Makkah, October 04: The Civil Defense in Makkah has called on the mayor’s office to halt construction on 42 proposed residential sites because of the danger of floods.
Jameel Arbaeen, Makkah’s Civil Defense Director, said the department concluded there was a threat after a geological team inspected the locations. It approached several bodies on the issue, he said, adding that the mayor’s office responded to the report.
New Delhi, October 04: In a move that is bound to add to the woes of the Congress, activist Anna Hazare on Tuesday announced his decision to begin a national tour after Dusshera.
“I will appeal to voters in poll-bound Hisar in Haryana not to vote for Congress as it deliberately did not pass the Jan Lokpal Bill,” Hazare told media persons in his village Ralegan Siddhi.
Dubai, October 04: The number of Indian expatriates here in the UAE caught using fake Indian passports is on the rise, according to a India’s Consul General in Dubai.
Consul Sanjay Verma told Emirates24|7: “The very fact that more cases are coming to light means that action is being taken and it is being detected. We are trying to create awareness about such misuse and co-operating with officials on ways to identify forged passports,” he said.
Fake passports are increasingly being used to bail out those involved in police cases.
Ahmednagar, October 04: Anti-graft campaigner Anna Hazare, who had unsettled Delhi with his Jan Lokpal agitation, has now set his eyes on Uttar Pradesh and other poll-bound states.
Revealing the blueprint of the way forward in the fight against corruption, Anna said, “I will tour the entire country starting with the poll-bound states.”
New Delhi, October 04: Single and eligible – Bollywood actor Shahid Kapoor says he loves attention and adulation from his female fans.
“I feel very happy and glad about it. I like it (female attention), it`s nice,” Shahid told reporters.
The 30-year-old, who was earlier dating Kareena Kapoor and was rumoured to be in a relationship with Priyanka Chopra, admits he wasn`t always comfortable with compliments from the fairer sex.
“Initially I used to not know how to deal with it. I used to get flustered and didn`t know how to react to it. But now, I like it. It feels good.
London, October 04: Palestinian official, Nabil Shaath, has considered Tony Blair, former British premier and current Mideast Quartet envoy, as being “useless.”
Shaath stressed that recently Blair “talks like an Israeli diplomat, selling their policies. Therefore, he is useless to us.”
Speaking to reporters in the West Bank city of Ramallah, Shaath said that the proposal introduced by Quartet for renewal of direct peace talks was too vague.
Riyadh, October 04: A Saudi girl defying a long-standing ban on driving cars by women in the Gulf kingdom died at hospital a few days after suffering from injuries in a road accident that killed her old mother, a newspaper said on Monday.
The girl’s condition had stabilised following her admission to hospital before starting to deteriorate after learning of her mother’s death, ‘Sabq’ said.
The girl, in her 20s, was driving her sick mother for treatment at a hospital in the central town of Aflaj when the car overturned on the road because of a tyre blast.
–Agencies
Washington, October 04: As a new poll suggested that a majority of Americans expect him to be a one-term president, Barack Obama called himself an “underdog” with a faltering economy seriously impairing his chances of re-election in 2012.
“Absolutely,” he told ABC News Monday when asked about whether the odds were against him come November 2012, given the economy. “I’m used to being the underdog. But at the end of the day people are going to ask – who’s got a vision?”
Mumbai, October 04: Kim Kardashian, who has recently watched a number of Shahrukh Khan and Salman Khan movies is keen on making her Bollywood debut with Salman Khan.
Kim’s friend Sheeraz Hasan, founder and chairman of sheerazinc.com had sent her many Bollywood films in two batches – the first batch consisted of SRK films whereas the second batch was that of Salman Khan. After watching all films, Kim Kardashian has decided to shake her booty with Salman Khan.
Ahmedabad, October 04: A local court here, Tuesday, will hear the bail plea of suspended IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt, who was arrested last week on the basis of an FIR lodged against him on charges of threatening and fabricating evidence.
Sessions Court Judge VK Vyas, yesterday, while posting the matter for hearing for today, had issued notice to the Gujarat government and state director general of police.
London, October 04: Branded as a “veritable arm” of ISI, the Haqqani network’s operational chief Sirajuddin Haqqani has claimed that his group did not kill Burhanuddin Rabbani and denied any links with the Pakistani spy agency.
“We haven’t killed Burhanuddin Rabbani and this has been said many times by the spokespersons of the Islamic Emirate,” Sirajuddin Haqqani told BBC in an interview, his first public utterances in years.
New Delhi, October 04: It will be time before Indian cricket team recovers from the abject humiliation they suffered at the hands of England. Not only were they dismantled from the perch of Test rankings but were also outplayed in the shorter format as well.
New Delhi, October 04: Afghan President Hamid Karzai comes here Tuesday on a two-day visit during which the two sides are expected to ink a strategic partnership accord and discuss Pakistani spy agency ISI’s alleged complicity in supporting Taliban militants like the Haqqani network.
