Ali Khan Mumbai, July 31: Rahul Bose in association with Bigadda.com, a networking site from Reliance ADA Group, and Planet Alert, an initiative by Gyaan and The Institute of Chartered Accountants in India, has volunteered to pen down his activities to bring environmental awareness.
“There are many things that India should know about the dangers in climate change and the initiatives that should be taken to combat it,” Rahul Bose said.
Hyderabad, July 31: “Managements of private engineering and medical colleges are getting richer by a minimum of Rs.1000 crore and a maximum of Rs.2000 crore during this academic year by illegally and unabashedly selling management quota seats for a hefty premium.”
London, July 31: A soldier facing a court martial for refusing to serve in Afghanistan urged Prime Minister Gordon Brown Thursday to withdraw Britain’s troops, saying they had become “a tool of American foreign policy.”
Delivering a letter to Brown’s Downing Street office, Lance Corporal Joe Glenton, 27, said the NATO-led mission there was bringing “death and devastation” to the Afghan people and would ultimately fail.
“It is my primary concern that the courage and tenacity of my fellow soldiers has become a tool of American foreign policy,” he wrote.
Washington, July 31: The United States stood firm on seeking to revive six-nation talks with North Korea and pressed ahead with sanctions, despite an appeal by the UN chief to switch to negotiating.
North Korea, which in recent months has tested a nuclear bomb and missiles, said this week it was open to a “specific and reserved” dialogue on its nuclear program — but warned against any push to restart six-way talks.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said he was encouraged by the statement and urged the United States to pursue a direct dialogue with the North.
Bern, July 31: A woman with multiple sclerosis has made legal history by winning her battle to have the law on assisted suicide clarified.
Debbie Purdy wanted to know if her husband would be prosecuted if he helped her end her life in Switzerland.
Five Law Lords ruled the Director of Public Prosecutions must specify when a person might face prosecution.
Ms Purdy, 46, from Bradford, said she was “ecstatic” at the ruling and she had been given her life back.
Bloomberg, July 31: British forces in Afghanistan suffered more casualties in the first two weeks of July than in any month since the war began in 2001, government figures show. Fifty-seven British troops were wounded in action between July 1 and July 15, compared with 46 in June and 24 in May, the Ministry of Defence said today. There were 16 serious injuries.
Tel Aviv, July 31: Israel has admitted to using white phosphorus during its war on the Gaza Strip earlier this year, but says it did so in accordance with international law.
The admission came in a 163-page document published by the Israeli foreign ministry on Thursday ahead of a UN report next week.
The Israeli army “used munitions containing white phosphorus” in Gaza, the document said, but it denied violating international law, saying it had not fired such weapons inside populated areas.
Baghdad, July 31: The number of Iraqi detainees in U.S. prisons in Iraq have been reduced to 9,969, a media advisor of U.S. forces said Thursday.
“This reduction is due to the ongoing process of releasing detainees as per the Iraq-U.S. security pact,” Kareem al-Sayiab told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.
“During the current month, July 2009, U.S. forces in Iraq have been releasing 25 detainees per day,” he said.
–Agencies
Amman, July 31: Jordan’s influential Muslim Brotherhood movement on Thursday accused the administration of the US President Barack Obama of showing ‘complete bias’ towards Israel, and warned Arab countries against bowing to Washington pressure to normalize ties with the Jewish state.
‘The pressures reportedly put by Obama on Arab countries to normalize ties with the Zionist entity is evidence that this administration is fully biased with the aggressors against the victims,’ the movement’s leader Hammad Saeed said in a statement.
Guantanamo Bay, July 31: A US judge has ordered the release of a person detained at the naval prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, after declaring that he is being held illegally.
Judge Ellen Huvelle on Thursday granted a “writ of habeas corpus” concerning Mohammed Jawad, whose lawyers say he was 12 years old when arrested in Afghanistan in 2002.
She gave the US government until August 24 to complete a report to congress about any national security risks that Jawad may present, as well as to finalise diplomatic arrangements for his release.
Kabul, July 31: The first sergeant stood in the courtyard of the U-shaped building, where his soldiers were relaxing on cots on covered porches at dusk, and barked an order.
“Everyone pack up their stuff. We are leaving,” Roome announced. “The ANP (Afghan National Police) won’t pull guard, we are leaving.”
Baghdad, July 31: Colonel Timothy Reese, a senior US military adviser in Iraq, has issued a memo urging the US to dramatically speed up its pullout from Iraq, saying it should be announced that all troops will be out of the nation by August 2010.
Washington, July 31: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton pressured the British intelligence service not to disclose evidence of alleged US torture of a British national, Britain’s foreign secretary told the UK’s top court Wednesday.
Asked about the claim at a press availability by a BBC reporter Wednesday, Clinton declined to comment.
“I’m not going to comment,” Clinton said when asked. “Obviously, the issue of intelligence sharing is one that is critically important to our two countries, and we have both a stake in ensuring that it continues to the fullest extent possible.”
