Month: April 2012

Rs.18,000-crore Air India restructuring plan approved

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The long-awaited Rs.18,000 crore financial restructuring plan for cash-strapped Air India has finally been approved by a consortium of 19 banks led by State Bank of India, an official said here Tuesday.

The plan includes a debt restructuring of Rs.18,000 crore by the banks and a committed equity infusion by the government, the official said in a statement here.

The high-cost working capital debt of the national carrier stands at Rs.22,000 crore, of which the banks will restructure Rs.18,000 crore.

Bharti Airtel to launch 4G services in Kolkata

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IANS Bharti Airtel will launch its 4G services in Kotkata this month, Chief Executive Sanjay Kapoor said Tuesday.

“It will be launched this month in Kolkata,” Kapoor told reporters on the sidelines of a telecom event here.

4G is a successor to the 3G and 2G families, and is expected to be five times quicker than 3G services.

The firm bagged Broadband Wireless Access (BWA) spectrum in four circles — Kolkata, Maharastra, Punjab and Karnataka — for Rs.3,314.36 crore in 2010.

US Shootout: 7 Including an Indian Killed

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A 38-year-old Sikkimese was among the seven killed by a disgruntled college student who carried out an execution type killing spree in a religious college in California that also left an Indian-American girl injured.

Tshering Rinzing Bhutia, 38, of San Francisco, was killed when the gunman stole his car outside the school yesterday morning.

Bhutia was born in Sikkim and lived alone in San Francisco’s North Beach neighborhood and worked nights cleaning terminals in city’s airport, Oakland Tribune reported.

14 dead in Pakistan violence

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At least 14 people were Tuesday killed in sectarian violence in Pakistan.

Ten bus passengers, believed to be Shia Muslims, were shot dead in Bonar Das area in Chilas city after being force to disembark. The gunmen then opened fire at them.

The attack came soon after clashes between Sunni Muslims and police in neighbouring Gilgit city early Tuesday left four people dead.

Activists of a Sunni group in Gilgit were protesting against the detention of their leader by police March 28.

Gang selling sex & drugs combo busted

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New DelhiTHE Delhi Police have arrested a 50- year- old former teacher along with two of his associates for their alleged involvement in sex racket. The gang also indulged in drug peddling and cricket betting. The accused were arrested on Saturday with 275 grams of cocaine in their possession.

Hatred against Islam: France Expels More Muslim Imams

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France deported five Muslims, including three imams, on Monday, April 2, in the latest crackdown on people accused of preaching hatred in the European country.

“We do not accept Islamic extremism,” Interior Minister Claude Gueant told BFM TV.

Gueant said two people had already been deported on Monday as part of laws aimed at protecting France and ensuring public security.

Scapegoated French Muslims

Sangareddy Communal riots: Circle inspector transferred

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Facing flak from all quarters for having failed to prevent outbreak of communal clashes in Sangareddy town near here, police have started cracking the whip against its own personnel found wanting in discharge of their duty.

In a first step, Sangareddy town circle inspector P Chandrasekhar has been transferred and sent to Vacancy Reserve, pending further inquiry by IGP (Hyderabad Region) Rajiv Ratan.

“The government is very serious about taking action against those responsible for the Sangareddy communal strife and dealing stringently with any one found responsible for inaction.

NRHM scam: CBI files charge sheet against ex-UP babu, others

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The CBI today filed charge sheet against former Uttar Pradesh bureaucrat P K Jain and others for alleged irregularities in utilisation of funds allocated under National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) scheme.

Besides Jain, former general manager of Construction and Design Services (C and DS), others named in the charge sheet are project manager B N Srivastava, resident engineer Kataar Singh, project engineer B N Ram, accountant J K Singh,managing director of private firms Naresh Grover and R K Singh, CBI officials said.

Telangana issue: Cong MPs seek timeframe for views of 4 parties

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Two Congress MPs from Telangana region on Tuesday favoured the Centre fixing a time-frame for four parties in Andhra Pradesh to give their views on the statehood issue to expedite the decision-making process.

