Month: March 2011

Won’t share stage with NSA: Geelani

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Srinagar, March 07: Hardline separatist leader Syed Ali Geelani has declined to attend the India Today conclave in Delhi, saying he cannot share the stage with India’s National Security Advisor (NSA) Shivshankar Menon.

Speaking to mediapersons late Sunday evening, Geelani said: “I cannot share the stage with officials of the Indian government, including its National Security Advisor Shivshankar Menon, unless my six conditions to create a conducive atmosphere for a dialogue are met.”

Lok Sabha pays tribute to Arjun Singh

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New Delhi, March 07: Mourning the death of Congress leader Arjun Singh, Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar Monday said the country had lost an accomplished parliamentarian and a distinguished leader.

Singh, 80, a former union minister and three-time Madhya Pradesh chief minister, died following a cardiac arrest here Friday.

The house mourned his demise and MPs stood in silence as a mark of respect.

Feyadh hints unity govt. with Hamas

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Gaza, March 07: Palestinian Authority (PA) caretaker Prime Minister Salam Feyadh has said that Palestinians should form a unity government with the participation of both Hamas and Fatah.

Feyadh said that he had reached the conclusion after studying the faults that led to the collapse of the unity government between the Hamas resistance movement and Fatah in 2007.

The unity government fell in June 2007 “due to the absence of a clear security vision,” Feyadh opined during an interview with Xinhua on Sunday.

Pietersen out of the World Cup

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Chennai, March 07: England”s World Cup campaign was today dealt a massive blow when star batsman Kevin Pietersen was ruled out of the event due to a hernia injury.

The explosive right-hander, who was recently promoted to the opening slot, was in discomfort during England”s narrow six-run win over South Africa yesterday. The England Cricket Board had earlier announced that Pietersen would undergo a hernia surgery after the team”s World Cup campaign but the operation has been advanced now, a team spokesman said.

Moroccan protests demand reforms

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Morocco, March 07: Hundreds of pro-democracy protesters have held a rally outside Morocco’s parliament building, calling for political reforms in the northwest African kingdom.

Human rights activists and the capital city’s youths participated in the peaceful protest that began in the center of Rabat on Sunday.

Demonstrations were also held in Morocco’s biggest city Casablanca and the northern port of Tangiers, AFP reported.

French far right surges, as Sarkozy spurs Islam debate

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Paris, March o7: A shock poll showed far-right champion Marine Le Pen leading the race for the French presidency on Sunday, as incumbent Nicolas Sarkozy faced claims he is fuelling anti-Muslim sentiment.

An opinion poll conducted by Harris Interactive for Le Parisien newspaper put the National Front leader Le Pen’s likely support in next year’s vote at 23 percent, against 21 percent for the centre-right’s Sarkozy.

B’desh HC to deliver verdict on Yunus today

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Dhaka, March 07: Bangladesh High Court is expected to deliver its verdict on Monday on a petition by Nobel laureate and micro-financier Muhammad Yunus challenging the legality of a central bank order removing him as the chief of the Grameen Bank.

“We would make our submission when the court would reconvene,” Bangladesh Attorney General Mahbub-e-Alam said. The two-member bench comprising judges Momtaz Uddin Ahmed and Gobinda Chandra Tagore adjourned the court after more than two hours of hearing.

Al Qaeda routing money to India via Europe

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New Delhi, March 07: European countries are being used as hot destinations by terror group al Qaeda to route money to India, according to a report by Peruvian Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU).

The report said the FIU had found at least one case of such suspicious transaction by al Qaeda every month and shared them with the US investigators.

SC rejects Aruna’s mercy killing plea

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New Delhi, January 07: The Supreme Court on Monday rejected Aruna Shanbaug’s mercy killing plea. She has been living in a vegetative state for the last 37 years after a brutal sexual assault.

Aruna Shanbaug was working as a nurse at Mumbai’s KEM Hospital when on the night of November 27, 1973, Sohanlal Bhartha Walmiki, a ward boy at the hospital, attacked and sodomised her in the hospital basement.

