Month: July 2014

Pakistan’s parliament Wednesday adopted a long awaited anti-terror law to deal effectively with insurgents who are fighting against the country’s security forces.

The Protection of Pakistan Bill 2014 allows the security forces to shoot suspects at sight with the permission of an officer, Xinhua reported.

The bill, which seeks “to provide for protection against waging of war against Pakistan and the prevention of acts threatening the security of Pakistan”, will provide law enforcement personnel with additional powers.

Senior women journalists Wednesday urged Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar to ensure that media houses set up internal committee to deal with sexual harassment at workplace.

“In a meeting with Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar, delegations of Indian Women’s Press Corps and Press Club of India asked him to ensure that media houses complied with the setting up of mandated internal committees as per the new Sexual Harassment (Prevention, Prohibition, Redressal) Act, 2013,” said a statement said.

Apollo Tyres Wednesday decided to expand its facility near here and covert its Kerala truck bias tyre plant to roll out specialty/industrial tyres.

In a statement, the company said the Board of Directors at their meeting approved an expansion of truck-bus radial capacity at its plant near here from 6,000 tyres per day to 8,900 tyres per day.

The expansion decision is taken owing to improved demand outlook.

The Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) Wednesday staged a protest here against the deteriorating law and order situation in the district.

Citing the looting of Rs.18 lakh and the murder of an accountant two days ago, BJP district president Ashok Monga said the morale of criminals was high under Samajwadi Party rule in Uttar Pradesh.

The BJP leaders submitted a memorandum to the district magistrate and demanded a judicial probe into the murder.
(IANS)

The government Wednesday said the 46 Indian nurses trapped in a building in Iraq’s war-torn Tikrit town were safe and unharmed, and the Indian envoy has spoken with them.

“Our ambassador (in Iraq) has talked to them. They are unharmed, safe,” external affairs ministry spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin said here.

Asked about reports that the building which houses the nurses was being guarded by gunmen of the Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria (ISIS), Akbaruddin said he would not comment on what others had put out.

Sri Lankan police today quizzed a hardline Buddhist monk over last month’s communal clashes in the southwestern coastal areas that left four dead and nearly 100 injured.

Galagodaatte Gnanasara was asked to present himself at the CID headquarters to record his statement, Police Headquarters said.

Nationalist Buddhist group BBS or the Forces of Buddhist Power headed by Gnanasara was accused of being behind the anti-Muslim riots that began on June 15.

The toll in the 11-storey building collapse in Chennai continues to mount, with the number of people who lost their lives touching 47 Wednesday, officials said.

A total of 73 people were caught under the debris in the building collapse Saturday evening. Of the total, 27 are alive and have been rescued.

Workers involved in the rescue work going on since Saturday fear some more people could be under the debris.

A person who was rescued Tuesday told officials that several people were watching television in a room along with him when the building collapsed.

Valerie Amos, UN under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs, Wednesday voiced deep concern over the humanitarian situation in Iraq where more than 1.2 million people have fled their homes to avoid the ongoing conflicts.

“As the security situation continues to worsen, I am extremely worried about the families urgently in need of water, food, shelter, healthcare, sanitation and protection from violence,” she said in a statement.

A Joint Action Committee comprising of various real estate and builders association today announced ‘cement purchase holiday’ will be observed in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana from July 5 to July 12, in protest against the steep hike in cement prices in the recent past.

Mexico footballer Hector Moreno will undergo a surgery after breaking his left tibia during his side’s 1-2 loss against the Netherlands in the Round of 16 of the World Cup.

The 26-year-old defender, who clashed with Dutch midfielder Arjen Robben during the game, arrived in the Mexican city of Guadalajara for the surgery along with the staff of his country’s football federation, reports EFE.

Moreno is expected to have a recovery period of six months.
IANS/EFE)

Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki Wednesday offered amnesty to Sunni militants who fought against the government and took control of swathes of territories in the Sunni-dominated provinces.

“I announce an amnesty for all tribes and all people who have been involved in actions against the state, who now return to their senses. They are welcome. We will not exclude anyone except those involved in killings,” Xinhua quoted Maliki as saying in his televised weekly speech.

Germany goalkeeper Manuel Neuer said that they have a tough task ahead when they take on France in the World Cup quarter-finals.

The two sides will meet July 4 at the Maracana Stadium in Rio de Janeiro, reports EFE.

In the Round of 16, Germany defeated Algeria 2-1 in extra time in a tough game Monday. Neuer performed brilliantly as he rescued his goal several times from Algerian raids.

The goalkeeper said that he is content with the qualification but warned against the difficult game against the ‘Les Bleus’.
(IANS/EFE)

Colombian authorities here have imposed a ban on liquor during their side’s FIFA World Cup quarter-final against Brazil that will take place Friday.

The ban will start at 1500 hours GMT and end at 0300 hours GMT while the game kicks off at 2000 hours GMT, reports EFE.