“If (Union Home Minister) Chidamramji is sincere, then he should put a cut-off date and ask the parties to give their views. He can write to the parties, ask them. He should say what decision he is going to take if the parties don’t make up their mind. Delaying a decision is not good,” Congress Lok Sabha member Ponnam Prabhakar told reporters here.

Pak not acting against Saeed: Chidambaram

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Insisting there was enough material to question Jamaat-ud-Dawa chief Hafeez Saeed,mastermind of 2008 Mumbai terror attacks, India today said Pakistan was not taking action against him and hinted the issue may not be taken up with President Asif Ali Zardari here on Sunday.

Home Minister P Chidambaram welcomed the announcement of USD 10 million bounty for capture of Saeed and said it might prod the government of Pakistan to take action against him.

US bounty on Saeed validates India’s concerns: Cong

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Congress today said the US decision to announce a USD 10 million bounty on Pakistan-based Jamaat
-ud-Dawa (JuD) chief Hafiz Saeed had validated concerns voiced by India that a large number of terror attacks on it are being masterminded by the JuD.

Party spokesman Manish Tewari said that the action showed that Washington has finally realised that the network of teror is seamless and required a holistic approach and “one cannot create one set of approach for the terror emanating from eastern borders of Pakistan and other from the western borders”.

Forced Marriage Un-Islamic: Aussie Muslims

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As the Australian government plans to strengthen laws against forced marriages, Muslim leaders stress that the practice has cultural roots and conflicts with the Islamic teachings.
“I think this matter has been twisted a lot,” Muslim scholar Tariq Asadullah Syed told The Australian on Tuesday, April 3.

“It is important not to mix up the situation in some ethnic cultures, particularly in rural areas, and in the Islamic religion generally,” the Pakistan-born Queensland imam and religious scholar added.

Man beats wife for carrying girl child

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In yet another incident of gender bias in Andhra Pradesh, a man beat up his pregnant wife for carrying a girl child, resulting in a miscarriage, police said Tuesday. He was arrested.

The shocking incident took place Sunday in Tenali town of Guntur district, about 315 km from here.

Police arrested Allabaksh and his parents for beating up six-month pregnant Munni, 30, who already has two daughters. The accused were booked for harassing Munni and causing death of the foetus.

Syrian cities bombarded as truce deadline nears

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Opposition activists accused Syrian troops of shelling two cities on Tuesday in a campaign to weaken forces fighting President Bashar al-Assad’s government before a ceasefire deadline next week.

Rebel fighters also kept up their attacks, killing three soldiers in separate actions in northern Syria, activists said.

Assad has agreed to a ceasefire negotiated by international peace envoy Kofi Annan from April 10, the latest effort to end a year of bloodshed stemming from an uprising against his rule.

Sisters Club Fights Canada Muslim Myths

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Reaching out to their society about their beliefs, a group of Muslim female students in Canada have established a club to clear misconceptions long associated with their faith.

“It’s not only to show our own culture, it’s to share my ways of helping people,” Hayfaa Golabkhan, who came up with the idea for the Muslim Sisters Club, told Kamloops Daily News on Monday, April 2.

Fire at Russian market kills 17 migrant workers

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Seventeen migrant workers were killed in a fire today in a market warehouse on Moscow’s outskirts where they had been living, Russian emergency officials and media said.

Most of the victims were from Tajikistan and the others may have also come from ex-Soviet republics, state media
said. The pre-dawn blaze highlighted the dangerous conditions many labour migrants endure in Russia.

The space was not meant for people to live in,’ emergency official Sergei Gorbunov told state-run news
agency RIA.

Afghanistan Taliban’s latest love – cricket!

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The Taliban has said it will promote cricket if it returns to power in Afghanistan in a reply to a query on its webpage.

“There will not be any problems. All sport that is not against religion we do not have a problem with. We also supported the game of cricket during the Taliban times,” The Independent quoted a Taliban spokesperson, Zabihullah Mujahid, as saying.

