In the recent times, no Indian Muslim leader has received such media attention as Maulana Ghulam Mohammad Vastanvi, the former vice-chancellor of Darul Uloom Deoband. He almost became a poster boy of the lobby which would like to see much transformation of religious education among Muslims.
Karan Thapar: Hello and welcome to Devil’s Advocate. In a recent article in DNA Subramanian Swamy has said that Indian Muslims must either proudly accept and acknowledge their Hindu ancestors and legacy or be disenfranchised. To many that feels like hateful, communal prejudice. But how does Doctor Swamy defend himself. That is the key issue I should put today to Subramanian Swamy himself. Doctor Swamy you are a Harvard professor, a former Law Minister. You are at the forefront of the campaign to bring the 2G accused to justice.
Syria, August 14: Large caches of weapons including anti-tank and anti-aircraft missiles, mortar bombs and heavy machine guns will be sent via ground to major Syrian cities witnessing unrest, according to a report by Debka.
Turkey’s military will protect the arms caches on their passage to Syrian rebels.
Syrian rebels have been receiving training inside Turkey to use the weapons for two weeks.
Turkey has warned that it will join any possible military action against neighboring Syria.
washington, August 14: At least four people have been killed and more than 40 others injured after a concert stage collapsed in the US state of Indiana.
The tragedy took place at the Indiana State Fair on Saturday evening when a wind gust brought the stage down.
No one was performing at the time of the incident, but the stage rigging fell onto an area where some fans were seated.
Eyewitnesses say spectators tried to hold up parts of the collapsed stage to help those who may have been trapped.
Kabul, August 14: French military officials said one French soldier was shot dead in Afghanistan’s eastern Kapisa Province.
Meanwhile, Britain’s ministry of Defense said a bomb attack killed one British soldier in southern Helmand Province in Afghanistan.
According to the website, icasualties.com, nearly 400 foreign soldiers, mostly Americans, have been killed in Afghanistan so far this year.
In separate attacks, multiple bomb blasts and a gun-battle left at least 22 people dead in central Afghanistan.
The attacks targeted the governor’s compound in Parwan Province.
New Delhi, August 14: Justice (Retd) PB Sawant, whose probe found that an amount of Rs 2.2 lakhs was diverted from Anna Hazare’s trust for his birthday celebrations, on Sunday said this action amounted to “corruption.”
“An amount of Rs 2.2 lakh was utilised from this Trust for his own felicitation. That is proved and Mr Hazare has not denied. Now you can’t use money of the Trust for your own purpose. That amounts to corruption.
That’s the only act of corruption that was proved, nothing more than that,” Samant, a retired Supreme Court judge told TV channels.
Kolkata, August 14: With one more death reported Sunday, the toll in West Bengal floods rose to 15. About 1.9 million people across 14 districts have been affected, the state government said.
Altogether 135,000 houses spread over 195 blocks and 57 municipalities have been fully or partly damaged in the deluge triggered by heavy torrential rains, according to an official pressnote.
Of the 15 casualties, nine were victims of wall collapse, three of snake bite, while two were drowned and one was struck by lightning. Six of the dead are women.
New Delhi, August 14: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Sunday started probe into the mysterious death of Swami Nigamananda, who died at Dehradun in June after fasting for nearly four months to protest illegal mining on the Ganga riverbed.
‘We have started a probe into the death of Swami Nigamananda after completing all formalities,’ a CBI official said.
The Uttarakhand government, earlier, requested the central government for a CBI probe after local religious leaders alleged foul play in Nigamananda’s death in a hospital at Haridwar.
Haridwar, August 14: Yoga guru Baba Ramdev Sunday came out in support of Anna Hazare, terming the Congress’s allegations of corruption against the social activist as an attempt to crush anyone taking on the government.
In a statement here, Ramdev said the government conspires and tries to crush whoever attempts to stand against them.
‘Along with Anna Hazare, whoever stands against black money and corruption, the government puts allegations against the person and tries to crush them,’ Ramdev said.
Faizabad, August 14: A woman arrested on charges of a murder allegedly committed suicide inside a police station in this Uttar Pradesh district Sunday, police said.
Maya Devi (40) was found hanging from her saree inside the toilet of a women’s police station. Her family, however, alleged it was police excesses that drove her to suicide.
‘Maya Devi was accused of killing a woman. She was arrested Friday,’ Superintendent of Police (City) A.K. Rai told reporters in Faizabad, some 140 km from Lucknow.
Hyderabad, August 14: Congress MP V.Hanumantha Rao warned of retaliatory attacks if Telangana students or people are attacked anywhere in Andhra region.
Talking to media persons here on Sunday, the Rajya Sabha MP condemned the alleged attack on some Telangana students in Guntur yesterday. He said violence would not solve any problem. “Violence always breeds more violence and there might be retaliatory attacks if students from Telangana are attacked in Andhra region,” he cautioned.
Jerusalem, August 14: Some 200,000 Muslims attended the second Friday of Ramadan prayer at Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem’s Old City, according to officials from the Muslim Waqf (Trust).
They said the yards of Al-Aqsa were packed with people who started arriving at the Mosque since the early Friday hours.
Israel, which deployed a large police force in and around East Jerusalem, allowed male Palestinian residents of the West Bank who are over 50 years of age and women over 45 to enter freely into Jerusalem to attend the Friday prayer. All others had to get a permit first.
