Thursday, May 27, 2010

Daily Latest News

Daily Latest News

Simon Cowell’s fiance to write autobiography

Posted: 27 May 2010 11:58 AM PDT

London, May 28 (IANS) Music mogul Simon Cowell’s fiance Mezhgan Hussainy is all set to reveal the story of their romance in her autobiography.

The 36-year-old will pen down her life journey which will detail her childhood in Afganistan and her family’s escape from the country. She will also tell her experiences as a make-up artist on US television series “American Idol” where she met her future husband, Simon, reports express.co.uk.

“Mezhgan really is an amazing woman. She went through so much as a child but she remains full of optimism and positivity, said a friend of Hussainy.

“She wants to get her story out in her own words to give hope to others. She is writing a book about her life and it is such a roller-coaster. And Simon is such a big part of her life that he will definitely get a mention,” her friend added.

The couple have known each other professionally since years and Simon,50, stunned fans after proposing to her on Valentine’s Day.

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Pritish Nandy returns to poetry, in ‘Again

Posted: 27 May 2010 11:45 AM PDT

Mumbai, May 27 (IANS) Pritish Nandy, who has donned multiple hats – of painter, filmmaker, columnist, journalist – brushed up his rusted knack of writing poems and after ages has come out with a book of his poetry, and he gives all credit to his friend and Oscar-winning lyricist Gulzar.

“Every time I met my friend (Gulzar) he kept telling me why am I not writing another book. Finally I wrote this book,” said Pritish at the launch of his book “Again” at Crossword here Thursday.

He had stopped writing poems after publishing 32 books of poems, before he left Kolkata and came to Mumbai and became a journalist.

“I left Kolkata, the city where I used to live and where I wrote poetry because I could not make a living from my writing. I left it to come to this city to be a journalist. When I joined journalism I found that there is a clear difference in the way a poet deals with language and words and the way a journalist deals with language and words,” he said.

“In journalism you write as it is. Poetry is tentative, it’s about vulnerability, poetry is about not knowing what the next word should be, poetry is about escaping the clichés. When I became journalist I succumbed to the cliché.”

Gulzar, who was present at the occasion, said: “In the mid of 70s when I used to go to Calcutta and there in Park Street I used to visit a book shop and pick up books on Bengali poetry and that is where for the first time I discovered this poet called Pritish whose book I bought then. I picked up those books in the 70s and got it autographed in 2009, last year.

“All this time the books were in my collection they are still there. I didn’t know him I never met him personally. But I looked for this poet because the writings were in English though, I was sure there must be some Bengali poem by this poet because of the temperament of those poems. They were progressive and there was an aggression. The poet is still alive. Welcome to his poetry again through his book ‘Again’.”

Former minister Shashi Tharoor, who knows Pritish since his teenage years in Kolkata, reminisced, “Pritish published some 17 books between the late 60s and 70s. They were really extraordinarily good poems. He was a young poet but a poet with a tremendously original voice. I can tell you he inspired an entire generation of young people in Calcutta. One of the most striking things about him was the originality of his voice. I am glad that he has come back to his poetry once again.”

~ Rest Continues Below ~

Actress Aishwarya Rai Bachchan read a few lines from a couple of his poems. Actor Anupam Kher and writer Chetan Bhagat were also present at the function.

7.4-magnitude quake strikes off Vanuatu

Posted: 27 May 2010 11:01 AM PDT

Washington, May 27 (IANS) A powerful earthquake measuring 7.4 on the Richter scale struck 214 km northwest of Vanuatu, near Australia, in the south Pacific, the US Geological Survey (USGS) reported Thursday.

The quake occurred at about 1714 GMT at a depth of 36.1 km, Xinhua reported.

There was no report of any casualty.

Harassed by cops, 2 sisters commit suicide; probe ordered

Posted: 27 May 2010 10:39 AM PDT

Bhopal, May 27 (IANS) Two young sisters in Madhya Pradesh committed suicide by consuming poison following harassment by two constables, who had allegedly clicked obscene photographs of one of them. A high-level probe has been ordered.

