Month: January 2010

Iran executes murderer in public

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Tehran, January 27: A convicted murdered was hanged in public on Wednesday in central Iran, official news agency IRNA reported. The man had killed the deputy prosecutor of Isfahan city last year, and was hanged at the site of the murder, it said.

The death sentence was carried out after it was confirmed by the supreme court.

Iran usually implements executions inside prisons, but occasionally carries them out in public.

Murder, rape, armed robbery and drug trafficking of quantities in excess of 5 kilograms are among the crimes punishable by death.
–Agencies

Kapoor Clan Unites Against Ranbir’s Ex-Girlfriend Deepika

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Mumbai, January 27: As if Ranbir Kapoor leaving Deepika heartbroken wasn’t enough, the Kapoor clan has now united to jilt the swishy lady altogether.

The stunning lass, who had been facing the ire of Ranbir’s parents throughout their short-lived affair, is now facing the wrath from other members of the Kapoor family too. And the latest member to show his disapproval of Dips is none other than Rishi’s elder brother Randhir Kapoor.

Bin Laden’s ex-driver in the spotlight at Sundance

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Park City (Utah), January 27: Salim Hamdan, Osama bin Laden’s one-time driver who spent seven years locked up at Guantanamo, is in the spotlight once again, this time in a documentary at the Sundance Film Festival.

The second part of Laura Poitras’s trilogy on post-September 11, 2001 America, “The Oath” is competing for a prize at the independent cinema showcase nestled in the mountains of Utah through Sunday.

Her first piece in the series, “My Country, My Country” (2006) earned Poitras an Academy Award nomination.

Dubai court sentences mosque rapist to death

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Abu Dhabi, January 27: The Dubai Court of First Instance on Wednesday sentenced to death an Emirati man accused of raping and murdering a four-year-old boy in a mosque’s washroom on Eid Al Adha last year.

Chief Prosecutor Yousuf Foulaz had asked the three-member jury to hand down the toughest punishment applicable – the capital punishment, against the 30-year-old, R.R.R. The jury unanimously sentenced R.R.R. to capital punishment, plus six months in jail, Presiding Judge Fahmi Mounir said while pronouncing the verdict.

Click here to see a timeline of death sentences in the UAE

Mercury rises in JK, people gets respite from cold

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Srinagar, January 27: People in Jammu and Kashmir got some respite from intense cold conditions as mercury rose with Srinagar recording a minimum temperature of 2 degrees Celsius, four degrees above normal. Kupwara had a low of 1.5 deg C, while Kokernag and Pahalgam, both in south Kashmir, recorded a minimum of minus 1 deg C and minus 0.4 deg C respectively.

Law student ends life; college says unaware of ragging

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Pune, January 27: The college authorities here today denied allegations that one of its Law student allegedly committed suicide due to ragging. Second-year law student of the Fergusson college Prashant Chitalkar had committed suicide in the neighbouring Ahmednagar district by jumping into a well on January 25.

Australia keeps 5 to 25 pct CO2 cut range for accord

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Melbourne, January 27: Australia will stick to its 5 to 25 percent emissions cut range as part of a global commitment to fight climate change under the controversial “Copenhagen accord”, the government said on Wednesday.

But any decision to opt for a 15 or 25 percent target depended in part on strong steps by India and China to reduce the growth of their greenhouse gas emissions, a statement said.

PoK blast Ten injured as bomb squad tries to defuse device

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Muzaffarabad, January 27: According to Dawn News, a blast rocked PoK on Wednesday injuring ten as security forces tried to defuse the bomb.

“The bomb was planted in a casket of milk in front of a local school. The school might have been the target, we are investigating” said Chaudry Mohammad Raqeeb, a senior administrative official of the Rawalakot district of Muzaffarabad.

Though the bomb squad was called in, the device exploded while they were at work.

