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Iran tries more activists in post-election turmoil

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Tehran, August 16: Iran put on trial Sunday 25 more activists and opposition supporters, including a Jewish teenager, for their alleged involvement in the post-election turmoil.

The prosecutor opened the trial with a general indictment of all 25 defendants, accusing them of plotting the post-election turmoil years ahead of time, said the state news agency.

During the trial, authorities played a film showing attacks on public property, cars and a mosque by protesters.

Exports to revive by year-end: FICCI

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New Delhi, August 16: Though signs of an economic turnaround were starting to appear, a complete recovery for India’s crisis-stricken exports sector would happen only by the year-end, according to an industry survey.

“The quantum of decline on year-on-year basis may come down in the months ahead. But for exports to register reasonable positive growth, we will have to wait at least till the end of this year,” said a survey conducted by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI).

PM’s I-Day speech just a ceremonial affair: BJP

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New Delhi, August 16: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Sunday said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s Independence Day speech was more of a ceremonial affair and had nothing concrete to offer to counter the several challenges facing the country.

“The prime minister’s speech was a ceremonial affair. He spoke impressive words, but we don’t see any impresseive action taken by the government on crucial issues such as price rise, drought, unemployment and so on,” BJP vice president Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi told IANS.

Six youths booked for murdering friend

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Mohali, August 16: Six youths have been booked for allegedly hatching a criminal conspiracy and murdering their 19-year-old friend during a picnic outing in Mohali district of Punjab, police said Sunday.

A police officer said Sahil Sharma, a Mohali resident, had gone for an outing Aug 10 near a canal in this Punjab town with his six friends, all 19-21 years of age. In the evening, Sahil’s friends informed the police in Rajpura in Mohali that he accidentally slipped into the Bhakra canal and was washed away by the heavy flow of water.

‘Don’t feel like stepping on American soil’

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Chicago, August 16: After his ‘ordeal’ at the hands of immigration officials at the Newark airport, Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan has said he does not feel like stepping on American soil any more but ruled out seeking an apology for the incident which was denied by US officials.

Wakf Board officials, Jamat-E-Islami booked for Cheating

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Hyderabad, August 16: The Abids police on August 12 booked cases against two former senior officials Mohammed Abdul Quddus (Ex-Special Officer) and Shaik Madhar Sahib (Former CEO) of the Andhra Pradesh State Wakf Board, its ex-standing counsel Subhani and MOhammed Azhar Uddin of Jamaat-e-Islami Social Service Society for illegally selling away 428 acre land in Maheshwaram village on the outskirts of Hyderabad.

Senior officers in AP can’t have cops, home guards as servants

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Hyderabad, August 15: A demeaning colonial practice of deploying constables and home guards as domestic servants in the homes of senior officers will be a thing of the past in Andhra Pradesh.

The state government has decided to do away with the ‘orderly’ system that is prevalent in the police department despite it being banned in the late 1970s.

Pakistan should act against Mumbai attackers: US

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Islamabad, August 15: Pakistan will have to take action against Mumbai attackers and ensure its territory is not used for terrorism against India if it wanted to resume stalled talks with New Delhi, the new US pointsman for South Asia, Robert Blake, has said.

“The first part of that sequencing (resumption of India-Pakistan dialogue) will be for Pakistan to take action against these five Mumbai suspects, to prosecute them,” said Blake, who is assistant secretary of state for South Asian affairs.

Will prove Mehsud’s death: Pak

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Islmabad, August 15: Pakistan government on Friday (August 14) said it was close to collecting material evidence about the death of Tehrik-e-Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud and will present it before the nation soon.

The Pakistani Taliban chief was reportedly killed in a US drone attack in South Waziristan earlier this month, but the terrorist group has maintained that he is alive.

The government is close to collecting material evidence of Mehsud’s death, Interior Minister Rehman Malik said.

