Month: September 2009

Malaysian cult keeps leader’s decomposed body for 13 months

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Kuala Lumpur, September 27: Followers of a religious cult in Malaysia’s eastern Sabah state wrapped the body of their dead cult leader in plastic and laid it in his home for 13 months while waiting for him to be resurrected, a news report said Sunday.

The leader of the Benevolent Missionary Association, Ching Chi Vui aka Ivan, was believed to have told his followers not to bury him if he were to die, because he would come back to life, the Sunday Star reported.

An Australian campaigns to clean the Taj city

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Agra, September 27: A 62-year-old Australian who counts Mahatma Gandhi and Swami Vivekananda as his gurus is leading a campaign here to turn the Taj Mahal city of Agra sparkling clean.

Remco van Santen, who has been motivating and leading cleanliness drives with school children across India, says the time has come to overhaul Agra, India’s most popular tourist destination.

Of Dutch origin, van Santen feels it was unfair to expect the authorities to do the cleaning job. Citizens need to chip in too.

IRGC to launch more missiles in military drill

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Abu Dhabi, September 27: The Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) will hold a military exercise, which includes surface-to-surface missile launches and long-term resistance.

“The military exercise dubbed The Great Prophet IV will be carried out to improve the Islamic Republic armed forces’ defense capabilities,” the Head of the IRGC’s public relations office said Saturday.

The maneuver, which is a sequel to The Great Prophet III carried out last year by the IRGC naval and ground forces in the Persian Gulf and Strait of Hormuz region, will begin on Sunday.

Moily refuses to comment on Justice Dinakaran issue

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Bangalore, September 27: Union Minister for Law and Justice M. Veerappa Moily refused to comment on the controversy surrounding the proposed elevation of Karnataka High Court Chief Justice P.D. Dinakaran as a judge of the Supreme Court.

Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the Regional Conference on Judicial Reforms and Police Reforms organised by the Indian Institute of Public Administration here on Saturday, Mr. Moily said the appointment of judges was a constitutional matter.

UN: 1,500 Afghan civilians dead in 8 months

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London, September 27: A United Nations report has noted that a total of 1,500 civilians have lost their lives in insurgency-hit Afghanistan from the beginning of the year to August.

The UN said in a new report that NATO air strikes were to blame for about a quarter of civilian deaths across the war-ravaged country over the past months.

The report also warns that August had the most fatalities this year for the civilians because of a presidential vote that was marred by the allegations of fraud and Taliban intimidation.

Manmohan, Sonia to be star campaigners in Haryana

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Chandigarh, September 27: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Congress president Sonia Gandhi and party general secretary Rahul Gandhi will be the star campaigners besides Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda for the Haryana Assembly elections on October 13.

They will be unleashing the party’s campaign after September 30 by addressing public rallies all over the State. The endeavour will be to cover the 90 Assembly constituencies in the State, according to Congress spokesman Ved Prakash Vidrohi.

Two car bombs kill 16 in Pakistan

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Islamabad, September 27: Two suicide car bombs killed 16 people and wounded about 150 others in separate attacks in north-western Pakistan yesterday, just days after the Taliban warned suicide strikes were coming if the military pressed forward with an offensive. A third bomb injured four in the restive region.

Pakistan’s mountainous, lawless north-west region along the Afghan border – where the government holds little control – is a favoured area for insurgents to plan attacks on US and Nato troops in Afghanistan, as well as on Pakistani security forces and government workers.

–IANS

Be alert to backlash in Lalgarh, police told

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Kolkata, September 27: The West Bengal government has asked the police in the Lalgarh area to be alert to a backlash against the arrest of Chhatradhar Mahato, leader of the Police Santrash Birodhi Janasadharaner Committee (People’s Committee against Police Atrocities).

Landmine blasts have already rocked the area since the arrest on Saturday afternoon and the police have arrested six people.

Briefing reporters here, Chief Secretary Ashok Mohan Chakraborty said: “The police there are fully prepared and have been asked to stay alert against any repercussions.”

Al-Qaeda attempted to kill top Iraqi Shia leader

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Baghdad, September 27: Iraqi security forces have reportedly thwarted an assassination attempt targeting the leader of Iraq’s largest Shia party, Ammar al-Hakim.

