Month: February 2011

Protesters closing in on Tripoli

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Tripoli, February 28: Thousands of pro-democracy protesters are closing in on the capital, Tripoli, where Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi is holed up.

Forces loyal to Gaddafi continue the violent suppression of popular forces to prevent them from taking the fight to the capital. However, reports say pro-democracy protesters have taken control of parts of Tripoli.

Main cities including Zawiyah, some 50 km west of the capital, have been seized following the liberation of a number of eastern towns.

We are better than Bangladesh: Roach

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New Delhi, February 28: West Indian pacer Kemar Roach, who registered the first hat-trick of the tournament today, said the emphatic win over the Netherlands has given the side the much-needed confidence after the beating it took at the hands of South Africa in their World Cup opener.

Roach, who starred with a six-wicket haul including a hat-trick, the sixth in the history of World Cup, made a statement of intent when he said that West Indies is better than Bangladesh, the two-time champions’ next opponent.

IT sops in budget; air travel, health check-up to be costlier

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New Delhi, February 28:A play-safe budget today raisedthe income tax exemption limit from Rs 1.60 lakh to Rs 1.80 lakh leaving at least an extra Rs 2,000 in the hands of tax paying men across the board and made air travel, hotel accommodation and drinking in AC restaurants costlier.

Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee presented the 2011-12 budget, which shows a net revenue loss of Rs 200 crore, imposed an excise duty of one per cent on 130 specified items which will, however, exempt food and fuel.

Kuwaitis to hold protests

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Kuwait, February 28: A wave of pro-democracy protests across the Arab world is expected to hit Kuwait as young activists have launched a campaign to stage a demonstration, calling on the prime minister to step down.

A group of young activists, called the Fifth Fence, plans to hold a protest outside the parliament building on March 8 to press for the ouster of Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser Mohammad al-Ahmad al-Sabah.

Meanwhile, a key opposition group demanded the ouster of the prime minister on Monday.

UAE hosts international boat show

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Dubai, February 28: More than 750 firms from 42 countries will showcase their yachts and recreational boats during the international boat exhibition that begins in Dubai Tuesday.

The 19th edition of the Dubai International Boat Show will be held March 1-5 at the Dubai International Marine Club, where 25,000 enthusiasts from across the Middle East are expected to visit.

Apart from hosting the launch of 11 yachts, the show will also display several marine accessories, jet skis, fishing boats, speed boats and luxury yachts.

Union Budget anti-people: Kerala FM

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Kottayam, February 28: The Kerala Government today termed the Union Budget as “anti-people” and alleged that the financial statement will only help the “growth of corruption and not promote economic development”.

Finance minister Thomas Isaac told reporters here that as per the budget Rs 1,60,000 crore would be spent on social sectors but it had not been mentioned as how much would be set aside for food subsidy.

Yemen’s opposition rejects call for national unity government

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Sana’a, February 28: Yemen’s main opposition party Monday rejected an invitation from President Ali Abdullah Saleh to join a national unity government.

Saleh made the call during a meeting with prominent preachers and religious leaders, the official Saba news agency reported.

The creation of a national unity government is part of an eight-point plan proposed by Saleh as a response to protesters demanding his resignation.

But the main opposition party, Islah, said it would not participate in any government and would “stick to the demands of the people”.

Financial incentives for policemen

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Kanpur, February 28: If you prepare a solid case resulting in award of life imprisonment to an accused, you will be rewarded Rs 1500, a top police officer told his men here today.

To encourage police personnel to present a foolproof case in a court to extract maximum punishment for an accused, DIG (Kanpur) Rajesh Rai announced rewards for them.

Rs 1500 will be rewarded for securing lifer for an accused, Rs 1000 for a sentence of 10 years or more and Rs 500 for a jail term of seven to 10 years, he said.

