News around the world for week ended Jan 29

SATURDAY

Islamabad: The Pakistan government cancels an official visit by an Election Commission delegation to India, days after  parliamentarians said they would not participate in the trip to protest the perceived snub to Pakistani cricketers in the IPL auction.  

Dhaka: Bangladesh seeks to ink an interim pact with India on water sharing of Teesta river to lay the "foundation for the desired long-term deal" on all common rivers.  

SUNDAY

Cairo: Al-Qaeda supremo Osama bin Laden claims responsibility for the botched Christmas Day US airline bombing attempt and warns America of new "raids" unless it backed off from supporting Israel.  

Melbourne: Australian police appeals to public to help them nab the killers of two Indian youths even as it re-enacted final movements of the life of one of the victims and released his CCTV footage to get some clue.  

MONDAY

Islamabad: Pakistan's Supreme Court decides to launch contempt proceedings against Interior Minister Rehman Malik for "interfering" in a probe into alleged financial irregularities in a state-run steel firm, rejecting his explanation as being devoid of an "apology".  

Dhaka: Two of the five former Bangladeshi military officers held guilty for the 1975 assassination of the country's founding leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman pleads for the commutation of their death sentence on grounds of old age.

TUESDAY

Chicago: Pakistani-Canadian LeT operative Tahawwur Hussain Rana pleads not guilty to the charges of helping arrange the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks and making plans for an attack on a Danish newspaper.  

Melbourne: Two Indian students are punched, pushed to the ground and kicked by a mob here in the eighth such incident in Australia in a fortnight leading to the arrest of nine persons, five of whom were booked for assault.  

WEDNESDAY

Colombo: Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa wins a second term in office trouncing joint opposition candidate Sarath Fonseka, his one-time army chief who helped him crush the LTTE, and the loser cried foul rejecting the outcome.  

Beijing: Two weeks after 21 Indians were detained in China for alleged smuggling of  diamonds, the government here has said the case needed further verification and would be handled according to law.  

THURSDAY

Dhaka: With hundreds of people jamming the streets outside demanding their execution, five ex-army officers, who assassinated Bangladesh's founder president Sheikh Mujibur Rahman 35 years ago, are hanged shortly after midnight at the central jail here.  

Chicago: Pakistani-origin LeT operative David Headley, accused of scouting targets for the deadly 2008 attacks in Mumbai, has pleaded not guilty in a court here to updated terror charges, some of which carry death penalty.

FRIDAY

Washington: US President Barack Obama announces that the federal government would reduce its greenhouse gas pollution by 28 per cent by 2020.  

Melbourne: An Indian couple is among three persons charged with murdering mutual friend Ranjodh Singh, who was stabbed multiple times and set ablaze while still alive, and denied bail during a court appearance in New South Wales province of Australia.