Helmand, December 01: Britain is at serious risk of losing its way in Afghanistan because rising defeatism at home is demoralising the troops on the front line, military commanders have warned.
High-ranking officers, including a former commander of the SAS, have expressed deep concern that the country is in danger of “talking ourselves into a defeat back home” as the war reaches a critical stage.
Lausanne, December 01: The International Hockey Federation wants to boost its income before the 2016 Olympics by cashing in on the sport’s popularity in India.
Field hockey’s ruling executive meets this week to study a six-year plan that aims to raise the game’s profile by using its biggest fan base.
“Many sports want to go to India because it’s a fantastic market,” Christophe Troendle, the FIH’s director-general, said. “For us it’s maybe easier because we are part of the culture.”
Melbourne, December 01: Former Australia test batsman Brad Hodge today announced he will retire from first class cricket at the end of this year.
Hodge, 35, will end his 17-year first class career playing in Victoria state’s next two matches in Australia’s domestic Sheffield Shield competition. He will then retire as the state’s leading first class run scorer, but will continue to play for its Twenty20 and limited-overs teams.
“I feel the time is right to step down from first-class cricket,” Hodge said.
Tehran, Dec 01: Iran’s long-delayed first nuclear power plant has been tested successfully, a senior Iranian nuclear official announced on Monday.
“A 250 bar (atmospheric) pressure test has been successfully carried out at the Bushehr nuclear plant,” Atomic Energy Organization of Iran Director Mohammad Ali Salehi said at a press conference with visiting Russian Energy Minister Sergei Shmatko in Tehran.
In February, tests were carried out at the power plant using “dummy” fuel rods loaded with lead in place of enriched uranium to simulate nuclear fuel.
Islamabad, December 01: Pakistan’s beleaguered President, Asif Ali Zardari, should immediately relinquish many of his powers, a prominent opposition politician said yesterday in the latest twist to a long-brewing crisis.
Shahbaz Sharif, the brother of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and Chief Minister of Punjab, Pakistan’s largest province, called on Mr Zardari to renounce, without delay, his powers to fire an elected government and appoint military chiefs.
New Delhi, Dec 01: Hyundai Motor India Ltd, the country’s second largest car manufacturer and the largest passenger car exporter registered record cumulative sales for the month ending November 30, 2009.
The cumulative sales accounted for 55,265 units which reflect a 28.5% growth as compared to last November. The domestic market was the biggest gainer as it almost doubled its sales to 28,162 units this month registering a growth of 92.8% over the same month last year.
London, December 01: British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and US President Barack Obama agreed “good progress on burden sharing” in Afghanistan during a video conference call, his office said.
Both leaders, however, agreed during the 45-minute call late yesterday the need to encourage NATO allies “to do more” to assist the Afghan mission, as well as continued action from neighbouring Pakistan, Downing Street said.
Ahmedabad, Dec 01: Former President Dr A P J Abdul Kalam said on Monday that primary education in the country has to be changed to encourage creativity in children.
“The entire education system should be changed so that every young person can say ‘I can do it’. Particularly, primary education has to be changed. Creativity of children needs to come out. At present, we are not doing this. We need a change in the syllabus,” Kalam said at the third IGNITE Awards ceremony at IIM-A.
The awards are given to schoolchildren around the country for innovations and technological ideas.
Riyadh, December 01: Saudi King Abdullah has ordered an inquiry into the catastrophic flash flood in Jeddah last week that killed at least 106 people and sparked a rare burst of public outrage.
The SPA state news agency said he also ordered that one million riyals (USD 267,000) in compensation be paid to each family of the victims, many of whom drowned or were crushed in cars by what witnesses called “a tsunami.”
United Nations, December 01: Acknowledging that women in Afghanistan are facing physical assault, the United Nations has launched a global campaign seeking prevention of sexual abuse and other crimes against women in the war-torn country.
“Women and girls are at risk of rape in their homes, in their villages and in detention facilities,” said Norah Niland, the top human rights official in Afghanistan.
“It is a human rights problem of profound proportions.” The campaign is “an important reminder that women’s rights are human rights,” she added.
Chandigarh, Dec 01: Two unidentified women barged into a Sector-44 house, and kidnapped infant twin daughters after beating up the mother, reads a complaint filed by the mother on Monday.
But soon after they were allegedly kidnapped, the twins were found near the fountain in Rock Garden.
In her complaint, Simran Babbar told the police that her 38-day-old daughters, Isha and Neha, were kidnapped by the women around 11.30 am. Simran was reportedly alone in the house when the women “barged in”.
Tehran, Deecember 01: The Iranian government approved a plan yesterday to build 10 new uranium enrichment facilities, a dramatic expansion, in defiance of UN demands that it halt the programme.
The decision comes only two days after the UN nuclear watchdog agency censured Iran, demanding it immediately stop building a newly revealed enrichment facility near the holy city of Qom and freeze all uranium enrichment activities. The rebuke angered Iran, raising demands from politicians to cut back co-operation with the UN.
