Month: December 2013

Pakistan paceman Riaz booked on wedding charge

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Pakistan paceman Wahab Riaz has been booked by police for breaching local laws against excessive wedding celebrations.

The 28-year-old left-arm paceman, who got married on Saturday, was accused after Lahore district magistrate officials raided his house on Thursday.

The Punjab authorities passed a rule late last month banning marriage ceremonies beyond 10:00 pm in the night and barring more than one dish in meals.

The law is widely condemned in Lahore, a vibrant city where marriage ceremonies are the most lavish in the country and renowned for running late into the night.

SSC students’ nominal rolls submissions

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(Siasat News) The fate of thousands of Muslim students studying in the schools of Old city are worried because District Education Office has refuse to accept nominal rolls of SSC students. Whoever on the representation of some private schools. The DEO has invited the managements of these schools for negotiations to be held on 5th held.

——Siasat News

TDP Telangana Forum supports Telangana Bandh

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(Siasat News) TDP Telangana Forum strongly opposed the proposal to include Kurnool, Anantapur to form Rayala-Telangana which was proposed GOM. It said that after the formation of separate Telangana state another Rayalaseema state could be formed.

Modi will remain BJP’s PM candidate: Rajnath Singh

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Narendra Modi will remain the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate, irrespective of how many seats the party gets in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls, BJP President Rajnath Singh said Wednesday.

“It doesn’t matter how many seats BJP gets, 170 or 120… Narendra Modi will remain our party’s PM candidate,” Rajnath Singh said at a session at Agenda Aajtak 2013.

Rajnath Singh brushed away the controversy of snooping on a young woman by Gujarat Police.

Asked who was “saheb”, the Bharatiya Janata Party president said: “In normal conversations, ‘saheb’ is a common word. It could be anybody.”

Telangana Cong leaders raise pitch against Rayala Telangana

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The clamour against the proposal for creation of Rayala Telangana state out of Andhra Pradesh grew shriller with the ruling Congress leaders from Telangana region today voicing their opposition to it.

Andhra Pradesh Panchayat Raj Minister K Jana Reddy said he and other ministers from Telangana have urged the Centre and the Group of Ministers (GoM) to include 10 districts with Hyderabad as its capital.

Meanwhile, TRS activists and other Telangana supporters today organised protests in the region against the said proposal.

Will target news outlets over false report on Tendulkar: Tehrik-e-Taliban

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The Pakistani Taliban has said it will target journalists and media organisations for “fabricating” the statement of its spokesperson asking news outlets not to pay tribute to cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar on his retirement.

The shura council of Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, headed by its new chief Mullah Fazlullah, decided to attack the journalists and media organisations which had carried statement of their spokesman Shahidullah Shahid regarding Tendulkar and Pakistani cricket team captain Misbahul Haq.

Assad to lead during transition: Syria’s minister

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Syria’s Bashar al-Assad will remain president and lead any transition agreed upon in Geneva peace talks planned for next month, a government minister insisted today.

“If anyone thinks we are going to Geneva 2 to hand the keys to Damascus over (to the opposition), then he might as well not go,” Information Minister Omran al-Zohbi said in remarks carried by the official SANA news agency.

“The decision rests with President Assad. He will lead the period of transition, if there is one. He is the leader of Syria… And he will remain the president of Syria.”

AbRam now healthy, has dimples: SRK

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AbRam, Shah Rukh Khan’s third child, who was born through surrogacy and prematurely by several months, is now healthy, says the superstar. In fact, he has dimples like his father too!

Shah Rukh had confirmed the arrival of AbRam in July. Since it was a premature birth, the baby had to battle health issues, but all seems well now.

“AbRam is very handsome mashallah, healthy now, and spreads a lot of happiness. He has dimples also, so yes, it is nice to have people who have dimples,” said the 47-year-old, whose dimples add charm to his million dollar smile.

Therapy helped Ellie Goulding battle panic attacks

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Singer Ellie Goulding, who used to suffer panic attacks, says cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) helped her to get rid of the problem.

It all started when the 26-year-old was travelling in a train at the age of five and she felt she was having a heart attack. It turned out to be the first of many terrifying incidents, which left her terrified to go anywhere, reports femalefirst.co.uk.

Muzaffarnagar riots: SIT to file report on 11 accused

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The Special Investigation Team probing over 500 cases of riots here will file its final report against 11 persons who were accused in the violence and later allegedly killed in clashes in the district.

The final report will be filed against 11 persons who were named in different cases of riots in the district and later died during the disturbances, SIT sources said.

Of the accused, Gaurav and Sachin were also named in the report.

Communal tension had prevailed in the area on August 27, when Shahnawaz was shot dead by Gaurav and Sachin, who were later lynched by a mob in the village.

Nitesh Rane gets bail in toll booth vandalism case

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Maharashtra Minister Narayan Rane’s son Nitesh, who was arrested along with his supporters for allegedly vandalising a toll booth and attacking its staffers near here, has been released on bail.

Judicial magistrate first class Mapusa granted bail to Nitesh and three others, who were released late last night.

Pernem police had arrested nine people, including Nitesh, last evening. While the court granted bail to four, five others would be taken for remand today.

Kashmir is a flashpoint for another Indo-Pak war: Sharif

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Kashmir is a flashpoint that can trigger a fourth war between Pakistan and India anytime, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has said, seeking an early settlement of the issue.

He also said he had a dream of seeing Indian Kashmir free and hoped to see it happen during his lifetime.

“Kashmir is a flashpoint and can trigger a fourth war between the two nuclear powers at anytime,” he was quoted as saying by the Dawn daily in his brief address to the budget session of the ‘Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Council’ in Pak-occupied Kashmir yesterday.

