World

Jerusalem, June 09: A former Israeli finance minister and a close aide of ex-prime minister Ehud Olmert was today convicted of embezzling USD 600,000 of public funds from a workers union.

Avraham Hirschon, finance minister from May 2006 to April 2007, was found guilty of embezzling the money while heading a workers union between 1998 and 2005.

He was a close aide of Olmert, who had himself resigned from office following a series of corruption charges against him.

Washington, June 09: The Obama administration has said it would to “work really hard” to strengthen ties with New Delhi as part of a strategic set of priorities, saying India is very important to the United States as the world’s largest democracy.

“This region of the world is very important to us. India is very important to us, as the world’s largest democracy,” State Department spokesman Ian Kelly told reporters Monday ahead of a visit by America’s top diplomat.

Sao Paulo, June 09: The number of bodies recovered from the Air France flight that crashed into the Atlantic Ocean last week rose to 24, Brazilian authorities said.

Another eight bodies from the flight that had been carrying 228 people were found Monday, the Brazilian Navy and Air Force said in the northeastern city of Recife.

The teams have also discovered hundreds of large and small pieces of the Airbus A330-200 that disappeared June 1 while on a flight from Rio de Janeiro to Paris as well as personal belongings of its passengers, they said.

New Delhi, June 09: Are fake drugs manufactured in China being pushed into various African countries with the `Made in India’ tag? The Indian government has long suspected this to be the case, but it now has definite evidence for the first time.

Last week, the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) of Nigeria issued a press release stating that a large consignment of fake anti-malarial generic pharmaceuticals labelled `Made in India’ were, in fact, found to have been produced in China.

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

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.

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.”

SoPaulo, June 08:Search teams Sunday recovered the bodies of 17 people from the Air France plane that plunged into the Atlantic Ocean with 228 people on board June 1, a Brazilian Air Force spokesman said.

While Brazilian teams retrieved nine bodies, French teams recovered eight, Brazilian Air Force spokesman Henry Munhoz said in the northeastern city of Recife.

He said four of the bodies were male and four female, but didn’t identify the sex of the remaining nine victims.

Washington, June 07: A man accused of making threatening statements about killing US President Barack Obama has been arrested in Nevada, the Secret Service said.

Daniel James Murray was arrested on Friday night in the parking lot of the Riverside Resort Hotel and Casino in Laughlin, Nevada, said Secret Service spokesman Malcolm Wiley.

Washington, June 07: The US does not intend to “meddle” in the Kashmir issue, but will support any effort by India and Pakistan to reduce their tensions,a key aide to President Obama says while pressing Islamabad to take the “first step” to bring to justice the Mumbai attack masterminds.

Melbourne, June 07: In another attack on Indians in Australia, a car belonging to an Indian student was torched in Melbourne on Saturday night by suspected drug addicts. While the police have ruled out a racial motive, the student has claimed it was a racial attack.

Vikrant Rajesh Ratan, 22, told police that his car and two other cars belonging to Indians in the apartment complex where he lives were burnt by some drug addicts whom he had refused to give money.

“They asked me for money, but I refused them. Next night they burnt my car because of that,” Ratan told a news channel.

London, June 06: Concert hall, garage for Rolls-Royce, elevator all part of Arab prince’s…
An Arab prince has bought a £300 million (Rs 2,300 crore) “flying palace”.

The unnamed royal rumoured to be Saudi Arabia’s Prince al-Waleed bin Talal has splashed out on the plane which, when completed in three years’ time, will be the world’s largest private jet.

Nairobi, June 06: Chosen with the overwhelming support of clan elders in January and thought to be Somalia’s best hope for stability and peace, the government of Sheikh Sharif Ahmed now appears to be engaged in a fight for survival.

An unrelenting military assault by militant Islamist forces – coming just days after an international donors conference in Brussels promised some $213 million in direct aid to Mr. Sharif’s moderate government – has chased Sharif’s forces into retreat. The fighting has killed more than 150 since May 7 and has forced tens of thousands to flee their homes.

Cairo, June 05: US President Barack Obama made a major gesture of conciliation to Iran on Thursday when he admitted US involvement in the 1953 coup which overthrew the government of Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadegh.

“In the middle of the Cold War, the United States played a role in the overthrow of a democratically elected Iranian government,” Obama said during his keynote speech to the Muslim world in Cairo.

