Month: February 2013

A Chinese family from southern China has raised eyebrows with their choice of babysitter for their 13-year-old son – a 15ft giant Burmese python.

Chan Liu leaves his 13-year-old son Azhe home alone with their 220lb pet snake in Dongguan, the Sun reported.

And instead of keeping her in a cage, Azhe has amazed locals by kissing and cuddling the 15ft predator.

He said that the python is very careful and never squeezes him too hard.

Azhe was born six years after his dad Chan brought home a python egg and hatched it out.

President Vladimir Putin has brought R ‘n’ B band Boyz II Men to Russia to counteract the flagging birth rate in the country.

According to The Moscow Times, the band, famous for their 1990s hits ‘End of the Road’ and ‘I’ll Make Love to You,’ are going to use their dulcet tones to nudge citizens of Russia in the right direction during a February 6 concert in Moscow, the New York Daily News reported.

Though it’s unclear how Putin was involved in contacting the group, his previous initiatives make the move seem not that far-fetched.

A 6.4-magnitude earthquake jolted Japan’s Hokkaido late Saturday, reported Xinhua citing the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA).

The quake occurred at around 11.17 pm local time and no tsunami warnings were issued by the agency. As of now, there were no reports of any damage and casualty.

The epicenter was initially determined at 42.7 degrees north latitude and 143.3 degrees east longitude with a depth of about 120 km.

The quake was marked 5 upper at JMA Seismic Intensity in several places in Hokkaido, while Tokyo also felt tremors.

—IANS

Taking a jibe at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) over the infighting within its fold on the 2014 Prime Ministerial candidate, Gujarat Congress President Arjun Modhwadia on Saturday said Lal Krishna Advani used to dream about occupying the country”s topmost post and now Narendra Modi is living in the world of same dreams.

Israel is said to be considering more attacks in Syria and Lebanon following the air strikes on a weapons convoy this week. Officials stated the risks of military action to prevent Hizbollah getting sophisticated weapons outweighed the threats of a response from both Syria and Iran, the Telegraph reports. A third battery of its Iron Dome protective missile system was moved up to the border with Lebanon to prepare for any retaliation from Hizbollah for Israel”s reported attack on anti-aircraft missiles being supplied to the militant group by Syria, the paper added.

Most of north India on Saturday saw an upward surge in the mercury with minimum temperatures rising as sky remained overcast in many parts amid predictions of rains.

Delhi got relief from the dense fog which had hit rail and air traffic yesterday, while temperatures rose above normal under partially cloudy skies.

The maximum in Delhi was recorded three degrees above normal at 24.2 degrees while the minimum was up one notch from the normal at 9.4 degrees Celsius.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Saturday declared former Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje as the new president of the party’s Rajasthan unit.

Talking to reporters about the decision, BJP national president Rajnath Singh said that Raje will be the new president of the BJP”s Rajasthan unit and she will lead the party in the upcoming state assembly polls.

Seeking to set at rest controversy over Aadhaar, Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia on Saturday said UID is a number and not an identity card.

“The Aadhaar is actually a number, linked to that number is a biometric record which is centrally stored. The (Aadhaar) number comes in a form of card. But that card is not an identity card,” Ahluwalia told PTI when asked about the raging controversy over the issue.

Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Saturday launched the Re 1 a kg rice scheme for the poor in Odisha from the backward and tribal-dominated Malkangiri district.

Patnaik, who distributed cheap rice to members of the Bonda tribe, had announced the scheme on Republic Day.

It would provide rice at Re 1 per kg to people living below poverty line (BPL) as well as Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, disabled and beneficiaries of the Antyodaya scheme.

In a case of an elopement gone wrong, two class X students were today assaulted and robbed of jewelry worth Rs 1.5 lakh by friends who had promised to help them in running away from their homes, police said here.

Police Commissioner B L Soni told PTI it was suspected that the boy died after being thrashed and over 100 policemen were searching for him in Saiwad area near Amer in the district.

The trilateral talks between the Tamil Nadu Government, Kamal Hassan and Muslim groups held here on Saturday, broke the impasse over the screening of film ‘Vishwaroopam’ in the state, as the veteran actor-director has agreed to edit some scenes and sound clips, that the Muslim groups have found objectionable.

At the end of the six-hour long meeting, representatives of various Muslim groups and Hassan signed an agreement to break the deadlock situation.

A city court Saturday framed charges of murder, gang-rape, kidnapping and on 10 other counts against five accused involved in the Dec 16 rape of a 23-year-old woman, paving the way for their trial from Tuesday as Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and party vice president Rahul Gandhi went to meet the family of the dead woman.

The court ruling was welcomed by the families of the trainee physiotherapist and her male friend. They voiced hope that the fast-track court would hand down quick punishment to the accused.

How did Congress get 60 per cent majority in cooperative polls?

This is not a million dollars question as the ruling party always gets majority and this is a known fact. What is baffling is how Congress could get so many seats in Telangana region at a time when the wave and sentiment are so strong. TRS leaders may dismiss it that they did not take the elections very seriously.

Then how could Congress and TDP get so many seats if the sentiment is so strong. Is it a political movement or a people’s movement that TRS is leading?

