The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has strongly condemned the serial blasts in Jaipur, the capital of the Indian state of Rajasthan, Tuesday evening that claimed more than 60 lives and extended its support to India in its fight against terrorism.
'The UAE vehemently condemns the blasts in Jaipur and extends full support to India's efforts to fight terrorism,' UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah Bin Zayed Al Nahyan said, according to state run Emirates News Agency (WAM). 'We extend our sympathies to those injured and pray for their speedy recovery,' Al Nahyan said.
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A Sikh advocacy group in the US has demanded that an incident of burning a Sikh teenager's turban in New Jersey last week be treated as a hate crime. It has complained of lack of police alacrity in investigation.
The incident that outraged the Sikh community in New Jersey took place last week at Hightstown High School. The victim, one of only two turban-wearing Sikhs at the school in central New Jersey who wants to remain anonymous, was attending a fire drill organised by the school on the playground when somebody he did not know came up behind him and set fire to his turban using a lig..
A top member of the Eelam People's Democratic Party (EPDP) and human rights lawyer Maheswari Velauthan was shot dead in her native northern Jaffna peninsula Tuesday evening, party and military source said.
Velauthan was also a senior advisor to Social Welfare and Social Development Minister Douglas Devananda. 'Ms. Maheshwari Velauthan (53), advisor to Minister Douglas Devananda, was shot at Karaveddi in Jaffna Tuesday evening,' Brig. Udaya Nanayakkara said.Minister Devananda, who has survived several assassination attempts by the LTTE, blamed the Tamil Tiger rebels for the as..
Pakistan Tuesday condemned the terror bombings in the Indian city of Jaipur, in which around 60 people were killed and over a 100 injured, and expressed sympathy with the bereaved families.
In separate messages to their Indian counterparts, President Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gillani condemned the blasts and sympathized with the Indian people.Gillani was quoted by state-run television as saying that terrorism is a menace which needs concerted efforts to deal with. 'I am saddened by the tragic incident and the loss of life, and pray for the fast recovery of the inju..
A Sikh advocacy group in the US has demanded that an incident of burning a Sikh teenager's turban in New Jersey last week be treated as a hate crime. It has complained of lack of police alacrity in investigation.
The incident that outraged the Sikh community in New Jersey took place last week at Hightstown High School. The victim, one of only two turban-wearing Sikhs at the school in central New Jersey who wants to remain anonymous, was attending a fire drill organised by the school on the playground when somebody he did not know came up behind him and set fire to his turban using a lig..
The projects being designed by various Dubai-based companies as part of their investment plans in India are tailor-made for Indian requirements, according to External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee.
The minister said this after going through a presentation on 'Dubai's growth and plans for the future and planned investments by leading Dubai companies in India' organized by the Dubai Executive Council, a Dubai government entity that formulates and implements federal regulations and local laws and prepares annual budgets along with development plans.'The minister welcomed..
India and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have agreed to institutionalize the India-Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) dialogue process with regular meetings.
The two sides agreed to institutionalize the dialogue process, which as of now is held on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly (UNGA) meeting, during a meeting between visiting Indian External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee and his UAE counterpart Sheikh Abdullah Bin Zayed Al Nahyan.'A proposal was put forward by the Indian side to institutionalize the India-GCC dialogue process and the UAE side has agreed to this,' India&#..
The International Cricket Council (ICC) confirmed the decision of the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB)'s Disciplinary Committee banning Marlon Samuels for two years on charges of match fixing.
Samuels was found guilty of offence C4 (IX) of the ICC Code of Conduct, namely that he 'received any money, benefit or other reward (whether financial or otherwise) which could bring him or the game of cricket into disrepute'.'We are yet to see the whole judgment to put the matter of the punishment into its proper context, but we note the WICB Disciplinary Committee found the player..
A leader of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Tuesday compared President Pervez Musharraf to a 'dangerous virus' that was harmful for Pakistan's democracy and said it was important to remove him.
