New Delhi, June 08: Samajwadi Party on Monday opposed the proposed Women’s Reservation Bill, terming it as a “conspiracy” against the leaders who have reached the Lok Sabha through “hard struggles” and warned of people’s movement if the UPA pushes the legislation.
Hyderabad, June 08: With seven cases of the infectious swine flu being reported from this Andhra Pradesh capital, health authorities are worried about the congregation of thousands of asthma patients from around the country and even abroad who have gathered here to take a traditional fish medicine.
The Bathini Goud family, which has been distributing the free fish medicine for over 160 years, Monday started administering it at the sprawling Exhibition Grounds. The programme will continue Tuesday.
Washington, June 08: President Barack Obama promised on Monday to deliver more than 600,000 jobs through his $787 billion US stimulus plan in the next few months, repackaging a pledge the administration made weeks earlier as the economy continues to lose hundreds of thousands of jobs each month.
Sydney, June 08: In an apparent move to placate India, Australia on Monday named Indian-origin Peter Varghese as the next envoy to India. Varghese is considered the country’s top spy as the head of the Office of National Assessments (ONA).
The decision comes as a spate of attacks on Indian students in Australia threatens the country’s AU $16 billion education sector, of which nearly AU $2 billion is contributed by the Indians.
The attacks, which were headline news in India for at least two weeks, resulted in the Indian government lodging
A former prisoner held at Guantanamo Bay says he was never interrogated about the reason the US said they’d arrested him for — even after seven years in captivity.
He also provided a graphic account of new elements of what may be considered “ad-lib” torture — guards inappropriately using hypodermic needles and IV tubes intended for forced feeding during hunger strikes.
Srinagar, June 08: A bus veered off a mountain road in Kashmir and fell into a river, killing at least 21 people, police said on Monday.
The driver lost control of the vehicle on Sunday while negotiating a bend and the bus rolled into the Chenab river about 170 km away from Jammu, police and witnesses said.
“Nobody has been traced from the river till this morning,” a police spokesman said.
In another accident on Sunday, three people were killed when a minibus plunged into a river in Doda district.
—Agencies
London, June 08: Former Pakistan President General Parvez Musharraf has conceded that his country’s Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) maintains link with militant commanders like Sirajuddin Haqqani, suspected of having masterminded the attack on the Indian embassy in Kabul.
Musharraf said that ISI had “used Haqqani’s influence” to get Pakistan’s Ambassador to Afghanistan, who was abducted by Tehrik-e-Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud, released.
Hyderabad, June 08: Tennis hottie Sania Mirza’s betrothal to childhood friend Sohrab Mirza is making headlines all over. Here’s some info about the lucky guy.
Sohrab is 23, a year older than Sania, and is a commerce graduate from St Mary’s college in Hyderabad, an institution that Sania also attended. Reportedly, he is set to pursue an MBA degree in Britain.
New Delhi, June 08: Tamil Nadu politics on Monday took the centrestage in the Rajya Sabha where members from DMK clashed with those from AIADMK over insinuations against certain Central ministers from the state.
The House witnessed uproar when V Maitreyan (AIADMK) said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was initially opposed to the induction of two members from the state in his government because they were “tainted”.
Dhaka, June 08: After exposing Dawood’s network on its land, Bangladesh does not seem to be eager to handover the detainees to India and may ask for the Bangaldeshi terrorists arrested by Indian investigation agencies, according to reports.
Bangladesh police had recently arrested three Dawood gang members namely Zahid, Abdul Rauf and Aarif.
Indian security agencies are expected to seek the deportation of these Dawood aides as the latter has many cases pending against him in India.
Riyadh, June 08: Saudi Arabia’s first woman cabinet minister cannot appear on television without permission, a newspaper quoted her as saying on Monday.
Noura al-Faiz’s appointment in February as Deputy Minister for Women’s Education was hailed as a big step for the integration of women in conservative Saudi Arabia where a puritanical form of Islam bans women from driving, voting and mixing with unrelated men.
Islamabad, June 08: The killing of two aides of radical cleric Sufi Mohammad who had brokered a controversial peace deal between the Taliban and the North West Frontier Province (NWFP) government points to a change in the militants’ tactics as religion no longer seems to be working for them, an editorial in a leading English daily said on Monday.
“Religion is no longer working for Baitullah Mehsud as the national consensus in Pakistan veers against his TTP,” Daily Times said in an editorial headlined ‘Possible change in Taliban tactics’.
New Delhi, June 08: Senior BJP leader Gopinath Munde today demanded that NCP leader Padam Singh Patil, arrested in the murder case of a Maharashtra Congress leader, should either resign as MP or his party expel him.
