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        After months of forensic work, police in the United Kingdom have handed back a house to its owner. That house was where Glasgow Airport terror attack accused Kafeel Ahmed and Bilal Abdullah used to live on rent. It has been alleged the pair had run a 'bomb factory' at the semi-detached Houston house, which is five miles from Glasgow Airport, for two months before the 30 June attack. While 27-year-old Indian engineer Ahmed had died in hospital following the incident, Iraqi doctor Abdullah has been facing charges of conspiring to cause explosions at the airport 'of a nature likely to endanger life...' Let-It, the agency which let the house on behalf of the female owner, has confirmed that the keys have been handed back by the police two days back, The Herald reported Saturday. What could they establish does not matter. Fortunately the batteries failed to trigger the explosion.

        Booze-loving Prince Harry has been slammed by medics and anti-alcohol campaigners in Britain for snorting Vodka in a potentially lethal drinking game. The 23-year-old Prince was captured on video inhaling a bottle cap full of the neat spirit through his nose while on holiday with girlfriend Chelsy Davy, The Sun reported Saturday. Professor Ian Gilmore, the president of Royal College of Physicians, told the British tabloid that snorting alcohol meant it was absorbed directly through the lungs bypassing the liver. 'This could kill.' In fact, in the footage, Harry was seen covering his right nostril with his finger before taking a huge sniff through the other. He then threw back his head to take the full hit of the drink and reeled in shock. As he happened to be Prince there is much hullabaloo.

        In a setback to the opposition's attempts to prevent Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf from seeking re-election in uniform, the Supreme Court has rejected cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan's plea to revoke an

        amendment in election rules that allow the General to contest without giving up the post of army chief. 'We have declined and not allowed the CMA (civil miscellaneous application) of Imran Khan,' Dawn newspaper quoted Justice Rana Bhagwandas, who headed the bench hearing identical petitions challenging the President's dual offices, as saying Thursday. Khan, heading the Tehreek-i-Insaf (Social Justice) party, in his application filed on Wednesday had requested the court to implead the Chief Election Commissioner as a respondent in the main petitions, claiming that the amendment had been made in a 'clandestine manner'. Advantage Musharraf.

        The Delhi High Court has taken exception to the country's premier probe agency for adopting different yardstick while dealing with petty offenders and influential persons involved in criminal activities and financial laundering. The court's observation came on a petition filed by Earthtech Enterprises, an agent of the National Agriculture Cooperative Marketing Federation of India Ltd (NAFED), seeking direction to the CBI to register a case against the alleged mastermind of the Rs 250 crore scam in the cooperative society. 'I am pained to observe that the law in this country punishes very harshly the small offenders involved in offences of stealing of small amounts to the tune of few hundreds or few thousands. Such accused are often sent to jail by the big fish who defraud the exchequer of crores of rupees,' Justice Dhingra observed in a recent order. This is surely a curse in a democratic set- up.

        BJP, which is trying to woo new allies from South, Friday faced some embarrassing questions from the media on its efforts to get close to AIADMK supremo Jayalalithaa after being reminded it had dubbed her as anti-Hindu after Kanchi Shankaracharya was arrested. 'I don't reply to hypothetical questions,' was what party spokesman Ravi Shanker Prasad said in Bhopal. Prasad was also reminded about the diatribe of the AIADMK leader against NDA when the BJP-led alliance lost power after the last Lok Sabha polls. Unfazed by the questions, Prasad insisted that Jayalalithaa has taken a tough stand on the Ram Sethu issue as also on the issue of acquittal of Abdul Nazer Madani in connection with the Coimbatore bomb blast case. Delicate questions could only be raised by mediapersons.
 

        Clearly uneasy with DMK chief M Karunanidhi's controversial remarks on Lord Ram, the Congress Friday distanced itself from his comments, saying the party's views on the issue were at variance with those of the southern ally. 'If our stand is at variance with other parties quoted to me, then it is clear that our stand is not the same,' Congress spokesman Abhishek Singhvi told reporters in New Delhi. He was responding to a question on whether there were differences between the Congress and the DMK on the issue of Lord Ram. 'It is clear that there is no one view in the UPA on the issue,' Singhvi said. On the Congress' stance in the matter, he said the party felt the issue of Lord Ram was that of personal faith and could not be an issue before the Supreme Court. Congress is in a dilemma over the DMK's overtures.

        In a rare and high risk surgery, a team of doctors at the Government Rajaji Hospital in Madurai has removed a tumour weighing one kg from the adrenal gland of a 15-year-old girl due to which she started slowly losing her feminine characteristics. Sumathi, a twelfth standard student, came to the hospital complaining of acute stomach pain. On examination, the doctors noticed the tumor had affected the third group of hormones, sex hormones, generated by the adrenal cortex, hospital dean Shivakumar said Friday. 'Though she was 15 years old, her feminine voice had started breaking into masculine tone and there was also growth of beard. The tumour had affected the pituitary hormone growth also leading to sexual underdevelopment,' he said. Well, the girl can attain her originality.