'Just like a deadly virus in any computer that can destroy the whole system, Musharraf is a dangerous virus for democracy and the government cannot function properly until this virus is removed,' PML-N leader Ahsan Iqbal said while addressing a press conference with other party leaders who resigned Tuesday from the federal cabinet.The PML-N leaders were addressing the..
External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee has called upon investors in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to invest in India's infrastructure sector.
'India invites companies of the UAE to play a major role in the development of its infrastructure,' Mukherjee said in a speech on 'India's vibrant economy and India-UAE business relations' while addressing the Indian Business and Professional Council (IBPC), Dubai, here Tuesday evening.'As far as UAE is concerned, there are many opportunities for investment in the entire value chain for petroleum, including refin..
A leader of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Tuesday compared President Pervez Musharraf to a 'dangerous virus' that was harmful for Pakistan's democracy and said it was important to remove him.
'Just like a deadly virus in any computer that can destroy the whole system, Musharraf is a dangerous virus for democracy and the government cannot function properly until this virus is removed,' PML-N leader Ahsan Iqbal said while addressing a press conference with other party leaders who resigned Tuesday from the federal cabinet.The PML-N leaders were addressing the..
Iran Tuesday rubbished reports that it has decided to reduce its crude oil production drastically, official IRNA news agency reported.
'Iran usually decides about prices of its crude oil and exports based on the present situation at oil world market,' Iran's Oil Minister Gholam-Hossein Nozari told the news agency Tuesday on the sidelines of a high-level managerial meeting at the ministry. His comments came amid some reports that Iran was planning to cut its oil production by up to 1 million barrels per day (bpd). 'For the time being, we have no plan to cut crude output. W..
Five major blasts rocked the pink city of 'Jaipur' on Tuesday (May 13) at 7.35 pm. The serial blasts occured in Tripolia, Manek Chowk and Chandpol Gate, while the fourth blast occured at Lakshmi Mishthan Bhandar in old Jaipur. Though the cause of the blast is still unknown, it's learnt that five blasts occured within a span of half an hour in the walled city of Jaipur. According to initial reports, around 6 people have been killed, while 50 have been injured.
According to initial reports, around 6 people have been killed and 50 have been injured. The injureds were rushed to S..
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has expressed his frustration with Myanmar's 'unacceptably slow' response to the devastation caused by Cyclone Nargis and called on the military government to do its utmost to prevent the disaster from becoming even more serious.
'I want to register my deep concern - and immense frustration - at the unacceptably slow response to this grave humanitarian crisis,' he said Monday at a press conference here.Unless more aid gets into the country - very quickly - it could face an outbreak of infectious diseases that could dwarf t..
Iran has accused the US and Britain of being behind the bomb blast in a mosque in Shiraz and vowed that it would take legal action against the two countries with the International Court of Justice (ICJ), official Iranian news agency IRNA reported Tuesday.
Judiciary spokesman Ali-Reza Jamshidi told a press conference Tuesday the police have arrested 12 people in connection to the mosque blast in Shiraz , the capital of southern province of Fars, April 12 that killed 13 people and injured nearly 200.The arrested people confessed to thier involvements in the blast and said that 'they had ..
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has expressed his frustration with Myanmar's 'unacceptably slow' response to the devastation caused by Cyclone Nargis and called on the military government to do its utmost to prevent the disaster from becoming even more serious.
'I want to register my deep concern - and immense frustration - at the unacceptably slow response to this grave humanitarian crisis,' he said Monday at a press conference here.Unless more aid gets into the country - very quickly - it could face an outbreak of infectious diseases that could dwarf t..
The Australian government has set aside an extra A$2.2 million (US$ 2 million) to fund the judicial inquiry into the way official agencies handled the terrorism case against Indian doctor Mohammed Haneef.
The amount has been allocated in the first budget presented by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's government. Haneef, 28, was charged with recklessly providing support to a terrorist organisation by giving his mobile phone SIM card to his cousin Sabeel Ahmed, one of the men accused in the botched British bomb attacks in 2007.Former immigration minister Kevin Andrews cancelled Haneef's w..
