Algeirs, October 06: Al-Qaida’s North African offshoot claimed it killed or injured dozens of Algerian security forces in 29 separate attacks and bombings over the past two months, despite the intense military pressure that appears to have seriously limited the militants’ scope.
The claim Monday by al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb, or AQIM, came as security forces reported that they killed eight suspected Islamist fighters over the weekend.
Islamabad, October 06: Misbah-ul-Haq is one of thousands of Pakistani students who managed to get admission to British universities to pursue their post-graduate studies.
He applied for the visa four months before beginning of his academic year and was supposed to attend the ongoing fall semester.
His dreams have been dashed because his visa application has been pending with the British High Commission in Islamabad for months.
“I kept expecting a call from the High Commission people till a week before the beginning of fall semester,” he told.
Lahore, October 06: I am not in a position to confirm or reject Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz chief Nawaz Sharif’s deal with the Saudi royal family, a channel quoted Saudi Ambassador to Pakistan Abdul Aziz Al-Ghadeer as saying on Monday.
According to the channel, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said Nawaz’s decision whether to contest polls or not was Pakistan’s internal matter. He was speaking at a ceremony held to mark the 79th national day of the kingdom at Saudi embassy in Islamabad.
Mumbai, October 06: Bollywood actor Salman Khan’s one day Ahmedabad visit created chaos at three places in the city. Salman had to confine himself to his hotel room due to heavy rush of people gathered outside the hotel. He canceled his couple of events due to security reasons.
Salman couldn’t give a ride to underprivileged children at Parsoli Motors in the morning. He couldn’t inaugurate a painting exhibition here and also couldn’t auction his painting for charity. He had to cancel press interaction too at Parsoli motors.
Ramallah, October 06: The Palestinian Authority support for delaying vote on a UN report accusing Israel of committing war crimes in the Gaza Strip continues to send shockwaves across the occupied lands, threatening to torpedo efforts to heal Palestinian rifts.
“(Palestinian President Mahmoud) Abbas gave the orders to delay voting on the report,” Hamas Premier Ismail Haniya said.
“How can the two parties (Fatah and Hamas) sit at one table and sign an agreement in this situation?
“… This has placed a heavy obstacle in the way of Palestinian unity,” he said.
Fez, October 06: Saudi Arabia is prepared to welcome some three million pilgrims during the annual hajj to Mecca in December amid the heightened alert on the swine flu pandemic, a top Saudi official said Monday.
Ziad Bin Ahmed Memish of the health ministry said despite the level six alert on the A(H1N1) virus, “Saudi Arabia has decided to hold the great gatherings in Mecca and Medina,” Islam’s holiest sites and the destination for annual pilgrimages by devout Muslims.
New Delhi, October 06: Indians going on Haj this time should avoid hugging or shaking hands with pilgrims from other countries to ward off swine flu, according to a health ministry advisory.
“Do not shake hands or hug in greetings, except as a mandatory religious activity of the Haj,” says the advisory which also lists other dos and don’ts for the pilgrims.
The first batch from India is scheduled to leave on October 19. The Haj season will continue till January.
New Delhi, October 06: In a bid to shore up its electoral appeal among Muslims in the state, the Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) has asked for more Muslim leaders to campaign in the state. Maharashtra PCC chief Manikrao Thakre has made this request in a letter to Oscar Fernandes. In the list of star campaigners submitted to the Election Commission, the Congress has five Muslim leaders.
Gaza City, October 06: The Jerusalem Police declared a high state of alert ahead of Tuesday’s traditional march through the capital’s streets, in the wake of the riots plaguing the Old City.
Monday night saw the muezzins of Jerusalem’s mosques urge the city’s Muslims to rally to the defense of al-Aqsa Mosque, for fear “Jews will try to break into it.”
Muslims were called to “thwart” any attempt by Jewish groups to enter the compound.
New York, October 06: The recent arrest of a New York imam, known for his cooperation with the FBI, on terror-related charges is casting its shadows on relations between US Muslims and the law enforcement authorities.
“People are scared,” a 36-year-old New York Muslim man told the Washington Post on Monday, October 5, on condition of anonymity.
“They’re scared that if they work with the police they’ll get hurt, and if they don’t work with the police they’ll get hurt.”
Jodhpur, October 06: Anandan Sivamani, the ace Indian drummer who is preparing for an international tour with Oscar-winner A.R. Rahman, says he first likes to practise his beats on pillows!
“Even now, I practise my beats on pillows first. Pillows have bounce. When the same rhythm is played on drums, the rhythm is magnified three times,” Sivamani told IANS in an interview on the sidelines of a concert in Jodhpur.
For his fans, that may not come as a surprise. Sivamani, they swear, can transform anything into a source of music with his fingers.
Hyderabad, October 06: A child was injured in a blast occurred in an auto garage located near District Council Hyderabad in Kacha Qila area.
According to a private TV channel, the incident happened when a man identified as Sikandar Hussain parked his car in the garage for repair work. A mechanic named Shahzad found a hand grenade and pulled the pin resulting in the blast.
He was injured in the blast and shifted to the hospital for medical treatment. The blast was so powerful that its voice heard from 3 to 4 kilometers from the site of the blast.
