Month: March 2011

Atleast 40 South Korean websites hacked

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Seoul, March 04: At least 40 South Korean websites, including that of the presidential office, were hacked Friday morning, a media report said.

The cyber attack began at 10 a.m. Friday, and hit the websites of presidential office Cheong Wa Dae, the ministry of foreign affairs and trade and top lender Kookmin Bank.

The attacks were in the form of distributed denial-of-service (DDoS), Xinhua reported citing Yonhap news agency.

AhnLab, South Korea’s top information security company, said additional attacks were expected to come at 6.30 p.m. Friday.

Marriage is only for a man and a woman: Julia Gillard

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Sydney, March 04: Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard has reiterated her rejection of gay marriages.

Her comments have come amid division within Labor party’s powerful Right faction, with Australian Workers Union national secretary Paul Howes Thursday backing gay marriage, putting himself at odds with other key right-wing powerbrokers, The Australian reported Friday.

On Wednesday, Gillard said she could overturn an earlier Labor decision, to back a Bill put forward by Australian Greens leader Bob Brown that would remove the ability of ministers to overturn territories’ laws.

Cash-in-bag scam: On day of retirement, CBI files chargesheet against judge

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Chandigarh, March 04: A day after the retirement of Justice Nirmal Yadav from the Uttrakhand High Court, the CBI on Friday filed a chargesheet in connection with her alleged involvement in the cash-in-bag scam that had rocked the entire judiciary in 2008.

The chargesheet was filed by the CBI on Friday morning at around 11.30 before the special judge Ritu Tagore of the designated CBI court. In the charge sheet, CBI has charged Justice Yadav under section 11 & 12 of Prevention of Corruption Act (PCA), section 120B of IPC and for destruction of evidence.

Another Sex Scandal

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Jabalpur, March 04: Two officials of Jabalpur University have been arrested in connection with an alleged sex-for-marks scandal.

Controller of Examination Prof S S Rana and Deputy Registrar R S Kakodia of Rani Durgawati Vishwavidyalaya were arrested on March 1, police said.

Earlier one Raju Khan was arrested in this case while two other accused — Prerna Atwal, a student, and one Ajay Khandelwal — are absconding, police said.

India’s mobile subscribers at 771.18 million

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New Delhi, March 04: The number of mobile subscribers in the country touched the 771.18 million figure by January end, with the addition of 18.99 million connections in the month, official data shows.

According to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), the wireless user base grew 2.52 percent to 771.18 million in January from 752.19 million in the previous month.

The report said that while the share of urban subscribers declined to 66.42 percent from 66.65 percent in the month, the share of rural subscribers increased from 33.35 percent to 33.58.

Report: Maliki Using Special Forces to Shut Down Protests

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Baghdad, March 04: Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s insistences that the violent moves against protesters were just a function of overzealous security forces is falling apart tonight, on the eve of what is expected to be another Friday filled with nationwide rallies.

That is because reports from the scenes of some of the protests, particularly in the Sunni part of the country, say that a special forces unit loyal to Maliki has been showing up at protests, beating demonstrators and journalists, and rounding up protest leaders to be held in detention centers.

Suicide bombing at Iraqi bank kills 10

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Baghdad, March 04: At least ten people were killed and 26 injured on Thursday in a suicide bombing at a bank in the Iraqi city of al- Haditha, security sources said.

The bombing took place as Iraqi soldiers gathered to collect their salaries at the state-owned bank in al-Haditha, some 120 kilometres west of Baghdad.

At least six of the people killed were soldiers.

–Agencies

Oprah Winfrey to host live show from Cairo’s Tahrir Square

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Cairo, March 04: Oprah Winfrey will take her talk show to Egypt, broadcasting live from Cairo’s Tahrir (Liberation) Square, the flash point of a revolution that brought down former president Hosni Mubarak, according to unconfirmed reports.

