Briefly Nation

Karthikeyan is Kerala Speaker

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Senior Congress legislator

G Karthikeyan became the Speaker of the 13th state Assembly in an election marked by the voting of the pro-term Speaker and the Ango-Indian nominee. Votes of the pro-term Speaker and the nominated member became crucial since the ruling UDF has only 73 members,against the Opposition count of 68.

CBI arrests two govt officials

NEW DELHI: The CBI has arrested two government officials for allegedly demanding money for a favourable annual confidential report. The two were arrested by the CBI after the victim complained to the agency. The two arrested officials are S K Gupta,a deputy director general with the Ministry of Tribal Affairs,and Jati Ram Meena,the director resettlement with the Ministry of Defence.

Disclose relief paid to IC-814 victims

NEW DELHI: The Central Information Commission CIC has directed the External Affairs Ministry to disclose whether any compensation received from Nepal was paid to the victims of the hijacked Indian Airlines flight IC-814. An RTI applicant had sought details from the External Affairs Ministry,on the action taken by it with its Nepalese counterpart in respect to the lapses that resulted in the hijacking of flight IC-814.

Suspected ISI agent held at Roorkee

DEHRA DUN: A suspected ISI agent,Furkan alias K K alias Ajay,was arrested from Roorkee railway station on Wednesday night while he was about to board a train,Haridwar Senior Superintendent of Police Kewal Khurana said. Furkan was allegedly providing information related to Army installations in Meerut and Roorkee to an officer of the Pakistani spy agency,a police official said on Thursday.

Gujarat Guv returns private varsity Bill

GANDHINAGAR: Gujarat Governor Kamala Beniwal has returned the Gujarat Private Universities amendment Bill 2011,passed in the state Assembly in March 2011. This follows her returning the Gujarat Lokayukta Act amendment Bill 2011 recently. Sources said the Governor has not stated the reasons for returning the Bill. The Bill was aimed at giving private university status to four educational institutes in the state.

Naxals kill cop,two others in Dantewada

RAIPUR: Maoists opened indiscriminate fire at a busy weekly market at Tongpal in Dantewada district of Chhattisgarh on Thursday afternoon,killing two villagers and a police constable. They also injured three other villagers.