Alcohol was also banned during Colombia’s last three matches, each time lasting for 24 hours.

The ban hours were reduced after people, who belong to the entertainment workers union, protested against the huge losses they suffered.

Finding fault with Telangana Government for seeking to rake up a controversy over every issue, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu today said he was ready to discuss all contentious matters with his counterpart K Chandrasekhar Rao.

“I am always positive. I am always willing. I am ready to sit and discuss issues with KCR,” he told newspersons, referring to the controversy over sharing of Krishna river water between the two States.

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu released a “white paper” on electricity today, explaining how the Congress government ruined the power sector and pushed the state into a deep crisis during the last decade.

This is the first in a series of six white papers which the Chandrababu Naidu government said it would publish about different sectors to “put the facts before the public”, “educate them” and invite suggestions for improvements and find the “way forward”.

An Australian firm has come forward to set up iron ore pellets units in Telangana with an initial investment of Rs.1,000 crore.

SSL Consolidate will set up the units in Karimnagar and Siddipet, an official statement said after company officials called on Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao here Wednesday.

The company sought all assistance from the state government for starting the operations. Rao assured all support.

Congress leader Jagdish Tytler told a court here Wednesday that he is ready to tender “unconditional apology” to complainant H.S. Phoolka to settle a criminal defamation complaint but the latter refused the offer.

Tytler’s counsel told Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Gaurav Rao his client has offered to tender unconditional apology as no public interest was involved in the complaint filed by an individual.

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) Wednesday approved the continuation of the scheme to modernise and strengthen Intellectual Property (IP) offices during the 12th Plan period (2012-17), entailing an overall project cost of Rs.309.6 crore, an official release said here.

Out of the total project cost, Rs.258 crore will be spent during the 12th Plan and Rs.51.6 crore in the 13th Plan.

More than 500 protestors were arrested in Hong Kong early Wednesday for participating in an all-night sit-in, after hundreds of thousands of people marched in the city to demand universal suffrage.

A total of 511 demonstrators – 351 men and 160 women – were detained for illegal assembly and obstructing police officers, police said.

The sit-in was staged after hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets Tuesday in one of the largest pro-democracy rallies in the city in the last decade.

Clashes erupted between Palestinians and the Israeli Defence Forces Wednesday after the body of a Palestinian teenager was found with marks of violence in East Jerusalem, in what appeared to be a revenge killing for the murder of three Israeli youths.

The Palestinian teenager, Muhammad Hussein Abu Khdeir, was abducted late Tuesday, a day after the bodies of the three Jewish seminary students were discovered in the West Bank not far from the place where they went missing June 12.

Even as politicians, rights groups and intellectuals ratcheted up the demand for the arrest and expulsion of Trinamool Congress MP Tapas Paul for his rape comments, West Bengal’s ruling party Wednesday appeared to have put the matter behind it following Paul’s apology a day ago.

The Trinamool Lok Sabha member from Krishnanagar constituency in Nadia district, Paul was caught on video tapes threatening and warning CPI-M cadres to beware of him and that he would gun them down and unleash his men to rape their women.

Portugal star Cristiano Ronaldo has decided to spend his summer vacation on the Greek island of Mykonos after his team’s early exit from the FIFA World Cup.

The Real Madrid player and Ballon d’Or winner Saturday arrived at Mykonos Island, part of the islands group — the Cyclades — with some his friends but without girlfriend Irina Shayk, reports EFE.

Ronaldo also visited other islands of the Cyclades archipelago in the Aegean Sea on board a luxurious yacht.
(IANS/EFE)

With the Mamata Banerjee government yet to initiate action against Trinamool Congress MP Tapas Paul for his rape remarks, a PIL was filed Wednesday seeking penal action.

The public interest litigation (PIL) was filed before the court of Justice Dipankar Dutta of the Calcutta High Court seeking a direction to the police for initiating criminal proceedings and arrest of Krishnanagar MP Paul.

A senior Yemeni security officer was killed by unidentified assailants Wednesday in Yemen’s southern province of Taiz, a military official said.

“Unidentified gunmen riding a motorbike fired on Col. Ahmed Hanash near the building of Taiz’s Post Office, killing him instantly,” the local military commander told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

He said the incident occurred when Hanash was heading to work at Taiz’s security headquarters.

Yemen’s defence ministry confirmed the attack in a short text message obtained by Xinhua.

Feeling hungry all the time is one of the major reasons why most diets fail. Shun the unhealthy ones and go for the fuller and healthy substitutes to make diet succesful.

Huffingtonpost.com shares a list of healthy and satisfying food items:

* Apples: Eat an apple approximately a half hour before a meal — the fiber and water from the fruit will fill you up, so you’ll eat less, says Debra Wein, RD, president of Wellness Workdays, a provider of worksite wellness programs.