Month: March 2010

Partymen bash up Sena corporator in Worli office

by

Mumbai, March 25: The growing unrest within the Shiv Sena took an ugly turn when some sainiks beat up a senior partyman on Tuesday night.
Worli corporator (Ward no 192) Parshuram Desai was thrashed with wooden sticks after an argument with the party workers over the appointment of a shakha pramukh. A seriously injured Desai is being treated in the intensive care unit of Nair Hospital.

Sources said the brawl took place after Datta Narvankar, a former shakha pramukh, provoked his workers to beat up Desai.

US, Israel try to repair ties

by

Washington, March 25: The United States and Israel engaged in overtime talks Wednesday trying to win agreement on gestures Israel can take to restore confidence among Palestinians and the Obama administration and salvaging a diplomatic visit marred by the worst U.S.-Israeli breach in years.

U.S. officials told The Associated Press that the closed-door talks were aimed at getting Israeli-Palestinian peace talks back on track.

Syria committed to seeking peace with Israel: Assad

by

Damascus, March 25: Syria is committed to seeking peace with Israel but has no faith in the present Israeli government, President Bashar al-Assad said on Wednesday, after a war of words between the two sides.

“War is the worst solution. We must continue to seek peace. Does this mean that we have hope in the current Israeli government? No,” Assad told the Lebanese television station al-Manar, which is owned by the Shi’ite movement Hezbollah.

Egypt’s Brotherhood seeks parliament seats, low hopes

by

Cairo, March 25: The Muslim Brotherhood said on Wednesday it would run for 20 percent of seats available in a June election for Egypt’s upper house of parliament, but said they have low expectations of winning any.

Half of the upper house or Shura council’s 176 electable seats will be contested. The banned Brotherhood ran in the 2008 Shura vote and won no seats. President Hosni Mubarak’s ruling party secured almost every seat with one seat going to the leftist opposition Tagammu party.

Mitchell meets Netanyahu as US-Israeli row lingers

by

Washington, March 25: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu huddled in his Washington hotel with US envoy George Mitchell Wednesday, but there was no sign of progress in a row threatening Middle East peace talks.

The talks took place after two meetings between President Barack Obama and the Israeli leader at the White House late Tuesday, which officials said failed to ease disagreements over Jewish settlements and other issues.

Frenchman hacks Obama’s Twitter account

by

Washington, March 25: A French man has been arrested for hacking into the Twitter account of U.S. President Barack Obama, French police said on Wednesday.

The 25-year-old man, who lives in central France, also stole information online about other celebrities, including Britney Spears, stealing passwords for email accounts and publishing personal information on the Web.

“This individual spread information about a dozen American personalities, notably Barack Obama, on specialist blogs,” Adeline Champagnat, head of the French office against online fraud, told by telephone.

Cop Accused of Soliciting Bribe

by

Dubai, March 25: A police officer stood in the dock on Wednesday facing the charge of soliciting a bribe of Dh6,000 from a prisoner to get him drugs into his cell.

The 25-year-old Emirati police officer was on duty at the General Department of Penitentiary and Reformatory Institutions when he allegedly asked for the bribe. He denied the charge when he appeared in the Court of First instance. He also denied resisting a police officer who was trying to arrest him.

50pc Drop in Arrival of Bangladeshi Workers

by

Abu Dhabi, March 25: The arrival of Bangladeshi workers in the UAE has dropped from significantly, according to a top official of the Bangladesh Embassy in Abu Dhabi.

Approximately, every month in 2008, 40,000 people had been arriving for job purposes but as a result of the global financial crisis, this number has significantly fallen down to 20,000 per month, Bangladesh ambassador to the UAE, Mohammed Nazmul Quaunine told Khaleej Times.

But still in downturn, the arrival is better than other Asian expatriate communities which live in the UAE, Quaunine said.

Petrol price may rise in big cities with Euro-IV launch

by

Mumbai, March 25: Petrol price in cities like Delhi and Mumbai may go up by Rs 0.41 per litre and diesel by Rs 0.26 a litre from April one when cleaner Euro-IV grade auto fuel will replace the existing grade in 13 big cities, Oil Secretary S Sundareshan said on Wednesday.

