Athens, May 05: A nationwide general strike gripped Greece on Wednesday in the first major test of the socialist government’s resolve to push through unprecedented austerity cuts needed to avert fiscal meltdown.
Protest fever swept over the country with public transport paralysed, ferries not leaving the docks and air traffic grounded as unions went on the warpath against the latest wave of spending cuts and tax hikes.
Grand Isle, May 05: People along the Gulf Coast have spent weeks living with uncertainty, wondering where and when a huge slick of oil might come ashore, ruining their beaches — and their livelihoods.
The anxiety is so acute that some are seeing and smelling oil where there is none. And even though the dead turtles and jellyfish washing ashore along the Gulf of Mexico are clean, and scientists have yet to determine what killed them, many are just sure the flow of crude unleashed by the explosion at BP’s Deepwater Horizon is the culprit.
New Delhi, May 05: As many as 39 pilots or co-pilots were found alco-positive during the pre-flight breath-analyzer test last year, Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel told the Rajya Sabha today.
“39 cases have been reported to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) from January 2009 to December 2009, where pilots or co-pilots were found to have consumed alcohol during pre-flight breath-analyzer test,” Patel said in a written reply.
Lucknow, May 05: A commandant of the CRPF has come under the scanner of the Uttar Pradesh Special Task Force in connection with the arms racket busted recently.
Official sources said the STF is looking into the role of the commandant in the supply of stolen government arms and ammunition to criminal outfits and possibly Naxals.
While senior officers are tight-lipped about the role of the commandant, sources said, his name was given by those arrested in connection with the case.
Thiruvananthapuram, May 05: A retrospective of renowned British filmmaker David Lean would be the highlight of the 10th international film festival, beginning here on May 7. Four films of Lean, ”Bridge on the River Kwai”, ”Lawerence of Arabia”, ”Doctor Zhivago” and ”Ryan”s Daughter” would be screened in the retrospective section.
A total of 35 films from India and and abroad would be shown at the week-long festival, organised by Film Lovers” Cultural Association (FILCA). ”Phir Kabhi” directed by V K Prakash would be the inaugural film.
New Delhi, May 05: The United Nations, backed by the US and other countries, Tuesday asked countries that have not signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) to join the NPT regime. India made it clear there is no change in its position that the NPT was discriminatory.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon called on all nations to join the NPT in his address at the ongoing NPT review conference in New York. “I urge those countries that are currently outside the treaty regime to accede to it as soon as possible,” Ban said.
New Delhi, May 05: According to an uncorroborated intelligence report, about 140 al-Qaeda terrorists have crossed into India and that was presumably the primary reason behind the weekend terror alert sounded by the government in Delhi.
The report by Assam intelligence wing suggests that the terrorists have sneaked through the western coasts of India in to Gujarat. The report also suggested that the terrorists might have used Sri Lankan Navy boats for sneaking into India though Navy has brushed aside these claims.
New Delhi, May 05: The CPI(M) Central Committee met here Wednesday to review the party’s performance in the past two years and finalise its rectification campaign besides discussing the prevailing political scenario in the country.
The three-day meeting, which began this morning, will also finalise the date and venue for the extended Central Committee meeting. Vijayawada is likely to host the meeting.
Party General Secretary Prakash Karat and other senior leaders like Sitaram Yechury, S R Pillai, M K Pandhe and Mohd Amin are participating in the meeting.
New Delhi, May 05: Against the backdrop of demand for inclusion of caste data in the on-going Census, the Union Cabinet today discussed the issue at length but there was no consensus.
The cabinet meeting, chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, took up the issue to ascertain views of its members ahead of a discussion expected in Parliament tomorrow.
The issue, which was included in the cabinet agenda an hour before the meeting, saw many ministers favouring inclusion of caste data in the census, sources said.
Chicago, May 05: Citing the need to be better prepared for trial, Pakistani-Canadian terror suspect Tahawwur Rana has asked the US government to provide him “specific” details of the kind of “material support” he provided to terror acts, saying so far the prosecution’s allegations in the superseding indictment have been “vague”.
In a 10-page motion filed in a court here, Rana’s lawyer Patrick Blegen said given the “complexity of the case”, his client should be entitled to know “with specificity what material support he is alleged to have provided” to terrorism.
Ranchi, May 05: The slain Delhi journalist Nirupama Pathak’s mother, arrested for alleged involvement in the murder of her daughter, was tightlipped during interrogation but seemed to know a lot, police in Jharkhand said Tuesday. They sent their report to the National Commission for Women (NCW).
Sudha Pathak was arrested Monday and her husband and sons were also quizzed about what some believe to be a case of “honour killing”.
“She is not revealing anything but it seems that she knows much about the murder,” Superintendent of Police (Koderma) G Kranti Kumar said.
Lucknow, May 05: Lucknow University cancelled the B.Ed entrance exam slated for Wednesday morning following leakage of the question paper.
The announcement made by the varsity came as a shock for lakhs of candidates, who were told about the cancellation at their respective test centres hours before it was to start.
Around seven lakh students were to appear for the B.Ed exam for around one lakh seats in different universities and colleges of the state, officials said.
“The fresh date of the examination would be announced soon,” university registrar G.P. Tripathi said.
