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        A US-based rights watchdog has accused China of continuing to violate the rights of journalists, despite assurances to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) on improving its human rights record and pledges for media freedom. With less than an year before the 2008 Beijing Games, journalists in China continue to face 'physical abuse and harassment' from police and plainclothes thugs who appear to work at official behest, Human Rights Watch said. 'The continuing harassment and physical abuse of journalists in the count down to the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing raises serious questions about the sincerity of government pledges to greater media freedom,' said Sophie Richardson of Human Rights Watch on Friday. Red China is indeed in deep red.

        Criticising the Bush administration for its counter-terrorism policies, Democratic Presidential candidate John Edwards Saturday said he would invade Pakistan to eradicate terror cells if there were actionable intelligence and the US-ally refuses to act. 'I want to be clear about one thing. If we have actionable intelligence about imminent terrorist activity and the Pakistan government refuses to act, we will,' Edwards said at a campaign rally at Pace University in New York. Maintaining that the US has not used every available tool in the book to pressurise countries like Pakistan to shut down terror camps, the 2004 vice-presidential candidate said, 'We ought to use our tremendous tools - diplomacy, arm sales, trade, foreign aid - to get states to shut down terror cells. Will the US raise its stakes and involvement in Central Asia is the moot point.

        US President George W Bush on Saturday said that Osama bin Laden's first video appearance in three years is a reminder of 'the dangerous world in which we live. It's important that we show resolve and determination to protect ourselves, deny al-Qaida safe havens,' Bush said during a visit to Australia. The video was released just days before the sixth anniversary of the 11 September attacks on the United States that killed almost 3,000 people. In a 30-minute speech addressed to Americans, bin Laden boasts about the impact of the 2001 attacks, mocks the democratic system of government in the US and lambasts the Bush administration for initiating the war in Iraq. A grim reminder of twin tower strikes and the US revenge attacks.

        Fourteen persons accused in the Sabarmati Express train carnage in Godhra had filed an application before the POTA court requesting they be allowed to give media interviews to appeal to the Supreme Court to expedite hearing of their case. The one-of-its-kind application was filed in the court of POTA Judge Sonia Gokani and would come up for hearing on Wednesday. In the application, the accused sought permission for media interviews so as to communicate to the Supreme Court their prayer for speedy disposal of two matters pertaining to the case pending since 2003, Rohit Verma, an advocate appearing on behalf of the applicants told the press. The court issued notice to the State government and Sabarmati Jail authorities, asking them to reply by Wednesday. Now, upto the apex court to speedy up the case.

        Former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Janardhan Reddy and his wife N Rajyalakshmi, a State Minister, on Friday escaped an assassination bid by Maoists who triggered a land mine blast that killed three persons in Nellore district. The explosion was set off at a culvert, targeting the convoy of senior Congress leader who was going to the temple town of Tirupati to receive an honorary degree from Sri Venkateswara University. Two Congress activists and a driver of the car which took the brunt of the blast died on the spot. The attack took place at 6.30 am, about 15 minutes after the convoy of 20 vehicles left Vakadu, the native village of 72-year-old Reddy, now an MP representing Visakhapatnam in the Lok Sabha. Time to clamp down on naxalites with a firm hand.

        The BJP which has declared that it has launched itself into an election mode is yet undecided about its PM candidate in the event of a snap poll. 'Both Atal Bihari Vajpayee and L K Advani are our top leaders. But the BJP's parliamentary board will decide on this issue of PM candidate,' senior leader Vijay Kumar Malhotra told reporters. He was asked who his party would project as its candidate for the top job following his colleague Yashwant Sinha's remarks to a news channel that a leader of opposition in India does not necessarily become Prime Minister when his or her party comes to power. Sinha who was virtually sidelined in the party when Advani was the president had cited Congress chief Sonia Gandhi as an example, saying she too did not become PM although she was the leader of Opposition during the NDA rule. Fissures out in the open.

        Tamilnadu Police are keeping a tight vigil and monitoring the situation following reports that some extremist organisations were planning to strike vital and strategic locations in the State, officials said. Police are keeping a close eye on lodges, hotels, railway stations, bus-stand and certain areas in and around the city, sources said. Patrolling around the temples have been intensified, and sniffer dogs and metal detectors are used to check vehicles and baggage on a random basis. Police also raided several lodges on Thursday following a tip-off that some persons related to the suspects of the Hyderabad twin blasts had come to Madurai and were hiding in the city. The surprise and random checking of vehicles would continue as a precautionary measure, and nothing unusual was found during the search, they said. Vigilant security is the need of the hour.