Criticising NCP chief Sharad Pawar’s reported statement that Patil is a respectable leader, Munde said, “This is a matter of sorrow that a person accused in murder cases is a respectable person in Pawar’s eyes”.
“I expected Pawar to take action against him. He, however, chose to defend him. Ten crore people of Maharashtra are watching the entire episode,” he added.
New Delhi, June 08: The new UPA government on Monday appointed senior advocate Goolam E Vahanvati as the new Attorney General of India.
Vahanvati, who hails from Maharashtra, was the Solicitor General during the previous tenure of UPA.
Vahanvati’s elevation was on expected lines as he was widely tipped to be the frontrunner for the post.
The others in the race for the post of Attorney-General were senior advocate P P Rao, former Attorney General K Parasaran, and Additional Solicitor General Gopal Subramanium.
–Agencies
New Delhi, June 08: The UPA government, now in its second term, has begun the process of revamping the country’s education system. In the first step taken on Monday, HRD Minister Kapil Sibal announced that the government has decided it would not accept any further applications for ‘Deemed-to-be-University’ status.
The decision comes a day after Sibal spoke of revamping the education system by putting in place a process to bring in transparency and accountability in institutions and curb unethical practices, including capitation fees.
Mumbai, June 08: The arrest of senior Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) MP Padamsinh Patil rocked the Maharashtra Assembly on Monday with the Opposition parties demanding resignation of state Home Minister Jayant Patil and Information Minister Rana Jagjitsinh Patil, who is also the son of the accused.
The entire Opposition was on its feet minutes after the House assembled for the day and raised slogans accusing the state government of allegedly attempting to shield Padamsinh Patil.
New Delhi, June 08: Samajwadi Party, which bailed out the previous UPA government on the Indo-US nuclear deal, on Monday said that the support has cost it dear.
“We supported you. We faced losses while you gained,” SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav told the Congress leadership in the Lok Sabha, evoking peals of laughter among the members.
He said the SP has not only lost at the hustings but still has to face abuses from people.
Islamabad, June 08: Pakistan captain Younus Khan was left struggling to explain his side’s lacklustre display after their comprehensive 48-run loss to England in the ICC World Twenty20.
Sloppy fielding by the 2007 finlaists helped England to a competitive 185 for five at the Oval on Sunday, featuring 58 from Kevin Pietersen, while the Pakistan reply never got going.
Three wickets in the powerplay left Pakistan well behind the run-rate and Younus, who finished unbeaten on 46, could only watch from the other end as a succession of batsmen came and went.
Washington, June 08: Citing the disastrous 2003 US invasion of Iraq as an example, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton today warned that by continuing to refuse to abandon its civilian nuclear program, Iran was risking the possibility of an invasion by the US or “some other enemy that would do that to them.”
The comments came during an interview on ABC’s “This Week” program, and when asked by interviewer and former Clinton-era official George Stephanopoulus, Secretary Clinton reiterated “that’s right, as a first strike.”
New Delhi, June 08: In contrast to predecessor A R Antulay who maintained a studied silence on the the issue of reservation, newly-appointed Minority Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid has called quota for Muslims a “double-edged sword” which could create “envy, hostility and resistance”.
He has instead advocated affirmative action as a tool to “inject an ability to compete” rather than make them “constant beneficiaries of additional help”.
In an interview to The Indian Express, Khurshid said it was time to explore “angles” other than reservation.
New Delhi, June 08: In contrast to predecessor A R Antulay who maintained a studied silence on the the issue of reservation, newly-appointed Minority Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid has called quota for Muslims a “double-edged sword” which could create “envy, hostility and resistance”. He has instead advocated affirmative action as a tool to “inject an ability to compete” rather than make them “constant beneficiaries of additional help”.
Hyderabad, June 08: Task Force police on Sunday arrested two persons for cheating gullible unemployed youth by promising them to send abroad.
Hyderabad, June 08: The chief minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy on Sunday asked the Anti Corruption Bureau to intensify its raids against corrupt people and assured that there would be no political interference however big or influential the person might be.
Hyderabad, June 08: A body was fished out from Boduppal lake near Nacharam on Sunday.
Nacharam inspector V Venkateshwarlu said the body was identified as that of R Venkatesh, 40, an auto-driver who went missing on May 30. Incidentally, Venkatesh was a history-sheeter.
Venkatesh’s family had lodged a missing complaint with the Osmania University police station on June 3. Police suspect Venkatesh was done to death with a boulder as there was an injury on his head.
Hyderabad, June 08: The education department has asked shopkeepers not to sell pirated versions of textbooks in the city. In a release issued here on Saturday, DEO, Hyderabad, M Victoria Kumari has asked school authorities to buy textbooks only from authorised shops, the list of which will be sent to schools.
The DEO has further informed that no other item should be forcefully sold along with the textbooks.