Houston, July 5
Indian American astronaut Sunita Williams, who holds the feat of completing the longest space flight for a woman, received the Padma Bhushan - India's second highest civilian award - here for her outstanding achievements.

Indian Consul-General S.M. Gavai presented her with the award at a function, which was attended by large number of Indian Americans.

The award was conferred on Sunita earlier this year, however, due to her preoccupations, she could not turn up to receive it in New Delhi from President Pratibha Patil.

The astronaut, who was accompanied by her father Deepak Pandya, expressed happiness on the recognition. "It is a great honour. I am elated," she said.

Recounting her experience in space, where she remained for 195 days, Sunita said, "Earth looks beautiful from space as there are no borders on the planet".

"Sometimes we think we have borders because we are male, female, of different religions or have differently coloured skin," she said, adding, "Well you don't, they are just in your mind and they are not real". — PTI

President Pervez Musharraf, while referring to the media rumours that he was fleeing the country, categorically said on Friday that he was not leaving the scene. "I am not afraid of anybody. I have been in the army," he boasted. He added that he had been purposefully silent for the last few months. "I have to play my role along with the political parties to steer the country out of the present crisis. So I am not leaving the country," he said on Friday at a dinner in Karachi hosted by the business community.

He said the country was passing through a stormy phase due to terrorism, extremism, and economic and political crises affecting the trade and industry.

The President also called for dealing with the separatist and extremist elements with force. He was concerned that the separatist tendencies in Balochistan were on the rise. He said that the policy of appeasement toward such elements would not work.

Kathmandu, July 5
Charles Sobhraj’s hope of settling down with a Nepali women when the celebrity criminal is released from Kathmandu’s Central Jail may not materialise, for he may have to stay behind the bars for three more years if he ties the knot with his new found love.

Nicknamed the ‘Bikini killer’ and ‘Serpent’, Sobhraj has been accused of luring young women and killing many of them. He has been sentenced to life imprisonment by a district court in July 2004 on charges of murdering an American and a Canadian tourist in Kathmandu in 1975.

The love affair of the criminal mastermind and his “engagement” to 20-year-old Nepali beauty Nihita Biswas has grabbed media attention in the Indian subcontinent.

Sixty-four-year-old Sobhraj has been ‘engaged’ with Nihita and plans to marry her when he is released from the Nepal prison, where he is languishing since September 2003.

Serving a life term on murder charge, Sobhraj is already married to Chantal, who lives in France. He also has a wife in Australia, a media report said. However, Sobhraj claims he has already divorced his first wife.

Nepalese law does not permit for polygamy and it can slap up to three years imprisonment on those who violate the law by engaging in second marriage, says lawyer Dinesh Tripathi.

“Unless he receives clearance from the French Embassy that he has divorced his first wife, he is not legally allowed to marry Nihita,” he said. As per Civil Code Section 9, re-marriage has been prohibited. — PTI 

London, July 5
A German man today beheaded Hitler's statue at Madame Tussauds in Berlin shortly after the attraction was opened to visitors amid a controversy over the installation of the notorious dictator’s waxwork in the museum.

The 41-year-old entered the wax museum shortly after its doors opened and rushed to the Hitler figure, scuffling with a guard assigned to protect it and a manager before tearing the head off the life-size statue, the police said.

The man was arrested and is now in custody, Berlin police spokeswoman Uwe Kozelnik said. He claimed he wanted to protest against the figure being included in the museum. — PTI

BRIEFLY

IIT, Bombay, golden jubilee meet in New York
HOUSTON: Alumni of the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, have decided to celebrate their alma mater's 50th birthday with a Golden Jubilee Conference in New York. The three-day conference, "Looking Ahead: The Next Fifty Years", will begin from July 18. More than 700 people from over 325 organisations have already registered for this event. — PTI

Protesters hold rally ahead of G-8 summit
Sapporo (Japan): Thousands of activists and farmers from around the world gathered in northern Japan for a major protest ahead of next week's summit of the G-8 nations. Security was tight for the rally, which brought together union activists, anti-war demonstrators, farmers and students in the city where world leaders will meet on Monday. — AFP