Month: February 2013

On a historic visit, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad today arrived here, becoming the first Iranian president to visit Egypt since the Islamic revolution in 1979.

He was welcomed by Egyptian President Muhammed Mursi at Cairo International Airport.

During his three-day visit, the Iranian president will attend the Organisation of Islamic Conference’s summit on February 6-7 and seek to strengthen bilateral ties with Cairo.

“I will try to pave the ground for developing cooperation between Iran and Egypt,” Iran’s official IRNA news agency quoted Ahmadinejad as saying ahead of his visit to Cairo.

Russia remains a key weapons supplier to India with USD 3.5 billion worth of new arms export deals concluded last year and a bright future for bilateral military-technical cooperation.

“The country (India) is one of the main importers of defence products on the global scale, and Russia continues to be one of its key suppliers,” said Viktor Komardin, Deputy General Director of Rosoboronexport, ahead of his visit to the Aero India 2013, international aerospace show in Bangalore.

An Iranian semi-official news agency says the country plans to send its first astronauts into space by 2018.

Today’s report by Mehr quotes Mohammad Ebrahimi, a senior official in Iran’s space agency, as saying the flight of two trained Iranian astronauts has been slated for between 2016 and 2018.

Ebrahimi says Iran will first attempt to send the astronauts into sub-orbital space, up to a distance of 200 kilometers (125 miles), for about 30 minutes.

New US Secretary of State John Kerry and his South Korean counterpart have agreed to make sure North Korea is punished if it carries out its threat to conduct a nuclear test.

Under a UN Security Council resolution last month condemning a North Korean long-range rocket launch that the UN and others call a disguised test of banned missile technology, Pyongyang is subject to new sanctions if it detonates its third nuclear device since 2006.

Underlining that Pakistan and India are standing at the “crossroads of history”, Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf on Monday said the bilateral peace process should be “uninterrupted” so that it can produce results.

Ashraf made the remarks while chairing a session of the Pakistan-occupied Kashmir’s Council that was held at the Prime Minister’s Secretariat.

Pakistan had demonstrated “seriousness of purpose and sincerity” in resuming the dialogue with India, he said.

In his opening remarks, he said that “Pakistan and India stand at the crossroads of history”.

Indicating a tacit understanding between Islamabad and Washington over drone strikes, a US scholar has said that the Pakistan Government has now publicly asked United States to stop drone strikes, but has not taken any measure against it.

The United States has endorsed the joint statement issued by leaders of Afghanistan, Pakistan and Britain at the just concluded Chequers summit where the three countries asked Taliban to join the peace process.

“We fully endorse the contents of the joint statement that those three governments came forward with, and we are committed ourselves to support an Afghan-led process,” the State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland told reporters at her daily news conference yesterday.

BJP national leader and former Union minister Bandaru Dattatreya, Greater Hyderabad party president B. Venkat Reddy and BJP floor leader in the GHMC council Bangari Prakash have written to the Municipal Administration Minister to remove the Mayo of Hyderabad under Sections 679-AA and 679-B of GHMC Act for abusing official position and preventing an elected member from assuming office.

Pakistan’s top leadership has re-affirmed its support for the people of Kashmir, saying confidence-building measures initiated with India should lead to the resolution of the dragging dispute over the region.

In messages issued on the occasion of Kashmir Solidarity Day that is observed on February 5 every year, President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf reiterated Pakistan’s political, moral and diplomatic support to the Kashmiri people.

Sri Lanka has suspended sending maids to work in Saudi Arabia, following an international outcry over the beheading of a young Lankan housemaid in the Kingdom.

The Chairman of Association of Licensed Foreign Employment Agencies (ALFEA) said that the government had decided to suspend sending domestic maids to Saudi Arabia until the maids are provided with an insurance cover by the Saudi authorities.

ALFEA Chairman W MP Aponso, quoted by The Sunday Leader, said that it will discuss the issue with Sri Lankan Minister of Foreign Employment and Social Services Dylan Pereira.

In his first public appearance, newly-appointed US Secretary of State John Kerry on Tuesday welcomed a group of young musicians from Afghanistan while he emphasised the role of music as an international language of peace. Describing them as the ambassadors of peace, Kerry assured the young Afghan musicians that the United States will continue to work to bring peace and stability in the war-torn country.

Railway police in China have seized around 6,300 kg of chemicals, 14,000 knives and 850,000 bags of firecrackers from people travelling in trains during the lunar year festival.

Around 240,000 cases concerning inflammable substances, explosives and “dangerous goods” were handled by police since the start of the Spring Festival holiday travel rush, Xinhua reported.

Police also seized paint and cigarette lighters.

The railway department has introduced 2,883 security scanners and 2,377 security gates in stations across the country.

The US military says it’s lifting its ban on an Afghan airline blacklisted after allegations that the carrier was being used for drug smuggling.

A military statement released late yesterday says it would continue to allow Kam Air to work on US military contracts while the Afghan government conducts its own investigation of the airline.