Oil Ministry is pushing for increasing auto fuel price so that the cost of supplying cleaner fuel does not add to the current Rs 6 per litre loss on selling petrol and Rs 4.06 per litre loss on diesel.

Need to Introduce Disaster Education in Schools

by

Dubai, March 25: Abdullah Al Ali is a seventh grader in a public school in Dubai.

He has seen a lot of TV news about the recent earthquake in Chile and many other natural disasters, fires, stampedes and accidents across the globe.

Ask him what he will do if any such untoward disaster strikes here, the young boy candidly says he simply does not know what to do then.

“All I can do is to pray that nothing like that ever happens here. I would only be crying for help,” says Al Ali who represents hundreds of thousands of school children in the UAE.

UAE Joins World Body to Fight Child Abuse over Net

by

Abu Dhabi, March 25: The UAE announced on Wednesday officially joined the International Organisation for the Protection of Children Against Abuse over the Internet to become the first Arab country member.

Major General Nasser Al Nuaimi, Secretary General of the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior, was named member of the board of trustees of the international child protection body.

The Ministry of Interior affirmed its commitment to ensure safety of children in the UAE, and the world at large.

Modi to appear before SIT on 27th March

by

Ahmedabad, March 25: Ending suspense over his appearance before the Supreme Court-appointed SIT probing the 2002 Gujarat riots, Chief Minister Narendra Modi has agreed to present himself before the panel on 27th March.

“March 27 is the mutually agreed date on which Modi will appear before Special Investigation Team,” his advocate Mahesh Jethmalani said.

However, Modi told SIT Chief R K Raghavan in a letter that since the hearing on the case is scheduled before the Supreme Court on 5th April, it will be good if the apex court hears the matter first.

Extra Marital Affair Turns into Murder

by

Sharjah, March 25: A 27-year old Indian, was sentenced to death by the Sharjah Shariah Court of First Instance for the murder of the husband of his paramour.

The court also sentenced Sanaa, the 26-year old Indian wife of the Pakistani victim to life imprisonment and ordered her to pay Dh100,000 as blood money.

The court ruled that the wife and her boyfriend killed and hacked the victim with a saw after beating him to death in a remote area.

The verdict was read out at a session headed by judge Yaqoub Al Hamadi in the presence of public prosecutor Ganem Al Mansouri.

Asianet to Launch Middle East Channel

by

Dubai, March 25: Asianet, a leading Indian television channel with footprints across the globe, on Wednesday said its dedicated Middle East Channel will go on air today.

The new channel’s programming is tailored to suit the lifestyle of Kerala expatriates in the region.
Currently, viewers of Asianet in the region are offered the same
programme schedules as that of the flagship channel in Kerala.

Sushmita bowled over by Wasim Akram?

by

Mumbai, March 25: Spotted together a little too often, Sushmita Sen and Wasim Akram may be the latest actress-cricketer jodi in B-Town

The friendship between Sushmita Sen and Wasim Akram that began on the sets of a dance-based reality show Ek Khiladi Ek Hasina in 2008 has now moved to the next level. The duo has been spotted together several times in recent times enough to give rise to speculation.

They were seen bonding at Shah Rukh Khan’s house party recently. Followed by a dinner at a Bandra restobar, and then at the birthday party of a model-friend of the actress.

TB Cases in UAE Amongst Lowest in the World

by

Fujairah, March 25: The UAE is considered one of the low rated countries that are affected with Tuberculosis (TB) and, the health ministry continues to implement its national programme for fighting the killer disease.

Shaikh Mohammed bin Hamad bin Mohammed Al Sharqi, Fujairah Crown Prince, along with Dr Hanif Hassan, UAE Minister of Health, attended the celebrations here on the occasion of World Tuberculosis Day.

China Internet crisis: Two more US internet companies pull out operations

by

Beijing, March 25: After Google, two more American internet companies announced their decision to pull out of China because of internet freedom restrictions and censorships imposed by the Chinese authorities on them.