Al Arabiya television, citing the country’s new Minister of Tourism, Mounir Fakhry Abdel Nour, reported that Oprah will film a special on the pro-reform movement in March, at a date yet to be set.

According to Abdel Nour, Oprah was looking forward to discussing the revolution with young Egyptians.

‘Surge’ Hasn’t Slowed Onslaught of Afghan Bombs

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Kabul, March 04: The leader of the Pentagon’s $19 billion bomb squad has many ways to measure how the war in Afghanistan is going. One is to count the number of things that go boom. And by that measure, the war isn’t going well at all – despite a “surge” of thousands of fresh American troops and a fresh strategy that puts a premium on wiping out militant networks.

Maliki Demands Kurdistan Withdraw Troops From Kirkuk

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Baghdad, March 04: Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki today demanded that the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) order the withdrawal of thousands of Peshmerga soldiers from the northern city of Kirkuk, saying the troops occupied the city without central government permission.

The Peshmerga entered the city nominally to protect its ethnic Kurdish population from the growing public protests, but the addition of 12,000 Kurdish soldiers to the city, which lies outside of Kurdistan’s direct control, has also concerned the local Arab population.

‘If the Americans Come, They Would Steal our Revolution’

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Tripoli, March 04: Far from raising the white flag, Gadhafi’s troops are continuing to fight against the opposition in eastern Libya in order to maintain control of the country’s crucial oil facilities along the Bay of Sirt. Opposition fighters claim they have driven back their attackers, but the battle is far from finished.

NGO demands ban on sale of single cigarettes

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Panaji, March 04: An anti-tobacco organisation has requested Goa Chief Minister Digambar Kamat to ban the sale of single cigarettes (as opposed to cigarettes packets) and increase tax levels by more than 10 percent on tobacco products in the annual budget this year.

Speaking to reporters at a press conference here, National Organisation for Tobacco Eradication (NOTE) General Secretary Shekhar Salkar said he had submitted a representation to Kamat to this effect.

British MPs seek Taliban talks

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London, March 04: Senior British lawmakers have called on the government to abandon its dangerous military approach and engage in serious talk with the Taliban in Afghanistan.

Members of Foreign Affairs Committee at the Commons urged Britain and the UK to start serious negotiations with the Taliban rather than launching a “full-scale counter-insurgency campaign” against them.

U.S. troops arrive in Greece in Libya buildup

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Athens, March 04: Some 400 U.S. Marines arrived at an American naval base in Greece in a buildup of U.S. forces around revolt-torn Libya, even as European governments shied away Thursday from possible military action.

U.S. amphibious assault ship USS Kearsarge sails through the Suez canal Wednesday in Ismailia , Egypt. Two U.S. warships have entered the Suez Canal, moving closer to the Libyan coast.

Congress’ Telangana MPs sport black bands in Lok Sabha

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New Delhi, March 04: Congress MPs from Telangana Friday appeared in the Lok Sabha with black bands around their mouths to indicate that there was a gag order on their speaking about separate statehood for the region in Andhra Pradesh.

The Telangana issue disrupted house proceedings for the second day as the Congress MPs, including Madhu Goud Yakshi, M. Jagannathan, Ponnam Prabhakar, Sarvey Satyanarayana, K. Rajagopal Reddy and G. Vivekananda, protested silently.

ILO to mark 100th International Women’s Day

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Geneva, March 04: The International Labour Organisation (ILO) will mark the centenary of International Women’s Day next week.

To commemorate Women’s Day in India, ILO will organise a Women’s Mela in collaboration with Tamil Nadu Trade Unions Joint Action Forum (JAF) consisting of representatives of the six national trade unions (AITUC, BMS, CITU, HMS, INTUC and LPF) March 8 at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Chennai.