Afghan wives to go hungry if refuse sex to hubby

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London: Afghanistan has enacted a new legislation empowering men of Shia sect of Islam to deny their wives food and sustenance if they refuse to obey their husbands’ sexual demands, a media report said on Saturday.

The new final draft of the legislation also grants guardianship of children exclusively to their fathers and grandfathers, and requires women to get permission from their husbands to work, The Guardian reported.

Lashkar Holds anti-India Rally in Pakistan

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New Delh, August 15: Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) has reportedly held an anti-India rally on the streets of Pakistan, raising serious doubts about the ban imposed by Islamabad on the terrorist group.

Exposing Pakistan’s inability to tackle terrorist elements breeding on its soil, a Jamaat-ud-Dawah rally in the Guhranwala town saw the supporters waving black and white Lashkar flags. Shockingly, a preacher even instructed youth on the streets to target India.

The son of 26/11 mastermind Hafiz Saeed was also present at the rally, which was addressed by the local leader of LeT.

India takes up Shahrukh case with US

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New York, August 15: With Bollywood actor Shahrukh Khan being detained and questioned at Newark airport, India on Saturday took up the issue with the US
Embassy here which said it was ascertaining details about the incident involving the “global icon” who was welcome to America.

“The matter was taken up with the US Embassy,” External Affairs Ministry spokesman Vishnu Prakash said soon after the reports about detention of the actor reached here.

He said the Embassy was ascertaining factual details of the incident.

Air India flight makes emergency landing in Kolkata

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Kolkata, August 15: A Hyderabad-bound Air India aircraft with 28 passengers on board had to head back and make an emergency landing after a technical alarm bell went off minutes after it had taken off from here Saturday, an official said.

“The flight took off at 5.14 pm from the N.S.C. Bose International Airport with 28 passengers but after the technical alarm went off at 5.18 p.m. the pilots made a precautionary landing at 5.21 p.m.,” an Air India spokesperson told IANS.

All the passengers of the 70-seater IC 7217 flight were safe.

Ambika Soni suggests tit-for-tat against frisking

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New Delhi, August 15: After a string of incidents like the one involving Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan, who was detained at a US airport, Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni on Saturday suggested that India should do a ‘tit-for-tat’ towards Americans.

“I am of the opinion that the way we are frisked, for example I too was frisked, we should also do the same to them,” Soni said.

Many examples like this have come from the US where frisking is done and “beyond permissible limits”, she said.

Bharat Heavy Electricals to invest Rs.485 crore in boiler division

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Tiruchirapalli (Tamil Nadu), August 15: Power equipment major Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (BHEL) will invest Rs.485 crore ($100 million) to expand its boiler division that makes thermal and nuclear plant boilers, a senior official said here Saturday.

“The expansion will be completed by 2011 and the division’s capacity will go up to 15,000 MW per annum,” BHEL executive director A.V. Krishnan said here at a flag hoisting ceremony on Independence Day.

At present, the company’s capacity is 10,000 MW.

BHEL has set up a new unit here at an investment of Rs.732 crore.

Sanjay Khan duped of Rs 66 lakh

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Bangalore, August 15: The president, vice-president and deputy general manager of a private hospitality firm have been arrested by the CCB sleuths on the charge of cheating film producer Sanjay Khan, to the tune of Rs 66 lakh.

A team of the CCB police arrested Vijay Singh, the president, Vacation Clubs International Hospitality Limited in New Delhi on Thursday, while another team arrested Bart Pinto, the vice- president and Peter Gosh, the DGM, in Bangalore. The trio have been remanded in police custody for eight days, police said.

Agreement

Saina fails to crack Lin puzzle in quarters

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Hyderabad, August 15:India’s hopes of a medal in the World Badminton Championship remained unfulfilled with the elimination of their women’s top player Saina Nehwal and the mixed doubles pair of V Diju and Jwala Gutta here on Friday.

Cheered on by a large gathering at the Gachibowli stadium, Saina did raise visions of an upset win, but failed to keep her rampaging Chinese rival, World number two Wang Lin, at bay consistently to go down fighting 16-21, 19-21.