Appearing before a Congressional committee, Christine Jones, executive vice president of Go Daddy, which runs the world’s largest domain name service, said the company will no longer register new Web Sites in China.

Ahana Deol to launch her own designer label store

by

Mumbai, March 25: There was a sense of anticipation at Hema Malini’s recent spiritual dance ballet Yashoda-Krishna. It was known that the actress-producer-danseuse was playing Yashoda but the name of the dancer performing the adult Krishna character, was not declared.

Eventually, as the finale segment concluded, it was revealed that it was the actress’ younger daughter Ahana Deol (clad in an ornate costume and turban) who played the male character of Lord Krishna. The bashful Deol girl who is a also a budding fashion designer won thundering applause.

Audience connect

CBSE Exam: ‘Tough’ Math Paper Raises Hackles

by

Dubai, March 25: Educators believe increasing the difficulty level of the Central Board of Secondary Education Grade XII Mathematics examination will bring down the overall scores and deter future students from opting for the subject.

On March 22, Mathematics students had to face an examination that teachers say was “the most difficult in 7 years” with many students fearing placement loss at Indian universities due to a low percentage.

Bharti shares jump on reports Zain deal near

by

New Delhi, March 25: Shares in Indian mobile giant Bharti Airtel jumped nearly two percent Thursday on news it was close to clinching a 10.7-billion-dollar deal to buy the African assets of Kuwait’s Zain Telecom.

At a board meeting Wednesday, Zain cleared the sale of most of its African businesses to the Indian company led by billionaire Sunil Bharti Mittal, according to a source with knowledge of the proposed transaction.

“Developments are positive,” the source told AFP.

U.S. plays down hopes for Afghan reconciliation

by

Washington, March 25: U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said on Wednesday the timing was still not right for reconciliation with senior Afghan Taliban leaders, acknowledging military pressure had yet to weaken the group enough.

“The shift of momentum is not yet strong enough to convince the Taliban leaders that they are in fact going to lose,” Gates told lawmakers during a congressional hearing.

“And it’s when they begin to have doubts whether they can be successful that they may be willing to make a deal. I don’t think we’re there yet,” he added.

Row over presence at sea link event ‘manufactured’: Big B

by

Mumbai, March 25: Megastar Amitabh Bachchan today said the controversy over his presence at a function in Mumbai for the inauguration of the second phase of the Bandra-Worli sea link has been “manufactured”.

“A fresh controversy has been rapidly manufactured on my involvement… The media has been hounding me since the event at the sea link has got over, through incessant SMSes and the electronic (media) has followed me even to the theatre where we were seeing Arshad’s film,” Bachchan wrote in a midnight post on his blog.

‘I am endorsing Gujarat’s glory, not present govt’

by

Mumbai, March 25: Under attack for his role as brand ambassador of Gujarat, megastar Amitabh Bachchan has hit out at his critics, saying no politics is involved in his promoting tourism in the BJP-ruled state.

Bachchan said as the brand ambassador, he would talk about the Somnath Temple, the white sands of the Rann of Kutch, old civilisations of Harrappa, the Gir lions and try to entice as many visitors as he could to that glorious land.

Goldman sued for putting women on “mommy-track”

by

New York, March 25: Goldman Sachs Group Inc was sued for alleged bias by a former vice president, who said the Wall Street bank consigned her to a “mommy-track” that led to her firing while she was on maternity leave.

The lawsuit was filed Wednesday in Manhattan federal court by Charlotte Hanna, who said she worked at Goldman Sachs University, an orientation program for new analysts, associates and summer interns.

US plays down hopes for Afghan reconciliation

by

Washington, March 25: U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said on Wednesday the timing was still not right for reconciliation with senior Afghan Taliban leaders, acknowledging military pressure had yet to weaken the group enough.

“The shift of momentum is not yet strong enough to convince the Taliban leaders that they are in fact going to lose,” Gates told lawmakers during a congressional hearing.

“And it’s when they begin to have doubts whether they can be successful that they may be willing to make a deal. I don’t think we’re there yet,” he added.