Injury once again raises Nadal doubts

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Melbourne, January 27: Rafael Nadal’s injury-enforced withdrawal from the Australian Open has once again raised doubts as to whether tennis has seen the best of him.

The mercurial Spaniard limped out of his engrossing quarter-final on Tuesday with rising British star Andy Murray early in the third set, trailing by two sets, with a recurrence of a knee injury that blighted his 2009 season.

Nadal put a brave face on the disappointment of relinquishing his Australian title through injury and the likely imminent loss of his number two world ranking to either Murray or Novak Djokovic.

JAC takes strong stand on Telangana issue

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Hyderabad, January 27: Pro Telangana Joint Action Committee (JAC) Convenor M Kodandaram today made it clear that all elected representatives from the region should press for acceptance of their resignations if the Centre did not come out with a clear-cut announcement on formation of Telangana state.

Addressing the members of the JAC on a relay fast for the 12th day today, Prof Kondandaram said there was no change in the stand taken by the JAC with major political parties that all should quit by January 28.

Do not to tinker with the Sheffield Shield competition: Ponting

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Adelaide, January 27: Skipprer Ricky Ponting has urged the Australian cricket authorities not to tinker with the Sheffield Shield competition which has helped to produce several great players over the years.

Australian selector Jamie Cox had suggested that the early season Sheffield Shield matches should be moved out of the traditional venues with northern venues such as Darwin, Cairns, and Townsville hosting these games.

The move, if implemented, would enable Cricket Australia (CA) to create a calendar window to expand the increasingly popular Big Bash T20 competition.

Toyota suspends U.S. sales of 8 models in recall

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New Delhi, January 27: Toyota Motor Corp will suspend U.S. sales of eight models subject to a massive safety recall, an unprecendented move that sent its shares tumbling and raised questions about the timing of its earnings recovery.

Toyota said it would also halt production of the models, including the best-selling Camry, at plants in the United States and Canada in the first week of February.

Shares in the world’s biggest automaker suffered their biggest slide in eight months, falling 4.3 percent in a Toyko market down 0.7 percent on Wednesday.

RBI set to raise banks’ reserve requirements

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New Delhi, January 27: Economists expect 50 bps increase in the cash reserve ratio (CRR) , or the proportion of deposits banks must keep with the Reserve Bank. That would take the level to 5.5 percent.

Eight of 25 expect a 25 bps increase in reverse repo and repo rates to 5.0 percent and 3.5 percent respectively. Others expect no change in rates at the policy review.

The reverse repo rate is the borrowing rate of the Reserve Bank and is the operational rate now. The repo is the lending rate.

FACTORS TO WATCH

Hooch kills 12 in Andhra

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Hyderabad, January 27: A dozen people died and seven others were admitted to hospital after consuming liquor on Sunday from an illegal liquor shop at Amlapuram in Andhra Pradesh’s East Godavari district.

The police arrested P. Ramakrishna, the owner of the shop. The victims’ families protested in front of the revenue office in Amlapuram demanding action against the accused and the excise officials.

—Agencies

Afridi willing to forgive IPL ‘humiliation’

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Lahore, January 27: Willing to forget the perceived snub to Pakistani players at the Indian Premier League (IPL) auction in Mumbai last week, all-rounder Shahid Afridi said he wants to treat the issue as closed.

Afridi said he was hurt the way the Pakistani players were treated at the auction but if he is invited to play in India he would do so happily.

”Over the last few days there has been intense media attention on the IPL auction in Pakistan and India. After my explanation, Inshallah, the matter will be closed,” Afridi said.

Michael Jackson’s children may perform at Grammys

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London, January 27: Honouring the pop legend, son of Late Michael Jackson’s children may perform at the Grammy Awards Sunday. Jacko, who won 13 Grammys, will get a posthumous lifetime achievement award at the ceremony.

Sources have said that Grammy producers are making a last-minute effort to incorporate Michael Jackson’s children, Prince Michael, Paris and Blanket, into Sunday night’s tribute to their late father, eonline.com reports.