        With delay in official announcement of the inauguration date of Salem Railway Division, political parties and organisations in the region are planning to intensify their agitation in a day or two. Chief Minister M Karunanidhi and Union Minister of State for Railways, R Velu (hailing from Tamilnadu) have time and again assured the local people that the division, carved out from Palakkad division, would be formally inaugurated on 14 September. Railways has also clarified that the division has already become functional from February last and works like releasing of emergency quota also had become operational. The MPs from Kerala, who opposed the formation of the division, citing revenue loss to Palakkad, continue to meet Railway Minister Lalu Prasad and subsequently Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to find a solution to the vexed issue and also to create a new zone for that State. After Mullaperiyar dam row, now the tussle is on Railway division between the two States.

        A 74-year-old retired school teacher is to get his pension and back wages for the period when he was wrongly terminated from service 22 years ago thanks to the intervention of the Madurai Bench of the Madras High court. A division bench comprising Justice Prafulla Kumar Misra and Justice P R Shivakumar directed the concerned officials to disburse the pension to the petitioner within three months. The school management should pay the back wages within the same period, the court said. The bench also resolved the dispute between the Joint Director of School Education (JDE) and the school management, holding that the management was solely responsible for disbursing the back wages. The judges pointed out that the teacher was terminated without obtaining prior permission from the JDE. A pyrrhic victory?

        Amid reports that she had been distancing herself from the United National Progressive Alliance, consisting of non-Congress and non-BJP parties, AIADMK chief Jayalalithaa had a 20-minute meeting with senior BJP leader Ravishankar Prasad who called on her at Poes Garden. BJP sources said it was a courtesy call. It was after a long time that a senior BJP leader had met Jayalalithaa whose AIADMK had severed ties with it in 1998. But former Prime Minister A B Vajpayee telephoned Jayalalithaa seeking her party's support to Bhairon Singh Shekhawat in the Presidential polls. Though the UNPA decided to abstain from voting, AIADMK MLAs and MPs voted for Shekhawat in the polls. BJP tilting towards AIADMK.

        Customs officials have seized 15,000 viagra tablets worth Rs 15 lakh in the international market, which were posted through air-mails, an official said on Friday. Customs Commissioner C Rajan told reporters in Chennai that the tablets found in 356 covers were booked from various addresses in Gingee in Villupuram district of Tamilnadu for being delivered to D Richard, R John Peter and S Chandramohan of Coimbatore. 'However, the Gingee addresses have proved to be fake and further investigation is on,' Rajan said. The consignment of tablets, Vigreks-50, Datora-20 and Vigoro-100, were recovered from two different checks, he said while putting the value of the seizure at Rs 15 lakh in the international market. The viagra tablets available abroad are five times more expensive than in India. Now, the culprits have to be booked.

        Chief Minister M Karunanidhi on Friday opposed the extension of duration for medical degrees by a year which was announced by Union Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss. Already PMK, the ally of the ruling DMK, had severely criticised the policies of the State government on many fronts. There could not be two opinions that medical students should have the concern and enthusiasm to work for the rural people, Karunanidhi said. However, the extension of the period of medical courses by one year for the purpose of serving rural people would not be acceptable, he said. The Health Minister had said that from next year, only those who completed rural postings would be awarded the degree. How Minister Ramadoss reacts to stiff opposition is worth watching.

        Common man in the country has been facing a tough time as prices of food has rising in the last one year and the growth rate of (rpt) the growth rate of per capita income declining, Industry chamber Assocham said.

        In the last one year till August 2007, retail prices of six essential commodities had risen by 23-25 per cent, while per capita income fell by 1.09 per cent. According to an analysis by the chamber, wheat, milk, tea, vegetables, spices, fish and meat are the six essential items retail prices of which have fluctuated most during this period.

        However, minor adjustments were noticed in the prices of pulses, which moved in the range of Rs 42 to Rs 52 per kg during August 2007, where as in the previous month the same was hovering around Rs 45-67 per kg.

        Sugar was being sold at Rs 18 per kg in the month of July, 2007, witnessed a marginal fall by Rs two per kg and was sold at Rs 16 per kg in August this year, the analysis showed. Barring pulses and sugar, prices of all other essential items registered a substantial hike with wheat and rice prices going up by 30-32 per cent during the period, Assocham President V N Dhoot said.

        Shoaib Akhtar has blamed Pakistan allrounder Shahid Afridi for the spat that led to him hitting fast bowler Mohammad Asif with a bat during Pakistan's build-up to the ICC World Twenty20 in South Africa.

        On his return home from South Africa, after being thrown out of the squad, Shoaib apologised for his actions and said the matter should have stayed in the dressing room.

        Shoaib, who has been handed an indefinite ban for the scuffle, said he didn't mean to hit Asif, whom he described as a younger brother. 'I apologised to Asif and he forgave me but another team-mate, Afridi, took the matter further and it forced the management to send me back,' Shoaib said.