News

Protests mount in Dhaka against Indian river project

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Dhaka, June 14: Bangladesh’s main opposition has threatened to move the United Nations as the Sheikh Hasina government has called for talks over a river valley project India is planning in its north-eastern region.

Protests are gaining momentum even as a Bangladeshi parliamentary delegation, accompanied by experts, prepares to visit the planned Tipaimukh project on the Barak river in India’s Mizoram state later this month. India had proposed the visit last month.

Pakistan is on a suicidal course, says Imran Khan

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London, June 14: Pakistan’s cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan has expressed fear that the ongoing military operation against the Taliban in Swat could backfire and fuel extremism and terror attacks in the country.

‘Pakistan is on a suicidal course,’ said Khan, the chairman of the Pakistan Tehreek Insaf (PTI) party was quoted by Online news agency Sunday.

He criticised the Pakistani government for luanching an all-out war against the Taliban in the northwest on the advice of the United States.

Hope – and disappointment – in Tehran

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Tehran, June 14: Just a few days ago, the same street in Central Tehran where my taxi had to slow down due to joyful opposition supporters, had now turned into an obstacle race as we walked and ran to escape the teargas and passed burning garbage bins. On Saturday, it was a harrowing experience while returning home from work.

Al Qaeda financier held in Yemen

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Yemen, June 14: Yemeni police have detained a Saudi man suspected to be the main financier of Al Qaeda operations in Yemen and neighbouring Saudi Arabia, the defence ministry said Sunday.

It said in a statement posted on its website that the suspect, identified as Hassan Hussein bin Alwan, was ‘the financier of the operations carried out by members of Al Qaeda in Yemen and Saudi Arabia’.

It further described him as ‘one of the most dangerous Al Qaeda terrorists’. The statement gave no further details on the suspect or location of the arrest.

Post-LTTE, Sri Lankan Tamil party warms up to India

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New Delhi, June 14: The shadow of the Tamil Tigers gone, Sri Lanka’s main Tamil bloc in parliament wants to forge new ties with India.

Widely seen as a political front for the now decimated Tigers, the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) has just held talks with New Delhi. In 1992 India became the first country to outlaw the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

Mamata announces special trains for Ajmer Sharif, Puri

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Howrah (West Bengal), June 14: The Indian Railways will run 66 pairs of special trains carrying pilgrims to Puri in Orissa for the June 24 Rathyatra festival, railways minister Mamata Banerjee said here Sunday.

The railways will also run special trains between Sealdah in Kolkata and Rajasthan’s Ajmer Sharif, which houses the mausoleum of sufi saint Khwaja Moinuddin Chisti, on June 25 and June 26 for the celebration of the Urs or annual pilgrimage.

Yashwant Sinha quits party posts, BJP in turmoil

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New Delhi, June 14: The turmoil in the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) after its poll debacle deepened on Saturday with the resignation from all party posts of former central minister Yashwant Sinha, who joined a swelling number of senior leaders criticising the manner in which the party was functioning.

Sinha faxed his resignation as party vice president to BJP president Rajnath Singh from Hazaribagh, the constituency in Jharkhand from where he won the Lok Sabha elections this time.

Party spokesperson Shrikant Sharma confirmed that Sinha’s resignation had been accepted.

Yashwant Sinha says won’t quit BJP

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Ranchi, June 14: Senior BJP leader Yashwant Sinha, who quit as party Vice President while attacking the leadership for not taking responsibility for the electoral debacle, on Sunday said he was “happy” that his resignation has been accepted but maintained that he will remain in the party.

“I had sent my resignation to be accepted. Therefore I’m happy that my resignation has been accepted and I have no further comments to make,” the former External Affairs and Finance Minister said when his reaction was sought over the issue.

HC asks lower courts to fix time-frame for case disposal

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New Delhi, June 14: The mounting pendency of cases has prompted the Delhi High Court to direct all judges in the lower courts to fix a time-frame of three years for deciding trial of each case.

“Each officer must fix time-frame for each stage of trial (like completion of pleadings, framing of charges, recording of evidence) and must ensure adherence by all concerned.

“Endeavour shall be made to gradually reduce the average trial period of each case (civil and criminal) to 2/3 years,” the Delhi High Court has said, issuing a slew of directions to enhance the disposal rate.

‘Racism exists in Oz but entire society not affected’

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Melbourne, June 14: Admitting that “racism” did exist in Australia, the country’s top official on race relations on Sunday said the entire society was not affected by it but warned that the recent spate of attacks on Indians might hurt education market and other areas of trade.

Race Discrimination Commissioner Tom Calma said Australia could not allow a repeat of what happened in the 1990s, when racial comments by politician Pauline Hanson enraged people across Asia.

He said attacks on Indian students in Australia had the potential to hurt the students market as well as other trade.

Suspected US missile strike kills 5 in Pakistan

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Islamabad, June 14: A suspected US missile strike killed at least five people today in a tribal region where Pakistan’s top Taliban commander is based, intelligence officials said, breaking a lull in such attacks and posing a test for growing anti-Taliban sentiment in the country.

Cong wish list in budget may have ‘aam aadmi’ priorities

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New Delhi, June 14: With eyes on ‘aam aadmi’, Congress is expected to give its wish list to Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee who is expected to meet AICC office-bearers on Monday to accommodate party’s views in the upcoming Union Budget.