The suicides took place in Madhya Pradesh’s Chhatarpur district, about 350 km from here.

While the younger girl (13) died Wednesday, the elder (17) died Thursday in a hospital in Jhansi in Uttar Pradesh where she was being treated, police said.

Two police constables, Kanhaiyalal and Arvind Patel, had allegedly caught the elder sister with her boyfriend May 21 in a deserted area. The cops snatched the mobile phone of the boy and forced him to leave the place, an official said.

They then allegedly molested the girl and clicked some obscene photographs of her with the mobile phone.

Next day, the girl filed a written complaint with Chhatarpur’s Additional Superintendent of Police Sushil Tiwari, stating that the constables had clicked obscene photographs of her and were harassing her.

“On receipt of the complaint, I checked the cell phones of the constables but there was nothing objectionable,” Tiwari told IANS.

“However, the constables were suspended with immediate effect and a departmental enquiry was ordered against them,” he added.

The sisters told their neighbours that the constables had come to their house Wednesday and were harassing them, police said.

Superintendent of Police Prem Singh Bisht said one of the constables accused of harassing the sisters suffered a heart attack on hearing that the girls had consumed poison in attempted suicide.

Taking a serious note of the incident, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan asked the Additional Director General of Police (Intelligence) R.C. Arora and Inspector General of Police (Intelligence) K.N. Tiwari to probe the matter.

Home Minister Umashankar Gupta and state police chief S.K. Raut and other senior officers were present at the meeting called by Chouhan at the state secretariat.

Priests’ sex abuse is ‘weakness of sin’, says Pope

Posted: 27 May 2010 10:35 AM PDT

Vatican City, May 27 (IANS/AKI) A few members of the Catholic Church had yielded to the “weakness of sin”, Pope Benedict XVI said Thursday, referring to the sex abuse cases that have engulfed the Vatican.

The pope, who met Catholic priests at the general assembly of the Italian Bishops Conference at the Vatican, said some members of the church had yielded to the “weakness of sin”. But this should not distract people from the contribution of others to the church.

“What gives rise to scandal must, for us, translate into a profound reminder of the need to re-learn penance and accept purification; to learn, on the one hand, forgiveness and, on the other, the need for justice,” Benedict said.

The bishops were meeting to consider pastoral guidelines for the next decade. They also adopted education as the main theme from 2010 to 2020.

For the first time earlier this week, the Catholic Church admitted that about 100 cases of clerical sex abuse had been reported to church authorities in Italy in the past 10 years.

But the bishops’ conference refused to reveal how many priests in the country had been defrocked under canon law.

This week, a priest in the northern Italian town of Savona went on trial for alleged sexual violence against a 12-year-old girl, even as an elderly priest in Milan was arrested for alleged sexual abuse of a 13-year-old boy.

China to establish Tagore gallery in Kolkata

Posted: 27 May 2010 10:35 AM PDT

Beijing, May 27 (IANS) As India has begun year-long celebrations of the 150th birth anniversary of Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore, China announced it will establish a gallery in Kolkata in remembrance of the bard who had visited Beijing in 1924.

This was revealed to reporters here by Indian Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao here Thursday.

“Chinese President Hu Jintao has said the Chinese government will support and establish a gallery at the Rabindra Bharati University,” Rao told reporters.

Tagore was born in Jorasanko, in north Kolkata. The building was later turned into an university.

The setting-up of the gallery was discussed Thursday between Hu and Patil, who is here on a six-day visit here.

Rao said that Tagore had travelled Beijing in 1924 and the Chinese government wants to have a gallery to remember the poet’s days in China.

She said the move has come at a time when the two emerging economies are celebrating the 60th anniversary of the establishment of their bilateral diplomatic ties.

During her on-going China visit, Patil will also unveil a Tagore statue Sunday at Mao Ming Road in Shanghai.

Tagore’s journey to the city in 1924 was marked by radical hostility from student groups at the time.

The Indian bard had been invited by the Beijing Lecture Association in 1923 to deliver a series of talks as part of its objective to have foreign scholars come and talk to Chinese intellectuals.

