President Barack Obama has described the Connecticut school shooting as ‘the worst day of his presidency’.
Nearly 20 kids and six adults were killed after Adam Lanza went on the rampage at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown on December 14.
Obama also pledged to put his ‘full weight’ behind a legislative package next year aimed at tackling gun violence, the Daily Mirror reports.
A woman and her three daughters were killed in Pakistan’s Punjab province when a speeding car they were travelling in overturned.
The accident occurred Sunday when the family was returning home to Pind Dadan Khan town from Lahore in a car which turned turtle after one of its tyres suddenly burst.
The woman’s sister and the car driver survived the accident but with serious wounds.
–IAns
One person has been arrested for allegedly raping a 13-year-old school girl at Kattaya village in Karnataka’s Hassan district, police said on Monday.
Rangaraju, who was absconding after the incident on December 18, was arrested today, police said.
The accused took the eighth standard student on his motorcycle following her mother’s request to drop her at the school and raped her, police said.
He had threatened her not to disclose the incident.
The girl was going to school in the evening to go on a study tour, sources said.
–PTI
The story of Saba’ is mentioned in the Sura Saba’ (34:15-19)
This story illustrates how people can lose all the blessings given to them by Allah when they turn away from Him and take others (the Creator’s creations), for worship.
My brothers and sisters everywhere! Islamic law [Shari’ah] – that Allah (Glorified and Exalted be He) sent down to His Messenger Muhammad (Sallellahu Alaihi Wa Sallam) – came to announce that women (exactly like men) are full human beings. Women (like men) are therefore required to follow the way appointed by Allah.
A woman (like a man) is therefore obligated with all three degrees of this religion: Islam (outward submission to Allah), Iman (inward faith in Allah), and Ihsan (perfection of worship of Allah).
ISLAM: (outward submission to Allah)
Actor Nawazuddin Siddiqui is gearing up to work on a second biopic – “End of Bandit Queen” – based on the life of Sher Singh Rana, prime accused in the murder of bandit-turned-politician Phoolan Devi in 2001.
“I will start shooting for this biopic film in March 2013. It is a biopic on Sher Singh Rana. The film is tentatively titled ‘End of Bandit Queen’. We will be shooting in India, Bangladesh and Afghanistan,” Nawazuddin told IANS.
Sher Singh Rana is currently lodged at Delhi’s Tihar Jail, and Nawazuddin says he will meet him soon.
Google India has lit a white candle on its homepage as a tribute to the 23-year-old Delhi gang-rape victim, who passed away following a 13-day fight for life.
It’s not another fancy Google doodle, but a small image below the search bar. Once you move the cursor on the candle, it reads: “In memory of the Delhi braveheart”.
A touching gesture indeed – even as scores of Indians have been holding candlelight vigils to pay homage to the trainee physiotherapist.
State Agriculture Minister, Mr. K. Lakshminarayana told that he would convene a meeting of the officials of the Department of Agriculture to resolve the long pending issues.
There is no confusion about the letter TDP wrote to Congress Core Committee and the stand it has taken on Telangana issue. Some fundamentalist leaders are trying to create confusion whereas the people of Telangana have clearly understood the stand taken by TDP.
Adilabad district collector Dr. A Ashok declared Christmas as a symbol of peace, love and brotherhood and told that government is taking every possible measure for the welfare and prosperity of Christians under department of Minority Welfare. Dr. Ashok told that serving people with the humanitarian spirit brings peace to the heart.
Banned Kangleipak Communist Party (KCP) on Monday said that it would take action against the three youths, who posed as their member and allegedly molested a school girl at Napet Palli in Imphal East district of Manipur on December 24.
KCP viewed seriously the misusing and maligning its image and would initiate steps for suitable punishment for Tensubam Amitkumar (21), Ngangom Chandra (21) and Khaidem Sanahal (21) alias Bungo alias Kunjo once they were out on bail, KCP Information Secretary S Mangal said in a statement.
Fresh facts have emerged in the case of a minor girl molested in a bus here with police arresting her teenaged brother for allegedly raping her six months ago and molesting her thereafter.
The tragic story of the girl unfolded yesterday after the 16-year-old girl recorded her statement with police. Her brother Nazakkat Ali (19) was arrested following her complaint.
Leading Islamic seminary Darul Uloom Deoband has issued an order banning its students from using mobile phones with cameras and seized 14 such devices from the hostel.
According to deputy Vice-Chancellor Maulana Abdul Khalik, from now on, students may only use simple cellular phone handsets without camera or video features since these are seen as having an adverse effect on their studies.
Students at the seminary have been warned that disciplinary action would be taken against anyone found using camera phones.
