Month: January 2013

The first investment by a foreign carrier in an Indian airline could be on the anvil with Jet Airways on Thursday announcing it was in talks with Abu Dhabi-based carrier Etihad for a possible stake sale.

“These discussions have commenced recently pursuant to the liberalised FDI policy which permitted foreign investment in the shares of an Indian airline,” Jet Airways informed the Bombay Stock Exchange.

“The discussions are in progress but no terms have been firmed up at present. Various structures are being explored by the legal and commercial teams,” it said in its filing.

The Jammu and Kashmir Police will award scholarships to children of police personnel, especially those who died fighting militants, it was announced Wednesday.

Director General of Police Ashok Prasad sanctioned scholarships worth Rs.16.5 lakhs for 352 students from police families. The scholarships will be valid for academic year 2011-12, a police spokesman said.

The beneficiaries include 13 students studying professional courses, 32 post graduation and graduation students and 307 studying from nursery to intermediate in schools.

Hadith: Anas (RadiyAllahu Anhu) reported: Messenger of Allah (Sallellahu Alaihi Wa Sallam) said: “Three (things) follow a dead person:

1. Members of his family,

2. His property

3. And his deeds.

Two of them return;

And one remains with him.

The people and his wealth return;

HIS DEEDS REMAIN WITH HIM”.

[AL-BUKHARI AND MUSLIM]

COMMENTARY:

Kashmir Valley continued to reel under intense cold as temperatures across the state plunged further, even as the fringes of the famous Dal Lake here were frozen for the first time this winter.

The summer capital Srinagar registered the coldest night of the season for the second time this winter as minimum temperature dropped to minus four degrees Celsius, a MeT Department spokesman said.

Srinagar had registered the season’s coldest night on December 23, when the MeT department recorded the temperature at minus four degrees Celsius.

The Regional Passport Office (RPO) here has issued over 61,000 passports to applicants from Kashmir Valley during 2012, almost double compared to last year, an official spokesman said.

“Passport Seva Kendra (PSK) under the jurisdiction of Regional Passport Office Srinagar, has issued around 61,400 passports during 2012,” he said.

He said the PSK issues 270 passports per day on an average, marking an increase of 48 per cent in issuance rate of passports from 2011.

The dreams of budding cricketers in Jammu and Kashmir Wednesday touched new heights when a 24-year-old local youth was selected for the 14-member India ‘A’ team to play a warm-up match against England Jan 6.

Manzoor Ahmad Wazir, treasurer of Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association (JKCA), told reporters: “Parveez Rasool, right-arm batsman and medium pacer playing for the state’s Ranji team, has been selected for the India ‘A’ cricket team. He has been included in the 14-member Indian squad that will play a warm-up match against England on January 6.”

Cold wave continued unabated in Uttar Pradesh as nine more persons succumbed to the chill in the state, taking the death toll this winter to 116.

Two persons each died in Deoria, Chandauli and Gazipur districts, followed by one each in Bijnor, Jhansi and Barabanki, officials said.

Najibabad was the coldest place in the state where the minimum temperature was recorded at 2.4 degrees, the Met office said, adding that maximum temperatures also remained below normal by 5 to 11 degrees over some parts of Western UP.

Minister of State for Home R.P.N. Singh on Thursday said the Home Ministry would review the law and order situation and discuss measures for prevention of crime and safety of women and SC/ STs during the meeting of the states DGPs and Chief Secretaries tomorrow.

Singh said Union Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde has called this meeting to take stock of the crime against women in wake of the brutal gang-rape of a 23-year-old girl in a moving bus in Delhi.

U.S. President Barack Obama has signed a 633-billion-U.S. dollar defense bill for next year, the White House said early Thursday.

Obama had threatened to veto the bill because of a number of concerns. He said although he continued to oppose certain sections of the bill, “the need to renew critical defense and authorities and funding was too great to ignore.”

The bill covers the cost of ships, aircraft, weapons and military personnel as well as the war effort in Afghanistan.

Pakistan on Thursday blocked cellular services in over 50 towns and cities, including Islamabad, to prevent terror attacks on Shia processions to commemorate the slaying of Imam Hussein, one of the most revered Shia figures.

Officials of the Interior Ministry have contended that mobile phones are used to trigger improvised explosive devices.

They have further said that mobile phones are used for communications between terrorists and their handlers.

Bikram Singh Brahma, a Congress leader from Chirang district of Assam, has been arrested by the police for allegedly attempting to rape a woman.

Mr Brahma, who is the Bodoland Territorial Area Districts’ (BTAD’s) Congress Co-ordination Committee President, reportedly tried to rape the woman in Salbari in Chirang around 2 am this morning.

Irked with his confession, a group of women then assaulted, slapped and stripped the Congress leader in full public view.

The visuals of this shocking incident were also aired on local TV news channel.

A British Airways flight on way to Tunisia had to make an emergency landing in France after two drunken middle-aged women on board tried to force their way into the cockpit.

The women — aged 50 and 43 — swore in front of children and refused to return to their seats after drinking a flavoured rum straight from the bottle, the Daily Mail reported.

One passenger said the women even threatened to track down and kill the family of a stewardess on the flight from Gatwick airport to Tunisia.

It was later claimed the women hid in the Boeing 737-400’s toilet for a smoke.

The police seemed to have unraveled the mystery surrounding the murder of M.Ed student Aruna on the new year eve in the city.

It might be mentioned here that the decomposed body of the 24-year old student was discovered in a house in Uppuguda, where her alleged friend K.Shivkumar, also a student of OU, was residing. The police suspected that a failed love affair could be the motive behind the murder of the five-month pregnant student. The needle of suspicion pointed to Shivkumar as the main suspect as he had suddenly disappeared after the incident.

