IANS.
Polling was underway in all 39 seats of Tamil Nadu in the fifth and final phase of general elections Wednesday. (Where the Indian politics is going? is it healthy for India. Good and Educated youngsters who really wants India to become empower should come to politics. These Murderers and Roudies should be Thrown out from Politics and those youngsters should make the Indian politics Clean. - Editor)

Terror links: Kerala ATS finally questions Madhani

Thiruvananthapuram: The Anti-Terror Squad of the Kerala Police on Wednesday questioned People’s Democratic Party chairman Abdul Nazer Madhani for several hours. Madhani had supported the CPI(M), which handles the Home Department in the state Cabinet, in the just concluded elections. Though Madhani’s links with suspected LeT militants had come to the fore during the campaigning, the Left Government was reluctant to probe his role as it was banking on the PDP voters to see it through. According to sources, the police grilled Madhani based on the confessions of Sarfras Nawas and Sainudheen, who had been arrested in connection with the Bangalore blasts. Nawas had told the Karnataka Police that he had met Madhani in his residence at Kollam a few months after the PDP leader was released from Coimbatore jail, where he had been housed as an undertrial in the Coimbatore blast case. Nawas, suspected to be the financier of the terror recruitment in Kerala, was accompanied by Abdul Raheem, who had been killed in Kashmir last October. Madhani had also faced charges for harbouring the daughter of Sainudheen alias Sathar Bhai, a close aid of Riyas Bhatkal, founder of Indian Mujahideen. Yoosaf, who had been converted to Islam by Madhani, had deposed before the police that Sainudheen had been a frequent visitor to the PDP leader’s house in Kochi. He also told the police that Madhani’s wife Soofiya had conducted jehadi classes in a building near their house.
Besides, several other PDP activists, who had been arrested after Kerala’s terror links with the Valley was exposed, had given statements to the police about their associations with Madhani. Some of the absconding leaders of the state terror network were also Madhani’s aides in the past. In the thick of allegations, Madhani had denied the charges and claimed he was ready to face any investigation in this regard. He had been confident that the Kerala Police would not disturb him, while he feared the Karnataka Police would not be that accommodating.
Last week, the Kerala Police had brought Nawas from Karnataka, making Madhani’s questioning inevitable. Sources said they would also question Soofiya who had allegedly been part of the conspiracy behind the torching of a Tamil Nadu bus in 2005, to exert pressure on the TN Government to release Madhani.