However, the invitation to Tagore created an unprecedented uproar which culminated in strong hostility against him as well as against Liang Qichao, president of the association, by radical student circles and some ultra Left-oriented political leaders

Congress warns Mamata Banerjee about deserting UPA

Posted: 27 May 2010 09:23 AM PDT

Ranaghat (West Bengal), May 27 (IANS) Without taking the name of Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee, Union Finance Minister and West Bengal state Congress president Pranab Mukherjee said it would be a mistake if “someone else” treads the path of the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) by withdrawing support to the UPA government.

Referring to the Prakash Karat-led CPI-M and three other Left parties withdrawing support to UPA-1 two years back on the India-US nuclear deal issue, Mukherjee said in an obvious reference to Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee: “If someone else treads the same mistaken path, then I will say with all modesty, ‘please don’t do it’. Congress will continue to rule the centre.”

“If we (the Congress) could run the central government with 147 MPs (between 2004 and 2009) we can do it comfortably with 207 MPs (the party’s strength in the present Lok Sabha),” Mukherjee said while addressing a public meeting in this Nadia district town ahead of the May 30 municipal polls in the state.

The senior Congress leader’s tough talk capped days of vitriolic exchanges between the Congress and the Trinamool, the second largest partner in the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) dispensation, after the two parties failed to clinch an electoral understanding in the West Bengal municipal polls.

Banerjee in her election meetings has been accusing the Congress of being hand-in-glove with the CPI-M. On Wednesday, she targeted the union finance minister, saying the Communists had the habit of falling at the feet of leaders like L.K. Advani and Mukherjee whenever they were in trouble.

Banerjee was irked by Mukherjee’s strong criticism of her party in earlier election rallies.

However, on Thursday, Mukherjee seemed aggression personified in countering Banerjee.

“I am one of the senior most parliamentarians. I am not a nine-day wonder. I have four decades of experience in parliamentary democracy. I have good relations with everybody. Despite political differences, personal relations will be there in parliamentary democracy. And you cannot say you won’t talk to opposition parties,” he said, in an oblique reference to Banerjee’s stand of total non-cooperation with the CPI-M-led Left Front government in West Bengal.

Claiming the Trinamool managed to increase its strength in the Lok Sabha from one to 19 following its electoral alliance with his party in the 2009 polls, Mukherjee said: “Let the people know whether the Trinamool did well on its own or because of Congress support.”

“Let us find this out in this election. Why is someone (read Banerjee) getting so angry now? Let the results come out. We will see whether the Congress votes increase or not,” he said.

Citing an example to buttress his claim that the Congress has been fully accommodating towards its coalition partner, Mukherjee said the Land Acquisition Bill has been on hold because the Trinamool had reservations about it.

“They told us that this land acquisition bill will create political problems for them. They said that they want to think on the bill. We said, ok you think on it, we will wait. We are still waiting…This is called coalition dharma. Where there is a mutual respect for each and every coalition partner,” he said.

Outraged India asks Canada to respond on visa row

Posted: 27 May 2010 09:20 AM PDT

New Delhi/Bangalore, May 27 (IANS) With public outrage growing over the denial of visas to several serving and retired Indian security officials, India Thursday said Canada’s action was “unacceptable” and warned it of retaliattion if Ottawa does not take corrective action within “a few days”.

“This is unacceptable. We expect the Canadian authorities to address this issue appropriately. We have made our position crystal clear to the Canadian authorities,” External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna told reporters in Bangalore.

“We are proud of our armed forces. This has to be understood by the Canadian authorities,” he said.

The external affairs ministry had summoned Canadian High Commissioner Joseph Caron Monday, Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao, accompanying President Pratibha Patil on her state visit to China, said in Beijing.

“India has conveyed its concern,” Rao added.

Krishna’s response came after the home ministry wrote to the external affairs ministry, asking the it to take up the issue with the Canadian authorities.

Over the past two years, Canada has denied visas to some serving and retired Indian security forces personnel on account of their association with India’s armed forces and spy agencies, sparking public outrage in India.

The visa row erupted less than a month before a visit to Canada by Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to attend the G20 summit.

