News in Brief

Mandela completes month in hospital
Ap, Johannesburg

Nelson Mandela has now spent a month in the hospital. South Africa's anti-apartheid hero was admitted June 8 for a recurring lung infection. A month later the former president has seen an outpouring of love and support from South Africa and around the world. He remains on life support.
Mandela spent 27 years in prison during white rule. He led the tense shift from apartheid to democracy two decades ago in a spirit of reconciliation.

Egypt forces raid Al Jazeera's office
Reuters, Cairo

The Qatari-owned media company Al Jazeera yesterday reported that Egyptian security forces had raided its Cairo office.
However, a spokesman for the channel in Doha said that its Cairo bureau chief was taken in for questioning yesterday, but had been released. He said he was not aware of any raid.

Pakistan to release Indian prisoners
Tnn, Amritsar

Pakistan government will release two Indian prisoners lodged in a Karachi jail today, informed Pakistan's former federal minister for human rights Ansar Burney while talking to TOI yesterday.
He said that Ansar Burney Trust International had made an arrangement for their transportation to Wagah (Pakistan) border from where they would be handed over to Indian authorities on Tuesday.

6 Maoists killed in India
Ians, Maharashtra

Six Maoists were shot dead in a gunfight with police in the thick Etapally forests in this Maharashtra district yesterday morning, an official said.
Security forces were on alert following a tip-off on Maoist movements expected in the vicinity since Friday night. The gunfight was sparked off after a police party engaged in combing operations in the area came under attack from the rebels.

Blast kills 3, injures 38 in Lahore
Afp, Lahore

Three people were killed and 38 injured on Saturday when a bomb exploded in a bustling food market in Pakistan's eastern city of Lahore, officials said.
The blast hit the street of food shops and stalls in the downtown area, days before the start of the holy fasting month of Ramadan. Lahore has been relatively peaceful in recent months, compared with other major cities marred by religious and ethnic violence.