DMK allots 10 seats to VCK

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Chennai, February 28: The ruling DMK Monday inked a seat-sharing deal with the VCK – a Dalit party – for the ensuing Tamil Nadu assembly polls, taking the number of such deals to three.

DMK chief and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi and VCK chief Thol. Thirumavalavan met here and arrived at the deal.

In 2006, the VCK contested nine seats and won two. This time around it will have one more constituency to contest from.

The DMK had earlier signed an agreement with PMK for 31 seats and the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) for three seats.

Chhattisgarh reports 47 malaria deaths

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Raipur, February 28: Forty-seven people died of malaria in Chhattisgarh between April 2010 and January 2011, the state assembly was told Monday. However, opposition Congress members said the number was much higher.

Health Minister Amar Agrawal gave the figure in a reply to former chief minister and senior Congress leader Ajit Jogi.

Oil retailers raise ATF price by 3.4 pc

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New Delhi, February 28:For the 10th fortnight in a row, state-owned oil firms today raised jet fuel price by 3.4 per cent in line with spike in crude oil prices.

Aviation turbine fuel (ATF) rates in Delhi have been hiked by Rs 1,870 per kilolitre, or 3.4 per cent, to Rs 54,933 per kl with effect from midnight tonight, an official of Indian Oil Corp, the nation’s largest fuel retailer, said.

The hike comes on back of two massive hikes effected on February 1 and 16.

Two killed, one hurt in two road accidents

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New Delhi, February 28: Two people were killed and another was critically injured in two separate road accidents in west Delhi, police said Monday.

Vijay Pal, 35, was crushed to death by a speeding truck in Dwarka in west Delhi Sunday night.

Police said that Pal, a resident of Dwarka, was allegedly hit from behind by the heavy vehicle when he was travelling on his motorbike around 11.30 p.m.

“Vijay worked with an MNC in the city. The truck driver is absconding,” said a police officer.

Two killed, one hurt in two road accidents

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New Delhi, February 28: Two people were killed and another was critically injured in two separate road accidents in west Delhi, police said Monday.

Vijay Pal, 35, was crushed to death by a speeding truck in Dwarka in west Delhi Sunday night.

Police said that Pal, a resident of Dwarka, was allegedly hit from behind by the heavy vehicle when he was travelling on his motorbike around 11.30 p.m.

“Vijay worked with an MNC in the city. The truck driver is absconding,” said a police officer.

Protesters control four Libyan cities; Oman singed by protests

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Tripoli/Manama/Muscat, February 28: Anti-government protesters in Libya gained control of four cities and formed a council to begin the transition of power from Muammar Gaddafi’s 41-year-old regime as Canada too slapped sanctions on the oil-rich country. The pro-democracy movement caught Oman in its vortex while in Bahrain the protests escalated.

According to the BBC, unrest continues in and around Tripoli where a demonstration against Gaddafi in the capital’s suburb of Tajoura saw protesters chanting, “The blood of martyrs won’t go to waste.”

Mercury stays below normal in north India

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New Delhi, February 28:Mercury stayed below normallevels in most parts of the northern region today, even as Himachal Pradesh continued to reel under cold wave with high altitude areas receiving another spell of snowfall.

Delhiites enjoyed a pleasant, sunny morning as temperatures remained below normal on the last day of February. The minimum was recorded at 10.5 degree Celsius, which was a degree below normal and marginally above yesterday’s 10.1 deg C.

Minimum temperatures continued to hover a few notches below normal in Punjab and Haryana.

Discovery astronauts undertake first spacewalk

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Washington, February 28: Two space shuttle Discovery astronauts left the International Space Station Monday for the first spacewalk of their 11-day mission.

Steve Bowen and Alvin Drew will move a failed ammonia cooling pump removed on an earlier mission and install a power extension cable and camera equipment.

The planned six-and-a-half-hour spacewalk got underway at 1618 GMT.

The Discovery is on its final mission before retirement as NASA works to mothball the shuttle fleet this year. Two more flights are set for later this year of the shuttle Endeavour and Atlantis.

