Press Trust of India Security forces Thursday killed at least 30 suspected militants in an operation in Pakistan’s southwestern Balochistan province, an official said.
Provincial Home Minister Mir Sarfaraz Bugti said one security man was also killed and eight others were injured during the operation in Dera Bugti district, Xinhua reported.
Several militant groups are fighting the security forces in Balochistan, which borders Afghanistan and Iran.
Russian President Vladimir Putin will meet French President Francois Hollande Thursday during D-Day commemorations in France, according to the Kremlin press service.
“The Putin-Hollande meeting will centre on the settlement of the Ukraine crisis, particularly an end to punitive operations in the country’s southeast and the May 25 presidential election,” Xinhua cited the Kremlin as saying.
“Russia-EU and Russia-NATO cooperation will also be raised within the context of unrest in Ukraine,” it said.
Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and union Environment and Climate Change Minister Prakash Javadekar were among those who called on prime minister Narendra Modi Thursday.
“The Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh Shri @ChouhanShivraj met PM @narendramodi”, the Prime Minister’s Office tweeted.
Javadekar presented a sapling to Modi to commemorate the ocassion of World Environment Day.
“Minister of State for Environment, Forest and Climate Change Shri @PrakashJavdekar presenting a sapling to the PM,” the PMO said in another tweet.
(IANS)
A court in Pakistan Thursday ordered registration of murder cases against two former chiefs of the US’s CIA stationed in Islamabad for their alleged role in US drone strikes in the country’s tribal region, lawyers and anti-drone campaigners said.
Kareem Khan, a resident of North Waziristan tribal agency, lost his teenaged son Zahinullah and brother Asif Iqbal who was a primary school teacher in Mir Ali, North Waziristan Agency, in a drone strike Dec 31, 2009.
It’s now official. Kerala’s star couple Dileep and Manju Warrier’s divorce proceedings have officially begun with the former filing a petition here Thursday seeking a divorce.
Dileep has filed a petition at the family court here seeking separation from his wife and also requested the court to see that the details of the petition and the case should not be published by the media citing a Supreme Court directive. The court agreed to his plea.
The two have been living separated for a while now and their teenage daughter now lives with Dileep.
At least four people including a soldier were killed and three others injured when their car fell into a gorge in West Bengal’s Darjeeling district Wednesday night, police said.
All four were killed on the spot as the car slipped 300 feet into the Teesta Valley under Rungli Rungliot police station.
There were seven people in the car, of whom three have been admitted in a private hospital here, said Additional Superintendent of Police (headquarters) Sudip Sarkar.
One of the injured was serious.
The dead included army jawan Sajendra Rai, who had come home on leave.
Four Taliban militants, including a local commander, were killed when security personnel raided their hideouts in Dasht-e-Archi district of Kunduz province 250 km north of Kabul Thursday.
“Units of police backed by the army kicked off cleanup operations in parts of Dasht-e-Archi district early this morning and so far four Taliban militants including their commander have been killed,” provincial police chief Mustafa Mohsini told newsmen.
He also said that seven more militants have been injured, Xinhua reported.
Nearly a decade after it denied him a visa and blacklisted him, the US is practically preparing to roll out the red carpet for Prime Minister Narendra Modi who is set to hold a summit meeting with President Barack Obama in Washington in September-end this year.
According to official sources, Modi has expressed his keenness to give a push to the flagging Indo-US ties and has accepted Obama’s invite to visit Washington.
Towards overhauling road safety-control following the fatal car accident of BJP leader Gopinath Munde, the government Thursday vowed to bring in new legislation upgrading road safety norms in-line with global standards.
Briefing reporters after a meeting with officials to review road safety standards, Roads Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari said: “An umbrella act is proposed to be prepared in about a month’s time incorporating various central Rules and laws, like the Motor Vehicles Act 1988, Central Motor Vehicle Rules 1989, Carriage by Road Act and Rules”.
An El Al Israeli airlines passenger flight from Tel Aviv to Munich made an unplanned landing at Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria, early Thursday after an outburst by a violent passenger, media reported.
According to a report in the Ha’aretz daily, the passenger, a 30-year-old German, started cursing the people around him aboard flight 353, picked on the airline crew members and even punched one of them in the face. No one was reportedly hurt following the outburst.
A London skyscraper, said to be western Europe’s tallest standing tower at more than 1,000 feet, was evacuated Thursday following reports of smoke in its basement.
Seven fire engines with 50 firefighters reached the scene after the fire brigade was called to investigate the Shard tower at 10.30 a.m. this morning, the Independent quoted London Fire Brigade as saying.
Russian Ambassador to Ukraine Mikhail Zurabov will return to his duties after attending the inauguration of President Petro Poroshenko, a senior Russian official said Thursday.
“The decision is made that the Russian ambassador will return to Kiev, return to his duties and will attend only the official part of the inauguration ceremony,” Xinhua quoted Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin as saying.
Russia called its ambassador to Ukraine back to Moscow for “consultations” on Feb 23, as the security situation in Ukraine worsened.
The increasing rape incidents in Uttar Pradesh led to charges and counter-charges between the BJP and the SP with Water Resources Minister Uma Bharti Thursday accusing the state’s ruling party of “protecting rapists” while Dimple Yadav put up a spirited defence of her husband and Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav.