HYderabad, August 14: As many as 39 officials of the Andhra Pradesh Police have been awarded the police medals on the occasion of the Independence Day this year. While 32 personnel from the State have been awarded police medals for meritorious service, five IPS officials have been awarded medals for Distinguished Services. Two policemen have been awarded Police Medals for Gallantry. Four others have been awarded medals for Correctional Services. Below is the complete list of awardees from Andhra Pradesh:
Police Medal for Gallantry:
1. G. Ramamohan Rao, Sub Inspector
Hyderabad, August 14: As a result of the efforts of the Minister for Minorities Welfare Mr. Mohammed Ahmadullah the cost of Haj pilgrimage has come down to around Rs. 7,000 per head compared to the last year.
New Delhi, August 14: The Congress party Sunday hit back at social activist Anna Hazare saying the Gandhian is “himself involved in corruption” and this has been proved by the Supreme Court-appointed Justice Sawant Commission.
Addressing a press conference after the 74-year-old Hazare wrote to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh seeking his intervention over Delhi Police restrictions on his fast against the government’s Lokpal Bill from Aug 16 at J.P. Park in the capital.
New Delhi, August 14: CRPF DIG Nalin Prabhat, who was the commander of the force during the deadly Dantewada Naxal ambush last year and Madhya Pradesh ATS constable Sitaram Yadav, who was killed by SIMI operatives in 2009, are among 930 police personnel decorated with gallantry and other service medals on the eve of Independence Day.
The maximum number of gallantry medals — 26 — have been earned by the personnel and officers of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) which has deployed almost 60,000 troops for anti-Naxal operations in the country.
Mumbai, August 14: Imran Khan graces the cover of the country’s first registered gay magazine as the newly crowned gay icon.
He is the first actor in the country to feature on the cover of a magazine for the gay community. “It is flattering to be called a gay icon,” Imran told the magazine in an exclusive interview. “`I have always been a supporter of gay rights.” When asked if he was ready for a desi Brokeback, he quipped: “Sure, why not!”.
Hyderabad, August 14:AP ICET 2011 Counselling,Certificate Verification,Options Exercising for Admission into MBA,MCA Courses going to Start from 20th August 2011 to 27th August 2011.
ICET 2011 Counselling Schedule & Dates are not yet released. Schedule with dates for Certificate Verification and Options Entry will be Updated here after the Official Notification released.
Full Notification of ICET 2011 Web Counselling will be published on 15th August 2011,Refer below Site for Notification.
http://apicet.nic.in/
Islamabad, August 14: The US has expressed concern over Americans’ harassment in Pakistan and sought withdrawal of no-objection certificates required for US envoys’ movement. This came as an American aid expert was kidnapped by gunmen in Lahore.
On Saturday, US senator John McCain called on Pakistan’s Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani and discussed ways to improve Pak-US relations besides joint cooperation for counter terrorism efforts, Geo News reported.
Havana, August 14: Fidel Castro, the charismatic leader of the Cuban Revolution, celebrated his 85th birthday Saturday.
Singers and musicians from nine Latin American countries Friday night dedicated a three-hour concert, dubbed Serenata a la Fidelidad, to the man who ruled a tiny Communist nation in the Caribbean for almost five decades.
Neither Fidel nor his younger brother Cuban President Raul Castro attended the concert at Havana’s 5,000-seat Karl Marx Theater.
UK, August 14:A black man killed by police. Mobs of looters. Cities charred and shaken. The riots in London mirror some of the worst uprisings in modern U.S. history.
And there are more parallels: Stubborn poverty and high unemployment, services slashed due to recessionary budget cuts, a breakdown of social values, social media that bring people together for good or bad at the speed of the Internet. And finally, there are a handful of actual attacks, isolated and hard to explain, by bands of youths in U.S. cities.
Islamabad, August 15: Pakistani Army chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani has said the nation will overcome all the difficulties with national resilience, abundance of resources and a reservoir of highly talented youth.
Addressing the participants after a flag hoisting ceremony at the Pakistan Military Academy (PMA) Saturday to mark the 64th anniversary of Independence Day, Kayani said challenges being faced by nation were far greater and complex than ever before, APP reported.
“We have to put Pakistan firmly on the path to prosperity,” he said.
Quetta, August 15: A bomb attached to a timer ripped through a two-story hotel in Pakistan’s southwestern Baluchistan province Sunday, reducing the building to rubble and killing 12 people, police said.
The attack in the town of Dera Allah Yar also wounded 23 people, said Jawed Iqbal Gharshin, the police chief in surrounding Jafferabad district. Police have taken two people into custody who had tea in the hotel’s restaurant and left just before the bomb went off, he said.
Dera Allah Yar is located some 220 miles (350 kilometers) east of the provincial capital of Quetta.
Islamabad, August 14: Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani said Sunday Pakistan’s future lies in democracy and that parliament, the judiciary and the executive were on the same page to consolidate the country’s democratic institutions.
In his message on Pakistan’s 65th Independence Day, he also said the country has successfully taken on the challenge of terrorism and extremism in line with its national interest and global commitments, APP reported.
Gilani said as Pakistanis celebrate Independence Day with traditional zeal and zest, the country was up against multiple challenges.
Mynmar, August 14: Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi on Sunday made her first political trip outside the repressive nation’s main city since her release from seven years of house arrest, a crucial journey that will test the limits of her freedom.
The last time the democracy icon traveled into the countryside to meet supporters, assailants ambushed her entourage in an attack that eventually saw her detained and later placed under a long house arrest from which she was released last November.