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MUMBAI: The chargesheet filed by Mumbai police against Amir Ajmal Kasab, the lone terrorist captured alive in Mumbai terror attacks, has sought death penalty for him, citing it as a "rarest of the rare case"."We have demanded death penalty for him. The chargesheet has demanded death penalty because it is one of the rarest of rare case," Maharashtra Home Minster Jayant Patil told reporters here.Patil's remarks came a day after senior BJP leader Gopinath Munde demanded speedy trial and execution of Ajmal Kasab.

TEHRAN: Across much of the non-Arab Muslim world, people celebrated Norouz, the festival that marks the arrival of spring and the beginning of the new-year. The pre-Islamic holiday with roots in the Zoroastrian religion of ancient Persia -- perhaps the world’s first monotheistic faith -- is observed in Iran, Central Asia, Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, parts of India, and among the Kurds.Norouz, which means "new day" in Persian, fell on March 20 this year, a day before the vernal equinox when the new year begins. Norouz traditionally celebrates the awakening of nature, life's renewal, and the triumph of good and light over the darkness of winter. The new year is marked when the sun leaves the astrological sign of Pisces and enters Aries.The spring festival is believed to have been first recognized and named Norouz by the mythical Persian emperor Jamshid. Others credit the Achaemenian dynasty of the 12th century B.C. for institutionalizing Norouz.Throughout the history of Iran, ...

President Barack Obama apologized to Special Olympics chairman Timothy Shriver for making a joke about the organization during Thursday night’s show “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.” Shriver, appearing today on media “Good Morning America,” said Obama’s apology was “very moving.” The president called Shriver from Air Force One before departing for Washington and said that he “didn’t want to embarrass or give anybody any more reason for pain and suffering.” During the taping in Burbank, California, Leno asked Obama if the White House bowling alley had been replaced yet with a basketball court. Obama, who scored a 37 while bowling on the campaign trail and whose bowling skills became the butt of jokes, said that he had been practicing and recently bowled a game of 129. “No, that’s very good, President,” Leno said mockingly. “It was like Special Olympics, or something,” Obama replied. Shriver today said the apology was important because “words do matter.” “These words in some respect, ca...

LONDON: Days before world leaders arrive here for the G-20 summit, security officials have warned that luxury hotels in Britain are vulnerable to Mumbai-style terror attacks.Security officials have warned that luxury hotels in Britain are vulnerable to Mumbai-style terror attacks. Security officials believe that the threat is at the "severe end of severe", and are concerned about the possibility of attacks by terrorists using automatic weapons on major hotels and other public buildings. The G-20 summit is scheduled for April 2. The Mumbai attacks forced British anti-terrorism officers to watch for any increase in small arms being smuggled into the UK through ports or remote airfields where security is more lax, the 'Daily Telegraph' has reported. Officials are also considering issuing guidance to the management of hotels, businesses and other important buildings about the security measures. The new version of the government's six-year-old "Contest" count...

WASHINGTON: The huge solar wings on the International Space Station were successfully unfurled, paving the way for the orbiting laboratory to power up to its full capacity for the first time. NASA said "no difficulties were encountered" in the operation that came after astronauts Steve Swanson and Richard Arnold Thursday bolted a girder to the space station to hold panels forming the fourth and last solar antenna. The payload, carried aboard the space shuttle Discovery, is one of the last major tasks of the more than decade-long effort to construct the 100-billion-dollar outpost in space. Once the solar array is activated the panels will have the capacity to generate some 120 kilowatts of usable electricity, enough to power about 42 large homes.The 14-ton piece was carried into space by Discovery, which blasted off Sunday from Florida, and the orbiter's robotic arm was used to lift it out of the shuttle's bay.The solar panels, which measure 35 meters (yards) by 11.58 ...

SRINAGAR: A high-level army court of inquiry probing the killing of two civilians in held Kashmir has found two soldiers guilty of "lapses". The defence ministry said that the inquiry had singled out a junior commissioned officer (JCO) and two other soldiers. The inquiry relates to the killing of two Muslim men in Bumai. Local residents said that soldiers fired without any provocation and the deaths sparked mass protests. The Indian army authorities initially gave conflicting versions of the incident - in which a civilian was also injured - but finally ordered the court of inquiry.

COLOMBO: Heavy fighting in Sri Lanka's north has left at least 28 separatist Tamil Tigers dead, close to the last rebel-held town, the military said Saturday.They were killed near Puthkkudiyirippu, where fierce battles between government troops and the rebels have been raging for several weeks, said military spokesman Udaya Nanayakkara. ``There were a total of 28 LTTE fighters killed, and there are confrontations still taking place,'' he said, referring to the rebels' formal name, Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.The military does not give casualty figures for its troops. Independent accounts of the fighting are not possible because access to the war zone is restricted. The army has ousted the Tamil rebels from all but one of their strongholds in an all-out offensive the government hopes will soon end the island's 25-year-old civil war. The rebel holdouts _ along with tens of thousands of terrified civilians _ are confined to about 11 square miles (28 square kilomet...

SEOUL: North Korea on Saturday confirmed that it had detained two American journalists along the border with China earlier this week, amid tensions in the region over Pyongyang's plans for a rocket launch.The US State Department had expressed concern over the fate of the two women, who are believed to have been taken into custody by border guards patrolling the Tumen River, a common escape route for those fleeing the North."Two Americans were detained on March 17 while illegally intruding into the territory of the DPRK by crossing the DPRK-China border," the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said in a three-line dispatch."A competent organ is now investigating the case."Diplomatic sources and media reports identified the two women as Euna Lee, a Korean-American, and Laura Ling, a Chinese-American, who work for a news channel in California.A diplomatic source told reporters the two were held by security guards over "suspected border violations"...

WASHINGTON: As US President Barack Obama hopes for green shoots of economic recovery, his wife Michelle is seeking a different return to growth, from the first White House kitchen garden in 60 years.The first lady grabbed a shovel and joined local school kids to break ground on the first presidential vegetable patch since Eleanor Roosevelt's "victory garden" in World War II, as part of her crusade to promote healthy eating.The organic plot, on a secluded part of the White House's south lawn, is tipped to produce a bumper harvest of spinach, lettuce, kale, shell-peas, broccoli and radishes, as well as verdant traditional herbs.Borders in the garden, shaded by trees, are planted with a mix of marigolds, nasturtiums and Zinnias."The whole point of this garden for us is that I want to make sure that our family, as well as the staff and all the people who come to the White House and eat our food, get access to really fresh vegetables and fruits," the first lady s...

TEHRAN: Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Saturday the Islamic republic is ready to change if US President Barack Obama leads the way by changing American attitude towards his country."If you change your attitude, we will change our attitude," Khamenei said in a groundbreaking address to thousands of Iranians in the holy city of Mashhad which was broadcast on state television.Speaking a day after Obama offered Tehran a "new beginning" to turn back the tide on decades of mutual animosity, Khamenei said however Iran is yet to see any change in Washington's attitude towards Tehran."We have no experience with the new American government and the new American president. We will observe them and we will judge," he said.Khamenei accused Washington of having had a "hostile" attitude towards Tehran since the Islamic revolution toppled the US-backed shah in 1979.Highlighting the three-decades old animosity, Khamenei said Iran woul...