A Muslim couple have sued a school in Britain after it banned students from wearing the traditional Islamic headscarf or hijab, a media report said Thursday.

The parents withdrew their nine-year-old daughter from the St Cyprian’s Greek Orthodox primary school in south London when she was banned from wearing the hijab, the Daily Mail reported.

The parents said it would be a sin for their daughter’s head to be uncovered while in the presence of male teachers as she has “reached puberty”.

The war of words between Komatireddy Venkat Reddy and Uttam Kumar Reddy has reached a crescendo with the former complaining to Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy about the Jalayagnam contracts.

Politics in Nalgonda district reached a feverish pitch with the two strongmen accusing each other of earning money through contracts, mostly benami.

The life and death struggle of an Indian woman, whose gang-rape aboard a bus in New Delhi ten days ago spawned days of mass protests across India, was covered prominently by the American media.

Reporting the death of the gang rape victim in a Singapore hospital Friday, the New York Times said: “Revulsion and anger over the rape have galvanized India, where women regularly face sexual harassment and assault, and where neither the police nor the judicial system is seen as adequately protecting them.”

Iran has unveiled its latest combat chopper Toufan II that features the country’s “latest achievements in electronics, optics, laser and armament capabilities”, state media reported.

The chopper was unveiled Wednesday at a ceremony attended by Defence Minister Brigadier General Ahmad Vahidi, Xinhua reported citing Press TV.

Vahidi said the chopper belongs to a new generation of combat helicopters and features modern and advanced technologies, including high-precision targeting capability.

Pakistani Taliban commander Mullah Nazir was among the five militants killed in a U.S. drone strike launched in the wee hours of Thursday morning in Paksitan”s northwest tribal area of South Waziristan, reported local media ARY.

According to the report, Mullah Nazir was killed together with four other militants when U.S. drones fired four missiles at about 12:30 a.m. local time Thursday morning at a house where they were living in the Angoor Ada area of South Waziristan bordering Afghanistan.

Four U.S. drones were reportedly involved in the strike.

A man in Kansas state in the US who donated his sperm to help a lesbian couple have a baby is now fighting efforts by the state to force him to pay for child support, RIA Novosti reported.

The man said the move has already prompted some men not to become sperm donors.

“I don’t even have to guess at that… people have already said ‘No’,” 46-year-old William Marotta told the Topeka Capital-Journal.

“I can’t even believe it’s gone this far at this point, and there’s not a damn thing I can do about it,” he said.

Marotta said he answered an ad seeking a sperm donor.

The Russian Navy will get over 50 new warships by 2016, including strategic nuclear submarines and special operations support vessels, the Defence Ministry said Thursday.

According to the defence ministry, Russia is currently in the middle of a huge re-armament programme, with $659 billion to be spent on arms procurement by 2020.

“By 2016, the combat strength of the Navy will be replenished with 18 surface warships of various ranks and designation, and also 30 special-purpose and counter-subversion vessels,” the ministry said in a statement.

The following is the scoreboard of Pakistan’s innings in the second One-day international against India at the Eden Gardens here Thursday.

Pakistan:
Nasir Jamshed st Dhoni b Jadeja 106
Mohammad Hafeez b Jadeja 76
Azhar Ali run out (Dhoni/Sehwag) 2
Younis Khan lbw b Raina 10
Misbah-ul-Haq lbw b Ashwin 2
Shoaib Malik c Yuvraj Singh b Sharma 24
Kamran Akmal c Sehwag b Jadeja 0
Umar Gul b Sharma 17
Saeed Ajmal c Sehwag b Kumar 6
Junaid Khan not out 0
Mohammad Irfan b Sharma 0
Extras: (lb 1, w 6) 7
Total: (all out in 48.3 overs) 250

Former Pakistan cricket captain Intikhab Alam Thursday heaped lavish praise on compatriot Nasir Jamshed, who struck a masterly century in the second One-Day International (ODI) against India at the Eden Gardens here.

“Jamshed was a injury prone guy but is an exceptional talent. I am really very pleased with him. We are very lucky to have him in the team. It is good to see him fulfilling the expectations that we all have from him,” said Alam as the Pakistani opener played some classy shots in the match.

A panchayat in Bihar has banned the use of mobile phones by girls and ordered them not to wear short, tight and “provocative” dresses, a member of the village council said Thursday.

The panchayat in Siwan district, around 150 km from here, has also threatened to impose heavy fine on the girls’ families if they violated the diktat, he said.

The decision was taken Wednesday evening at a meeting of council members and villagers in view of increasing rape cases, said Vijaykant Kunwar, sarpanch of Siswan.

All families have been told to ensure that the decision was not violated.

Veteran star Dilip Kumar, 90, has left for Makkah pilgrimage with his wife Saira Banu and few other relatives.

The actor, whose real name is Muhammad Yousuf Khan, left for Saudi Arabia last evening to perform Umrah.

“Allah has been kind that he’s given me the strength to go on Umrah (Pilgrimage) with Saira, Asif and @faisalMouthshut My doctor friends, few relatives are also accompanying me to Umrah. Keep me in your prayers,” Kumar tweeted.

Actress-dancer Julianne Hough has revealed that she was abused in her childhood.

The 24-year-old professional ballroom dancer said that it all began at the age of 10, after her parents divorced, and she moved to London to become a professional entertainer, reported Ace Showbiz.

Julianne, who grew up in a Mormon family, said that she was abused by adults around her while she was ocean away from her parents.

“While I was in London, I was abused, mentally, physically, everything. I’m a very forgiving person, and I don’t want to hurt anybody. What’s past is past,” she added.