Bomb disposal experts found out that the suicide bomber detonated some 6 kg of TNT explosives as well as a hand grenade in Friday’s attack targeting the US Embassy in Ankara, reported Xinhua, citing an official statement.

The suicide bomber, identified as Ecevit Sanli, a member of the far-left Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party/Front (DHKP/C), killed himself and a Turkish security guard in the attack, said the statement by Ankara Governor’s Office Saturday.

It was the second deadly assault on an US diplomatic post in five months.

US Vice President Joe Biden said today the US and its partners were pushing to help strengthen the Syrian opposition, insisting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was a “tyrant” and must go.

Biden was speaking on the second day of security talks in the German city of Munich, where he is later due to hold
talks on Syria with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Syrian opposition chief Moaz al-Khatib.

The US has provided “more than USD 50 million in non-lethal assistance to the Syrian opposition and are working

British Prime Minister David Cameron will meet the leaders of Afghanistan and Pakistan this weekend as part of moves to prevent a Taliban resurgence when foreign troops leave, Downing Street said today.

The premier will dine with Afghan President Hamid Karzai and Pakistan’s President Asif Ali Zardari at his country
retreat Chequers in Buckinghamshire, southeast England, on Sunday.

Cameron will then hold the first in-depth top-level talks with both leaders and their key officials on Monday.

Pakistan army Saturday rejected as “a pack of lies, propaganda driven and totally biased” the Human Rights Watch (HRW) report that the government has failed to act against abuses by security and intelligence agencies, which allowed extremists to attack religious minorities.

The Pakistani military spokesman said the HRW has made yet another attempt to malign Pakistan and its institutions through fabricated and unverified reports, reported Xinhua.

Two Asian teenagers including an Indian-origin boy have been sentenced to jail for attempting to rob a jewellery store in UK last year.

Two teenage boys who were chased and detained by members of the public after attempting to rob a jewellers in Edgware were jailed on Friday 1 February at Wood Green Crown Court,” the Metropolitan police said today.

The duo, Momim Hassan, 17, of Devonshire Road, NW7 and Indian-origin Tajwar Shah, 16, of St Edmunds Drive, Stanmore
were named after the judge lifted restrictions preventing them from being identified.

Palestinians and activists were today setting up camp near a village in the northern West Bank, in their third attempt at a new form of protest against Jewish settlements.

An AFP correspondent said the structures at the site near Burin, south of Nablus, so far comprised of four huts and
three tents.

The neighbourhood is called Al-Manatir,” activist Abir Kopty told AFP.

“Burin lost a lot of its land to the settlements around, Har Bracha and others, and is subject to settlers’ terror and attacks on the people.”

Following Andhra Pradesh Congress president B Satyanarayana’s indication of expulsion of nine party MLAs, YSR Congress Party today dared the main opposition TDP to move a no-confidence motion against the Kiran Kumar Reddy-led Congress Government .

The government does not have the figures for a simple majority and TDP, which has been vociferous about the
failures of the state Government, should move a no-trust move, or if it has an understanding with the ruling party, it should be categorical about it,” YSRCP leader M V Mysoora Reddy said.

Over 400 cases of crime against women, including rape cases, have been disposed of in trial courts across the country last month, Chief Justice of India Altamas Kabir said today.

There is need to pay more attention to crimes against women, elderly and children, the Chief Justice told the first
convocation of the Rajiv Gandhi National Law University here.

Fast-track courts are being set up in consultations with Central and state governments for expeditious disposal of
cases, he said.

A district court here today awarded death sentence to a person for the rape and murder of a minor girl in Bihar’s Katihar district.

After a speedy trial spanning a fortnight, the district court awarded death sentence to Sanjay Rishi for
raping a three-and-a-half-year-old girl on January 23.

The police arrested the accused the next day and submitted chargesheet within 24 hours.

The court took cognisance of the matter on January 28 and through speedy trial issued the order within nine days.

——–PTI

A young man killed his mother for not giving money to buy liquor at village Nagour under Nateran police staion jurisdiction, about 40 km from the district headquarters, late yesterday, police said today.

Police officer Gopal Singh Dhakad told reporters that Ranveer Maihar (25) axed his mother Munni Bai (45) to death
when she refused to give him money for liquor.

Police has arrested Ranveer and registered a murder case against him.

——————PTI

A lawyer was arrested with 300 grams of morphine estimated to be around Rs 30 lakh in the international market, police said today.

Shrichandra Sharma was arrested with the contraband from the Kothi area of the district yesterday, they said.

He was booked under the narcotics act and produced before the local court, which sent him to judicial custody, they
said.

——-PTI

RJD President Lalu Prasad today escaped unhurt when a makeshift wooden platform raised at a Yagna site in Saran district collapsed.

As soon as Prasad and RJD Secretary General Ramkripal Yadav climbed the platform constructed on the occasion of a
Maha Rudra Yagna at Madhurup in Saran district it collapsed due to overload, party sources said.

The security personnel intervened and removed Prasad and Yadav from the site.

I am fine and did not receive any injury in the incident,” Prasad told PTI.
The two leaders later addressed the gathering from the same broken platform.