NIA court convicts six in 2016 ISIS terror plot case
Kochi: A NIA court here on Monday found six people, arrested in connection with a 2016 Islamic State (ISIS) terror plot case, guilty of conspiring to carry out strikes across Kerala and neighbouring states. Those convicted are Manseed Mehmood, Swalih Mohammed, Rashid Ali, Ramshad N K, Safvan and Moinuddin. Special judge P Krishnakumar, however, acquitted Jasim N K.
The court said they had not joined the ISIS but made it clear that they were qualified to be called as members of a terror gang. The quantum of punishment will be pronounced on Wednesday, it said. They have been found guilty under various sections of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) including offences relating to membership of a terrorist organisation and support given to a terrorist organisation. During the hearing on quantum of punishment, the prosecution argued that they should be awarded life imprisonment as they did not show any remorse or repentance for their act. The prosecution said it will also send across a message to society that such acts would be dealt with seriously. Opposing the prosecution argument, the defence sought maximum leniency citing that no arms or ammunition were recovered from them. (PTI)

Nirbhaya case: Delhi court transfers case to another judge
New Delhi: A Delhi court on Monday transferred the 2012-gangrape cum murder case to another judge to decide whether to direct Tihar Jail authorities to expedite the execution of the convicts. District Judge Yashwant Kumar sent the case to Additional Sessions Judge Satish Arora, on an application by victim’s parents in this regard, who will hear the matter on November 28. The application was moved since the earlier two judges hearing the matter got transferred and the matter is getting adjourned continuously, the applicants had said. The special fast track court, set up to hear cases of sexual harassment cases exclusively, is currently vacant at Patiala House Court and no judge has been appointed till now. The application said that victim’s parents approached the court since the convicts have exhausted all legal remedies. In December last year, the parents of Nirbhaya, the 23-old paramedic who was gang-raped in December 2012, approached the court to fast-track the procedure to hang all four convicts in the case. (PTI)

Indian NGO to get UN climate action award
New Delhi: A project led by NGO Mahila Housing Sewa Trust to organise and empower women in low-income households to increase their resilience to impacts of climate change will get a UN award next month. It is one of the 15 recipients of the 2019 United Nations Global Climate Action Awards that help shine a light on some of the most practical examples of what people across the globe are doing to combat climate change. The award will be given at the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP25), hosted by the Chilean government in Madrid in Spain, on December 10. The COP25 is being held from December 2-12. The Mahila Housing Sewa Trust’s initiatives have so far helped 25,000 low-income families across seven cities in India, Bangladesh and Nepal. The project is centred around an integrated model wherein women take the lead through collective action and technology incubation to devise locally relevant, pro poor, gender-sensitive and climate-resilient solutions.(IANS)

Docs remove 7.4kg kidney
New Delhi: A kidney weighing 7.4 kg, which was claimed to be the world’s largest till date, was surgically removed from the abdomen of a 56-year-old Delhi resident at a city hospital, a doctor said on Monday. “While a normal human kidney weighs between 120-150gm, this kidney equalled the weight of two newborn human babies,” said Dr Sachin Kathuria, urology consultant at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital here. It took a two-hour surgery to remove the organ whose dimensions were 32 x 21.8 cm, and it had occupied almost the entire abdominal cavity of the patient. The patient suffered from a genetic disorder, autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD), in which fluid-filled cysts develop in both kidneys. This leads to swelling and renal failure. ADKPD later requires renal transplant. “Although pre-operative scans showed a huge kidney, even we did not expect it will be the heaviest,” Dr Kathuria said. Guinness World Records mention the removal of a kidney weighing 4.25 kg by doctors in 2017 from a patient who was said to be suffering from polycystic kidney disease. (IANS)

9 killed in bus-truck collision
Banda (Uttar Pradesh): Nine persons, including a child, were killed when a bus collided head-on with a speeding truck in Uttar Pradesh’s Banda district on Monday afternoon, police said. The bus with 45 passengers on board, was on its way to Fatehpur from Banda and collided with a truck near the Semri nullah on Fatehpur road. The accident also left over 20 passengers injured, police said. Soon after the mishap, a police team was dispatched to the spot to start rescue operations. The injured were admitted to a local hospital and the vehicles that had turned into a mangled heap of iron were removed from the spot to allow traffic movement on the road. (IANS)