India

As of 6th May, 2006, the Pakistani government has once again put a ban on Blogspot. This has been confirmed by numerous bloggers across Pakistan. The banned blogs can now be accessed through an alternative sites such as PKBlogs.com - Blogspot Proxy and other proxy servers. Since the morning of May 2, 2006, the blanket ban on the blogspot.com blogs has been lifted. This has been confirmed by various people on the 'Action Group Against Blogspot Ban In Pakistan' mailing list. The six baloch and plenty of Indian sites are still blocked. The web

A four-year-old Indian boy from the eastern state of Orissa ran 65 kilometers (40 miles) continuously, setting an Indian record and possibly a world record as well. Budhia Singh, a slum resident whose talent was discovered by a local coach, completed his run in seven hours and two minutes. Budhia had originally planned to run 43 miles, but doctors intervened at the 40-mile mark when he started showing signs of extreme exhaustion. 300 cadets from the Central Reserve Police Force, which plans to sponsor his upbringing, escorted Budhia, while t

Violence erupted in Vadodara in the state of Gujarat after municipal authorities demolished a dargah (Muslim shrine). The shrine was an unauthorised structure that was obstructing a road-widening project. The Muslim community objected to its demolition citing the fact that it was at least 200 years old. They also observed that many Hindu temples that were unauthorised were spared. Despite the reservations of the minority community, the authorities decided to proceed with the razing of the dargah, leading to rioting. At least 6 people were k

The bodies of 13 tribal villagers were found deep in the forest 22 km from a relief camp in the Indian state of Chhattisgarh. Police said on Saturday that Maoist rebels in Dantewada district took the 13 tribal villagers hostage at gunpoint along with 27 other natives earlier this week. The Maoists had slit the throats of the victims. India faces the problem of Maoist insurgency in many areas and the local peasants are harassed by both government authorities and the rebels.

Claimed by Tibetan exile groups. Tibetan areas designated by PRC. Tibet Autonomous Region (actual control). Claimed by India as part of Aksai Chin. Claimed by the PRC as part of TAR. Other historically culturally-Tibetan areas. The Qingzang Railway is a project by the Chinese Government to build a unique railway linking Tibet with Mainland China. The railway will include sections at high altitude, crossing 5000 metre high mountains, long tunnels and lots of track laid on permafrost. The railway is being hailed in China as "an engineering miracl

Maoist rebels in Nepal announced a three-month ceasefire from Thursday onward saying that this move reflected their support for the formation of a new Constituent Assembly. Maoist leader Prachanda said in a statement that the People's Liberation Army would not carry out any offensive military action during the tenure of the ceasefire. Maoist rebels have been fighting to overthrow the monarchy in the Himalayan nation since 1996 and over 13000 people have been killed in the insurgency. The Maoists' announcement has been welcomed by India, which h

The Supreme Court of India has said that the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) will remain a minority institution and that its character will not change, but refused to stay, till the pendency of the matter, the Allahabad High Court’s verdict striking down the 50% quota for students belonging to the minority community. Justice K. G. Balakrishnan headed the bench. The next hearing will be on May 10, 2006. The court referred the matter to the chief justice for allocating it to a larger bench. The Aligarh Muslim University hailed the SC's interim o

Pramod Mahajan, the general secretary of India's main opposition party, the Bharatiya Janata Party, was shot in Mumbai earlier today. The attack occurred at Mahajan's residence at around 6:30 a.m. IST (0100 UTC). There are few details available at this time, however sources say Mahajan was shot three times at close range by his brother Praveen Mahajan, allegedly over a property dispute. Praveen later surrendered at the Worli Police Station. His lawyer Nandkumar Rajukar claimed that he was depressed and suffering from some mental trauma. Pr

Several weeks ago Netherlands based company Mittal Steel made a takeover bid for Arcelor, prompting legislation from Luxembourg (5.6% owners of Arcelor, the largest stockholders) and cries of discrimination from India. Mittal is owned by the world's fifth wealthiest man, Laskshmi Mittal, an Indian. After the takeover bid, the Luxembourg Chamber of Commerce attempted to introduce new rules that would stop companies with less than 25% of their shares in free float from making a cash and bid offer for a company whose location is in Luxembourg. In

The George Mason University Patriots of the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) defeated the University of Connecticut Huskies today in overtime, 86-84. GMU becomes the first team from the CAA to reach the Final Four in a NCAA Division I basketball championship, and only the second 11th seed (LSU was the other in 1986). The Huskies were the number one seed in the Washington Region. GMU is also the first true mid-major to reach the Final Four since 1979 with Penn State and Indiana State. This year held the Patriots' first NCAA Tournament gam

A land mine blast killed two persons and injured 10 others in the Indian state of Chhattisgarh. The explosion took place as a police vehicle reached Kolar-ghat in Rajnandgaon, 110 km from state capital, Raipur. Police chief Vivekanand blamed Maoist rebels, who want to establish a communist state in India.

Fr Eusebio Ferrao (60), of St Francis Church in Macasana, India, was found murdered in the early hours of the morning on Saturday, March 18, in the presbytery of the church. Three people from Uttar Pradesh who stayed with Fr Ferraro and had dinner with him Friday night are suspected of suffocating him with a pillow. The Archbishop has urged the authorities to find the culprits and bring them to justice. Fr Ferrao, a diocesan priest, Konknni writer and the parish priest of Macasana Parish in South Goa, was found dead by parishoners on Saturd