The budget, to be presented in the first week of July, is likely to keep the focus on the ‘aam aadmi’ (common man) who was the trump card of the party, catapulting it to power in the Lok Sabha elections.

Emaar to Build World’s Tallest Tower in Saudi

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Dubai, June 14: Emaar Properties, which is already building the world’s tallest skyscraper in Dubai, has won a chance to outdo itself with a tower rising to a height of more than a kilometre — this one in Saudi Arabia.

Kingdom Holding Company, a Saudi property company, announced on Saturday that it has picked Emaar to build a 100 billion riyal ($26.6 billion) mixed-use real estate project called Jeddah Kingdom City and Kingdom Tower, outside the Red Sea city of Jeddah. The tower will be “the highest in the world,” Kingdom said in a news release.

Gang-rape accused beaten up

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Ahmedabad, June 14: Various organisation of students, parents and social activists have jointly given a call for a “Surat bandh” on Monday to protest the gang-rape of a minor girl by three youths on Friday.

The incident involving sons of policemen has caused so much anger that the accused were beaten up by an angry group when they were brought for medical examination at the civil hospital on Saturday.

Buzz up!vote now

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Mahalingam’s body found in Kali river near Kaiga plant

Kaiga, June 14: The body of the missing scientist of Kaiga nuclear plant in Karnataka, N Mahalingam, has been found in Kali River near Kaiga nuclear plant.

Ending the mystery over the disappearance of the Kaiga Nuclear power plant scientist, N Mahalingam, naval divers today recovered his body from the Kali river, six days after he went missing.

CM rides autorickshaw to cyclone-hit Sundarbans

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Hingalganj, June 14: West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee on Saturday travelled in an autorickshaw to meet Cyclone Aila victims in remote areas of this North 24 Parganas block.

Bhattacharjee, who had been heckled and jeered by the disgruntled cyclone survivors owing allegiance to the Trinamool Congress during his on June 2 visit to the block, was well received by people who showered petals and raised slogans praising the state’s Left Front government.

Gul leads Pak to six wicket win over New Zealand

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London, June 14: Umar Gul bulldozed New Zealand with a sensational five-wicket haul as Pakistan defeated New Zealand by six-wicket to keep their semifinals hopes alive in the World Twenty20 here on Saturday.

Gul’s incredible fast bowling spell resulted in Kiwi’s complete demolition as they were all out for a paltry 99 in 18.3 overs after deciding to bat in this Super Eight match.

Gul, introduced as late as in the 13th over, wreaked havoc in his three-over spell and emerged as the first bowler to claim five wickets in T20 Internationals.

AP record shows Sania Mirza belongs to BPL family

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Hyderabad, June 14: Tennis star Sania Mirza may be a millionaire but her face appears on a ration card belonging to a below poverty line (BPL) family in Andhra Pradesh.

The white ration card, which makes a family eligible to get rice at a highly-subsidised price of Rs 2-a-kg and social security benefits health insurance and a permanent housing, has been issued to one Laxmi of Vizianagaram district with a photograph of Sania.

NDMA guidelines to state to combat swine flu

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Hyderabad, June 14: National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) member M Shashidhar Reddy on Saturday demanded the state government to set up four
designated hospitals to combat the swine flu instead of the one hospital that exists right now.

Addressing a press conference here, Shashidhar Reddy said the state should take it up as a challenge the fact that it has seen the maximum number of swine flu cases that have been reported in the country so far.

Swine flu: Three more admitted in hospital

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Hyderabad, June 14: Three more persons with swine flu symptoms were admitted to the Government General and Chest Hospital on Saturday. Two of the suspects are children below 10 years of age and are siblings who came to the hospital with their mother.

Universal donor appeals to all

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Hyderabad, June 14: On March 30, Yogesh Srivastava, a medical shop owner received a call from a nervous husband whose wife after a cardiac arrest urgently needed six units of blood for an open heart surgery.

Yogesh, who was in the midst of his work rushed taking three of his friends to the hospital to donate blood. This was the 91st time in 25 years that he donated blood and saved another life. He hopes to soon reach the milestone of donating blood for the 100th time.

Mamata drives party agenda on railway tracks

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Kolkata, June 14: The new Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee has been accused of neglecting the Ministry at the cost of Bengal politics. Reportedly, the Minister is preparing the Rail Budget without taking any advice from her Ministers of State – KH Muniyappa and E Ahmed – and hasn’t allotted any work to them.

Muniyappa who was a MoS under the former railway minister Lalu Prasad refused to specify the work that has been allotted to him.

“We have to work together, there is no problem,” says Muniyappa.

Gafoor’s 26/11 report card cost him his post

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Mumbai, June 14: Ghafoor was indicted by the Ram Pradhan Committee’s report on security lapses during the terror attack. Gafoor has been posted as director general of the Maharashtra Police Housing Corporation, a lackluster assignment.

The committee report, which will soon be tabled before the Maharashtra Assembly, is believed to have come down heavily on Gafoor. It says Gafoor failed to take charge of the situation during the terrorist attacks, strategise and take decisions.

Two more H1N1 suspected cases in Hyderabad

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Hyderabad, June 14: Two new suspected H1N1 virus cases were reported this evening at the Chest Hospital here.

The brothers, aged eight years and four years, who have travelled with their mother from New York to Frankfurt-Mumbai- Hyderabad have been quarantined with suspected symptoms The mother, however, is fine.