Month: February 2010

US terror suspects in Pakistan allege FBI torture

by

Sargodha, February 03: Five American terrorism suspects alleged Tuesday that they were subjected to electric shocks and other torture by the FBI and Pakistani police, the latest wrinkle in a case that has added to sensitivities in US-Pakistani relations.

The men tossed a tissue with some of the allegations scribbled on it to reporters as they headed to their latest hearing in court, where a judge delayed formally charging the suspects for at least two more weeks.

Pakistan eunuchs face life full of struggles

by

Rawalpindi, February 03: Mohammed Zafar Iqbal used to cash in on his beautiful face and graceful moves, dancing bedecked in midnight blue veils and dresses for clients who sought his perceived closeness to God.

But like most of Pakistan’s eunuch and transsexual community — mocked, pitied and shunned by society — his life has mostly been marred by hardship and suffering, peaking seven years ago when he was brutally attacked.

A jealous admirer, furious at being spurned by a hijra, as eunuchs are know in Pakistan, threw acid in his face. That man, Shabir, was once his best friend.

Karzai seeks Saudi mediation

by

Jeddah, February 03: Afghan President Hamid Karzai, who is seeking an important Saudi role in reconciling with the Taleban, arrived in the Kingdom on Tuesday for talks with Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah. He was received on arrival by Jeddah Gov. Prince Mishaal bin Majed.

“We have the support of our brothers in Saudi Arabia. We hope King Abdullah will personally assume a prominent role in leading and supporting the peace process (in Afghanistan),” Karzai told Der Spiegel magazine before arriving in Jeddah.

Sovereignty wasn’t on ULFA’s agenda initially: Founder member

by

Demow (Assam), February 03: The outlawed United Liberation Front of Asom’s (ULFA) demand for sovereignty or independence – now the major stumbling block for opening peace talks with the government – was not on its agenda when the outfit was formed 30 years ago in Assam.

“When we formed the ULFA, sovereignty was not in our scheme of things, nor did we ever contemplate on this demand,” said Bhupen Borgohain, one of the founder-members of the ULFA.

Peter Siddle faces long lay-off

by

Melbourne, February 03: Australia have suffered a blow with their fast bowler Peter Siddle ruled out of the upcoming home series against West Indies and the tour of New Zealand with a stress fracture of the back.

Siddle, a key member of the side during the last year, was a significant omission from the squad named for the first two matches of the one-day series against West Indies starting February 7. Shane Watson and Doug Bollinger, who were rested for the last two one-dayers against Pakistan recently, were reinstated to the 13-man squad.

Chinese scientists solving mystery of acupuncture through light beams

by

Beijing, February 03: Scientists in China claimed to have found a breakthrough in acupuncture therapy which would help detect cancer and brain tumours in patients at an early stage through a super powerful X-ray beam.

The researchers working on synchrotron have detected evidence that acupuncture points differ from other parts of the body.

West Indies sweat on Dwayne Bravo

by

Jamaica, February 03: An already depleted West Indies are waiting to learn whether their star allrounder Dwayne Bravo will participate in the upcoming limited-overs series against Australia. Bravo, who has been in the country representing Victoria in the Twenty20 Big Bash, broke his right thumb while batting against Tasmania on January 15 and the injury could turn out to be more serious than anticipated.

Hilditch backs Clarke as Twenty20 captain

by

Melbourne, Febrauary 03: Australia’s chairman of selectors Andrew Hilditch has defended Michael Clarke’s position in the Twenty20 team and said he brings plenty to the side despite a disappointing record in internationals. Clarke will captain Australia at the ICC World Twenty20 in May and until then has five games to lift his output.

Basic nations drift away from Copenhagen

by

New Delhi, February 03: Less than two months after agreeing to the Copenhagen accord, India, China, Brazil and South Africa, or Basic countries, have moved away from the accord in their communication on domestic mitigation action submitted to the UN.

Till end of January, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) received national pledges to cut and limit greenhouse gases by 2020 from 55 countries, which account for 78 per cent of total global emissions from energy use.

Mixed reactions after pink-ball trials

by

Melbourne, February 03: Cricket Australia’s plans for day-night Test cricket have hit a snag after the first day of their pink-ball trials resulted in mixed reviews from players.

Pink balls were used under lights in a Futures League match at Adelaide Oval on Tuesday and in a day game in Brisbane and while the visibility of the ball at night was adequate, the condition of the ball was a concern.

Restricting food during labour not beneficial for women

by

Sydney, February 03: The traditional practice of restricting food and fluids during labour does not seem to benefit women.

“Based on our review, there is no convincing and current evidence to support restriction of fluids, and perhaps food, for women during labour,” says Joan Tranmer, associate professor at the Queen’s School of Nursing.

The restriction is thought to prevent Mendelson’s syndrome (named after Carl Mendelson), a rare, but sometimes fatal, condition caused by regurgitation of acidic stomach contents into the lungs when a general anaesthetic is given.

All teams tamper the ball: Imran

by

Karachi, February 03: Shahid Afridi is not the only one who thinks that all teams tamper with the ball. Pakistan’s World Cup winning former captain Imran Khan and another ex-skipper Rameez Raja feel the same.

Afridi, who has been banned for two Twenty20 matches for tampering with the ball in a one-dayer against Australia in Perth, has claimed that all teams try such tactics to exploit the conditions to their advantage.

Backing Afridi’s claim, Imran said only the sub-continental teams are punished for the offence.

Brother, sister killed in accident

by

New Delhi, February 03: A brother and sister duo on way to school were killed this morning when their motorcycle collided with a DTC bus.

The incident took place at Deep Market in Ashok Vihar Phase-3. Karanpal Nagpal, 17, and his sister Ishu, 13, were on way to Jai Mata Kaur Public School on a motorcycle when the mishap took place, police said.

