Month: August 2009

Cheney blasts Obama for probe against CIA

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Washington, August 31: Former US vice president Dick Cheney and former presidential candidate John McCain Sunday took the Obama administration to task for ordering probe against the Central Investigation Agency (CIA) for alleged excesses against terror suspects.

Appearing on Fox News, the former vice president said investigation against CIA was “a political move’ by the Obama administration. “I mean, there’s no other rationale for why they’re doing this,” he said.

Blaming Soviets for World War II a ‘lie’: Medvedev

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Moscow, August 31: Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has slammed attempts to equate USSR with Germany as the initiator of World War II, saying that anyone who lays equal blame on the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany is telling a “lie”.

Describing the World War II as the ‘greatest tragedy’ of the 20th century, Medvedev critised the recent resolution of Organisation of Security and Cooperation Europe’s (OSCE) Parliamentary Assembly equating Nazi Germany and the USSR.

No case registered yet in Vajpayee’s assistant’s death

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New Delhi, August 31: Police have yet to file a case a day after the body of a 77-year-old man, who was an assistant to former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, was found in an uncovered pit in south Delhi, officials said on Sunday.

“The body of the victim, T.N. Makan, who retired as Vajpayee’s additional secretary, was found by a passerby Saturday morning. The body was lying in the eight feet deep pit on the road divider which was dug up by a contractor of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) to install new street lights,” a senior police officer said.

Vasundhara Raje to meet Naidu; may step down

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New Delhi, August 31: Former Rajasthan chief minister Vasundhara Raje, who is Delhi along with some of her supporters, is likely to meet senior BJP leader M Venkaiah Naidu on Monday in a bid to end the standoff in the party over her refusal to resign as Leader of Opposition in the Rajasthan Assembly.

Raje is scheduled to meet Naidu at noon today to discuss the issue and end the stalemate. Naidu was appointed as the pointsman by the party high command when all attempts to pressurise Raje into resigning her post failed.

Ship with Indian crew attacked in the Gulf

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Manama, August 31: A traditional wooden ship with Indian crew sailing from the United Arab Emirates toward Bahrain was the target of the first act of sea piracy reported in Persian Gulf waters in years, according to details of the attack that emerged Sunday.

The Bahraini dhow was intercepted Friday night by another ship with an armed crew, security sources said.

Kingpin of inter-state fake currency racket caught

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Malda, August 31: The alleged kingpin of an inter-state fake currency racket was arrested along with three others in the district.

The man identified as Anwar and his three accomplices were caught late Sunday night by police during routine checking of vehicles, Additional Superintendent of Police, Kalyan Mukherjee said.

Fake Indian currency with a face value of Rs 3 lakh were seized from him, he said.

Anwar had been earlier arrested by Maharashtra police from Malda for running the racket but had been released later.

Swine flu claims two more lives in Pune

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Pune, August 31: Two more persons died of swine flu here, taking the toll in the viral infection in the city to 31.

42-year-old Vilas Padale and 26-year-old Anil Nikam died of the flu at separate private hospitals here Sunday night, hospital sources said today.

Around 60 suspected cases of the viral infection were admitted to various hospitals in the city yesterday, official sources said.

As many as 15 patients currently undergoing treatment were in a critical condition, they added.

–Agencies

Indian Army flouting guidelines on sexual harassment?

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New Delhi, August 31: The Indian Army goes by the Army Act while probing allegations of sexual abuse. But in the process it may be blatantly overlooking guidelines issued by the Supreme Court on sexual harassment at workplace, say activists.

“We do not go by the Supreme Court’s guidelines. The Army officers first come under the Army Act and we take serious note of sexual allegations,” a senior Indian Army official said requesting anonymity.

‘Advani, Rajnath to decide role in BJP’

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Haridwar, August 31: Virtually giving credence to reports that top BJP leaders LK Advani and Rajnath Singh may have to give up their posts, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat on Monday said they will decide on their role within the party.

“Rajnathji, Advaniji and others will decide on their role (in the party). Everything will be fine in the BJP in future,” he told reporters here.

“There are people with moral standing like Advani and under their guidance, they will solve all problems. We have nothing to do with this. What we had to say we have said,” he said.

128 more test positive for swine flu in country

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Lucknow, August 31: Swine flu cases in the country continued to swell with 128 more people testing positive for the viral infection on Sunday, taking the total number of H1N1 cases to 3,881, an official release said.

Uttar Pradesh reported the maximum with 27 cases followed by Delhi (22), Tamil Nadu (21), Karnataka (17), Maharashtra (12) and West Bengal (10).

Till date, samples of 21,477 people have been taken, of which 3,534 were found positive, the release said on Sunday.

New navy chief to take charge today

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New Delhi, August 31: The country gets a new chief of naval staff on Monday with the retirement of the incumbent, Admiral Sureesh Mehta. The new man in office, Admiral Nirmal Kumar Verma, has his work cut out from the word go.

Admiral Verma, who has spent almost 40 years in service, commanded a variety of warships including the INS Viraat aircraft carrier. Destiny and timing chose him to be the navy’s prestigious eastern commander allowing him to oversee the launch of India’s first nuclear submarine in July.

High Court of A.P. burned

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Hyderabad, August 31: (Siasat news) The historical and Justical place of A.P. High Court burned in the morning around 3.00 to 4.00 a.m., Sri Mohammed Habib, Night Watchman of High Court seen the flame and informed the police personnel of A.P. High Court, police personnel informed the news of fire to the fire station, till the fire station personnel could come, flames rose up in the sky. Sri S.S. P. Yadav, D.G.P., Sri Anil Dubey, Chief Justice of High Court, and Commission of Police, and other visited the place.

