Month: January 2013

More than 46,000 people have died in Syria in the conflict between the forces of President Bashar al-Assad and the rebels, said an opposition group Tuesday.

Of all people killed in the civil war, 85 percent of them — 39,520 — died in 2012, according to the opposition Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, CNN reported.

In 2011, 6,548 lost their lives, representing 14 percent of the total 46,068 deaths.

And 2013 could bode worse, UN-Arab League envoy Lakhdar Brahimi said.

A powerful bomb went off at a busy intersection in the southern Pakistani city of Karachi Tuesday, injuring over 30 people, witnesses and police officials said.

The blast occurred at Ayesha Manzil intersection, located a short distance from Jinnah Ground where the Muttahida Qaumi Movement had organised a rally this afternoon.

People leaving the rally were hit by the blast at about 7.15 pm, witnesses said. Officials at Abbasi Shaheed Hospital said they had received more than 30 injured people and three of them were in a serious condition.

Five stalls were Tuesday gutted when a fire broke out at the 18th Dhaka International Trade Fair here in the Bangladesh capital barely hours after its inauguration.

The fire at the fair being held in at Sher-e-Bangla Nagar started around 6.30 p.m. from an electric short circuit, police told the Daily Star.

A fire-fighting unit stationed at the fair along with two other units brought the blaze under control in about 20 minutes. No casualties were reported.

Earlier, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina inaugurated the month-long fair.

–IANS

The Commissioner’s Task Force teams on Monday raided Satta gambling dens and nabbed nine Satta gamblers at various places in the city in order to curtail gambling/satta betting and seized cash of Rs 24,195 and 53 Satta chits from them.

While the citizens of the twin cities were welcoming the New Year 2013 and rejoicing by dancing and bursting crackers, one Aruna, an Osmania University Law student was allegedly gang raped and murdered by unidentified sex maniacs on Monday night. Her dead body was found under Chatrinaka Police Station limits on Tuesday morning.

TDP senior leader and former minister Kadiyam Srihari has said while every single party could understand his party’s stand on Telangana, he did not understand why TRS chief K Chandrasekhara Rao alone was unable to understand.

Congress MLC MS Prabhakar has welcomed the launch of Direct Cash Transfer Scheme by the Congress-led UPA Government at the Centre.

Talking to reporters in the premises of Legislative Council on Tuesday, Prabhakar said that the move remove the middlemen and would directly benefit the farmers, students, pensioners and beneficiaries of Public Distribution System. He said that the implementation of the scheme might have some glitches in the beginning. However, he said that all loopholes would be plugged once the scheme gets implemented across the country in the next few months.

AICC Secretary and MLC Ponguleti Sudhakar Reddy on Tuesday hoped that the Centre would soon announce a favourable decision on Telangana.

Talking to reporters at Assembly’s media point, Sudhakar Reddy said that the Centre was serious about resolving the statehood issue and it was honest in its approach to find an amicable solution. However, he alleged that the Telangana Rashtra Samithi was misleading the people about the Centre. In fact, he alleged that the TRS expects the Centre to drag the decision on Telangana issue so as to exploit the people’s sentiments and draw political mileage.

The ruling Congress party is all set to receive a major jolt in the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation.

After the exit of its floor leader Kaleru Venkatesh on December 21, at least three more Congress corporators are likely to join the YSR Congress party. However, the most shocking part for the Congress is these corporators represent the divisions that fall in the Khairtabad Assembly segment being represented by Labour Minister and Greater Hyderabad Congress Committee president Danam Nagender.

The 79th Convocation of Osmania University for the conferment of Degrees and Diplomas on the successful candidates of Annual and Supplementary Examinations of all courses (including M Phil and Ph D) conducted during the period from July-2009 to June-2012 will be held in February.

However, the Ph D Degrees, which are awarded till one week before the Convocation date, will also be conferred. The actual date of Convocation will be announced later.

At least 10 people, including three engineering students, were killed in separate roads accidents on the New Year’s eve.

According to police, on the New Year’s night, three engineering students who were riding a motor bike were hit by a car near TV9 office on Road No 2, Banjara Hills. All three of them died on the spot. The deceased has been identified as Vikhyath Rao, Shravan Reddy and Abuji Harish. All three were pursing ECE – B Tech IIIrd year from different colleges.

The Singapore doctor who carried out the postmortem of the 23-year-old gangrape victim will be included as a witness by the Delhi Police in the 50-page charge sheet in the case to be filed before a fast-track court
here on Thursday.

The male friend of the victim will be the main witness in the case while the Singapore doctor, who carried out the postmortem and the Indian mission official who received her death certificate, would be asked to testify, police sources said.

The main charge sheet will be accompanied by hundreds of pages of annexures, they said.

Russia’s controversial ban on adoptions of Russian children by American families came into force today, days after its signing by President Vladimir Putin sparked an international outcry.

The ban is part of a law rushed through parliament to hit back at the United States over its passing of a law
sanctioning Russian officials implicated in the death in jail of lawyer Sergei Magnitsky in 2009.

But opponents say it makes Russian orphans — many with physical or mental difficulties — the victims of a diplomatic standoff between Washington and Moscow.

