Belarus: 2 killed as explosion hits subway station

Moscow:  An explosion tore through a subway station near the office of the authoritarian president of Belarus during evening rush hour on Monday, killing at least two people and wounding numerous others, according to news agencies.

The cause of the blast at the station in Minsk, the capital of Belarus, was not immediately clear.

Several witnesses told The Associated Press that the explosion occurred just as passengers were leaving a train in the Oktyabrskaya station about 6 pm. The station is located in the center of Minsk, very close to the offices of the government, including those of President Aleksandr G. Lukashenko.

News agencies reported smoke pouring from the station's exits as bodies were carried out on stretchers.

Egypt blogger convicted for criticising military

Cairo:  Local and international rights groups say an Egyptian military court has convicted a blogger of insulting the army and sentenced him to three years in prison.

Maikel Nabil Sanad, 26, wrote about alleged military abuses against protesters and questioned whether they were still loyal to recently deposed President Hosni Mubarak.

Egypt's military took charge of managing the country's affairs Feb. 11 after Mubarak was ousted following an 18-day popular uprising.

The rights groups said Monday Sanad was arrested on March 28 and put on trial for insulting the military and publishing false information based on the writings on his blog and Facebook postings.

Plutonium as fuel? Japan crisis raises doubts

South Carolina:  On a tract of government land along the Savannah River in South Carolina, an army of workers is building one of the nation's most ambitious nuclear enterprises in decades: a plant that aims to safeguard at least 43 tons of weapons-grade plutonium by mixing it into fuel for commercial power reactors.

The project grew out of talks with the Russians to shrink nuclear arsenals after the cold war. The plant at the Savannah River Site, once devoted to making plutonium for weapons, would now turn America's lethal surplus to peaceful ends. Blended with uranium, the usual reactor fuel, the plutonium would be transformed into a new fuel called mixed oxide, or mox.

"We are literally turning swords into plowshares," one of the project's biggest boosters, Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, said at a hearing on Capitol Hill last week.

But 11 years after the government awarded a construction contract, the cost of the project has soared to nearly $5 billion. The vast concrete and steel structure is a half-finished hulk, and the government has yet to find a single customer, despite offers of lucrative subsidies.

Maharashtra: Teen raped in revenge by her father's employer

Mumbai:  For six days, she was raped repeatedly by a group of four men. The ringleader, Babulal Rasal, was not a stranger. Her father had worked for him for two years as a farm hand; he had recently managed to pay off Babulal's loan, which allowed him the freedom to find a new job.

On the seventh day, when Babulal decided he had punished her enough, he dropped her off outside her home.

On the eight day, she tried to set herself on fire in her village of Surmapuri in Maharashtra's Beed district.

She is sixteen. Her body is covered with severe burns. Doctors attending to her say she is unlikely to survive.

In this part of Maharashtra, farm owners are still accustomed to treating their help like bonded labour. The police believes that Babulal couldn't stomach the fact that the victim's father had been able to break what is usually an endless circle of loan and debt. In revenge, he kidnapped his worker's daughter.

''On April 5, my son and I went to the police station and registered a case against Babulal Rasal and Narayan Kale. The police said they will find my daughter. But they didn't do anything,'' said her father, flatly.

Babulal and his men allegedly moved the victim between three different small lodges, where they raped her.

One man has been arrested. But Babulal and two others are missing. 

For 6 months, sisters didn't leave Noida house

Noida:  Two sisters have been rescued after spending six months locked up in their house in Noida, a suburb of Delhi.

Both sisters, in their 40s, lived by themselves after their parents died a few years ago. Their brother left home six months ago.

Police broke into the sector 29 home to rescue the women after being tipped off by the neighbours. The sisters were found starving and dehydrated and were admitted to the Kailash hospital. The condition of the older sister is said to critical.

Police say the sisters stopped coming out of their house after their pet dog died some months ago.

Indian team to check on IC-814 'mastermind'

New Delhi:  A two member team from India will leave for Chile tomorrow to determine if Abdul Rauf, the man detained by Chile, is the man suspected to be behind the hijacking of IC-814 in 1999.

The team will include one member from the CBI's Interpol unit and one member from the Intelligence Bureau.

While Chile informed India about the arrest last week, officials in India are skeptical that the arrested man could indeed be the suspect, who is the brother-in-law of Jaish-e- Mohammed chief Maulana Masood Azhar.

Raids continue at Lilavati hospital for the second day: Sources

Mumbai's famous Lilavati Hospital continued to enjoy unwanted attention for the second consecutive day with Income Tax Department calling on their doors yet again.

According to sources, the I-T department is questioning the four trustees of the hospital.

The hospital in Bandra is governed by the Lilavati Kirtilal Mehta Medical Trust, which was formed in 1978. Seven of the 11 trustees are from the Mehta family.

The two trustees - Prabodh Mehta and Rashmi Mehta - have been accused in the Supreme Court of siphoning money from the hospital to a bank account in Liechtenstein.

The petition has been filed by a Delhi resident, Harsh Raghuvanshi, who claims that the Mehtas are using the hospital for money-laundering. The Supreme Court had asked the Central government and the Reserve Bank of India to follow up on his complaint.

The LGT Bank in Liechtenstein has given the Indian government a list of nearly 30 Indians who operated undeclared bank accounts there. It's not clear if the raids against the Mehtas are connected to that list, which has been shared with the Supreme Court by the government.

If the agency finds that the charitable trust siphoned off funds, then according to the I-T act the I-T department will tax the institute (a charitable trust is exempted from taxes).

On MOnday, Income Tax officials also searched the offices of Mayfair Realtors and Vestra Infrastructure in Mumbai - companies which had loaned money to the Lilavati Trust in 2002.

Responding to the raids, the hospital, in a statement said, "The I-T Department today has conducted a search operation at the Lilavati hospital which is their routine work and we are cooperating with them."