Iraq

At least 15 people were killed in a series of bomb blasts across Iraq on Wednesday, police and medics said, following a sharp increase in violence that has prompted warnings of a full-blown conflict.

A suicide bomber wearing an explosive vest detonated himself in the midst of a group of government-backed fighters who were collecting their salaries east of the city of Falluja, killing six, police sources said.

CPI state secretary K Narayana on Sunday said that the State Government should be held responsible for infant deaths
occurred in the SVR Ruia Government General Hospital in Tirupati.

Talking to media persons after inspecting the SVR Ruia Government Hospital in Tirupati, Narayana said that the deaths occurred in the hospital mainly due to government’s failure. He alleged that the government has totally failed to provide proper infrastructural facilities in the government hospitals and showing step-motherly treatment

A suicide bomber detonated an explosive-packed car outside a Shia Muslim office in central Baghdad on Monday, killing at least 26 people and wounding more than 190 in an attack bearing the hallmarks of Iraq’s al Qaeda affiliate.

The bombing on a Shia religious office comes at a sensitive time, with the country’s fractious Shia, Sunni and Kurdish blocs locked in a crisis that threatens to unravel their power-sharing deal and spill into sectarian tensions.

New Delhi, February 17: BJP on Friday complained to the EC against Union Steel Minister Beni Prasad Verma’s remarks on minority sub quota, asking the poll body to book him for allegedly violating the model code of conduct.

A BJP delegation comprising Jagat Prakash Nadda, Rajiv Pratap Rudy and Shahnawaz Hussain, along with R Ramakrishna, convener of the party’s election cell, met Chief Election Commissioner SY Qureshi and the two EC’s VS Sampath and HS Brahma and submitted a memorandum to them against Verma.

New Delhi, February 13: The Special Cell of Delhi Police will investigate the blast in an Israeli embassy car that left four people, including an Israeli woman, injured Monday, said Delhi Police Commissioner B.K. Gupta.

The 42-year-old wife of the Defence Attache in the embassy, her driver Manoj Sharma and two other people, Arun Sharma and Manjeet Singh, were injured in the incident that took place at 3.18 p.m. at Aurangzeb Road crossing in the city.

According to hospital authorities, her name is Tal Yehoshua Koren.

Pratapgarh, February 13: Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi alleged hooliganism and casteism reared their ugly heads and development took a back seat during the successive non-Congress regimes in the state in the past 22 years.

Only the Congress could ensure development in the state and for this people’s mindset needed to be changed, he told a public meeting here.

Asking people to get the maximum work done from him for development of the state, the Gandhi scion said he was ready to toil hard for this purpose.

New Delhi, February 13: In the backdrop of the ongoing showdown between the EC and the Law Minister Salman Khurshid, the Congress today tried to buy peace with the Constitutional body saying that, “The Election Commission is a Constitutional body and it is appropriate that everyone should accept the same norms.”

Addressing a press conference in the state capital Congress spokesperson Manish Tiwari said, “We have reiterated our respect for the EC and the matter should be left there.”

Bangalore, February 07: Former Kerala High Court Chief Justice SR Bannurmath has decided to quit the post of Lokayukta in Karnataka.

Karnataka Chief Minister Sadanand Gowda said that the judge had sent a letter to him, requesting the state government not to pursue the matter with Governor HR Bharadwaj.

Israel, February 07: In Israel, there is undoubtedly a great fear in connection with Iran. But there is disagreement about what to do about it.”

Former European Union (EU) foreign policy chief Javier Solana says confusion hangs over Israel about a military strike against Iran as Tel Aviv flinches from such a venture due to its repercussions.

“In Israel, there is undoubtedly a great fear in connection with Iran. But there is disagreement about what to do about it,” Solana said.

New Delhi, February 06: The government proposes constituting an award for social scientists who excel in their field on the lines of the Bhatnagar awards for scientists, Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal said on Monday.

“For scientists we have the Bhatnagar awards, but nothing for social scientists. We have proposed ten annual awards to recognize advancement in the field of social science,” Sibal said.

The minister was speaking at a conference organised by the Indian Council of Social Science & Research.

Riyadh, June 02: A woman in Saudi Arabia has claimed she was raped at gunpoint by a male chauffeur she had been forced to hire.

The unnamed woman, who had hired the driver due to strict Saudi laws banning women from driving, claimed she was raped when the chauffeur pulled over in an industrialised part of Medina.

The alleged attack was reported by Suadi Arabian daily Okaz as a campaign intensified to allow woman driving licences and to drive legally.

Attack: The unnamed woman claimed she was raped in the Saudi Arabian western holy city of Medina (file picture)

Baghdad, May 27: A senior Iraqi politician in charge of a committee purging Saddam Hussein loyalists was assassinated Thursday, Xinhua quoted a police source as saying.

Ali al-Lami, the executive director of the Justice and Accountability Commission (JAC), was shot dead Thursday in his car in east Baghdad by unidentified gunmen using silent weapons, the police source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

Baghdad, May 22: More than a dozen bomb attacks in and around Baghdad on Sunday left at least 18 people dead, including 12 people killed in a suicide attack, and 80 wounded.

The series of attacks comes just days after blasts against police in a tense northern city killed 29 people, with just months to go before all US forces must withdraw from Iraq amid questions over whether local security forces are up to the task of maintaining stability in the war-wracked country.

Baghdad, April 27: Iraq’s prime minister said Tuesday that his country does not need U.S. forces to protect its internal security but acknowledged that the country still does not have the money or training to protect its borders.

Baghdad, April 25: Iraq’s Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki, has informed the visiting U.S.
Chief of Staff of the U.S. Armed Forces, Admiral Mike Mullen, that the remaining American troops were to leave Iraq by the end of 2011, according to the Security Agreement, signed between the two countries in 2011, an Iraqi Legislature said on Sunday.

“There is an Agreement, concluded between Iraq and the United States, reiterating that the U.S.

Baghdad, April 23: A number of female Iraqi interpreters have accused an American contractor of sexually harassment at a base in the Iraqi capital city of Baghdad.

The women said Friday that Christopher J. Kirchmeier, then 26, who worked as a contractor in charge of security badges and clearances at a base inside Baghdad’s Green Zone, sexually harassed them in 2009, The Washington Post reported.

Baghdad, April 22: In talks with Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Admiral Michael Mullen, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki ruled out the extension of the US military presence. The current Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) requires the US to withdraw by the end of December.

US officials have repeatedly pressured Maliki to sign off on an extension that would keep US troops in the country through 2012, and possibly much longer, arguing that the country cannot fend off hypothetical external threats from unnamed enemies.

Baghdad, April 22: In comments made on Thursday, Libyan government spokesman Mussa Ibrahim revealed that the Gadhafi regime has been arming civilians around their controlled areas in preparations for resisting a NATO ground invasion.

“Many cities have organized themselves into squads to fight any possible NATO invasion,” Ibrahim revealed, adding that if NATO invaded “we will make it 10 times as bad as Iraq.”

Kirkuk, April 20: Three women were shot dead in their house by gunmen on Tuesday in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk, according to a security source.

Police chief Shirzad Mufri told the German Press Agency dpa that the gunmen have not yet been identified.

‘The insurgents used guns with silencers,’ said Mufri.

–Agencies