Month: April 2010

MidEast, Asia failing to protect domestic workers

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Kuala Lumpur, April 29: Middle East and Asian nations, which draw millions of foreign domestic workers, have failed to take action to tackle widespread abuse of the vulnerable women despite recent improvements. Human Rights Watch said.

“The reforms undertaken by Middle Eastern and Asian governments fall far short of the minimum protections needed to tackle abuses against migrant domestic workers,” the US-based group said in a report launched ahead of International Labour Day on May 1.

Hezbollah vows ‘diplomatic’ solution in Egypt row

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Beirut, April 29: Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah vowed to seek a “diplomatic and political way out” after an Egyptian court’s conviction of 26 men for plotting attacks in Egypt on behalf of his Lebanese group, a charge which he denies and says was politically motivated.

The vow echoed similar comments made a day earlier by Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri.

“From day one, we have said — and I personally have said — that these men are honourable brothers, fighters of the resistance, and not outlaws, terrorists and criminals, as the court verdict says,” Nasrallah said.

Israel’s Netanyahu takes on hardliners in party

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Tel Aviv, April 29: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was to take on hardliners in his own party on Thursday in a procedural vote his opponents hope will limit his ability to make progress in new peace talks.

Over 2,500 members of the right-wing Likud party’s central committee were to vote on a motion backed by Netanyahu to amend the party constitution so that a convention that renews its membership could be delayed by 20 months.

Dutch anti-Islam MP set to go on trial in October

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The Hague, April 29: Dutch far-right lawmaker Geert Wilders is set to stand trial in October on charges of inciting racial hatred against Muslims, the Amsterdam district court said on Tuesday.

“The trial of Mr Wilders will start in October,” the court said in a statement.

According to a preliminary schedule, the case is to be heard on October 4, 6 and 8, followed by judgment on November 2, it said.

The lawmaker is accused of five counts of religious insult and anti-Muslim incitement.

His Party for Freedom (PVV) has nine out of 150 parliamentary seats.

Italy’s Finmeccanica opens Libya helicopter plant

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Libya, April 29: Italy’s Finmeccanica on Wednesday opened a helicopter assembly and maintenance factory in Libya in a joint venture with Tripoli at a cost of almost 18 million euros (24 million dollars).

The plant has been built in Abu Aisha, in the Tarhuna region, 50 kilometres (30 miles) southeast of the capital, by Liatec (Libyan-Italian Advanced Technology Company), a joint venture between the company and the Libyan state.

West Africa’s Arabic manuscripts go digital

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Bamako, April 29: Abdelkader Haidara is a man who answers his emails quickly. But alongside his connections to the modern world, he is also at home in an entirely different epoch: the centuries when his hometown of Timbuktu was a stronghold of Islamic scholarship.

Europol: ‘only one Islamist terrorist attack’ in 2009

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The Hague, April 29: Thirty-three percent fewer terrorist acts, a total of 294, were last year committed in the European Union, excluding the United Kingdom, policing agency Europol said on Wednesday.

“The overall number of terrorist attacks … decreased by 33 percent compared to 2008 and is almost half of the number of attacks reported in 2007,” the agency said in a statement.

Most of the attacks were committed by separatist groups such as the ETA in Spain and the Corsican National Liberation Front (FLNC) in France.

Man stabs 28 children at kindergarten in China

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Taixing, April 29: A knife-wielding man attacked a kindergarten class of 4-year-olds in eastern China on Thursday, slashing 28 children in what an expert said was a copycat rampage of two other episodes at Chinese schools in the past month.

A 47-year-old jobless man, Xu Yuyuan, burst into a classroom at the Zhongxin Kindergarten early Thursday, waving an eight-inch (20-centimeter) knife and stabbing a security guard who tried to stop him, the official Xinhua News Agency reported.