PTI
The youth of Gulshan colony left no stone unturned to restore the ancient historical Qutub Shahi masjid located at the back side of Qutub Shahi Tombs commonly known as Seven Tombs. The masjid abutting the boundary wall of Qutub Shahi Toms has been named as Masjid Noor by the residents of Gulshan Colony.
The masjid was uninhabited since long. The state Archaeological Department was quite apathetic towards its restoration. The masjid was one among the 110 uninhabited mosques which were brought to light by Siasat daily.
No Indian economic sector hogged the limelight like the telecom industry in 2012, even as the swelling number of subscribers continued its upward mobility.
The year saw it all – the Supreme Court cancelling 122 licences, failed spectrum auction, disputes over interconnect charges, spread of 3G networks, and penetration of smartphones that affected the industry.
If the world is progressing in any sector, it is the fields of Science and Technology. The high speed of development of Science and technology was adopted in the field of medicine. In the field of medicine new methods are being used in diagnosing the diseases and full use of innovative technologies are being deployed in curing the patients.
These thoughts were expressed by the Muslim doctors who had come from various countries to attend the seminar of International Islamic Medicine organized by International Institute of Islamic Medicine at Hotel Park in Hyderabad yesterday.
National Commission for Women (NCW) chairperson Mamta Sharma on Monday said Rajasthan MLA Banwari Lal Singhal should apologise to the girls over his remark that skirts in schools should be banned.
“It is a weird and sad statement because we want to impose restrictions on the clothing of the girls. I want to ask the MLA that a three-year-old girl and an 80-year-old woman are not provoking anyone by wearing a skirt,” she said.
A respected German magazine has mistakenly published an obituary for former U.S. President George H.W. Bush.
Der Spiegel published the obituary hours after a family spokesman said the 88-year-old was recovering from illness.
Bush was hospitalized in Houston November 23 for treatment of a bronchitis-related cough and moved to intensive care on Dec. 23 after he developed a fever.
According to the Huff Post, the unfinished obituary appeared on Der Spiegel”s website for only a few minutes Sunday before it was spotted by Internet users and removed.
Lakhdar Brahimi, the international envoy to Syria, has warned that as many as 100,000 could die in the country in the next year if the ongoing civil war does not end.
Brahimi, the UN-Arab League envoy for the Syrian crisis, said that if the crisis continues, Syria will not be divided into states “like what happened in Yugoslavia”.
He, instead, warned that the country would face “Somalisation, which means warlords, and the Syrian people will be persecuted by those who control their fate”.
An Iranian Christian pastor, who was imprisoned in Iran for converting from Islam to Christianity, has been taken into custody again, media sources and people close to the pastor and his family, have said.
Youcef Nadarkhani, 35, had been summoned to return back to Lakan Prison in Rasht, the facility where he served time and was then released, based on the charge that he must complete the remainder of his sentence.
In September, the pastor was acquitted of apostasy, but the court maintained his three-year sentence for evangelizing Muslims, Fox News reports.
A French weekly newspaper will release a comic book biography of Prophet Mohammed.
Satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo has on several occasions depicted Islam’s prophet in an effort to defend free speech and defy the anger of Muslims who believe depicting Mohammed is sacrilegious.
Charlie Hebdo’s publisher and the comic’s illustrator said that the new book is a ‘biography authorised by Islam since it was edited by Muslims’, News24 reports.
Al Qaeda’s branch in Yemen has offered a bounty of gold worth 160,000 dollars to anyone who assassinates US ambassador Gerald M Feierstein.
The group announced that it would pay tens of thousands of dollars to anyone who kills the US ambassador to Yemen in Sanaa or an American soldier in the country.
They offered 3 kilograms of gold for killing Feierstein, and said it will also pay 5 million Yemeni riyals for anyone who kills an American soldier.
According an American news agency, the offer is valid for six months.
The information technology industry in India has a challenging and an uncertain year ahead, feel the business leaders in the sector in this technology hub.
However, they believe the IT companies could use this uncertain period as an opportunity to make investments to increase their competitiveness.
Expressing shock and sorrow at the death of an Indian man Sunando Sen last week, Indian Americans have asked the Department of Justice and FBI to separately track hate crimes against various religious communities in the country.
“Such a violent and hateful attack on any individual, especially because of religious hatred is completely unconscionable in any society” said Suhag Shukla, executive director and legal counsel for the Washington-headquartered Hindu American Foundation (HAF).
A 31-year-old New York woman charged with the murder of an Indian immigrant has been ordered to undergo a psychiatric evaluation after she laughed at her arraignment telling the judge she thought it would be “cool” to push the victim in front of a train.
Erika Menendez has been charged with murder as a hate crime for pushing 46-year old Sunando Sen in front of an oncoming train at a subway station in Queens on December 27.
Sen, who owned a printing and copying business, would be cremated today by his friends after it emerged that he has no family in India.