New Delhi, September 06: Thieves struck at the President’s Estate and decamped with a computer and dumbbells from a health care centre there, police said Sunday.
The theft took place on Wednesday night.
A case has been registered against unidentified persons at Chanakyapuri police station, they said.
–Agencies
Jakarta, September 06: The 7.3-magnitude earthquake that jolted Indonesia’s West Java on Wednesday has killed 70 people and wounded 966 while 32 are still missing, the national Antara news agency reported on Saturday.
Rano Harjaya, an official from the coordinating unit of the West Java Disaster Mitigation Service, said that most of the dead, wounded and missing victims were from Cianjur of West Java.
Pyongyang, September 06: Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez Parrilla has concluded his three-day official visit to North Korea on Saturday.
Parrilla’s visit to Pyongyang has helped to continue the high-level political dialogue between the two countries, sources said. This was his first official visit to North Korea.
The Cuban minister arrived here on Thursday and met various North Korean officials, including Education Minister Kim Yong Jin, Foreign Trade Minister Ri Ryong Nam, among others.
London, September 06: An oil deal and trade concerns with Libya were at one point considered as factors in the Lockerbie bomber’s release, British Justice Secretary Jack Straw said in an interview published on Saturday.
Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi’s son, who was involved in negotiating accords between the two nations, told CNN that Libya pressured the British government to include the convicted terrorist in a 2007 prisoner release agreement that was tied to trade deals.
Berlin, September 06: Tens of thousands of people from Germany, France, Denmark and Austria staged a rally in downtown Berlin on Saturday to protest against a government plan to extend the operation of the country’s nuclear power plants.
Germany’s 17 nuclear power plants are due to be shut down by 2020.
Chancellor Angela Merkel’s centre-right Christian Democrats (CDU) and the liberal Free Democrats (FDP) parties want to extend that deadline.
However, parties like centre-left Social Democrats (SPD) and environment group, Greens, oppose the move.
Seoul, September 06: North Korea’s pursuit of a second path to nuclear weapons by enriching uranium is a problem likely to persist and Pyongyang needs to come clean about its intentions, a US envoy for the reclusive state said.
North Korea, which has produced enough plutonium for an estimated six to eight bombs, said on Friday it had made advances in uranium enrichment, a move analysts saw as a tactic to put pressure on regional powers after a month of conciliatory gestures.
Tehran, September 06: Visiting Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and his Iranian counterpart Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Saturday agreed on a roadmap over the next 10 years to boost economic and military ties between the two countries.
Chavez is heading a business delegation to Iran as part of his two-day visit to the Islamic country.
“Iran and Venezuela share the important mission of helping oppressed and revolutionary nations,” Ahmadinejad told a joint press conference with Chavez. “The time when arrogant powers could influence revolutionary nations is over,” he said.
New Delhi, September 06: Always looking for hot issues, the book by Jaswant Singh on Jinnah and the resultant controversy has become the latest topic for hot debate among bloggers, with the ones in Pakistan criticising the sacking of the BJP senior leader by the Indian opposition party.
“BJP is an intolerant party and will never accept the truth even if it comes out from the mouths of their well educated and famous party members,” says Owais Ehsan, a Pakistani blogger.
Washington, September 06: The White House says President Barack Obama’s adviser Van Jones is resigning amid controversy over past inflammatory statements.
Van Jones, an administration official specialising in environmentally friendly ‘green jobs’, is linked to efforts suggesting a governmental role in the 2001 terror attacks and to derogatory comments about Republicans.
Jones issued an apology on Thursday. When asked the next day whether Obama still had confidence in him, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said only that Jones “continues to work in the administration”.
Hyderabad, September 06: All the existing cabinet ministers will re-sworn this evening on the advise of the Andhra Pradesh Governor N D Tiwari following the sudden demise of former Chief Minister Dr Y S Rajasekhara Reddy, who was killed in an helicopter crash in Kurnool on September two.
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister K Rosaiah, after hectic discussions with the Chief Secretary P Ramakantha Reddy and Advocate General Sitarama Murthy, had sent them to the Governor to discuss on the issue.
Jammu, September 06: Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) patron Mufti Mohammed Sayeed today said the self rule in Jammu and Kashmir proposed by his party is the only way to address various problems of the state.
The self-rule is the only viable solution for solving all problems of this region, the former Chief Minister said at a meeting of the party workers here.
Sayeed exhorted the party workers to educate the mass about the self-rule proposal formulated by the party after “incorporating wishes and aspirations” of the people of all sections in the region.
Madurai, September 06: The proposed three-day visit of Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi to Tamil Nadu is expected to boost the morale of the State Congress leaders and party cadres at the grass-root level. Keeping up his promise made during his maiden visit to Sivaganga for an election campaign on May 8 that he would come to Tamil Nadu to work with the youths of the state.
Rahul would interact with students, party workers and participate in various programmes at various cities in the State beginning from September 8, according to a top party functionary here today.
