Ahmedabad: As a major embarrassment for the BJP, former Gujarat minister Maya Kodnani, along with ex-VHP leader Jaydeep Patel, has been remanded to police custody for 4 days.
Kodnani is accused of leading a mob against the Muslims in the 2002 post Godhra Naroda Patiya and Naroda Gam riots that killed more than 106 people.
Public Prosecutor Sudhir Brahmbhatt said, "We need to find out which materials and weapons were used. Also, the role of other leaders in the conspiracy, which was deep rooted."
Kodnani's advocate Mitesh Amin argued that her statement has been recorded six times since 2002 and there is no need for a 14-day remand. He also contended that she has been interrogated extensively after her arrest on Friday. The magistrate remanded Kodnani and Patel in police custody till April 1.
Amin said, "The reasons by the prosecution were not sufficient for a 14-day remand. Both have been thoroughly interrogated already. I think the court took this into account. Accused have to co-operate with the investigation and I think it is fair."
But Maya Kodnani will not be able to walk out free very soon. She is yet to be arrested in the Naroda Patiya case.
On Sunday in an interview US President Barack Obama said that the United States would give Pakistan the tools it needed to defeat 'al Qaeda' but expected some accountability in return.
"One of the concerns that we've had building up over the last several years is a notion, I think, among the average Pakistani, that this is somehow America's war and they are not invested," Obama told CBS's "Face the Nation."
"What we want to do is say to the Pakistani people - you are our friends, you are our allies. We are going to give you the tools to defeat al Qaeda and to root out these safe havens, but we also expect some accountability," he said.
NEW YORK: A vast cyber spy network controlled from China has infiltrated government and private computers
in 103 countries, including those of
Indian embassy in Washington and the Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama, a media report said on Sunday.
Canadian researchers, the New York Times reported, have concluded that the computers based almost exclusively in China are controlling the network and stealing documents, but stopped short of saying that the Chinese government was involved.
It quoted researchers as saying that they had found no evidence that the US government offices had been infiltrated, although a NATO computer was monitored by the spies for half a day and computers of the Indian embassy in Washington were infiltrated.
The researchers, who are based at the Munk Center for International Studies at the University of Toronto, had been asked by the office of the Dalai Lama, the exiled Tibetan leader whom China regularly denounces, to examine its computers for signs of malicious software or malware, the paper said, quoting a report being issued shortly.
Their sleuthing, it said, opened a window into a broader operation that, in less than 2 years, has infiltrated at least 1,295 computers in 103 countries, including many belonging to embassies, foreign ministries and other government offices, as well as the Dalai Lama's Tibetan exile centers in India, Brussels, London and New York.
Also, a woman working for a group making Internet contacts between Tibetan exiles and Chinese citizens was stopped by Chinese intelligence officers on her way back to Tibet, shown transcripts of her online conversations and warned to stop her political activities, the paper reported.
The Toronto researchers said they had notified international law enforcement agencies of the spying operation, which in their view exposed basic shortcomings in the legal structure of cyberspace. The FBI, the Times said, declined to comment on the operation.
Although the Canadian researchers said that most of the computers behind the spying were in China, the paper said, they cautioned against concluding that China's government was involved. The spying could be a non-state, for-profit operation, for example, or one run by private citizens in China known as "patriotic hackers."
"We're a bit more careful about it, knowing the nuance of what happens in the subterranean realms," Ronald J Deibert, a member of the research group and an associate professor of political science at Munk, was quoted as saying. "This could well be the CIA or the Russians. It's a murky realm that we're lifting the lid on."
A spokesman for the Chinese Consulate in New York, the paper said, dismissed the idea that China was involved. "These are old stories and they are nonsense," the spokesman, Wenqi Gao, said. "The Chinese government is opposed to and strictly forbids any cyber crime."
PILIBHIT: BJP leader Varun Gandhi was booked under the National Security Act (NSA) by the Uttar Pradesh police on Sunday night.
Pilibhit DM has informed the BJP leader that he has been booked under the NSA.
On Sunday The BJP reacted sharply to the invoking of NSA against its candidate Varun Gandhi, saying it was the "worst kind of vendetta politics at work."
"This is not emergency days. The nation is watching. Gandhi has been charged under this Act at a time when a TADA convict (Sanjay Dutt) is seeking his election from Lucknow and many more culprits are in the fray," Javdekar said.
WASHINGTON: on Friday US President Obama said that many nations, like Iran, India and China, have a stake in achieving security in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
"From our partners and NATO allies, we seek not simply troops, but rather clearly defined capabilities: supporting the Afghan elections, training Afghan Security Forces, and a greater civilian commitment to the Afghan people," said in a speech outlining a new strategy for Afghanistan.
He said he wanted to form a new contact group for Afghanistan that would include Iran, Russia, India and China, as well as NATO allies.