Lady Gaga struts down the runway at Paris Fashion Week

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Paris, March 04:: As if the fashion world hasn’t had enough to digest in recent days, with the sacking of Dior designer John Galliano over allegations he hurled anti-Semitic comments, mega-star Lady Gaga added to the insanity, making a bumping and grinding modeling debut at Mugler’s fall-winter 2011-12 ready-to-wear show on Wednesday.

Dressed in a sheer black top and painted-on pencil skirt, Gaga drew on her wealth of experience with extreme footwear and managed to negotiate the towering platform shoes better than some of the models.

Warnings of military intervention in Libya

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People of Libya revolted against Colonel Gaddafi’s regime of more than four decades and now the uprising has gathered momentum. Seeing the revolt against Colonel Gaddafi, America and other western forces want to take advantage from the situation and they are gearing up for military intervention in Libya. These countries openly warn of military intervention.

Libya’s tribes rise up against Gadhafi

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Tripoli, March 04: Soon after the Libyan rebellion escalated, a senior member of the nation’s powerful Warfallah tribe announced it would no longer support Moammar Gadhafi, saying that “he is no longer a brother.”

The Zawiya tribe, based in a petroleum-rich region in the east, threatened to cut off oil flow. The Bani Walid tribe decided to withdraw its men from the regime’s security brigades. And the influential Zintan tribe, allied in the past to Gadhafi’s own tribe, broadcast a statement of support for the opposition.

Obama: US Ready to ‘Act Rapidly’ Against Libya

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Tripoli, March 04: In some of his most specific comments yet, Barack Obama insisted that the deployment of a growing number of US forces around the Libyan border was to allow the US to ‘act rapidly’ if he decided to launch an attack.

Obama also said that the military aircraft deployed to the region would be used to move refugees around, with the US forces being used to transfer Egyptian refugees who fled into Tunisia back to Egypt.

Bahrain opposition eyes meaningful dialogue

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Manama, March 04: Opposition parties moved closer Thursday toward opening a dialogue with the government after days of protest. However, opposition leaders want the dialogue to be meaningful and substantial.

The move comes after a series of confidence-building measures that the government took since the protests broke out two weeks ago. The government sacked three ministers, released a number of political prisoners and allowed the protesters to continue their marches and sit-ins around the popular Pearl Roundabout.

Extra security for Bhatti could have been saved his life

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Islamabad, March 04: Without blaming the Pakistani government, Toronto-based Peter Bhatti, brother of slain Pakistan federal minister for minorities Shahbaz Bhatti, Thursday said extra security for his brother could have saved his life.

Bhatti, who was also the founder-chairman of the All Pakistan Minorities Alliance, was gunned down by the Pakistan Taliban Tuesday for speaking out against blasphemy laws which mandate death for insulting Islam and are misused against minorities.

Three held for beating north Indian to death

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Erode, March 04: Three men were arrested today for allegedly murdering an unidentified 30-year north Indian after suspecting him to be a thief in Vandipalayam suburb of the district here, police said.

The victim, suspected to belong to Maharashtra, but whose identity is yet to be established, was found dead yesterday after a Vandipalayam resident whose door he knocked at late on Wednesday, who took him to be a thief and raised an alarm, they said.

NRIs want to vote, but through postal ballot

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Washington, March 04: Indians in America have welcomed the Election Commission’s move to permit non-resident Indians to vote back home, but feel it would be a tough call to go to India just to vote.

Instead NRIs should be allowed to vote by postal ballot, electronically or at Indian missions abroad. They could also be given separate representation in the Indian parliament, community leaders told IANS.

We want a grand alliance: Trinamool leader Partha Chatterjee

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Kolkata, March 04: While exuding confidence of getting an absolute majority on its own in the West Bengal elections, the main opposition Trinamool Congress says it still favours a “grand alliance” of secular and progressive forces to decimate the ruling Left Front.

“We are not merely hopeful. We are sure of winning an absolute majority, judging by the mood and pulse of the people and because of the Left Front’s misrule for over three decades,” Trinamool leader Partha Chatterjee told IANS in an interview.