Damascus, December 02: Karrad, 16, and his family fled the sectarian violence in Iraq following the US-led invasion in 2003 and came to Syria in 2005. Although the Syrian government provides Iraqi children with free education in its public schools, Karrad and his brother Ali, 12, cannot go to school because they are the bread earners. Karrad told his story to IRIN:
New Delhi, dec 02: A tripartite task force has been formed to look into problems faced by contractual workers who are involved in cleaning and maintenance works in various government departments, the Rajya Sabha was informed today.
Answering supplementaries during Question Hour, Labour Minister Mallikarjun Kharge said the ministry has formed the task force to look into the problems of contractual labour engaged in minor works of government departments and ministries.
New Delhi, Dec 02: India and Bangladesh today finalised drafts of three key treaties, including transfer of sentenced persons, which will be signed when Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina arrives here later this month.
Drafts of agreements on Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters, Transfer of Sentenced Persons and bilateral agreement on Combating International Terrorism, organised crime and illicit drug trafficking were finalised during the three-day meeting of Home Secretaries of India and Bangladesh.
Khartoum, December 02: Arab and Asian investors are scrambling for vast swathes of arable land in Sudan, but the African giant needs to modernise its agricultural sector if it wants to become a “bread basket”.
A drop in crude oil prices last year deprived Sudan — which exports more than 300,000 barrels a day — of precious revenues, drawing the country back to agriculture, the traditional driver of its economy.
Baghdad, December 02: A new satellite television channel promoting Iraq’s former leader Saddam Hussein, which began broadcasting three days ago on the anniversary of his execution, abruptly went off-air on Monday.
The channel, which alternated between calling itself “Saddam” and “Al-Arabi,” showed its first images on Friday, the beginning of the Muslim Eid al-Adha festival and the date in the Islamic calendar when Saddam was hanged three years ago.
Lucknow, Dec 02: A 16-year-old girl, who tested positive for swine flu virus on Monday night, died on Tuesday.
Akansha, a resident of Aliganj area, is the youngest and third patient to die from H1N1 virus in the state capital.
She was admitted to Vivekanand Polyclinic on November 27 with high fever. “She was straightaway put on a ventilator in the ICU,” said Swami Muktinathanand, secretary, Vivekanand Polyclinic.
Lucknow, Dec 02: The driver of a road-roller Kamlesh Yadav was injured when his vehicle was hit by Patna-Delhi Garib Rath Express at an unmanned railway crossing in Barabanki on Tuesday.
The train engine got derailed, but none of the passengers or the railway crew was injured. The crossing lies between Budwal and Chauka Ghat railway stations. “We came to know about the incident from the police control room.
A police team sent the road-roller driver to hospital,” said in-charge of GRP at Barabanki, Mohan Verma.
–Agencies
Islamabad, December 02: Just hours after President Barack Obama unveiled US’ Af-Pak policy voicing concerns that Pakistan has become a safe heaven for militants, a powerful blast occurred outside the Naval complex in Pakistan’s capital city.
According to reports, two suicide bombers, trying to enter inside the Naval complex, blew themselves when they were intercepted by the security guards at the main entrance of the Naval installation.
The Naval complex is located near Zafar Chowk in sector E-8 of Islamabad.
Ranchi, December 02: Amidst a Maoist call for poll boycott and a landmine blast suspected to have been triggered by the naxals killing a CISF jawan, a turn out of about 36 per cent was recorded till early afternoon today in the second phase of polling in 14 Assembly constituencies in Jharkhand. The CISF jawan, who died in the blast in naxal-hit Giridih district, was identified as Harpal Singh, Inspector General of Police V H Deshmukh told PTI here, noting that “barring that incident, the polling is going on peacefully.
Guwahati, December 02: The chairman of the outlawed United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA), Arabinda Rajkhowa has been detained in Bangladesh and efforts were on to get him deported to India, intelligence sources said on Wednesday.
Rajkhowa, 53, was picked up in Dhaka on Monday and was likely to be handed over to the Indian authorities along the Indo-Bangla border either in Tripura or in Assam soon, they said.
The detention was also confirmed by sources in the Union Home Ministry but they refused to elaborate any further.
Lucknow, Dec 02: Chief Minister Mayawati has demanded that the Centre deploy sufficient number of Rapid Action Force personnel to maintain communal harmony in the state in the wake of the tabling of the Liberhan Commission report in Parliament. In this connection, Mayawati wrote to Union Home Minister P Chidambaram on Tuesday.
Dhaka, December 02: Two ministers of former prime minister Khaleda Zia’s government aided a banned Islamist militant outfit to procure arms for use against India and Afghanistan, a police official told a court here.
Investigator Abdul Kahar Akand named detained former ministers, Lutfozzaman Babar and Abdus Salam Pintu, for assisting Harkat-ul-Jihad Islami (HuJI) in a botched attempt to kill then opposition leader and now Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Aug 21, 2004.
Tehran, December 02: A newspaper editor and well-known critic of Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has been sentenced to 9 years in jail, his lawyer said, the longest jail term yet for fomenting unrest after June’s disputed elections.
Saeed Laylaz, whose daily paper Sarmayeh was banned last month, was found guilty of taking part in illegal gatherings and holding classified information, Mahmoud Alizadeh-Tabatabaie was quoted on the semi-official Fars agency as saying.