Karzai is expected to brief Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on his revised strategy for reconciliation with the Taliban in the aftermath of the assassination of former president Burhanuddin Rabbani, his chief interlocutor with the Taliban.
New York, October 04: A 26-year-old man arrested last week for plotting an attack on the Pentagon and the US Capitol with remote-controlled aircraft filled with deadly plastic explosives has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Massachusetts resident Rezwan Ferdaus, a Northeastern University graduate, appeared at a US District Court near Boston and entered his not guilty plea to all six charges before Magistrate Judge Timothy Hillman.
Hillman has set a detention hearing for Ferdaus on October 20.
Srinagar, October 04: As the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly was adjourned today amid violence and members trading abuses, and as chorus grew for him to resign, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah broke his silence over the custodial death of National Conference worker Haji Syed Mohammad Yousuf.
Saying facts would lay to rest all “lies”, he said today he would “have no hesitation” to appear before the judicial inquiry commission probing the matter.
Bhopal, October 04 (Pervez Bari): The Madhya Pradesh Government employees in service and retired will get additional six per cent dearness allowance/relief.
This was decided in the cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Mr. Shivraj Singh Chouhan here on Monday.
Ghaziabad, October 04: Both Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Home Minister P Chidambaram are equally responsible for 2G spectrum scam and must resign for betterment of the country, says BJP spokesman Shahnawaz Hussain.
Talking to reporters on the sidelines of a function here yesterday, the BJP MP did not rule out the possibility of mid-term polls in the country.
“Manmohan Singh and Chidambaram are equally responsible for 2G spectrum scam and must quit for the betterment of the country… We do not rule out the possibility of mid-term polls,” he said.
Hyderabad, October 4: In the light of the letters sent to Mr. Amir Ali Khan, news editor Siasat daily, by Abids police, Shah Inayath gunj railway police, Kachiguda and Nampally besides Golconda and Afzalgunj police, 9 unclaimed Muslim bodies were collected from Osmania hospital and were buried in Kukatpally graveyard.
Funeral prayer was performed by Maulana Mohammad Mahfooz, Khateeb Mohammadia Mosque at Kukatpally graveyard.
Mr. Zahid Ali Khan editor Siasat commended president graveyard Shaikh Abdul Aziz for taking part in the virtuous deed.
Siasat news
New Delhi, October 04: Four days after a special court denied him relief in the cash-for-vote scam, Rajya Sabha MP Amar Singh moved his bail plea before the Delhi High Court on Monday and sought respite citing medical reasons.
Refusing to pass any immediate order, the court issued a notice to the Delhi Police and sought their reply within three days. The court posted the matter for October 12.
Dubai, October 04: The four workers who died in an explosion in Kuwait’s largest refinery last week have been identified as Indian nationals from Tamil Nadu.
The Indian embassy confirmed on Monday that all the four workers who lost their lives in the refinery accident on Saturday were Indians.
The victims have been identified as Rajaram Lakshmaiah Reddy, Lognathan Ponnaiah Senthivel, Janakiraman Arjunan and Sivachandran Shanmugam.
The workers were killed and two other employees injured in a gas pipe explosion at Kuwait’s largest refinery of Mina Al-Ahmadi.
Ahmedabad, October 04: The Gulberg society riot victims on Monday filed an application at a special court here seeking to make suspended IPS officer Sanjeev Bhatt a witness in the ongoing trial of the 2002 carnage and demanded the addition of four top policemen as accused in the case.
New Delhi, October 04: All India Congress Committee official spokesman Abhishek Singhvi on Monday stated that the high command was seriously studying the report submitted by Congress in-charge of state affairs Ghulam Nabi Azad on the situation in Telangana.
Ahmedabad, October 04: Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi on Monday said that the state was currently in the process of developing a unique model to generate clean energy from the Narmada canals which is bound to draw the attention of the world.
“We have concluded that by covering one kilometre of Narmada branch canal network with solar panels, one mega watt of power can be generated and in the process one crore litre of water could be saved from getting evaporated,” Modi said, referring to the model being developed in Ahmedabad.
New Delhi, October 04: Separate Telangana activists on Monday rejected Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s appeal for calling off the 22-day strike and threatened to intensify it if the Centre does not announce the formation of the state with a “clear-cut timeframe”.
After a 30-minute meeting with Singh, TRS said they were not satisfied with the Prime Minister’s response when he sought “some more time” to decide on the issue.
Warangal, October 04: Telugu Desam Telangana Forum convener Errabelli Dayakar Rao on Monday alleged that Telangana Rashtra Samithi president K Chandrasekhar Rao’s meeting with Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh was to settle his financial package and not about the separate Telangana state.
Talking to media persons after flagging off a bike rally organized under the Forum at Devaruppal to Palakurthy town in Warangal district, Errabelli said that TRS chief was not sincere towards achieving the separate state and went to New Delhi to settle financial deal with PM and other leaders.