New Delhi, February 01: In a move that is sure to meet protests and criticism, the government is planning to allow 12-year-old children to have non-penetrative sex with children of their age.
The proposal is part of the draft Protection of Children From Sexual Offences Bill, 2010, which has been forwarded to states by the Ministry of Women and Child Development to seek their views, a leading news daily reported on Tuesday.
Cairo, February 01: A sea of protesters flooded downtown Cairo on Monday, brushing aside concessions by President Hosni Mubarak and vowing to topple his regime with strikes and million-strong marches in the capital and Alexandria.
In what is seen as a sop to the protesters, a new cabinet line-up was announced in which widely hated interior minister Habib al-Adly and the previous finance and culture ministers were axed. But protesters massed in downtown Cairo vowed they would only be satisfied when Mubarak quits, and promised to step up their efforts to bring down his creaking regime.
Tehran, February 01: Millions of Iranians across the country are to open celebrations, marking the 32nd anniversary of the victory of the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
The ceremonies kick off all over the country on Tuesday morning at 9:33 a.m. local time (0603 GMT), the time when the late founder of the Islamic Revolution, Imam Khomeini, returned to the Iranian capital, Tehran, on February 1, 1979 from a 14-year exile in Paris.
Gaza, February 01: Palestinian activists jailed in Egypt have been reunited with their families after liberation from a prison, amid anti-government protests across the North African country.
The activists jailed by the Mubarak regime managed to escape Abu Zaabal prison on the outskirts of the Egyptian capital, Cairo, over the past two days and reached the Gaza Strip through the underground tunnels between Gaza and Egypt, a Press TV correspondent reported.
Washington, February 01: Washington and the European Union have imposed sanctions on Belarus after President Alexander Lukashenko was sworn in for the fourth time following a victory in the January election.
The US State Department slapped several Belarusian officials on Monday with a round of sanctions, including visa bans and asset freezes, Russia’s state-run RIA Novosti news agency reported.
New Jersey, February 01: A massive winter storm coupled with strong winds has struck much of the United States, sweeping through the western Rocky Mountains to northeastern New England.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) issued a blizzard warning and hazardous weather outlook on Monday for more than 25 states, AFP reported.
“A storm of this size and scope needs to be taken seriously,” said FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate, urging residents to prepare in earnest for snow, ice and cold. “It’s critical that the public does its part to get ready.”
Beirut, February 01: Israel has escalated its military presence near the southern Lebanese border, stepping up their surveillance activities along the Lebanese frontier, reports say.
Israeli forces patrolled the border on Sunday, carrying out maintenance work at several positions from which they monitor Lebanon, reported pan-Arabic newspaper Asharq al-Awsat.
On one occasion, a three-vehicle patrol spent more than half an hour watching Lebanese farmers at the southern village of Abbasiyyeh.
Ethopia, February 01: African leaders have set a one-month deadline for resolving Ivory Coast’s political crisis as they wrap up a two-day African summit in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa.
The African Union (AU) appointed on Monday a five-member panel of heads of states tasked with finding a solution to the leadership crisis in Ivory Coast within a month, AFP reported.
Mauritanian President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz will head the panel, which also includes his counterparts from Burkina Faso, Chad, South Africa and Tanzania.
Tehran, February 01: Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has hailed Iran’s Islamic Revolution, saying it has launched a new era in the Middle East.
“It is a new era, but it did not start now. It started with the Iranian revolution,” said Assad in an interview with The Wall Street Journal, which appeared on the US daily on Monday.
“What is new is that it is happening inside independent countries in the Arab world,” he underlined.
New Delhi, February 01: Home Minister P Chidambaram said that India saw two terror attacks in 2001 and that in both cases, the state governments had been warned of possible strikes. Referring to the blast at Pune’s German Bakery in February 2010, and an explosion at the Varanasi Ghats in December, he said, “In both cases, there was specific intelligence that was shared with the State Government concerned.
Moscow, February 01: Russian security forces have arrested opposition leader Eduard Limonov as hundreds of people in Moscow call on Prime Minister Vladimir Putin to step down.
Limonov and a dozen of his supporters were arrested on Monday when they tried to hold a protest near Moscow’s downtown Triumfalnaya Square despite the authorities’ refusal to sanction the rally, a Press TV correspondent reported on Monday.
Washington, February 01: The US has sent its former ambassador to Egypt, Frank Wisner, to Cairo amid rising pressure on the North African country’s incumbent President Hosni Mubarak to step down.
State Department spokesman, P.J. Crowley, said Wisner “has the opportunity to gain a perspective on what they’re thinking and what their ideas are in terms of process that we’ve clearly called for.”
Washington, February 01: Pakistan’s determination to add considerably to its nuclear arsenal – mostly to deter India – has become yet another irritant in its often testy relationship with Washington, the New York Times reported Tuesday.
A day after the Washington Post, citing non-government analysts, said Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal now numbered more than 100 deployed weapons, the Times said new American intelligence assessments have concluded that Pakistan has steadily expanded its nuclear arsenal since President Barack Obama came to office.
