Month: June 2013

US wants Kabul to ink security deal within three months: Karzai

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The US wants to ink the proposed security agreement with Afghanistan within the next three months even as Kabul has suspended talks with Washington over the pact, Afghan President Hamid Karzai said Saturday.

“President (Barack) Obama emphasised recently to reach agreement over the security pact within three months until next October,” Xinhua quoted Karzai as saying at a joint press conference with British Prime Minister David Cameron.

Taliban attack won’t stop peace process: Karzai

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Afghanistan’s President says the Taliban’s daylight attack on his palace in Kabul will not deter his government from forging ahead with the peace process.

Speaking today alongside British Prime Minister David Cameron in Kabul, President Hamid Karzai tried to brush aside Tuesday’s thwarted attack, saying “I wish they (the Taliban) would spend all the time attacking the presidential palace and leave the rest of Afghanistan alone.”

He condemned the assault but said it will not deter the Afghan government from the peace process.

‘If Pakistan can’t try 26/11 culprits, turn them over to ICC’

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Disappointed over Pakistan’s slow pace of trial in Mumbai terror attack case, a top US lawmaker has demanded that the seven suspects, including LeT operational commander Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, be handed over to the International Criminal Court to bring them to justice.

“There are seven individuals that need to be brought to justice (for their role in the 26/11 attack case),” said Congressman Ed Royce, the chairman of the powerful House Foreign Relations Committee.

Rahul Gandhi in favour of more representation of women in AICC, other party wings

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Opining that the presence of women is less in the organisation at present, Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi on Saturday told his party cadres that he favoured 50 percent representation to women in the AICC and other party fora. Interacting with the media here after Gandhi held a formal interaction with the newly-appointed office bearers, Congress spokesman Bhakta Charan Das said that Rahul Gandhi”s statesman-like qualities would be seen by the entire nation in the coming days.

Former US Air Force instructor convicted in sex scandal

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A former instructor at a US Air Force base has been sentenced to six months in jail after he pleaded guilty to having “illicit relationships” with recruits, a media report said.

Apart from the jail term, 28-year-old senior airman Andrew Lira was also given 30 days of hard labour, $1,200 in forfeitures and reduction to the lowest rank, Xinhua cited The San Antonio Express-News.

Prosecutors at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland charged Lira with having illicit relationships, adultery and obstructing justice. The incidents involved eight female trainees.

Woman’s body found in freezer in Italy

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The corpse of a 39-year-old woman has been found in a chest freezer at her home in the northern Italian city of Bologna.

Police said the clothed body of Silvia Caramazza was wrapped in a plastic bag. The chest freezer was found in her bedroom.

The woman had a fractured skull.

Friends reported Caramazza missing two weeks ago after they were unable to reach her on phone and received “odd” replies to their text messages, which they suspected were written by someone else.

Police are now searching for the woman’s boyfriend.

IANS

Eight Thai soldiers killed in bomb blast

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Prospects of peace negotiations in Thailand’s insurgency hit South took a nose dive on Saturday after eight soldiers were killed early this morning in a roadside bomb blast in Muslim majority Yala province, the deadliest single attack on security forces this year.

The blast occurred when 10 soldiers were travelling in a truck in Krong Pinang district.

Police said suspected insurgents hiding in nearby plantations detonated the bomb buried in the road as the military vehicle passed by.

Former US cop pleads guilty to drug trafficking

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A former police officer who used to head an anti-drug unit in Texas has pleaded guilty to a drug trafficking charge.

Fabian Rodriguez, a former county sheriff’s deputy in South Texas, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiring to possess with intent to distribute cocaine and methamphetamine, Xinhua reported citing TV ABC13.

The US attorney’s office said 29-year-old Rodriguez was a member of the anti-drug ring “Panama Unit”.

Prosecutors say the unit stole drugs from traffickers only to sell them to another dealer.

