faheem

Muslim woman wins $5 million verdict from AT&T for discrimination

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A Kansas City woman who converted from Christianity to Islam has been awarded $5 million in punitive damages by a jury who found the telecommunications giant AT&T created a “hostile work environment” after her conversion, according to a judge’s order issued Friday.

Susann Bashir, a 41-year-old married mother, sued AT&T unit Southwestern Bell for what she said was a pattern of offensive and discriminatory conduct by her supervisors that began when she converted to Islam in 2005, six years after she started working for the company as a network technician.

Imam-e-Kaba addresses youth at Integral University

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The Imam-e-Haram of Kaba, Sheikh Khalid Bin Ali Al Ghamdi on Sunday warned the Muslim youths that any modern education should not divert their belief in God. The Imam was speaking at a function organised at Integral University on Saturday. He also urged the students to be educated for competing with the western countries.

He also said that Quran and hadith (sayings of Prophet Mohammad) could serve as the best guide to any human being.

Muslim woman thrashes girl for not reading Quran

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A Muslim woman in London is facing jail on charges of beating a 10-yr-old girl because she did not read enough verses of the Quran.

During her trial in a Snaresbrook Crown Court, it emerged that Asia Parveen, 31, who was five months pregnant at the time of the incident, beat a 10-year-old girl with a steel ladle and also forced the girl to stand with her arms outstretched for four hours, and now faces a possible jail sentence.

Sesrish achives another feat

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After topping the state-level Combined Services Examination in 2010, Dr Syed Sehrish Asgar has achieved another feat by cracking the All India Civil Services Examination.

Ovessa Iqbal of Leh was the first Muslim girl from the state to qualify the prestigious examination last year and has already joined the Indian Foreign Services (IFS).

Sehrish figures at 118th ranking in All India Civil Services Examination, the results for which were declared by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) on Friday.

Narasimhan sworn-in as AP Gov

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Mr E Srinivas Lakshmi Narasimhan, was today sworn-in as Andhra Pradesh Governor for a second term at the Raj Bhavan here.

Andhra Pradesh High Court Chief Justice Madan Bhim Rao Lokur administered the oath of office and secrecy to Mr Narasimhan at a brief ceremony.

Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy, Deputy Chief Minister Damodar Rajanarasimha, Andhra Pradesh Assembly Speaker Nadendla Manohar, Council Chairman A Chakrapani, opposition leader in the council Dadi Veerabhadara Rao, Cabinet Ministers and Director General of Police V Dinesh Reddy were among those present on the occasion.

Media members participates in Press Freedom Day Walk

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Members of the fourth estate today took an active part in the first ever World Press Freedom Day walk held to highlight the freedom of press here today.

The walk commenced at 0630 hrs from Lumbini Park and ended at NTR Garden.

Noted magicians Samala also participated in the Walk and said it’s a honour that he was able to participate in a event which was being held for the Press and also highlighted the importance of safeguarding the freedom of Press.

79 cases against 14 societies in AP: CID ADGP

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The Central Investigation Department (CID) have arrested Bharat Prem Sadan organisation Chairman Gonugunta Prasad accused in a criminal case relating to Money Circulation scheme at Vijayawada, today.

On credible information, a team of officials raided a flat located at Lotus Land Mark in Vijayawada and arrested the Chairman and seized cash about Rs 2.10 lakh, 70 gm of Gold ornaments and two Tata Safari Vehicles from him, CID (AP) Additional Director General of Police Ramanamurthy said in a release here.

Full moon to be called as Super Moon on May 5

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Sky gazers will have a unique opportunity to witness the brightest moon on the full moon day on May 5/6 when it is in its perigee, the closest point of earth.

Called the ‘super moon’ the radiance of moon would be more than a fourth of its usual brightness, according to B M Birla Science Centre Director B G Sidharth.

The moon would be fourteen per cent bigger than its normal size when viewed from earth, he said in a release here.

Mr Sidharth called upon the people not to miss the Super Moon, as it can be seen rising in the East when the sun sets in the west.