Armed miscreants today looted Rs three lakh from an employee of general store in the Bazar Samiti locality under Jhanjharpur police station area in Bihar’s Madhubani district, a police officer said.

The motorcycle-borne miscreants intercepted Darbhanga- based general store owner Shankar Mahaseth’s employee Neeraj
at gun point and looted the bag containing the amount before making good their escape, the Deputy Superintendent of
Police (DSP) Amit Saran said.

A case has been lodged in this connection and three police stations in the area have been asked to launch a

Days after an adulterated cough syrup caused the death of 40 people, a senior Pakistani official has contended that an ingredient imported from India to make the medicine was to blame, a claim described as “ridiculous” by the drug manufacturing association here.

Nisar Ahmad Cheema, the Director General of Health of Punjab province, told reporters that dextromethorphan – an
active ingredient imported from India – was found to be responsible for the cough syrup-related deaths in Lahore and Gujranwala districts.

In yet another incident of gang-rape, a married woman belonging to a lower caste was allegedly raped by three men in Rajouri district of the state.

The victim from Noushera belt of Rajouri district reported the matter yesterday. Subsequently, a case was
registered and the three accused arrested within the shortest possible time,” Senior Superintendent of Police (Rajouri) Mubasir Latifee said.

As per the victim’s statement recorded before the Judicial Magistrate, three persons Madan Lal, Aasa Ram and Mohmmad

Syed Asif Ibrahim and Alok Joshi today took over as new chiefs of the country’s top snoop agencies Intelligence Bureau and Research and Analysis Wing.

The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) headed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had cleared their names in
November.

59-year-old Ibrahim is the first Muslim to lead the internal intelligence agency of the country. A 1977-batch IPS
officer of Madhya Pradesh cadre, Ibrahim was appointed as OSD in the Intelligence Bureau last month.

He today took over as its Director after incumbent Nehchal Sandhu retired yesterday.

Ensuring speedy return to their home country, the Centre has decided to waive off the fee collected from Indians who were given amnesty by United Arab Emirates Government for overstaying, Union Minister of State for External Affairs, E Ahamed said today.

They are not stranded. See, the Government of UAE has issued amnesty for two months. It has asked them to leave
their country who were overstaying.

This is the second time we are waiving off the fee collected towards EC (Emergency Certificate)”, he told PTI to a query here.

Pope Benedict XVI prayed for the “gift of peace” this year, condemning the inequality between rich and poor and “unregulated financial capitalism” at a New Year’s mass in St Peter’s Basilica today.

The pope spoke of “hotbeds of tension and confrontation caused by the growing inequality between rich and poor and the prevalence of a selfish and individualistic mentality also expressed by unregulated financial capitalism.”

A key member of the banned Manipuri outfit, Kangleipak Communist Party-Military Council (Lamjanba Khuman), was arrested in the capital and seven others, including a woman, were apprehended from Manipur in the past ten days, police said here today.

Khwairakpam Khogendro Singh, who took care of the outfit’s “revenue” through extortion and other illegal activities, was apprehended from near JNU on December 20 following which a joint operation in Manipur led to the arrest of seven others of the outfit, Sanjeev Yadav, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Special Cell), said.

A maulvi, accused of performing a girl’s marriage forcibly with a married man, has been denied anticipatory bail by a Delhi court which said the Sharia Law allows polygamy but only under special circumstances.

The court denied the relief to Maulvi Mustafa Raja of Delhi dismissing his arguments that as per the Sharia Law, a man is allowed to keep four wives at a time.
“I may observe that even in countries governed by Sharia (Islamic) law, the second marriage is permitted under special circumstances such as an illness of the first wife or her inability to bear children.

A special task force, headed by the Union Home Secretary, has been set up to look into the safety issues of women in the national capital on a fortnightly basis.

The 13-member task force will review the functioning of the Delhi Police on a regular basis.

It will also continuously review action taken by the police and the Delhi government regarding safety issues of women, a Home Ministry statement said today.

The task force will also take into consideration the suggestions made by the Members of Parliament during the
debates on the matter.

January 01:The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has extended the January 3 deadline for members to vote online for Oscar nominations by one day.

This is the first year the Academy is providing its membership the opportunity to vote online and the deadline has
been extended till Friday to ensure a smooth transition.

Members have the choice to either vote online or submit a paper ballot. Any votes received after the deadline will not be counted.

By extending the voting deadline we are providing every opportunity available to make the transition to online

Union Minister Shashi Tharoor today approached the Kerala High Court seeking to quash proceedings against him in a case of alleged disrespect to the national anthem pending before a lower court here.

Tharoor contended that the case, alleging violation of provisions of Prevention of Insult to National Honour Act, was solely motivated by “political consideration” and further continuance of proceedings will lead only to “intense
harassment” for him.

Researchers believe they have solved one of the biggest puzzles in anthropology – whether Lucy, one of our famous ancestors, who existed 3.2 million years ago,lived in the trees or on the ground.

Australopithecus Afarensis better known as Lucy is believed to have walked the Earth 3.2 million years ago in
Africa, and scientists based their model on a skeleton discovered in Ethiopia in 1974.

Researchers have long argued over when our ancestors ‘came down out of the trees’, with arguments centering around Lucy,and whether her feet allowed her to climb as well as walk.