“We have written to the external affairs ministry about it. If the Canadians don’t respond, we will retaliate,” Home Secretary G.K. Pillai told IANS.

Asked if Canadians would be denied visas to India as a retaliatory measure, Pillai said: “Let’s see. It all depends on how they respond.”

Pillai said India will wait for a few days before deciding the course of action. “We will wait to hear from them. Let’s give them a few days’ time,” said Pillai.

He, however, refused to spell out possible retaliatory steps or corrective action India may take against Canada over what is widely seen here as the denial of visas on extraneous grounds.

Pillai added that the external affairs ministry had summoned the Canadian high commissioner last week and sought an explanation.

One way to retaliate would be to deny visas to Canadian officials who go to Afghanistan via India, said highly-placed sources.

The home ministry wants the Canadian high commission to apologise, withdraw the comments and take action against the officers responsible for rejecting visas, the sources said.

Even as India awaits a concrete Canadian course correction measure, chief opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) reflected public anger and asked Canada to apologise for its “unacceptable” remarks about some serving and retired Indian security forces personnel whom it denied visas. The party also demanded “firmer and speedier steps” from the Indian government in the matter.

“We certainly demand an apology from the Canadian authorities. Such remarks are completely unacceptable to us,” BJP spokesperson Nirmala Sitharaman told IANS.

The ruling Congress expressed surprise. “The government should take up the matter seriously with the Canadian authorities. The security agencies are performing a national duty,” Congress spokesman Shakeel Ahmed said.

The disclosure about cases of denial of visas to some former officials of the army, Intelligence Bureau (IB) and an officer of Punjab Police could cast a shadow over Manmohan Singh’s trip to Canada next month for the G20 summit.

Manmohan Singh is likely to take the issue with his Canadian counterpart Stephen Harper during his bilateral talks, official sources said. Such unseemly controversy could also affect the new upswing in bilateral ties as India and Canada are expected to seal a civil nuclear pact and begin negotiations on a free trade area agreement.

“We are collecting the information,” was all Simon Cridland, an official of the Canadian high commission, would say.

Lt. Gen. (retd) A.S. Bahia, a decorated Indian Army officer who is now a member of the Armed Forces Tribunal in Chandigarh, was denied visa in May on grounds that he had served in a “sensitive location” of Jammu and Kashmir.

In yet another case, two brigadiers were denied visas in 2008 and another in 2009.

S.S. Sidhu, a retired IB officer, was denied visa on March 26, with the Canadian high commission contending that he belonged to the “inadmissible” category of persons.

In the rejection letter, the Canadian high commission said Sidhu could not be given visa as he had served in an organisation like IB and, therefore, he could “engage in an act of espionage or subversion” or “violence that would or might endanger the lives or safety of persons in Canada”.

Sidhu, who said he wanted to go to Canada just to see the new house of his daughter, has termed the rejection as a “disgusting reply from a friendly country like Canada and an insult to India”.

Sidhu was to visit Canada ahead of the trip of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh next month for the G-20 summit.

However, in Sidhu’s case, the Canadian high commission relented after the home ministry wrote a letter to the external affairs ministry protesting the move, sources said.

Last week, the Canadian high commission here refused a visa to Fateh Singh Pandher, a retired BSF constable, on grounds that he was associated with a “notoriously violent force”.

Orissa on alert as temperature rises to 45 degrees

Posted: 27 May 2010 09:01 AM PDT

Bhubaneswar, May 27 (IANS) Orissa Thursday alerted all its district collectors to remain prepared to meet any eventuality as temperatures rose to 45 degrees Celsius in some places in the state.

“We have alerted all the district collectors to ensure supply of drinking water and electricity. All the hospitals have been directed to keep adequate stocks of medicines,” Revenue and Disaster Management Minister Suryanarayan Patro told IANS.

“We have written to the collectors of all the 30 districts after some places recorded 45 degrees Celsius or more in the last two days,” he said, adding that 34 people have died due to the heat wave in the state since March.

Bolangir and Bhabanipatna towns in western Orissa recorded 45 degrees Celsius Thursday, the Bhubaneswar meteorological centre said.

