Month: May 2013

Sarabjit’s family returns to India

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The family of Sarabjit Singh, the Indian death row prisoner battling for life in Pakistan, returned to India Wednesday.

Sarabjit’s sister Dalbir Kaur, wife Sukhpreet and daughters Swapandeep and Poonam crossed the international border gates at the Attari-Wagah border at 11.30 a.m.

They had gone to Pakistan Sunday to meet Sarabjit, who has been admitted to Lahore’s Jinnah Hospital in a critical state after being assaulted by fellow prisoners last week in the city’s Kot Lakhpat jail.

—IANS

Last rites of four-year-old rape victim performed

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Mourners performed the last rites of a four-year-old rape victim who had died of her injuries on Monday night in Nagpur. Relatives of the girl said they would seek the death penalty for the accused. The body of the victim was taken through the streets of Ghansor, before it was buried. She had died due to a cardiac arrest nearly two weeks after her alleged attacker lured her away with chocolate, raped her and left her bleeding outside a farm. Brutal sex crimes are common in India, which has a population of 1.2 billion.

Israeli PM admits air strike against Gaza

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Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has admitted that the Israeli Air Force launched a raid on the Gaza strip Tuesday morning, leaving a Salafist militiaman dead.

“Today we struck at one of those involved in the criminal firing of rockets at Eilat,” reported Xinhua quoting Netanyahu as saying at the start of his meeting with Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic.

“I said that we will not ignore this. Our action is in continuation of our policy. We will not accept sporadic firing of rockets from the Gaza Strip or Sinai,” Netanyahu added.

Obama vows closing Guantanamo detention facility

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US President Barack Obama vowed Tuesday to make a new push to close the American military detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, as the US military sent extra medical personnel there to deal with prisoners on a hunger strike.

The prisoners are protesting conditions and their long detentions.

Israeli firm to create aerospace research hub in Brazil

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Israeli defence giant Elbit Systems Ltd. plans to create a hub of aerospace research in the southern Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul, company officials said.

The hub is to be the first of its kind in Latin America “and will permit Brazil to achieve self-sufficiency in the sector”, an executive with Elbit Brazilian subsidiary AEL Sistemas told EFE.

The creation of the tech center is part of a memorandum of understanding signed this week in the Israeli city of Haifa by Rio Grande do Sul Gov. Tarso Genro and AEL executives.

Polls will be held May 11, assures Gen Kayani

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General elections will be held May 11, said Pakistan Army chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani while asking people not to harbour any suspicions or misgivings about it.

The powerful army chief said Tuesday in Rawalpindi that general elections would be held in the country May 11, reported Associated Press of Pakistan.

“We must not harbour any suspicions or misgivings about it,” Kayani said while addressing the ‘Yaum-e-Shuhada’ (Martyrs Day) ceremony at GHQ.

He said the elections were a golden opportunity that could usher in an era of true democratic values in the country.

Pakistani Taliban newly energised monster, says daily

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The Pakistani Taliban is a monster that has been newly energised during the elections, a prominent daily said Wednesday, worried at the lack of serious effort to control this menace.

“The new government will already enter office with lots of baggage,” observed an editorial in the Daily Times as the country witnessed a series of terror attacks in the run-up to the May 11 general elections.

Indefinite auto strike from May 15

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Telangana Auto Drivers Joint Action Committee has announced indefinite strike from May 15 against continuance of e-challan. Union demanded to withdraw the new criteria for public transport drivers to have minimum educational qualification of clearing the Class VIII exams to obtain passenger service auto rickshaw batch and license. Besides this the union demanded suspension of Additional Traffic Commissioner Mr.

KCR responsible for deaths in the name of Telangana

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Government whip J Prakash Reddy criticize that although the Bayram doesn’t have any connection with Medak district still TRS chief K Chandrasekhar Rao has announced to observe bandh in Medak district which he strongly condemns. J Prakash Reddy was addressing a press conference. He further claimed that KCR’s family members have transformed Telangana sentiment into a business and have used it for their personal and political gains. KCR and his family members are responsible for the deaths occurred in the name of Telangana.

Income Tax searches at Ekta Kapoor’s premises

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Income Tax officials on Tuesday conducted searches at Balaji Telefilms’ facilities and the residence of its promoters—producer Ekta Kapoor and her actor-father Jeetendra— for suspected tax evasion.

Sleuths from the department swooped down on seven locations across the city, including the yesteryear star and his daughter’s residence in suburban Juhu, as part of the searches, which began at 7am, I-T sources said.

‘Rapist should be burnt to death’

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The mother of the five-year-old girl, who died after being brutally raped at Ghansaur town in Seoni district of Madhya Pradesh on Tuesday said the accused should be given a “harsh punishment” so that no one in future dares to carry out such a heinous act.

EAMCET model test papers available at Siasat

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EAMCET is scheduled on May 10. Candidates can collect the question papers of mock tests conducted by various societies/students organizations along with key from Ms. Neha, at Mahboob Husain Jigar Hall, opposite Ramkrishna theatre, Abids from 11 am to 5 pm. It will be helpful for students to understand the questions and practice for the exam.

Siasat news

Osmania University students want mandirs, mosques removed on campus

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Students of Osmania University have finally come up with a demand not related to the Telangana agitation but with removal of religious structures from the campus. The demand has become even more pressing in the context of groups of students damaging an idol in a temple located on the campus last week.

Several student wings have requested the varsity for an amicable removal of religious structures constructed on campus after an RTI query revealed that there are 15 temples and 10 mosques and dargahs on the campus which are illegal.

