Ahmedabad, October 06: The Gujarat High Court has issued arrest warrants against 75 of the 400 prisoners who have jumped parole or furlough.
Judge B. Prasad ordered on Monday that the absconders, who were serving life terms in different jails of the state, be collared by the police inspectors of respective regions within 10 days. Prasad asked the public prosecutor to submit reports to the court.
New Delhi, October 06: Remittances from Indian migrant workers, which are about 1.5 times more than the total foreign investments in the country, have far-reaching benefits such as pushing up school enrolment, according to a United Nations report.
Additionally, remittances help reduce fertility and empower women, said the Human Development Report prepared by the United Nations Development Programme, released globally Monday.
Hyderabad, October 06: Rescue workers used sandbags to stop a raging river from breaching its embankment near a southern Indian city on Monday as floods triggered by heavy rains over the last week left 2.5 million people homeless in south India.
The flooding, described by officials as the worst in many decades in south India, has killed 250 people, mostly in the states of Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. At least 25 people were also killed in flood-related incidents in western Maharashtra state.
At least five million people are crammed in temporary government shelters.
Cairo, October 06: Rival Palestinian factions are to sign a long-delayed reconciliation deal in Cairo on October 26, Egypt’s Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit said yesterday after meeting Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas.
“We agreed to hold a meeting for Palestinian factions in Cairo on October 25 before signing a reconciliation agreement on October 26,” he told a joint press conference with his Jordanian counterpart Nasser Judeh in Amman.
“Arab officials and maybe officials from outside the Arab world might attend the signing of the agreement.”
Trivandrum, October 06: The 26-month-long agitation for land launched by tribals and backward classes at Chengara in Pathanamthitta district of Kerala ended on Monday.
The Sadhu Jana Vimochana Samyuvktha Vedi (SJVSV), which spearheaded the stir, called it off following talks with Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan in the presence of opposition leader Oommen Chandy here in the morning.
Lucknow, October 06: The opposition Congress and Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh on Monday charged the ruling Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) of shielding officials of a private hospital who are accused of forcibly taking sexual favours from students to award them certificates.
Students of a private hospital in Lucknow on Sunday lodged an FIR against the administration of K.K. Hospital, accusing them of forcibly taking sexual favours from students to award them certificates.
Kabul, October 06: Afghan election authorities began a recount on Monday in a disputed presidential election, but new rules issued by a U.N.-backed watchdog appear to make it unlikely that President Hamid Karzai’s preliminary win can be overturned.
Election commission deputy head Zekriya Barakzai said the recount of randomly selected samples of ballot boxes deemed suspicious would take several days, with a final result from the August 20 poll likely to come next week.
Seoul, October 06: Visiting Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao met North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il late Monday amid efforts to bring Pyongyang back to nuclear disarmament talks, Beijing’s state media reported.
“Premier Wen Jiabao held talks with North Korea’s top leader Kim Jong-Il on Monday evening,” Xinhua news agency said on its website, without providing further details.
Wen’s high-profile three-day visit is officially described as a goodwill trip to attend celebrations marking the 60th anniversary of China-North Korea diplomatic relations.
Washington, October 06: An American ousted as the No. 2 official at the U.N. mission in Afghanistan said Monday he has no second-thoughts about assertions that the organization failed to aggressively probe vote fraud charges in the August presidential election.
“The flaw that took place in Afghanistan was preventable,” the dismissed diplomat, Peter Galbraith, said Monday on ABC’s “Good Morning America.”
Algeria, 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.
Abu Dhabi, October 06: The United Arab Emirates capital will launch the Mazayina Dhafra Camel Festival from Jan 30-Feb 8, WAM news agency reported Monday.
The festival will be organised by the Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage (ADACH) and held in Zayed City in Al Gharbia (the Western Region).
Mohammed Khalaf Al Mazrouei, director general of ADACH, and chairman of the organising committee, said the festival will include many traditional events, such as the traditional market, competitions on poetry, photography, in addition to many surprises that will be announced later.
Islamabad, October 06: A suicide bomber disguised as a security officer struck the lobby of the U.N. food agency’s Pakistan headquarters Monday, killing five people a day after the new leader of the Pakistani Taliban vowed fresh assaults, authorities and witnesses said.
New Delhi, October 06: The Supreme Court on Monday warned the Mayawati government in Uttar Pradesh not to play politics with the court, reprimanding it for not stopping work on memorials of Dalit leaders as ordered by the court.
On September 8, the apex court told the state government to stop work on the Rs2,600-crore memorials — statues of BSP founder Kanshi Ram, the party’s election symbol elephant and chief minister Mayawati — being built with tax payers’ money.