Yasser Arafat was not poisoned, say French scientists

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French scientists have dismissed the earlier findings about the death of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat that he was poisoned by radioactive polonium, his widow said.

The French experts arrived at a different conclusion than the earlier Swiss team that the traces of polonium-210 found on Arafat’s clothing were “of natural environmental origin,” Fox News reports.

The results contradict the 2012 findings by a Swiss lab, after which Suha Arafat filed a legal complaint in France seeking an investigation into whether he was murdered.

Putin backs amnesty that could free **** Riot

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Russian President Vladimir Putin today said he backed proposals for an amnesty for thousands of prisoners who, according to his rights advisor, could include ex-tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky and the Pussy Riot punks.

“I agree… That such actions must be pacifying, must emphasise the humanity of our state,” Putin said in televised comments.

The amnesty could free up to 100,000 prisoners, said Mikhail Fedotov, the head of the presidential rights council, an independent advisory body, cited by RIA Novosti news agency.

Dikshit keeping fingers crossed on poll outcome

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Facing the toughest battle of her political career, three-time Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit today said she was keeping her “fingers crossed” on the outcome of Delhi polls but rejected the observation that high polling percentage indicated a possible defeat for Congress.

“It is good that people in great numbers have participated in voting. But I cannot say about the results. I am not an astrologer to predict the result. Let us see what happens on December 8,” she said when asked about exit polls predicting Congress’ defeat.

Iran nuclear accord means NATO missile defence unnecessary

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The accord with Iran to curb its nuclear programme means a planned NATO anti-missile system in Europe, hotly opposed by Moscow, is no longer necessary, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov argued today.

Moscow fears the system would compromise its own defences while NATO says the project is meant only to protect Europe from Iranian development of long-range missiles.

The prospect that Iran would also develop a nuclear weapon — strongly rejected in Tehran — added to the momentum for the NATO defence system.

Nine dead in Iraq as militants attack shopping mall

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A massive attack on a shopping mall in northern Iraq was the deadliest in violence that killed nine people nationwide today amid fears of a slide into all-out conflict.

The coordinated attack on the complex, which involved a car bomb, gunmen and would-be suicide bombers, came amid a surge in unrest that has claimed more than 6,200 lives this year.

Officials have blamed a resurgent al-Qaeda emboldened by the civil war in neighbouring Syria, but the government has itself faced criticism for not doing enough to address the concerns of Iraq’s disaffected Sunni Arab minority.

China rights lawyers harassed by about 200 thugs

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About 200 thugs have harassed lawyers and relatives of three civil rights activists outside a courthouse in eastern China, as top judges marked the anniversary of China’s constitution by hailing the rule of law.

The three activists stood trial today in the city of Xinyu on illegal assembly charges that supporters say were trumped up to punish them for being part of a group that urges citizens to embrace their constitutional rights.

Do not anticipate long term impact on shipment through Pak: US

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A day after temporarily halting cargo shipments from Afghanistan via Pakistan in view of protest over drone strikes there, the United States has said that it does not anticipate long term impact of its shipment through the country.

“(We) hopefully don’t anticipate that there’ll be any long term impacts to our retrograde movements because of the current situation,” State Department Deputy Spokesperson Marie Harf told reporters at her daily news conference.

Day after US suspended cargo shipment, 20 containers enter Pak

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A day after US temporarily suspended cargo shipments from Afghanistan, around 20 NATO containers and trailers crossed into Pakistan via the Chaman border in the Baluchistan province.

According to reports, the containers and trailers which are carrying military equipment entered Pakistan from the Chaman border in Baluchistan across the Vesh Mandi border of Afghanistan.

A provincial government official in Quetta confirmed the containers were on their way to the port city of Karachi.

These containers got clearance yesterday to enter Pakistan.

Top US official visiting Afghanistan to discuss BSA signing

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A top US official is visiting Afghanistan as part of the Obama administration’s efforts to convince the Afghan leadership, including President Hamid Karzai, to sign the bilateral security agreement (BSA) as soon as possible.

“The signing of the BSA will be a part of these conversations.We’ll keep encouraging them to sign it as soon as possible,” State Department Deputy Spokesperson Marie Harf told reporters about the Kabul visit of the Special US Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, James Dobbins.

Pentagon not for normalisation of defence ties with Myanmar

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Even as Myanmar’s military is playing a significant role in the reform and democratisation process, the Pentagon at this point does not recommend normalisation of the defence relationship with the South East Asian country, US lawmakers were told.

“The Department (of Defence) does not seek and is not recommending the full normalisation of bilateral defence ties with Myanmar at this time,” Deputy Assistant Secretary for South and Southeast Asia, Asian and Pacific Security Affairs, Vikram Singh, told lawmakers during a Congressional hearing.

No one can feel secure in China: Rice

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A top Obama administration official has said that no one can feel secure in China as the country impose strict restrictions on the fundamental rights of its people.

“The Chinese people are facing increasing restrictions, on their freedoms of expression, assembly and association. When people in China cannot hold public officials to account for corruption, environmental abuses, problems that affect China as well as the world go unaddressed,” US National Security Advisor Susan Rice said in her major policy speech on human rights.

Fire breaks out on naval ship at Vizag dry dock

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A fire broke out on INS Konkan at the dry dock in Visakhapatnam on Navy Day today, but there was no loss of life.

The fire incident has come a day after Navy Chief Admiral D K Joshi asserted that Navy’s record was “not all that bad” in terms of accidents when compared to other navies in the world.

Navy sources said five persons suffered injuries, but there was no loss of life.

The fire was doused before it could cause any damage, defence sources said.