Al-Qaeda-linked militants sought to gun down the high-ranking Shia figure during Eid al-Fitr prayers at a mosque in Baghdad last Monday. The plot was nonetheless foiled since intelligence forces at the Iraqi Intelligence Ministry had earlier been tipped off, an unnamed source at Hakim’s bureau was quoted by eyeiraq news agency as saying.

BALCO tragedy: Nitish announces Rs. 1 lakh compensation

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Patna, September 27: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Saturday announced a compensation package of Rs. 1 lakh for the families of 17 workers, hailing from the State, who were killed when a chimney at an under-construction thermal power plant of the Bharat Aluminium Company Limited caved in at Korba, 220 km north-east of Raipur on Wednesday.

According to reports, the death toll has mounted to more than 40 as Chhattisgarh authorities continued rescue operations and search for bodies under the debris.

Erdogan slams world leaders for Gaza crisis

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Ankara, September 27: The Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has lashed out at the global silence on the continuing humanitarian catastrophe in war-battered Gaza Strip.

“People in Gaza still live in tent camps and simply cannot find fresh water. It is against this picture that we must fulfill our humanitarian mission. I wonder what the United Nations or the Security Council could have done,” Erdogan stated during his speech at the UN General Assembly late on Thursday.

12 Air India flights cancelled as pilots continue strike

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MUmbai, September 27: Twelve Air India flights, including seven on international routes, were cancelled Sunday as striking pilots continued their agitation for the second consecutive day.

‘The international flights from Delhi to Bangkok, Singapore and Kathmandu were cancelled as a few pilots who were put on duty did not report for work,’ a senior Air India official told IANS.

The official said the pilots are expected to hold talks with the management at the Air India office in Mumbai Sunday.

Terrorist attacks across Iraq target cops

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Baghdad, September 27: At least one Iraqi police member has been killed and six others injured in the latest spate of terrorist assaults targeting security forces across conflict-stricken Iraq.

In the first incident, an Iraqi policeman was gunned down on Saturday when unidentified assailants opened fire on him at a popular outdoor market in Bab al-Toub district, central Mosul. The armed men fled the scene after the incident, according to eyewitnesses.

Security forces cordoned off the area after the attack and launched an investigation to look into motives behind the terrorist move.

Tough law in the offing to check practice of capitation fee

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New Delhi, September 27: If an educational institute indulges in malpractices like failure to deliver on its promises and charges capitation fee it will face the prospect of closure, according to a tough law being prepared by the Human Resource Development (HRD) Ministry.

Seeking to bring an end to the illegal practice in technical professional colleges, the ministry has prepared a draft legislation which prescribes cancellation of registration of an institute for charging capitation fee.

Afghan cabinet minister escapes Taliban attack

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Herat, September 27: A roadside bomb targeting an Afghan cabinet minister exploded in the western city of Herat on Sunday, killing at least three people, officials said.

Energy and Water Minister Mohammad Ismail Khan, a prominent anti-Taliban commander, was not hurt, police said.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack on Khan, a key member of the Northern Alliance whose forces helped U.S. forces in toppling the Taliban in 2001.

“The target was Ismail Khan,” Zabihullah Mujahid, a Taliban spokesman, told Reuters by telephone from an undisclosed location.

Iran envoy challenges West to prove nuclear claims

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Tehran, September 27: Amid Western clamor over Iran’s newly-disclosed nuclear enrichment facility, Tehran’s ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency challenges Western countries to prove their claim of ‘Iranian deception’.

Speaking to Press TV on Saturday, Ali Asghar Soltaniyeh explained that under the IAEA Safeguards Agreements, Iran is only obliged to inform the UN nuclear watchdog of the existence of enrichment plants six months before the facility goes operational.

Bomb meant for Energy Minister kills four civilians

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Kabul, September 27: Police say four people have been killed in an explosion targeting Afghanistan’s Energy Minister outside a school in the country’s west. A Taliban official is claiming responsibility.

