Pakistan and Turkey will hold a 10-day joint naval exercise.
Pakistan’s PNS Shamsheer, a multi-mission frigate, and the P3C-Orion aircraft will take part in the Mavi Baline-12 exercise from Nov 5-14 in Turkey, Xinhua reported Saturday.
The weapons and state-of-the-art sensors on board the PNS Shamsheer makes it a versatile warship with tremendous firepower to effectively thwart possible threats, the navy said.
Pakistani Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf will attend a two-day Asia-Europe summit in Laos, his office said Saturday.
Themed “Friends for Peace, Partners for Prosperity”, the Nov 4-5 summit in Vientiane will be attended by many other heads of state and government, Xinhua reported.
The Pakistani leader will also hold bilateral talks with several leaders, including Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev and Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard.
The Asia-Europe summit was launched in 1996, and it currently has 48 member-countries.
The body of a 29-year-old Albanian woman was found hanging from a ceiling fan in a hotel room here, police said Saturday.
Gledia Duro’s body was detected in the hotel in south Delhi’s Greater Kailash-I Friday evening, police said.
A nylon belt was tied around her neck and the belt’s other end was hanging from the fan, police said.
She had arrived here Oct 27 on a tourist visa with her 57-year-old Czech boyfriend Simon Spitz.
They came to Delhi from Chennai Friday afternoon and around 3.30 p.m. they moved into the hotel.
Janata Party chief Subramanian Swamy Saturday said he will urge the Election Commission to de-recognize the Congress for providing an “interest-free loan” to Associated Journals Ltd.
A day after the Congress admitted it gave the loan to the publisher of the National Herald, Swamy told reporters: “I am filing a petition today before the Election Commission seeking de-recognition of the Congress.”
The Congress said no commercial profit accrued to it from the loan.
Floods in Andhra Pradesh triggered by cyclone ‘Nilam’ and north-west monsoon inundated villages and caused widespread damage to crops Saturday, officials said.
Over 100 villages were cut off and A few towns including Vijayawada faced inundation as heavy rains continue to lash coastal Andhra Pradesh and parts of Telangana region for the fourth consecutive day.
Rivulets, tanks and reservoirs were overflowing in eight districts, where normal life was hit. Rains claimed eight lives and damaged crops over 77,000 hectares during last four days.
Russia has blamed the US for effectively provoking the Syrian opposition into hardline stance, Xinhua reported.
“The United States claimed it will continue pressing the Syrian government, including toughening its sanctions. (Washington) directly advised what the Syrian opposition should do to form a government-in-exile, who should join such a government,” Russian foreign ministry spokesperson Alexander Lukashevich said Friday.
Hailing the opening of trade ties through the Attari-Wagah border, Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal said he would visit Pakistan Monday to explore strengthening trade between “eastern” and “western” Punjab (in Pakistan).
Badal said that Punjab had been waiting to be allowed to export its agricultural produce, including wheat and paddy, directly to Pakistan and Central Asian countries, as also Iran, by road.
He said that the opening of the Attari-Wagah border for trade was a “game-changer,” with a potentially huge impact for all of north India.
The USIEF-IIE University Fair kicked off here Saturday with the participation of 46 American institutions. It is touted as the biggest education fair ever held in India.
These universities offer courses in various disciplines at graduate and undergraduate levels including, engineering, masters in business administration, fashion and interior design.
The United States-India Educational Foundation (USIEF) in cooperation with Institute of International Education (IIE)organises annual U.S. higher education fairs in India.
A private complaint was filed Saturday against Karnataka Urban Development and Law Minister S. Suresh Kumar alleging that he recommended freeing of 4.2-acre state-owned land from government control to the brother of a lawmaker.
“We have received a complaint from a social activist (Dinesh K.) against the minister (S. Kumar) for recommending in 2009 de-notification of the government land meant for a housing project to slum-dwellers,” Bangalore Metropolitan Task Force (BMTF) Superintendent of Police (SP) M. Mallikarjuna Swamy told IANS here.
Chhattisgarh Saturday inked nearly 300 Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) worth over Rs. 1.22 lakh crore in non-core sector like solar energy at the end of the two-day Global Investors Meet held here.
Briefing the media, minutes after the conclusion of the meet, Chief Minister Raman Singh said solar energy clinched top slot as a number of players inked deals to invest Rs. 50,000 crore in this sector.
“We have got investment of Rs.1,22,419 crore,” Singh said at the conclusion of the meet. It will also create over 6 lakh new job opportunities, he said.
Indian doctor Rajan Daniel’s throat was slit inside a hospital in Abu Dhabi by a Pakistani man who blamed him for his relative’s death, a media report said Saturday.
The Pakistani was armed with a big knife when he stormed the private hospital Thursday. He grabbed the Indian urologist and fatally stabbed him after the death of his relative, reported web site Emirates 24/7.
Daniel, who hails from Kerala, had been working in the hospital since 2007. He is survived by his wife Geeta George, who lived with him in the United Arab Emirates, and daughter Junu.