London, September 06: Scotland rejected allegations on Sunday that its decision to free the Lockerbie bomber because he is terminally ill was based on medical advice from doctors paid by Libya.
The Sunday Telegraph reported that the Libyan government paid for the advice that suggested Abdelbaset Ali Mohmet al-Megrahi was eligible for compassionate release under Scottish law, namely that he had less than three months to live.
Islamabad, September 06: Police say three policemen have been fatally shot — each by a single bullet to the head — west of Pakistan’s capital.
Officer Arshad Mahmood says it appears to be a targeted killing but would not say if Taliban militants are suspected.
The dead policemen were discovered early Sunday in their guard room along a railway bridge in Hasan Abdal, a town 25 miles (40 kilometers) west of Islamabad in Punjab province.
Mahmood says they apparently were sleeping when killed.
New Delhi, September 06: Congress appears to be testing the patience of NCP chief Sharad Pawar on the issue of seat sharing for the Maharashtra Assembly elections even as time is running out.
The schedule for the October 13 election is out, but the talks between the two allies for seat sharing is yet to begin formally.
Time is running out as the last date for nomination is September 25, leaving only 19 days for the two parties to get their act together.
Hanoi, September 06: State media and a doctor say a Vietnamese woman diagnosed with swine flu has died, raising the country’s death toll to three.
The VnExpress online newspaper says the 56-year-old woman died on Friday, one day after being admitted to a hospital in Ho Chi Minh City. She suffered from respiratory failure and a blood infection.
Cao Thi Bao Van, a doctor at the Pasteur Institute, says tests confirmed that the woman was infected with swine flu.
VnExpress says health officials are investigating how she became infected.
Dubai, September 06: Some 70,000 Arab university graduates migrate annually to foreign countries for jobs, while 54 percent of Arab students studying abroad do not return to their native places, resulting in huge economic losses for governments in the region, WAM news agency reported.
Kushinagar, September 06: At least four people were killed and four others were critically injured when an oil tanker crushed them at Hata area of the district last night.
Later an irate mob went on rampage in protest against the accident and during their demonstration a camera-person of a local news channel was injured.
According to police the uncontrolled oil tanker crushed eight people near Captanganj roundabout in which four died on the spot.
In protest against the rash driving of the oil tanker, people blocked the road and even tried to torch the oil tanker.
Washington, September 06: The United States can begin flying troops and arms to Afghanistan through Russian airspace beginning Sunday after the July deal between the two countries’ leaders.
“As of September 6, this agreement gives us another option to choose from in our flight planning process,” a defence official said.
The official declined to provide further details.
In early July, US President Barack Obama sealed an agreement with his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev allowing Washington to supply Western forces in Afghanistan via Russia.
Zamboanga City (Philippines), September 06: A passenger ferry with about 964 people aboard tilted Sunday in the high seas off southern Philippines, prompting the captain to order passengers and crew to abandon ship, officials said.
The ship was carrying 847 passengers and 117 crew. It left the southern city of General Santos Saturday and was on its way to the central city of Iloilo.
The Superferry 9 issued a distress signal as it listed to the right off Zamboanga Peninsula, about 870 km south of Manila, before dawn Sunday.
Tehran, September 06: Ahmadinejad and Chavez railed against the West, pledging to deepen their ties and stand together against the US and world powers the two perceive as imperialistic.
Chavez is on an 11-day tour that has taken him to Libya, Algeria, Syria and Iran. The leftist Venezuelan leader is also to visit Belarus, Russia and Spain in the trip he has described as a bid to build a “multi-polar world” and counter U.S. influence.
Mumbai, September 06: After the craze for owning a Twenty 20 team, now the game’s T-10 format, called Gully Cricket, has started attracting celebrities. Actress Divya Dutta has become the first proud owner of the Ludhiana team.
Divya bought the Ludhiana Gully Cricket team Saturday for season two that will kick-start Sep 19 and end in a grand finale at Kanpur Nov 20, a spokesperson said here Sunday.
Hong Kong, September 06: The Hong Kong government says a 73-year-old woman diagnosed with swine flu has died, bringing the Chinese territory’s death toll to 11.
The government says the woman was admitted to a hospital on Friday and died the same day after treatment with an antiviral drug.
A government statement released late Saturday says she also had a history of thalassemia, a form of chronic anaemia.
Hong Kong has recorded 13,693 swine flu cases.
–Agencies
New Delhi, September 06: The HRD Ministry’s plan for setting up a commission that will replace existing regulatory bodies like UGC and AICTE is understood to have got support from PM Manmohan Singh.
The Ministry made a presentation before the Prime Minister on 28th August with regard to the proposal for starting National Commission for Higher Education and Research (NCHER).
The presentation was made by Higher Education Secretary R P Agrawal in the presence of HRD Minister Kapil Sibal.
Stockholm, September 06: A NATO bombing in Afghanistan that killed scores of people was a major mistake, French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said on Saturday as Germany defended the strike which its troops instigated.