Beijing, January 30: A nine-year old girl has given birth to a healthy child in northeast China, making it possibly the first case of childbirth at such a young age.
The mother and the 2.75kg baby are doing well after the caesarean operation at a hospital in Changchun in Jilin province.
The Changchun-based City Evening News reported the girl’s parents have sought legal help. Under Chinese law, anyone having sex with a girl under the age of 14 is convicted of rape.
Hyderabad, January 30: Concerned over a spurt in cyber crimes in the city, the hub for IT and IT Enabled Services (ITES), the State police has made an urgent request to the State government and got the green signal for setting up a cyber crime police station (ccps) in the Cyberabad Police Commissionerate.
Melbourne, January 30: Serena Williams won her 12th grand slam singles title with a 6-4, 3-6, 6-2 victory over Belgium’s Justine Henin in the final of the Australian Open on Saturday.
The world number one took the first set and while she lost momentum in the second, fought back and eventually overpowered the unseeded Henin, who was playing just her second tournament back following an 18-month retirement.
Williams has now won five Australian Open titles.
-Agencies
Patna, January 30: Rumblings within the ruling JD(U) in Bihar on Saturday surfaced openly with state party chief Rajiv Ranjan Singh Lalan accusing Chief Minister Nitish Kumar of behaving like a “dictator” and offering to resign from his post.
“Nitish Kumar is behaving like a dictator… he is ignoring and overlooking genuine party workers and treating the party as his pocket organisation,” Singh said.
Washington, January 30: The Obama Administration will ask the US Congress for a hike in budgetary allocation for securing and maintaining the country’s nuclear stockpile.
US President Barack Obama, when submits his budgetary proposal to the Congress, will ask for $7 billion for maintaining nuclear-weapons stockpile and related efforts. This is $600 million more than Congress approved last year.
Hyderabad, January 30: Concerned over irregularities in the implementation of the prestigious INDIRAMMA programme, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister K Rosaiah today said stern action would be taken against the officials and non-officials responsible for misuse of the housing programme for weaker sections.
Melbourne, January 29: Roger Federer provided a masterful demonstration of his incredible talent and insatiable desire to win by overwhelming Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 6-2, 6-3, 6-2 on Friday and join Andy Murray in the final of the Australian Open.
The world number one was at his brilliant best as he outclassed his French opponent to wrap up a lop-sided victory in under 90 minutes at Melbourne Park.
“I’m very happy. You’ve always got to deal with how your opponent plays. Sometimes he plays like you want, sometimes not,” a relaxed Federer said.
Mumbai, January 30: Genelia D’ Souza has been a victim of technology, apparently we hear that her cell-phone got locked recently and that left the cheery actress cut-off from the world and panic-stricken.
Narrating the incident the horror of which could only be fathomed by cell phone users, the pretty lady tells us that she was besieged by major crises but now things are falling in place.
Elluru (AP), January 30: At least 10 pilgrims were drowned and 30 others went missing after an overcrowded boat capsized in Godavari river in West Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh on Saturday.
The country-made boat ferrying over 70 persons overturned at around 07:00 hours in the river near Biyyaputeppa village, 70 kms from Vijaywada, West Godavari District Collector A Vani Prasad said.
Mumbai, January 30: After a long time Salman Khan will be heard giving commentary in any film. The film titled “Prem Kaa Game’ with the ensemble star cast of Arbaaz Khan, Tara Sharma, Madhuri Bhattacharya, Malaika Arora and Johnny Lever, will see Salman narrating the plot.
Ranchi, January 30: Refusing to lay down arms, banned CPI (Maoist) today said that it was open to talks with Jharkhand government provided the ban over it was lifted along with the release of its cadres.
The outfit’s self-styled spokesman Gopalji said in a release, “Stop fake encounters, book policemen responsible for such encounters and compensate victims. Withdraw para-military forces from villages.”
The release demanded release of Maoist Politburo members Shushil Ray, Sheela and Amitabh Bagchi and others.
Mumbai, January 30: In B-Town where every heroine is striving hard to get the coveted size zero figure, Vidya Balan is one such actress who has no such aspirations. We hear Vidya, who is known for her versatile acting had absolutely no apprehensions to pile on kilos of weight for her role of a village belle in Vishal Bhardwaj’s “Ishqiya’.
New Delhi, January 30: Prices of edible oils fell up to Rs 415 per quintal at the wholesale oils and oilseeds market during the week on sustained selling by stockists amid higher output concerns.
A few oils in the non-edible oils, also drifted on reduced industrial offtake.
Sentiments remained bearish in line with a weakening trend in global markets as Malaysian palm oil declined on rising stocks.
