Ramallah, February 28: Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Monday said there is an international consensus against construction of settlement, when 14 countries in the Security Council voted against it.
Abbas told reporters as he met with Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt in Ramallah that the 14 countries representing the international community in the Security Council condemned settlements and called for halting it.
Beijing, February 28: China has sent four military transporters to bring home its nationals from Libya, the information office of the Chinese Ministry of National Defense confirmed on Monday.
The Il-76 transport aircraft were dispatched to the conflict-ridden north African country Monday with the approval of China’s Central Military Commission, an office official said.
Meanwhile, a Chinese navy frigate of the “Xuzhou” fleet, which had been conducting an escort mission in the Gulf of Aden, traversed the Suez Canal into the Mediterranean Sea Sunday.
Hyderabad, February 28: The South Central Railway (SCR) Monday night cancelled 23 trains between Hyderabad and other destinations in view of Tuesday’s rail blockade in Telangana called by groups demanding separate statehood for the region.
Hyderabad-Delhi AP Express, Yeshwantpur-Secunderabad Garib Rath, Vijayawada-Secunderabad Satavahana Express, Guntur-Vikarabad Palnadu Express, Tirupati-Hyderabad Rayalaseema Express, Guntur-Secunderabad Golconda Express and Gudur-Secunderabad Simhapur Express are among the key trains cancelled.
Hyderabad, February 28: A series of T agitational programmes are lined up in March. Employees of the region, who started a non-cooperation movement from February 17, have now given a new deadline of March 5 to the Centre to introduce a Bill in Parliament in favour of separate Telangana.
The TRS and T-JAC leaders met here on Sunday to discuss the month-long agitational programmes to be taken up.
Despite the threat of salary cuts and invoking of Esma, the government employees would continue their stir, the leaders said.
Jammu, February 28: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will pay a two-day visit to Jammu from Thursday during which he will inspect a township built to house migrant Kashmiri Pandit families, official sources said Monday.
During his visit, the prime minister will meet various delegations Thursday and will address the convocation of Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agriculture Sciences, Jammu. He will also visit Jagti satellite township constructed for more than 4,000 Kashmiri Pandit families.
New Delhi, February 28: The Supreme Court today granted exemption from personal appearance to TRS chief Chandrasekhar Rao, actress-turned-MP Vijayashanti and 10 others in a contempt case for “vandalising” the Andhra Pradesh high court and hurling slippers at two judges in September last over Telananga row.
One of the judges C V Nagaarjun Reddy had at that time resigned in protest but subsequently withdrew it.
New Delhi, February 28: Even as Indian diplomacy has a rising global profile, the external affairs ministry has been allocated Rs.7,106 crore (Rs.71 billion/$ 1.5 billion) for fiscal 2011-12, which is only a marginal increase from the previous year.
The expenditure budget’s revised estimates for the ministry in 2010-11 was Rs.7,120 crore, but it has recorded a slight dip for 2011-12 at Rs.7,106 crore.
Srinagar, February 28: Separatist guerrillas shot dead a contractor in north Kashmir’s Kreeri town while a powerful hand grenade blast wounded four people, including two policemen, in summer capital Srinagar Monday.
A senior police officer told IANS that guerrillas hurled a powerful hand grenade in front of the fire services headquarters in the uptown Batmallo locality here Monday evening which exploded on the road.
Chennai, February 28: Insurance companies have reacted in a varied manner to Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee’s proposals for the sector in his budget for 2011-12. Some termed it a boost for the players.
“The finance minister’s announcement that the insurance bill will be considered in this session (of parliament) is a great boost to the industry,” Nageswara Rao, CEO and MD, IDBI Federal Life Insurance Company Ltd, said.
Kolkata, February 28: Conceding that West Bengal lagged in drawing investments from the pharmaceutical sector, Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee Monday stressed the need for the growth of the biotech industry in the state.
Speaking after inaugurating the Kolkata Biotech Park at the satellite township of Salt Lake, the chief minister said: “Big medicine companies are there in the country. But in medicine, Kolkata is nowhere. That’s why we have to work in the area of biotechnology. We invite private companies to come up.
New Delhi, February 28: Pesky calls from telemarketers will continue to nag customers for some more time as the telecom regulator has extended to March 21 the deadline to curb them citing technical reasons, an official said Monday.
The delay has been caused as the allocated series has been changed from “70” to “140” for telemarketers and it will take some time to implement the change, he said.
New Delhi, February 28: Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation Minister Kumari Selja Monday said the budget for 2011-12 had created a fiscal policy environment for the growth of the housing sector and hoped that builders would use the incentives to construct affordable dwellings.
She said investment-linked tax deductions to businesses that construct affordable housing should go a long way to motivate private developers to invest in small housing.
Chandigarh, February 28: A class 12 student here Monday attempted to commit suicide by cutting the veins of his right hand after his class teacher allegedly refused to give him his roll number for the upcoming board exams, police said.
The student of the Government Model Senior Secondary School in Manimajra town, was arrested for suicide attempt, but was released on bail, police said.
Mohan Lal, a lecturer at the school, has registered a complaint against the student, the police said.
“We are recording the statements of the eye-witnesses,” a police officer said.
