Month: July 2011

Bringing up children with proper care is the primary duty of Muslim parents. Parents should not distinguish in a discriminatory manner between their male and female children when bringing them up. However, the fact remains that girls in many Muslim communities are the victims of their parents’ bias against them.

If parents have any right to be biased, it should be in favor of girls. Almighty Allah mentioned girls first before mentioning boys while referring to His sovereign control over the universe and creation of human beings in the chapter Al-Shura (Poets).

Hyderabad, July 01: Amid demands for an early decision on the Telangana statehood issue, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy on Thursday said consultations with Congress leaders from the region were on and hoped the Centre would taken an “appropriate decision”.

Reddy parried questions on Congress lawmakers from the Telangana region giving an ultimatum to the party over the demand for a separate state, saying it was not proper for him to comment on “regional issues.”

Washington, July 01: Pakistan-based terrorist outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) poses serious threat to both India and the United States and a global effort is required to eliminate its menace, a White House report has said.

“In South Asia Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) the organisation responsible for the rampage in Mumbai in 2008 that killed over 100 people, including six Americans constitutes a formidable terrorist threat to Indian, US, and other Western interests in South Asia and potentially elsewhere,” says the National Strategy for Counter-Terrorism released by the White House on Wednesday.

Islamabad, July 01: Visiting Iranian cleric has called for unity among Muslim Ummah to counter conspiracies against Islam.

Addressing the conference on Inter Faith Harmony organized by “Idara Taqreeb-e Mazahib, Pakistan, as a chief guest Ayatollah Mohammad Ali Taskhiri, said that main challenge the Muslims are facing today is that they are divided.

The conference was organized at the evening of Eide Mabas.

‘Unity is the only weapon which can prove useful in countering the conspiracies against Islam,’ Ayatollah Taskhiri added.

Kabul, July 01: An Afghan official says a passenger bus has hit a roadside bomb in the country’s south and the blast killed 20 people.

Nimroz province’s deputy police chief, Musa Rasoli, says those on the bus were traveling on Thursday afternoon from Kandahar, the largest city in the south, to Nimroz province in southwest Afghanistan.

Rasoli says one other passenger was wounded in the explosion. It wasn’t immediately clear how many were on board.

New Delhi, July 01: There is some good news and some bad news for people using ATMs for their banking transactions from Friday.

As per an RBI directive, banks will have to credit the wrongly debited amount to the customer’s account due to failed ATM transactions within seven days of the complaint from Friday onwards, as against the current norm of 12 days.

However, the number of free transactions allowed at ATMs of banks other than where a customer holds the account would now also comprise non-financial transactions like balance inquiry.

Washington, July 01: Pakistan spy agency ISI not only aids and abets terrorist sanctuaries in the country, but also provides training and intelligence inputs to extremist outfits, a former top Pentagon General said.

Gen (rtd) Jack Keane also charged that Pakistan Army headed by General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani, who once headed ISI, has been repeatedly lying to the United States on the matter.

But still, the retired American General argued that the US has no other option but to have strategic partnership with Pakistan, given its significance in the war against terrorism.

Raigarh, July 01: A 25-year-old man was arrested for allegedly raping an elderly woman when she was alone at home, police said today.

Krishna Sidar had gone to see one Anil Yadav at his home in Atarmuda village in the district on Tuesday but he happened to be away. Finding Ydava’s 65-year-old mother-in-law alone at home, Sidar raped her, they said.

The woman recounted the incident to his son-in-law when he returned. He reported the matter to the police and Sidar was arrested, they said.

–PTI–

Being an Islamic state, our religion forbids all those acts that physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually may hurt or harm the other. Domestic violence, rape and incest are all violent and criminal abuses that are outside the bounds of what is permitted in Islam and there is absolutely no justification for it whatsoever. To fully understand this issue we need to examine what Islam teaches us about the value of human life.

Cairo, July 01: The daughter of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi says both direct and indirect negotiations are being held between her father’s authorities and Libyan rebels.

Aisha Gaddafi didn’t elaborate during the France-2 network interview aired on French television on Thursday night.

But she added to end the spilling of Libyan blood “we are ready to ally ourselves with the devil, with the rebel army”.

During the translated interview filmed in a Tripoli hotel Aisha Gaddafi said her father remains “strong” and cannot leave the land where he is “a symbol, a guide”.

Washington, July 01: Terming the killing of Osama bin Laden as one of the “greatest successes” in the CIA’s history, its outgoing Director Leon Panetta said that the agency is now much stronger and better prepared for the challenges and opportunities.

Panetta now heads to Pentagon as the Defense Secretary. As Central Intelligence Agency(CIA) head in the last 28 months, Panetta oversaw the agency pass through different phases, from its seven officials being killed by al Qaeda terrorists in Afghanistan to the successful daring raid on May 2 in Abbottabad that killed the Al-Qaeda chief.

Mumbai, July 01: Maharashtra Home Minister R R Patil on Thursday presented a reward of Rs 10 lakh to the 55-member team of Mumbai police who cracked the journalist Jyotirmoy Dey murder case, arresting seven persons. If divided equally, each team-member would get an approximate Rs 18,000 each.

“For 15 days after Dey’s murder, a lot of criticism was heaped on the police force. There was pressure on police who made all efforts to crack the case,” Patil said.

Mumbai, July 01: His last words were “Maria, Maria!” a call for help to another man’s lover, according to a statement the woman would make later. The cry was drowned in minutes as he was stabbed, allegedly by the other man, with what must have been a “rather blunt kitchen knife”.

