Month: June 2011

US hints at prolonged Afghan occupation

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Washington, June 03: A top US general in Afghanistan has dismissed speculations that the alleged death of Osama bin Laden may result in an expedited drawdown of US forces in the country.

Deputy Commander of US Forces in Afghanistan Lieutenant General David Rodriguez told a press conference in Washington on Thursday that the Taliban could regain a foothold if Washington hastens the withdrawal of US forces in Afghanistan in the aftermath of the death of al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden, AFP reported.

TDP to move no trust motion against Andhra government

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Hyderabad, June 02: The main opposition Telugu Desam Party (TDP) in Andhra Pradesh on Thursday decided to move a no confidence motion against the state’s Congress government.

TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu told reporters that the motion is being moved on the issue of problems faced by farmers. He said his party is ready for any situation, including elections to the state assembly.

The former chief minister said the government has lost the confidence of people.

Mosque employee flees after killing boy

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Ghaziabad, June 02: An employee of a mosque in this Uttar Pradesh city neighbouring Delhi fled after allegedly killing an boy he was trying to sodomise, police said.

Mohammad Minhas, 23, a muezzin of a mosque in Shaheed Nagar area, lured an eight-year-old boy inside the premises, promising to give him toffees. The boy was further lured into his room where Minhas allegedly asked to him to take his clothes off and slashed at his throat when he did not follow his order, police said.

Other stab wounds were also found on the boy’s body.

‘India among top four wealth creators in the world’

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New Delhi, June 02: India has emerged among the four fastest wealth creator countries in the world and its growth momentum is expected to gather further steam going forward, a global study has said.

In its annual Global Wealth Report, management consulting firm Boston Consulting Group has listed the US, China, the UK and India as the nations showing the largest absolute gains in wealth in 2010.

Global wealth continued a solid recovery in 2010, driven by growth in nearly every region and registered an increase of USD 9 trillion, to a record of USD 121.8 trillion.

‘Illegal mining has its root in corruption’

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New Delhi: Admitting that illegal mining is “rampant”, the Mines Ministry has blamed corruption as one of the main reasons for the menace, which not only causes revenue loss to the exchequer but also promotes lawlessness.

“Though Section 23C of MMDR Act, 1957, empowers the state governments to frame rules to prevent illegal mining…make such rules for preventing illegal mining, transportation & storage of mineral, illegal mining is still rampant,” the Mines Ministry pointed out as areas of concern emerging during the 11th Plan.

Belgium: 80 to sue Vatican over sex abuse

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Brussels, June 02: Belgian media report that 80 people who say they were sexually abused by priests or monks plan to sue the Vatican as well as the country’s Catholic church and its highest authorities.

The announcement comes days after the Belgian church said it was willing to pay compensation to victims of sexual abuse by clergy.

Belgian newspapers are quoting two lawyers handling the suit, Walter Van Steenbrugge and Christine Mussche, as saying it will run in parallel with compensation negotiations.

Lawyer held for raping client

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New Delhi, June 02: An advocate was arrested for allegedly raping his client repeatedly for two years as a punishment for a bounced cheque, Delhi Police said Thursday.

Bhupender Singh, 61, was representing the 35-year-old victim in a case of cheating filed against her own husband.

The victim, a resident of Rani Bagh in north Delhi, has alleged that Singh continuously raped her between 2004 and 2006, said Deputy Commissioner of Police Meenu Chaudhary.

According to police, the victim, who is a home maker, had engaged Singh to fight her case in 2004.

Dead Hamza al-Khatib is the symbol of Syrian uprising

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The treatment of children has emerged as a flash point issue in the uprising against the Syrian regime after the alleged torture and killing of a 13-year-old boy.

The death of Hamza al-Khatib sparked widespread outrage after images of his tortured and mutilated body emerged on social media websites.

Hundreds of Jordanians and Syrian nationals gathered outside Syria’s embassy in Jordan on Wednesday to protest his death and the continuing crackdown on anti-government protesters.

Men raped, tortured in Bahrain

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Manama, June 02: BAHRAINI men have been raped, tortured with electric shocks and beaten by government security forces holding them without charge in recent weeks, The Times of London reports.

The men’s shocking testimonies came as the country prepared to lift its state emergency, put in place in March, after pro-democracy demonstrators occupied the Pearl Roundabout in the center of the capital, Manama, and clashed with police.

Villager rapes govt nurse in Bokaro

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Bokaro, June 02: A nurse (24) woking in a government sub-health center in Jhabra village was allegedly raped by a villager when she was on her way back home from work under Chandankyari police station here.

Police on Wednesday arrested the accused Dulal Rajwar, a labour by profession, and sent him to judicial custody. According to Bokaro SP Saket Singh an FIR has been lodged in this connection against Rajwar, a resident of Jhabra village.

Govt engages Ramdev in back-channel talks

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New Delhi, June 02: Hectic back-channel efforts were initiated on Thursday to persuade Baba Ramdev from going ahead with his indefinite hunger strike from Saturday as the Congress party held consultations at the highest level to avert a Hazare-like protest on the streets. Indications that both the sides were in serious discussions came when Ramdev called off a press conference scheduled on Thursday evening at Ramlila Maidan where he is to sit on fast two days later.

Ramdev in ‘Serious Dialogue’ With Govt

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New Delhi, June 02: Amidst speculation whether he will go ahead with his hunger strike, Baba Ramdev cancelled a press conference scheduled this evening in view of “serious dialogue” with government.

His aides notified the media about the cancellation of the press conference at Ramlila Maidan, where he is to sit on fast from Saturday, saying the yoga guru would update the media about “conclusive” outcome tomorrow.

