SC grants conditional bail to Sahara chief Subrata Roy

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Wednesday asked Sahara group chief Subrata Roy to deposit Rs 10,000 crore with the market regulator Sebi for his release on interim bail from judicial custody.

The apex court bench of Justice KS Radhakrishnan and Justice JS Khehar said that of the Rs 10,000 crore, Rs 5,000 crore would be deposited in cash, and the balance Rs 5,000 crore will be furnished through a bank guarantee.

Erdogan likely to toughen position toward Israel if his party wins municipal elections'

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is likely to become even more inflexible regarding an accommodation with Israel if his AK Party wins critical municipal elections on Sunday, according to assessments in Jerusalem.

Minister appeases hardliners on child marriage bill

ISLAMABAD: The religious affairs minister on Tuesday seemed appeasing mullahs who failed to stop the introduction of a private bill in the National Assembly that seeks to make child marriage a cognizable offence with higher punishment for violations.

The bill, brought by five lawmakers of the ruling PML-N, invited a retrogressive tirade from Maulana Mohammad Khan Shirani, chairman of the Council of Islamic Ideology (CII) and a member of the government-allied Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (JUI-F), who, along with another party colleague, called the move contrary to Islam and the Constitution, pressing a stance that recently outraged liberal circles and rights groups.

Scores killed in string of Iraq attacks

Violence across Iraq has killed more than 80 people, including 41 soldiers, and left scores more injured, amid the country's worst protracted period of unrest since 2008.

The bloodshed on Tuesday comes just weeks before Iraq is due to hold its first national vote since 2010, though the poll was thrown into disarray earlier when the entire electoral commission resigned over political interference.

In the deadliest attack, 22 soldiers were killed and 15 others injured in Al-Nibaee village, near Taji city, north of Baghdad.

Saudi Arabia calls for 'changing the balance of forces' in Syria

KUWAIT CITY: Saudi Crown Prince Salman has called for "changing the balance of forces" on the ground in Syria's civil war, saying the crisis there had reached catastrophic proportions.

Arab League summit under way amid divisions

Heads of Arab states are holding their annual summit amid an unprecedented diplomatic fallout among the Gulf countries and tension over the crisis in Egypt and the conflict in Syria.

Thirteen heads of states and other representatives have gathered in Kuwait for the two-day Arab League summit that began on Tuesday.

Kuwait's Emir Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmed al-Sabah, in the opening session, called on Arab states to end rifts he said were obstructing joint Arab action.

Militants attack Kabul election office

KABUL: Militants launched a gun and suicide attack on an Afghan election commission office in Kabul on Tuesday, police said, less than two weeks before the presidential poll.

The Taliban have vowed a campaign of violence to disrupt the ballot on April 5, urging their fighters to attack polling staff, voters and security forces in the run-up to election day.

Indian Mujahideen commander Tehseen Akhtar arrested by Delhi Police

Jodhpur: In a major breakthrough, the Delhi Police Special Cell on Tuesday arrested militant outfit Indian Mujahideen's (IM) head of India operations Tehseen Akhtar alias Monu, who was wanted in several terror attack cases.

According to reports, Tehseen Akhtar belonged to the Darbhanga module of the banned terrorist outfit and was heading IM operations in India after Yasin Bhatkal's arrest in August last year.

Akhtar is believed to have masterminded the serial blasts in Patna and Gaya.

Peace talks deferred due to bad weather, says Ibrahim

ISLAMABAD: The government and the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) Shura will not meet today to pursue peace talks on account of bad weather conditions, DawnNews reported.

Jamaat-i-Islami Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chief and a member of the Taliban talks committee Professor Mohammad Ibrahim confirmed that talks between the two sides were postponed for today as it was not possible to travel due to bad weather.

Muslims unlikely to vote in uniform manner across the country, says Madani

Muslim's constitute 13.4% of the country's population and have a major say in the poll prospects in 110 Lok Sabha constituencies. Little wonder then that every time there is an election round the corner, the big question on most people's minds is, which way will India's largest minority vote. This year the question has an added significance, given the fact that Narendra Modi is the BJP's prime ministerial candidate.  The jury is still out on which way the Muslims will tilt.

Suspected IM terrorist Mohd Sakib Ansari's aide arrested from Jodhpur

Barkat Ali, an alleged accomplice of suspected Indian Mujahideen terrorist Mohd Sakib Ansari, was arrested here on Tuesday.

Ali had managed to give the police the slip on Sunday and several police teams had swung into action to catch him.

"We received information about his arrival at home this morning following which the police cordoned off his house and arrested him," a police official said.

Pakistan bus accident leaves at least 10 dead

Islamabad  – At least 10 people including two children and as many women were killed when a bus fell down a hill just northeast of Pakistan’s capital Islamabad, officials said on Sunday.

The bus, which was carrying 20 passengers from the hill town of Murree to Rawalpindi, lost traction on a slippery road amid rainfall, rolling on its side as it fell down a slope.

Turkey shoots down Syrian plane it says violated air space

Turkish armed forces shot down a Syrian plane on Sunday that Ankara said had crossed into its air space in an area where Syrian rebels have been battling President Bashar al-Assad's forces for control of a border crossing.

"A Syrian plane violated our airspace," Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan told an election rally in northwest Turkey. "Our F-16s took off and hit this plane. Why? Because if you violate my airspace, our slap after this will be hard."

Egyptian court sentences 529 Muslim Brotherhood members to death

An Egyptian court sentenced 529 members of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood to death on Monday on charges including murder, a defense lawyer said, in a sharp escalation of a crackdown on the movement.

Most were arrested during clashes which erupted in the southern province of Minya after the forced dispersal of two Muslim Brotherhood protest camps in Cairo on August 14.

Twenty Yemen soldiers killed in 'Qaeda attack'

Aden : Gunmen in Yemen killed 20 soldiers Monday at a checkpoint in Hadramawt province, the official Saba news agency said of the latest in a wave of attacks blamed on Al-Qaeda.

"Twenty soldiers were killed in the armed attack on an army checkpoint" near Reida, 135 kilometres (85 miles) east of the provincial capital Mukalla in the south, Saba said.