Month: November 2011

Chicago, November 04: Barack Obama is America’s “truly hybrid” president who represents many continents, races, cultures and histories, his first Indian-American biographer has said.

Dinesh Sharma’s book is the first full-length book on a sitting president and examines how Obama’s early years influenced him.

“Despite all that has been written about him, very little attention has been paid to Barack Obama’s global roots and international persona,” Sharma told reporters during a press conference recently.

Muscat, November 04: Eleven people, including two children, have been killed in flash floods caused by heavy rains that have hit Oman over the past three days, the Arabian Peninsula state’s police announced on Thursday.

“Eleven people died in several of the sultanate’s provinces when their vehicles were swept by heavy rains as they drove through valleys,” state news agency ONA quoted a police statement as saying.

Four bodies, including those of a six-year-old and a 10-year-old, were found today.

New Delhi, November 04: Anna Hazare Friday broke his ‘vow of silence’ for the past 19 days after paying tributes to Mahatma Gandhi at Rajghat here.

74-year-old Hazare visited Gandhi’s memorial at around 7 am and broke his ‘maun vrat’, observed since Oct 16, saying ‘Bharat Mata ki Jai’ aloud.

Hazare had reached Delhi last night to attend a meeting of the Standing Committee on Lokpal Bill. He had begun his ‘maun vrat’ at his native village in Maharashtra for ‘atma shanti’ (peace of soul).

Hyderabad, November 04: Police here on Thursday arrested five persons including a 14-year-old boy, belonging to Malda district of West Bengal, on a charge of circulating fake Indian currency procured from Bangladesh.

Langer House Police had initially nabbed Mohd Chhobe Shaik, while exchanging counterfeit note of Rs 1,000.

His confession led to arrest of gang leader Mohd Israil and others, all hailing from Malda district, from a lodge in Abids area, police said.

Jeddah, November 04: As Muslims from all over the world congregate for the annual haj pilgrimage, some are defying the edicts of Saudi Arabia’s strict Wahhabi school of Islam by climbing al-Nour mountain in the hope of attaining spiritual favor.

Tucked under slabs of granite near the top of the 660-meter mountain on the outskirts of the sacred city of Mecca, dozens of pilgrims jostle for a glimpse of the Hera’a cave where they say God first revealed the message of Islam.

Hyderabad, November 04: Congress MP Ananta Venkatarami Reddy on Thursday suspected the commitment of Telugu Desam Party president N Chandrababu Naidu over launching ‘Rythu Poru Bata’ programme aimed at highlighting the farmers’ problems.

Talking to media persons at Congress Legislature Party Office, the Anantapur MP alleged that Naidu failed to take steps for farmers’ welfare during his tenure as the Chief Minister for nine years. However, while in opposition, he is shedding crocodile tears on farmers’ woes, he said.

Hyderabad, November 04: The Telangana Rashtra Samithi on Thursday insisted that Telugu Desam Party president N Chandrababu Naidu clarify his stand on the Telangana issue.

Addressing a press conference at Telangana Bhavan, TRS floor leader Etela Rajender said that the TDP president never had clarity with regard to demand for Telangana statehood. It maintained a confused stand in its manifestoes, as well as in the communications that it has sent to the Centre on this issue. Therefore, he demanded that Naidu should clearly say whether he was in favour of Telangana or not.

Paris, November 04: A French satirical weekly whose office was fire bombed after it printed a cartoon of the Prophet Mohammad has reproduced the image with other caricatures in a special supplement distributed with one of the country’s leading newspapers.

The weekly Charlie Hebdo defended “the freedom to poke fun” in the four-page supplement, which was wrapped around copies of the left-wing daily Liberation on Thursday, a day after an arson attack gutted Charlie Hebdo’s Paris headquarters.

Bhopal, November 04 (Pervez Bari): In Bharatiya Janata Party ruled Madhya Pradesh the work of Online registration of state’s farmers to facilitate them to sell their produce on support price has gained momentum.

During the last one month, the number of registered farmers has gone up to 7,274. Eight hundred to 900 registrations are being made every day. The State Government intends to cover maximum number of farmers under the scheme. Therefore, the process of Online registration will continue up to March before the procurement season begins.

Bhopal, November 04 (Pervez Bari): The Central Information Commission, (CIC), has brought Bhopal Memorial Hospital and Research Centre, (BMHRC), under the ambit of Right to Information, (RTI), Act.

The Information Commissioner of CIC Mr. Shailesh Gandhi hearing on the second appeal on an RTI application moved by Ms Rachna Dhingra, an activist working for the cause of gas victims, came out with the order on October 20 last. Ms Dhingra is associated with Bhopal Group for Information and Action.

Bhopal, November 04 (Pervez Bari): The Madhya Pradesh Foundation Day celebrations on November 1 proved to be a great embarrassment for the Bharatiya Janata Party ruled state government due to a major goof up by the executing agencies in the run up to the D-Day.

Bhopal, November 04 (Pervez Bari):The Bharatiya Janata Party, (BJP), ruled Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mr. Shivraj Singh Chouhan has said that the problem of depleting daughters’ ratio in society cannot be solved by just enacting laws, but mindset will have to be changed for it. Doctors should become an effective link in the success of this work, he urged.