The development comes after the Afghan cricket team qualified for the Twenty20 World Cup for the second time.

‘Pak considers India as threat but US differs’

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Noting that its relationship with Pakistan was “complex”, US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said “the problem” lies with Islamabad’s perception of being “threatened by India”.

“It is a complex relationship. It always has been and I suspect it always will be,” Panetta told CBC TV in an interview.

“In some ways we share a common concern and a common threat. Terrorism is as much a threat to Pakistan and the people of Pakistan as it is to us and to the people of Afghanistan,” he said.

At the same time, Panetta noted that the two countries differ on the threat perception.

Australia Eases Muslim Burial Dilemma

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Easing their years-long dilemma, the government of Australia’s eastern state of New South Wales has allocated thousands of new burial plots for Muslim and Jewish communities.

“For us as a Muslim community … the news is overwhelming,” community leader Ahmad Kamaledine told reporters at New South Wales Parliament House, reported the Australian Associated Press (AAP) on Monday, April 2.

The NSW government announced Monday the allocation of 6,000 additional burial plots for Muslims.

I am not hiding in cave, US frustrated: Saeed

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Lashing out at the US for putting a bounty of USD 10 million on his head, a combative Hafiz Mohammad Saeed on Tuesday said Washington was “frustrated” with him for his countrywide protests against the resumption of NATO supplies and drone strikes.

“We are not hiding in caves for bounties to be set on finding us. I think the US is frustrated because we are taking out countrywide protests against the resumption of NATO supplies and drone strikes,” LeT founder Saeed was quoted as saying by Al-Jazeera news channel.

Pak PM’s aircraft in emergency landing

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Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, several federal ministers and a senior Army General had a narrow escape on Tuesday when their aircraft made emergency landings in two separate incidents, causing a minor scare.

A special aircraft carrying Gilani and other federal ministers made an emergency landing shortly after taking off from a military airbase in the garrison city of Rawalpindi.

All forces should unite to flush out terrorists from Pak: BJP

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Welcoming the US announcement of a USD 10 million bounty on LeT founder Hafiz Saeed, BJP today said Pakistan has emerged as the hotbed of terrorism and insisted that all forces should unite to help flush out terrorists from the neighbouring country.

The “US has declared the bounty on Hafiz Saeed, the chief architect of 26/11 Mumbai attacks in which 166 people,
including six Americans, were killed. The Indian government has welcomed it. The BJP also welcomes this announcement,” BJP spokesperson Rajiv Pratap Rudy said.

Why are Afghan soldiers turning their weapons on NATO allies?

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Personal grievances, battle stress, and domestic problems are behind more attacks by rogue Afghan security forces on NATO troops than are Taliban infiltrators, the coalition said on Monday.

Western forces have stepped up security to prevent more attacks, after the killing of 17 foreign soldiers by Afghan security personnel this year, NATO spokesman Brigadier General Carsten Jacobson told reporters.

BHEL withdraws FPO papers on FinMin directive, annual profit climbs 14%

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State-owned BHEL, which reported an annual net profit of profit at Rs 6,868 crore for the financial year ended March 2012, on Tuesday said it has withdrawn the initial papers for the follow-on offer filed with Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), following an instruction by the Finance Ministry.

“We received instructions from the Department of Disinvestment that the DRHP (draft red herring prospectus) has to be withdrawn…,” CMD BHEL B P Rao told reporters while announcing the company’s annual results which jumped 14 percent.

Coal India told to sign fuel-supply pacts with power producers

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The Indian government has asked Coal India Ltd to sign agreements with power producers, guaranteeing them fuel supplies, the coal minister said Tuesday.

The government had earlier asked the state-run miner to sign fuel-supply pacts by March 31. But the company missed the deadline as its board members disagreed on clauses that required it to assure supplies or face penalties.

Coal India will have to meet 80 percent of its annual supply commitments to power producers but it can negotiate on the amount of penalty with fuel buyers, Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal told reporters.