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Eighty five Sharia Courts operating in UK: study

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London, June 29: As many as 85 Islamic courts are operating in the UK, 17 times higher than believed to have been existing previously, a study said today, with a recommendation that the Sharia courts should no longer be recognised under British law.

The tribunals, working mainly from mosques, settle financial and family disputes according to religious principles. They lay down judgements which can be given full legal status if approved in national law courts.

Governor ‘will not resign’ after love affair in Argentina

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Buenos, June 29: South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford admitted yesterday that his first thought as the scandal broke about his extramarital affair with an Argentinian woman was to leave office with 18 months to go in his last term.

Close spiritual and political associates urged him to instead fight to restore the public’s — and his family’s — trust.

“Resigning would be the easiest thing to do,” he said he thought.

CSE index jumps 212 points

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Kolkata, June 29: The Calcutta Stock Exchange today gained ground sharply on the opening session with the benchmark index, CSE-40, gaining 212.23 points.

The index opened at 6392.66 and gained to close at 6604.89 points after touching an intra-day high of 6607.44.

The trading volume was at Rs 2.53 crore from trading of 23 scrips.

ACC was trading at 794 at end of the day. Blueprint Securities was at Rs 303.75. Bolton Properties was at Rs 390.60.

Oasis Cine Communication was at Rs 288.80 at end of the trading session. Reliance Industries was at Rs 2070.

Man arrested for rape attempt on daughter

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Dehradun, June 29: A man was arrested for allegedly trying to rape his 15-year-old daughter in Sahaspur village of the district, police said today.

Acting on a complaint by the accused’s wife yesterday, police arrested the man who was caught when the girl raised an alarm and informed her mother.

In another incident, a young woman’s body was recovered from the jungles nearby Bhadrakali temple in the city today.

Some women spotted the body in the morning and informed the police.

Identity of the deceased was yet to be ascertained.
–PTI

Darul Uloom Deoband against legalising gay sex

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New Delhi, June 29: “Homosexuality is offence under Shariat Law and haram (prohibited) in Islam,” Deputy Vice Chancellor of the Darul Uloom Deoband Maulana Abdul Khalik Madrasi said.

Madrasi also asked the Government not to repeal section 377 of IPC which criminalises homosexuality.

His objection came a day after Union Law Minister Veerappa Moily said a decision on repealing the section would be taken only after considering concerns of all sections of the society, including religious groups like the church.

Lightning claims 23 lives in three Indian states

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New Delhi, June 29: At least 23 people, including eight children, were killed when they were struck by lightning during rains across three Indian states, officials and news reports said Monday. The deaths were reported since Sunday from the eastern states of Bihar and Orissa and the northern state of Uttar Pradesh. The rains, accompanied by strong winds, uprooted trees and electrical poles and damaged thatched huts in villages.

Iran: No downgrade of ties with Britain

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Tehran, June 29: Iran dismissed the idea of downgrading diplomatic relations with Britain today despite soaring tensions between the two countries after Iranian authorities detained local British Embassy employees for allegedly stirring up post-election unrest.

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Britain has angrily denied that any Iranian staff at its embassy in Tehran have been involved in opposition challenges to the regime. Yesterday, the European Union condemned the detentions as “harassment and intimidation” and demanded the immediate release of those still in custody.

Jackson’s doctor off suspect list after police interrogation

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Los Angeles, June 29: Dr Conrad Murray, the cardiologist who was the only person in the room when pop legend Michael Jackson suffered cardiac arrest was interviewed by the Los Angeles Police Department for over three hours.

After the long interrogation, Murray’s spokeswoman released a statement saying,”Investigators say the doctor is in no way a suspect and remains a witness to this tragedy,” reported Los Angeles Times online.

“He helped identify the circumstances around the death and clarified some inconsistencies,” added the statement.

300 Pak pilgrims offer prayers at Ajmer Sharif

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Ajmer, June 29: A group of 300 pilgrims from Pakistan today paid obeisance at the tomb of Sufi saint Hazarat Khawaja Moinuddeen Chisti on the occasion of 797 Urs and prayed for peace and amity between India and Pakistan.

The pilgrims from the neighbouring country moved in a huge procession amid tight security and reached the dargah two hours later where they offered ‘Chadars’.

Rashid Ali Miyan, who led the group, said they had also brought a ‘chadar’ on behalf of the Pakistan Government to offer at the dargah.

J-K to update its BPL list

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Srinagar, June 27: Jammu and Kashmir government has decided to set up a committee to update Below Poverty Line (BPL) list in the state.

The committee, comprising officers of Consumer Affairs and Public Distribution (CAPD), Rural Development and Revenue Departments will jointly scrutinise and reconcile BPL lists as prepared by CAPD and Rural Development Departments, an official spokesman said here today.

Crisis management plan for drought: Govt

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New Delhi, June 27: The government says it has a Crisis Management Plan (CMP) to deal with the drought the country may face in the wake of a delayed monsoon.

The plan, which has been charted out jointly by the agricultural ministry and the Co-operation Drought Management Division, refers to the programme to be pressed into action in the event of a crisis situation to minimise damage to life, property and environment.

Speed-up development work: Chand

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Srinagar, June 27: Jammu and Kashmir Deputy Chief Minister Tara Chand has asked government agencies to speed-up development work, keeping in mind future needs of the state.

