shameen Mexico City, September 08: Mexican President Felipe Calderon on Monday removed his attorney general who had spearheaded the government’s anti-drug campaign that has so far failed to defeat powerful cartels.
Calderon told reporters that Attorney General Eduardo Medina Mora had resigned and would be replaced by a little-known former law enforcement official. Calderon gave no details about the motive for the move.
Washington, September 08: Defence Secretary Robert Gates asked US allies in the Arab world to strengthen their military capabilities and defence cooperation with Washington as a means of pressuring Iran to back off its nuclear program.
In an interview with Al Jazeera that was to be aired Monday, Gates said the United States still favoured diplomatic and economic approaches to the challenges posed by Iran and its nuclear program.
Seoul, September 08: South Korea demanded an apology from North Korea Tuesday for its sudden release of water into a river flowing across their border that swept away six people, casting a pall over recently warming ties between the rivals.
South Korean emergency officials have recovered the bodies of three of the six, who went missing in a pre-dawn flash flood Sunday caused by the sudden surge of water on the Imjin River, where the North has used massive dams to control water flow.
The six, including a child, were camping on the Imjin River’s banks.
Brasilia, September 08: Brazilian Vice President Jose Alencar, who for 12 years has suffered from an aggressive intestinal cancer, said in an interview published over the weekend that “he feels debilitated” and “is preparing for death as never before”.
The 77-year-old Alencar used a football metaphor to tell Veja magazine about his current state of health, saying that he feels “too debilitated to experience the best moment of a match and feel that surge of emotion at scoring a goal” because he no longer has the “strength to climb the fence and celebrate”.
New Delhi, September 08: The CBI on Tuesday sought two weeks’ time before a Delhi court for exploring the options available to it in the Bofors payoff case after the withdrawal of Red Corner notice against Italian Businessman Ottavio Quattrocchi.
Additional Solicitor General PP Malhotra submitted a status report in a court of Metropolitan Magistrate Manish Yaduvanshi and said the CBI needed two weeks’ time to examine the options for proceeding against Quattrocchi.
The Court, taking his submissions into account during a brief hearing, posted the matter for October 3.
Dubai, September 08: The UAE government is in “constant contact” with the Indian officials over its Air Force plane that was Monday detained in Kolkata
for carrying arms, a senior official here has confirmed.
UAE Foreign Ministry’s Director-General Juma Al Junaibi confirmed Monday evening in a statement released to the country’s official news agency Wam
In his statement, Al Junaibi stressed the deep-rooted relations between the UAE and India and also reiterated UAE’s respect to the sovereignty of India
Lucknow, September 08: Here Jayalalithaa takes Bal Thackeray on her lap when he sobs, Manmohan Singh is fond of riding on Mulayam Singh’s shoulders, while Kalyan Singh and Rajnath Singh have no differences and love playing cricket with Giani Zail Singh. The next one to join them could well be Mayawati.
Srinagar, September 08: Reports of Chinese incursions in the Ladakh area of Jammu and Kashmir which are now being highlighted by the media are in fact as old as January 2009, according to an official communication sent that month by the district magistrate of Leh to his superiors in the state.
New Delhi, September 08: To go by contradictory postings on its website, India’s civil aviation regulator seems to be engaged in a cover-up operation on the airworthiness of a helicopter that crashed last week, killing late Andhra Pradesh chief minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy.
On Tuesday, the posting on the website of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on the Bell-430 helicopter, call sign VT-APG, stated its certificate of airworthiness was valid from Dec 5, 2006, to Dec 5, 2010.
New Delhi, September 08: At least 10 flights of Jet Airways and its subsidiary out of Delhi were cancelled Tuesday as a large number of pilots did not report to work in protest against sacking of two of their colleagues, a move described as “sabotage of operation” by the airlines.
While National Aviators Guild (NAG) has decided not to go on the proposed strike, its members decided alternate course of protest action like going on mass casual leave which hampered the operations of the private carrier.
Hyderabad, September 08: A 45-year-old supporter of Y S Jaganmohan Reddy scaled a cellphone tower near Kushaiguda on Monday morning demanding that the Kadapa
MP be made chief minister, but gave up his novel protest after 15 minutes.
Malla Reddy, 45, of Moula Ali Housing Board, who runs a magazine `Reddynadu Patrika’, is a die-hard fan of late chief minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy. After YSR’s sudden death, he wants the Congress high command to anoint YS Jaganmohan Reddy as the chief minister.
Washington, September 08: The prepared text of President Barack Obama’s back-to-school address scheduled for Tuesday, as released in advance by the White House:
OBAMA: Hello, everyone — how’s everybody doing today? I’m here with students at Wakefield High School in Arlington, Virginia. And we’ve got students tuning in from all across America, kindergarten through 12th grade. I’m glad you all could join us today.
New Delhi, September 08: Acclaimed filmmaker Shyam Bengal describes Minnisha Lamba as an “exceptionally good” actress but rues that she hasn`t got her “due” in Bollywood. He feels his movie `Well Done Abba` will no doubt fetch her the much-deserved appreciation.
