sana Baghdad, July 09: A suicide bomber on Thursday killed at least 34 people and injured 70 near a judge’s house in northern Iraq, and a bomb attack in Baghdad killed six people, authorities said.
The attacks came one day after car bombs in two Shi’ite villages near the northern Iraqi city of Mosul killed 16 civilians and injured more than two dozen, signalling the challenges that face Iraq despite big improvements in security in the past two years.
Washington, July 09: A US commander leading the latest American offensive against the Taliban in the southern Helmand province of Afghanistan has acknowledged that there is a shortage of Afghan forces and they need more local forces to successfully continue with their military operation.
“We don’t have enough Afghan forces, and I would like more,” Marine Corps Brigadier General Lary Nicholson told Pentagon reporters over a teleconference from Afghanistan yesterday.
Washington, July 09: Burger King, which runs a global chain of hamburger fast food restaurants in more than 70 countries, has apologised for running an advertisement in Spain that offended the Hindus.
“We are apologising because it wasn’t our intent to offend anyone,” Denise T Wilson, spokesman of Burger King said.
The statement came after the Hindu community demanded the company to apologise for running an advertisement which its leaders said were offensive to their religion.
Srinagar, July 09: The Judicial Commission, which probed the rape and murder of two women in Shopian, submitted its final report recommending prosecution of four policemen and a forensic official on the charge of destruction of evidence, sources here said.
The report submitted to the Principal Secretary (Home) last night did not come to a conclusion whether and how the two women were murdered, they said.
Mumbai, July 09: It took a one month long fun-packed globe totting vacation for Preity Zinta to mend her broken heart and the gusty dame, who is back home now, is being her spunky, vivacious self again. The dimpled beauty, who made headlines for her unceremonious split with industrialist Ness Wadia, has now decided to make news for worthy professional reasons.
The smile is back and so is the bold attitude – Preity Zinta is all set to conquer filmdom once again. The actress, who has been the target of much media speculation is out to clear the air and set matters straight.
Ahmedabad, July 09: The Modi government in Gujarat has landed in deep trouble over the hooch tragedy with the death toll rising to 69.
According to reports, seventeen more people have died during treatment at various hospitals in the city after consuming spurious liquor since last night.
Although, the authorities continue to claim that the death toll is 65, but media reports have suggested that the toll has reached to 69.
Washington, July 09: The new US Ambassador to India, Timothy Roemer, is expected to arrive in New Delhi sometime next week, at least a few days ahead of the visit of the Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton.
The nomination of Roemer, 53, was confirmed by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee yesterday. It now goes to the Senate floor, which is expected to formally confirm the nomination as early as this week.
New Delhi, July 09: The Supreme Court on Thursday issued notice to the Centre on a petition challenging the Delhi High Court judgement legalising gay sex among the consenting adults.
The apex court posted the matter for hearing on July 20.
The Bench headed by Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan said that any interim order against the High Court verdict, if necessary, will be considered only after hearing the parties concerned.
Now the government will have to make its stand clear on the Delhi HC verdict suggesting ‘decriminalising’ homosexuality between two consenting adults.
New Delhi, July 09: With clean technologies playing a key role in tackling climate change threats, a two-day global meet is being held here in October to promote international technology development and transfer within the developed and developing nations.
The conference, likely to be inaugurated by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on October 22, will bring together governments, experts, industry bodies and civil society from various nations to help formulate a roadmap for technology in the context of climate change mitigation and adaptation.
New Delhi, July 09: BJP leader Sushma Swaraj on Thursday said she was “disappointed” with the briefings of Home Minister P Chidambaram on the issue of security of young party MP Varun Gandhi.
“…I can tell you that I am not satisfied with whatever he had said. Rather I am disappointed,” Swaraj told reporters here after meeting Chidambaram here.
Kabul, July 09: An Interior Ministry spokesman says the massive blast in central Afghanistan has killed 25 people, including 21 civilians and four policemen.
Zemerai Bashary says the powerful blast also destroyed nearby shops lining the road in the central Logar province.
The provincial police chief, Mustafa Khan, says the blast happened after a truck filled with timber tipped over on the main road connecting Logar province with Kabul to the north.
Mumbai, July 09: It was familiar but paradoxical nevertheless: Mumbai sank up to its waist while its residents thirsted for drinking water.
Heavy rain since Tuesday night morning flooded low-lying areas and disrupted train and flight services. The showers stopped on Wednesday afternoon but, by then, the water was up to waist level in the island city and parts of Central Mumbai, stranding pedestrians, BEST buses and taxis.
Beijing, July 09: Traffic and shopping resumed in Urumqi on Thursday after days of ethnic violence in the western city killed at least 156 people, and China’s alarmed leaders vowed to punish those behind the attacks.
The hundreds of troops that had camped out in the central part of the Xinjiang capital for the past three days were gone, but paramilitary police still guarded People’s Square and military helicopters flew over the city of 2.3 million.