House can pass immigration before recess: Obama

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President Barack Obama is urging the House to quickly send him an immigration bill, saying there’s more than enough time to do so before Congress takes its August recess.

Obama says he has urged both House Speaker John Boehner and House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi to find a way to pass a bill. He says a sweeping immigration measure that cleared the Senate with a large bipartisan majority Thursday is a “sound framework” that has been debated for weeks.

Obama says the House has a “bunch of weeks” to get the bill done and “now’s the time.”

Nelson Mandela remains ‘critical but stable’: Zuma

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Anti-apartheid icon Nelson Mandela’s condition remains “critical but stable”, South African President Jacob Zuma said on Saturday hoping he will be out of the hospital soon.

“These are very excellent doctors who are dealing with him,” Zuma said in a joint press conference with US president Barack Obama.

“We hope that very soon he will be out of hospital,” he added.

Zuma called Mandela the “founding president of our democracy who is much loved by our people and the world”.

Death toll in floods may cross 10,000: Uttarakhand Assembly Speaker

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The number of people killed in cloudbursts and flash floods in Uttarakhand recently may cross 10,000 mark, state Assembly Speaker Govind Singh Kunjwal said on Saturday.

“Earlier when I returned from a tour of Garhwal region I believed the casualty figure could be 4000 to 5000. But now as per my information and bodies being seen by the people, I can say the figure can cross the 10,000 mark,” Kunjwal told told reporters here.

Hope Pak air space is opened for flights from Srinagar: Omar

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Citing close proximity of Jammu and Kashmir with the Central Asian countries, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Saturday expressed hope that the new government in Pakistan will allow international flights originating from Srinagar to fly over its air space.

“One hopes with a new dispensation in Pakistan, one hopes with encouraging voices emerging from new Prime Minister of Pakistan about normalising the relations to some extent between our two countries, perhaps this (use of airspace) is one aspect that can also be normalised,” Omar said.

Uttarakhand chopper crash: IAF pilot cremated in Madurai

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A large number of people on Saturday bid a tearful adieu to IAF pilot K Praveen, killed in a helicopter crash during a rescue mission in Uttarakhand, at the funeral held at his native place here.

Amid poignant scenes, the body of Praveen was cremated with full state honours.

Earlier, the body was brought by a special flight here and officials including District Collector Anshul Mishra, SP Balakrishnan and IAF personnel, paid homage to him.

Not much focus on brother-sister relation in films, says Divya

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Actress Divya Dutta feels the brother-sister equation between her and Farhan Akhtar in ‘Bhaag Milkha Bhaag’ will make people take note of the deep emotional bond, rarely captured in Bollywood these days.

Divya will be seen in Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra’s biopic on the legendary athlete Milkha Singh after working with the filmmaker earlier in ‘Dilli-6’.

China should accept McMahon Line as border with India: Swamy

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Janata Party President Subramanian Swamy has asked China to accept the McMahon Line as the border with India just as it did in the case of Myanmar to resolve the vexed dispute.

China should accept McMahon Line since it had accepted the same line drawn at the same time in 1912 with Myanmar, Swamy said while speaking on “China’s relations with its neighbours” at the 2013 World Peace Forum organised by China’s Tsinghua University in association with Chinese Foreign Ministry.

Mosques subject to increased Islamophobic attacks UK post 9/11

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Mosques in the UK have been subject to increased anti-Islamic attacks since the historic 9/11 incident and the recent Drummer Lee Rigby’s murder. According to the Independent, the number of anti-Islamic attacks has increased by tenfold in the days following the Woolwich attack with mosques being set alight and Muslims targeted at home in the past month. A senior government advisor said that there is a ‘lack of political will’ to tackle the rise of Islamophobic attacks in Britain and attempts to ‘tackle this issue, even before Woolwich, struggled to lead to fruition.

