Top News Asia

Bomb attacks kill 24 in northwestPakistan..........

6 Jun 2011

Peshawar :Two separate bomb attacks killed 24 people in northwest Pakistan on Sunday, two days after a US drone strike which local officials have said likely killed a senior al-Qaeda commander.

A bomb tore through a passenger vehicle at a bus terminal near the city of Peshawar – the gateway to Pakistan's lawless tribal region on the Afghan border – at around 9:00am (0400 GMT), killing six people.

Around 12 hours later a second blast left 18 people dead at a packed bakery in the garrison town of Nowshera, around 50 kilometres (30 miles) east of Peshawar.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the first blast, but the Pakistani Taliban, which has carried out several bloody attacks to avenge the killing of al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, said it was behind the second.

The attacks also came hard on the heels of Friday's US drone strike in South Waziristan, which local officials have claimed probably killed Pakistan's al-Qaeda commander Ilyas Kashmiri, one of the network's most feared operational leaders.

Mian Iftikhar Hussain, information minister for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, told AFP the bakery blast sparked a huge fire, while local official Zakaullah Khattak said the death toll from the attack stood at 18, with 28 injured.

 

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China dismisses claims of building a naval base in Sri Lanka.......

June 06,2011

Colombo: China on Sunday dismissed claims that it is planning to build naval bases at a Sri Lankan port and Gwadar in Pakistan to have "a permanent naval presence" in South Asia.

Answering questions at a plenary session of the 10th Asia Security Summit in Singapore Chinese National Defence Minister Liang Guanglie has dismissed the suggestions that Beijing was carving out "a permanent naval presence" in India's neighbourhood in South Asia, Indian daily The Hindu reported.

At the conference organized by the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies, General Liang has said that the Chinese government "will have a very serious and careful study of an issue of such importance to the government and the military," such as the reported move for establishing naval bases in Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

The General has said that if the move were for real they will have exact plans and set up a panel to discuss it. "I haven't heard of it," General Liang, has added.

India is concerned over China's influence in its backyard neighbors Sri Lanka and Pakistan.

China's strategic interest and increased support to Sri Lanka, especially the assistance for the construction of the Hambanthota Port, a strategic location in the Indian Ocean, have raised anxiety in India.

India is also apprehensive about China's military collaboration with Pakistan as the relations are likely to be unfavorable to India's long term strategic interests.

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Bangladeshi strike disrupts normal life.............................

June 06,2011 Dhaka, Bangladesh  -- Dhaka's usually bustling streets looked barren Sunday as opposition parties enforced a daylong general strike over a government move to change the electoral system.

Police and witnesses said hundreds of anti-government protesters in the capital and several other districts fought with police, who used clubs and teargas to disperse them.

No major violence was reported, but almost all vehicles stayed off the road, and courts, schools, businesses and shopping malls were closed Sunday, the first working day of the week here.

The main opposition party, Bangladesh Nationalist Party, and its ally Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami called the strike to protest the move to stop appointing a non-party caretaker government to conduct general elections.

The two parties are also boycotting Parliament sessions.

Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina called the strike "irrational" and asked the opposition parties to come to Parliament join a discussion on the issue.

Hasina opted for the electoral change after a top court ruled the provision illegal.

Khaleda Zia, leader of the opposition in Parliament and a former prime minister, said her party would boycott the polls if there was any change in the electoral system.

Currently, a caretaker government, headed by a former chief justice, takes over at the end of the tenure of one government and continues until the new government is formed.

The interim government that looks after routine administrative works is primarily responsible for holding free and fair general elections within 90 days.

Bangladesh has a long history of political violence over polls, and the next general election is scheduled to be held in early 2014.

Bangladesh, which has a parliamentary system of government with a largely ceremonial president elected by Parliament, introduced a non-party caretaker government system for an interim period between two elected governments in 1996 amid bloody street violence over elections.

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Top News India

PM has no moral right to continue in office: BJP

Jun 6, 2011 New Delhi: 

Reacting on the mid-night police crackdown on Baba Ramdev, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has said that the Prime Minister has lost all moral right to continue in office.

"Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has always indulged in the 'conspiracy of silence' be it the 2G issue, CWG or this crackdown," said BJP spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad.

"We want to tell Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi that even Indira Gandhi during emergency couldn't take away the democratic right, they aren't going to succeed now," said Prasad.

"Manmohan Singh has lost the moral authority to rule," he added.

Declining that the BJP has ceded opposition space to Anna and Baba, Prasad said, "I think it's unfair to say that. It was Advani who first raised the issue of black money in 2009."

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Ramdev not allowed to shift protest to UP

Jun 06, 2011

New Delhi: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati has said a firm no to Baba Ramdev to shift his protest to Noida or anywhere in the state, according to sources. Ramdev had indicated on Sunday that he will try to hold his Satyagraha in Noida after he was externed from Delhi for 15 days. He had said that he will talk to Mayawati for permission to go to Noida, but till then he will continue his fast inside Patanjali peeth in Haridwar.