Citing time and resource constraints, European aircraft-maker Airbus has revised the delivery schedule of its A-380 super jumbo aircraft, reducing the number to 12 during the current year and 21 in 2009.
The company had earlier planned to deliver 13 aircraft this year and 25 in 2009.'Airbus has completed the A-380 programme review and is now informing customers about changes to its delivery schedule,' a company statement Tuesday said. The review assessed the programme status at the critical juncture of transitioning from low rate 'individual' production, also called Wave ..
The Australian government has set aside an extra A$2.2 million (US$ 2 million) to fund the judicial inquiry into the way official agencies handled the terrorism case against Indian doctor Mohammed Haneef.
The amount has been allocated in the first budget presented by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's government. Haneef, 28, was charged with recklessly providing support to a terrorist organisation by giving his mobile phone SIM card to his cousin Sabeel Ahmed, one of the men accused in the botched British bomb attacks in 2007.Former immigration minister Kevin Andrews cancelled Haneef's w..
Rice production in Asia, Africa and Latin America will reach record highs in 2008, but prices could also continue to rise in the short term, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has said.
Harvests will surge by 2.3 percent and reach an all-time high of over 600 million tonnes, but prices will remain high in the near future because a large portion of this year's crop will only be harvested at the end of 2008, according to FAO. However, the UN agency warned that the destruction of Myanmar's food basket by the Cyclone Nargis earlier this month could lead to a wor..
A day after Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) chief Nawaz Sharif announced his party's withdrawal from the cabinet, nine federal ministers of the party Tuesday submitted their resignations over disagreement on the issue of sacked judges.
The resignations come six weeks after the PML-N joined the coalition government led by the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP). The ministers took oath of office March 31.A close aide of Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gillani said he has not accepted the resignations and a final decision would be taken after PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari returns in a couple ..
Bank of Baroda, a leading Indian public sector bank, has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Dubai-based real estate company Dubai Properties for financing buyers of the latter's products in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
The agreement was signed between Bank of Baroda chief executive for Gulf operations Ashok K. Gupta and Dubai Properties chief executive Mohamed S. Binbrek, according to a Dubai Properties statement.Bank of Baroda is the only Indian bank offering full-fledged banking services in the UAE. It has six branches, in Dubai, Deira, Sharjah, Abu Dhabi, Al Ain and R..
India figures prominently in Bahrain telecom operator Batelco's overseas expansion plans.
Stating that the Middle East does not hold much scope for the company, Batelco chief executive Peter Kaliaropoulus Tuesday said: "The big opportunities are in Africa, or India and Asia-Pacific."The company is planning a $4 billion overseas acquisition drive.According to Kaliaropoulus, only the Lebanese and Syrian markets in the Middle East were worth considering. 'Really, in the rest of the Middle East, there's nothing. There are no big opportunities," he was quoted as sa..
Actress Jennifer Love Hewitt is all praise for former 'OC' actress Mischa Barton for taking a stand against recent paparazzi photographs saying it is 'really brave and cool'.
Accesshollywood.com reports that Barton recently called an Australian photographer 'invasive', 'rude' and 'abrasive' after he snapped her as she was sun tanning. The pictures show her apparently having cellulite on her bottom but her representative says the pics are doctored. The Aussie photographer also denies the claim. Hewitt, who had a bad experience with tabloid pi..
India, Brazil and South Africa have expressed concern at the escalating violence in resource-rich Darfur in Sudan and asked all parties to work for peace, security and stability in the region.
Indian External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee met his counterparts, Celso Amorim of Brazil and Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma of South Africa, at the fifth meeting of the IBSA (India-Brazil-South Africa) Dialogue Forum here and discussed a wide array of issues impacting development and stability in Africa. The ministers urged all parties involved in the conflict in Darfur to work towards peace, security a..
Hollywood star Brad Pitt is paying tribute to the hurricane Katrina affected New Orleans by having a tattoo of it on his lower back.