DNA clears New York man wrongly convicted of 1988 murder

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New York, April 29: A New York truck driver who spent nearly 19 years behind bars for a 1988 slaying he didn’t commit has walked free after DNA testing exonerated him and instead pointed to another prison inmate.

The exonerated inmate, Frank Sterling, 46, was convicted of murder in 1992 based on a confession that he later recanted.

Lady Gaga, Bill Clinton top Time’s influence list

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London, April 29: Extravagantly dressed singer Lady Gaga, former US president Bill Clinton and Brazil’s leader Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva are the world’s most influential people according to Time magazine’s annual list.

The US weekly explains its sometimes surprising choices saying that the “Time 100 is not about the influence of power but the power of influence”.

Tiger Woods had 120 affairs – US reports

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Washington, April 29: Tiger Woods has confessed to cheating with as many as 120 women behind his wife’s back during their five-year marriage, it was claimed today.

But a one-night stand with the 21-year-old daughter of a neighbour in Florida was the final straw for Elin Nordegren, according to the National Enquirer magazine in the US.

The Enquirer claimed the distraught mother-of-two decided to sign divorce papers after learning it was investigating Woods’ alleged fling with Raychel Coudriet, whom he had reportedly known since she was just 14.

Model assigned as ‘Kremlin secret agent’

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Washington, April 29: A Russian amateur model has been accused of being a secret agent for the Kremlin, allegedly luring government critics with the promise of sex and drugs.

Ekaterina “Katya” Gerasimova, 19, has been described as a modern-day Mata Hari after reportedly luring at least six of Vladimir Putin’s detractors into embarrassing sex “honeytraps” or online stings aimed at destroying their reputations, The Daily Mail said.

3G auction transparent,to be over in 1 or 2 days:Raja

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New Delhi, April 29: The auction of third-generation (3G) spectrum is likely to be completed in next 1 or 2 days, Telecom Minister A Raja informed the Rajya Sabha today.

“The auction is being held successfully….it will be completed in one or two days,” he said during Question Hour.

The e-auction began on April 9 and will continue till such time that demand equals supply, he said adding the award of spectrum was being done transparently and fairly.

Baby ‘left to die’ after botched abortion

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London, April 29: A Baby boy who survived a botched abortion at 22 weeks was simply wrapped in cloth and left to die by Italian doctors.

The infant’s mother had sought an abortion after scans revealed that the baby would likely be disabled, London’s Daily Telegraph reported.

Doctors in Rossano, southern Italy, carried out the procedure however the infant survived. It’s alleged that he was then wrapped in a sheet, umbilical cord still attached, and abandoned.

Congress to boycott Golden Gujarat celebrations

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Ahmedabad, April 29: State Congress today said it will boycott the Golden Gujarat celebrations beginning tomorrow and will instead hold a public convention in Gandhinagar on Saturday, on the occasion of the foundation day of the state.

“We will not participate in the Golden Gujarat celebrations (on April 30 and May 1) organised by the state government because the government has never consulted or taken into confidence the Opposition party (regarding it),” Leader of Opposition Shaktisinh Gohil told reporters here.

Gordon Brown calls voter ‘bigoted woman’ in election campaign gaffe

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England, April 29: British Prime Minister Gordon Brown was forced to make a humiliating apology today after he was caught on microphone calling a senior citizen “bigoted”.

Mr Brown was confronted by the 66-year-old woman, Gillian Duffy, while election campaigning in Rochdale, northern England.

After spending nearly five minutes answering her questions about immigration and migrant workers from Eastern Europe, he told her, “It’s been very good to meet you,” before getting into a car.

However, a Sky New wireless microphone picked up his words to an aide as he was driven away.

28 children injured in kindergarten knife attack

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Xinhua, April 29: A Knife-Wielding man allegedly attacked 28 children at a kindergarten in eastern China today in the third such attack in a month, police say.

The latest attack occurred in the city of Taixing in Jiangsu province, according to the Xinhua news agency.

