shameen New Delhi, August 08: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, along with Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar, will address chief secretaries of states on Saturday to discuss measures to prop up farm production in view of the poor monsoon.
“The Prime Minister will be interacting with the chief secretaries on the drought-like situation in the country.
New Delhi, August 08: President Pratibha Patil will on Saturday inaugurate the Armed Forces Tribunal, providing a judicial forum to about 2.5 million armed forces personnel and ex-servicemen to redress their grievances, thus lessening the burden on various courts.
“The President will inaugurate the tribunal on Saturday. Aggrieved armed forces personnel will now be able to appeal against sentences handed down by the court-martial. The tribunal will also have powers to grant bail to any person in military custody,” a Defence Ministry official here said.
Alappuzha, August 08: Congress president Sonia Gandhi will be the chief guest at the 57th edition of Kerala’s famed snake boat race here on Saturday, an event that is named after India’s first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru.
District Collector Minnie Antony said the Nehru Trophy Boat Race this year would see the presence of many VIPs, including Gandhi, apart from thousands of tourists.
Lucknow, August 08: As part of the probe into the arson attack on Uttar Pradesh Congress chief Rita Bahuguna Joshi’s house, the Crime Branch-Criminal Investigation Department (CB-CID) will collect call details of several senior policemen, officials here said Saturday.
“By analysing the call records we will be able to assess the locations of the policemen at the time of the arson incident,” a senior CB-CID official told reporters on condition of anonymity.
Enjoy the fervor of Shab-E-Barat by cooking this lip smacking halwa at home.
Ingredients:
1 cup semolina (sooji)
3/4 cup sugar
3 cups water
2 tablespoons raisins
1/4 teaspoon cardamom seed
1/2 cup ghee
Procedure:
In a pan add water and sugar. Boil it till the water dries up into half. Turn off the heat & add the raisons (kish mish) in it. This would be yr sheera.
United Nations, August 08: UN chief Ban Ki-moon and Security Council members on Friday pleaded for tougher action to end sexual violence in African conflicts and called for the creation of a top UN post to protect women’s rights.
“Despite some progress over two decades, the deliberate targeting of civilians through acts of sexual violence continues on a widespread and systematic basis,” Ban told the 15-member Security Council during a debate on “Women, Peace and Security.”
“I have met victims of sexual violence. I am haunted by their testimony,” he told members.
Kenya, August 08: A German container ship held for four months by Somali pirates arrived in the Kenyan port of Mombasa late Friday after being ransomed, a port official said.
“The German ship with 24 crew members is in Mombasa but has to be cleared to dock at the port, and that must be done tomorrow morning,” he told AFP.
Pirates released the Hansa Stavanger and its 24-strong crew on Monday after being paid 2.7 million dollars in ransom, according to Andrew Mwangura of the Kenya-based Seafarers Assistance Programme.
London, August 08: NATO needs more troops in Afghanistan if the mission is to succeed, the alliance’s new secretary-general Anders Fogh Rasmussen said Friday.
Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen told the BBC that NATO has made progress fighting Taliban insurgents in southern Afghanistan, partly because the number of soldiers there was increased.
Washington, August 08: A devastating US military strike against Iran’s nuclear and military facilities “is a technically feasible and credible option,” a retired general asserted in an article published on Friday.
Retired air force general Charles Wald, a former deputy commander of US forces in Europe, said US policy makers must prepare for a “Plan B,” including the military’s role, should diplomacy fail.
New York, August 08: A retired state Supreme Court judge who procured Asian prostitutes for his social club, including one woman who had appeared before him in court and another who was in America illegally, was sentenced Friday to 18 months in prison.
Ronald Tills, who also served in the state Assembly and was a Court of Claims judge, was given the prison term and fined $25,000 after telling the sentencing judge he was embarrassed by his behavior and prays for the women he victimized.
Washington, August 08: President Barack Obama said on Friday he expects Congress to overhaul the country’s immigration system, an issue that fires up emotions on both sides of the political divide, by “early next year.”
Speaking to Hispanic reporters at the White House, Obama said he hopes a bill for comprehensive immigration reform will be drafted by the end of this year.
Obama tapped Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano on June 25 to work with Congress to speed up immigration reform as senators warned another failed effort could doom chances for a generation.
Nuku, August 08: At least 87 people are now feared dead in this week’s Tonga ferry disaster, police said Saturday, describing the sinking as a “tragedy of huge proportions” for the tiny Pacific island nation.
The number on board the Princess Ashika, which sank just before midnight on Wednesday, has been revised upwards to 141 following interviews with survivors. The original manifest showed only 79 on board.
Oregon, August 08: A mouse found inside an automatic teller machine — along with a nest it had built with chewed-up $20 bills — gave an Oregon gas station employee the surprise of her life.
The mouse, discovered Thursday, had thoroughly torn up two bills and damaged another 14 to line his nest. Employee Millie Taylor says she screamed and slammed the machine’s door shut.
The bank replaced all the money that wasn’t extensively damaged, and the ATM has continued to work just fine. The mouse also got a reprieve: He was evicted from his nest but set free outside the station.