Hyderabad, October 06: The Andhra Pradesh government today decided to double the compensation to Rs2 lakh for families of victims who have lost their lives in the floods. The decision was taken by chief minister K Rosaiah while reviewing the flood situation at a meeting here.
Rosaiah, who presided over the meeting in the chief minister’s chamber, said though the flood situation was fast improving, the administration needs to be cautious in Krishna and Guntur districts, where low-lying areas are still inundated.
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.
Bhuwaneshwar, October 06: A teacher who eloped with a girl student and sought divorce from his wife, accusing her of inflicting “cruelty” and “deserting” him, got a dressing down on Monday from the Supreme Court (SC), which said the guru from Pathanamthitta district had defied the “sacred teacher-pupil relationship”.
A bench of justices BN Agrawal and GS Singhvi snubbed Kerala schoolteacher Philip Thomas Palamoottil for violating the sacred teacher-student relationship and seeking to divorce his wife, who, incidentally, was looking after his aged mother.
New Delhi, October 06: An Air India (AI) airhostess, who recently alleged molestation by two pilots in the cockpit, filed a complaint with the National Commission for Women (NCW) on Monday.
“I have come here as I think I will get justice. I want justice from the (AI) management as well as NCW for what has happened to me,” Komal Singh told reporters at the NCW office, after she met chairperson Girija Vyas.
New Delhi, October 06: The government is changing its approach towards cleaning the Ganga. After 24 years of Ganga Action Plan and Rs916 crore failed to rejuvenate the river, the government now wants to take it up as a “mission”, minister of state for environment and forests (MoEF) Jairam Ramesh said. ‘Mission Ganga’ plans to stop flow of untreated sewage and effluents into the river by 2020.
The National Ganga River Basin Authority (NGRBA) held its first meeting, attended by representatives of Ganga basin states of Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and Bengal, on Monday.
Mumbai,October 06: National-carrier Air India today said that in the last two days its bookings have averaged around 26,000-28,000 passengers per day.
“In the two days, Air India has once again began average bookings in the range of 26,000-28,000 per day, significantly higher than those recorded in the same period last year,” a company press release said here.
The air-carrier has regained the booking levels that it had prior to last week’s strike by executive pilots, which had affected flights as also flight bookings, the release said.
Mumbai, October 06: Trying to earn their “self-respect” back, over 50 male sex workers in the city will be undergoing training in vocational courses held by an NGO, in order to quit the profession of prostitution.
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The city-based NGO, Sambhavana will soon be training these male sex workers in mobile repair, electronics, appliance repair and plumbing at their office in Byculla in south Mumbai.
“Most of these men come to Mumbai in search of jobs but end up in sex trade. We are trying to help them earn a better living,” convener of the NGO, Jasmir Thakur told PTI.
Muzaffarnagar, October 06: A minor Dalit girl was allegedly raped by a godman in a village here, police said today.
The parents of the 10-year-old girl had left her to the godman’s ashram for cure of some ailment two days ago in Adli village but was allegedly raped.
The girl reached home yesterday and narrated the incident to her parents who lodged a police complaint in this regard.
The ‘tantrik’ is on the run and police have registered the case.
–PTI–
Washington, October 06: The US condemned the attack on the UN food office in Pakistan Monday that left five people dead, calling it a “senseless” act against individuals helping to help feed the poor.
“Such cruel acts expose the true nature of the terrorist agenda,” State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said.
A suicide bomber detonated explosives inside the World Food Programme building in the capital Islamabad, wounding an additional six people.
Washington, October 06: President Barack Obama will meet with the Dalai Lama during his US tour this month, the State Department said Monday contradicting a media report the White House had postponed their meeting in an attempt to gain favour with China.
“The United States government thinks that he is an internationally revered religious and cultural figure, he is a Nobel Prize laureate,” State Department spokesman Ian Kelly told reporters.
“The president has decided that he will meet with the Dalai Lama at a mutually agreeable time.”
Delhi, October 06: Pilots and other crewmembers abroad an Air India flight had a huge scuffle after a pilot allegedly molested an airhostess. Air India officials are investigating the whole affair, and in the meanwhile, AI has suspended 4 employees thought to be involved in the brawl.
The flight was flying from Sharjah to Delhi and the shocked 107 passengers on board the flight witnessed the brawl first hand as crew members threw punches and hurled abuse at each other, in front of the passengers itself.
Washington, October 06:Withdrawing US forces from Afghanistan is not among the options under consideration by US President Barack Obama as he outlines a new strategy for the conflict.
“I don’t think we have the option to leave,” White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said Monday. “I think that’s quite clear.”
Obama is in the middle of a strategic review and assessing various possibilities for the war in Afghanistan that is entering its ninth year. The top US commander there, General Stanley McChrystal, is reportedly seeking an additional 40,000 troops.