Hyderabad, November 04: Getting a copy of revenue records, income certificates or residence certificate will be easier from Friday.

Talking to reporters at the State Secretariat here on Thursday, Information Technology and Communications Minister Ponnala Lakshmaiah on Thursday announced that the government was planning to set up ‘Mee Seva’ centres across the State wherein people could get these certificates without any difficulty. However, the centres would be on experimental basis in Chittoor and Krishna districts.

Hyderabad, November 04: Civil Supplies Minister D Sridhar Babu on Thursday assured that the state government would order a comprehensive probe into the pest affected rice supplied under Rs 1-a-kg scheme on Wednesday in Warangal district.

Hyderabad, November 04: Nandamuri Balakrishna is again in the news for all the wrong reasons. After a section of media reported that he is in favour of an integrated State, he drew a lot of flak from Telangana supporters and this comes close on the heels of his face off with Chiranjeevi’s family.

Backtracking on the reports, he said that it was distorted and he has no intention to harm people from any region.

Kadapa, November 04: Telugu Desam Party president N Chandrababu Naidu on Thursday called upon farmers in the state to come on roads with their problems and agitate against the State Government until it addresses them.

Washington, November 04: US has spent roughly USD 1 trillion on new weapons since the 9/11 attacks, using the money that were supposed to be spent on US troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“The services capitalized on funding to modernize their forces, especially the major weapons programs that constitute the heart of the services’ capabilities,” a new report by Stimson Center said on Thursday.

Twenty two percent of the roughly USD 1 trillion spent on weapons since 9/11 comes from “supplemental” war funding, which are voted on separately from the regular defense budget.

Mumbai, November 04: The vice president of Seven Hills Hospital in Mumbai has rubbished a Mumbai Mirror report saying that Aishwarya Rai Bachchan may deliver on November 11 (11-11-11) through Ceaserian section.

Dr. Pai, Head of Radiology and Vice President, Seven Hills Hospital in a statement said: “ The report published in a daily tabloid in regards to Mrs. Aishwarya Rai Bachchan’s delivery at Seven Hills has taken me by surprise. The information and details are a figment of someone’s imagination.

Bhopal, November 04 (Pervez Bari): The selection of Patwaris in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh will be done through online examination. This was decided at the cabinet meeting chaired by the state Chief Minister Mr. Shivraj Singh Chouhan here on Thursday.

At present, 2,790 posts of Patwaris are vacant. Examination and all other procedures for filling these posts will be conducted online. Its objective is to ensure total transparency in the recruitment process. Revenue Department will organise this exam after entering into agreement with MP Online.

Johannesburg, November 04: A fugitive wanted by the International Criminal Court, Moammar Gadhafi’s one-time heir apparent appears to have disappeared in the Sahara Desert’s ocean of dunes and could remain hidden for months in an area more than twice the size of Texas.

Seif al-Islam Gadhafi may be plotting a counterrevolution, scheming about a getaway to a friendly country, or negotiating a surrender to the ICC. Nothing has been heard of him since sources on Oct. 28 said Tuareg nomads were escorting him the length of Libya and that he was close to the Mali border.

New Delhi, November 04: State-owned oil companies today effected yet another steep hike in petrol price, by Rs 1.80 per litre with effect from midnight tonight, the 5th increase this year, coming on top of falling rupee and rising cost of imported crude.

Petrol price in Delhi will cost Rs 68.64 per litre, up from Rs 66.64 a litre. The retail selling price in different cities will vary according to the local sales tax.

Guantanamo, November 03: Even if he is found not guilty and acquitted of his charges, Abd al-Rahim al Nashiri, the Guantanamo detainee accused of planning the 2000 attack on the USS Cole, may still be imprisoned for the rest of his life, according to US government documents released Wednesday.

Al-Nashiri is set to be arraigned next week at Guantanamo Bay on charges that he helped plan the bombing of a US warship in port in Yemen in 2000, an attack which killed 17 people and wounded 37 others. If found guilty, he could be executed.

London, November 03: With Defense Ministry officials saying that they believe the US may soon “fast-forward” plans to attack Iran, Britain’s military is stepping up its own preparations for such an attack under the assumption that they will join in on the war.

The planning is based on expectations that next week’s report from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) will be a “game changer” and will convince President Obama to launch another massive war.

Hyderabad, November 03: City Police is seeking to question Pune-based businessman Hasan Ali Khan in connection with a case in which he is accused of procuring a fake passport from the city.

“We need to interrogate Hasan Ali Khan on charges of obtaining a passport from here by fraudulent means. We have definite evidence against him and have filed an application for a prisoners transit warrant in a court here to bring him from Mumbai,” Hyderabad Police Commissioner AK Khan told reporters here.

Tehran, November 03: Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Wednesday he had 100 “undeniable documents” proving the United States has been behind “terrorist acts” in the Islamic state and elsewhere in the Middle East.

His comments come after Washington accused Iran of being involved in a plot to kill Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to Washington, a claim Iran has dismissed as baseless.