Month: March 2010

Singapore, March 25: The New York Times Company will pay damages totalling 160,000 Singapore dollars (114,000 US) to Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and two other senior ministers over an article about political dynasties, the leaders’ lawyer said Thursday.

The newspaper’s international edition had printed an apology on Wednesday over the article which it said may have implied that Lee, the son of Singapore’s founding father Lee Kuan Yew, did not get the job on merit.

The elder Lee is a senior adviser in his son’s cabinet with the title of “minister mentor.”

Washington, March 25: The U.S. and Russia reached a breakthrough agreement Wednesday for a historic treaty to reduce the nuclear arsenals of the former Cold War rivals, the most significant pact in a generation and an important milestone in the decades-long quest to lower the risk of global nuclear war.

Oslo, March 25: Sixteen runaway train cars careened downhill for three miles (five kilometers) and crashed into a port building, killing three workers, before two of the cars plunged into the water.

The empty train cars broke loose Wednesday from a cargo train and slammed into the port terminal on the edge of the Oslo fjord, destroying the building, police and railroad officials said.

March 25: Unrest over sweeping federal health care legislation has turned to vandalism and threats, with bricks hurled through Democrats’ windows, a propane line cut at the home of a congressman’s brother and menacing phone messages left for lawmakers who supported the bill.

The FBI is investigating the instances, which include shattered windows at four Democratic offices in New York, Arizona and Kansas. At least 10 members of Congress have reported some sort of threat as of Wednesday, and no arrests have been made.

Bogota, March 25: A car bomb ripped open cars and storefronts in the administrative center of Colombia’s Pacific port of Buenaventura on Wednesday, killing six people and wounding more than 30, authorities said.

The blast occured about 9:30 a.m. near offices of the mayor and prosecutors, with six employees of the latter institution among the injured, said Jose de la Pava, the chief provincial prosecutor.

Buenaventura is a key cocaine trafficking hub as the country’s only major Pacific port and is rife with rival criminal bands.

New Delhi, March 25: Universities around the world are poised to establish outpost colleges in India as the government pushes ahead with plans to open up the country’s education system.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s cabinet has given the green light to the proposals, which will now be debated by parliament next month.

Nearly one in three of India’s 1.15 billion people is under 14, and Singh has said improving educational standards is crucial if recent rapid economic development is to continue.

Washington, March 25: In an apparent reference to India’s stance that it can’t resume composite dialogue with Pakistan, until Islamabad takes concrete action against all those who are responsible for terror attacks in the country, Pakistan’s foreign secretary Shah Mahmood Qureshi today said he is confident that India will have to revisit its Pakistan-policy soon.

Mumbai under attack”I am of the view that Pakistan has been willing to engage, and I am confident as — you know, two years down the line, I am confident of this relationship”.

Washington, March 25: The U.S. and Russia reached a breakthrough agreement Wednesday for a historic treaty to reduce the nuclear arsenals of the former Cold War rivals, the most significant pact in a generation and an important milestone in the decades-long quest to lower the risk of global nuclear war.

London, March 25: Pakistan’s “friends” like the US and the UK should persuade it to close terrorist training camps operating there, Union home minister P Chidambaram has said.

In an interview to BBC, he also said that the civilian government in Pakistan has not moved towards reining in the ISI and likened terror group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) to al-Qaeda.

Chidambaram, on an official visit here, said things would be better “if there is a truly civilian government in Pakistan
which can rein in the ISI and direct the army and the ISI to move in and dismantle their terror infrastructure”.

Washington, March 25: The United States and Pakistan pledged on Wednesday to build a new spirit of trust after years of mutual recriminations, with Islamabad’s top diplomat saying that US suspicions have now evaporated.

But officials from the former Cold War partners, holding a first-of-a-kind “strategic dialogue” in Washington, acknowledged a bumpy road lay ahead with the United States cool to Pakistan’s more ambitious appeals for cooperation.

Bogota, March 25: A car bomb exploded in the Colombian port city of Buenaventura Wednesday killing at least six people and wounding 50, according to media reports.

Officials in Valle del Cauca province, however, confirmed three deaths and said 18 were wounded.

According to media reports, three others died while being treated for their wounds. Most of the injured suffered burns, broken bones or were hit by shrapnel.

London, March 25: A 29-year-old airport security worker plans to take legal action after a colleague passed a lewd remark on her `nude’ image when she mistakenly walked into an X-ray machine, a media report said Thursday.

Jo Margetson plans to sue the authorities concerned and spent Wednesday in talks with Heathrow owner BAA, The Sun reported.

She has spoken to lawyers at a civil rights group amid allegations that her privacy and human rights were violated.