Africa, July 30: Security forces in northern Nigeria have freed nearly 200 women and children during a crackdown on a radical Islamic sect responsible for violence that has killed at least 150 people.
Soldiers in armoured personnel carriers surrounded and shelled parts of a compound that is home to Mohammed Yusuf, the leader of the Boko Haram sect, in the city of Maiduguri, destroying buildings including a small mosque.
New Delhi, July 30: BJP today targeted External Affairs Minister S M Krishna, likening him to former Home Minister Shivraj Patil and saying the country’s foreign policy is not safe in his hands.
“He (Krishna) is proving to be the former Home Minister Shivraj Patil whom Congress had to get rid of finally. Only that he is taking much less time to prove himself a Shivraj Patil,” senior BJP leader Yashwant Sinha told reporters outside Parliament.
“The country’s foreign policy is not safe in the hands of this External Affairs Minister,” he said.
Los Angeles, July 30: Marat Safin, playing for the fourth time in three days, summoned enough energy to beat Ernests Gulbis of Latvia 2-6, 6-3, 6-4 in the second round of the L A Open.
Safin, who played an exhibition match against Pete Sampras on Monday and beat Robby Ginepri the Tuesday night, also teamed with Igor Kunitsyn to win a first-round doubles on Monday.
Columbia, July 30: A South Carolina man was charged with having sex with a horse after the animal’s owner caught the act on videotape, then staked out the stable and caught him at shotgun point, authorities said Wednesday.
But this wasn’t the first time Rodell Vereen has been charged with buggery. He pleaded guilty last year to having sex with the same horse after owner Barbara Kenley found him in the same stable and was sentenced to probation and placed on the state’s sex offender list.
Bhopal, July 30: God save a man from the wrath of a woman wronged! And in this case, God save Chander Mohan alias Chand Mohammad alias Chander Mohan from his wife of few months Fiza alias Anuradha Bali.
A veteran of religious and marital volte-face, Haryana’s former deputy chief minister has changed his religion again, this time returning to his native Bishnoi clan. But if a fuming Fiza is to be believed, he is not ready to give her up. “Koi mujhe is pagal se bachao (someone save me from this madman).
Sydney, July 30: A Sydney bus company has apologised to one of its customers after the driver argued with a Muslim woman over her right to wear a niqab, or veil.
Hillsbus now says its driver behaved unacceptably when he told Khadijah Ouararhni-Grech to ‘take off her mask’.
The company says its actions were born out of ignorance and not malice, but it has refused to speak publicly about the incident.
The New South Wales Government says it should serve as a clear warning to private bus operators that they need to lift their standards.
London, July 30: Asylum-seekers have become early victims of the squeeze on government spending in the face of the economic crisis.
Allowances for people who claim refuge in Britain will be cut or frozen in the autumn in an effort to reduce the size of the asylum budget.
New Delhi, July 30: World number six Saina Nehwal of India said on Thursday she could still play in next month’s badminton world championships despite falling ill with chicken pox.
Nehwal, 19, told media in India she had been advised to take a week’s rest after being diagnosed with chicken pox following a bout of fever last Saturday.
“I decided to see a doctor after pockmarks appeared on my body and he confirmed it was chicken pox,” she said.
London, July 31: Multiple sclerosis sufferer Debbie Purdy learns today whether her fight to allow her husband to help her commit suicide has been successful.
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She took her case to have the law clarified on assisted dying to the highest court in the land where today a panel of five Law Lords give their ruling.
They sit at the House of Lords where earlier in the month a measure to remove the threat of prosecution from those who go abroad to help a terminally-ill patient die was defeated by peers who preside over Parliamentary business.
Mumbai, July 30: Tired of constantly jabbering on screen in films as far-ranging as Jab We Met and Kambakkht Ishq, Kareena Kapoor has now taken a conscious break from the babble to play quiet and silently-evocative characters.
After playing the unattainable and thoroughly unlikeable diva-bi*** in Kambakhht Ishq, Kareena is moving on to play a more real salwar-kameez-clad Punjabi girl in Raj Kumar Hirani’s 3 Idiots and also in Rensil D’Silva’s Kurbaan.
Mumbai, July 30: In highly volatile trade, the Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex bounced back and went up over 142 points in afternoon today as speculators indulged in covering short positions on the last day of the expiry of the July contracts in derivatives.
The Sensex, which dipped to 15,065.48 points in early trade, recovered by 142.08 points, or 0.90 per cent at 15,315.54 at 13.15 hours with heavyweight stocks led by banks and IT leading the recovery.
Similarly, the 50-share National Stock Exchange index Nifty rose by 38.30 points to trade higher at 4,551.80 at the same time.
Lucknow, July 30: Uttar Pradesh government has granted affiliation to 55 new engineering colleges, which will be included in Uttar Pradesh Technical University (UPTU) counselling beginning from today, official sources said here.
After inclusion of the new colleges, which have already got affiliation from All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) and UPTU, 13,200 more B.Tech seats would be available in the counselling, they said.
The total number of engineering colleges participating in the counselling would now be 166, they said.
