faheem Washington, July 04: A strong earthquake measuring 6.0 on the Richter scale jolted the Panama capital Saturday, the US Geological Survey (USGS) said.
The quake occurred at 1.49 a.m. local time. There was no report of casualties.
–IANS
New Delhi, July 04: Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad Saturday said the Delhi High Court had done a ‘very dangerous thing’ by de-criminalising homosexuality and he would raise the matter in parliament.
‘It is a very dangerous thing the Delhi High Court has said that it (homosexuality) is not a crime and the law must be amended. I will raise this topic in parliament and the amendment (to the law) should not be done,’ Lalu Prasad told a news channel.
‘It should never be legalized in India,’ the former railway minister said.
Madrid, July 04: Real Madrid president Florentino Perez has told television channel Cuatro that “with two more signings we will have enough.”Late on Friday, Cuatro carried out the most extensive interview with Perez since his return to Real on June 1, an interview printed by sports daily AS on Saturday.
Perez, a 62 year-old construction billionaire, has taken world football by storm with the most profligate spending spree ever seen.
Durban, July 04: South Africa has underlined the need for global nuclear disarmament, even as it said that developing countries should not be denied access to advanced technology “needed for their development”.
“We should be vigilant that in advancing the peaceful applications of nuclear energy this is not based on the premise of denying developing countries access to advanced technologies needed for their own development,” said Abdul Minty, country’s Governor to the Board of the IAEA.
New Delhi, July 04: The evidence is tumbling out of the closet: Pakistan’s creation Lashkar- e-Taiba is not merely allied to al-Qaida but can now be described as the new al-Qaida. With the UN Security Council listing LeT leaders Arif Qasmani, Mohammad Yahya Mujahid and Abu Mohammed Ameen al-Peshawari as terrorists allied to al-Qaida, yet another veil is being ripped off Pakistan’s terror claims.
The three, banned under a UN Security Council resolution adopted on June 29, are not mere footsoldiers of the Lashkar. In fact, the resolution brings out their importance for LeT and al-Qaida.
Baghdad, July 04: US Vice President Joe Biden on Saturday said the United States was committed to withdrawing its soldiers from Iraq by the end of 2011. Speaking from Baghdad on US Independence Day, less than a week after US soldiers withdrew from Iraqi cities, Biden said the White House would honour pledges to complete the military’s withdrawal from Iraq in two years’ time.
Mumbai, July 04: The two young actresses have apparently bonded really well. In fact, we hear that the two spend a lot of time together, indulging in typically girlie activities like shopping, spa visits, partying and gyming. Recently the two girls went on a shopping spree at a popular designer’s store and literally ransacked the place. That’s not all.
Beijing, July 04: Torrential rains and flooding forced more than 150,000 people from their homes, cut power and destroyed crops across southern China, state media reported Saturday. More than 47,000 people were evacuated in the Guanxi region after three days of heavy rain flooded the Rongjiang River, destroying houses and inundating crops, the official Xinhua news agency reported.
New Delhi, July 04: State Bank of India has offered a loan of up to $1 billion to Bharti Airtel to partly fund the Indian telecom firm’s planned stake buy in South Africa’s MTN, two sources said.
The government-run bank, which along with its associates controls a quarter of Indian bank loans and deposits, will join a clutch of foreign lenders interested in funding the deal that aims to create the world’s third-biggest wireless group with more than 200 million subscribers and combined revenue of $20 billion. “Bharti is our customer.
Los Angeles, July 04: A new satellite designed to allow the convergence of cellphones and satellite phones throughout the United States was successfully launched Thursday, mobile communications provider TerreStar announced. Weighing 6,910 kg, TerreStar-1 is the largest commercial satellite ever and was launched by Arianespace from Kourou, French Guiana on Tuesday.
Srinagar, July 04: Jammu and Kashmir High Court on Saturday directed exhumation of the bodies of two women allegedly raped and murdered in Shopian last month to collect their DNA samples subject to the consent of their family.
Noting that the DNA report is missing and post-mortem was done in a proper way, a division bench of the high court comprising Chief Justice Barin Gosh and Justice Mohammad Yaqub Mir ordered exhumation of the bodies of Asiya and Nelofar.
Justice Gosh directed the principal of medical college Srinagar to set up a team of doctors to perform the tests.
Thiruvananthapuram, July 04: Kerala government has signed an agreement with managements of self-financing engineering colleges in the state on fee structure and admission criteria in the institutions run by them.
The agreement was signed late last night after days of talks with representatives of engineering colleges while the talks with private medical colleges were progressing, sources at the Education Minister’s office said.
London, July 04: King of Pop Michael Jackson is likely to be buried in a $25,000 solid bronze casket, just like soul legend James Brown.
