Month: September 2009

Twenty-five killed in fresh clashes in south Sudan: military

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Sudan, September 06: Clashes in south Sudan have killed 25 people and wounded several more in the tense oil-rich Upper Nile, a military spokesman said on Saturday.

Heavily armed fighters attacked an ethnic Dinka settlement in Bony-Thiang, north of the state capital Malakal, this morning, said Major General Kuol Diem Kuol, of the southern Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA).

“They killed 20, including the paramount chief, his two wives and three children, and wounded many more,” said Kuol.

Iran sanctions ineffective, unless ‘adopted by UNSC’

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Paris, September 06: The EU finds unilateral sanctions on Iran unhelpful and believes that a diplomatic solution is still possible, says the Italian foreign minister.

Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini who is in Stockholm for informal talks with his EU counterparts, said that the 27-member bloc seeks to keep alive the prospects of diplomatic dialogue with Tehran over its nuclear program for as long as possible, IRNA reported on Saturday.

MS Dhoni world’s top earning cricketer: Forbes

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New York, September 06: Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni has topped the list of world’s 10 top earning cricketers compiled by Forbes, which also features four other players from the sub-continent ? Sachin Tendulkar, Yuvraj Singh, Rahul Dravid and Sourav Ganguly.

Raking in USD 10 million, Dhoni is at the top of the chart followed by Tendulkar at the second spot with earnings worth USD 8 million in the list of ‘The World’s Top-Earning Cricketers’.

Pak forces destroy militant headquarters

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Peshawar, September 06: Pakistani forces on Saturday destroyed a headquarters of an Islamic militant group in the lawless Khyber tribal area bordering Afghanistan officials said.

Helicopter gunships, paramilitary troops and artillery units carried out the attack on a Lashkar-e-Islam (Army of Islam) headquarters in the Tirrah valley, a security official in Peshawar told the news agency.

Israeli soldiers kill Gazan teenager

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Gaza, September 06: A Palestinian teenager has succumbed to death because of grave injuries he suffered after Israeli soldiers opened fire at him in the northern part of the Gaza Strip.

Palestinian medical sources identified the 13-year-old teenager as Ghazi Maher al-Zaanen. He had been shot in the head by Israeli troops stationed east of Beit Hanoun on Friday.

He was moved to the al-Shifa hospital where he had an operation. The Palestinian boy remained in a critical condition for several hours before he was pronounced dead.

Rail passengers to get ‘fresh, nutritious’ food soon

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New Delhi, September 06: In yet another effort to improve the quality of food served in trains, IRCTC is planning to introduce a new technology that would preserve the nutrition value of edibles and keep their freshness intact.

The technology called ‘phase change material’ has been put on trail in some Rajdhani trains to test its efficacy, said managing director of IRCTC Rakesh Tandon.

“The technology will ensure that the desired temperature is maintained for long and the nutrition value remains intact,” he said.

Pulses at reasonable rates at Mother Dairy outlets from Sep 5

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New Delhi, September 06: Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit will launch sale of pulses at reasonable rates from Mother Dairy Outlets in the Capital city on Saturday.

The sale of pulses, earlier scheduled tomorrow, will begin from Saturday from a Mother Dairy Booth No 210, situated at Pandara Road, a Delhi government spokesperson said.

Minister of Food and Supplies Haroon Yusuf would preside over the function.

Gilani urges resumption of ‘vital’ talks with India

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Islamabad, September 06: Pakistani Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani urges the resumption of talks between Islamabad and New Delhi and calls it a prerequisite to peace and development.

“A breakdown in India-Pakistan dialogue would help terrorists, a common enemy to both countries,” Gilani told reporters on Saturday in Karachi. “Dialogue is vital,” he stressed.

The premier said the suspension of Indian-Pakistani negotiations would only serve opportunists and terrorists, a common enemy of both countries.

Govt plans self employment training units in all districts

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New Delhi, September 06: Government plans to set up 500 Rural Self-Employment Training Institutes in each district of the country under the proposed ‘National Rural Livelihood Mission’.

