The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Grief turns into anger after Brazil nightclub fire; band in custody
Relatives of victims of the fire at Boate Kiss nightclub attend a prayer meeting in Santa Maria. Santa Maria (Brazil), Jan 28
Relatives of over 200 persons who died in a Brazilian nightclub fire demanded answers on Monday as to how it could have killed so many people, while the police questioned the club's owner and members of the band whose pyrotechnics show allegedly caused the tragedy.

Relatives of victims of the fire at Boate Kiss nightclub attend a prayer meeting in Santa Maria. — Reuters

Nurse Suicide
Oz radio show taken off air permanently
Melbourne, January 28
The Australian radio show, whose royal prank call to a British hospital went awry and created a furore when it led an Indian nurse to commit suicide, has been junked by the radio network. The Southern Cross Austereo (SCA) network has decided to permanently take the ‘Hot 30’ show off air and has even announced a replacement show called ‘The Bump’, a report in the AAP said.

French troops ring Timbuktu, Islamists burn manuscripts
Bamako (Mali), January 28
French-led troops ringed Mali's fabled desert city of Timbuktu today after seizing its airport in a lightning advance as fleeing Islamists torched a building housing priceless ancient manuscripts.

Nepal Maoists lock up school over Indian syllabus
Kathmandu, January 28
Teachers backed by the breakaway CPN-Maoist faction in Nepal have forcibly shut down a local school allegedly for including Indian course syllabus as part of the curriculum.

US pastor sentenced to 8-year jail in Iran
Boise (US), January 28
A file photo shows pastor Saeed Abedini with his wife Naghmeh and their two children. The US State Department says an American pastor who has been jailed in Iran since September has been sentenced to eight years in prison. Spokesman Darby Holladay said yesterday that the department was calling on Iran to respect Saeed Abedini's human rights and release him. Earlier this month, Iran's semi-official news agency ISNA quoted Abedini's attorney as saying his client stood trial in the Revolutionary Court on charges of attempting to undermine state security by creating a network of Christian churches in private homes.

A file photo shows pastor Saeed Abedini with his wife Naghmeh and their two children. — AFP

Two Indians sentenced to jail, flogging in S Arabia
Dubai, January 28
Two Indian nationals have been sentenced to one year in prison each and flogging for illegally manufacturing and selling liquor in Saudi Arabia, where alcohol is strictly prohibited.

UAE puts 94 on trial for plotting to overthrow regime
Dubai, January 28
In a crack down on Islamist groups in the country, the UAE has put 94 people with suspected links to the radical Muslim Brotherhood on trial for plotting to overthrow the Gulf regime and seize power.