Kumbakonam(TN), December 01: Demand for the famous ‘panchaloha’ idols of Swamimalai town near here is on the rise as more and more NRIs are funding construction of temples abroad.
The demand is being made mainly from NRIs in US, UK, Canada, Australia, South Africa, Switzerland, Malaysia and Thailand.
Seven temples are being built in London, one in Toronto and another in France, says master craftsman and director of Tamil Nadu Handicrafts Development Corporation, Srikanda Stapathy, adding Tamils abroad also demand such idols, who have been building temples in large numbers.
Tehran, December 01: Iran sees little point to staying in the Non-Proliferation Treaty, a senior official said yesterday, a day after announcing plans to build 10 more nuclear sites.
The comments by Ali Larijani, the influential conservative speaker of parliament, underlined deteriorating relations between Iran and world powers. Last week, the International Atomic Energy Agency rebuked Iran for building an enrichment plant in secret, triggering Tehran’s defiant announcement to erect 10 more such sites.
Allahabad, Dec 01: Come next academic session and the UP Board — the biggest in the country — is going to undergo major changes in terms of syllabus and examination pattern.
The Board has decided to introduce the credit system, compartmental exams and a single question paper system.
Chicago, December 01: The detention hearing of terror suspect David Coleman Headley, arrested by the FBI for plotting attacks in India at the behest of Lashkar-e-Taiba, scheduled for December 4 at a court here has been indefinitely deferred.
“The detention and preliminary hearing for David Coleman Headley that was scheduled for Friday in US District Court in Chicago is cancelled and will not be held (as scheduled).
There is no new date and no further information available at this time,” US Attorney?s Office, Northern District of Illinois, announced here today.
New Delhi, December 01: There was no need to panic, insisted the minister. The Indian government was closely monitoring the fall-out from the crisis in Dubai but was not expecting a flood of migrant workers returning home. The current problems would likely soon blow over.
Lucknow, Dec 01: Swine flu claimed its second victim in Uttar Pradesh on Monday. Amresh Sinha (37), a teacher, died at a private hospital in Lucknow’s Alam Bagh.
A resident of Rae Bareli, Sinha was brought to Lucknow last week and underwent tests at both SGPGI and a private testing center. “The reports came on November 28. He was in a serious condition and was put on ventilator as soon as he was admitted in Awadh Hospital, Alambagh.
He died early this morning,” said Chief Medical Superintendent AK Shukla.
Lucknow, Dec 01: The AICC general secretary and parliamentarian from Amethi, Rahul Gandhi, is likely to undertake a two-day tour of Uttar Pradesh next week to mobilise youths for the party.
The Indian Youth Congress (IYC) has started is membership drive across 26 Lok Sabha constituencies, which will conclude on December 9.
Party sources said although Rahul’s programme is still to be given a final shape, the probable dates of the visit could be December 7 and 8.
New Delhi, December 01: Over 1,200 women fell prey to criminals in the national capital this year so far but police maintain there is no increase in crime against the fairer sex citing last year’s figure.
The city police say there were a total of 1,240 cases of crime against women — which include murder, molestation, eve-teasing and rape — registering a 12 per cent decline this year so far compared to the first 11 months last year.
New Delhi, Dec 01: Third fire incident in 4 days a low-floor DTC bus caught fire near RML Hospital at 11.20 am on Monday. No one was injured, the police said.
This is the third incident of a CNG-run DTC bus catching fire in Delhi in the last four days. The bus on route number RL-77 was among the 150 low-floor buses recently inducted into the fleet, a DTC official said.
Ludhiana, Dec 01: The Punjab Agricultural University Teacher Association (PAUTA) and PAU Fourth Class Workers Unions spearheaded the rally.
All the non-teaching, teaching and class IV employees from various departments of the university participated in the rally.
Kolkata, Dec 01: Buses were set ablaze in at least at half-a-dozen places as a down-to-dusk bandh called by the state BJP to protest the rise in power tariff and price of essential commodities turned violent today, with party supporters from Rajarhat-Newtown area going on the rampage in the city, especially in the IT hubs of Salt Lake and Rajarhat.
BJP cadres mobilised from Jangra, Jagatpur, Gourangapur and Jatragachhi in Rajarhat-Newtown area where the party runs the panchayat vandalised IT offices and chased away those reporting for duty.
Pune, Dec 01: With just a day left for the government ban on illegal cell phones to come into effect, cell phone stores in the city found themselves handling large crowds of people trying desperately to reinstall the 15 digit International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) number in their cell phones on Monday.
The IMEI number is a unique number, which is allotted to every cell phone. When a user activates the SIM card, this number that represents the manufacturer’s name and type of the phone is automatically registered with the mobile service provider as soon as the phone is activated.
On Day 3 of the common aptitude test (CAT), there were no reports of any system failure in any of the centres in the city and both sessions went of smoothly.
Prometric, the company is responsible for the conduct of the examination, has said that the exam was going on successfully.
“As a result of isolated technical issues on day 1, some candidates are being rescheduled and provided a new appointment via email and SMS,” said Soumitra Roy, managing director, Prometric .