Month: June 2010

Indian investigators in US to question Headley

by

Chicago, June 01: A team of Indian investigators arrived in the US today to interrogate for the first time David Coleman Headley, accused of helping Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorists carry out the 26/11 Mumbai attacks.

The team comprises officers of the National Investigation Agency and a law officer. This will be for the first time that 49-year-old Pakistani-American Headley will be facing direct questions from Indian investigators since his arrest in October last year.

Shah Rukh, Aamir, Salman Khan battle the ‘butt’

by

Mumbai, June 01: Today is World No Tobacco Day. This day highlights the hazards of smoking and ensures that a unified tobacco-control message resonates around the world; but amidst all this, there are three top Bollywood actors who are still fighting their battle with the cancer stick…

Another rapist cop

by

New Delhi, June 01: Barely a week after a traffic constable was arrested on charges of rape, another Delhi cop has been caught with his pants down. Shahnawaz (26), a police constable, was arrested on charges of raping his girlfriend Pratibha, 22(name changed), in Jyoti Nagar area of northeast Delhi, the police revealed late on Sunday night.

54 Jamaat activists jailed in Bangladesh

by

Dhaka, June 01: Bangladeshi authorities today jailed 54 activists of the largest Islamist party Jamaat that had planed a rally here to oppose the trial of those accused of genocide during the 1971 ‘Liberation War’.

The police detained nearly 100 activists of radical Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) ahead of their planned rally in the capital defying a government ban.

“We earlier detained some 100 Jamaat workers but later arrested 54 of them” as JI vowed to go ahead with their planned rally at the city’s Paltan Maidan, the police said.

6-month baby married to 25-yr-old man

by

Islamabad, June 01: In order to resolve a feud brought about by the “kidnapping” and subsequent love marriage of a girl by a married man, a Jirga in Pakistan has decided that the man’s six-month-old daughter should be married off to the girl’s 25-year-old brother.

According to sources, Alamzeb, “abducted” the daughter of his neighbour, Naseer, from the Reri Goth area in Karachi two months ago, and that the two were actually in love with one another, reports the News.

Surgical robot in Hyderabad

by

New Delhi, June 01: Robot-assisted surgeries will soon be performed in Hyderabad as city-based Care Hospital has acquired the Da Vinci surgical robot, a mechanical arm which carries out orders with “millimeter precision”.

A surgical robot is a mechanical arm which carries out orders with absolute millimetre precision repetitively and untiringly. Hence, the doctor can sit back and give orders through a computer and the surgery would be carried out with robotic precision, Dr Sunil Kapoor, a senior Consultant, Internventionalists Cardiologist, with the Care hospital said today.

Gadkari’s new initiative to make BJP

by

New Delhi, June 01: The Bharatiya Janata Party hopes to make a modest beginning in making its State governments accountable and ensuring they provide good governance by checking on what they are up to.

A two-day conference of Chief Ministers and key Ministers of BJP-ruled States is being organised in Mumbai on June 5 and 6. A candid self-assessment will be encouraged; presentations will be made on people-friendly initiatives taken by the governments; implementation or non-implementation of election manifestoes will be noted; and finally, a charter of good governance will be released.

HARVEST TIME

by

New Delhi, June 01: The India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Monday announced the arrival of the southwest monsoon in Kerala. It, however, expressed caution over the further progress of the monsoon in view of a low pressure area over the central Arabian Sea.

In a press release, the IMD said the system could advance over coastal and south interior Karnataka and Goa over the next two days. But its later movement would depend on how the low pressure area developed.

Headed for Gujarat?

Fatwa only a minor issue now: Rushdie

by

Toronto, June 01: Blasphemous author Salman Rushdie says the death sentence imposed on him by Iran’s late leader no longer affects his daily life, but the issue still hasn’t gone away.

Rushdie commented Monday on the fatwa while appearing with author Elie Wiesel, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, for a discussion on freedom of speech and human rights.

The recent decrees from Muslim clerics creating fuss in Media are termed as Fatwa Factory by certain Muslim groups.

Maoist hand suspected: Chidambaram

by

New Delhi, June 01: Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram on Monday said that Maoists or one of their front organisations could be behind last week’s derailment of the Howrah-Kurla-Jnaneswari Express that led to the death of 147 people in West Bengal and caused injuries to over 150.

“The needle of suspicion points to the CPI (Maoist) or a front organisation of the CPI (Maoist); however, the identity of the culprit can be established only in the investigation,” he said, at his monthly press conference here.