The Grammys tribute will feature a 3-D mini movie set to Jackson’s “Earth Song” that was going to be featured in his “This is It” tour.

Cold wave abates in Kashmir, Ladakh

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Srinagar, January 27: With the minimum temperature showing an upward trend, cold wave conditions have abated in the Kashmir Valley and in Ladakh.

‘The minimum temperature in Srinagar was two degrees Celsius today (Wednesday) while the maximum was 13.4 degrees.

‘In Leh, the minimum was minus seven degrees while the maximum was 3.4 degrees,’ said an official of the local weather office here.

‘Isolated rain and snow is expected in the next 24 hours in the valley,’ the official said.

Thousands throng Andhra for Asia’s biggest tribal fair

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Hyderabad, January 27: Thousands of tribals from different parts of India arrived in Andhra Pradesh’s Warangal district for the historic “Sammakka Saralamma Jatara”, claimed to be Asia’s largest tribal religious fair.

Officials expect eight million people from different parts of Andhra Pradesh and other states for the four-day biennial festival, which is all set to begin late Wednesday in the tiny Medaram village in the forests of Tadvai Mandal, about 90 km from Warangal town.

Obama approved secret operations in Yemen

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San’A, January 27: According to media reports,the US President Barack Obama approved secret joint US military and intelligence operations with Yemeni troops that began six weeks ago and killed six regional al Qaeda leaders.

Obama approved a December. 24 strike against a compound where a US citizen, Anwar al-Aulaqi, was believed to be meeting with regional al Qaeda leaders, the media reported Wednesday.

SAIL registers net profit up 98.6 percent

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Mumbai: State-run Steel Authority of India (SAIL) Wednesday reported a 98.6 percent rise in net profits at Rs.1,675.55 crore for the quarter ended Dec 31, compared to Rs.843.34 crore in the year-ago period.

Total income of the steel major also grew at 12.3 percent to Rs.9,878.68 crore during the quarter under review, against Rs.8,792.72 crore in the third quarter of last fiscal, the company said in a regulatory filing.

However, the figures were not comparable as another state-owned firm Bharat Refractories Ltd. (BRL) was merged with SAIL.

Australian sentenced to death in Afghanistan

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Sydney, January 27: An Australian security contractor has been sentenced to death in Afghanistan for fatally shooting an Afghan colleague and trying to blame the slaying on the Taliban, Australian and Afghan officials said Wednesday.

Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said his government would try to prevent the former Australian soldier from being executed — an act that could raise tensions between Afghanistan and its largest non-NATO contributor of international security forces.

B’desh SC rejects review petition of Mujibur’s killers, death sentence upheld

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Dhaka, January 27: Bangladesh’s Supreme Court Wednesday rejected the review petitions of five convicted killers of the country’s founder Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and his family members in 1975, setting the stage for their execution.

A four member bench of the apex Appellate Division of the Supreme Court headed by Chief Justice Md Tafazzul Islam pronounced the verdict after three days of hearing of the five of the 12 convicted ex-military officials who are now in jail to face the death penalty.

Maoists raid NMDC mining complex, set ablaze 19 trucks

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Raipur, January 27: Over 100 Maoist guerrillas stormed into a mining complex of the state-run NMDC Ltd in Chhattisgarh’s restive Dantewada district early Wednesday and set 19 trucks on fire.

The armed Maoists raided the mining complex of India’s largest iron ore miner at Kirandul, about 400 km south of here, at around 2 a.m.

Nine-year-old Russian girl raped in Goa

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Panaji, January 27: A nine-year-old Russian girl was raped by an unidentified man at Arambol beach in North Goa, police said today. According to the complaint filed by the victim”s mother at Pernem police station, her daughter was raped while she was playing in the beach waters yesterday, Deputy Superintendent Sammy Tavares said.