Ali Khan

EU lawmakers today backed a ban on cloning farm animals and products derived from them, citing deep public unease at the prospect they could make it onto supermarket shelves.

The European Parliament’s environment and agriculture committees said proposals submitted by the European Commission had to be stronger to meet concerns over cloning and ‘franken-foods’ in the 28-nation bloc.

“Due to the negative effects on animal welfare, cloning for farming purposes is rejected by a large majority of consumers,” a parliament statement said.

A man has been booked for allegedly attempting to make video of a woman when she went to toilet and molesting her at a mall here, police said today.

The incident happened on June 11 at Eldeco Station mall here, they said.

The woman, working as an administrative staff in the mall, went to toilet and suddenly spotted a man making her video, Investigating Officer ASI Sushila said.

She raised an alarm and tried to nab him but seeing her alone, the accused tried to molest her, police said.

The man fled from the spot when he saw people coming to the toilet.

Two Indian-Americans were today appointed to key positions in the Republican party with the mandate of involving community leaders within the party fold.

Niraj Atani, a Ohio State legislature, and Janak Joshi, a Colorado State legislature, have been appointed to the board of the 2015 -2016 Future Majority Project of the Republican Party.

The Board is chaired by T W Shannon, Chair, former Speaker of the Oklahoma House of Representatives.

Former foreign secretary and national security advisor Shivshankar Menon has joined the prestigious American think-tank Brookings Institute.

Menon will serve within the Foreign Policy programme at Brookings, a statement said today.

“We are honoured that Ambassador Menon will join Brookings as a Distinguished Fellow,” Brookings president Strobe Talbott said.

“He has served his nation in many ways, earning the respect and admiration of those who have had the pleasure of working with him on many of the major international issues of our era,” he said.

Two Guantanamo Bay detainees are using President Barack Obama’s own words to argue that the US war in Afghanistan is over and therefore they should be set free.

Two court cases from detainees captured in Afghanistan ask federal judges to consider at what point a conflict is over and whether Obama, in a speech last December, crossed that line when he said the US “combat mission in Afghanistan is ending.”

The questions are important since the Supreme Court has held that the government may hold prisoners captured during a war for only as long as the conflict in that country continues.

Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari today announced Gurgaon-Rewari Highway via Pataudi as a National Highway.

The announcement was made at a meeting held with Haryana PWD Minister Rao Narbir Singh in New Delhi.

During the meeting, the Union Minister said that for construction of Grade Separator or under pass at IFFCO Chowk, Signature Tower Chowk and Rajiv Chowk in Gurgaon, NHAI would bear 75 per cent of the total cost and remaining 25 per cent would be borne by the Haryana Government.

The OECD called today for financial sector reforms to combat inequality and lift economic growth in developed nations.

The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, a policy body comprising 34 advanced economies, cited data stretching back 50 years in a key report unveiled in the British capital.

“Reforms to make the financial sector more stable can be expected to boost long-term economic growth and improve income equality,” read the OECD study entitled “Finance and Inclusive Growth”.

Andhra Pradesh government will perform foundation stone-laying ceremony of the new state capital Amaravati in Guntur district on October 22 and invite Prime Minister Narendra Modi besides his counterparts from Singapore and Japan for the event.

In a media briefing here after the cabinet meet today, state IT minister P Raghunath Reddy said the government also approved the metro rail project with a cost outlay of over Rs 6,000 crore.

Microsoft announced a management shakeup today, including the departure of Stephen Elop, the former Nokia chief who came on board with the US giant’s acquisition of the Finnish firm’s handset unit.

Elop, 51, came to Microsoft as part of the deal unveiled in 2013 to buy the mobile phone unit of the Finland-based tech group.

It was the second stint at Microsoft for the Canadian national, hired as chief executive by Nokia in 2010 in a bid to revitalize the group’s smartphone efforts.

At one point, Elop had been rumored as a potential candidate for CEO at Microsoft.

AT&T Mobility LLC has been hit with a USD 100 million fine for offering consumers “unlimited” data, but then slowing their Internet speeds after they hit a certain amount.

The Federal Communications Commission, which regulates the telecommunications industry, says the company misled consumers with the plans. Officials say the company would slow speeds dramatically at times, to levels lower than advertised.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be attending the closing ceremony of Simhastha, a religious festival, next year in Madhya Pradesh’s Ujjain.

After meeting the Prime Minister here, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said that Modi will grace the closing ceremony of Simhastha on May 14, 2016, a press release issued by the state government said.

He said that 2016 Simhastha Mahakumbh will be a confluence of thoughts and ideologies, which will mainly be focused on ‘Adhyatma and Dharma’.

In a shocking incident, a minor Dalit girl was allegedly beaten up by higher caste women in Ganeshpura village in Madhya Pradesh after the victim’s shadow fell on a muscleman belonging to their family, police said today. The incident took place on June 13 and the complaint was also filed on the same day at Gadi Malhera police station, Additional Superintendent of Police (ASP), Neeraj Pandey said.

Asian Football Conference general secretary Alex Soosay has resigned, the regional body announced today, amid allegations he was involved in a cover-up during the reign of scandal-tainted former boss Mohamed bin Hammam.

“Alex Soosay has tendered his resignation as AFC General Secretary with immediate effect,” the Kuala Lumpur-based AFC said in a statement.

