shameen Washington, June 27: President Barack Obama’s criticism of Iran escalated Friday into an unusually personal war of words. To Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s demand he apologize for meddling, Obama shot back that the regime should “think carefully” about answers owed to protesters it has arrested, bludgeoned and killed.
“The violence perpetrated against them is outrageous,” Obama said. “We see it and we condemn it.”
Dubai, June 27: A campaign, launched by the Islamic Affairs and Charitable Activities Department (IACAD), is currently on to make people aware of the merits and demerits of the Internet.
The campaign is targeting worshippers at all mosques in the emirate.
Mohamed Suheil Al Muheiri, head of Guidance and Counselling Section, said the campaign is in line with Dubai Police’s efforts to discourage proliferation of indecent websites, in collaboration with the UAE Telecommunications Regulatory Authority.
Abu Dhabi, June 27: The elimination of Grade 10 Indian board exams could come as a pleasant respite for parents and students, but principals of schools in the UAE have expressed the need for an alternative benchmark to assess the students in the first place.
India’s Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal on Thursday proposed a plan to scrap the Grade X examination system, stating that it is a traumatic phase for both the parents and children.
Dubai, June 27: The malicious practice of the use of blogs and SMS to defame and blackmail people or organisations is spreading fast in the country, according to senior police officers from Dubai and Sharjah
According to police in the two emirates, the trend is affecting the society to a large extent because some innocent youngsters of wealthy families, including girls, are being targeted by mischievous elements.
Abu Dhabi, June 26: Iran should positively play its role in the regional affairs by clarifying the GCC and Middle Eastern nations its nuclear programme and close ties with non-state forces like Hizbullah and Hamas, Dr Mahjoob Zweiri, an expert on Iran said.
Jerusalem, June 26: Israel agreed on Thursday to give Palestinian security forces a freer hand to operate in four West Bank cities and to limit its own military activities there in a U.S.-backed move to bolster President Mahmoud Abbas.
Palestinian officials said the changes were inadequate because the Israeli army still reserved the right to re-enter the cities of Qalqilya, Ramallah, Bethlehem and Jericho to counter what it called any ‘urgent’ threats by militants.
Abu Dhabi, June 26: The economic crisis is to blame for the increase in the number of people suffering from depression and anxiety all over the world, according to psychiatrists.
“There is an increase of (people suffering from) depression all around the world due to economic crisis, although other societies are more affected than others,” Dr Adel Zaraa, consultant psychiatrist at Gulf Diagnostics Centre in Abu Dhabi told Khaleej Times.
Mumbai, June 25: When 70-year-old Mumbai resident Satya Devi Gandhi suffered two successive heart attacks in Ludhiana within 24 hours this month, top doctors there and in other cities of north India washed their hands off.
Not only is she aged, has diabetes, high blood pressure and asthma but she had also suffered a rupture in the ventricular septum due to the cardiac arrest.
Vladivostok, June 25: A new ferry route connecting Russia, Japan and South Korea will open from July 6, official sources said.
The route will link Russia’s Vladivostok with Japan’s Sakaiminato in the northern Tottori Prefecture and South Korea’s port of Donghai.
The Eastern Dream ferryboat that will service the route has the capacity to seat 500 passengers and can carry 70 cars and containers and enter Vladivostok once a week, on Tuesdays.
Washington, June 25: Noting that the Indo-US ties has lost the momentum seen in the early era of the Bush regime, a Task Force report on Thursday suggested President Barack Obama to include India as a G-8 member, open a new Consulate in Bangalore and appoint a high-profile aide for New Delhi.
“President Barack Obama should assign ownership of the bilateral dialogue to a high-profile aide and this person should promptly meet with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s newly-formed government to define a mutual vision for economic interaction in the years ahead,” the report said today.
New Delhi, June 25: The government on Thursday appointed Infosys co-chairman Nandan Nilekani as the chairperson of Unique Identification Authority, formed to issue IDs to every citizen in the country.
The move to set up the UID Authority of India (UIDAI), under the aegis of the Planning Commission, is aimed at providing a unique identity to the targeted population of the flagship schemes to ensure that the benefits reach them, Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni told reporters here after the Cabinet meeting.
New Delhi, June 25: With the possibility of a ‘below normal’ monsoon looming large, the Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB) on Thursday decided to cut the supply of water for irrigation to Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Rajasthan by 6000 cusecs till July 10.
BBMB will now supply only 22,000 cusecs against the current supply of 28,000 cusecs, a move that would raise the water level in Bhakra reservoir which has been fast depleting due to lack of rains in its catchment area.
New Delhi, June 25: In what could be the pointer to the government’s seriousness to bring in substantial reforms in education, HRD minister Kapil Sibal has indicated that the government could abolish the Class X Board examinations to lessen the “trauma” on young students.
The Human Resource Development Minister has outlined his ministry’s is looking into the feasibility of abolishing the strenuous 10th exams that give sleep less nights to the parents and minor students – often resulting in psychological problems before and after the exam.
