New Delhi, June 25: India received 11 per cent less rains than normal for the June 1-23 period with the Southwest monsoon virtually remaining stationary over eastern and central parts of the country in the last one week, the Meteorological department said.
“Just tell Me, if the source of your water becomes dry, who, besides Allah, is capable of giving you another source of water?” —Qur’an 67: 30.
Praise be to Allah, our Lord and Cherisher, the Lord of goodness, the Praiseworthy. It is He alone Who provides abundance of water for human consumption.
Belgium, June 25: The Council of Europe human rights group has opposed an all-out ban on Muslim full-face veils, under consideration by some European countries.
MPs from 47 countries have voted unanimously that outlawing it would deny women “who genuinely and freely desire to do so” the right to cover their faces.
The council’s ruling was part of a report on Islam, Islamism and Islamophobia voted on in Strasbourg (France), and it threatens to torpedo bans planned in France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Spain.
Vadodara, June 25: An understanding of the Hindu-Muslim relations dating back to medieval Gujarat, along with the formation of the state’s identity, could help gauge the reasons behind the several incidents of communal riots in the state, a US-based Gujarati historian has said.
In her quest, Samira Sheikh came across a period when the state prospered under the rule of Sultans. Her 10 years of research is now presented in a form of book titled Forging a Region’, which is published by Oxford. On Thursday, Sheikh was invited to speak about her book at the department.
Islamabad, June 25: Madrasas account for a tiny fraction of student enrolment, the report says Islamic schools or madrassas in Pakistan are not stoking militancy or extremism, a report by a leading US think-tank has concluded.
The Brookings Institution report says that while religious schools are often cited as a cause of extremism, they “appear not to be a major risk factor”.
The report says that fewer than 10% of Pakistani students attended madrassas.
It says that the real cause of militancy in the country is the poor public education system.
Urgent priority
Mumbai, June 25: RSS chief Dr Mohan Bhagwat backed the idea of a confederation of the South East Asian countries that would lead to melting of all borders as a lasting solution to the separatist movements and for emergence of a stronger India. “We should start thinking how to be Akhand Bharat once again,” he said.
Ahmedabad, June 25: A division bench of Gujarat High court today issued notices to CBI and the state government in the Ishrat Jahan encounter case of 2004.
The court began hearing the case after the Supreme Court had on April 19 asked it to constitute a division bench on the petitions filed by Gopinath Pillai, father of Javed Ghulam Sheikh alias Pranesh Kumar Pillai, who was one of the three persons killed along with Ishrat.
New Delhi, June 24: The Government of India on Thursday approved recommendations by a Group of Ministers on the Bhopal gas disaster which include appealing for the extradition of former Union Carbide boss Warren Anderson .
The cabinet decision comes three days after the re-constituted GoM, headed by Union Home Minister Chidambaram, submitted its report to the Prime Minister with several suggestions related to compensation and proper rehabilitation of victims.
New Delhi, June 24: The government is readying the necessary papers to seek the extradition from the US of then Union Carbide CEO Warren Anderson, an accused in the 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy case, it was announced here Thursday.
“Additional material for the extradition of Warren Anderson is being put together by the external affairs ministry and other agencies. We will thereafter press for Anderson’s extradition,” Information and Broadcasting Minister said after a cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
Bangalore, June 24: Karnataka Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa Thursday indicated he will not ask Lokayukta (ombudsman) N. Santosh Hegde to withdraw his resignation, submitted Wednesday expressing frustration at the government’s indifference to the anti-corruption panel.
Yeddyurappa virtually bid goodbye to Hegde, a retired Supreme Court judge, saying: “I thank him for the good work”.
“Now that he has taken a decision, I do not want to embarrass him in any way,” Yeddyurappa said when asked whether he would try to persuade Hegde to take back the resignation.
Bangalore, June 24: Former Karnataka minister H. Halappa, facing a charge of raping his friend’s wife, was Thursday given conditional bail by the high court.
Justice Subash Adi directed Halappa to provide a bond for Rs. 100,000, two sureties for the like sum and report to a police station once in a fortnight.
Halappa has been in judicial custody since May 9 but has not been in jail as he got admitted to a hospital saying he was suffering from multiple ailments.
Gandhinagar, June 24: Gujarat Police are awaiting the arrival of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) team to hand over the probe into the 2008 blast in Sabarkantha district’s Modasa town in which one person was killed.
“It is alright with us,” said Gujarat police chief S.S. Khandwawala, reacting to the central government’s decision to transfer the probe from the police to NIA.
The union home ministry intimated the police that it was taking over the investigation of the Modasa blast case which has remained unsolved for almost two years.
Noida, June 24: Police have arrested three robbers and recovered a car and other goods from their possession.
The three identified as Amit, Riyasat and Ravi
were arrested from Sector 28 area.
The trio, residents of Sector Alpha at Greater Noida, had confessed to have committed several robberies in Noida and Greater Noida.
A car, two motorcycles, two gold chains, three mobile phones and Rs 7000 in cash was recovered from them.
–Agencies
Bhadohi, June 24: A 16-year-old girl was today hacked to death by unidentified persons in Koirauna area here, police sources said.