Halal Hotels Cater to Muslim Tourists

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Cairo, June 02: In a bid to lure Muslim tourists, hotels across the Middle East are replacing traditional Western signs of luxury with others carrying Arab and Muslim touches.

“There is a growing need for Shari`ah-compliant hotels, which are sought after by Arab Muslim travelers,” Naji Morcos, director of Hodema, a Lebanese consultant company specializing in hospitality, told The Global Post on Thursday, June 2.

Tapping into a market that is largely untouched, several hotel chains are not designing entire hotels dedicated to lure Muslim guests by adhering to the Islamic rules.

Wilders calls Islam ‘an ideology of hatred’

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Holland, June 02: Geert Wilders, the inflammatory Dutch legislator charged with racial hate and discrimination for his anti-Islam comments, demanded he be acquitted Wednesday as his trial came to a close.

Wilders insisted he was “defending freedom” despite advocating a ban on the Koran and other symbols of Islamic expression. He went on trial last October for criticising Islam and likening the Koran to Hitler’s “Mein Kampf”.

Saudi to Ban Child Brides

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Riyadh, June 02: The case of a nine-year-old girl given away in marriage by her father to a 58-year-old man because of argument with his wife shocked many Saudis. Widespread media coverage brought the plight of child brides to the fore in the oil-rich Gulf kingdom where no law currently protects children like “the Unayzah girl,” as she was called after her home town, from the misery of early marriage.

Rajasthan chief minister in trouble over title

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Jaipur, June 02: For years, supporters of Ashok Gehlot have referred to him – mainly at public events – as “the Gandhi of Marwar”. But now the Chief Minister of Rajasthan has run into trouble over the title.
A question in an entrance exam at a government college in Ajmer asked students to guess “Who is the Gandhi of Marwar.” Mr Gehlot was listed as one of the options.

Scholarship hiked for Post class-X ST students

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New Delhi, June 02: The central government Thursday raised the scholarships for Scheduled Tribes students after Class 10 to encourage education after matriculation.

Home Minister P. Chidambaram announced the hike after a meeting of the union cabinet in the national capital.

“The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) has approved the revision of centrally sponsored Scheme of Post-Matric Scholarship to students belonging to Scheduled Tribes in India,” The home minister said.

Rat kills infant, mom out with friends

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Johannesburg, June 02: A baby girl died after being attacked by rats in a South African shack while her teenage mother was out with friends, local media reported on Thursday.

The dead infant was found covered in rat bites after neighbours heard her crying in pain during the night while her mother was away from the Soweto shack she shares with school friends, said The New Age newspaper.

“We were called to the scene of the death of an infant due to a rat attack on Monday morning at around 9:00 am,” said police officer Bongani Mhlongo.

CBI clean chit to Tata in 2G case

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New Delhi, June 02: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Thursday said the Tatas had done nothing wrong to get 2G licences, thus giving a clean chit to the industry group in the alleged telecom spectrum scam.

The probe agency that is looking into what is billed as one of the biggest scandals in India told a special court that Tata Teleservices Ltd. had followed all the rules and was not favoured for licenses for mobile phone services using scarce second generation radio waves.

Gujarat riots: Prosecutor withdraws resignation

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Ahmedabad, June 02: The special public prosecutor for the 2002 Dipda Darwaja massacre during the post-Godhra riots in Gujarat, P.R. Agrawal, Thursday said he has withdrawn his request for permission of the Supreme Court appointed Special Investigation Team (SIT) to resign from the case.

Agrawal said he has written a letter conveying his decision to SIT head R.K. Raghvan Tuesday and sought a personal hearing if the latter wants to consider his earlier communication.

Fox News reporter in nude pics scandal!

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New York, June 02: A Fox television reporter is suing the owner of a website for putting pornographic pictures up on the site which she claims are not her.

Lauren Lee Gauck, 29, from Memphis, says the nude photos posted on www.thedirty.com are not her and were false and defamatory.

The suit says pictures of the real Ms Gauck were juxtaposed with nude images of an unknown woman on the site.

The suit asks for $50 million in damages and seeks to bar the defendants from using Gauck’s name, image or likeness.

PM is a ‘witness’ in corruption cases, says TDP chief

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Hyderabad, June 2: (TDP) president N. Chandrababu Naidu Thursday said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has become a “witness” in the corruption scandals involving his United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government.

Addressing a news conference, he termed Singh a “weak prime minister” and said it is because of his inefficiency that one scandal after the other is taking place.

Just Married 9 times!

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Britain, June 02: A woman in Britain, in search of a perfect soulmate, has married for the ninth time as all her previous attempts failed miserably.

The longest of 56-year-old Pat Higgins’ marriages lasted five years and the shortest just five days. She spent 8,000 pounds (over $13,000) on her eighth wedding, which lasted just two months.

This time Pat has married a toyboy who is 32 years junior to her reported.

Mark Sanderson is a supermarket worker.

Interestingly, Pat is seven years elder than Mark’s mother and had been married three times before her groom was born.

Srikrishna, on how to prevent Telangana

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The Srikrishna Committee appointed to look into the demand for a separate Telengana state had submitted a “secret” second report to the Union home ministry suggesting ways and means to ensure that there is no division of Andhra Pradesh.

The secret note has gone into minute details of what needs to be done to ensure that a Telengana state is not formed, although in its public report the Committee did not rule in favour of any one option.

Ranbir Kapoor no longer a Casanova?

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Mumbai, June 02: Ever since he made his debut in Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s ‘Saawariya’, Ranbir Kapoor earned the name of a lover boy. He was then allegedly dating his on screen love interest Sonam Kapoor.