The heat wave condition would prevail over some parts of the state during the next 48 hours, it said.

A heat wave in Orissa in May 1998 killed over 2,000 people.

Haryana government doctors threaten mass resignation

Posted: 27 May 2010 09:00 AM PDT

Chandigarh, May 27 (IANS) Government doctors in Haryana Thursday threatened to offer their mass resignations if no steps were taken to improve the poor working conditions in state hospitals and their low salaries as compared to states.

Representatives of the Haryana Civil Medical Services association, representing government doctors of the state, urged Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda to intervene into the matter.

“In Haryana, the basic pay of a medical officer at the entry level is just Rs.17,490 – that of a class II officer. It is equal to the entry level basic pay of a nurse in the state and what an ayurvedic or a veterinary doctor is getting in Punjab,” Kamla Singh, the association’s president, told reporters here.

In Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and Rajasthan, the entry level grade is of class I officer with a basic pay of Rs.21,000. This disparity in pay scale is causing frustration among all government doctors in Haryana and they are feeling betrayed at the hands of autocratic bureaucracy in the state, she added.

Besides the low salaries, doctors have to work in very hostile environment without proper machinery and facilities in the state civil hospitals, which is prompting them to switch the job very frequently, she said.

Last year, 800 new doctors were recruited and of them 200 have already resigned and many of the remaining 600 are on leave for a long time, she pointed out.

“We are calling our general body meeting May 30 at Rohtak to decide our further course of action. On that day all the nearly 2,250 doctors of the state will submit their resignation to the president and depending up on the circumstances and the government’s response these will be sent to the authorities concerned,” the association’s general secretary Rajesh Kalia said.

Harassed by cops, two girls drink poison; one dead

Posted: 27 May 2010 08:56 AM PDT

Bhopal, May 27 (IANS) A 13-year-old girl in Madhya Pradesh died while her elder sister was battling for life Thursday after they consumed poison following harassment by two constables, who had allegedly clicked obscene photographs of one of them. A high-level probe has been ordered.

The incident took place in Madhya Pradesh’s Chhatarpur district, about 350 km from here.

While the younger girl died Wednesday, the elder one is being treated at a hospital in Jhansi in Uttar Pradesh, police said.

Two police constables, Kanhaiyalal and Arvind Patel, had allegedly caught the elder sister with her boyfriend May 21 in a deserted area. The cops snatched the mobile phone of the boy and forced him to leave the place, an official said.

They then allegedly molested the girl and clicked some obscene photographs of her with the mobile phone.

Next day, the girl filed a written complaint with Chhatarpur’s Additional Superintendent of Police Sushil Tiwari, stating that the constables had clicked obscene photographs of her and were harassing her.

“On receipt of the complaint, I checked the cell phones of the constables but there was nothing objectionable,” Tiwari told IANS.

“However, the constables were suspended with immediate effect and a departmental enquiry was ordered against them,” he added.

The sisters told their neighbours that the constables had come to their house Wednesday and were harassing them, police said.

Superintendent of Police Prem Singh Bisht said one of the constables accused of harassing the sisters suffered a heart attack on hearing that the girls had consumed poison in attempted suicide.

Raking a serious note of the incident, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan asked the Additional Director General of Police (Intelligence) R.C. Arora and Inspector General of Police (Intelligence) K.N. Tiwari to probe the matter.

Home Minister Umashankar Gupta and state police chief S.K. Raut and other senior officers were present at the meeting called by Chouhan at the state secretariat.

Drunk passengers prompt unexpected plane landing in China

Posted: 27 May 2010 08:55 AM PDT

Moscow, May 27 (DPA) An aeroplane travelling from Taiwan to Russia was forced to make a stopover in China after five heavily intoxicated Russians assaulted the crew, media reports said Thursday.

The aircraft was flying from Bangkok to the Russian city of Krasnoyarsk with more than 180 people on board.

The troublemakers were arrested and taken to a prison on the Southern Chinese island of Hainan.

The men had also smoked on the plane and threatened the crew, tour operator Dmitry Sotin was quoted as saying by the Itar-Tass news agency. That led the pilot to make the unexpected landing.

