A 6.4-magnitude earthquake jolted south Sumatra off Indonesia Saturday, the China Earthquake Networks Centre said.
The epicentre, with a depth of 20 km, was determined at 3.2 degrees south latitude and 100.6 degrees east longitude, Xinhua reported.
IANS
Former South African President Nelson Mandela’s eldest daughter has denied that the family is scrambling for the financial benefits of her father’s legacy.
Makaziwe Mandela reportedly said that there have been many earlier instances where people have used Mandela’s name for personal gains. She further added that this time they have to stand as a family to retain Mandela’s legacy.
News24 reports that that Makaziwe and Zenani Mandela-Dlamini sued Mandela for the rights to his artworks and control of his millions, earlier this year.
America’s missile defence system failed on Saturday in a test over the Pacific, with an interceptor failing to hit an incoming ballistic missile, the Pentagon said.
The miss represented yet another setback for the costly ground-based interceptors, which have not had a successful test result since 2008.
The test’s objective was to have an interceptor, launched from Vandenberg air base in California, knock out a long-range ballistic missile fired from a US military test site at Kwajalein atoll in the Marshall Islands.
An Asian TV channel based in England has been given a penalty of 85,000 pounds for showing a speech where an Islamic leader said Muslims had ‘a duty to kill’ anyone who offended the Prophet Muhammad.
According to BBC, the media regulator, Ofcom had responded by saying that the programme was likely to encourage or incite the commission of crime, giving orders that the programme must not be broadcast again.
The report said that the comments were made during a live lecture shown on DM Digital’s Rehmatul Lil Alameen, broadcast in October 2011.
Malaysia has withdrawn a controversial bill which allows one parent to give consent for the religious conversion of a child following an outcry that it discriminated against non-Muslim minorities in the country.
“The Cabinet has decided to withdraw the child conversion bill until the approval of all stakeholders is received,” Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin said.
Twin Chinese brothers, adopted separately as babies more than 40 years ago and raised apart, reunited after more than 40 years following a chance encounter in China’s Sichuan province.
A friend of Chengdu resident Zeng Yong , 41, told him that he had met a man in the city of Neijiang, 200km away, and claimed that he was identical to Mr Zeng, the Sky News reported.
Mr Zeng then travelled to Neijiang, to see the man for himself.
On meeting Liu Yonggang, a junior manager at the city’s bus company, he realised he was his long-lost twin brother.
Calling for closer military ties between India and China, Defence Minister A K Antony on Saturday said that it would be easy to maintain peace along the borders if both the forces have trust, mutual respect and confidence.
“If the military leadership on both sides from the top to the ground formations can maintain both trust and mutual respect, and confidence, then it is easy to maintain peace and tranquility at the border areas,” Antony told Political Commissar of National Defence University General Liu Yazhou.
The Uttar Pradesh in charge and Bharatiya Janata Party’s general secretary Amit Shah said that the BJP will soon build a grand Ram temple in Ayodhya.
Shah, who is in Ayodhya to attend a party meeting, said, “Before the meet, I came to seek Lord Ram’s blessings. I’ve prayed for the country to be free of Congress. We will build the Ram temple and restore Lord Ram to his rightful place.”
This comment assumes importance as Shah is not only raising the Ayodhya temple issue, but also clearly reiterating the party’s promise to build a temple at the disputed and demolished Babri Masjid site.
Relief operations were on Saturday badly hit by a fresh spell of rain at most places in Uttarakhand, including Rudraprayag, Chamoli and Uttarkhashi districts, with choppers carrying relief material not flying due to low visibility conditions.
Fresh showers in Uttarkashi district have swelled the Bhagirathi river once again prompting the administration to evacuate people living in the houses located on its banks to safe places as a precautionary measure, officials here said.
Over one lakh pilgrims have paid obeisance at the Amarnath cave shrine in south Kashmir even as a batch of 3,250 devotees on Saturday left the Jammu base camp.
One lakh pilgrims have paid obeisance at the ice lingam of the Amarnath cave shrine till Friday evening, police said.
Meanwhile, a convoy of 93 vehicles, carrying 3250 devotees, left from Bhagwati Nagar base camp in Jammu at around 5 am, police said.
Launching a frontal attack on Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, Communist Party of India (CPI) leader D. Raja on Saturday alleged that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is attempting to communalise the society by bringing forward its Hindutva agenda and claims of building a grand temple of Lord Ram in Ayodhya.
Raja said it is now well-known to the nation and the various political outfits that the BJP is reviving its Hindutva ideology.
Tripura’s Chief Electoral Officer Ashutosh Jindal will oversee the July 28 national assembly polls in Cambodia as an international observer, an official said on Saturday.
He will be the sole international observer from India, an Election Commission official said.
Cambodia is set to elect a 123-member parliament. Eight political parties are likely to take part.
India has donated some 40,000 bottles of indelible ink worth $877,000 for the Cambodian election.
IANS
Janata Dal (United) chief Sharad Yadav on Saturday avoided commenting on Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Amit Shah’s claims of building a Ram temple in Ayodhya, and said that either legal route or a compromise could resolve this issue.
“Either legal route or compromise could resolve the Ram Temple issue. There is no third option,” said Yadav, while spelling his party’s stand clear on the matter.
“What do we have to do with his comment? People keep on making comments,” he added.