The suspension last month came after the US military found evidence that opium was being smuggled on Kam Air flights.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad arrived in Egypt”s capital Cairo on Tuesday, the first visit by an Iranian president to Egypt since 1979.

Ahmadinejad will participate in the upcoming Islamic Summit slated for Feb. 6-7, the first one since the Egyptian unrest broke out, also the first one that Egypt has hosted since the establishment of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in 1969.

Former military ruler and Pakistan president, Pervez Musharraf, had kept his top commanders in the dark about his ”secret understanding” with the US to support the invasion of Afghanistan, according to his former military aide. Lt General (retired) Shahid Aziz disclosed that top military commanders had reached a consensus to remain neutral in the event of a US operation in Afghanistan, following the 9/11 attacks, reports The Express Tribune.

Shakira and boyfriend Gerard Pique have for the first time shown off their son, Milan, on micro blogging site Twitter.

Two weeks after welcoming the tot, the Colombian singer-songwriter debuted the first look of the baby boy, reported Aceshowbiz.

“Meet our baby boy Milan,” Shakira wrote in a caption of the picture which sees Pique kissing Milan.

Before unveiling the baby’s pic, the 36-year-old artist asked her fans to make donation to UNICEF.

“Visit our @Unicef #Babyshower to see the 1st pic of my 2 angels & help underprivileged babies http://uni.cf/baby Shak,” she tweeted.

The country’s services sector grew at the fastest fastest pace in the past 12 months in January driven by an increase in new business orders, the HSBC purchasing managers index (PMI) data said on Tuesday.

The growth in the country’s services sector, which makes up for nearly 60 percent of the country’s economic output, witnessed significant pick up in new orders.

Besides, the private sector employment activity also increased for eleventh month running, it said.

Americans are selfish and get motivated by self-serving acts while Asian-Americans are moved by appeals to interdependence, according to a new study.

The study by Stanford psychologists finds that Americans are not driven by appeals to think and act interdependently, and in fact, those messages may decrease motivation.
“American culture stresses independence, and the desire for independence fuels behaviour,” says MarYam Hamedani, one of the study’s authors.

Telecom major Bharti Airtel on Tuesday said it is buying the entire shareholding in the joint venture with Alcatel Lucent, as part of a new business model to manage fixed line and broadband networks.

Bharti would acquire the entire equity stake in Alcatel Lucent Managed Network Service India.

In a statement, Bharti said it was introducing a new business model for managing fixed line and DSL broadband networks, on the lines of Indus Towers.

Police today caned Telangana protagonists in retaliation to the stone pelting by them during K. Neeraj Bharadwaj’s funeral procession.

It may be recalled that yesterday Bharadwaj, a student of WITS College committed suicide as he was saddened over the inordinate delay on separate Telangana State.

Telangana Political JAC Chairman Prof. Kodandaram and Siddipet MLA T Harish Rao participated in Bharadwaj’s funeral procession paying last tributes to Neeraj at Mahathma Gandhi Memorial Hospital here.

Even as the UPA government was contemplating to send the culprits of rape and murder to gallows, a woman was found murdered after being raped in Visakhapatnam.

A naked body of a woman was found in the agency area of Vizag with the victim’s face burnt to prevent her identity. The body was found near Turaiguda under Araku mandal this morning.

Police suspect that the victim was raped and murdered. Police rushed to the spot and sent the body for post mortem. They suspect that the crime could have occurred two days ago. (NSS)

DGP V. Dinesh Reddy today visited the Banjara Hills police station and inspected the Model House and the women’s help center set up in the station on an experimental basis.

Speaking to the media later, Dinesh Reddy said these facilities would soon be extended to other stations in the State. He said a total surveillance camera set up was made in the Model House and with this, the way police talk to the complainants would be examined thoroughly. He also said that a complaint box would be made available in all the police stations.

Congress MLA from Chintalapudi Maddala Rajesh met YSR Congress chief Y S Jaganmohan Reddy in the Chanchalguda jail on Tuesday.

It is learnt that Ramesh had discussed about his joining the YSR Congress with Jagan.
Sources say that as per the suggestion of Jagan, Rajesh might join the YSRCP in the presence of YS Vijayamma later in the day.

Pushed on the back foot, State Government on Tuesday denied that nine MLAs were expelled from Congress for anti-party activities and blamed media for distorting the PCC President’s version.

Finance minister Anam Ramnarayan Reddy today said the Party did not suspend any of the MLAs and the remarks of PCC President Botsa Satyanrayana were distorted by the media. Speaking to reporters here, he said that the government would prove its majority during the budget session of the Assembly. He said that municipal elections would be held soon and the government is considering the issue.

Moving closer to complete its Rs 11,167 crore takeover of majority stake in United Spirits, global liquor giant Diageo Plc has got market regulator Sebi’s clearance for an open offer to acquire 26 percent stake from public shareholders of the UB group firm.

As part of the deal for purchase of 53.4 percent stake in Vijay Mallya-led UB group’s United Spirits Ltd, Diageo has made a Rs 5,441 crore open offer for purchase of 26 percent stake in the company from non-promoter shareholders.