	Emergency in 3 riot-hit Egypt cities Fresh violence breaks out Cairo, January 28 Egypt's main opposition coalition today rejected as "waste of time" a call by Muhammed Mursi for a national dialogue to end a wave of unrest, a day after the embattled President declared an emergency in three riot-hit provinces following the death of nearly 50 persons. As a month-long state of emergency in the provinces of Port Said, Suez and Ismailiya was declared, the Cabinet today approved a draft law empowering the army to behave like a police force in "preserving security and protecting vital establishments". Nobel laureate Mohamed Elbaradei, after a meeting of the main opposition coalition National Salvation Front, said they would not participate in a dialogue that was "empty of content". ElBaradei, in a statement on Twitter earlier, called the "dialogue invitation a waste of time" and slammed the government for failing to admit responsibility for the recent violence and for not forming a new consensus-based government and Constituent Assembly. The fresh violence broke out today near the iconic Tahrir Square in the heart of Cairo, the epicentre of anti-regime protests during Hosni Mubarak's rule, leaving one person dead taking the toll to 48. Over 700 persons were also injured since the second anniversary of the Egyptian revolution on January 25. Riot police fired tear gas at rock-throwing protesters in central Cairo today, hours after Mursi declared the emergency in the three governorates which have witnessed deadly clashes. "I have said I am against any emergency measures, but I have said that if I must stop bloodshed and protect the people then I will act," Mursi said. In a speech broadcast live on state TV, Mursi last night said he made these decisions after reviewing the Constitution, and that while he does not want to take extraordinary measures, he has been forced to do so, given the situation. He warned that if violence continues, he would be forced to take stricter measures to protect the country. "If I must I will do much more for the sake of Egypt. This is my duty and I will not hesitate," Mursi warned. This is the first time for Mursi to take such measures, particularly the state of emergency. Egypt was ruled under an emergency law for 30 years under Mubarak. The state of emergency gives police ultimate powers to question or detain citizens. The military council that ruled the country during its post-revolution transition lifted the emergency law in May 2011. Mursi had invited Egyptian opposition leaders for talks to resolve the crisis. He also invited the Al-Dustur party founded by Elbaradei, former Arab League chief Amr Moussa, and Hamdeen Sabbahi, a presidential candidate in last year's election. The Freedom Egypt Party also criticised the speech, saying, "We hoped that the President's priority was trying to heal the rift, and addressing the real roots of the crisis." The party said the president was instead "threatening" the country with "more extraordinary measures." On the other hand, Wasat Party spokesperson Tariq al-Malt described Mursy's speech as "proper," saying it was appropriate in terms of its content and language. "It seems that the institution of the presidency has started to work professionally," he said. Mursi last called for a national dialogue in December, when he faced fierce opposition to decrees he issued in November that extended his powers. — PTI
	Grief turns into anger after Brazil nightclub fire; band in custody Santa Maria (Brazil), Jan 28 Relatives of over 200 persons who died in a Brazilian nightclub fire demanded answers on Monday as to how it could have killed so many people, while the police questioned the club's owner and members of the band whose pyrotechnics show allegedly caused the tragedy. Several coffins, many draped with flags of the victims' favorite soccer teams, lined a gymnasium that has become a makeshift morgue since the fire in the early hours on Sunday, one of the world's deadliest such incidents in a decade. The death toll was revised down to 231, as officials said some names had been counted twice. Eighty-two persons remained hospitalised in and around the southern city of Santa Maria. At least 30 of them were in serious condition. As shell-shocked residents attended a marathon of funerals starting in the pre-dawn hours on Monday, the focus began to shift to what will likely be a barrage of police investigations, lawsuits and recriminations aimed at politicians and others. "We can't trust in the ability of city hall, or the police, or anybody who permits a party with more a thousand persons under these conditions," said Erica Weber, who was accompanying her daughter to a funeral for one of her classmates. Most of the dead were suffocated by toxic fumes that rapidly filled the Kiss nightclub after the band set off a pyrotechnics display at about 2.30 am, witnesses said. State prosecutor Valeska Agostini told Reuters one of the club's owners and members of the band had been taken into police custody to answer questions although no arrests or criminal charges are likely until after the investigation is completed. The band's guitarist, Rodrigo Lemos Martins, 32, said he doubted the band was responsible for the blaze. "There were lots of wires (in the ceiling), maybe it was a short circuit," Folha de S.Paulo newspaper quoted him as saying. — Reuters