Janata Dal (United) provokes Modi, says ”Govt. led by him is full of criminals”

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The Janata Dal (United) on Saturday lashed out at Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi over the Ishrat Jahan encounter case, saying the government led by him is full of criminals. Janata Dal (United) leader Shivanand Tiwari said the Ishrat Jahan case has always been controversial. “The controversy always was that this was a fake encounter. Now, it has been proven that the encounter was fake. It is said that Modi was close to a CBI Director. Rajinder Kumar the IB personnel, is believed to be close to Narendra Modi.

Shinde says ”combing operations in Uttarakhand will continue”

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Union Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde on Saturday said that over 900 people have lost their lives as per the reports received by him, and added that over one lakh five thousand people have so far been evacuated. Shinde further said that the combing operations would be carried out in the next three to four days to make sure that none are still stranded. “The Government of India is providing all assistance. We have also formulated a scheme of Rs. 1,95,000 for Uttarakhand,” he added.

Kerry to announce Israel-Palestine peace summit

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US Secretary of State John Kerry may soon announce a peace summit to renew negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians, a media report said Saturday.

“There is a high probability that a four-way summit will take place, perhaps as soon as this week,” Israel’s Ha’aretz daily cited an unnamed Israeli official as saying.

The report said the summit will take place in Jordan’s capital Amman, with the participation of Israel, the Palestinian Authority, the US and Jordan.

BJP wants Yeddyurappa to seek his return to party

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The BJP Saturday said if its former Karnataka leader B. S. Yeddyurappa seeks to return to the party, his case will be considered.

“We have no idea whether he is inclined (to return) or not. Central leaders will discuss only after he gives his feedback,” Bharatiya Janata Party general secretary and in-charge of party in Karnataka Thawarchand Gehlot told reporters here.

Since Yeddyurappa left the party, “he has to get in touch with us,” Gehlot said after meeting state party leaders where the issue of taking back the former leader was discussed.

Johnny Lever’s daughter to enter ‘Comedy Circus…’

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Bollywood comedian Johnny Lever’s daughter Jamie J. is all set to tickle your funny bone as a contestant in “Comedy Circus Ke Ajoobe”.

Her first episode will air July 19 on Sony TV channel.

The 25-year-old said that she went for an audition like any other participant instead of letting her popular father pull strings.

Syrian video shows Catholic priest beheaded by militants

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A video has been released on the internet that shows a Catholic priest and two other people being beheaded by Islamist militants in Syria.

However, the country’s main opposition group has claimed the video was made by the Syrian government to discredit the rebels.

“We will carry out all the necessary checks to ascertain when and where this incident took place,” the Syrian National Coalition said.

Deaf-mute minor gang-raped in Delhi

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A 13-year-old deaf-mute girl was gang-raped by three men here, police said Saturday. One of the accused has been arrested.

One of the accused lured the victim to an isolated spot near her house in west Delhi Friday night, where he and his two friends took turns to rape her, police said.

A woman spotted them and shouted. People caught Asif, one of the accused. A hunt is on to nab the other two, an officer added.

—IANS

CJI Altamas Kabir asks states to deal firmly with rape cases

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Chief Justice of India Altamas Kabir on Saturday asked states to deal firmly deal with cases of rape and atrocities on women saying that administration and investigation should go hand in hand.

“Unless administration is strict and handles cases with a strong hand, nothing can be done. Administration and investigation have to go hand in hand,” Justice Kabir said after inaugurating a circuit bench of the appellate tribunal for electricity here.

Andhra announces compensation for killed soldier, NDRF man’s kin

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Andhra Pradesh government Saturday announced a compensation of Rs.5 lakh each to the kin of the soldiers of army and the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) who laid down their lives recently.

While soldier M. Yadaiah was killed in a militant attack in Jammu and Kashmir on June 24, NDRF personnel K. Vinayakam lost his life in a helicopter crash during rescue operations in flood-ravaged Uttarakhand on June 25.

Yadaiah and Vinayakam hailed from Mahabubnagar and Chittoor districts respectively.