Russia opposes any United Nations Security Council resolution that would permit military strikes against the Syrian regime of President Bashar al-Assad, a senior diplomat said today.
“Russia opposes any resolution of the UN Security Council indicating the probability of the use of force, (or) any resolution that could be used for military action against Syria,” Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov told the ITAR-TASS news agency.
Janata Dal (United) leader Shivanand Tiwari on Friday demanded the arrest of self-styled godman Asaram Bapu and his ‘fanatic’ followers, and said the protests outside JD(U) chief Sharad Yadav’s residence is a dangerous warning sign for Indian democracy. “The government should go in with full force and all preparation. The reaction from his followers and the protests outside Sharad Yadav’s residence speak volumes. The government should go in with full force to arrest him and put him in jail,” Tiwari said.
Pakistan saw off a brief challenge from Zimbabwean captain Brendan Taylor to beat the side by 90 runs in the second ODI after losing the first. Mohammad Hafeez scored an impressive century for Pakistan making 136 runs, which helped set Zimbabwe a challenging target of 300 in their 50 overs. Shahid Afridi had a huge hand to play in Pakistan”s impressive innings, with a 39 run knock of just 23 balls including three sixes and one four. Junaid Khan took four wickets for the away team, giving away just 15 runs in his seven overs.
The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has reportedly decided to meet former captain Rashid Latif and discuss the spot-fixing case of banned leg-spinner Danish Kaneria. According to the Daily Times, Latif is backing Kaneria, who was last year banned by England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) for luring his Essex county teammate Mervyn Westfield to concede an agreed number of runs in a county match in 2009. The report further said that Kaneria”s first two appeals against the ban were both rejected earlier this year, although he had launched a fresh appeal in a London court.
In protest against the Centre’s proposal to bifurcate Andhra Pradesh, Leader of Opposition in Andhra Pradesh Legislative Council Yanamala Ramakrishnudu resigned from his post here on Friday.
Yanamala, who took over as the Leader of the Opposition from Dadi Veerabhadra Rao, faxed his resignation letter to Council Chairman Dr A Chakrapani. He also resigned as the Member of the Legislative Council.
After preferring his domestic side Kandurata over IPL franchisee Sunrisers Hyderabad for the Champions League Twenty20, senior batsman Kumar Sangakkara has lashed out at the Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) officials for questioning his loyalty to the country.
Sangakkara said he himself wanted to play for Kandurata after their qualification but his IPL team had initially refused to release him, saying he was an integral part of the side even if his place in the final XI was not certain.
The YSR Congress Party requested party president YS Jagan Mohan Reddy to end his indefinite fast which entered sixth day on Friday.
Jagan is continuing his fast in Osmania General Hospital where he was shifted by the Chanchalguda Jail authorities on Thursday night after his condition started deteriorating. Meanwhile, party’s Political Affairs Committee held an emergency meeting at Lotus Pond and appealed Jagan to end hunger fast in view of his deteriorating health condition.
An eight-year-old girl student was allegedly raped by a youth near her school in Nathuabar-Nuasahi village in Odisha’s Jajpur district, police said today.
The accused, identified as Kuna Pradhan (22) of the same village was arrested yesterday, police said. Though the incident occurred last Friday, it was reported to the local police on Wednesday night.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kamal Nath on Friday said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s address on the state of the economy would give it a boost. “The Prime Minister knows the economy better than anyone else and I’m sure his speaking in Parliament and telling the people of this country will have a message which will give a boost to the economy,” Nath said. Additionally, Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Rajiv Shukla also remained upbeat about Dr. Singh’s address and said that the Prime Minister’s statement would give confidence to the people.
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Yashwant Sinha on Friday expressed disappointment over Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh’s statement on the economy, delivered in the Lok Sabha today, and said that the leader of the country offended the opposition with his behaviour by walking out of the House without hearing the concerns of the Opposition. “I want to strongly reiterate, again, that the problem that the nation faces today is the problem of trust. That credibility gap is not going to be bridged by this statement,” Sinha said.
An US company has reportedly created a colouring book, which claims to ””tell the truth about terrorists”” and contains images criticising and spoofing Osama bin Laden and Rolling Stone magazine””s controversial cover on Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. According to Fox News, the book, titled ””LEARN about Terrorism”” was made by Really Big Coloring Books company and is included as a supplement with two of the company””s ””We Shall Never Forget 9/11”” titles.
The US government has concluded that nearly half of Iran’s monthly earnings from crude oil exports are accumulating in accounts outside the country because of sanctions that restrict Tehran’s access to the money.
The estimates, provided to The Associated Press by a senior US official and never released before, are the latest indication that new sanctions imposed in February are deepening Iran’s economic distress and making it increasingly difficult to access billions of dollars in vital oil revenues.
Nepal”s Ministry of Home Affairs has identified 17 types of crimes existing on its border with India, of which nine forms of crimes have links with international gangsters, said officials on Friday. Some of the crimes include smuggling of abusive drugs and small arms, robbery, abduction, extortion and homicide. The crimes with an involvement of international gangsters are mostly related to fake currency notes and terrorist acts, including bomb blasts and other forms of explosions.