‘Sharm el-Sheikh was neither a step forward nor backward’

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New Delhi, August 31: Seeking to draw a line under the controversy surrounding last month’s meeting between Manmohan Singh and Yusuf Raza Gilani, National Security Adviser M.K. Narayanan on Saturday replied in the negative when asked whether the Sharm el-Sheikh summit between the Prime Ministers of India and Pakistan had been a step forward. “But,” he hastened to add, “it certainly wasn’t a step backward.”

Riyadh not to change terror policy

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Abu Dhabi, August 31: Saudi Arabia’s Interior Minister, Prince Naif bin Abdulaziz, has said a suicide bomber’s attempt on the life of his son on Thursday night will not change the Kingdom’s counter-terrorism strategy which leaves options for “repentant” extremists to surrender.

Speaking to a group of businessmen in Jeddah, Prince Naïf said Thursday’s incident “will not change this policy by which we open the door for those who repent”.

Advani will continue to be leader of the party, says Venkaiah Naidu

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Hyderabad, August 31: Senior BJP leader M. Venkaiah Naidu denied media reports that Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha L.K. Advani or party president Rajnath Singh would step down from their posts and asserted that no debate took place in the organisation on leadership change.

At a press conference, he described such media reports as “speculative and imaginary.”

Hafiz Saeed not ‘litmus test’ but Pakistan action important: NSA

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New Delhi, August 31: In his first substantive comments on relations with Pakistan since the July 16 Sharm el-Sheikh summit, National Security Adviser M.K. Narayanan said that averting another major Mumbai-like incident was the government’s top priority and that unless Islamabad took “real action” against those involved in terrorism, the progress it had reported so far in the Mumbai case would amount to “a chimera.”

First swine flu death reported in Bangladesh

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Dhaka, August 31: In the first swine flu death case in Bangladesh, a female patient who infected with the influenza A (H1N1) virus died in hospital Sunday.

The patient, Mita Charkrabortee, 37, came from Savar aera, some 30 km northwest of capital Dhaka, and died at 10.30 p.m., said Mejba Azad, media coordinator of the Lab Aid hospital where the woman was admitted.

Priyanshu Chatterjee to act in ‘Florida Road’

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New Delhi, August 31: Priyanshu Chatterjee is the latest Bollywood actor to sign up for a foreign project – he will be seen in Durban-based American director Brad Glass’ “Florida Road”, which is about how two generations of an Indian family clash over values.

“It’s about three brothers. I play the role of the eldest brother who is a successful businessman but very arrogant. But an incident changes his life,” Priyanshu told IANS.

Another Indian actor, Ashmit Patel, also features in the movie, which is expected to release by the year-end.

Raje in Delhi,likely to meet Venkaiah tomorrow to end standoff

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New Delhi/Jaipur, August 31: Vasundhara Raje, who arrived along with some of her supporters, is likely to meet senior BJP leader M Venkaiah Naidu today in a bid to end the standoff in the party over her refusal to resign as Leader of Opposition in Rajasthan Assembly.

Raje is scheduled to meet Naidu at noon to discuss the issue and end the stalemate. Naidu was appointed as the pointsman by the party high command when all attempts to pressurise Raje into resigning her post failed.

Sibal to chair CABE meet today

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New Delhi, August 31: Union Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal is likely to announce the new grading system for Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) class 10 after the meeting with state education ministers today.

The meeting between the HRD minister and state ministers has been called by the Central Advisory Board of Education (CABE).

Education reforms, as well as the implementation of Right to Education may be discussed at the meet.

This system is likely to be introduced in CBSE schools from the next academic year with no pass or fail category.

A worm in the apple: Macs in crosshairs of hackers

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Munich, August 31: It all used to be simpler for Mac users: viruses and other malicious software affected Windows computers, not them. That is slowly changing. “The threats have intensified,” says Candid Wuest from anti-virus maker Symantec.

Spend, splurge, woo for Panjab University polls

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Chandigarh, August 31: Poll fervour is gripping the Panjab University (PU) campus, as student elections draw near. Political parties are throwing the rule book out of the window as they splurge to woo young voters.

The elections to the Panjab University Students’ Council will be held Sep 4. To get maximum support, especially from freshers, student outfits are arranging frequent trips to the hills, movie shows, expensive hotel meals and more.

Itikaf is a form of worship during Ramadan

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Itikaf is a form of worship. It is formed by staying in a Mosque for a certain time. It is Ehtiyat that one should stay with the intention to worship Allah by praying formal or informal prayers although prayer is not a condition therein.

The time for this form of worship could be anytime when one is allowed to fast. The best time is the month of Ramadan, especially, the last ten days.

Conditions:

Will ‘Hadippa’, ‘Wanted’ break Ramadan jinx?

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New Delhi, August 31: Bollywood might be rejoicing with four back-to-back hits in “New York”, “Kambakkht Ishq”, “Love Aaj Kal” and “Kaminey”, but the film industry usually witnesses a dip in business during Ramadan.

Filmmakers and distributors are hoping “Dil Bole Hadippa” and “Wanted” will break the jinx this year.

Iraq al Qaeda militant says Syria trained him

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Baghdad, August 31: Iraq aired a confession from a suspected al Qaeda militant on Sunday who accused Syrian intelligence agents of training foreign fighters like himself in a camp before sending them to fight in Iraq.

The videotaped accusations, aired by Baghdad security spokesman Qassim al-Moussawi in a news conference, could worsen a row between Iraq and Syria over accusations that Syria supports Islamist militants responsible for attacks in Iraq.