The Mission, being designed to replace the Swarnajayanti Gram Swarojgar Yojna (SGSY), aims at reducing poverty in rural areas through promotion of diversified and gainful self-employment and wage employment opportunities as the SGSY has failed to yield the desired results.

Jaganmohan leaves for Hyderabad

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Idupulapaya (Kadapa), September 06: Y S Jaganmohan Reddy, who is being projected as the next chief minister of Andhra Pradesh, left for Hyderabad today, two days after his father Y S Rajasekhara Reddy was laid to rest here.

Accompanied by his mother Vijayalakshmi and sister Sharmila, he left by a helicopter.

Though the Congress high command has sought to restrain his supporters from openly campaigning for making him the next chief minister, his presence in Hyderabad is expected to again galvanise the drive.

Right-wing protest turns violent in UK

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London, September 06: British police have arrested more than 30 men after violence broke out at a right-wing protest against Muslims in the central English city of Birmingham.

Supporters of the right wing, English Defence League, which campaigns against what it calls Islamic fundamentalism in Britain, clashed with opponents who argue that they are racists and fascists.

Police said they had arrested ‘more than 30 men’ in connection with the violence, which took place in a busy shopping street and involved about 200 people, despite the presence of dozens of riot police.

60 patients test positive for swine flu in Delhi, two critical

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New Delhi, September 06: More swine flu cases surfaced in the city on Friday with 60 patients including 28 children testing positive for the virus taking the total number of H1N1 cases in New Delhi to 832.

Two swine flu patients, admitted to Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital, were in critical condition for the third day today.

The 69-year-old man and 12-year-old girl were admitted on 3rd September.

Manmohan, Mulayam, Rajnath, Thackeray play together here

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Lucknow, September 06: Here Jayalalithaa takes Bal Thackeray on her lap when he sobs, Manmohan Singh is fond of riding on Mulayam Singh’s shoulders, while Kalyan Singh and Rajnath Singh have no differences and love playing cricket with Giani Zail Singh. The next one to join them could well be Mayawati.

Daily wage labourer Mithai Lal, 45, and his wife Chandrasena, 42, named their seven children after the political leaders due to their belief that this would bring good fortune to the family.

S backs India on IMF reforms: Sources

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London: The US has responded “positively” to a proposal to give India and other leading emerging economies a much greater say in the running of international financial architecture, a source privy to global ongoing discussions in London said.

American Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner who attended the latter half of a meeting of the finance ministers of Brazil, Russia, India and China (BRIC) in London Friday was briefed on the BRIC demand for a seven percent shift in International Monetary Fund (IMF) quotas that determine a country’s voting powers.

Allow use of Hindi in courts, urge lawyers

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New Delhi, September 06: A group of lawyers have started a signature campaign in Delhi High Court and the five district courts of the capital, requesting that they be allowed to argue their cases in Hindi also apart from the English language now used.

“We have received a huge response from the lawyers and collected over 3,000 signatures so far to support our campaign,” said Ashok Aggarwal, president of the Delhi unit of the lawyers’ association.

The signature campaign began earlier this week in the five district courts and reached the high court Friday.

Teachers strip in Jharkhand

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Ranchi, September 06: It was a Teachers’ Day of a very different kind. Thousands of them walked through the streets of Ranchi in pouring rain towards Jharkhand Raj Bhavan with a long list of grievances and begging bowls in their hands.

But what shocked everyone around was when about 300 of them started stripping to their bare essentials!

Police at Raj Bhavan immediately cordoned the area. The protesters, however, could not meet the governor. They left their charter of demands with an official.

Australia wants to develop strategic ties with India

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New Delhi, September 06: Australia has ruled out uranium sale to New Delhi but is keen to develop strategic partnership and ensure that India becomes a “front-ranking” nation with which it has such ties.

Australian Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard said her country wants to build defence and security ties with India.