Ghaziabad, May 05: Arguments on the quantum of punishment to domestic help Surender Koli, convicted for the rape and murder of seven-year-old Arti from Noida’s Nithari village, have been deferred following a lawyers strike, an official said Wednesday.
The arguments were deferred after Ghaziabad bar association lawyers struck work to voice their protest against their colleagues in Kanpur being baton-charged.
New Delhi, May 05: Taking strong exception to nominated member Mani Shankar Aiyar’s remarks in Rajya Sabha against Leader of Opposition Arun Jaitley and senior BJP member M Venkaiah Naidu, the party today said it would not allow the Upper House to function till he apologised.
“There are several bills pending in Rajya Sabha. We want to support passage of these bills provided the words uttered by Aiyar are taken back and he apologises. Till then we will not allow the House to function,” Deputy Leader of BJP in the Upper House S S Ahluwalia said.
Bengal, May 05: The government needs to focus on ensuring perennial environmental flow in the Ganga river instead of just setting up huge sewage and industrial effluent treatment plants which have failed to cleanse the river, a Parliamentary panel has said.
The panel, headed by MP T Subbarami Reddy, which submitted its report “on Demand for Grants for environment ministry” in Parliament last week, also opined that despite a huge amount of money spent under Ganga Action Plan I and II to clean the river, there has not been any considerable improvement in its water quality.
Visakhapatnam, May 05: Governor ESL Narasimhan has not sent any adverse report to the Centre on the state of things in the state, chief minister K Rosaiah has asserted.
Speaking at a press conference here today at the end of his twoday visit to the district, the chief minister said that the governor had called him up and clarified on media reports. “Rosaiah, I have not sent any special reports or survey reports on the government except my routine messages to the President,’’ the chief minister quoted the governor as having told him.
Srinagar, May 05: A Captain was among two Army personnel killed in a gunbattle with militants in Bandipora district of north Kashmir Tuesday.
The gunfight broke out in Chattibandi, 60 kms from here, after army launched a search and cordon operation to flush out militants, a defence spokesman said.
The operation was still continuing when reports last came in.
—PTI
Dubai, May 05: The Court of First Instance sentenced on Tuesday an Iranian man to life in prison for possession of drugs for trading.
He was also ordered to be deported after serving his term.
According to court records, the Iranian tried to sell 5.91gm of hashish to a police informant for Dh1,000.
He was caught red-handed on October 26 last year after striking the deal with the police contact in a Muraqqabat area.
The arrest came following a tip-off.
–Agencies
Dubai, May 05: A salesman and a driver were each sentenced to ten-year imprisonment on Tuesday by the Court of First Instance for kidnapping two Filipino maids, confining them in a room and trying to push them into prostitution.
The court found them, however, not guilty of raping the maids. Both will be deported after serving their jail terms.
New Delhi, May 05: The Government has ruled out raising the number of days of assured work under the rural employment guarantee scheme as national average was lower than the promised 100 days.
Minister of State for Rural Development Pradeep Jain told the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday that less than one crore people in rural areas had availed of 100 days of employment and the national average was 52 days.
“When demand is not touching 100 days, it will not be logical to increase the number of days,” he said during Question Hour.
New Delhi, May 05: Narco, polygraph or brain mapping tests cannot be conducted on any person, whether an accused or a suspect, without their consent, the Supreme Court said Wednesday.
A bench of Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan and Justices R.V. Raveendran and J.M. Panchal said the forcible administration of these tests was an “unwarranted intrusion of the personal liberty” of a person accused of an offence.
Forcible tests, the court said, violated Article 20(3) of the constitution that says no person accused of an offence could be compelled to be a witness against himself.
New Delhi, May 05: It may well be called the Ketan Desai effect. Flummoxed by the arrested Medical Council of India ( MCI) president Desai’s alleged corrupt dealings, the government has now pinned its hopes on a proposed overarching body to regulate all genres of medical education in the country.
Its hands are tied because a standing committee of Parliament has rejected amendments to the Indian Medical Council Act, 1956 that the government holds critical.
Mumbai, May 05: Deepkia Padukone’s stock in Bollywood has steadily risen since her spectacular debut opposite Shah Rukh Khan in Om Shanti Om.
Her subsequent films – Bachna Ae Haseeno, Chandni Chowk to China, Love Aaj Kal, Main Aur Mrs Khanna and Karthik Calling Karthik have not done spectacularly well at the box office, but her performances have met with praise.
Her recent release Housefull has made an impressive box office opening. Deepika is now ready to move on from her branding.
Tokyo, May 05: Japan’s Shinsei Bank, successor to a troubled state-run lender, is expected to report a net loss of some 140 billion yen (1.5 billion dollars) for the year ended March, a newspaper said Wednesday.
The warning, which comes as Japan tries to shake off protracted economic troubles, follows sizable losses for Shinsei from investments in real estate and overseas transactions, the Nikkei business daily reported.
London, May 05: Actress Sandra Bullock will take a break from movies to focus on her adopted son following her split from husband Jesse James.
“All I know is that I want to be able to enjoy being a mom. Doing all the things moms get to do, outside in the sun, in the world. The career will have to wait for a bit,” she said.
The “Speed” star, who had turned down a number of roles because she wanted to wait until after the Academy Awards ceremony in March to make any plans, won’t be making any movies for the foreseeable future, reports dailystar.co.uk.