TN govt introduces E-security policy

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Chennai, February 28: The Tamil Nadu government today introduced an ‘E-Security policy to protect vital information communicated among government departments.

“With increasing use of IT during government functions, it has become necessary to safeguard information passed. Any disruption in this critical infrastructure will have impact on citizens, economy and in government services.

In view of this, E-Security policy has been introduced,” an official press release said here.

Karunanidhi welcomes, Jayalalithaa slams budget

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Chennai, February 28: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi praised the budget for 2011-12 presented by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee in parliament Monday as being growth oriented but AIADMK general secretary J. Jayalalithaa termed it a damp squib.

“The budget will take forward the country’s economic growth in a steady pace,” Karunanidhi said in a statement issued here.

According to him, the budget has schemes for increasing farm productivity, reducing wastage, improving storage facilities and providing credit to farmers.

Two special task forces for Jammu, Ladakh constituted

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New Delhi, February 28:Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will arrive (rpt) arrive in Jammu on Thursday on a two-day visit during which he would participate in the convocation ceremony of Sher-e-Kashmir Agriculture University besides handing over nearly 800 houses to Kashmiri migrants.

This is the first visit of Singh to Jammu during his second term as Prime Minister.

Fatty liver increases risk of type 2 diabetes

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Los Angeles, February 28: Individuals with fatty liver were five times more likely to develop type 2 diabetes than those without fatty liver, researchers at Stanford University in California said.

This new finding was published by the American Association for the Advancement of Science on its website.

The researchers examined 11,091 Koreans who had a medical evaluation including fasting insulin concentration and abdominal ultrasound at baseline and had a follow-up after five years.

U.K. freezes Qadhafi’s assets

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Libya, February 28: A Libyan woman prays in front of the former Royal flag during a demonstration against Libyan leader Muammar Qadhafi in Benghazi, Libya, on Sunday.
Britain has frozen assets, worth about 20 billion pounds, that Libyan leader Muammar Qadhafi and his family held in the country.

“I have taken action today to freeze the assets of Qadhafi and his family so that they cannot be used against the interests of the Libyan people,” Britain’s Chancellor of Exchequer George Osborne said.

Parasnis named Maha DGP; Patnaik is new Mumbai Police chief

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Mumbai, February 28:In a reshuffle in the top rankingIPS officers, Maharashtra Government today appointed AjitParasnis as Director General of Police (DGP), while ArupPatnaik is the new Mumbai Police Commissioner.

The 1976-batch IPS officer Parasnis was DirectorGeneral (Home Guards) being before shifted to the top post,while Patnaik was Additional Director General (HighwayTraffic).

Parasnis is the new DGP, while Arup Patnaik has beenappointed Mumbai Police Commissioner,” Home Minister R R Patiltold PTI.

Berlusconi back on trial

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Washington, February 28: Minister Silvio Berlusconi was back before the courts on Monday on charges of tax fraud. This is one of four court cases slated to be resumed after Italy’s Constitutional Court last year stripped him of automatic immunity while in office.

Karunanidhi welcomes, Jayalalithaa slams budget

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Chennai, February 28: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi praised the budget for 2011-12 presented by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee in parliament Monday as being growth oriented but AIADMK general secretary J. Jayalalithaa termed it a damp squib.

“The budget will take forward the country’s economic growth in a steady pace,” Karunanidhi said in a statement issued here.

According to him, the budget has schemes for increasing farm productivity, reducing wastage, improving storage facilities and providing credit to farmers.

Helicopter crashes on New Zealand’s North Island beach

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Wellington, February 28: A helicopter crashed on a beach north of New Zealand’s North Island town of Levin on Monday.

The chopper came down on Hokio Beach, 10km north west of Levin, Police Central Communications Inspector Ian Harris said.

The number of people on board and their conditions were still unknown, he said.

——Agencies