According to Xinhua, 28 children and three adults were injured in the attack. Most of the injured children were just four years old with five of them reportedly now critically ill in hospital.

Supreme Court slams media, common man for ‘hyperactive attitude’ on its observations

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New Delhi, April 29: The Supreme Court has slammed the media and individuals for “misquoting and misinterpreting” its observations on actress Khushboo’s views on pre-marital sex which it said led to “hyper active attitude” of the common man.

inaundated with petitions asking it to review its “order”, though it had merely made certain observations in the form of
queries to the counsel.

Woman bites man after being called fat’

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Nebraska, April 29: Police say a 24-year-old Nebraska man is missing a chunk of his right ear that was bitten off by a woman who didn’t like being called “fat”.

Police spokeswoman Katie Flood said officers were called to a Nebraska hospital around 3.25am local time yesterday to talk to the injured man.

He told them that he’d been bitten at a party.

Ms Flood said officers later learned that the injured man and two others had been arguing with other people at the birthday party. Ms Flood says the man told 21-year-old Anna Godfrey that she was fat.

Around 30 hutments gutted in slum cluster fire

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New Delhi, April 29: Around 30 hutments were gutted in a fire which broke out in a slum cluster in south-east Delhi this afternoon.

The blaze was reported from a slum in Taimoor Nagar near New Friends Colony at around 12.30 pm.

The incident occurred when an electric wire fell on one of the hutments and within 15 minutes, flames engulfed hutments situated in the area.

Nine fire tenders were rushed to the spot to douse the flames.

The fire fighters took around 90 minutes to control it. No one was injured in the incident.

–Agencies

CBI arrests bank manager, 5 others on graft charges

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New Delhi, April 29: CBI has arrested a Branch Manager of Indian Overseas Bank and five others for an alleged scam worth over Rs five crore from Kolkata.

The agency arrested Branch Manager Atanu Kumar Mitra, Iltush Ahammed, Noor Ajamal, Aynal Haque, Prabir Karmakar and Chartered Accountant Mahesh Agarwalla for allegedly defrauding Indian Overseas Bank to the tune of Rs 5.38 crore, CBI said here.

Rahul Visits Mirchpur Village

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Hisar, April 29: AICC general secretary Rahul Gandhi paid an unannounced short visit this afternoon to Mirchpur village where arsoning and attacks on Dalits had claimed two lives recently, and assured the aggrieved Valmiki community of all possible help and stringent action against guilty.

Nine convicted in Kandhamal riot case

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Bhubaneswar, April 29: A fast track court in Orissa Thursday sentenced nine people to three years in jail for rioting in Kandhamal district in 2008.

The nine were convicted for setting on fire the house of Subramanyam Naik August 25, 2008.

“Nine people were convicted and four others were acquitted. They have been given three years’ jail term each and slapped a fine of Rs.5,500,” P.K. Patra, public prosecutor, told IANS.

How was radioactive material auctioned, police asks university

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New Delhi, April 29: The Delhi Police has asked Delhi University how hazardous radioactive Cobalt 60 was auctioned off as scrap and said it wants to “fix responsibility” for the radiation exposure which led to the death of one person and affected seven, an official said Thursday.

“We want to fix responsibility in this case. We have asked the university about the procedure they adopted in auctioning this material to scrap dealers. We are waiting for that,” Deputy Commissioner of Police (West) Sharad Aggarwal told IANS.

Raids at Kings XI Office

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New Delhi, April 29: After the conclusion of third season of IPL the controversy is refusing to die and it seems more skeletons are going to come out of the closet.

Earlier it was Rajasthan Royals Team which was scrutinised and role of Shilpa Shetty was questioned now its Kings XI Punjab which is facing the Heat.As interim Chairman of IPL Chiryau Amin has Pleadged to clean the IPL dirt it seems to be the first step.There is no doubt tha Lalit Modi has taken IPL to heights and it`s famous immensly not only in India but Abroad as well.