“…this (Uttar Pradesh) is the only state where politicians and the government protect rapists,” Uma Bharti, who is an MP from the state’s Jhansi, told the media after taking oath.
Saudi Arabia’s health ministry has recruited 1,800 Indian nurses to work in various government hospitals, a media report said.
The new nurses would assume their duties within a month after completing their recruitment procedures, the Saudi Gazette quoted Ilham Sindi, director of the ministry’s nursing department, as telling the Makkah daily Wednesday.
The nurses would be coming from India on a renewable contract of one year. Three hundred more would come from the Philippines, Sindi said.
The Japan Football Association (JFA) Thursday named veteran football striker Kazuyoshi Miura as its ambassador for the FIFA World Cup in Brazil.
The 47-year-old, known as Kazu, played for Japan and was the first Japanese recipient of the Asian Player of the Year award in 1993. He played for several Brazilian clubs including powerhouse Santos in 1980s, reports Xinhua.
“He is a player who symbolises the strong link between Japan and Brazil. We are extremely grateful and think it will be a joyful occasion to have him there,” said JFA president Kuniya Daini.
In a show of solidarity with victims of sexual assaults in India, students of Indian origin graduating from Ivy League universities in the US wore a red tape on their graduation caps during convocation ceremonies this week.
Later, several students from Columbia University, Harvard University and Brown University participated in a peaceful protest against the rise in sexual violence in India, especially in the north Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.
A Bihar court Thursday convicted eight people including two police officials of murdering three teenage students in a fake encounter 12 years ago in Patna, a lawyer said.
The fast track court headed by Judge Ravi Shankar Sinha pronounced the order and found them guilty.
“Two police officials including then station house officer (SHO) of Shastri Nagar police station Shamse Alam and constable Arun Kumar Singh were found guilty of murdering the three students,” the lawyer said.
Other than the police officials, six others were also found guilty of attempt to murder in the case.
A population of marsupials called northern quolls was discovered in the remote island of Molema, north Australia, media reported.
These animals are similar to cats and have been listed as a species on the verge of extinction.
“Northern quoll populations have declined sharply across most of their former range in northern Australia”, Albert Jacob, environment minister of Western Australia, was quoted as saying Wednesday.
The environment minister also said that the islands, such as Molema, can provide refuge as against threats on the mainland.
Girl students seeking admission to different undergraduate courses in Delhi University have a reason to cheer as a total of 14 colleges are now offering extra concession on the cutoff to them.
Atma Ram Sanatan Dharam (ARSD) College, Dyal Singh College, Shaheed Bhagat Singh College (evening), Shyam Lal college and Shivaji College will give three percent concession on the cutoff, on all courses offered by them.
Motilal Nehru College (evening) is offering concession of five percent in all its courses.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, his council of ministers and senior leaders, including BJP patriarch L.K. Advani and Congress president Sonia Gandhi were among the members of the newly-elected 16th Lok Sabha who took oath Thursday.
Senior Congress leader Kamal Nath, who was sworn-in Wednesday by President Pranab Mukherjee as the pro-tem speaker, administered the oath to Modi, who was attired in a spotless white churidar-kurta and matching jacket.
Advani and Gandhi next took oath next. The three leaders took the oath in Hindi.
After seven years of planning and billions of dollars spent on infrastructure, Brazil is finally dismantling ubiquitous scaffolds and applying finishing touches to a myriad of FIFA World Cup projects.
Among them are sparkling new stadiums, airport upgrades and telecommunications, electric power and security initiatives. But is Brazil ready to host football’s premier event from June 12 to July 13? Xinhua analyses key aspects of Brazil’s preparations.
Stadiums:
The leaders of the Group of Seven (G7) have called on Iran to intensify its role in supporting security in the Middle East.
“We call on Iran to play a more constructive role in supporting regional security, in particular in Syria, and to reject all acts of terrorism and terrorist groups,” said a statement released on the European Union official website.
The summit of the G7, comprising the US, Japan, Italy, Britain, Canada, France and Germany, was hosted for the first time in the Belgian capital of Brussels to discuss many issues of common interest, especially Ukraine’s crisis.
Delhi reeled under intense heat Thursday as the maximum temperature settled four notches above the average at 44.7 degrees Celsius, making it the season’s hottest day yet. No respite is expected Friday, the met office said.
According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD), Friday will see clear skies and the searing heat will continue to wreak havoc on Delhiites with the maximum temperature likely to hover around 45 degrees Celsius.
The minimum is expected to settle around 28 degrees Celsius.
West Bengal’s opposition BJP Thursday accused the ruling Trinamool Congress of unleashing “gruesome” violence against its party workers and urged Governor M.K. Naraynan to initiate steps for restoring peace and democracy in the state.
“West Bengal is presently passing through a massive spate of post-poll violence, which is being unleashed against BJP workers and activists all over Bengal and is getting increasingly gruesome and fatal with every passing day,” state Bharatiya Janata Party president Rahul Sinha and general secretary Samik Bhattacharya said in a letter to Narayanan.
While government hospitals in developing countries are usually looked down upon, hospitals in a country like Britain too are not an exception to their share of shortcomings.
A top British health official has revealed how the authorities had to issue an urgent recall after finding that a stock of liquid food linked to death of an infant and blood poisoning in 14 newborns was supplied to 22 hospitals.