News window: Pakistan’s influential Chief Justice Chaudhry to retire

Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry will retire Wednesday,ending an era marked by aggressive judicial activism that even snared a serving Prime Minister. Chaudhry,credited with making the judiciary a strong pillar,is a man feared by the political class and the bureaucracy. He has built a reputation for himself through direct confrontation with the civilian government and the powerful military to an extent. Chaudhry,64,himself believes that his legacy will continue even after he departs from the Supreme Court. When such judges are still in the apex court,no one can derail the system from the path of rule of law. I lived my life,I fought my wars but not against the poor and weak but against the power,cruelty and injustice, he said. PTI

1 killed,6 policemen injured in violence across Bangladesh

DHAKA: A Jamaat activist died in a blast and six policemen were severely injured in violence across Bangladesh as Islamists enforced a nationwide strike for a second day Tuesday to protest a death warrant issued for a senior fundamentalist leader for genocide during the 1971 war. Police said an activist of Islami Chhatra Shibir,student wing of Jamaat-e-Islami,was killed and three others were injured in the blast while they were making crude bombs to be used during the shutdown at Sitakunda area on the outskirts of the northeastern port city of Chittagong. Meanwhile,Abdul Quader Mollah,sentenced to death for genocide during the 1971 liberation war,Tuesday decided to challenge the verdict in Bangladeshs Supreme Court. PTI

Antarctica is Earths coldest spot with -93.2 C temperature

WASHINGTON: A remote region in East Antarctica has set a new record for the coldest place on Earth,with temperatures dipping to a bone-chilling minus 93.2 degrees Celsius,NASA scientists say. The temperatures in several hollows of a high ridge in Antarctica on the East Antarctic Plateau can dip below minus 92 degrees Celsius on a clear winter night. The new record of minus 136 Fahrenheit minus 93.2 C was set on August 10,2010,NASA said. That is several degrees colder than the previous low of minus 128.6 F minus 89.2 C,set in 1983 at the Russian Vostok Research Station in East Antarctica. Scientists made the discovery while analysing the most detailed global surface temperature maps to date. PTI