Monsoons are incomplete without this!
Ingredients:
Tea leaves, 4-6 teaspoons
Milk, 1 cup
Chai masala, 1 teaspoon
Sugar, 4 teaspoons
For masala
Cinnamon, 1 inch stick
Green cardamoms, 4
Black peppercorns, 16
Nutmeg, grated, 1/4 teaspoon
Procedure:
Dry grind all the masala ingredients to a fine powder.
Let it cool completely then sieve.
Store in an airtight container.
Use the masala as and when required to make tea.
Boil three cups of water in a pan.
Add tea leaves, milk, the powdered masala and sugar and bring the mixture to a boil again.
Sleuths of anti-corruption bureau caught, Mr. N Durga Vithal, motor Vehicle inspector, red-handed near Krishna district, for accepting a bribe of Rs. 36300 from transport owner Shaikh Madina.
He had sought the bribe for not taking action against violation of Motor Vehicle Act.
Later he was produced in a special ACB court in Vijayawada.
Siasat news
In the light of the letters received by Mr. Amer Ali Khan, news editor Siasat, from police inspector Abid Road, besides Railway police Kachiguda PS, Nampally PS, Madhapur PS, Bahadurpura PS, Afzalgunj PS, Golconda PS and Rajendranagar PS, burial of 10 Muslim bodies including a woman was performed at Kukatpally graveyard.
Funeral prayer was performed by Maulana Mohammed Zubair Madrasa Sirajul Uloom, Borabanda. Mr. Zahed Ali Khan editor Siasat acclaimed president graveyard Shaikh Abdul Aziz and his friends for their yeoman service.
Siasat news
Mother claims daughter’s money showing her as dead
(Siasat News): A beautician who recently returned from Kuwait filed a case against her mother, accusing her of siphoning the beautician’s life insurance amount by declaring the daughter as dead.
Asifnagar police said P Anitha went to Kuwait in March and returned to the city in April.
President Pranab Mukherjee would be in Rajasthan on a two-day visit beginning from July 9.
Mukherjee will be the chief guest in convocation functions in Central University in Ajmer on July 9, MNIT Jaipur and IIT Jodhpur on July 10.
Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Friday reviewed the arrangements for President’s visit and directed officials to complete all the preparations in a time bound manner.
Officers briefed the CM about the arrangements. Chief Secretary CK Mathew, DGP Harish Meena, ACS GS Sandhu and other senior officers were present in the meeting, according to a spokesperson.
A 16-year-old girl who fled her home after a tiff with her parents was raped by a helper of the bus which she had boarded, police said on Friday.
“People found the girl crying and informed us. She said she was raped the previous night,” a police official said.
He added that the girl, a resident of a nearby village, fought with her parents and left her home.
“She boarded a bus to go to Bikaner. The bus helper let her spend the night in the bus, raped her and fled,” he said.
The Uttar Pradesh in charge and Bharatiya Janata Party’s general secretary Amit Shah said that the BJP will soon build a grand Ram temple in Ayodhya.
Amidst “Jai Shri Ram” chants, BJP national general secretary and UP in-charge Amit Shah, who is on a visit here, told reporters: “I came to seek Lord Ram’s blessings. I wish we will soon build a grand temple for Lord Ram here.”
The close aide of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi also said that he prayed for a “Congress-free India”.
Accusing the Centre of “betrayal” on the Lokpal Bill, anti-corruption activist Anna Hazare on Friday threatened to launch a fresh stir at Ramlila ground in Delhi later in 2014 to raise the pitch over the issue.
“After Parliament had passed a resolution in favour of a strong Lokpal Bill, the Prime Minister had given us a written assurance that our concerns would be addressed and a strong and effective ombudsman will be in place. Two years have elapsed since then”, Hazare told reporters Allahabad.
Telangana Rashtra Samithi’s state executive meeting which was scheduled on July 7, has been postponed. Party politburo member Kadiyam Srihari announced this. He said that the new date will be announced shortly. The meeting was planned in view of the ensuing local body elections.
At least 26 people have been reportedly killed and hundreds other injured in Egypt supporters of deposed President Mohamed Morsi clashed with the opponents on Friday.
The violence came after soldiers opened fire against Morsi supporters, who were demanding his reinstatement, killing three of them, as per a BBC report.
At least 13 people have reportedly been killed in Alexandria and three in Cairo.
According to reports by state media, Muslim Botherhood’s deputy leader Khairat el-Shater has been arrested from Cairo on suspicion of incitement to violence, as per a BBC report.
A four-storey building collapsed in the national capital on Saturday, killing at least one person and injuring as many as 15 others.
While the injured were rushed to a nearby hospital for treatment, there are reports of more people still being trapped under the debris.
According to reports, the building collapsed in the Jafrabad area of northeast Delhi at around 2 am. Reportedly, the owner of the building had noticed few cracks in the building, following which the MCD had declared it unsafe.
A 17-year-old tribal student from a private Odisha institute has been selected by the United Nations to participate in the July 12 “Malala Day” youth session at the UN headquarters in New York, the institute said Saturday.
Laxman Hembram, the tribal student of Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences (KISS), will be participating as the youth leader representative from India, a KISS spokeswoman told IANS.
Laxman hails from a poor Santhal tribal family of Mayurbhanj district in the state. His father works in a factory and his mother is a housewife.