Ludhiana, Dec 02: Thirty five-year old Sanjeev Kumar alias Kala was done to death by five unidentified persons outside a liquor vend in Partap Singh Wala village on Tuesday night. Kumar was repeatedly stabbed in the stomach by the assailants resulting in his death.
The victim’s family alleged that Kala, who ran a lottery business, had been killed by the people with whom he had a running dispute over his lottery business. The police have registered an FIR, but has not made any arrest so far.
A week after Arman, 8, and Arshid, 4, went missing, their bodies were found on Tuesday, floating in a seven-foot ditch at a municipal park next to their home in Shakurpur Basti in West Delhi.
The police said the two might have fallen in the ditch while playing and drowned. The families today blamed MCD for digging the park and then leaving the ditches uncovered.
On November 25, Arman and Arshid went out to play together — like always. They both lived in the same building, on different floors. “We last saw them at 6.30 pm,” a neighbourhood child said today.
Kuala Lumpur, December 02: A Malaysian Christian woman has gone to the courts to try and reclaim eight religious compact discs confiscated for containing the word “Allah,” officials said Wednesday.
Jill Ireland Lawrence Bill, from the eastern state of Sarawak on Borneo island, is seeking to overturn the Home Ministry’s seizure of her CDs, which she claimed infringed on her constitutional right to practise her Christian religion.
The Kuala Lumpur High Court on Wednesday fixed January 12 for the hearing of the case.
Guwahati, December 02: Arabinda Rajkhowa, chairman of the outlawed United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA), and its publicity secretary Apurba Baruah have been arrested in Bangladesh, informed sources said Wednesday.
Both are expected to be in India’s custody soon, the sources told IANS.
The two leaders are believed to have been arrested by the Special Branch of the Bangladesh Police from downtown Dhaka.
Rajkhowa, 56, was in Bangladesh for close to two decades, operating out of bases in that country to order hit-and-run strikes in Assam.
New Delhi, Dec 02: Two days after a Sukhoi fighter jet crashed, the second this year, the Indian Air Force has grounded its entire fleet of 100 SU-30 aircraft.
“Following the crash at Jaisalmer in Rajasthan on Monday, the IAF has stopped flying all its Sukhoi planes and is conducting precautionary checks on each of the aircraft,” an IAF official said in New Delhi on Wednesday.
A Sukhoi fighter jet had crashed during a routine training sortie south-west of Pokharan firing ranges. The two pilots, Wing Commander Srivastava and Flight Lieutenant Arora had bailed out to safety.
London, December 02: Action star Sylvester Stallone has sued the owner of a car company over a vehicle that he insists was stolen from him 15 years ago.
Stallone is demanding $3 million because the car company’s website allegedly used his name and image to promote the auction without proper permission, reported contactmusic.com
The “Rocky” star claims the custom-built 1950 Mercury, which featured in his movie “Cobra”, was driven away from a storage garage in 1994. Stallone never saw the car again until recently.
New Delhi, December 02: The Indian government reiterated Wednesday that it was ready to talk to Maoist guerrillas if they laid down their arms.
“There is no dialogue at the moment. I have offered talks if they abjure violence,” Home Minister P. Chidambaram said during question hour in the Rajya Sabha.
“We are prepared to talk about any subject provided they abjure violence,” he added.
—Agencies
Mumbai, December 02: Openers Tharanga Pranavitana and Tillakaratne Dilshan scored half-centuries to give Sri Lanka a good start in the third and the final cricket Test against India at the Brabourne Stadium here Wedensday.
At lunch, Sri Lanka were comfortably placed at 117 for one in the first innings after Pranavitana hit 53 and Dilshan scored an unbeaten 51. Skipper Kumar Sangakkara was not out on 10.
Ranchi, December 02: Maoist guerrillas killed one security personnel in Jharkhand’s Giridih district Wednesday during the second phase of assembly elections which saw 21 percent voting till noon, an official said.
The state Election Commission said Koderma constituency registered the highest percentage of voting at 30 percent.
Polling began at 7 a.m. for 14 assembly seats. But in seven booths, voting started late due to problems with the electronic voting machines (EVMs).
Washington, December 02: Democrats are complaining about President Barack Obama’s escalation of the war in Afghanistan and Republicans are unhappy with his promise to withdraw troops in 18 months, but Congress appears willing to approve the buildup’s $30 billion price tag.
Lawmakers planned to use two days of high-profile hearings on the war, beginning Wednesday, to express their misgivings about the plan, which calls for a quick infusion of troops through July 2011, when the U.S. will begin to withdraw its forces.
London, December 02: Ayurvedic tradition has it that drinking water on an empty stomach that has been stored overnight in a copper urn keeps illness at bay.
The belief has some substance after all, as a study in a busy Birmingham teaching hospital has proved in another context.
Researchers swapped a conventional toilet seat, tap-handles and a ward door push-plate for similar items made from 70 percent copper.
Mumbai, Dec 02: ‘De Dana Dan’ has proved that the junta’s verdict is final, it’s the ultimate verdict.
Ponder on this. Akshay + Suniel + Paresh + director Priyadarshan. That’s the ultimate combo for a laughathon. Naturally, the expectations were bound to be humungous. ‘De Dana Dan’ had to perform, especially for Akshay Kumar, whose last few films hadn’t lived up to the junta janardhan’s expectations.
The opening weekend has been fantastic. According to industry estimates, the film has amassed approx. Rs. 24 crores nett, which easily ranks amongst the highest this year.