Contactmusic.com reports that Pitt was seen showing off his new tattoo, but many couldn't figure out what the black lines and boxes represented. Some speculate that it could be markings inspired by a map of the levees in New Orleans, which was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Pitt has bought a home in New Orleans and is working hard on a major rehousing project in the city.
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An Indian power project development company has announced plans to raise up to $500 million after a dual-listing on Aim and the Channel Islands Stock Exchange, making it the biggest float on Aim so far this year.
Aim is the London Stock Exchange's international market for smaller growing companies.Dealings in KSK Emerging Energy Fund Limited (KEF), a subsidiary of KSK Power Ventur, are expected to begin early June.The Fund will be headed by non-executive director Tanmay Das, while Scott Bayman, a director of KSK, will also be a director of the Fund.'KEF's planned admission to ..
Star couple Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony will take their twin babies with them this summer to visit Spain.
At a press conference in Spain last week, Anthony said that the twins, Max and Emme, would join him and Lopez as they tour Spain in June. He added 'family and his laptop' were the only things he couldn't live without during this tour, which begins June 21, contactmusic.com reports. The singer believes he has more reason to take his wife and children on tour with him. He said: 'When I perform in Spain, they will inspire me.' He added he won't be making to..
As the Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf) continues to lobby for the release of its detained leaders, Malaysia's opposition has also taken up the issue.
Opposition leaders Wan Azizah an Ismail and Lim Kit Siang said they had sought to put up questions in parliament, but were not allowed to do so. The two met a Hindraf delegation in the parliament lobby Monday, The Star newspaper said. Hindraf leaders have also urged Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi to visit the detention camp saying that its leaders have been held under conditions that are 'not safe'. The Hindraf team ma..
Troubled British rocker Pete Doherty says he came to his senses and decided to get rid of his drug habit after he tried to kill one of his kittens with a spade.
Thesun.co.uk reports Doherty saying: 'I got a shovel and was going to kill one of the cats. That was when I was, like, you know, 'I'm a bit of a mess'. It was a bit of a crazy time.' Doherty has just been released from jail and is planning to celebrate his belated 29th birthday soon. He added: 'I can't remember the last one at all. And now I'm clean I want one that I can remember. I would like..
Five major blasts rocked the pink city of 'Jaipur' on Tuesday (May 13) at 7.35 pm. The serial blasts occured in Tripolia, Manek Chowk and Chandpol Gate, while the fourth blast occured at Lakshmi Mishthan Bhandar in old Jaipur. Though the cause of the blast is still unknown, it's learnt that five blasts occured within a span of half an hour in the walled city of Jaipur. According to ..
Chinese state media say 3,000 to 5,000 people have died in one county in Sichuan province alone from a massive earthquake. The official Xinhua News Agency says another 10,000 people were believed hurt in Beichuan county in Monday's quake. The epicenter of the 7.8-magnitude earthquake was in Sichuan, striking 57 miles northwest of the provincial capital of Chengdu at 2:28 p.m. local time.
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A powerful earthquake buried 900 students in central China on Monday and killed at least 107 people, as several schools and a water tower collapsed in the tremor, state media reported. The 7.8-magnitude earthquake struck central China, but sent thousands of people rushing out of buildings and into the streets hundreds of miles away in Beijing and Shanghai. The temblor was felt as far away as Pakis..
An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 7.8 struck western China on Monday, the U.S. Geological Survey reported. The quake struck 57 miles (92 kilometers) northwest of the Sichuan provincial capital of Chengdu at 2:28 p.m. (0628 GMT), the survey said on its Web site. It said the quake was centered 18 miles (29 kilometers) below the surface.
In the Chinese capital Beijing, about 930 miles ..
President George W. Bush's daughter Jenna Welch Bush was married Saturday to Henry Chase Hager, a graduate student and son of a former Virginia lieutenant governor, before 200 relatives and close family friends, the White House confirmed.
The evening wedding at the Bush ranch in Crawford, Texas, capped a weekend of family festivities, including a Friday rehearsal dinner and parade in honor..
The Republican political establishment is looking to the devil to deliver them, the man many have depicted as the incarnation of evil: John McCain.