Once Neeraj Grover was dead, Emil Jerome Mathew slapped his girlfriend Maria Susairaj several times and then, according to her statement, raped her twice.

It was a crime of passion that would be recounted several times in the courtroom and on the news.

THE KILLING

Chennai, July 01: Two young boys snatch a gold chain to take their girlfriends out for a new year’s party. It is not just the story of films anymore – young professionals and college students are resorting to this in alarming numbers in Chennai. Police say 72 cases of chain-snatching have been reported in the last month and a half and 49 people have been arrested.

Bridgetown, July 01: India’s young fast bowler, who picked up a career best six for 55 against the West Indies on the third day of the second cricket Test, said sticking to strengths was key to his success.

The 22-year-old Delhi boy has suffered several ups and down in his five-year-old international career. On Thursday, his resilience finally paid off as he bowled out the West Indies for 190 on a lively track at the Kensington Oval.

He also became the fifth youngest bowler to pick up his 100th Test wicket in just his 33rd Test appearance.

Washington, July 01: A huge wildfire in north of the US state of New Mexico has grown larger, as fire officials try to keep it from spreading onto the Los Alamos nuclear lab, reports say.

The so-called Las Conchas, New Mexico’s second largest wildfire on record so far, has burned nearly 93,000 acres of thick pine woodlands on the slopes of the Jemez Mountains since erupting.

Washington, July 01: The United States Senate has confirmed General David H. Petraeus as the new CIA director, a post left vacant after the agency’s former chief was appointed as secretary of defense.

The unanimous vote for the new chief of the Central Intelligence Agency on Thursday was confirmed in a 94-0 vote by the Senators, AP reported.

Petraeus replaces Leon Panetta, whose appointment as the new Defense Secretary was confirmed by the Senate last week in a 100-0 vote. Panetta succeeds Robert Gates, who is set to retire.

Milan, July 01: Billionaire Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s son is not especially worried about a political crisis in the government, but fears his father’s political adversaries can harm the family’s television empire.

‘I’m more worried that hostilities toward my father that have matured over the 17 years he’s been in politics can be used against Mediaset,’ Pier Silvio Berlusconi stated, referring to Italy’s biggest private broadcaster where he works as vice chairman. Mediaset owns three of Italy’s four major private television networks.

London, July 01: Brad Pitt is being lined up to star in hostage drama ”The Mission” which tells the story of a six-year operation to free 15 captives from the Colombian jungle.

Warner Bros, who have obtained the rights to the film, want the 47-year-old to take on the lead role with a script by Peter Landesman, reported Contactmusic.

The film tells the story of the methodical six-year mission planned by American and Colombian covert operatives to free 15 hostages, who were held by the Colombian guerrilla group FARC from between six and 15 years.

Paris, July 01: A man in a crowd yanked French President Nicolas Sarkozy by the shoulder on Thursday and nearly knocked him to the ground before being tackled by security officers and detained.

The unusually aggressive incident occurred as the President shook hands with a crowd in Brax, south France. The man’s identity and his motive are unclear, said police who have detained him.

Images broadcast on French television showed Sarkozy reach over a metal barricade to greet onlookers, when an arm grabbed his suit roughly by the shoulder and pulled it toward the crowd.

Tehran, July 01: Iran has launched its first wind-solar hybrid power plant in a Persian Gulf island to increase the country’s share of renewable energies.

The plant, with a daily capacity of 50 kWh of electricity, was installed in Iran’s southern Kharg Island by Iranian experts at a cost of 100,000 dollars, Mehr news agency reported.

Inauguration of the plant came as Iranian Energy Minister Majid Namjou announced that Iran plans to generate more than 5,000 megawatts of electricity from renewable energy resources by 2015.

Mumbai, July 01: Long before Munni and Sheila shimmied their way into the item scene, the mast-mast gal of Bollywood, Raveena Tandon had the nation dancing to her tunes. And she’s making a comeback (uh-huh…we said it again, the word ‘comeback’ infuriates her to no end) with an item number in Bbuddah Hoga Terra Baap’ .

Chennai, July 01: The process of making an inventory of the priceless articles locked up in underground cellars of the famed Sree Padmanabhaswamy temple in Thiruvananthapuram has revealed gold ornaments, vessels, jewels and precious stones worth hundreds of crores.

Sources said that the precious objects listed in the first days alone would run into at least Rs 700 crores in the present market rates.

The magnificent temple, built in 18th century by King of erstwhile Travancore princely state Marthanda Varma, is run by a trust, controlled by the royal family.

Jammu, July 01: In Srinagar The Jammu and Kashmir police averted a major tragedy on Thursday after they found and defused a powerful improvised explosive device (IED) near Dal Lake.

The IED was planted in the parking lot of a hotel close to a wine shop in the Boulevard Road area. “The bomb disposal squad defused the IED without any damage. The city has been put on high alert after the incident,” said PRO CRPF Prabhakar Tripathi.

Mumbai, July 01: Death in Mumbai, by Meenal Baghel, is based on the Neeraj Grover murder case. It will be published by Random House, India, in August. This exclusive extract is from the chapter about how the Unit IX of the Crime Branch solved the case

Maria’s tiny flat was full. Apart from her, Raorane counted her mother, an aunt, Veronica and Richard. The actress had summoned her family as soon as Emile left for Cochin on May 8, telling them the police was harassing her because her friend Neeraj had gone missing.