“Develop healthy competition and coordination in completion of projects so that not only they get completed within targeted time-frame, but new development projects are also sanctioned from the Centre”, Chand told officers of National Building of Construction Corporation (NBCC), Jammu Municipal Corporation (JMC) and Urban Environment Engineering Department (UEED) during a meet yesterday.

Indian markets inch up, Sensex closes 242 points higher

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Mumbai, June 27: Indian equities markets, which were trading in volatile conditions for the most part of the week, finished on a high on Friday, thanks to the strong global cues. A key index moved up 242 points from its previous weekly close.

The 30-share sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) rose 1.67 percent or 242.75 points over the previous Friday’s close and ended trade at 14,764.64 points.

The broader S&P CNX Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) followed the Sensex, gaining 1.4 percent from its last close to end at 4,376 points.

Job losses possible at JLR, Tata warns

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London, June 27: Jaguar Land Rover has lost £281m in the 10 months to March, helping its parent company, Tata Motors, to its first loss in eight years and prompting it to warn there could be further job losses at its British subsidiary.

The Indian group, which paid £1.15bn for JLR in March 2008, recorded an annual loss of 15.1 billion rupees (£189m), compared with 21.7 billion rupees profit in the previous year, as the global automotive industry has been devastated by recession.

Stress killed Michael Jackson, says ex-publicist

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Washington, June 27: The stress of the upcoming concerts in London – which would have earned him $50 million to $100 million to get out of debt – killed Michael Jackson, says a former publicist.

The King of Pop, who had earned $750 million, was reportedly in debt between $300 and $500 million when he died Thursday.

He was working hard for his 50-date comeback ‘This Is It’ tour beginning July 13 in London.

Canadian Stuart Backerman, who was Michael Jackson’s close confidante and publicist from 2002 to 2004, told the local Vancouver Sun Friday that stress killed the pop star.

Teenager burnt to death for resisting rape

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Lucknow, June 27: A 15-year-old Dalit girl was burnt to death by two young men after she resisted a rape attempt in Uttar Pradesh’s Muzaffarnagar district, police said Saturday.

Pinki, a resident of Kacchigarhi village in Muzaffarnagar, 350 km from state capital Lucknow, was set on fire by her neighbours Pramod and Praveen, in their early 20s, after they failed to rape her Thursday.

The girl received about 70 percent burn injuries and died Friday.

ID cards planned for India’s 1.1 billion

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New Delhi, June 27: India is to embark on an ambitious plan to provide each of its 1.1 billion-plus citizens with a national identity card and has picked an industrialist who helped to spearhead the country’s IT revolution to lead the project.

Nandan Nilekani, the entrepreneur who helped the best-selling author Thomas Friedman to coin the phrase and book title “The world is flat”, was asked by the government to help to create what would be the largest citizens’ database in a democracy. Only China has a larger scheme.

YSR’s plans bottled water, community farming

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Hyderabad, June 27: The Andhra Pradesh government plans to supply bottled drinking water to all its villages and introduce community farming for better returns to farmers.

Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy on Friday announced that the water supply scheme would be launched on Aug 15, Independence Day, in all villages that don’t have protected and piped water supply.

In his inaugural address at the two-day conference of district collectors, the chief minister asked the officials to prepare details of the water supply scheme for each district.

Yousuf, Razzaq to be awarded category A contract

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Karachi, June 27: The Pakistan cricket Board has decided to award category A central contracts to senior players Mohammad Yousuf and Abdul Razzaq, who have made a return to the national team after resigning from the rebel Indian Cricket League.

Sources in the Board said PCB Chairman Ejaz Butt had approved the contracts for the two players, who leave with the national team for the Test tour of Sri Lanka today.

Convict escapes from jail

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Lucknow, June 27: A convict, serving 10 years’ imprisonment for abducting a minor girl, escaped from Lucknow district jail where he was brought for trial, police said here today.

Kukku Kalia, lodged in Varanasi jail, was brought to a court here in connection with a murder case but gave policemen a slip while being taken to the lock up, they said.

Police said two constables — Jai Hind and Ramji Rao — who brought Kalia to the court, and a woman Ruby Kannaujiya, were arrested in this connection.

India to become CTC free by year end

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Tiruchirapalli, June 27: India will become free of Carbon Tetra Chloride (CTC), an ozone depleting substance, by the year end, a NGO involved in implementing the National CTC phase-out plan has said.

Efforts had been taken to stop complete usage of CTC, used as a solvent and cleaning agent in various industries, and it would be totally phased out before December 31 this year, Susanta Deb, Field Consultant representing German NGO, GTZ-Proklima, that is implementing the phase-out plan in the country in coordination with the Government, told PTI here.

City police launches SMS facility for citizens

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Hyderabad, June 27: The city police has launched another facility for the citizens through which people can reach the police by just an SMS for immediate attention regarding traffic, crime, terror and harassment.

The entire software package was designed for the city police by a team of scientists in AP NIC, Hyderabad and the cell number 9010100100 was donated by the Idea Cellular company, according to a release issued yesterday.

Swine flu cases rise to eighteen in Hyderabad

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Hyderabad, June 27: One more swine flu positive case was reported here today at the AP Chest Hospital, the nodal centre for H1N1 virus treatment.

According to Superintendent of the AP Chest Hospital Dr S V Prasad, of the nine suspected H1N1 cases admitted yesterday, one of them tested positive for the virus.

A 25-year-old lady from Hong Kong was among the nine who had travelled in the same flight with a 15-year-old flu confirmed compatriot.