Mahajan still critical

MUMBAI: A senior leader of India’s opposition Hindu nationalist party who was shot by his brother at the weekend remains in critical condition following two operations, a hospital spokesman said on Monday. “The condition of Pramod Mahajan remains critical. He is on ventilatory support. His kidneys continue to function poorly,” Anupam Verma of Mumbai’s Hinduja Hospital told reporters. “The heavy bleeding in his liver has now stopped,” he said. He said Mahajan, 56, underwent a second operation late on Sunday after his condition became unstable. — AFP

Hu ends Saudi visit

RIYADH: Chinese President Hu Jintao left Saudi Arabia on Monday after signing energy and defence deals with the oil-rich kingdom and discussing a proposal to set up a Saudi-fed strategic oil reserve in China. Hu, who had arrived from the US on Saturday, flew to Morocco from an air base in the eastern oil hub of Dhahran, a Chinese official said. Hu is due to visit Nigeria and Kenya after Morocco. — AFP

Hooch kills 11

BHUBANESWAR: At least 11 people have died in Orissa after consuming spurious liquor, newspaper reports said on Monday. However, officials are yet to confirm the incident in Golabandha village, near Berhampur town, in which 30 people fell seriously ill. The Orissa daily Sambad reported several villagers had the brew on Saturday and complained of stomach pains, vomiting and blurred vision. While 11 people died, over 30 were admitted to a hospital. — HNS

Newspapers torched

MIRANSHAH: Masked gunmen on Monday set fire to dozens of newspapers in Pakistan’s tribal belt bordering Afghanistan because the publications failed to describe them as holy warriors, officials said. Two suspected militants torched copies of the Urdu-language dailies at two stalls in a main market of Mir Ali, a town in the restive North Waziristan tribal region, a local administration official said. The gunmen said they burned the papers because they were biased against them. — AFP

Pak culls chickens

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has slaughtered about 40,000 chickens after an outbreak of the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu at eight poultry farms on the outskirts of Islamabad, officials said on Monday. Test results confirmed the presence of H5N1 at poultry farms in Sihala and Tarlai, said a spokesman for the Food, Agriculture and Livestock Ministry. “Some 40,000 chickens have been destroyed since last week after H5N1 virus was confirmed,” spokesman Mohammad Afzal said. — AFP

B’desh gets fighter jets

BEIJING: China has delivered eight F-7BG fighter jets to Bangladesh as part of a 16-plane deal, state press reported on Monday. The jets were handed over to the Bangladeshi air force in a ceremony in southwestern China’s Yunnan province on March 28, Xinhua news agency said, without giving a reason for the delay in announcing the news. The two nations signed a deal for the purchase of the 16 planes in June 2005, with the other eight aircraft expected to be delivered by the end of this year, it said. — AFP

Plane crash kills one

KANDAHAR: A US government-leased transport plane carrying anti-narcotic officials crashed into a southern Afghan nomad settlement on Monday after trying to avoid a truck on the runway while landing, the coalition military said. One nomad child was killed and nine people injured, including Americans. The Russian-made twin-engine Antonov AN32 transport aircraft overran the airstrip after lifting over the truck at Bost airport in Lashkar Gah, capital of Helmand province. — AFP