G20 to maintain economic stimulus measures

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London, September 06: Top finance officials from rich and developing countries agreed on Saturday to curb hefty bankers’ bonuses, but the proposed crackdown on excessive payouts so far falls short of European demands after the US and Britain shied away from imposing a cap.

The Group of 20 Finance Ministers also pledged to maintain stimulus measures such as extra government spending and low interest rates to boost the global economy, warning that the fledgling recovery that provided the backdrop to their meeting here is by no means assured.

‘US building mini-Pentagon in Islamabad’

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Islamabad, September 06: Pakistan’s Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam blames the US for problems facing the country, saying Washington is trying to change Islamabad into its military base.

“America has acknowledged that it has lost the war in Afghanistan and Iraq. Therefore, it is now increasing its influence in Pakistan and is out to build a mini-Pentagon in our country,” said Fazlur Rehman, the chief of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI).

Rehman condemned Washington’s expansion plan of its embassy in Islamabad and called it a threat to Pakistan’s sovereignty.

UP govt to implement 6th Pay Commission report

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Lucknow, September 06: Uttar Pradesh govt on Saturday decided to revise the pay scale of staff of all state-owned enterprises and corporations and to provide other benfits as per recommendations of the Sixth Pay Commission with effect from 1st January, 2006.

The decision will benefit about 98,000 employees and officers of public sector enterprises and corporations except energy sector undertakings, a government spokesman said in Lucknow.

It will entail an additional burden of Rs 305 crore annually which will be borne by the enterprises and corporations.

Andhra Pradesh ministers to take oath afresh

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Hyderabad, September 06: Ending three days of confusion, ministers of the erstwhile Cabinet of YS Rajasekhara Reddy will be sworn in afresh on Sunday but it was not clear as to how many will actually take oath of office.

They will be sworn in at a simple ceremony at Raj Bhavan here.

This was decided by Governor ND Tiwari, who after consulting legal experts, felt that they would have to take oath afresh to fulfil a constitutional requirement following swearing-in of new Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister K Rosaiah on Thursday.

Sunil Shetty turns writer!

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Mumbai, September 06: : Bollywood actor Sunil Shetty has turned writer! Don’t be surprised over the development. This time the actor is in role of an aspiring writer in a Bollywood movie “Daddy Cool”.

In the movie Good Son Steven Lazarus (Sunil Shetty), who is an aspiring writer, makes an attempt to give his a decent funeral by producing an acclamation. The acclamation also includes a description of the rivers of Goa.

Astronauts conduct final spacewalk of Discovery mission

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Washington, September 06: Astronauts from the US space shuttle Discovery ventured out of the International Space Station (ISS) on Sunday for a third spacewalk that will be the last of their mission.

NASA astronaut Danny Olivas and European Space Agency astronaut Christer Fuglesang left the ISS at 0209 IST for what is expected to be a 6.5 hour spacewalk, the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration said.

The pair are expected to “deploy an attachment system” and “replace a device designed to help the station determine its position relative to the Earth,” NASA said.

India may lose south-west monsoon in 150 yrs: Study

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New Delhi, September 06: India may lose one of its crucial lifelines — the south west monsoon, which brings rains across the country during the summers, in the next 150 years, warns a new study by Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology.

The phenomenon is the result of global warming which has led to increase in the rate of temperature rise over Arabian Sea, researchers say.

This rise is reducing temperature difference between land and sea, known as Temperature Gradient (TG), responsible for attracting rain causing winds from Arabian Sea towards Indian mainland.

I hate when people call me fat- Disha Wakhani

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Mumbai, September 06: Hey Maa Mata Ji girl, Disha Wakhani is now very much aggravated by the word “mote”. Daya of Tarak Mehta…who is yet unmarried gets annoyed because her body structure does not suit her age.

While having a word with Disha she secretly reveals, “I just get angry when people call me plump knowing that I’m not that obese, but the thing is that my personality suits my on screen character of Daya, but not the off screen get-up.”

“I am still a girl, but I look like an aunty that do makes me feel bad,” Disha quips.