Court: probe charge against Amitabh

by

Barabanki (U.P.), June 01: A court here on Monday asked the police to probe a charge levelled by a village head against actor Amitabh Bachchan and five others over delay in setting up a college named after his daughter-in-law Aishwarya Rai-Bachchan.

The Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate (Fast Track) directed Mohamadpur Khala police to look into the complaint filed by Daulatpur village head Raj Kumari and submit a report on June 10.

HIV woman gives birth by the road

by

Nalgonda, June 01: A team of higher officials from the health and other allied government agencies on Monday conducted an inquiry into the alleged refusal of admission to a HIV positive woman into the government area hospital and some private hospitals in Suryapet on Sunday evening. She delivered a baby girl by the roadside following the denial.

According to sources, a team of revenue officials headed by the Suryapet RDO Manohar Gupta visited Kesaram village in the mandal and enquired about the incident with the 28-year-old HIV positive woman.

Quake hits Andaman Islands

by

New Delhi, June 01: A moderate intensity earthquake measuring 6.6 on the Richter scale shook the Andaman Islands past midnight.

The earthquake with a latitude of 11.2 deg north and a longitude of 93.7 degree east occurred at 1:21 am, the Met office said.

—-PTI

World`s coolest man

by

London, June 01: : Prince Harry beats Robert Pattinson to the top spot in the list of the world’s 50 coolest men.

Pattinson came runner-up in the list of GQ magazine`s list of world`s 50 coolest men, reports.

The magazine writes that after a “few gaffes” in his youth, Harry, 25 turned his image around with his army stint in Afghanistan.

But his brother, Prince William, 27, failed to make the rundown of movers and shakers.

Modi to give a lesson in governance

by

New Delhi, June 01: Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi has been given the pride of place to guide chief ministers of BJP-ruled states on good governance at a conference next month in Maharashtra.

Modi will deliver the keynote address at the national convention on good governance at Sangh Parivar’s training centre Rambhau Mhalgi Prabodhini near Mumbai on June 5-6.

“Named Suraj-Sankalp (commitment to good governance), the conference will focus on review of some very noteworthy and innovative welfare or development initiatives,” convenor, BJP governance cell, Manohar Parrikar said.

Tobacco kills 1.5 million annually

by

Tehran, June 01: : Use of tobacco kills more than 1.5 million women in world every year, and the number could rise to 2.5 million in the next two decades, the UN has warned.

“Most deaths occur in low and middle-income countries. Without concerted action, that number could rise to 2.5 million women by 2030,” UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon said.

Ban asked the governments to “turn back the global tobacco epidemic” and “address this public health threat”.

“Tobacco use is not stylish or empowering. It is ugly and deadly,” IRNA news agency quoted him as saying.

Another Air India tragedy averted

by

New Delhi, June 01: An airplane of Air India’s low-budget carrier on a flight from Dubai to Pune with 118 persons on board plunged a few thousand feet after it hit an air pocket giving tense moments just four days after the Mangalore air crash.

No one was injured in the incident that occurred on May 26 when the Boeing 737-800 of Air India Express which was on an auto-pilot mode hit an air pocket and dived over 5,000 feet while flying over Muscat, official sources said today.

12 killed in terrorist attack

by

Lahore, June 01: At least 12 people were feared killed when terrorists struck at Lahore’s Jinnah Hospital around midnight on Monday.

Many of those injured in Friday’s attack on Ahmadis and one of the terrorists nabbed alive in that terror strike are undergoing treatment in the hospital.

Four policemen were among those killed as the terrorists and security personnel exchanged fire. The terrorists apparently came into the hospital in a government vehicle and opened fire at the Emergency Ward around 11.45 p.m.

Israeli commandos storm Gaza-bound 19 killed

by

Gaza, June 01: Israeli commandos on Monday attacked a high-profile Gaza-bound aid flotilla, killing up to 19 people and triggering in its wake a wave of outrage across the globe.

The convoy of six ships was assaulted in the early hours after commandos slithered down from helicopters and confronted passengers on board, mostly pro-Palestinian activists.

Video footage from the lead ship Mavi Marmara showed Israeli troops storming it as helicopters hovered overhead.

Man stabbed over minor accident

by

New Delhi, June 01: A dispute over a minor accident led to a man being stabbed in Shaherkotda area of Ahmedabad on Monday.

The accused have been identified as Dinesh Dabhi and Chandrakant Nava.

The police said the victim, Ketan Patel, a resident of Dafnala in Shahibaug, was passing from Chamunda Estate where the accused who were on a motorcycle reportedly rammed into him.

When Patel started arguing with the accused, Nava took out a knife and stabbed him in his stomach. The police have registered a case.

—Agencies