Indonesia, August 08: An armed standoff outside the suspected rural hideout of a Malaysian-born fugitive militant, Noordin Mohammed Top, entered its second day Saturday.
In a running live report, TV One channel showed police explosive- detection robots entering the house where up to four suspected Islamist militants were believed holed up in the isolated village of Temnaggung district in Central Java.
Jeddah, August 08: Saudi Arabia has launched cultural days in Argentina with the inauguration of an event jointly by Argentine Cultural Secretary Jorge Coscia and Culture and Information Minister Abdul Aziz Khoja in Buenos Aires, according to Argentine Ambassador to Saudi Arabia Enrique Pareja.
Jeddah, August 08: Saudi Arabia is enforcing visa regulations to ensure Umrah pilgrims visiting the Kingdom during the holy month of Ramadan do not stay on for Haj, the main annual pilgrimage, and to contain the spread of swine flu.
The move follows stepped up surveillance for flu cases after the death of a Saudi physically challenged girl from the virus, pushing the Kingdom’s flu death toll up to seven. H1NI cases are nearing 600 and the government is taking no chances ahead of the busy season.
Baghdad, August 08: A bomb hidden in a motorcycle killed six people and wounded 35 in a market in western Baghdad on Friday, police said.
The attack took place in the mostly Sunni Muslim district of al-Khadhraa, they said.
Earlier on Friday, a series of bombs in Baghdad killed six Shi’ite pilgrims. In Mosul, a suicide car bomber also killed 38 people as they left a Shi’ite Muslim mosque near the restive city of Mosul, police said.
New York, August 08: An ailing Yemeni cleric once sentenced to 75 years in prison in a high-profile U.S. terrorism prosecution quietly won his freedom Friday in a plea deal in federal court.
Sheik Mohammed Ali Hasan Al-Moayad and his assistant pleaded guilty to conspiring to support violence by the Palestinian militant group Hamas. In exchange, they were sentenced to time served — more than six years — and will be sent back to Yemen within a few days.
Bethlehem, August 08: Fatah members were set to hold Saturday their first leadership election for 20 years, hoping to breathe new life into the secular Palestinian party weakened by infighting, mismanagement and a trouncing by the Islamist Hamas movement.
Delegates to the party’s congress in the West Bank city of Bethlehem will vote to renew the 21-strong Central Committee and the 120-member Revolutionary Council, Fatah’s governing bodies.
Voting was initially scheduled for Friday but was postponed by a day because of the large number of party members registering as candidates.
Abu Dhabi, August 08: Haj operators will have until November 3 (Zul Haj 15) to submit the list of pilgrims in CDs along with photographs to the General Authority of Islamic Affairs and Endowment (GAIAA).
Mohammed Obaid Al Mazrouei, chairman of the Haj mission and executive director of GAIAA, urged the pilgrims to register early as procedures could take up to 15 days.
“A copy of the pilgrim’s passport will be sent to Saudi Arabia to get security clearance,” he said.
Dubai, August 08: Universities have received double the number of applications for their scholarship programmes than expected, with more students seeking grants for tuition fee.
Though most universities have brought forward their fee structure from the year passed, the spiralling economy has propelled students to apply for scholarships rolled out by universities, who owing to the increase in applications have expanded their quota this year.
The Heriot Watt University in Dubai has increased its scholarship amount from Dh1 million in 2008 to Dh1.5 million this year.
Dubai, August 08: The Public Transport Agency (PTA) at Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) are providing water, juices and refreshments to the passengers, according to a media release.
The campaign was introduced last month, PTA officials said.
Abdullah Yousef Al Ali, director of buses at Public Transport Agency said a number of companies had collaborated with the Agency in the campaign.
Dubai, August 08: The passport is the personal property of all individuals, the Dubai Court of Appeals pointed out while ordering a car rental company to return a customer’s passport.
The court issued a verdict recently in a case filed by an Arab businessman, Ibrahim Ahmed, who alleged that the Dubai-based Al Shamoos car rental company was not willing to release his passport.
The court ordered the Muraqqabat police to recover the passport from the car rental firm and hand it over to the businessman.
Here’s a scrumptious pudding recipe with strawberries and biscuits. Learn how to make strawberry pudding.
Ingredients:
12 merry biscuits
400 gm fresh cream
1 packet strawberry jelly
1 tin cherry
2 cup sugar
3 cup milk
3 tbsp custard powder
1 tsp vanilla essence
How to make strawberrry pudding:
Dissolve custard powder in 1/2 cup milk.
Add 3 tbsp sugar to the remaining milk and boil it.
After 1 boil, add custard powder and stir continuously until it thickens.
Then remove it from the flame and add essence to it. Let it cool and place in the refrigerator.
Here’s a simple, yummy pudding recipe with coconut and cherries. Learn how to make nariyal pudding.
Ingredients:
1/2 tin condensed milk
1/2 cup coconut powder
1 cup sugar
1 cup fresh cream
1/2 tin cherry
1 tsp vanilla essence
How to make coconut pudding:
Grind sugar.
Beat cream so as to thicken it.
Mix condensed milk, coconut powder, sugar and vanilla essence. Pour it in a dish.
Spread cream on the top.
Garnish with cherry.
Refrigerate it for setting and serve chilled.