Hamas Fights Gaza ‘Islamic Emirate’

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Gaza City, August 15: Clashes between Hamas police and a radical group that declared an “Islamic emirate” in the Gaza Strip left 22 people killed, including the group’s leader.
“Clashes… between Hamas and an extremist group in the southern Gaza Strip left 22 people dead and at least 120 wounded,” a spokesman for the Palestinian emergency services told Agence France Presse (AFP) on Saturday, August 15.

Abdul Latif Moussa, the leader of Jund Ansar Allah (Soldiers of the Partisans of God), was killed in the clashes between Hamas police and his supporters in Rafah.

Delhi to be slum free in next four years: Dikshit

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New Delhi, August 15: The Delhi government is all set to allot around 10,000 low-cost houses to the poor and to make the national capital a slum-free city within the next three to four years, Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit said Saturday.

“The vulnerable families would become proud owners of their houses with a respectable address in well-developed colonies,” she announced at the Independence Day function at Ambedkar Stadium here.

US India’s natural friend, says Obama

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Washington, August 15: Assuring a “vibrant and promising India” that it has a natural friend in the US, President Barack Obama has greeted people of India on the country’s 63rd Independence Day.

“This vibrant and promising India has a natural friend in the United States,” Obama said in a message personally signed by him.

“Our people are bound by common values and ideals, and Indian-Americans contribute to all aspects of American life.

“India has attained unprecedented milestones as its democracy has matured.

My Body Is My Own Business

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I often wonder whether people see me as a radical fundamentalist and terrorist Muslim who hides an AK-47 assault rifle underneath her jean jacket. Perhaps, they see me as the poster girl for oppressed womanhood everywhere. I am not sure which of the two it is.

I get the whole gamut of strange looks, stares, and covert glances. I wear the hijab, and it covers my head, my neck, and my entire body except my face and hands. I do this because I am a Muslim woman who obeys the commands of her Lord and believes that her body is her own private concern.

Enemy of the state: This is what Pak thinks of US

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Washington, August 15: Concerned over a new public opinion poll in Pakistan showing that 64 per cent Pakistanis see America as the enemy, Defence Secretary Robert Gates says the US must maintain relationships with Pakistan for the long term to build trust.

The poll saying only nine per cent of Pakistanis see the US as a partner is disturbing to defence leaders, but not surprising, he said during a Pentagon news conference Thursday.

“First of all, one of the reasons that the Pakistanis have concerns about us is that we walked away from them twice,” he said.

Hamas: Leader of al-Qaida-inspired group killed

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Gaza City, August 15: The leader of an al-Qaida-inspired group in the Gaza Strip blew himself up during a shootout Saturday with security forces that killed 24 people. The jihadis have posed one of the biggest challenges to Hamas since the militant group seized power in Gaza two years ago.

The fighting erupted Friday when Hamas security men surrounded a mosque in the southern Gaza town of Rafah on the Egypt border where about 100 members of Jund Ansar Allah, or the Soldiers of the Companions of God, were holed up.

Shilpa slams stores for black marketing masks

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New Delhi, Aug 15: Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty has blasted stores that are selling masks at “three times” the price when the swine flu situation in many parts of the country is “grave”.

“Three days ago I scurried to buy myself a mask wanting to use it at the airport. Imagine my dismay at learning masks were out of stock at the medical stores but are being sold at three times the cost by some unscrupulous stores,” Shilpa posted on her blog shilpashettylive.com/blog Friday morning.

Omar Abdullah promises zero tolerance to rights violations

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Srinagar, August 15: Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, in his Independence Day speech here Saturday, said his government would not tolerate human rights violations by the security forces and also apologised for the lapses in the probe into the rape and murder of two women in Shopian district.

“I cannot overlook the tragic incident that occurred at Shopian. I accept that there were mistakes by the administration and the government initially with regard to this incident,” Abdullah said.