The attack left her cortically blind, that means she can see, but her brain does not register the sight. The convicted ward boy was let off after seven years of imprisonment.

US Muslim group offers reward in shooting of two Sikhs

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Washington, March 07: A Muslim civil rights group has announced a $5,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of the person who shot two elderly Sikh men, killing one, in a Northern California suburb.

The Sacramento Valley chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) noted the possibility that a hate crime was committed against the victims who were out for a walk in Elk Grove when they were attacked around 4:30 p.m. Friday.

DMK ministers arrive in Delhi, say will resign

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New Delhi, March 07: Union ministers belonging to the DMK arrived here Monday morning, two days after the party decided to to pull out from the Manmohan Singh government, even as hectic talks with the Congress leadership continued.

While D. Napoleon, one of the ministers, told reporters that the DMK’s six ministers would submit their resignation to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, there was no confirmation from the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) about an appointment with them.

“We have no information yet on an appointment,” said a PMO official.

Bush was right to engage Gaddafi: Ex-aide

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Washington, March 07: A top official in the Bush administration on Sunday defended US engagement in years past with Libya’s Muammar Gaddafi, saying doing so got weapons of mass destruction out of the hands of a “megalomaniac”.

Washington, which had isolated Tripoli for decades in the aftermath of terror attacks on Americans blamed on Gaddafi’s regime, launched a tentative rapprochement with Libya nearly a decade ago which eventually led to normalisation of diplomatic relations after Gaddafi renounced nuclear weapons.

Defence Secretary Robert Gates in Kabul to assess Afghan war

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Washington, March 07: US Defence Secretary Robert Gates has flown into Kabul to assess the US-led war effort amid tensions with Afghan President Hamid Karzai over the deaths of nine children in a NATO air strike.

In an unannounced trip, Defence Secretary Gates planned to visit troops in Afghanistan’s east and south and confer with Karzai and top commander General David Petraeus, press secretary Geoff Morrell told reporters travelling with the Pentagon chief today.

Sensex down 262 points on political worries

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Mumbai, March 07: The Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex fell by over 262 points in the early trade on Monday on fresh spell of sell-off by funds, triggered by political worries and a weak trend on other Asian bourses.

The 30-share barometer, which shed 3.31 points in the previous session, plunged 262.29 points or 1.42 per cent to 18,224.16 on the back of losses in auto, banking, metals, oil and gas, and IT sector stocks in the first few minutes of trade.

Pranab appeals to DMK; patch-up unlikely

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Chennai, March 07: The DMK-Congress alliance appeared headed for a break with six Union Ministers of the regional party set to resign on Monday even as Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee appealed to Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi to reconsider his decision to pull out of the UPA Government.

The DMK Parliamentary Party leader T.R. Baalu said that Mr. Mukherjee called him on Sunday night to convey to Mr. Karunanidhi that he and the party should review the decision to pull out of the government.

Mulayam Singh, son Akhilesh under house arrest in Lucknow

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Lucknow, March 07: Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Mulayam Singh Yadav and his son, party state president Akhilesh Yadav, were Monday put under house arrest ahead of the agitation against Uttar Pradesh’s ruling Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), party officials said.

“Both of them have been put under house arrest at the behest of the state government that wants to gag every voice against its misrule,” SP spokesperson Rajendra Chaudhary told reporters here.

6,000 hectares of poppy destroyed in Myanmar

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Yangon, March 07: A total of 6,083 hectares of poppy plantation grown illegally in Myanmar were destroyed in the 2010-11 cultivation season, a media report said Monday.

The illicit plantations were destroyed by the authorities from Sep 1, 2010 to Feb 27, 2011, Xinhua reported citing the official New Light of Myanmar daily.

In December 2009, Myanmar burned $93 million worth of seized narcotic drugs in the eastern state of Shan. The burned drugs included seven million tablets of stimulants, 819 kg heroin, 156 kg opium and 10 kg Ice.