—UNI

Top Chef host Padma Lakshmi shaves daughter’s head for Hindu ritual

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Something was definitely amiss when Top Chef host Padma Lakshmi stepped out for a party with her two-year-old daughter over the weekend – Krishna’s curly locks! At first glance, it would appear that the 41-year-old gave her little girl a very drastic buzz cut.

But according to Hindu tradition, the hair from birth is associated with undesirable traits from past lives. The TV presenter was simply observing the ritual called Mundan where a child is freshly shaven to signify freedom from the past and moving into the future, the Daily Mail reported.

Jagan flouting temple rules, charged with disturbing sanctity

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A day after YSR Congress party leader Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy’s visit to Tirumala temple kicked up a row, leaders of the ruling Congress and the main opposition Telugu Desam Party (TDP) Thursday demanded action against him for flouting temple rules.

The leaders of both the parties accused Jaganmohan Reddy, a Christian, of showing disrespect to other religions and disturbing the sanctity of the Balaji temple.

Apex court tells CBI to give report on Azad’s killing

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The Supreme Court Thursday directed the CBI to submit before a magistrate in Andhra Pradesh its probe report on the alleged staged shootout killing of Maoist leader Cherukuri Rajkumar alias Azad and journalist H.C. Pandey.

The apex court bench of Justice Aftab Alam and Justice C.K. Prasad gave a direction to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) after it disposed of two petitions seeking an independent probe into the 2010 shootout.

Sachin’s ‘Evening with Tendulkar’ to be hosted in six world cities

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A select few fans will get to spend an evening with iconic Indian cricketer Sachin Tendulkar when he embarks on a worldwide, six-city tour over the next three years as part of FidelisWorld ‘Celebration Series’. “…the first Evening with Sachin Tendulkar will take place in Dubai, the headquarters of the FidelisWorld Group,” the company said in a release.

The evening will have Tendulkar sharing personal perspectives on his career in an interactive session with the guests.

Youth sentenced to death for beheading girl

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Terming it the rarest of rate cases, a Ranchi court Wednesday awarded the death sentence to a youth, Bijendra Kumar, for beheading a girl in a college campus here last year.

Ranchi District Session Judge S.H. Kazmi had convicted Bijendra on April 26 in gruesome murder of Khushboo on April 27, 2011 when she was coming out from the classroom after appearing in the intermediate examination in St. Xavier’s College.

Question Hour again lost to Telangana Issue

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The vexed Telangana issue continued to disturb the Lok Sabha proceedings as the House had to be adjourned today till noon when TRS MPs created a din in support of their demand for a separate state to be carved out of Andhra Pradesh.

As soon as the House asssembled for the day, TRS MPs Chandrashekhar Rao and Ms Vijay Shanti entered the well of the
House holding placards in support of their demands and raising ‘Jai Telangana’ slogans.

Year after Osama, world still unsafe

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A year after Osama bin Laden was hunted down and killed at his safehouse in Pakistan’s military town of Abbottabad by elite American forces, an event that made splashing headlines the world over, strategic analysts across the spectrum are agreed that little has changed and the Al Qaeda may be weakened but is still dangerous.

Veena Malik and Rakhi in remakes of ‘The Dirty Picture’

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Drama queens Veena Malik and Rakhi Sawant are all set to storm the South and Bengal by starring in the Tollywood version of The Dirty Picture. The controversy’s favorite child, Veena Malik is seem to be slowly turning out to be a competitor for all Bollywood leading actresses . Veena Malik is known for her sexy antics in the TV reality show, Bigg Boss, while Rakhi is known for her big mouth.

Teacher’s aide jailed for sending nude photos to 16 year-old students

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A teacher’s aide has been jailed after sending nude photos of herself to three 16-year-old students. U.S. marshals arrested Tiffany Lynne Huffman on charges of sexual misbehaviour.

The 28-year-old woman from Oklahoma is alleged to have struck a friendship with the three teenagers through messages on Facebook, the Daily Mail reported.