Police spokesman Raouf Ahmadi says Energy Minister Ismail Khan and his delegation escaped unharmed after Sunday’s bombing on the main road to the airport in Herat, but the blast killed four civilians and wounded 17 people.

Khan is considered the major powerbroker in the region and was once governor of Herat, a western province bordering Iran.

Brown prepares for ‘fight of his life’

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London, September 27: The British Prime Minister Gordon Brown says that he and his comrades in their centre-left Labor party are facing “the fight of our lives” ahead of a general election.

As the party prepares for its final conference before the election, Brown said the choice between Labor and the main opposition Conservatives would be “starker than ever” as Britain seeks to come through a deep recession.

BJP demands rejection of Mhetre”s candidature

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Mumbai, September 27: The BJP today demanded rejection of Minister of State for Horticulture and Rural Development Siddharama Mhetre”s candidature from Akkalkot seat after a party worker was killed at Shevgaon in Solapur district allegedly by his supporters. “We have demanded that the Election Commission reject Mhetre”s candidature and take strict action against him,” BJP leader Kirit Somaiya told PTI. A BJP worker Bhimanna Kore was killed and three others were injured in a firing incident during the campaign rally of BJP candidate Sidramappa Patil in Akkalkot assembly segment yesterday.

Protests in support of Zelaya continue in Honduras

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Venenzuela, September 27: Protests in support of Manuel Zelaya have gained pace with thousands on the streets 90 days after the Honduran president was ousted.

After thousands marched to the Brazilian embassy where Zelaya has been holed up since Monday, hundreds more took part in a vehicle protest, hanging out car windows, honking horns and waving Honduran flags as they drove through a main axis of the capital, Tegucigalpa.

A top diplomat leaving the Brazilian embassy denounced the state of “siege,” with troops lined up around the compound.

Merkel centre-right hopes at risk as Germans vote

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Berlin, September 27: Germans began voting on Sunday in an election that looks likely to return Chancellor Angela Merkel to power but may deny her the center-right government she says is needed to revive Europe’s largest economy.

Four years after taking power atop an awkward “grand coalition” with the Social Democrats (SPD), Merkel enjoys high popularity ratings and opinion polls give her conservatives a healthy 8-11 point lead over to their traditional rivals.

Hit by recession, more job seekers turn to DRDO

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Bangalore, September 27: With job losses caused by economic recession in various sectors, the Defense Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) is turning out to be the destination of primary choice among young job seekers as the premier defence organisation received a whooping 1.13 lakh applications for the Scientist Entry Test held recently.

The applications were received in response to an advertisement in May for 220 posts in the Defence Research and Development Organisation, the R&D wing of the ministry of defence, a release said here on Saturday.

Israeli missile strike kills 3 fighters in east Gaza

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Gaza, September 27: At least three Palestinian fighters have lost their lives when the Israeli air force fired a missile at the vehicle they were driving at a crowded district in eastern Gaza.

According to a report published by the Ma’an news agency, the deceased Palestinians were identified as Kamel Khalid Al Dahdouh, 21, Mahmoud Mousa Al Banna, 24, and Mohammad Marshoud, 22. The Palestinians killed during the Friday attack, were said to be members of the armed wing of the Islamic Jihad known as the al-Quds Brigades.

I want to settle down, have kids, then think politics: Rahul Mahajan

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New Delhi, September 27: He has, in his own words, ‘risen from the ashes like a phoenix’ and each controversy has just helped make him stronger.

But Rahul Mahajan, who is now set to choose his life partner on national television, says he loves babies and that is the major reason he wants to settle down in life.

Rahul, the son of late Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Pramod Mahajan, is all set to feature as a bridegroom on NDTV Imagine’s reality show ‘Rahul Dulhania Le Jayenge’, where he will choose his ‘perfect life partner’ out of 16 girls.

Gaddafi-Chavez sign cooperation agreements

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Venenzuela, September 27: The Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi and the Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez both will sign eight cooperation agreements, Venezuela’s state media says.

The accords will be signed in Caracas, according to Venezuela’s ABN news agency.

Venezuelan Ambassador to Tripoli Afif Tajeldine said five agreements have already been signed with Libya, Venezuela’s top African ally, but he did not provide the figures or domain involved.