Australia lags behind Thailand on women bosses – study

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Melbourne, March 07: Australia has more women in senior management jobs than the global average, but it is still streets behind the world’s forerunner, Thailand.

Research by business consultant Grant Thornton has found that the number of women holding senior management positions in Australian privately held businesses has grown 4 per cent since 2009.

It found that 27 per cent of senior positions are held by women, ahead of the global average of 20 per cent.

But the consultant says there is still significant work to be done.

SC to decide on Aruna Shanbaug’s mercy killing plea on Monday

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New Delhi, March 07: The Supreme Court will deliver its verdict in Nurse Aruna Shanbaug’s mercy killing petition on Monday. She has been lying in a “persistent vegetative state” in Mumbai’s King Edward Memorial Hospital for over 37 years.

A bench of Justice Markandey Katju and Justice Gyan Sudha Misra, while deciding a petition seeking the nurse’s mercy killing, may either lay down rules for passive euthanasia to guard against abuse or reject the plea to remove the life support system of comatose Aruna Shanbaug (62), a rape victim, to end her life.

Hawaii volcano spews lava 20 metres high

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Hawaii, March 07: A New vent has opened at one of the world’s most active volcanoes, sending lava shooting up to 20 metres high, scientists at Kilauea volcano said today.

The Hawaiian Volcano Observatory said the fissure eruption was spotted shortly after the floor at the Pu’u O’o crater collapsed around 5pm local time on Saturday. It occurred along the middle of Kilauea’s east rift zone, about 3.2 kilometres west of Pu’u O’o.

Sydney-Melbourne rail line closed by crash

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Melbourne, March 07: The main Sydney to Melbourne rail line has been closed after a fatal car crash in southern New South Wales.

Emergency services were called to a level crossing 5km northeast of Bethungra at 5.23am (AEDT) today after initial reports that a car had rolled over and damaged signal lights.

They found two cars involved in the accident at the crossing, with one person dead and another hurt and trapped.

A police spokeswoman was unable to give details of the age or gender of those involved.

Woman dressed as dead mum arrested in pension plot

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Washington, March 07: Authorities say a Washington state woman suspected of pension fraud was arrested when she tried to open a bank account in her dead mother’s name while disguised as her mother.

Whatcom County Sheriff Bill Elfo says 59-year-old Loewen B Craft was wearing a grey wig and makeup to make her look older when she arrived this week at a credit union branch in Ferndale, Washington.

The sheriff alleges Craft fraudulently collected more than $145,000 in pension benefits since her mother, Betty Becker, died in 2007.

Apology for Afghan deaths ‘not enough’

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Kabul, March 07: Afghan President Hamid Karzai has told US General David Petraeus, the commander of international troops, that his apology after nine children died in a NATO air strike is “not enough”.

Hundreds of angry demonstrators also rallied in central Kabul today over the deaths in an air raid by coalition helicopters in the eastern province of Kunar on Tuesday.

NATO’s International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said the children – who were collecting firewood in the province’s Dar-e-Pech district when they were killed – were mistaken for rebels.

Australia poised to boost aid to Egypt

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Melbourne, March 07: Australia is poised to boost aid to Egypt after the democratic uprising that forced President Hosni Mubarak from power.

Following Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd’s recent visit to Cairo, Prime Minister Julia Gillard is expected to discuss the issue with US President Barack Obama at the White House on Monday morning (Washington time).

Mr Rudd has warned the fragile peace in Egypt could end unless international action is taken to stabilise the country.

Salman`s Being Human to help create bone marrow registry

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Mumbai, March 07: Bollywood star Salman Khan`s charitable organisation Being Human has teamed up with Marrow Donor Registry India (MDRI) to create a world-class registry of marrow donors in India.

However, for the registry to be functional, more than one lakh donors need to be registered. People from the age group of 18-50 years are eligible for donor recruitment.