Body of Rekha Yadav with her throat slit was recovered from outside her house in Nibiha village this morning, they said.
Prima facie it appears that an attempt was made to rape the girl while she was sleeping in front of house and when the miscreants did not succeed they slit her throat, they said.
The girl lived with her mother and brothers. Her father works as a taxi driver in Mumbai.
–Agencies
New Delhi, June 24: To spread awareness about the development of technology in the country, Indian Railways have decided to launch a ‘Technology Express’ in near future.
“We will launch Technology Express soon to showcase the progress we have made in technology. The train will be starting from IIT-Kharagpur and travel across the country,” Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee said while flagging off the Commonwealth Express here today.
London, June 24: Pop singer Madonna admits her children’s clothing range is an “extension” of her 13-year-old daughter Lourdes’ style.
The duo have collaborated on a children’s clothing and accessories range for US department store Macy’s and Madonna says Lourdes brought much of her own personal style to the collection titled Material Girl. It will hit the stores Aug 3.
“I think this line is absolutely an extension of her (Lourdes) taste,” contactmsuic.com quoted Madonna as saying.
Ghaziabad (UP), June 24: Three youths who allegedly carried out the sensational honour killing of three of their relatives in Delhi on Sunday were today arrested in Garhmukteshwar area here.
Mandeep Nagar (23), Ankit Chaudhury (22) and Nakul Khari (21) were arrested from Garhmukteshwar, about 90 kms from Delhi, and a country made pistol was recovered from them, Senior Superintendent of Police Raghubir Lal said, adding they have also seized a car.
New Delhi, June 24: Domestic and international air fares would rise by Rs 100 and Rs 500 respectively from July one with the government issuing a notification to bring air travel into the service tax ambit.
Government had proposed in the 2010-11 Budget that 10 per cent service tax be charged on air travel aiming at raising Rs 600 crore and Rs 1,000 crore annually.
It had proposed to expand the scope of air transport services to attract service tax to include domestic journeys and international journeys in any class.
New Delhi, June 24: President Pratibha Patil and Vice President Hamid Ansari today condoled the death of former Union Minister and Lok Sabha MP from Bihar Digvijay Singh.
Patil said Singh was a well-known parliamentarian who was active in politics since his student days.
“He had the opportunity to serve in various capacities during his political career. In his passing, the nation has lost an active public figure,” she said.
In his condolence message, the Vice President said he was “deeply grieved” to learn about the Singh’s demise.
Shillong, June 24: BSF today warned Bangladesh Rifles that it would not observe “restraint” shown earlier in the event of “misadventure” from their side.
“We have made it clear that we will not observe the same restraint as we maintained during the last firing by BDR (along the Indo-Bangladesh border in Meghalaya). Unilateral restraint is not possible,” BSF (Assam and Meghalaya) chief R C Saxena, who met a BDR delegation led by Brig Gen Md Obaidul Haque at Dawki in Meghalaya, said.
Ghaziabad (UP), June 24: Three youths who allegedly carried out the sensational honour killing of three of their relatives in Delhi on Sunday were today arrested in Garhmukteshwar area here.
Mandeep Nagar (23), Ankit Chaudhury (22) and Nakul Khari (21) were arrested from Garhmukteshwar, about 90 kms from Delhi, and a country made pistol was recovered from them, Senior Superintendent of Police Raghubir Lal said, adding they have also seized a car.
New Delhi, June 24: In the first ministerial visit from India to Pakistan since 26/11, P Chidambaram will travel to Islamabad tomorrow on a two-day trip during which he is expected to press for probe against LeT founder Hafiz Saeed and seek voice samples of handlers of Mumbai attackers.
Chidambaram, who is visiting Pakistan primarily for SAARC Interior Minister’s Conference on Saturday, is expected to have bilateral meeting with Pakistan Interior Minister Rehman Malik soon after his arrival in Islamabad.
Gwalior, June 24: Madhya Pradesh Health Minister Anup Mishra’s son Ashwini and close relatives were today booked on the charges of murder in connection with the death of a person in a firing incident, police said.
Ashwini, brothers of Anup Mishra Ajay Mishra and Abhay Mishra, cousin Deepak Vajpayee, brother-in-law Yogesh Sharma and others have been booked under sections 302 (murder), 307 (attempt to murder), 140 (wearing garb used by soldier) and 148 (rioting) of IPC, police said.
Bangalore, June 24: Karnataka Lokayukta Santosh Hegde today slammed the BJP government for reneging on its electoral promise of arming the institution with more powers after Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa remained non-committal on the issue.
“Why did they (BJP) promise in their election manifesto that they will give more powers (to Lokayukta),” he said.
Hegde’s statement came after Yeddyurappa told reporters earlier in the day that he could not give any commitment on granting suo motu powers to Lokayukta.
New Delhi, June 24: A spell of light showers across the city today gave Delhiites some relief from the searing heat although maximum temperature remained above 40 degree Celsius mark.
The maximum temperature was recorded at 41.4 degrees Celsius, two notches above normal while the minimum was recorded at 31.6 degrees. The humidity oscillated between 64 and 35 per cent.
A Met department official said almost all the areas in the city received traces of rain.