Judge’s rape case continues

MUMBAI: A South African judge was on Friday charged with raping an AIDS activist while the two were attending the World Social Forum in Mumbai last week, even though the woman withdrew her allegations against him. Serajuddin Desai, 53, a Cape Town High Court judge, was arrested on Sunday after 27-year-old Salome Isaacs, also from South Africa, accused him of raping her in his hotel room. Desai was granted bail on Friday.

One held with explosives

NEWDELHI: A militant has been arrested in New Delhi with 3.6 kg of high explosives, days ahead of Republic Day celebrations, police said on Friday. Ayaz Mohammad Shah of the Hizb-e-Islami group who hails from Jammu and Kashmir was arrested at a metro railway station in northeast Delhi on Thursday, Deputy Commissioner of Police Ashok Chand said. “He was going to deliver the explosives to a contact,” Chand said.

Prithvi test-fired

NEW DELHI: India on Friday test-fired from a mobile launcher its medium range Prithvi missile, designed for quick maneuverability and wartime efficiency, United News of India reported. This was the 23rd such firing of the Prithvi since 1988, UNI said. The Prithvi has a range of 300 km with a 250 kg warhead, but can carry up to 1,000 kg, UNI said. The missile was fired from the government’s testing range at Chandipur-on-Sea in eastern Orissa state.

Islamic conference

JAKARTA: Indonesia’s largest Islamic organisation said on Friday it will host the first ever conference linking Islamic scholars from the Middle East and the West. The Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) organisation has invited delegates from 74 countries in the Middle East and the West for the conference in Jakarta from February 23-26, said Hasyim Muzadi, the NU chairman. “The aim is to eliminate the tension between East and West ... using religion, not politics,” Muzadi said.

Millionaire to be extradited

BANGKOK: An American millionaire accused of murdering his socialite wife in 1987 is expected to stand trial in the United States

after a Thai court on Friday approved his extradition. James Vincent Sullivan, 62, is wanted by US authorities on several charges. He has denied the allegations. A man posing as a flower delivery man shot Lita McClinton Sullivan in the head on January 16, 1987, at her Atlanta home.

3 rebels killed in Aceh

BANDA ACEH: Three suspected separatist rebels were killed during gun battles with troops in Indonesia’s Aceh province, the military said on Friday. Two of the suspected rebels were killed in a firefight on Thursday afternoon in Aceh Jaya district, said military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Asep Sapari. About half an hour earlier in South Aceh another suspected Free Aceh Movement rebel died in an exchange of gunfire, he said.

Held for capturing turtles

BHUBANESWAR: Wildlife officials in Orissa have arrested a man for capturing two endangered Olive Ridley turtles and trying to sell them. Bishnu Samal, a fisherman from a village in Bhadrak district, was arrested for capturing two turtles from the state’s famed Gahirmatha beach, the biggest nesting site of these endangered species in the world. Samal told wildlife officials that he wanted to sell them and make some money. The turtles have been released.

Netaji’s b’day marked

KOLKATA: Nearly 10,000 motorbikes thundered through this city in unison as West Bengal marked the 107th birth anniversary on Monday of one of India’s greatest revolutionaries, Subhas Chandra Bose. The state’s ruling leftists, who had no love lost for the great leader until some time back, organised the biggest commemorative programme in the city after admitting they had been wrong in assessing Bose, popularly called “Netaji”.

14 killed in road mishap

TAIYUAN: Fourteen people were killed and 14 injured when an over-loaded bus ran off a road and crashed into a ditch in China, reports Xinhua. The accident occurred on Thursday evening in Gaoping city in the northern province of Shanxi. Most of the dead and injured passengers are women hairdressers heading for home to spend the Spring Festival, China’s Lunar New Year.