“Minnisha will be seen in something very different from what she has done till now. I hope with `Well Done Abba` she gets the appreciation she deserves. She is an exceptionally fine actress and I feel that she has not got her due in the industry,” Benegal told IANS over the phone from Mumbai.
Ranchi, September 08: The BJP on Monday moved the Supreme Court seeking immediate dissolution of the Jharkhand Assembly, now under suspended animation, and sought directives for the Election Commission to hold elections.
“We have moved the apex court on two counts. First, to dissolve the assembly as there was no party or group that had staked claim during the last eight months of President’s rule.
London, September 08: An elderly Kolkata-born man died in a London hospital Monday after a gang of teenage schoolboys beat him viciously in a suspected race attack.
Retired care worker Ekram ul Haque, 67, was battered to the ground in front of his five-year-old granddaughter as they returned from a south London mosque.
Three boys, aged 12, 14 and 15, have been charged with assaulting Haque and a man in his 40s – just minutes earlier – in Tooting, a south London neighbourhood that is home to many people from West Bengal and Bangladesh.
New Delhi, September 08: Even though External Affairs Minister SM Krishna on Monday sought to downplay the recent Chinese violations of airspace and international border in Leh and Ladakh respectively, the Central government has taken note of the incursions at a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) held here.
Ministers at the CCS meet are reported to have discussed the Chinese incursions with serious concern.
Reports said Army Chief General Deepak Kapoor will travel to Leh on September 10 and 11 to take stock of the situation first hand.
Muscat, September 08: Citizens and residents of Oman have been urged to continue to give blood during the Holy month of Ramadan because of a continuous need to handle emergency cases that entirely depend on donated blood.
The Health Ministry’s Blood Services Department, underlining that donating blood was the responsibility of all, said donation was the only safe source of fresh blood.
Jeddah, September 08: The two-day interfaith conference at the initiative of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz is to be held in Geneva on September 30, according to the conference’s website set up by the Muslim World League (MWL), the organiser of the event.
Jeddah, September 08: Saudi Arabia has banned an herbal product called Gluco Life as its side-effects include severe damage to the liver, kidneys and other vital human organs.
This Canadian-made herbal formulation for diabetes patients contains lead and arsine. It has been removed from the Saudi market following a warning issued by the Saudi Food & Drug Authority (SFDA) in Riyadh on Sunday.
“The product, which goes by the brand name Gluco Life, has had a troubled history,” said a spokesman from the SFDA.
Beirut, September 08: Lebanon’s prime minister-designate gave the president a proposed list for a new national unity government for his approval Monday, a move the Hezbollah-led parliamentary minority immediately rejected.
Hezbollah and its allies have not approved the list and have offered several names for specific posts that Hariri rejected.
Hariri said the Western-backed parliamentary majority will get 15 seats out of the 30-member Cabinet. The Hezbollah-led parliamentary minority will get 10 seats, while President Michel Suleiman will choose 5 seats.
Tehran, September 08: Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei told President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to listen to “benevolent criticism” as the hardliner began another term in office amid opposition claims his re-election was fraudulent.
“There is internal criticism backed by foreign media with the aim of sabotage but there is also benevolent criticism which may not come from supporters of the government but they contain good comments,” Khamenei said in a meeting with Ahmadinejad and his cabinet, state television reported.
Jerusalem, September 08: Israel approved on Monday the building of 455 settler homes in the occupied West Bank, a move opposed by its U.S. ally and Palestinians but which could pave the way for a construction moratorium sought by Washington.
A Defence Ministry list of the first such building permits since Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took office in March showed the homes would be erected in areas Israel says it intends to keep in a future peace deal with the Palestinians.
Abu Dhabi, September 08: A 14-year-old boy, Ahmed Ibrahim Muhammad underwent a rare jaw reconstruction surgery, as a part of a procedure requiring the removal of a tumour on his chin. Ahmed, a Sudanese, suffers from a rare genetic disorder which makes him prone to tumorous growths, particularly skin cancer.
Dubai, September 08: The Dubai Municipality today attributed the collapse of a six-storey building at the Galadari intersection last month to the quality and proportion of materials used in its construction.
Municipal Director-General Hussain Lootah, speaking on the sidelines of a majlis held by Dubai Police Chief Dhahi Khalfan Tamim, said the municipality’s technical team had questioned both the quality of materials and the manner in which they have been used.
Dubai, September 08: The Holy Quran was revealed to Prophet Mohammed (Peace be upon him) in an eloquent and matched level of standard Arabic language.
However, Allah has made it miraculously easy for non-Arab people to read, memorise and remember its more than 600 pages.
This has been the case with many contestants in the Dubai International Holy Quran Award (DIHQA).
Although 13-year-old Muhidinov Khoji Akbar, from Tajikistan, does not know Arabic, he was very proud and happy when talking about his journey through the Holy Quran.