-Agencies
New Delhi, February 28: Over 769,929 students are set to appear in the Class 12 exam of the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) which start Tuesday, a board official said.
The Class 10 Board exams would also begin the same day.
Over 1,061,566 students will appear in Class 10 exams, almost 15 percent higher than last year, the official said Monday.
“A total of 454,131 boys and 315,798 girls will be appear in Class 12 board exams, while the Class 10 exam would be taken by 632,726 boys and 428,840 girls,” a CBSE official said.
-Agencies
New Delhi, February 28: West Indies fast bowler Kemar Roach has termed his hat-trick against the Netherlands as most “memorable” and said the side will go to Bangladesh on a high after their flawless performance in a World Cup Group B match here Monday.
The West Indies, who opened their points tally after losing the first match against South Africa, next play Bangladesh Friday. Roach, who took the sixth hat-trick of the World Cup during an impressive spell of 6-27 in 8.3 overs, said they will be going all out for a win against Bangladesh Friday.
Thiruvananthapuram, February 28: The Congress-led opposition in Kerala Monday met Governor R.S.Gavai and demanded that action be taken against Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan for trying to influence the judiciary.
Speaking to reporters after the meeting, at the governor’s official residence, Leader of Opposition Oommen Chandy said that they had placed all the evidence before Gavai.
Ayodhya, February 28: Negotiations for a peaceful out of court settlement of the Ayodhya dispute have reached their final stage and their outcome will soon be submitted before the Supreme Court, Hashim Ansari and Mahant Gyan Das, who began the process, on Monday claimed.
“The negotiation process is in the final stage and the outcome will be submitted before the Supreme Court soon, Hashim Ansari, the main petitioner in the Babri Masjid case, told PTI.
Mumbai/New Delhi, February 28: With India intensifying Operation Safe Homecoming, around 3,000 Indians are expected to be evacuated by two chartered ships in the next few days as a third batch of 68 Indians landed in Mumbai from strife-torn Libya in a Gulf Air flight Monday morning and more were expected on two special Air India flights early Tuesday.
“All 68 Indian nationals who had crossed over to Salloum (Egypt) reached Mumbai by GF-056 this morning (Monday),” the external affairs ministry said in New Delhi.
Chandigarh, February 28: A class 12 student here Monday attempted to commit suicide by cutting the veins of his right hand after his class teacher allegedly refused to give him his roll number for the upcoming board exams, police said.
The student of the Government Model Senior Secondary School in Manimajra town, was arrested for suicide attempt, but was released on bail, police said.
Mohan Lal, a lecturer at the school, has registered a complaint against the student, the police said.
“We are recording the statements of the eye-witnesses,” a police officer said.
Jammu, February 28: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will pay a two-day visit to Jammu from Thursday during which he will inspect a township built to house migrant Kashmiri Pandit families, official sources said Monday.
During his visit, the prime minister will meet various delegations Thursday and will address the convocation of Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agriculture Sciences, Jammu. He will also visit Jagti satellite township constructed for more than 4,000 Kashmiri Pandit families.
New Delhi, February 28: Even as Indian diplomacy has a rising global profile, the external affairs ministry has been allocated Rs.7,106 crore (Rs.71 billion/$ 1.5 billion) for fiscal 2011-12, which is only a marginal increase from the previous year.
The expenditure budget’s revised estimates for the ministry in 2010-11 was Rs.7,120 crore, but it has recorded a slight dip for 2011-12 at Rs.7,106 crore.
Kansas, February 28: The construction site of the new billion-dollar Honeywell plant in south Kansas City is quite the head-turner.
Workers everywhere, trucks scurrying about like mice, monster earth movers, cranes reaching to the sky and enough trailers to start a retirement community. All on 185 acres inside a perimeter fence and under a wind-whipped Old Glory.
Gaza, February 28: Checkpoint-buster program uses text messages to warn drivers of long lines ahead in West Bank.
Adopting an attitude of “If you can’t beat’em, go around’em,” Palestinian computer programmers have developed a simple text-messaging system to help cope with surprise or crowded checkpoints set up by the Israeli army across the West Bank.
Called “Ezma,” or Arabic for traffic, the program is sustained on a user-fed databank that ferries it to subscribers, much like a traffic monitoring system in other countries.
Mexico City, February 28: Suspected drug-related violence left at least 28 people dead across Mexico over the weekend, including 14 killed by gunmen in bars in the country’s north, authorities said Sunday.
In Coahuila state, across the U.S. border from Texas, nine men died late Saturday when gunmen opened fire inside two bars in separate attacks, state prosecutors said in a statement. Eleven others were wounded.
Assailants killed another five men late Saturday in a bar in the cartel-plagued border city of Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua state prosecutors’ spokesman Arturo Sandoval said.
Cairo, February 28: An international human rights group said Sunday that the two main Iranian opposition leaders and their wives are in grave danger after security forces apparently abducted them from their homes, where they were under house arrest.
The claim by the group, International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran, indicates a serious escalation in the Iranian government’s effort to silence the opposition movement that grew out of protests over the disputed presidential election in June 2009. A spokesman for one of the two men backed the rights group’s report.