        Cable TV operators in Madurai city Friday protested the decision of Sumangali Cable Vision (SCV), owned by Maran brothers, to launch Direct to Home service. The operators held protests at the Multi System Operator's office at Uthangudi near Madurai and stopped the telecast of various TV channels, an operator told the press. The operators said that the decision would affect their livelihood. The MSO had announced an attractive DTH service from Friday which would provide 75 channels and 15 radio channels for Rs 75 a month, Rs 25 more than what the government planned to give the subscribers through the State-owned Cable TV network. SCV was also offering dish antenna and set-top boxes free of cost. Cable TV business wobbles.

        Senior BJP leader L K Advani Thursday offered worship at the Meenakshi temple in Madurai. He was accompanied by party leaders L Ganesan, S Tirunavuk-karasar and Ravi Shankar Prasad. The BJP leader, who returned from Tirunelveli after midnight Wednesday night, stayed at the Government Guest House and visited the temple Thursday morning, amid tight security. The temple executive officer B Raja received the BJP leader. Advani later told newsmen that he visited Madurai mainly to offer worship to Goddess Meenakshi, and pray for the welfare of the country and its people. Advani's prayers should fructify.

        Madras High Court Friday directed the Tamilnadu government to maintain status quo with regard to the order, directing the authorities of Kodanadu Estate to open the gates, which restricted the public to use the road through it. Justice K N Basha ordered status quo till 27 September on a petition filed by the Estate Manager R Ravichandran, seeking to quash Thursday's order of the Assistant Collector, Coonoor and to stay its operation pending disposal of his petition. The order implies that the State government cannot proceed further, pursuant to the order to open the gates. The judge posted the further hearing of the case to 27 September. In his interim order, the judge said Advocate General had said that the 20 September order passed under section 138 of CrPC was served to the manager. But he refused to receive it. Setback to government.

        Even as the controversy over Tamilnadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi's remarks on the existence of Lord Ram, failed to die down, Indian Science Monitor (ISM) today called for an international research on the issue. T K V Rajan, Founder-Director, ISM, told reporters in Chennai that Ramayana was a big phenomenon in Asia and East Asian regions like Philippines, Java and Sumatra. 'Rama is seen as a big phenomenon in these countries... there must be a site associated with Rama in Java and Sumatra. We must view him from a broader perspective,' he said. Rajan also said the government must come out in support of an international collaboration to conduct research on his existence. Will the Tamilnadu government follow it up?-O

        The Tamilnadu government on Friday said it would take a decision on going for an appeal against the acquittal of People's Democratic Party chairman Abdul Nasser Madhani in the 1998 Coimbatore bomb blast case, after getting legal opinion. 'We are waiting for a judgment copy. Once we get it, we will seek legal opinion and take a decision,' State Home Secretary S Malathi told a press conference in Chennai. Madhani was acquitted recently by a special court in Coimbatore, which conducted the trial in the serial bomb blast case. Before his release, the Kerala-based PDP leader was lodged in the Coimbatore central prison for nearly nine years. TN government wanted his acquittal.

        Pepsico-Exnora's Zero Waste Management project in the state has been selected by UNICEF as a model project and as a centre for International learning in the area of Urban Solid Waste Management. A press release said in Chennai Saturday that the project was initiated in 2005 as part of Pepsico's initiative to reduce and recycle solid waste. To understand the planning, process, implementation and impact of the programme, a team of 21 delegates from nine countries - Denmark, Egypt, Zambia, Philippines, Indonesia, Nepal, East Jerusalem, Djibouti and Ethiopia visited the project at Pammal near Chennai Saturday. UNICEF has initiated the international learning session since last year as part of water and sanitation programme with specific reference to build better facilities for children, the release added.

        Indian selectors appointed wicketkeeper Mahendra Singh Dhoni as one-day captain on Tuesday after Rahul Dravid abruptly quit the job. 'Dhoni has been appointed the captain for the upcoming one-day series against Pakistan and Australia,' BCCI secretary Niranjan Shah told a news conference after a selection meeting. The 26-year-old Dhoni, captain at the ongoing Twenty20 World Cup in South Africa, will have a baptism of fire in the seven-match series against World Cup champions Australia starting on 29 September. 'We thought he was the best man for the job,' chief selector Dilip Vengsarkar added. The selectors also named the 15-man squad for the first three games. Dhoni, who holds the record for the highest one-day score by a wicketkeeper (183 no), was thought to be in contention with former skipper Sachin Tendulkar but media reports suggested Tendulkar did not want to lead in one-dayers.

        Yuvraj Singh became the first player in Twenty20 history to hit six sixes in an over in India's match against England. Stuart Broad was the luckless bowler in the World Twenty20 Super Eights match. The devastating barrage from Yuvraj, 25, helped him reach his half-century off just 12 balls - the fastest 50 ever in international cricket. Sir Gary Sobers was the first to hit six sixes in an over in first-class cricket while Herschelle Gibbs managed it in a one-day international.