Ramdev's followers had also tried to get permission from the Noida Deputy Minister to hold protest in Noida.
Ramdev began his morning teaching yoga to his disciples at Patanjali peeth ashram. He said he will continue his campaign to put pressure on the UPA government to bring back black money. All he needs now is a new venue to relaunch his stir.
Baba Ramdev has appealed to his followers in Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh to join him at Patanjali peeth from Monday onwards. However he maintains that this is temporary.
Ramdev said he will come back to Delhi come what may.
Earlier on Sunday, condemning police action against Baba Ramdev and his supporters "in strongest terms", Mayawati requested the Supreme Court to order a probe as "justice cannot be expected from the Centre" in the issue.
Mayawati termed the crackdown at the Ramlila Maidan as "inhuman", "undemocratic" and "condemnable"
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BJP launches 24-hour Satyagraha........................

Jun 06, 2011

New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Sunday evening launched a 24-hour Satyagraha here to protest against the police's post-midnight swoop on Baba Ramdev and his supporters at the Ramlila Ground.

A large number of BJP workers and Ramdev's supporters assembled at Mahatma Gandhi's memorial at Rajghat and shouted slogans against the Congress-led central government.

Prominent leaders like Rajnath Singh, Arun Jaitley, Ravi Shankar Prasad and Murli Manohar Joshi too were present at Rajghat.

Earlier, BJP president Nitin Gadkari announced that his party will organise a 24-hour Satyagraha across the country from Sunday evening.

The Delhi Police early on Sunday forcibly took away the yoga guru from the Ramlila Ground where he was on a fast against corruption and black money. His supporters were dispersed using tear gas

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Ramdev crackdown: Attack on Digvijay's house

Jun 06, 2011 BHOPAL: Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh's residence was pelted with stones by some unidentified people who also shouted slogans in favour of yoga guru Baba Ramdev, police said on Monday. 

Digvijay Singh , who has twice been Madhya Pradesh chief minister, owns a bungalow here in Shyamla Hills, but when the incident took place late Sunday, no one from his family was present except a few guards.

"Some people pelted stones and shouted slogans at Digvijay Singh's residence in Shyamla Hills. But it happened for a few minutes and the group left the place," Bhopal Superintendent of Police (SP) Yogesh Choudhary told IANS.

"After the incident, we have told the patrolling party to keep a watch on the house," he said.

The incident is being seen as the outcome of Digvijay Singh's remarks against Ramdev whom he had termed a "thug" Sunday morning after Delhi police's crackdown on the yoga guru's fast unto death at Ramlila ground in New Delhi.

Madhya Pradesh Congress leader J.P. Dhanopia claimed the people who pelted stones were affiliated to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) and allied groups.

"The incident took place in the presence of police and we strongly condemn it. The incident also proved that Baba Ramdev is an agent of the saffron parivar," Dhanopia alleged.   

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Karuna faults Centre for Kanimozhi's arrest........................................
June 06, 2011 Reflecting further strains in his party's ties with Congress, DMK chief Karunanidhi has blamed the Centre for the arrest of his daughter Kanimozhi in the 2G spectrum case.
"Kanimozhi is in Tihar jail, either it could be due to Centre's order or complacency," the DMK patriarch said in his first public meeting after the Assembly polls in his Tiruvarur constituency here last night
Karunanidhi, who often turned emotional during the meeting, alleged that Kanimozhi had been arrested as the CBI had to hold someone accountable and said her mistake was his mistake -- of making her a shareholder in Kalaignar TV.

"I compelled her to become a shareholder with a view to secure her future," he said adding she was languishing in the jail under testing conditions. "You know a flower kept there will wither away quickly due to the temperature there."
Karunanidhi's comments come two days after he said on his birthday "...Bad friendship will result in trouble."
The DMK chief's remark was seen as a subtle message about his being sore with his party's seven-year old ally Congress, with whom his party's ties have not been the best of late.
The strain in the DMK's alliance with the lead UPA partner had come out very clearly during seat-sharing negotiations for the April 13 Assembly polls with the Congress managing to wrest 63 seats from the DMK.
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AIEEE: City's position slips from last year.........

June 06, 2011 LUDHIANA: The All India Engineering Entrance Examination (AIEEE) result that was declared on Sunday did not excite city students very much. None of the aspiring engineers from the city could grab a slot in the first 100 ranks. Sukhdarshan Singh from Dugri, who got the 290th rank is the city's topper. 

Mohit Gupta has got the second position in the city on the 292nd rank, while Kanav Rampal is at the city's third position with the 371st rank. In 2010, a city student had bagged the 40th all-India rank.

Sukhdarshan said he had planned his study time in such a way that he could give equal time for physics, chemistry and mathematics. ''If your basics are clear you can grasp concepts easily and score well. But many students' basics are not clear so they are unable to do well,'' he said. Sukhdarshan said whenever he listens to music or plays badminton whenever he feels stressed. A student of BCM School, Sukhdarshan wants to do computer engineering from IIT-Roorkee or Delhi College of Engineering.

Civil City-resident Mohit Gupta said many students don't pay attention in classes at school but he ''did not make this mistake.'' Alumnus of Kundan Vidya Mandir (KVM) School, Mohit said playing cricket or table tennis helps refresh his mind.

Kanav Rampal from Agar Nagar is happy with his result but said he was not anxious because he had scored very well in the recently-declared IIT results. With the 496th all-India rank in IIT entrance exam, Kanav was the city topper and is now hoping to get into IIT-Delhi. ''I used to study for about 5-7 hours daily and read some extra books that helped me crack the exam,'' said the student, who did his Class XII from KVM School.