	Nurse Suicide Oz radio show taken off air permanently Melbourne, January 28 The Australian radio show, whose royal prank call to a British hospital went awry and created a furore when it led an Indian nurse to commit suicide, has been junked by the radio network. The Southern Cross Austereo (SCA) network has decided to permanently take the ‘Hot 30’ show off air and has even announced a replacement show called ‘The Bump’, a report in the AAP said. It all started with what was supposed to be a prank call to a British hospital that was treating a pregnant Kate Middleton. Jacintha Saldanha, 46, was the duty nurse when DJs Mel and Michael called the King Edward VII hospital pretending to be the Queen and Prince Charles, asking about the Duchess’s condition. She forwarded the call to another nurse, who divulged confidential medical information about Kate. The prank was broadcast by 2Day FM within hours, and made headlines around the world. Saldanha was found dead on December 7 in the nurses’ quarters three days later. The ‘Hot 30’ was taken off air after Saldanha’s death, following a furore over the on-air prank by Christian and Greig. While the show’s hosts Michael Christian and Mel Greig were sidelined after the tragedy, their future with the radio network was not immediately clear. — PTI
	French troops ring Timbuktu, Islamists burn manuscripts Bamako (Mali), January 28 French-led troops ringed Mali's fabled desert city of Timbuktu today after seizing its airport in a lightning advance as fleeing Islamists torched a building housing priceless ancient manuscripts. French paratroopers swooped in to try to block fleeing hardliners as ground troops coming from the south seized the airport in the ancient city which has been one of the bastions of the extremists controlling the north for 10 months. "We control the airport at Timbuktu," a senior officer with the Malian army told AFP. "We did not encounter any resistance." French army spokesman Colonel Thierry Burkhard told AFP the troops, backed up by helicopters, had seized control of the so-called Niger Loop -- the area alongside the curve of the Niger River flowing between Timbuktu and Gao -- in less than 48 hours. A fabled caravan town on the edge of the Sahara desert, Timbuktu was for centuries a key centre of Islamic learning and has become a byword for exotic remoteness in the Western imagination. The once cosmopolitan town became a dusty outpost for the extremists who forced women to wear veils, whipped and stoned those who violated their version of strict Islamic law, and destroyed ancient Muslim shrines they considered "idolatrous". Reports said the hardliners burnt the Ahmed Baba Centre for Documentation and Research which housed between 60,000 and 100,000 manuscripts from the ancient Muslim world and Greece, according to Mali's culture ministry. — AFP
	Nepal Maoists lock up school over Indian syllabus Kathmandu, January 28 Teachers backed by the breakaway CPN-Maoist faction in Nepal have forcibly shut down a local school allegedly for including Indian course syllabus as part of the curriculum. Some 3,000 students have been left in the lurch after the DAV Sushil Kedia Vishwa Bharati Higher Secondary School situated in Lalitpur district was locked up by the school's teachers' union affiliated to CPN-Maoist led by Mohan Vaidya, the breakaway faction of UCPN-Maoist. Although the teachers' union apparently acted in protest against the sacking of two teachers of the school, but the school management says the real reason behind the closure is the inclusion of India's CBSE course syllabus in the school curriculum. The teachers' union have locked up the school since January 6, according to the management. They have also threatened retaliation if the locks are opened with the help of administration. There are some 14 schools in Nepal which have been conducting CBSE examinations for more than a decade. The teachers' union has been threatening schools against including Indian curriculum saying that it goes against the national interest. They have also demanded scrapping of the CBSE examinations. — PTI
	US pastor sentenced to 8-year jail in Iran Boise (US), January 28 The US State Department says an American pastor who has been jailed in Iran since September has been sentenced to eight years in prison. Spokesman Darby Holladay said yesterday that the department was calling on Iran to respect Saeed Abedini's human rights and release him. Earlier this month, Iran's semi-official news agency ISNA quoted Abedini's attorney as saying his client stood trial in the Revolutionary Court on charges of attempting to undermine state security by creating a network of Christian churches in private homes. The pastor, who is of Iranian origin but lives in Boise, Idaho, has rejected the charges. Holladay says the State Department is in close contact with Abedini's family and actively engaged in the case. The agency says it condemns Iran's continued violation of the universal right of freedom of religion. — AP
	Two Indians sentenced to jail, flogging in S Arabia Dubai, January 28 Two Indian nationals have been sentenced to one year in prison each and flogging for illegally manufacturing and selling liquor in Saudi Arabia, where alcohol is strictly prohibited. A court in Saudi Arabia also ordered the two Indian nationals, who apparently confessed to the illegal manufacture of alcohol, to be deported eventually after their sentence is complete. According to a report in the Saudi Gazette, the two Indians, who have not been identified, were sentenced to one year in prison, 50 lashes each to be repeated six times with a week in between, and to be deported after serving their sentence. The case came to Jeddah district court after an undercover operative posing as a customer went to purchase alcohol from one of the accused. — PTI
	UAE puts 94 on trial for plotting to overthrow regime Dubai, January 28 In a crack down on Islamist groups in the country, the UAE has put 94 people with suspected links to the radical Muslim Brotherhood on trial for plotting to overthrow the Gulf regime and seize power. UAE Attorney General Salem Saeed Kubaish said 94 suspects have been referred to the Federal Supreme Court for trial. "Investigations revealed that the arrested people launched, established and ran an organisation seeking to oppose the basic principles of the UAE system of governance and to seize power," state-run WAM news agency quoted Kubaish as saying yesterday. — PTI