New political party to cater needs of marginalized people including Muslims, Dalits, tribals, women & some sections of BC
New Delhi, July 29 (Pervez Bari): A new party has emerged on the political horizon of India which would cater to the needs of a large number of extremely marginalized people including Muslims, Dalits, tribals, women and some sections of the backward communities.
Mumbai, July 29: Rakhi Sawant has made up her mind. The item girl is all set to tie the knot with the NRI Gujarati boy Elesh Parujanwala and end her swayamvar.
A sources reveals that Rakhi’s decision to commit to the shaadi was last minute, “She asked the channel heads options to have an exit strategy. However, after long meetings with the producers and channel officials, she decided to go ahead to the wedding, and honour her contract obligations.”
Washington, July 28: US Middle East peace envoy George Mitchell called on Arab states on Monday to fully normalise ties with Israel, after meeting Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak on the latest leg of a regional tour.
Mitchell told reporters after the talks that Washington was asking countries in the region to set the “context” for comprehensive peace negotiations between Israel and the Arab world.
Bhopal, July 27 (Pervez Bari): Bhopal Shahar Qazi Maulana Abdul Lateef Khan Qasmi has made a fervent appeal to well-to-do Muslims to come forward and donate generously to improve the lot of their unfortunate co-regionalist who are wading in illiteracy and poverty.
Bhopal, July 27 (Pervez Bari): A delegation of Muslim Education & Career Promotion Society, (MECAPS), called on M.P. Government’s Backward Class & Minorities Welfare Department Principal Secretary and handed over to him a memorandum highlighting the difficulties in the implementation of scholarships schemes being run for minorities.
The Principal Secretary reportedly assured the delegation led by Dr. Khalid Zafar of MECAPS to look into the matter and pass necessary directives to make it easier for the applicants to avail the benefits of the minorities’ scholarships.
Tel Aviv, July 27: Five Palestinians aged 15 to 17 were arrested Sunday by the Palestinian police on suspicion of posing as Israel Defense Forces and raiding houses in the West Bank village of Marah Rabah, south of Bethlehem.
The police reported that the five youths did not live in the village, but were seized after raising the suspicions of local residents as they entered houses dressed in IDF uniform.
Dubai, July 27: The social networking website Facebook blocked fan pages of ousted Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyah.
All fan pages bearing the name of the Hamas leader were deleted and no reasons were given to justify this action, said the administrator of Haniyah’s fan pages.
The administrator warned that Facebook might take similar steps toward fan pages of other Hamas leaders like politburo chief Khaled Mashaal whose fan page has more than 17,000 members. One of Haniyah’s pages had more than 10,000 members.
Mumbai, July 24: Actor Suzanne Bernert is playing the role of Paresh Rawal’s wife in Anil Kapoor Production ‘No Problem’. She is portraying a very loving caring mother, with three adopted kids, one black, one white and one Indian. It’s love marriage but in this comic caper, there are lots of ups and down.
Directed by Anees Bazmee; the film stars Anil Kapoor, Sanjay Dutt, Akshaye Khanna, Sushmita Sen, Neetu Chandra, Kangana Ranaut and Paresh Rawal alongwith SUZANNE BERNERT. Unit has already left for South Africa for a 50 day shoot.
Pyongyang, July 24: North Korea said the “comprehensive package” of incentives designed to guide the country to denuclearization is “nonsense” and blamed a “deep-rooted hostile policy” by the United States for causing the ongoing stalemate in denuclearization discussions.
Ri Hung-sik, deputy head of the North Korean delegation to this week’s Asean Regional Forum in Thailand, dismissed the offer of incentives as “just a replay of the Bush administration’s policy of CVID [complete, verifiable, irreversible dismantlement].”
London, July 24: The United States doubts Iran can respond to its offer of engagement due to current turmoil after disputed elections, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Thursday.
But she warned that a “nuclear clock is ticking,” saying there was only a limited time for Tehran to respond to discuss concerns over its nuclear ambitions.
In an interview with the BBC, she said the Islamic Republic has not responded so far to Washington’s diplomatic overtures, which she reiterated after the July 12 presidential ballots.
Washington, July 24: US General David Daytona has said that drone attacks were successful in Pakistan and Afghanistan while new drone technology can even target small creeping insects on earth.
During a press conference here on Thursday, he said using drone attack in better manner is the chief goal of US air force but US officials, on the occasion, avoided responding to questions in regard to US drone strikes on Pakistani soil.
–Agencies
Ohio, July 24: A baby attacked by rats bled to death in her Louisiana crib while an Ohio infant lost two toes to the vicious rodents in a pair of bizarre attacks.
Three people were charged with child endangerment after authorities determined that the six-week-old Ohio baby had been bitten repeatedly by rodents “over a lengthy period of time,” the Pike County sheriff department said.
But charges have not yet been filed in the case of the Louisiana child who bled to death last week from hundreds of rat bites, the New Orleans Times-Picayune reported.