Their motorcycle was hit by a DTC bus which was returning after dropping students at Kishan Public School. The motorcycle slipped and the brother-sister duo fell on the road and were run over by the bus.

Another terror attempt in US is ‘certain’: Intelligence chiefs

by

Washington, February 03: Another attempted terrorist attack on the United States in coming months is “certain” with Al Qaeda remaining the top security threat to the country, according to the heads of major US intelligence agencies.

At the same time a growing cyber-security threat also must be addressed by the US intelligence community, the heads of the CIA, the FBI and other agencies told the Senate Intelligence Committee Tuesday.

Finding good scripts a challenge: Madhavan

by

Mumbai February 03: From “3 Idiots” to “Teen Patti”, R. Madhavan is surely doing a different kind of cinema but he doesn’t want to experiment with the genres. The multilingual actor says he just wants to work on good scripts but rues that these are hard to come by.

“I don’t want to experiment with genres, I just want to work on great scripts. I wish I had the luxury of saying that I have six scripts that are fantastic and let me see which one I want to do,” Madhavan told IANS in an interview.

Leander Paes enters Bollywood

by

Mumbai, February 03: AR Rahman’s chance to win back-to-back Oscars ended today at Los Angeles.

The Mozart of Madras has failed to win a nomination in the ‘Best Original Song’ category thus dashing India’s hope at this year’s Academy Awards. Rahman was listed in the category of Best Original Score for ‘Na na’ from the Peter Billingsle directed Couples Retreat.

Apologise or go to Pak, says Sena; SRK unfazed

by

Mumbai, February 03: The Shiv Sena on Tuesday threatened it would not allow screening of Shah Rukh Khan’s movies till he apologised for his remarks regretting the absence of Pakistani cricketers in the forthcoming Indian Premier League tournament in March.

Though Khan has a major film, the Karan Johar directed My Name in Khan slated for release on February 12, he remained unfazed. In New York, he said he did not regret any of his comments, be it about Pakistani cricketers or about Mumbai belonging to all Indians and not Maharashtrians alone.

Bal Thackeray wants to see Amitah Bachchan’s Rann

by

Mumbai, February 03: The Shiv Sena has sent a strong wave to Shahrukh Khan for backing the Pakistani cricketers at the Indian Premiere League (IPL) and has threatened to ban his films in Mumbai if he doesn’t offer an apology but the party has reacted softly on Amitabh Bachchan, who supported Shahrukh on his stand.

In fact, the Shiv Sena has taken a step closer to Amitabh. Surprisingly, the Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray has asked Amitabh to arrange for a screening of his latest film Rann by Ram Gopal Varma, which takes a dig at the media world.

Love for the uniform motivates small town women

by

Panchkula (Haryana), February 03: They may be from small towns but that hasn’t stopped them from dreaming big. They have made it to the first women’s contingent of the paramilitary Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) to be deployed soon at the international border and other sensitive locations.

Patriotism and love for the uniform motivated these women to join the ITBP.

Vidya Balan uses her sexuality as a tool

by

Mumbai, February 03: Before you get the wrong idea let us clear upfront that we are talking of Vidya Balan’s role in the film Ishqiya! The sizzling star, who plays a village belle in Abhishek Chaubey’s debut directorial venture Ishqiya, plays the role of a femme fatal that has been carved out painstakingly by the director only for her!

Discussing Vidya’s role at length, the director narrates, “Ishqiya started as a story of a woman, who has the power with her husband at night though all through the day she may slog. It took me a year to write the subject.

Om Puri decides to go for divorce

by

Mumbai, February 03: Bollywood actor Om Puri is said to have decided to part ways with his wife Nandita Puri. It is said that he has decided to file for divorce in order to be with his ex-wife Seenma Kapoor.

A website has quoted Om Puri declaring that he and his wife Nandita are separated. He also claimed that the press release stating that the couple is not parting ways was issued without his consent. Now, he has approached a lawyer for divorce.

Eesha Koppikar wants to remove raunchy scene

by

Mumbai, February 03: Actress Eesha Koppikar Narang is suddenly very conscious of her onscreen image after she got married to Timmy Narang. She has requested the producers of Right Yaaa Wrong to snip off a sensuous scene she shot with Aarav Chowdhury.

According to sources, while Eesha was rather carefree about the kind of roles she did, like the lesbian character in Girlfriend opposite Amrita Arora. The raunchy scene in this film was shot about two years ago when she wasn’t anywhere close to getting married.

Obama not willing to settle for second place

by

Washington, February 03: India and China marching ahead of America is not acceptable to US President Barack Obama who is “not willing to settle for second place”.

“I don’t want to cede our future to China and India and European countries. I am not willing to settle for second place — not for the United States of America,” Obama told a cheering crowd at a Town Hall meeting in Nashua, New Hampshire.

PM, Sonia call for fixing ‘problems’

by

New Delhi, February 03: The National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) completed four years of its implementation on Tuesday with calls from both Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi to fix the “problems” in the UPA government’s flagship rural job scheme.

Singh said NREGA was a path breaking phenomena with its pro-poor vision and promise of the right to work, inclusive growth and social security, which helped the rural poor to tide over the hardships and acted as an important social safety net even during the recent economic slowdown.

UN shuts Palestinian refugee camp on Iraq border

by

London, February 03: The United Nations refugee agency closes a makeshift camp on the Iraqi-Syrian border, relocating the last of the Palestinians that had been stranded there for nearly four years.

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), in cooperation with Syria, transferred the last 60 residents of the Al-Tanf camp Monday morning, and said that they will be housed temporarily at another refugee camp, Al-Hol, inside Syria.