After several hours on the ground in China, the aircraft continued on its way to Russia without further problems.

Bomb blastin russia 6 killed

Posted: 27 May 2010 08:53 AM PDT

russian blast

russian blast

Moscow, May 27 (IANS/RIA Novosti) At least six people were killed and more than 40 injured in a bomb blast that rattled Russia’s southern city Starvropol, officials said.

The toll in Wednesday’s terrorist attack reached six when a ten-year-old girl died in a hospital, a local official told RIA Novosti.

More than 40 people were injured in the blast, which took place outside the city’s House of Culture and Sport ahead of a Chechen band’s concert.

Stavropol Territory Governor Valery Gayevsky said the terrorist attack was aimed at shattering national unity.

A top regional investigator, Yekaterina Danilova, said the explosion was equivalent to 0.2 kg of TNT.

Stavropol is the largest region in the North Caucasus Federal District and hosts its administration, but has remained largely free of the violence in the neighbouring republics of Chechnya, Ingushetia and Dagestan.

Visa free travel for Chinese, Indian airline staff

Posted: 27 May 2010 08:35 AM PDT

Beijing, May 27 (IANS) The airline staff of India and China will henceforth enjoy visa free travel between their countries following an agreement signed during the visit of Indian President Pratibha Patil.

On the second day of President Patil’s six-day visit, the two countries inked an agreement on streamlining the visa system for airline staff and two Memorandums of Understanding (MoS) for extending cooperation in the areas of sports and civil administration.

The agreements were signed after an hour-long meeting between President Patil and President Hu Jintao at the Great Hall of People.

The agreement on streamlining airline staff visas was signed by Indian Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao and Chinese Assistant Foreign Minister Hu Zhengyue.

“Streamlining the visas would now mean that the airlines staff of the two countries will now enjoy visa free entry and exit,” Rao later told reporters.

The second document that was signed was between the Indian Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pension and the Chinese Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security on cooperation in the field of civil services, personnel management and public administration.

The third MoU was on sports cooperation between the two countries. The MoU was between the Indian sports ministry and the Chinese General Administration of Sports.

Chinese Sports Minister Liu Peng signed the MoU on sports cooperation and Vice Minister Wang Xiao Qu signed the cooperation in the area of civil administration.

Indian ambassador to China S. Jaishankar signed both these documents as Patil and Hu watched.

When asked whether the three documents were “light weight ones” , Rao said both the countries have “reached a level of maturity”.

“There is an expansion of dialogue and there is multi-faceted cooperation between the two countries. These are substantive issues. This also shows the steady progress the two countries are making,” Rao said.

Don’t disparage lower courts, apex court tells judiciary

Posted: 27 May 2010 08:31 AM PDT

New Delhi, May 27 (IANS) The Supreme Court has said that the appellate courts should exercise utmost restraint before making adverse observation against the judges of the subordinate judiciary.

The apex court said that besides affecting their career, such “disparaging” remarks lower their esteem in public view.

The vacation bench of the Supreme Court headed by Justice G.S. Singhvi and comprising Justice C.K. Prasad said this in their order Monday while setting aside the disparaging remarks passed by a division bench of Andhra Pradesh High Court against a judicial officer of a subordinate court.

The high court hauled up the judicial officer for passing an injunction order which was judicially not sustainable.

The order recalled an earlier judgment of the top court which had reminded all concerned that using “intemperate language and castigating strictures on the judges of the lower judiciary diminishes the image of judiciary in the eyes of the public”.

The apex court said that the division bench of the high court might be fully justified in setting aside the order of injunction which may not be legally correct or justified.

But the apex court bench said: “There was absolutely no justification for the division bench to make highly disparaging remarks against the judicial officer, casting doubts on his ability to decide the cases objectively.”

Assailing the high court judgment, the apex court bench said: “The use of the words ‘out of sheer arrogance and disrespect to the lawful order’ and the expression ‘judicial authoritarianism’ shows that the division bench ignored the words of caution administered by this (apex) court in several judgments” and “castigated the appellant (aggrieved judge of subordinate judiciary) without any justification”.