(IANS/RIA Novosti) The Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem has threatened to close its doors to pilgrims and tourists as its bank account has been frozen over an accumulated debt for water supplies.
The church, which has been for centuries one of the most important pilgrimage destinations for millions of Christians as the purported site of the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ, is now unable to pay salaries to its expansive staff of priests, monks and teachers.
The Supreme Court Saturday ordered the law enforcement agencies to take infiltration of the militants in Karachi seriously, a day after Pakistani Taliban threatened to attack leaders of a political group in the southern port city.
Taliban spokesman Ihsanullah Ihsan said Friday that the militants have decided to target the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) in its Karachi stronghold as the group has been critical of the Taliban’s policies, Xinhua reported citing media reports.
Thousands of Sikhs marched to Parliament Street here Friday on the 29th anniversary of the anti-sikh riots to seek justice for the victims of those killed during the violence. They also submitted a memorandum to the prime minister to reopen cases.
A three-member delegation submitted a memorandum to the Prime Minister’s Office. The memorandum was signed by 40,000 people Justice Krishna Iyer, senior advocate of the Supreme Court Fali Nariman, former law minister Shanti Bhushan and former Chief Justice Rajinder Sachar.
Controversy is not new to Andhra Pradesh Transport Minister and state Congress president Botsa Satyanarayana.
Botsa, who has been in the eye of storm on earlier occasions including alleged mafia activities, does not seem to shy away from courting controversies.
Now, he is accused of abusing his official position for the wedding of his daughter Anusha, a medico, in his native Vizianagaram last night.
Senior BJP leader M Venkaiah Naidu on Saturday alleged that the Congress-led UPA government at the Centre was planning to conduct early general elections to escape from its failures, saying no amount of “make-up” (reshuffle) can prevent its “pack-up” in 2014.
“There were indications that the UPA government might go for vote-on-account, announce populist schemes and then dissolve the Parliament in March next year as it has miserably failed on all fronts and is steeped in several scams,” the former BJP president said in a press conference in Visakhapatnam.
A housewife was abandoned by her husband in the Bhongir area hospital in the district for delivering fourth girl child on Saturday.
According to the information, the man was very angry and demoralized with his wife delivering female child for the fourth time. He reportedly walked out of the hospital in a huff with his three daughters. The woman was a native of Laxmidevi thanda under Bommalaramaram mandal in the district.
–Agencies
MPs of the Telangana region are fearing if there would be mid-term polls. Discussions are on in political circles that the UPA government would not last ery long. AICC Chief Sonia Gandhi has even hinted about snap-polls. BJP is also preparing itself for polls.
State Lokayukta Justice B. Subhashan Reddy on Saturday directed the Yashoda Hospital management to collect medical treatment charges of two grievously injured girls from Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (APSRTC). It may be mentioned here that two girls were grievously injured while their parents died when an RTC bus hit them on the Tank bund road last week.
NTR TDP president and wife of late NTR Nandamuri Laxmi Parvathi here on Saturday announced that she would join the YSR Congress Party soon.
Speaking to the media, Laxmi Parvathi said she would write a letter to the Election Commission of India resigning to the post of president of NTR TDP.
Six persons have been held in two separate cases for allegedly selling and carrying narcotics, with officials seizing over 10.5 kg of the banned substance worth around Rs 3.18 crore from their possession, police said.
Two persons were held by Customs officials at the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport at Shamshabad here after 10 kg of narcotic drug, believed to be Methaqualone, popularly known as Mandrax, worth Rs 3 crore was allegedly found in their possession.
–Agencies
The Centre has pulled up the State Government for non-utilisation of Central funds to tune of over Rs 1000 crore.
Four persons, including two local BJP leaders, were killed when a car carrying them collided with a bus on Dwarka-Somnath coastal highway this morning, police said.
The victims, who hailed from village Bhad in the district, were going to Somnath when the incident happened,
they said.
The car driver, who sustained injuries, was taken to Rajkot Civil Hospital. The driver of the luxury bus fled after
the accident, police said.
Inspector K M Raval said the deceased were identified as Lakshman Modhwadia (50), Liluben Modhwadia (25), 5-year-old
Yuvraj Modhwadia and Bhayabhai Dhaki(45).
Perturbed over the alleged apathy of police towards illegal betting practice in his area, a 21-year-old man attempted suicide in front of the house where Deputy Speaker of Rajasthan Assembly was staying in Tonk district.
Naresh poured kerosene on himself in Circuit House where the Deputy Speaker Ramnarayan Choudhary was halting last
evening and threatened to commit suicide, police said.
However, he was overpowered by the security-men of Meena and was later handed over to local police.
For proper and safe maintenance of records, the Jammu and Kashmir government has formulated a comprehensive plan for computerisation of health institutions in the state.
“The state government has formulated a comprehensive plan for computerisation of health institutions in Jammu and
Kashmir,” Manoj Kumar Dwivedi, Commissioner Secretary, Health and Medical Education, said here today.
Storing of important statistics in computers was imperative for improving the service system, he said at a
meeting here.
—————-PTI