Police said she began having sexual conversations with each victim and eventually sent them nude photos of herself.

She also sent photos of herself in sheer lingerie via text message from her cell phone.

Al Qaeda determined to make ‘new history’

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A dead Osama bin Laden is as dangerous as a living one, senior Pakistani journalist Hamid Mir has written a year after the killing of the Al Qaeda chief.

The article in Geo News Monday, just days before the first anniversary of Osama’s killing in Abbottabad May 2, warned that the man was dead “but Al-Qaeda is still determined to make some new history”.

AMU elects its first woman in teachers association

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After being in the news for alleged gender bias, the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) has for the first time elected a woman to its influential teacher’s association.

S. Chandni Bi, assistant professor of history, has been elected to the powerful executive council of the AMUTA (Aligarh Muslim Unversity Teachers Association), officials said.

Woman beaten by cops after trying to disrupt Sonia Gandhi’s rally in Karnataka

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A woman was beaten up by police today for showing black flag to the Congress President Sonia Gandhi in Tumkur, during the birthday celebration of Siddaganga Math head.

A young woman tried to disrupt Mrs Gandhi’s speech during the ceremony. As she began her speech, the woman, seated among the audience, suddenly rose and waved a black flag demanding Scheduled Caste (SC) status for her community Madiga Dandora. The police immediately swung into action and beat her up. She was then take away from the venue even as some of her supporters shouted slogans.

Akhilesh government to roll out ‘red carpet’ for scribes

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How to create a media-friendly environment in government offices and make maximum information available to journalists? This is a key task for the Akhilesh Yadav government in Uttar Pradesh, which is working out measures to facilitate media persons, who had “not so good” a time during the previous Mayawati rule.

Soon after his taking over as the chief minister of India’s most populous state, the 38-year-old Akhilesh Yadav had hinted that the government was keen on improving relations with the media.

Social Islam biased against freedom of arts: Filmmaker Shama Zaidi

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The idea of social Islam – the practised version of the faith – in conservative Muslim countries comes with a bias against the freedom of arts, says Islamic scholar, filmmaker and theatre personality Shama Zaidi.

“The attitude of Islam towards these arts have affected the place of the arts and their practitioners in society,” Zaidi said at a discussion “Social Islam in South Asia: Current Trends” hosted jointly by the India International Centre and the South Asia Monitor, a resource forum (www.southasiamonitor.org) that provides perspectives on the South Asia region.

UK spacecraft to fly up to the sun

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The European Space Agency said on Friday it had awarded a 300-million-euro ($400 million) contract to a British technology firm to build a satellite to examine the Sun from closer up than any before it.

The Solar Orbiter, to be built by Astrium UK, is due to launch in January 2017 – coming to within 45 million kilometres (28 million miles) of the Sun – closer than its nearest planet, Mercury.

Project scientist Daniel Mueller said the satellite, roughly eight cubic metres in size, would have to withstand ten times the solar heat than that on earth.

Russian woman kills hubby with frying pan

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A Russian man died after his jealous wife hit him on the head with a frying pan, officials said.

The incident took place in Orenburg city in the Urals region in western Russia.

“The 50-year old man was hospitalised in intensive care with acute cerebral circulatory problems and died the following day,” police said.

The 36-year old woman said she was driven by jealousy and hit her husband with a frying pan during a quarrel, they said.

The woman faces up to 15 years in prison.

–IANS

Fake currency worth Rs. 45 lakh seized at Hyderabad airport

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Officials of the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) seized fake currency with face value of Rs. 45.57 lakh at Rajiv Gandhi International Airport in Hyderabad on Friday.

The officials did not disclose the identity of the accused, but said he belonged to Andhra Pradesh, and had arrived by an Emirates flight from Dubai.

Acting on a tip-off, DRI officials stopped the man, and a search of his baggage led to the discovery of high quality Fake Indian Currency Notes (FICN) of the face value of Rs. 45.57 lakh, in the denomination of Rs. 1,000 and 500.