Youth killed at wedding after a tiff over songs

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A youth was beaten to death here at a wedding after a tiff over playing songs, police said on Tuesday. The incident occurred in Kherki Majra village under Rajendra Park police station in Gurgaon on early Tuesday.

Ompal, 19, of Sakhrod village of Bhiwani district in Haryana, who was the part of a procession, was beaten to death by fellow revellers.

WB bans manufacture, sale of gutka, paan masala

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Waking up to the threats and consequences of high rate of tobacco consumption in the population, the West Bengal government has imposed a ban on the manufacture, sale of gutka, pan masala or any other product containing tobacco or Nicotine. The ban comes into effect on Wednesday till next one year.

Madhya Pradesh took the first step followed by Kerala and Bihar. Maharashtra banned both gutka and pan masala. After Himachal Pradesh and Rajasthan, Haryana also banned gutka, meanwhile Goa had already banned it under the public health act.

From today rail tickets to be booked only 60 days in advance

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The advance booking period for train tickets will be reduced from existing four months to two months from Wednesday as part of the Railways’ efforts to prevent touts to corner bulk tickets.

“The reduction of advance reservation period to 60 days will be a deterrent for touts who book bulk tickets in advance. We hope the reduction of booking period will help genuine travellers,” a senior Railway Ministry official said yesterday.

However, all the bookings done up to April 30 under the existing advance reservation period (ARP) of 120 days will remain intact.

Obama vows to close Guantanamo detention facility

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US President Barack Obama vowed on Tuesday to make a new push to close the American military detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, as the US military sent extra medical personnel there to deal with prisoners on a hunger strike.

The prisoners are protesting conditions and their long detentions.

Visa ban on Narendra Modi should continue: US panel

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A Congress-established independent panel on religious freedom has called on the US to maintain a visa ban on Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, saying there was significant evidence linking him to the violence in the state in 2002.

“There is significant evidence linking him to the violence and the terrible events that took place in Gujarat and for this reason, a visa would not be appropriate,” Katrina Lantos Swett, chairwoman of the US Commission for International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) told reporters today during a press conference held to release its annual report.

US to supply lethal weapons to Syrian rebels: Report

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Amid the US ramping up its international outreach for the next step in its effort to get rid of the Assad regime, a media report has said the Obama administration is preparing to supply lethal weapons to the Syrian opposition.

“We’re clearly on an upward trajectory. We’ve moved over to assistance that has a direct military purpose,” a senior administration official was quoted as saying by a leading daily.

Three NATO soldiers killed in Afghan blast

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Three NATO soldiers were killed on Tuesday in a blast in restive southern Afghanistan, the military alliance said in a statement.

“Three International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) service members died following an improvised explosive device (IED) attack in southern Afghanistan today,” reported XInhua citing NATO-led ISAF in the statement.

It however did not reveal the nationalities of the victims and the exact location of the incident following the ISAF policy.

About 100,000 NATO-led forces, with nearly 66,000 of them Americans are deployed in Afghanistan.

—IANS

Rajnath to address ‘Swabhimaan’ rally in UP

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Holding the Samajwadi Party government responsible for the alleged dismal condition of farmers in Uttar Pradesh, the state unit of BJP will organise a ‘Swabhimaan’ rally in Bareilly district on Wednesday to be addressed by party president Rajnath Singh.

“The rally will be addressed by senior party leaders, including national president Rajnath Singh, general secretary Varun Gandhi and state president Laxmi Kant Bajpai,” BJP spokesman Vijay Bahadur Pathak told reporters in Lucknow on Tuesday. He alleged that around Rs 6,000 crores of the cane farmers was pending.

Muslim should decide political strategy – Moulana Ather Hussain

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Moulana Syed Ather Hussain of Delhi Chairman, Anjuman-e-Minhaj said that the Muslim leaders should formulate their political and social strategy at National level and try to achieve their targets. Muslim community today is facing a lot of problems. We have to identify our problems on priority basis and should take appropriate steps. Our leaders should concentrate on the utilization of Government schemes fully and they should also introspect about themselves.

CBI is playing in the hands of Centre

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YSR Congress party said that CBI is functioning under the pressure from the Central Govt. Supreme Court has also confirmed this claimed. The spokesman of YSR Congress Party, Ambati Ram Babu told that in the case of Jaganmohan Reddy, CBI is playing partisan role. It is functioning on the indications of the Govt. of India. YSR Congress party has been leveling these charges on CBI right from the beginning. With the recent remarks of the CBI these suspicions have got strength. The attitude of CBI is becoming a danger for the democracy of this country.

Saina Nehwal gets Yudhveer Award

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Games and Sports should be included in the syllabus so that the youngsters get interested in games. Justice Shubhashan Reddy, Loyakayukta of AP set this while distributing 22nd Yudhveer Foundation Award yesterday. This award was given to Ms. Saina Nehwal for her excellent contribution in sports. The function was held under the chairmanship of Mr. Narendra Uther, Chairman of Yudhveer Foundation.

Mr. Zahid Ali Khan, Editor of The Siasat Urdu Daily, Mr. Vinay Veer, Editor of Hindi Milap, Dr. Bajrang Lal Gupta, Ms. Vipuma Veer and others were present on this occasion.

Muslims targeted during more violence against Burma’s minority community

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Muslim businesses and a mosque have come under attack in the centre of Burma in the latest outbreak of violence directed against the minority community.

Reports said that gangs armed with bricks smashed windows of the mosque and looted dozens of stores after a Muslim woman apparently bumped into a Buddhist monk.

“Police had to disperse the crowd by firing warning shots,” presidential spokesman Ye Htut said in a statement, according to Reuters.

The violence broke out in Oakkan village, located about 60 miles north of Rangoon, Burma’s commercial capital.