Soosay, a former coach and Malaysian international midfielder, was suspended last month pending a probe into allegations he tried to obstruct a 2012 audit of AFC accounts.

Britain is to provide staff and other support for an Italian intelligence unit working on moves to resolve Europe’s migration crisis, Prime Minister David Cameron said today.

Speaking after a working lunch with Italian premier Matteo Renzi at the World Expo in Milan, Cameron said the two countries agreed on the need for a “comprehensive” approach to a crisis which has caused a deepening rift between Italy and its EU partners.

Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje today said the state government is looking at working in the areas of recycling, heritage conservation, skill development and connectivity on a priority basis with the help of Asian Development Bank (ADB).

The Chief Minister discussed the current portfolio of ongoing projects in the state funded by Asian Development Bank (ADB) during a meeting with the multi-lateral lender’s President Takehiko Nakao and other members of the delegation.

Online US retail giant Amazon says it is developing the technology to use drones to deliver packages in 30 minutes or less, a broad expansion of unmanned flight that is raising concerns about safety, security and privacy.

Using commercial drones to quickly deliver packages is probably years away. But when government regulations catch up with emerging technologies, Amazon says it could revolutionize the way people shop for items they need quickly.

Authorities said that the man arrested on charges relating to the shooting at an anti-Islam event in Texas last month had aspirations to join the Islamic State terrorist organization and attack a major US sports event.

Abdul Malik Abdul Kareem, 43, was arrested for his alleged role in a shooting at a Prophet Muhammad cartoon contest that led to the deaths of two gunmen. Kareem hosted the shooters in his home beginning in January and provided the guns they used in the May 3 attack in Garland, Texas, according to a federal indictment.

Members of two gangs, specializing in stealing valuables and laptops from cars, have been nabbed by the crime branch Badkhal of Faridabad Police.

While two of the arrested are from a gang which was active in Faridabad only, the other four arrested belong to the gang active in Faridabad, Noida and Delhi.

Inspector Anil, crime branch Faridabad Police, said that the first gang used to identify parked cars in which laptops or valuables are left behind by the owners.

The woman who resigned as president of an NAACP branch after her parents revealed she was white posing as black says there’s no proof they are her mother and father.

The uproar over Rachel Dolezal’s racial identity began last week after her parents said their daughter was white. For years, she publicly described herself as black or partly black and said on NBC’s “Today” show that she identifies as black.

In an interview with NBC News last night, Dolezal said she hasn’t had a DNA test and there’s no “biological proof” that Larry and Ruthanne Dolezal are her parents.

Lt Governor Najeeb Jung’s office has written to the Centre, urging it to exempt Delhi Home Secretary Dharam Pal from going to the US as his presence here is being perceived as “absolutely essential”.

The moves come amid an atypical situation at the Delhi Secretariat where two home secretaries have been functioning out of the same premises.

Dharam Pal is scheduled to attend a month-long training programme at Duke University in the US from June 21.

To reduce the vehicular pollution in Delhi/NCR, the state government today held a meeting with the four neighbouring states and discussed various steps including installation of weigh-in-motion systems on border points.

A high level meeting of the top officers of Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Delhi and Rajasthan -chaired by Delhi Chief Secretary K K Sharma, was today convened at Delhi Secretariat here.

France’s Ecology Minister Segolene Royal apologised today for telling people not to eat Nutella because it contributed to deforestation and climate change.

“A thousand apologies for the row over Nutella,” she wrote on her official Twitter account.

The mea culpa related to comments she made on French television on Monday, when she said “we should stop eating Nutella… Because it’s made with palm oil” — an ingredient that ensures the soft but not liquid consistency of the popular chocolate-hazelnut spread.

Experts were battling to prevent environmental damage after suspected FARC rebels blew up a stretch of Colombia’s second-biggest oil pipeline, authorities said.

Separately, also between midday yesterday and late Tuesday, the Marxist guerrillas attacked an army patrol in another part of the country, killing four troops and injuring four others.

“The FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia), using improvised explosive devices, were able to stop the flow of crude” in one area in Norte de Santander department, in Colombia’s north, the army said in a statement.

Reality TV star Kylie Jenner and her rapper boyfriend Tyga were puller over by cops while they were rushing to Disneyland.

The couple were going to attend Kim Kardashian and Kanye West’s daughter North West’s birthday party but were let off with a warning, reported Aceshowbiz.

Kardashian and West celebrated their daughter North’s second birthday at Disneyland in Anaheim.

Joining them at the theme park that day were Kris Jenner, Kendall Jenner, Kourtney Kardashian, Scott Disick and T-Raww’s son King Cairo.

Pop star Miley Cyrus has auctioned her Caitlyn Jenner artworks at the sixth annual Inspiration Gala New York.

Auctioned to benefit amfAR, the foundation for AIDS Research, the artworks by the “Hannah Montana” star fetched as much as USD 69,000, reported Aceshowbiz.

The “Wrecking Ball” hitmaker called her three Caitlyn Jenner artworks “The Caitlyn Collection.”

All the three artworks were Vanity Fair covers which were customized by Miley using sequins, glitter, paint and glue. Each of the artworks also got Caitlyn Jenner’s autograph.