–PTI
Washington, July 31: A baby girl who was cut from her mother’s womb has been found alive, police said today.
The girl, whose mother’s body was found on Monday in a cupboard at her Worcester, Massachusetts, apartment, appeared to be in “fairly good health” at a New Hampshire hospital, Worcester Police Sgt. Kerry Hazelhurst said.
Two people have been arrested over the mother’s death.
Mumbai, July 30: The certificate awarded to a film by the censor board impacts its collection.Vishal Bharadwaj’s Kaminey has run into trouble with the censors and even after the revising committee saw the film, they refused to give it the U/A certificate that he was hoping for. The options available to Vishal are that he can to go to the tribunal or seek legal help for his film. Apparently, the film has been given an A certificate due to its heavy dose of violence.
Mumbai, July 30: In an exclusive interview to ET, Anil Ambani says Mukesh “has already made it amply clear, both within the family, and externally, that he does not visualise any further role for my respected mother in resolving this matter or any other matter.”
There’s nothing personal, it’s strictly business, says Anil Ambani , chairman of the Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group, a day after he lashed out at his elder brother and Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) chairman Mukesh Ambani, and the petroleum ministry.
Islamabad, July 30: Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry has declared that the court’s responsibility is to remain “neutral” and to trial Musharraf for his alleged rebellion against the state is the job of another “forum”
The CJ was commenting on the stance of former president Supreme Court Bar Association Hamid Khan who continued his arguments in the case of ad hoc judges’ appointment in Sindh High Court here Thursday.
New Delhi, July 30: India has been asking Pakistan to hand over 42 fugitives including Dawood Ibrahim but Islamabad has refused to cooperate, foreign
minister S M Krishna told Rajya Sabha on Thursday.
Replying to questions, he said a list of 42 fugitives both Indian and Pakistani nationals, including ones involved in the 1993 Mumbai series bomb blasts and the 26/11 terror attacks in Mumbai, has been given to Islamabad.
Krishna said whatever evidence and dossier is given, Pakistan’s refrain is that it is not enough and cannot be proven in court of law.
Hyderabad, July 30 (Siasat News): The US consulate in Hyderabad would take the interviews of the visa seekers in their own language including Urdu on August 11.
This facility is to be provided for those who are not well versed in English. US consul general Cornelius M Keur said in his press note that the consulate feels that various visa applicants don’t know English language properly.
They speak Urdu, Telugu and Hindi. According to the consulate, to avoid any delay in granting the visa seekers an interview, the consulate has hired the services of two Telugu and one Urdu translators.
Mumbai, July 30: “Career more important than family” a headline on a portal has ruffled the usually reticent Aishwarya Rai Bachchan.
“If I want to remain in the film industry then I need to stay fit “ is what Aishwarya had stated and it was misconstrued as she will not have children and it furthers states that Abhishek was in agreement to this. Her spokesperson said that Aishwarya had remained silent even when media “married her off to a tree”.
Hyderabad, July 30 (Siasat News): Nationalized banks are denying students open their scholarship accounts. Be it Andhra Bank, SBI, SBH or Syndicate Bank situated in old city.
This denial may lead the students deprive their scholarship. There was a news report in Siasat’s July 28 issue where the difficulties of the minority students to open their accounts were highlighted.
Wellington, July 30: Craig McMillan, the former New Zealand batsman, has agreed to a one-year contract with Canterbury, to play Twenty20 and work as a batting consultant alongside coach Bob Carter.
McMillan, who had joined the ICL after retiring from international cricket in 2007, obtained a release from the league earlier this year and said he was keen to contribute as a coach in Canterbury.
Mumbai, July 30: Bollywood’s hottest couple John Abraham and Bipasha Basu though claim to live together have bought separate houses for themselves.
Is it that they think that the relationship will not last or each wants more space and independence without interference?
The tales of their split keep doing the rounds. We hope that buying of different houses is not an indication to bid farewell!
—-Agencies
Lucknow, July 30: The former cricketer and umpire, Shivesh Ranjan Majoomdar has committed self-annihilation at his Rajajipuram colony residence in Talkatora, Lucknow on Tuesday. He was depressed over his poor financial condition which induced him to take this step, as reported by the local police.
Shivesh represented cricket team of Lucknow University in North Zone Inter-University cricket championship in 1997. He also worked as an umpire for Lucknow Development Authority (LDA), Railways and some local clubs at the district level.
Abu Dhabi, July 30: Emirates has decided to roll out nine additional flights to Beirut, Lebanon, in August in order to keep up with customer demand during the busy summer season.
The sources said that the additional flights will give the Dubai to Beirut service an important boost.
At present, Emirates operates 17 weekly flights between Dubai and Beirut. During August the carrier will add 18 additional flights between Dubai and Beirut.
The sources said that demand for travel to Beirut from Dubai on the Emirates network is usually very high during summer.
Mumbai, July 30: Earlier this week, Preity Zinta left for New York where she had spent almost a month till the first week of July.
While buzz doing the rounds is that she has gone to recover from her break- up with Ness Wadia, fact is that Preity has gone to NY to learn swing dancing.