Month: July 2014

Lawyers for Blackwater security guards said today that the US government has suppressed evidence favourable to defendants who are on trial in the killings of 14 Iraqis in Nisoor Square in Baghdad.

US Attorney Ronald Machen says that “a series of innocent oversights” led to the problem.

The defence team for the four former Blackwater guards says the suppressed evidence consists of photographs of eight spent shell casings that would fit an AK-47 the weapon of choice used by insurgents as well as Iraqi authorities.

Ukraine’s foreign minister said today that pro-Russian separatists are continuing to try to manipulate the wreckage of the Malaysian airliner that the United States and others have accused the rebels of shooting down.

In an interview with The Associated Press, Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin said new fighting that prevented an international police team from getting to the site earlier Monday was the fault of the separatists who are trying to cover up their involvement.

He said a cease-fire in the area of the crash site remains a priority for authorities in Kiev.

England batsman Ian Bell today expressed his delight at scoring his 21st Test hundred in the third match versus India here and said that he has been “playing well”.

His 167 runs helped the hosts declare at 569 for seven in their first innings and put pressure on the visitors who scored 25/1 at stumps to trail by 544 runs.

“I have felt like I have been playing well and then found some strange ways to get out,” said Bell.

The United States has found that Russia violated a 1987 arms control treaty by testing a ground-launched cruise missile, a senior US official has said, calling the matter “very serious.”

The finding comes in a 2014 report that concluded Russia was in violation of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, which barred it from possessing, producing or flight-testing such cruise missiles with a range of 500 to 5,500 kilometres, the official told AFP.

The US space agency’s Opportunity rover has now clocked more miles on Mars than any man-made vehicle to reach another celestial body, NASA has said.

Since arriving on the Red Planet in 2005, the solar-powered robot has journeyed across 40 kilometres of Martian terrain.

That surpasses the previous record, held by the Soviet Union’s Lunokhod 2 rover, which landed on the Moon in 1973.

Top US and European leaders today called for a ceasefire in Libya and for the United Nations to take on a major role in helping to stop the spiralling violence and lawlessness.

The appeal came after a conference call between US President Barack Obama, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Francois Hollande and the prime ministers of Britain and Italy, David Cameron and Matteo Renzi, a German government statement said.

Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff has condemned Israel’s offensive in Gaza as a “massacre”, joining international calls for a halt to the bloodshed.

“What’s happening in Gaza is dangerous. I don’t think it’s a genocide, but I think it’s a massacre,” Rousseff said yesterday at a forum organised by newspaper Folha de Sao Paulo, endorsing the United Nations’ call for an immediate ceasefire.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today urged Israel and Hamas to stop the violence in Gaza, stressing they must “honor” world appeals for a ceasefire.

Ban spoke a few hours after the UN Security Council called for an immediate and unconditional humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza during the Muslim Eid al-Fitr holiday marking the end of Ramadan.

“In the name of humanity, the violence must stop,” Ban told reporters.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said today Israelis must be ready for a long military campaign in Gaza, after mortar fire from the enclave killed four people in the Jewish state.

“We must be prepared for a lengthy campaign,” Netanyahu said in a speech broadcast live, soon after the news of the shelling of the Eshkol region that also reportedly wounded at least 12 people.

“Israeli citizens cannot live with the threat from rockets and from death tunnels — death from above and from below,” he said.

Reacting on the resumption of fire between Israel and Hamas after the 24-hour long ceasefire was stalled, President Barack Obama has reportedly asked Israel to observe and respect an immediate, unconditional humanitarian ceasefire. Obama phoned Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday and urged him to end the hostilities right away, reported the BBC. He added that a long-term solution must be found so that Palestinians in Gaza are allowed to lead normal lives. Obama also called for the disarmament of terrorist groups and demilitarisation of Gaza.

Chinese search engine Baidu, widely known as Google of China, is reportedly planning its own ‘self-driven’ car, matching up with the tech giant Google. Deputy Director of a Baidu research group, Kai Yu revealed that the company is working on a highly autonomous car.