New Delhi, October 06: Rounded up randomly, abused and tortured behind bars for no reason but being a Muslim, police harassment is haunting the Muslim minority in the Hindu-majority India, reported.
“Muslim youths with no criminal records are picked up illegally by policemen in plainclothes taken to farmhouse etc. and kept for days on end and tortured brutally,” Muslim leader Harsh Mander said.
Muslim community leaders from across India came together for a three-day national meeting to discuss the status of the Muslim minority in modern India.
Seoul, October 06: North Korea is in the final stage of restoring its nuclear facilities, a news report said Tuesday, as leader Kim Jong Il expressed a conditional willingness to end Pyongyang’s boycott of international nuclear talks.
South Korean and U.S. intelligence authorities reached the conclusion after scrutinizing about 10 atomic facilities in North Korea since April when the communist regime vowed to restart its nuclear program in anger over a U.N. rebuke of its long-range rocket launch.
Hyderabad, October 06: Andhra Pradesh Government’s employees, teachers and workers have decided to donate their one day basic pay for flood relief in the state.
The amount from October salary, which comes to around Rs50 crore, will be donated to the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund, a release from the Joint Action Committee (JAC), a employees’ union, said here today. The money will be given to the chief minister on November 1, it added.
Summary of Findings and Recommendations
Hyderabad, October 06: The bail petition filed by former chairman of Satyam Computers B Ramalinga Raju, who is recuperating in Nizam’s Institute of Medical Sciences in Hyderabad, would come up for hearing in IV additional metropolitan sessions court on October 8.
Raju, accused in Rs 7,800 crore (Rs 78 billion) Satyam fraud case, is presently undergoing treatment for his heart and Hepatitis-C ailments in NIMS hospital. He has filed a petition in the court seeking his release on health ground.
Hyderabad, October 06: Sluice gates are being proposed for the Hussainsagar to prevent floods to low-lying areas along the lake’s surplus nala. Strangely, the uphill task of clearing encroachments along the nala, the reason for flooding in the city, has been put on the backburner for now.
“Gates are not only the solution for preventing floods to low-lying areas, but they (gates) help in safe discharge of water during rains,” GHMC engineer-in-chief P Pandu Ranga Rao said.
The image created by the Bollywood films and the media of the Muslims is such that either a Muslim would be Mafia Don or would sacrifice his life for the majority’s Hindu Hero. But hardly a Muslim who is professional and educated, who does not want to live in slums is shown, said Sohail Hasmi, Javed Naqvi, Shesh Narayan and Mohammed Shoaib while discussing the issue related to the Identity of the Muslims in India on the second day of the three days national meet “What it means to be a Muslim in India” in New Delhi today.
Hyderabad, October 06: With Krishna river overflowing at Ibrahimpatnam near Vijayawada, the State police have decided to close the Vijayawada-Hyderabad road to vehicular traffic for time being.
All the traffic police stations and superintendents of police have been alerted to regulate traffic as per the directions issued by the director-general of police.
Traffic will not be allowed from West Godavari and Guntur districts towards Nalgonda district and Hyderabad beyond Vijayawada.
Instead, vehicles from West Godavari will be diverted through Khammam and Warangal districts.
Toronto, October 06: Canada has been lauded as a role model for the rest of the world for accepting new immigrants.
A new report by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) praises Canada for its liberal and fair immigration policies.
Canada accepts more immigrants per capita than any other nation on earth in proportion to its population. With a population of about 34 million, Canada accepts more than 250,000 immigrants each year. They come from more than 150 countries, with India and China topping as the two main sources for immigration.
United Nations, October 06: India has sought more representation of women in high decision-making positions at the UN saying greater participation of women in areas of conflict prevention was particularly necessary for lasting peace and security.
“India attaches very high importance to ensuring concrete action in this area,” said Hardeep Singh Puri, Permanent Representative of India to the UN during a Security Council debate Monday on “Women and Peace and Security”.
Washington, October 06: India’s dramatic rise on the global stage has made a leading American university to launch the Year of India, an initiative to better understand the country and its growing impact around the world.
The lineup of events during the 2009-2010 academic year at Providence, Rhode Island, based Brown University includes major public lectures, art exhibitions, academic conferences about India’s people, culture, economy, and politics.
New Delhi, October 06: Reigning world champion Pankaj Advani and veteran Geet Sethi will be among the 200 cueists vying for the top honours at the World Snooker Championship to be held from November 14 to 29 in Hyderabad.
Dubbed as the Olympics of Snooker, the mega-event will also see other top Indians like Saurav Kothari, Rupesh Shah, Yasin Merchant, Manan Chandra, Devendra Joshi and Aditya Mehta in action.
India’s women’s challenge will be spearheaded by two-time quarterfinalist Vidya Pillai and Anuja Chandra at the sprawling Hyderabad International Convention Centre.
Bhopal, October 06: The king of the jungle may yet roam the forests of Madhya Pradesh, with the state now planning to borrow and breed zoo lions for the wild after Gujarat refused to part with its big cats of Gir.
Madhya Pradesh wants to create a new population of Asiatic lions with the help of the Delhi and Hyderabad zoos, an Indian forest service official said.
Efforts are on to get at least two pairs of Asiatic lions from zoos, use them for breeding and let loose their descendants in the Kuno-Palpur sanctuary in Sehore district.