Republicans in the U.S. Congress are petrified about a November debacle, a fear stoked on May 3, when they lost their second straight special election in a district held by Republicans.
The party's fundamental situation is terrible: Republic..
Obama has set historical records in campaign fund raising. But where is all that money coming from since it can’t be coming from the "poor" American citizens he claims to represent?
For starters, Obama’s campaign site asks donors "which country" they are from, openly indicating that campaign contribution to the Obama campaign are coming from all over the world, not just all..
After losing the ABC Presidential Debate to Senator Hillary Clinton, Senator Barack Obama today made obscene gestures towards his Democratic opponent. The video of the incident is posted below as the pause and the crowd reaction followed by a sly smile on the face of the lead Democrat nominee gives away the truth.
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The people of Tibet wish to be heard. They have long sought autonomy, and chosen negotiation and mediation as their means of attaining it. They now turn to protest. The Chinese government should hear their voices, understand their grievances and find a non-violent solution.
That solution is offered by our friend and brother His Holiness the Dalai Lama, who has never sought separatism, and has a..
There have been further protests in the past few days in Tibet as the crackdown on the plateau deepens, with mass detentions in different areas and some monasteries encircled by troops. In some areas, including Kardze in Sichuan province (Kham) and Lhasa in the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR), there are signs that the authorities are provoking further unrest and frustration by requiring local people..
The Washington, DC-based Radio Free Asia has compiled vivid eyewitness testimonies of the protests and riots that have swept across the Tibetan plateau in recent weeks, see: http://www.rfa.org/english/news/politics/2008/03/15/tibet_interviews/
"In the Tseko area of Amdo, the monks are continuing peaceful protests as of March 20. About 2,000 Tibetans, both monk and laypersons, are involved ..
The most vigorous Tibetan protests in decades have been crushed by Chinese soldiers and police. Tibet expert Robert Barnett explains why the most significant action is taking place outside Lhasa and what we can expect the Chinese to do next.
Foreign Policy: What does the average Tibetan want? Is it independence, or a greater share of Tibet's modernization and economic growth, which has bee..
On March 28, a group of 30 monks in Tibet's most sacred temple and place of pilgrimage, the Jokhang, spoke out to foreign press who were on an official tour of Lhasa orchestrated by Beijing. Images of the monks speaking directly to the journalists about the crackdown in Tibet's capital and the "lies" of the Communist Party were captured on film by the press and broadcast all ov..
Speaker Pelosi, with the members of a bipartisan congressional delegation that met on March 21 in Dharamsala with His Holiness the Dalai Lama, introduced House Resolution 1077 on April 3 evening which calls on China to cease the crackdown, release protestors, provide unfettered access to journalists and independent international monitors to Tibet, and engage in a results-based dialogue with the Da..
Below is the complete article written by Lodi Gyaltsen Gyari, the Dalai Lama's Special Envoy, followed by the version edited due to space constraints which appeared in the International Herald Tribune on April 3, 2008.
In the last few weeks we have witnessed an uprising against the Chinese authorities' repressive policies on the Tibetan plateau, the likes of which we have not seen in ..
'Particularly in these days of renewed violence against the Tibetan people, the over nine hundred thousand Euros raised in the RTL Telethon 2007 has been more important than ever before to pay for the expansion of a Tibetan Children's village for Tibetan refugees children', explain RTL charity director Wolfram Kons and project mentor, German actor Hannes Jaenicke.
The expansion o..
At least eight Tibetans were killed yesterday in eastern Tibet after armed police fired on a crowd of several hundred monks and laypeople after an incident in which monks were detained after they objected to an intensified 'patriotic education' campaign, including photographs of the Dalai Lama being thrown to the ground, according to reliable sources. State media confirmed the incident t..
In advance of meetings next week between the Executive International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the Association of National Olympic Committees in Beijing, the International Campaign for Tibet (ICT) in Amsterdam has personally delivered a letter to the Netherlands National Olympic Committee (NOC), expressing ICT’s deep concern at the security risks and the risks to civilians of unrest related to t..