Yangon, June 25: Myanmar downplayed reports Thursday that a possibly weapons-bearing North Korean ship was headed for its shores, saying it expected another vessel from the communist state but that it only carried rice.
The comments came after a US Navy destroyer began tracking the suspect North Korean ship, the Kang Nam 1, under new United Nations sanctions designed to punish Pyongyang over a recent underground nuclear test.
Dubai, June 25: Engineers from Dubai Municipality (DM) will examine the condition of Zabeel building on Umm Hurair Road and will present a report to the Tenancy Disputes Committee (TDC) after the authorities had served an eviction notice to the tenants.
TDC took the decision, following a two-hour meeting on Wednesday between some 250 tenants of the six storey building and representatives of the Dubai International Real Estate Company (DIREC) which manages the building.
The litigants are to meet again on October 7, for the TDC to issue a final decision, according to a tenant.
Islamabad, June 23: Six militants were killed on Tuesday when a US drone struck a suspected Taliban training centre in South Waziristan tribal region, where the Pakistan military is preparing to launch an offensive against Tehrik-e-Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud.
Officials were quoted by TV news channels as saying that the drone fired one missile at the militant training centre located near Makeen in South Waziristan Agency, a stronghold of the militant commander Mehsud.
Cairo, June 23: Iran’s top electoral body said on Tuesday that it found “no major fraud” and will not annul the results of the June 12 election, closing the door to a do-over sought by angry opposition supporters alleging systematic vote-rigging.
Since the vote, Iranian government officials have repeatedly suggested that a revote is extremely unlikely. However, Tuesday’s announcement by Iran’s top electoral body, the Guardian Council, was the clearest yet in ruling out a do-over.
Washington, June 23: A North Korean ship being tracked by a US Navy destroyer under new UN sanctions could be headed to Myanmar, a US Defence official said.
The Kang Nam 1 is the first North Korean ship to be monitored since the adoption of a UN resolution designed to punish Pyongyang over its underground nuclear test last month.
As the Aegis destroyer USS John S McCain continued to shadow the cargo ship, US officials said the vessel could be bound for another reclusive state, Myanmar.
Moscow, June 23: Russian President Dmitry Medvedev will begin his first official visit to Africa on Tuesday to further strengthen ties with an old partner, Egypt, and promote Moscow’s economic interests in the lucrative sub-Saharan region.
The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is expected to be high on the agenda when Medvedev visits Egypt, the first point of his four-day trip also taking in Nigeria, Namibia and Angola.
Bishkek, June 23: The United States and Kyrgyzstan have reached a deal for using a Kyrgyz airport to transport US non-lethal military supplies to Afghanistan, a senior Kyrgyz official said on Tuesday, four months after the country said US troops would be evicted.
Chandigarh, June 23: Lassi, the low-calorie yoghurt drink that is made in virtually every household in northern India, is the new money-spinner for Milkfed Punjab, the state’s cooperative milk producers’ federation, with sales increasing almost 50 percent in 2008-09.
According to the cooperative, which earns the bulk of its revenue from sale of pasteurised milk, the sale of lassi in tetrapacks, polypacks and bottles has registered record growth to touch Rs 7.42 crore (Rs 74.2 million).
New Delhi, June 23: Indian Railways’ new time table for 2009-10 that would contain revised timings of passenger trains will be released in October instead of July as scheduled.
“The new time table will come into effect from October one,” a source in the Railway Ministry told reporters.
“This decision was taken to include trains which are expected to be announced in the upcoming Railway Budget on July 3 in the time table, apart from those announced in the interim Rail Budget,” the source said.
New Delhi, June 23: A woman Tuesday claimed she was raped by a Station House Officer and four others in a police station in south-west Delhi, triggering protests with scores of people pelting stones at the building.
The woman, who resides in a slum in Inderpuri, had alleged that she was taken to the Inderpuri police station last night to enquire about her husband, who was allegedly involved in betting cases.
She claimed that she was sexually assaulted by the SHO and four others who later threatened her with dire consequences if she revealed the incident to anyone.
Alaska, June 23: A strong earthquake jolted Alaska’s most populous region Monday, sending residents and office workers diving under desks and huddling in doorways but causing almost no damage.
The US Geological Survey said the 5.4 magnitude temblor struck about 24 miles (39 kilometers) from the town of Willow at 11:28 a.m. The rumbling lasted several moments in Anchorage, 58 miles (93 kilometers) from the epicenter, and was felt as far south as Kenai and north to Fairbanks, a span of 300 miles (480 kilometers).
Jakarta, June 23: An Indonesian mother who was fined, jailed and put on trial after sending an e-mail to friends complaining about her treatment in a private hospital, has become a rallying point for reform of the country’s legal system.
Indonesia’s unpredictable legal system is one of the main deterrents to much needed investment.
While President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who is seeking re-election next month, has pushed through some reforms and made inroads tackling graft in Southeast Asia’s biggest economy, reform of the legal system has lagged.