Known as the Promethean, the coffin has a hand-polished 14-carat gold-plate finish and blue velvet-lined interior, reported media.
It is the same model chosen by relatives of James Brown for the Godfather of Soul’s burial. The coffin is made by the Indiana-based Batesville Casket Company.
Jaipur, July 04: All Indian Muslims Council (AIMC), an organisation working for socio-economic development of Muslims, today asked Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot to include special packages for welfare of the community in the budget for financial year 2009-10.
“The community needs special attention for uplift and we expect a lot from the Congress government in Rajasthan,” Abdul Kayyum Akhtar, state general secretary, said here.
Jalandhar, July 04: A woman and her three children allegedly committed suicide early today by consuming a poisonous substance at their residence in village Budhanwal near Tehsil Shahkot, police said here.
The victims–Baljit Kaur (45) and her children Prabhdeep Kaur (22), Varinder Kaur (20) and Gobind Preet (20)– took this extreme step due to prevailing tension in the family, they said.
Baljit, wife of a policeman, had a pending divorce case in a court. She was living separately with her three children and was the sole bread winner.
Hyderabad, July 04: Andhra Pradesh is now mulling fixing an upper limit on the fees charged by private schools. A panel constituted by the state government has recommended that private schools in urban areas should not charge more than Rs.24,000 per annum as tuition fee up to Class 5 and Rs.30,000 up to Class 10.
The six-member panel was constituted last month following public complaints that several schools effected a steep hike in tuition fees from the academic year 2009-10.
Bhopal, July 04: Expressing concern over the decline in polling percentage, Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar today called upon lawmakers to introspect why people were losing interest in the poll process. Inaugurating a two-day orientation programme for Madhya Pradesh legislators, Meira Kumar said legislature was the most powerful body and the lawmakers should use their powers for the welfare of the common man.
Rampur, July 04: Samajwadi Party MP Jayaprada alongwith party workers today sat on dharna here protesting against load shedding in district.
In a memorandum submitted to the district collector Shanker Lal Pandey, she demanded improvement in power supply, as erratic power supply has affected students, farmers, and businessmen.
She also took part in a procession from Gandhi Samadhi to Collector’s office.
–PTI
Mussoorie (Uttarakhand), July 04: President Pratibha Patil today released a postal stamp on Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration here.
The stamp in the denomination of Rs 5 was released during inauguration of the training institute’s golden jubilee celebrations.
The first day cover of the stamp carries picture of the historical building of the administrative academy.
Panaji, July 04: The 117-year-old Konkani theatrical form, ‘Tiatre’, is craving to win a slot in state’s educational curriculum to avoid it waning away from young minds.
Goa Tiatre Academy (GTA), the institution conceived to support `tiatre’, state’s oldest drama form, said that the students should know about this conventional theatre.
Tiatre is a part of Goan culture. Even today, it handles social issues tactfully through theatrical performance.
Anything that is against the Goans’ well-being is whipped in it, Tomazinho Cardozo, GTA President told reporters here.
Hyderabad, July 04: The months of July and August will present a grand spectacle for the skygazers across the country as a rare astronomical event – a series of triple eclipses, commences from July 7.
“The sequence of the first triple eclipse will be a penumbra lunar eclipse (in which the moon will be darkened by the earth’s shadow) occuring on July 7, which will be followed by a solar eclipse on July 22 and then another lunar eclipse on August 7,” N Raghunandan Kumar, General Secretary of city-based Planetary Society, said here today.
Srinagar, July 04: The central police welfare fund today sanctioned Rs one lakh as scholarship in favour of 54 children of personnel of Jammu and Kashmir police who laid down their lives while fighting militants or while in service, a police spokesman said here.
These children are presently studying in various educational institutions across the state.
–PTI
Muzaffarnagar, July 04: A man killed his wife and two children today before committing suicide as he suspected his partner of having an illicit relationship, police said here.
Pemender (32) killed his wife Pinki (28) and two children Aryan (4) Lawish (2) by slitting their throats when they were asleep early this morning and later shot himself dead with a country-made revolver.
The incident took place at Butradi village under Fugama police station in the district.
Pemender suspected his wife of having an affair and was enraged over the fact, police said.
Washington, July 04: With every new administration comes a new era and with it, a new art collection to reflect the shifting sands of American cultural politics. In the Clinton years, it was a frothy portrait of Mamie Eisenhower clad in a pink debutante ballgown that took pride of place on the imperial walls of the White House. George Bush fancied the more muscular patriotism of George Caitlin’s “wild frontier” paintings.
Srinagar, July 04: Welcoming the High Court order to exhume the bodies of two women allegedly raped and killed in Shopian, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah today said the move will help in establishing the facts in this case which have evoked strong reactions in the valley.
The Chief Minister was of the view that any move that will help establish the fact in this case will go a long way in addressing the anger of people.