New Delhi, February 01: The controversy surrounding Maulana Ghulam Mohammed Vastanvi, elected as vice chancellor of Darul Uloom in Deoband, a leading school of Islamic theology with followers across the world, would need to be viewed in the larger context of modernisation of education for India’s 160 million Muslims.
London/Rome, February 01: Small-time actresses and showgirls, who are at the centre of the prostitution scandal involving Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, have complained of losing their works because of the notoriety of the case, a media report here said.
Berlusconi, 74, is alleged to have paid “several” women for sex during wild “bunga bunga” parties at his palazzo outside Milan — a charge that almost all of them have denied, the Daily Telegraph reported Monday.
Mogadishu, February 01: At least 17 people have lost their lives and more than 60 others have been wounded in a shooting incident in the Somali capital of Mogadishu.
The incident happened on Monday when a soldier fired on a crowd with an anti-aircraft machinegun, a Media correspondent quoted witnesses as saying.
The soldier is said to have accidentally triggered the large-caliber machinegun after a quarrel with other soldiers.
It was not immediately clear what caused the dispute among the soldiers.
Cairo, February 01: Oil prices have climbed to above 100 dollar per barrel for the first time in two years as concerns grow over a disruption of crude flows through Egypt’s Suez Canal.
London’s Brent North Sea crude for March delivery topped 101 dollars a barrel on Monday for the first time since the 2008 economic crisis.
Meanwhile, the US crude surged by over two dollars to settle around 92 dollars a barrel.
The hike came after the head of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) warned about a real supply shortage.
Beijing, February 01: United States’ Ambassador to China Jon Huntsman is planning to leave his post in an attempt to lay the groundwork for his presidential ambitions, reports say.
“Ambassador Huntsman has told several people inside this building that he plans to leave during the first part of this year,” Reuters quoted White House spokesman Robert Gibbs as saying on Monday.
Beirut, Feburuary 01: Lebanese, Egyptians and Tunisians have taken to the streets of Lebanon’s capital, Beirut, urging Egypt’s unpopular President Mohamed Hosni Mubarak to step down.
Scores of people led by students gathered in front of Egypt’s embassy in Beirut on Sunday, coincidental with a nationwide anti-government uprising in the North African country, AFP reported.
“Mubarak is an Israeli puppet,” chanted the rallies who carried banners reading “Egypt is free and not an Arab kingdom” and “Who is responsible for the blood of the martyrs among protesters?”
Mumbai, February 01: Actress Pooja Bedi is upbeat about her comeback to Telugu cinema. Nearly two decades after featuring in Chittemma Mogudu alongside Mohan Babu, she will now be seen as an Egyptian princess in Junior NTR-starrer Shakti.
Islamabad, February 01: Pakistan Interior Minister Rehman Malik on Monday welcomed his Indian counterpart P. Chidambaram’s statement that New Delhi would share details of the investigation into the Samjhauta Express blast with Pakistan once the probe is over.
A day after Mr. Chidambaram made the remarks in Davos, Mr. Malik responded on Twitter: “I welcome the statement of H. E. Mr. Chidambaram on Samjhauta Express investigations to be shared with Pak.”
Dubai, February 01: UAE federal ministries and departments will have Thursday,17 February 2011, corresponding to 14 Rabi Al Awwal 1432 Hijri as a public holiday to mark Milad Al Nabi.
The holiday to mark the birthday of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), will be now on Thursday instead of Tuesday, 15 February 2011, corresponding to 12 Rabi Al Awwal 1432 Hijri.
The public holiday was declared as per a circular on Monday by Humaid Mohammad Obaid Al Qattami, Minister of Education and Chairman of the Board of the Federal Authority for Human Resources.
Dubai, February 01: Three Dubai-Sharjah were scrapped for lukewarm response from commuters, a senior Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) official said.
The scrapped routes are: Route 301 which runs between Al Rashidiya Metro Station in Dubai and Al Jubail Station in Sharjah, Route 308 which connects Jebel Ali Metro Station in Dubai to Al Jubail Station in Sharjah, and Route 309 that shuttles between Al Qouz Industrial Area and Al Waha Village to Al Jubail Station in Sharjah.
Dubai, February 01: Dubai Financial Market announced on Monday its full readiness to introduce the new settlement mechanism, Delivery versus Payment (DvP), by March.
DFM has completed all the technical requirements to apply DvP in coordination with custodians and brokerage firms. The exchange is poised to be at the forefront of regional markets to adopt DvP before the end of the first quarter 2011, according to a DFM statement.
Jerusalem, February 01: Energy saving light bulbs could result in higher breast cancer rates if used late at night.
Abraham Haim, professor of biology at Haifa University in Israel, said that the bluer light that compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) emitted, closely mimicked daylight.
But the flip side is it disrupted the body’s production of the hormone melatonin more than older-style filament bulbs, which cast a yellower light, the journal Chronobiology International reports.