The order said that the observations and remarks made by the division bench of the high court were bound to “adversely affect the image of the appellant (judicial officer) in the eyes of the public, his credibility as a judicial officer and also affects his career”.

The apex court order went on to say, “We are sure that if the division bench of the high court had kept in view the judgments of this court, it would not have made disparaging remarks against the appellant, which, in the facts and circumstances of the case, were not at all called for”.

Two cops killed by Maoists in Maharashtra

Posted: 27 May 2010 08:30 AM PDT

Mumbai, May 27 (IANS) Two policemen were killed by a group of Maoists in Maharastra’s Gadchiroli district, a police official said Thursday.

“The incident happened at Jambia Gatta in Gadchiroli district, some 3 km away from the outpost of Etapalli police station where the constables were posted,” the official said.

The two have been identified as Balaji Bhosale and Tushar Bandewar.

BP’s top-kill operation temporarily stops oil leak

Posted: 27 May 2010 08:29 AM PDT

Washington, May 27 (DPA) Oil giant BP’s top-kill operation was proceeding as expected Thursday and may have already succeeded in temporarily plugging the leak at a ruptured oil well at the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico.

US Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen said in an interview with the Los Angeles Times that BP had managed to stop the leak. Engineers had forced enough heavy mud into the damaged well head to reduce the upward pressure and prevent oil and gas from gushing out.

A Coast Guard spokeswoman later clarified that Allen “did not declare success.” The top-kill procedure would temporarily stop the leak “simply because of the pressure from the mud injection.” That did not necessarily mean the operation had worked, though “things were going according to plan,” spokeswoman Lisa Novak said.

The top-kill operation launched at 1 p.m. (1800 GMT) Wednesday marks the first time that BP has tried to permanently seal off the well since the April 20 explosion of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig. Past efforts have focussed on siphoning off the spewing oil.

BP has sounded a more cautious noted. Managing Director Bob Dudley told broadcaster CNN Thursday morning that the “operation is proceeding like we expected.” A full update was expected in the afternoon.

Meanwhile, the US government said that the amount of oil that has been flowing into the Gulf is much more than originally estimated.

The government now believed anywhere from 12,000 to 25,000 barrels of oil per day were spewing out of the well, up dramatically from the initial prediction of just 5,000 barrels per day.

Marcia McNutt, director of the US Geological Survey said the estimates were still preliminary. Predicting the flow rate was still a “highly dynamic, complex situation”.

A total of 270,000 barrels of oil per day has come up to the surface since the April 20 explosion, McNutt said.

Air India derecognises two unions

Posted: 27 May 2010 08:29 AM PDT

Mumbai/New Delhi, May 27 (IANS) Air India Thursday invited all its employees unions for talks Tuesday as it endeavoured to normalise operations after a two-day wildcat strike that threw the national carrier’s flight schedules completely in disarray leaving thousands stranded. It also said its operations will be fully normal Friday.

The invitation for talks came within hours of the airlines derecognising two powerful employees unions — Air Corporation Employees Union (ACEU) and All India Aircraft Engineers Association (AIAEA), sealing their offices, and suspending over 40 workers.

The airline said the two unions had resorted to the illegal strike on Tuesday and Wednesday causing harassment to innocent passengers, revenue loss and disruptions of flights nationwide besides international destinations. The invitation for talks included ACEU and AIAEA.

In a statement, the carrier accused the two unions of indulging in regular violations of the Code of Discipline and of the settlements, and of acting in a manner resulting in the disruption of the normal working of the company, and breach of industrial peace and harmony.

“One of the most objectionable action of the AIAEA was that in breach of office order dated 27.7.2009, it approached the media criticising the systems and procedures of the company,” AI said.

The carrier earlier in the day suspended at least 40 employees, mainly union activists.

The union leaders, nevertheless, were adamant and threatened to serve another notice for a strike. The matter took a political turn with support for them coming from the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M).

“The Air India management is solely responsible for the inconvenience of the passengers. The role of Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel is also responsible for the present state of affairs in Air India,” the party said in a statement.