Bangalore, January 30: Two Bangladeshi nationals were today arrested here with three fake currency notes with a face value of Rs 500 each, besides Rs 52,000, police said.
Those arrested have been identified as Maifuddin (49) and Billus (32), they said.
–Agencies
Patna, January 30: Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad Saturday announced he would take his party’s agitation to protest the rising prices of essential commodities to the national level.
“The RJD, along with like-minded parties, particularly the Left, will launch a national-level agitation to protest rising prices of essential items,” Lalu Prasad said at a press conference here.
He said he was in touch with several leaders of different political parties in this regard.
Islamabad, January 30: Pakistan government today presented evidence before an anti-terrorism court against LeT operations chief Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi and six other suspects for their involvement in the Mumbai attacks.
The government’s team of prosecutors presented evidence against the accused in the court of Judge Malik Muhammad Akram Awan in Rawalpindi, sources told PTI.
The details and nature of the evidence could not immediately be ascertained.
New Delhi, January 30: Apparently trying to warm up to either the Congress or the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), rebel Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh Saturday praised Mayawati and Sonia Gandhi, saying the two had proved their political mettle against all odds.
“Both (Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and BSP boss Mayawati) are political personalities in their own right. One lady has proved herself in Uttar Pradesh against all odds, and one lady has proved herself in India against all adversity,” Amar Singh told CNN-IBN news channel in an interview.
New Delhi, January 30: Pakistan Cricket Board chief Ijaz Butt has squarely blamed the Indian Premier League (IPL) and its commissioner Lalit Modi for ignoring Pakistani players for the third season of India’s Twenty20 league, but said it will not have any long term effect on sporting ties between the two countries.
Sanaa, January 30: The Saudi air force has reportedly launched seventeen air raids on Houthi fighters in Yemen despite the Houthi leader’s call for a ceasefire.
“Saudi jets launched 17 air raids on various parts of Yemen on Friday night,” the Houthi fighters said in a statement.
“Saudi jets raided Jebel Razih 7 times, Safia 4 times, Tayban 3 times, Qafarah 2 times and al-Malaheet once,” it added.
New Delhi, January 30: Chief Justice of India K.G. Balakrishnan Saturday said he was not in favour of “disintegration” of the Supreme Court by setting up four regional benches of the apex court as advised by the Law Commission.
“I am not in favour of the disintegration of the Supreme Court. Personally, I feel the Supreme Court cannot be in any other part of India. This is the highest court of the land and it is in the capital city of the land,” the chief justice said during the R.K. Jain Memorial Lecture here.
Bajaur, January 30: At least nine people, including two soldiers, have been killed in a bombing attack in northwest Pakistan, officials say.
Officials said a bomber exploded his car near a military checkpoint in the northwestern region of Bajaur on Saturday.
Some 12 people also were wounded in the blast near the Afghan border region, officials said.
——-Agencies
New Delhi, January 30: Indian travellers are looking for low cost air travel options and cheap hotel rooms as the domestic tourism industry starts to pick up in the wake of the ongoing economic recovery.
This trend will pick up pace in the coming years, speakers at a seminar “The Challenge of Change” in tourism at the ongoing SATTE-ITB 2010 travel fair said here Friday.
The tourism, aviation and travel segments – the three components that make up the industry – are learning to listen to customers, said Aditya Ghosh, president, Indigo Airlines.
Gaza, January 30: In an unprecedented move, more than fifty members of the US Congress sign a letter, asking President Barack Obama to put pressure on Israel to end the crippling siege of the Gaza Strip.
The letter, which was the initiative of Democrat Representatives Jim McDermott from Washington and Keith Ellison from Minnesota, calls on Obama to address international concerns over the post-war humanitarian situation in Gaza, which has been further worsened by a long-imposed Israeli blockade.
London, January 30: The first ever criminal case has been filed against a former middleman of the British weapons company, BAE Systems.
Count Alfons Mensdorff-Pouilly, one of BAE’s former confidential agents, was charged with bribery over arms deals by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO). The charges were formally brought by the SFO director, Richard Alderman.
Mensdorff-Pouilly, 56, of Austria, was accused of conspiring to make bribe payments to promote the sale of fighter jets to the Czech Republic, Hungary and Austria. He has not yet entered a plea.
Tehran, January 30: An Iranian official announces the country’s construction of a 51-km railway linking its southwestern city of Khorramshahr and the southern Iraqi city of Basra.
Iranian Railways’ Director General for International Affairs, Abbas Nazari, told Mehr news agency on Saturday that nearly 90 percent of the first phase of the project inside Iran (about 16 km) has been completed.
He noted that the Iranian officials are in talks with the Iraqis for constructing the remainder of the railway inside Iraq.