In The News

Jeddah, Aug 5: Good news for expatriates in the Kingdom. Expats can now renew visit visas for relatives using the Passport Department's Abshir system. Maj. Gen. Sulaiman Al-Yahya, the department's director-general, will launch the new service next Monday, said Col. Mohammed Al-Saad, director of public relations. He said the department would also launch another Abshir program to help Saudis renew

Kasargod, Aug 5: A rift over the syllabus being taught at a madrasa resulted in clashes between two Sunni factions, leaving 15 persons injured at the Ujjampadi locality under the Adur police station limits on Monday. Among the injured are Samasta Kerala Sunni Students Federation (SKSSF) district treasurer Hashim Darimi and a madrasa teacher owing allegiance to the E K faction. The police said the

Belthangady, Aug 5: Unidentified miscreants broke into the houses of two NRI brothers and decamped with cash and gold ornaments. The house belonged to Nazeer N S located on Ujire college road at M M Residency. Nazeer had come from Saudi Arabia on vacation. He had locked his house on Saturday and gone to a relative's house at Sakleshpur. However, on his return around 7 a.m. on Monday, he found the

Mangalore, Aug 5: The district units of Vishwa Hindu Parishad and Bajrang Dal held a protest in front of the deputy commissioner's office here on Monday, demanding immediate withdrawal of compensation to Kabeer family. Lashing their ire against the state government, the protestors demanded that the government withdraw the compensation of Rs 10 lakhs handed to the family of Kabeer, who was killed

Lucknow, Aug 4: Tension mounted again in the communally sensitive town of Meerut, about 500 km from here, after news broke out that a girl was gang-raped and forced to convert while she was held hostage at a madarsa for several days. Hundreds of people took to the streets and laid siege to a police station and pelted stones at the homes of members of a particular community, triggering tension in

Bangalore, Aug 4: Habitual cyber offenders will be booked under the amended Goonda Act, which was passed by the state legislature last week, Home Minister K J George said today. In a recent case, police have said they were considering invoking the amended Goonda Act against a right-wing activist who had launched verbal attacks on women and posted alleged inflammatory remarks against a minority

Bagalkot (Karnataka), Aug 4: Intense efforts were underway today to pull out a six-year-old boy trapped in an abandoned borewell at a farm in nearby Sulikeri village. Teams from National Disaster Relief Force, nearby Hutti gold mines and fire brigade were engaged in the operation to rescue Thimmanna Hatti, reportedly stuck at a depth of 160 feet in the 300 feet borewell, officials said. A robot

Mangalore, Aug 4: The Mangalore traffic police department has written a letter to the regional passport office in the city directing them not to issue passport to Akash Shetty who was deemed responsible for the death of BCom student Andrea Patrao who died in a bike accident few days ago at Urwa Store. Akash Shetty (18), was riding the bike which met with an accident on July 30 near Urwa Store. The

United Nations, Aug 4: UN chief Ban Ki-moon has strongly condemned an Israeli attack on a UN-run school in the Gaza Strip that killed 10 Palestinians, terming it as a "moral outrage and a criminal act" and demanding that those responsible for the act should be held accountable. "It is a moral outrage and a criminal act. United Nations shelters must be safe zones not combat zones," a statement

Bareilly, Aug 4: At least six persons, including a child, were injured in a clash between two communities over cattle breeding at Baheri town, police said on Monday. Members of two communities clashed and resorted to stone pelting on Sunday night in Shernagar locality after a dispute over breeding of cattle took place, Additional Superintendent of Police (rural) Brijesh Srivastava said. He said