Union officials were unwilling to speak to the media after the Delhi High Court order, but said their focus was on the hearing scheduled on the same matter at the Bombay High Court Friday, as the bench had declined to order the strike illegal.

The union leaders have also decided to take up the matter with Chief Labour Commissioner S.K. Mukhopadhyay, who was mediating on behalf of the two unions and had assured them that there would be no victimisation by the carrier’s management.

The airline has already said it will take another day or so to resume normal operations as the entire roster was in disarray. They said 78 scheduled operations were pressed into service Thursday and more would be added over the next few days.

“There were a few cancellations from New Delhi and Kolkata this morning, but as far as Mumbai was concerned, we have been able to operate all our flights as usual,” an Air India spokesperson told IANS in Mumbai.

“Two early morning flights to Ahmedabad could not be operated. But they had minimal load which was transferred to other flights operating from the international terminal.”

The strike, the airline said, had led to over 100 flight cancellations and a loss of Rs.12 crore (Rs.120 million/$2.5 million) for the carrier, and 13,000 passengers were inconvenienced.

It was evident that the government supported the action by the airline management.

“Whatever action has to be taken, we have to go the whole hog,” said Air India chairman Arvind Jadhav after the Delhi High Court order Wednesday asked the employees to call off their strike till July 13. He said Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel has fully backed the management stand.

“We will ensure that such an event is not repeated in future,” Civil Aviation Secretary M. Madhavan Nambiar added, in a clear signal to the airline to take whatever steps may be required to ensure orderly behaviour by unions.

The sudden strike further dented the image of the flag carrier that had come under a cloud due to reports of poor safety standards in the wake of the Mangalore air crash and deterioration in services due to accumulated losses that topped $2.5 billion.

China ‘understands’ India, but offers no support for UNSC seat

Posted: 27 May 2010 08:23 AM PDT

Beijing, May 27 (IANS) China still stopped short of expressing outright support for India’s Security Council aspirations, even as Indian Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao described as a “forward movement” the “understanding” shown by the Chinese leadership when visiting Indian President Pratibha Patil raised the issue at talks here.

President Patil held a series of meetings with her Chinese counterpart, Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao Thursday. Patil, who is on a six-day state visit to China, arrived here Wednesday.

“China understands India’s desire, aspiration to ensure a more prominent role in the United Nations Security Council and also understands that representation of developing countries should be increased, especially in the UNSC,” Rao told reporters Thursday evening.

The president had raised the issue of India’s interest in securing a permanent seat in an expanded and reformed UNSC. “The warmth of the welcome and the positive statement suggest that they are engaging with India on this issue and understand what we are trying to say,” said Rao.

The foreign secretary described the Chinese statements as a “forward movement” and “positive development”.

“We will now stay in close touch with them and talk about it,” she added.

Rao even went on to say that the Chinese response on the subject was “not guarded or diplomatic language”.

“It was establishment of perfect communication,” she asserted.

The top Indian diplomat said that India and China will have “dialogue and communication” over the subject, just as they had managed to evolve a common position at the climate change talks at Copenhagen last year.

Chinese President Hu has reasserted support for India’s bid for a non-permanent seat in the UNSC for 2011-12, Rao added.

The Indian president also discussed the boundary dispute. “She laid great importance on peace and tranquility in border areas,” noted Rao.

Asked if Patil raised the issue of China’s nuclear deal with Pakistan and building of a Chinese dam over the Brahmaputra, she said: “No. It was not taken up. We discussed strategic and cooperative partnership.”

Krishna declines comment on LeT chief’s release by Pakistan court

Posted: 27 May 2010 08:23 AM PDT

Bangalore, May 27 (IANS) External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna Thursday declined to comment on the Pakistan Supreme Court freeing Lashkar-e-Taiba Chief Hafiz Saeed from house arrest.

“I have not seen the reported decision of the Pakistan Supreme Court. After going through it I will be in a position to comment,” he told reporters here.

India says Saeed masterminded the November 2008 Mumbai carnage in which 166 people were killed.

Pakistan’s Supreme Court Tuesday set Saeed free from house arrest citing lack of evidence.
Posted by Suresh at 3:08 PM

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