New Delhi, July 26: Aiyar blames Rao for Babri demolition, call Cong a circus New Delhi: Senior Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar has said that former Prime Minister PV Narasimha Rao was to be blamed for the 1992 demolition of the Babri Masjid, as the act occurred when he was in office.
Talking to media persons in New Delhi on Sunday, Aiyar said that Rao had a conflict with Congress party over secularism.
London, July 26: Ministers in Britain’s coalition government, criticized for being too close to Rupert Murdoch’s scandal-hit News Corp, face more scrutiny this week when details of their meetings with the company’s executives are published.
News Corp executive James Murdoch is also under pressure over his handling of a phone-hacking scandal that has hit the Murdoch family’s media empire and could jeopardize his own position at the company.
Cairo, July 26: Amnesty International’s website became inaccessible in Saudi Arabia on Monday, just three days after the rights group published a leaked copy of the kingdom’s controversial new anti-terrorism draft law.
The London-based rights group could not confirm that Saudi authorities had blocked its website, but repeated attempts by residents to access the site from inside the kingdom were not successful on Monday afternoon.
Cairo, July 26: A Cairo court decided Monday to combine the trials of ousted President Hosni Mubarak and his former interior minister on charges they ordered the killings of protesters during Egypt’s uprising.
The trial for Mubarak, his former security chief Habib el-Adly, and six aides will start Aug. 3, the court ruled during a chaotic hearing where lawyers and relatives of victims pushed and shouted in the courtroom. At one point, the judge threatened to throw everyone out of the courtroom.
Kuala Lampur, July 26: A recent survey has showed that the majority of young Muslims in Malaysia want the Noble Qur’an to replace the country’s federal constitution.
‘More than 70% among them slightly more males than females – want the Qur’an to replace the Federal Constitution of Malaysia,’ said the survey recently published on the website of the independent pollster Merdeka Center.
Commissioned by two German-based cultural organizations, the survey, titled ‘Values, dreams, Ideals: Muslim Youth in Southeast Asia’, interviewed 1,060 Muslim Malaysians, aged from 15 to 25.
Canberra, July 26: A man suffered life-threatening burns Monday after a portable toilet he was using exploded, apparently after he lit a cigarette.
The victim, who was taking part in a joint Australia-United States military exercise at the time, was rushed to hospital with burns to his head, face, arms, chest and airways after the incident at Rockhampton airport.
“There was some sort of explosion in a portaloo. It’s believed the man was lighting a cigarette at the time,” a Department of Community Safety spokeswoman said.
Oslo, July 26: The self-described perpetrator of one of the worst modern mass murders in peacetime told Norwegian authorities that that he expects to spend the rest of his life in prison but two other cells of his terror network remain free, officials said Monday.
Anders Behring Breivik has admitted bombing Norway’s capital and opening fire on a political youth group retreat, but he entered a plea of not guilty, saying he wanted to save Europe from Muslim immigration.
Sanaa, July 26: Yemen’s opposition dismissed Monday a government plan for talks aimed at easing unrest after months of mass protests demanding President Ali Abdullah Saleh’s overthrow, saying it had not even heard of any such “roadmap” for peace.
Vice President Abd-Rabbu Hadi Mansour, who is acting president while Saleh remains in a Saudi Arabian hospital after an assassination attempt, said Sunday that a road map would be launched within a week.
London, July 26: Scotland Yard has been asked to help probe the massacre in Norway that left at least 92 people dead and more than 90 wounded.
Scotland Yard counter-terrorism chief, Assistant Commissioner Cressida Dick, has been asked to send specialist officers to join a new European task force dedicated to investigating Europe-wide far-right links to the bomb attack in Oslo and the shooting on Utoya island, Sky News reported.
Anders Behring Breivik, a 32-year-old Norwegian, has admitted carrying out the attack but denies criminal responsibility.
London, July 26: British Prime Minister David Cameron’s office says the UK will review its scrutiny of far-right extremist groups following the Norway killings.
Cameron’s spokesman Steve Field today said the country’s National Security Council had asked intelligence agencies and police to ensure they have “adequate scrutiny” of far-right groups.
Security officials have faced some criticism over the lack of attention devoted to the threat, as they tackle risks posed by al Qaeda related terrorists and Irish Republican extremists.
Sanaa, July 26: A powerful Yemeni tribal leader warned on Monday against attacks on anti-government protesters as hundreds of thousands rallied in the capital Sanaa and several other cities calling for regime change.
Yemen has been gripped by a six-month political crisis, with near daily street protests demanding longtime President Ali Abdullah Saleh step down.
Hyderabad, July 26: Hyderabad will soon have its first ‘night bazaar’ at Shilparamam. It will take three months time to finish the work. Sources say that its main aim is to provide shopping facility to such people who work in the office for the whole day and don’t get time to shop with their family during the day and when they come home and plan to shop till then the shopping malls are closed.
It would not be out of place to mention that these kinds of night bazaars are setup in Arab countries especially in Dubai where shopping facility is available right from the night till day light.
Washington, July 26: The United States on Monday denounced Syria’s army as “barbaric” and “reprehensible” after the latest violence, renewing its charges that President Bashar al Assad has lost legitimacy.