It is the first time a serving US president has publicly admitted American involvement in the coup.

Washington, June 05: Consumer and commercial bankruptcy filings are on pace to reach a stunning 1.5 million this year, according to a report from Automated Access to Court Electronic Records.

While well below the record 2 million filings in 2005, the number of filings is up sharply from last year’s 1.1 million, says Robert Lawless, professor of law at the University of Illinois.

Bankruptcy filings took a dramatic nose dive after a 2005 bankruptcy reform measure was signed into law to curb bankruptcy abuse and make it harder to erase debts.

New Delhi ,June 05: French search teams have so far found no evidence of the Air France plane that vanished over the Atlantic and areurging “extreme prudence” about suspected debris retrieved so far, France’s transport minister said today.

Dominique Bussereau said an earlier announcement by Brazilian officials that they had recovered plane debris from Air France flight 447 turned out to be false.

He told RTL radio that the search must continue and stressed that the priority was finding the flight recorders or black boxes.

Jerusalem, June 05: The Israeli government has welcomed Barack Obama’s speech to the Muslim world, saying it hoped the speech would bring a “new period of reconciliation” in the Middle East.

The government statement made no mention of the issue of settlements, after the US president used his speech in Cairo to reiterate his call for an end to Israeli construction on Palestinian land.

Washington, June 04: An investigative journalist who authored a controversial book on the Bush dynasty says he approached major US newspapers about publishing a story regarding President George W. Bush’s alleged intent to invade Iraq before the 2004 election but was rebuffed.

The journalist and author, Russ Baker, says he had a taped interview of Bush’s onetime biographer in which he says Bush told him he intended to invade Iraq as early as 1999, during his presidential campaign. The interview with former Bush ghostwriter Mickey Herskowitz took place before the 2004 election.

Washington, June 03: The federal government mistakenly made public a 266-page report, its pages marked “highly confidential,” that gives detailed information about hundreds of the nation’s civilian nuclear sites and programs, including maps showing the precise locations of stockpiles of fuel for nuclear weapons.

Dubai, June 03: A popular British soap opera is set to introduce a controversial storyline that will see one of its Muslim characters become gay, which is likely to ruffle some feathers among British Muslims and add fuel to an already heated debate about Islamophobia in the United Kingdom.

EastEnders, a long-running soap opera named “Best Soap” in the 2008 National Television Awards, will introduce the new plotline this summer and will see its Asian character Syed Masood find himself struggling with his Muslim faith and his sexuality.

London, June 2:A schoolboy from Bristol who was returning from half-term holiday is among the 228 people feared dead after an Air France plane disappeared over the Atlantic.

Clifton College prep school confirmed that one of its pupils, Alexander Bjoroy, 11, is one of seven children and five Britons on the passenger list of flight 447 from Rio de Janeiro to Paris.

The school’s headteacher, John Milne, issued a statement saying: ” Alexander joined the school in January, 2009, and was a well liked and respected boarder who will be sorely missed by his fellow pupils and staff.

Paris, June 02: The search continued through the night for an Air France plane that disappeared over the Atlantic, but little hope remained that any of 228 people on board would be found alive.

According to reports, the search teams have spotted the burning wreckage of the ill fated Air France jet in the Atlantic.

Air France flight AF 447 disappeared early Monday four hours into its 11-hour flight from Rio de Janeiro to Paris after the Airbus A330 encountered severe turbulence over the Atlantic and reported technical failures.

Washington, May 30: US president Barack Obama has welcomed the agreement at the Conference on Disarmament to begin negotiations on a Fissile Material Cut-off Treat (FMCT), which will end production of fissile materials for use in atomic bomb.

President Obama wants to watch Slumdog Millionaire
“There is no greater security challenge in the world today than turning the tide on nuclear-proliferation, and pursuing the goal of a nuclear-free world,” Obama said in a statement.

Washington, May 30: The United States has condemned the terrorist attack on a mosque in Zahedan city of Iran, killing 19 people and injuring 125 others.

“No cause justifies terrorism, and the United States condemns it in any form, in any country, against any people,” the White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said on Friday in a statement, condemning the recent terrorist attacks inside Iran.

“The American people send their deepest condolences to the victims and their families,” Gibbs said.