Australian Foreign Minister Bob Carr on Friday issued a warning to Australians registered as being in Syria to leave the country immediately, ”ahead of any international response to last week”s suspected chemical weapons attack in Damascus”. The foreign minister said there are 59 Australians registered as being in Syria. “Our message to these 59 Australians, including up to 6 children, is to leave Syria by road or air while it is still possible to do so,” Carr said in a statement. “Australians, particularly families with children, should exit Syria as soon as possible”.
The Muslim Brotherhood-linked organisation called on Egyptians to recover their “stolen revolution” and to “restore their freedom”
Egypt’s Islamist opposition has called for mass demonstrations today against the military-backed regime, saying its peaceful campaign will continue until its demand to reinstate deposed President Mohammed Morsi is met.
The National Alliance in Support of Legitimacy also warned of more sit-ins in the coming few days, weeks after security forces violently dispersed two pro-Morsi protest sites in the Egyptian capital, killing hundreds of protesters.
His resolve is written large on his face. Pankaj Yadav, 18, has made it to the Indian Institute of Technology (BHU)-Varanasi, overcoming his handicap of losing an eye to cancer 13 years ago.
In doing so, this cancer survivor has set an example for hundreds of others like him who have fought off the dreaded disease. The National Society for Childhood Cancer and Cankids…Kidscan have committed to supporting his family to meet his higher education costs of Rs.400,000 over four years and are seeking donors to help him.
A group of women hurled eggs at three accused in the photojournalist gang-rape case when they were being brought out of a court here today, while confusion prevailed over the age of another suspect whose family claimed he was a minor.
Shiraz Rehman Khan, Vijay Jadhav and Kasim Bengali faced the wrath of the women, who attacked them with eggs while they were being escorted to a jeep after being produced before the court here.
The women, claiming to be members of a political party, raised slogans and demanded that alleged rapists be hanged.
The Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) has introduced website based students’ services, an official statement said Friday.
Information on admissions, re-registration details, status of re-admission, change of elective courses, address checking, credit transfer effected, study centre opted, prospectus and application forms of various programmes is uploaded on the website.
Singapore will address “head-on” the minority Indian community’s concern about discrimination during employment in the city-state, a report said today.
Singapore’s Environment and Water Minister Dr Vivian Balakrishnan said employment discrimination is a key concern raised by Indian community leaders during a recent closed-door dialogue with him and three other members of parliament of Indian-origin.
“It was an issue the minorities were most sensitive to, and I think it’s a perception that we must address head-on,” The Straits Times quoted Balakrishnan as saying.
A local Al Qaeda chief was killed Friday in a US drone strike in Yemen’s southern province of al-Bayda, official said.
“Qayid al-Dhahab, chief of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) in al-Bayda province, was killed along with two of his bodyguards by missiles of a US drone this morning,” Xinhua quoted the provincial security official as saying.
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Anticipating that pending court cases might rise five-fold to 15 crore in coming years, Law Minister Kapil Sibal today said more use of information technology and infrastructure creation could help.
‘Pendency of court cases is three crore today and this is going to rise in coming years to 15 crore…This requires financial support, infrastructure and planning…Around 30-35 per cent pending cases could be easily resolved with use of IT,’ he said during Question Hour in Rajya Sabha.
India’s first ‘military’ satellite (GSAT-7) was successfully put into the geosynchronous transfer orbit early Friday by the European Space Agency’s (ESA) heavy rocket, authorities said.
It was launched in the early hours from its spaceport at Kourou in French Guiana off the Pacific coast.
“The advanced multi-band communication satellite was deployed in the transfer orbit, around 36,000 km from above the earth, by the Ariane-5 rocket of the ESA’s Arianespace 34 minutes after its lift-off at 2 a.m. IST,” the state-run Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said in a statement here.
The US Friday hoped that the overturning of 33-year jail term given to Shakeel Afridi, the doctor who helped the CIA track Osama Bin Laden, would lead to an outcome reflecting that bringing al-Qaeda chief to justice was clearly in Pakistan’s interests as well that of America.
“We have seen the reports that Dr Afridi’s sentence was overturned. Our position on Dr Afridi has long been clear. We regret both that he was convicted and the severity of his sentence,” State Department Deputy Spokesperson Marie Harf told reporters.
A suicide bomber Friday detonated himself at a mosque in northern Afghanistan, killing the local district governor with other casualties feared.
“The bomber targeted Sheikh Sadruddin, the district governor of Archi, this morning in the yard of a mosque while he was attending a prayer ceremony,” Sayed Sarwar Husseini, spokesman for the province of Kunduz said.
“We can confirm that Sadruddin was killed and there are reports of several other casualties as well. We are trying to get more updated information.”
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Friday said India is not heading back to 1991-like balance of payment crisis, when the country was forced to pledge its gold to pay its import bills.
“There is no reason to believe that we are going down the hill and that 1991 is on the horizon,” the prime minister said in the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of parliament.
Manmohan Singh pointed out that India has around $280 billion of foreign exchange reserve, which is sufficient to finance nearly 7 months of imports.