Andhra Pradesh Minister P Narayana, heading a government panel to build a new capital city, today said Guntur-Vijayawada cluster is being considered as a possible location given its easy accessibility from all the 13 districts of the truncated state.

Talking to reporters here, he said Visakhapatnam is not being considered for the new capital as the port city is located on one corner of the State.

Defending Israel’s position on the Gaza crisis, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has reportedly said that he realizes that with every Palestine civilian felling to death by an Israeli bullet, the world opinion on Israel is shifting away from his side but the erosion of trust and reputation cannot supersede the country’s security concerns.

A new study has investigated about people who share their life events via media particularly social media and texting and how they feel when they share these events in mediated environments that lack nonverbal cues like hugs or high-fives.

North Korea has denounced allegations that it supplied missiles to Hamas and material support to Hezbollah as “sheer fiction” and a “sinister” effort to link Pyongyang to Middle East disputes.

The rebuttal from the foreign ministry was carried in a statement late yesterday by the North’s official KCNA news agency.

It followed a weekend report by Britain’s Daily Telegraph, citing Western security sources, that the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas had already made an initial cash down payment to secure additional missiles and communications equipment from North Korea.

Cheryl Cole recently scored her fourth solo number one of her career with ‘Crazy Stupid Love’ becoming only the third British female in chart history to achieve this feat. Cole, who is set to make her comeback as a judge on ‘The X Factor’, said thtat it felt great to be back but even more special to have achieved her fourth number one, the BBC reported.

A new first ever national study has revealed that trees help save human lives on a greater extent by reducing respiratory problems.

While trees’ pollution removal equated to an average air quality improvement of less than 1 percent, the impacts of that improvement are substantial. Researchers valued the human health effects of the reduced air pollution at nearly 7 billion dollars every year and they and save more than 850 human lives a year as they prevent 670,000 incidences of acute respiratory symptoms.

Shane Warne recently revealed, while his appearance on the Kyle and Jacki O Show on Kiis 106.5, that he did not kiss Sophie Monk in London.’

A new study has found that wives with more education than their husbands no longer face a higher risk of divorce than marriages in which husbands are more educated.

Telangana Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader G. Kishan Reddy on Monday said that the decision to make Tennis star Sania Mirza the ambassador of Telangana was rushed. “I am not against Sania Mirza. However, I think we must not have hurried in making Sania Mirza the brand ambassador of Telangana.’

A new study has found that wives with more education than their husbands no longer face a higher risk of divorce than marriages in which husbands are more educated.

With lenders continuing to be under pressure on asset quality, CARE Ratings today said the gross non-performing assets of banks increased to 3.85 percent as on March 2014 and will deteriorate further to 4 percent by the end of March 2015. Its estimate is based on the study of the 26 state-owned banks as well as 13 from the private sector, including all the big banks. “Overall Gross NPA Ratio has risen from 3.26 per cent as on March 31, 2013 to 3.85 per cent as on March 31, 2014,” CARE said in a report.

IFTAR parties hosted by prominent politicians in the Capital have always had a political overtone depending on who attended the do and who didn’t. And the one hosted by Sonia Gandhi at Delhi’s iconic Ashoka Hotel could not hide the Congress’ growing isolation.

Though NCP chief Sharad Pawar was not present, he deputed party leader Tariq Anwar.

A 41-year-old Indian sailor fell off from a Liberian crude oil tanker off Western Australia’s northern coast and authorities today said chances of his survival are bleak.

Mukesh Lala Fulbaria went missing early yesterday after he fell from MT Sigma Integrity, northwest of Carnarvon, in the Gascoyne region.

The Australian Maritime Safety Authority released a statement tonight saying the search operation has ceased.

ASMSA said advice from medical experts indicated that even under the best circumstances there was now no realistic prospect of his survival.

Deputy Inspector General of Police Sunil Paraskar was questioned by Mumbai Police’s Crime Branch for four hours today in connection with the rape and molestation complaint filed against him by a 26-year-old model.

In a complaint filed at the Malvani police station, she had accused Mr Paraskar of rape and molestation; the case was later transferred to the Crime Branch.