Mumbai, July 09: Aishwarya Rai-Bachchan is a conscientious brand ambassador. The actress and former beauty queen inaugurated the Beautiful Beginnings on Tuesday, a generosity project to celebrate 100 years of L’Oreal.
Opened in Khar Danda village, the project is an initiative providing training in beauty services to under privileged girls, making them employable at existing beauty salons.
Aishwarya interacted with the students and declared how happy she is to be the project’s patron. Beauty is as beauty does, right Ash?
Ludhiana, July 09: A gay couple from Panchkula tied a knot at Abheypur village in Industrial Area today. The couple, Sachin Kumar and Sanjan, both employees of Manimajra-based dispensary claimed that they knew each other for the past one year.
“After the Delhi high court legalised Section 377, we decided to unite,” said Sachin.
Interestingly, another gay couple, Sapna and Gurnam Singh, also employees in the Manimajra civil hospital got married last night. “We are very happy with the decision of the Delhi High Court.
Ludhiana, July 09: A 24-year old girl shot herself on Wednesday afternoon at her residence in Durga Puri, Haibowal. Shikha Lal committed suicide by shooting herself in the head with a revolver when her entire family was present in the house.
Ahmedabad, July 09: One Madhya Gujarat Vij Company Limited (MGVCL) worker died while another is serious after both were electrocuted when they were repairing an electrical service line in Sardar Estate area near Ajwa Road in Vadodara.
According to the Kishanwadi police, the helper Thakore Baria (40) and the electrician Mahendra Tadvi (42) were fixing the lines when they got electrocuted. Baria, a helper working under Indrapuri Sub Division, died on the spot while Tadvi is critical.
Ahmedabad, July 09: In two separate incidents, two members of a family lost their lives over a period of three days. A diamond businessman undergoing treatment at Ashutosh Hospital in Sagrampura, died mysteriously on Monday, just before surgery.
On Wednesday, the deceased’s father, who had rushed to Surat upon hearing about his son’s death, met with an accident near Palitana and died on the spot.
According to details of the case, Vijay Sanghvi (46), a resident of Krishnanagar Society in Adajan, met with an accident when his bike skidded off the road on the Nehru Bridge on June 22.
Lucknow, July 09: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has issued showcause notice to 26 leaders asking them to explain their indisciplined actions during the Lok Sabha elections.
According to sources, more notices may be issued in the next few days. But already allegations of bias in the exercise have been voiced.
The notices have been issued by party general secretary Swatantra Dev Singh. Interestingly, complaints were made against Singh by party’s Jalaun candidate, Bhanu Pratap Verma, although not in writing, said a party source.
Kucknow, July 09: Appearing before the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court on Tuesday, UP Chief Secretary Atul Gupta submitted a letter from the Home Secretary stating that the missing files had last been taken by Subhash Bhan Sadh, Officer on Special Duty in the Communalism Control Cell of the UP Home Department, who later died in an accident.
Srinagar, July 09: Srinagar erupted again today after the the body of a missing youth, Asrar Ahmad Dar, was found with his throat slit, sparking angry protests on the streets with securitymen coming under attack and a police vehicle being torched. Officials denied the charge that the youth had been abducted by security forces and said it seemed to be the handiwork of criminals.
New Delhi, July 09: The government is learnt to have decided on a largescale redeployment of Air India (AI) staff to its strategic business units (SBUs), cutting the airline’s current 33,000 strength by nearly 50 per cent.
This will bring down AI’s employees-per-aircraft ratio from a highly uncompetitive 230:1 to a globally accepted 100-150:1.
Kolkata, July 09: The bandh called by the People’s Committee Against Police Atrocities (PCPA) in Lalgarh on Wednesday paralysed life in the area, which looked deserted. The relief work at the BDO office was also affected by the bandh.
Happy with the bandh’s response, PCPA leader Chhatradhar Mahato dared the state government to arrest him but said he was ready to talk to the state government to bring about an end to the violence in the area.
Pune, July 09: Now, anganwadi children aged three to six are set to learn English. Pune Zilla Parishad chief executive officer Dr Sanjeev Kumar, who incidentally used his medical background to introduce healthcare schemes like prevention of anaemia among girls, has launched a library project. He distributed books from China and Australia at ten anganwadis in Wagholi on Wednesday.
The tastefully designed and high-end branded books, including those from Fisher-Price and Kotwai and Young, will be circulated among the ten anganwadis on a trial basis.
Pune, July 09: A five-member gang looted Rs 3.74 lakh from the cash counter of the State Bank of India’s Ambegaon Budruk branch on Wednesday afternoon.
According to the police, the gang reached the bank in an Esteem car (MH 04 AH 3925), suspected to be stolen from Mumbai, around 1.45 pm. As there were no security guards at the bank, they entered the premises unchallenged, armed with two pistols and a sharp weapon, and snatched Rs 3.74 lakh in cash from Madhuri Misal, a woman employee at the cash counter.