CAMP TAJI, Iraq, Feb. 8, 2008 – A long way from his family, friends and hunting, Army Pvt. Benjamin Raulerson, a native of Jacksonville, Ala., is here helping his unit rid northwestern Baghdad of terrorism and criminal activity. In his first month in Iraq, the 22-year-old infantryman has participated in more than 50 patrols, in which he has helped identify and seize enemy weapons cache s..
Republican Fred Thompson dropped out as a presidential candidate on Tuesday, ending a short-lived campaign that got off to a late start and never gathered much steam.
Thompson, a former Tennessee senator whose hangdog face is familiar to millions of Americans from his movie and television roles, pulled out of the race after finishing a distant third in South Carolina on Saturday and not doing w..
Gayatri Mantra from Rig-Veda, hymns from Taittiriya Upanishad and shlokas from Bhagavad-Gita were used to bless students of one of the prestigious Catholic schools of America. Rajan Zed, prominent Hindu chaplain and Indo-American leader, starting with Om, the mystical syllable containing the universe, read the prayers from ancient Hindu scriptures first in Sanskrit and then translated in English a..
Gayatri Mantra from Rig-Veda, hymns from Taittiriya Upanishad and shlokas from Bhagavad-Gita were used to bless students of one of the prestigious Catholic schools of America. Rajan Zed, prominent Hindu chaplain and Indo-American leader, starting with Om, the mystical syllable containing the universe, read the prayers from ancient Hindu scriptures first in Sanskrit and then translated in English a..
Minutes after he told voters at a Reno, Nevada, rally that his opponents were trying to “run [him] down,” Senator Barack Obama held a media availability today to declare truce with his main competitors - Senators Clinton and Edwards. But mainly Senator Clinton. “I wanted to take the time to talk to all of you a little bit because I’ve been a little concerned about t..
President George W. Bush pleaded on Tuesday about soaring oil prices and the threat posed to the U.S. economy during the second day of his visit to Saudi Arabia, the world's biggest oil exporter. Bush said he would raise his concerns face-to-face with his Saudi host, King Abdullah, when the leaders decamp to the monarch's weekend desert getaway, injecting a message that could put a chil..
Poppy cultivation in Afghanistan is increasing alarmingly by 20 to 30 percent every season though US-led forces are operating in the war-ravaged country, an officer of Pakistan's Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF) says.
Kabul's failure to stem the menace is multiplying Pakistan's problems in hunting down drug smugglers, Dawn Wednesday quoted Brig. Babar Idrees, who heads the ANF's Pu..
Intellectuals and strategic affairs experts from India, China and the US will meet in Kerala Jan 21-23 for a conference organised by Janata Party MP Subramaniam Swamy to 'look at the possibility of developing a triumvirate' of the three nations.
'Noted policy experts from Harvard University as well as Chinese and Indian professors along with foreign policy framers in the external ..
India and China are taking their relationship to 'a new stage', Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon said Monday, admitting that some bilateral problems remained to be sorted out.
'We have difficult issues, complicated issues,' Menon told reporters after a day of hectic engagements for visiting Prime Minister Manmohan Singh here. 'We are trying to solve them. We have ways..
Visiting US President George W. Bush has praised the progress achieved by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in various fields calling it 'wonderful', WAM news agency reported Monday.
The president said that the UAE has achieved progress in all areas, particularly in the fields of education and alternative energy.
Bush, who is in Abu Dhabi as a part of his Middle East tour, made the rem..
India and China, two of the world's fastest growing economies, Monday decided to give a major push to their ties by signing 11 wide-ranging agreements, tripling a trade target within four years and deepening a defence engagement that was till a few years ago unthinkable between the wary Asian neighbours.
The two nations, in a joint statement issued after talks between visiting Indian Prime ..
US President George W. Bush arrived here Sunday on a two-day official visit to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) as part of his Middle East tour, WAM news agency reported Sunday.
Bush is the first sitting US president to visit the UAE.
He was welcomed at the airport by UAE President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan , Vice-President Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, and other senior gove..