The State Department highlighted the death of 12-year-old boy Talhat Dalat, who human rights activists said died of his injuries on Saturday after a policeman earlier shot him at close range during an anti-regime rally.
Washington, July 26: China’s objection to the America’s reconnaissance flights over the South China Sea region will not deter the US from flying in the international air space, a top Pentagon official said here on Monday.
“We won’t be deterred from flying in international airspace,” Admiral Mike Mullen, Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, told correspondents at a news conference.
Mullen has just returned from a trip to China, where he said these issues were discussed with his Chinese counterpart, General Chen Bingd, but differences persist.
Valletta, July 26: Malta’s parliament on Monday adopted a law authorising divorce that is now set for formal approval by the president and likely to come into force in October in this overwhelmingly Catholic nation.
The law was passed by 52 votes in favour and 11 against with five abstentions, following a referendum in May which voted in favour of the change despite the opposition of Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi and his ruling Nationalist Party.
Oslo, July 26: The self-described perpetrator of Norway’s deadly bombing and shooting rampage was ordered held in solitary confinement after calmly telling a court that two other cells of collaborators stood ready to join his murderous campaign.
Washington, July 26: The United States on Monday denied Iranian accusations it assassinated a scientist and urged the Islamic regime not to use the incident to “distract attention” from its contested nuclear program.
Assailants shot dead Dariush Rezaei-Nejad, who was reportedly associated with the defense ministry, and wounded his wife as they waited for their child outside a Tehran kindergarten on Saturday.
Iran’s parliament speaker, Ali Larijani, accused the United States and Israel of a “terrorist act.”
Abuja, July 26: Rights group Amnesty International has accused Nigeria’s military of killing 23 people during random shooting after a bomb blast in the restive northern city of Maiduguri last week.
The group acknowledged a report that the bomb which was allegedly set off by radical Islamic sect Boko Haram injured three soldiers but accused the oil-rich country’s Joint Military Task Force (JTF) of responding by shooting and killing a number of people, apparently at random, before burning down a market.
Aden, July 26: Yemeni soldiers killed 10 al Qaeda militants when they attacked a military camp outside the Islamist-controlled city of Zinjibar on Monday night.
“The 10 militants were killed by heavy shells before they could make it to the military camp,” an army spokesman said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The dead included a senior al Qaeda militant who was sought by authorities.
“His name is Ali Saeed Jameel and he’s from Mareb. He’s a leader in al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula,” the official said.
New York, July 26: The newspaper reporter who spent years investigating phone hacking claims in Rupert Murdoch’s media empire has won a book deal.
The Guardian reporter Nick Davies has been signed to write an authoritative account of the News Corp scandal for Faber and Faber Inc. Financial compensation wasn’t disclosed.
The book, to be titled “Hack Attack: How the Truth Caught up with the World’s Most Powerful Man,” will be published in the fall of 2012. Davies previously wrote “Flat Earth News.”
Caracas, July 26: Venezuela’s government has said that after a year of studying the remains of 19th-century independence hero Simon Bolivar, experts have been unable to pin down the cause of his death.
Vice President Elias Jaua announced the results of the investigation a year after President Hugo Chavez’s government exhumed Bolivar’s remains looking for clues. Chavez regularly extols Bolivar as the inspiration of his socialist-inspired Bolivarian Revolution movement.
Washington, July 26: Sliding down the popularity chart, the weekly approval rating of US President Barack Obama has dropped down to 43 per cent, tied for the lowest average of his administration, according to a latest opinion poll.
“President Barack Obama averaged a 43 per cent job approval rating for the week of July 18-24,” Gallup Poll said.
Obama’s rating at this point is lower than former President Bill Clinton’s ratings were in the fall of 1995 when he was embroiled in a budget dispute similar to the one Obama faces now, it said.
Shanghai, July 26: Michael Phelps shook off a rusty 150 metres to storm home in the final lap and qualify for the men’s 200 metres butterfly semi-finals at the world swimming championships on Tuesday.
The Olympic champion, who is also in the final of the 200 freestyle later on Tuesday, clocked one minute, 56.77 seconds to finish first in his heat and 11th overall.
The 26-year-old is swimming four individual events in Shanghai, the 100 and 200 butterfly, 200 freestyle and 200 individual medley and three relays as he prepares for next year’s London Olympics.
New Delhi, July 26: Indian tennis star Somdev Devvarman climbed six places in the latest ATP rankings to touch a career-best 62nd position in the singles list.
The 26-year-old, who took a break from the circuit after Wimbledon and was since then losing points, made it to the quarterfinals of last week’s Tour event in Atlanta, which helped him gain places.
In the ATP doubles ranking, there was no change in the positions of Mahesh Bhupathi (5), Leander Paes (8) and Rohan Bopanna (10).
New Delhi, July 26: Even as the perpetrators of the deadly blast in Mumbai are yet to be brought to book, intelligence agencies, Tuesday, warned of a Lashkar-e-Toiba plan to target airports in key cities.
Top intelligence sources told Zee News that there are specific inputs of LeT planning to attack Delhi and Mumbai airports – the busiest in the country. The attacks may be of fidayeen nature, sources claimed.
Following the alert, the Ministry of Home Affairs has issued an advisory to states besides beefing up security at the airports.
More details are awaited.
—Agencies