 |
|
|
US lifts export curbs on DRDO, ISRO
US varsity shut down over immigration fraud
PM Poll |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Rehman gets two Oscar nominations
‘The Kings Speech’ gets 12 nods
15 killed in Pak suicide attacks
SC upholds 30-month jail for Fonseka
Coaster ride hangs people mid-air for two hours
|
|
US lifts export curbs on DRDO, ISRO
Washington, January 25 The US decision meets a long pending Indian demand and is the first step to implement the export control policy initiative announced by US President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on November 8 last after their summit talks in New Delhi. The Federal notification issued in the Federal registry came days ahead of the high-profile visit of Commerce Secretary Gary Locke to New Delhi on February 6. Locke is leading a high-tech trade mission comprising 24 businesses that will also visit Bangalore and Mumbai. “Today’s action marks a significant milestone in reinforcing the US-India strategic partnership and moving forward with export control reforms that will facilitate high technology trade and cooperation,” Locke said after the notification was issued. The nine entities are Bharat Dynamics Ltd (BDL), four remaining subsidiaries of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) in the US sanction list and another four of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). The DRDO subsidiaries are Armament Research and Development Establishment (ARDE), Defence Research and Development Lab (DRDL), Missile Research and Development Complex and Solid State Physics Laboratory Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre, Solid Propellant Space Booster Plant (SPROB), Sriharikota Space Centre (SHAR), and Vikram Sarabhai Space Center (VSSC) are the four ISRO subsidiaries. Removal from the ‘Entity List’ eliminates a licence requirement specific to the companies, and results in the companies off the list being treated the same way as any other destination in India for export licensing purposes, the Commerce Department said in a statement. The notification removes India from several country groups in the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) resulting in the removal of export licence requirements that were tied to India’s placement in those country groups. It further adds India to a country group in the EAR that consists of members of the Missile Technology Control Regime, to recognise and communicate India’s adherence to the regime, the US-India strategic partnership, and India’s global non-proliferation standing. “These changes reaffirm the US commitment to work with India on our mutual goal of strengthening the global non-proliferation framework,” said Under Secretary of Commerce Eric L Hirschhorn.
— PTI
|
|
US varsity shut down over immigration fraud
Washington, January 25 The Tri-Valley University in Pleasanton, a major suburb in San Francisco Bay Area, has been charged by federal investigating authorities with being part of an effort to defraud, misuse visa permits and indulge in money laundering and other crimes. According to a federal complaint filed in a California court, the university, which was raided and shut down last week, helped foreign nationals illegally acquire immigration status. The university is said to have 1,555 students. As many as 95 per cent of these students are Indian nationals, the complaint said. Investigations by Immigration and Custom Enforcement (ICE) found that while students were admitted to various residential and online courses of the university and on paper lived in California, in reality they “illegally” worked in various parts of the country as far as Maryland, Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Texas. ICE has called it as a “sham university.” The ICE investigations found that more than half of these students were reported to be residing in a single apartment located in Sunnyvale California. During the course of the investigation, the ICE found that the university gave the residential address of its students in order to conceal that they did not live in California, said the court papers. For a student to maintain an active immigration status, they must show proof that they are making reasonable process towards completing coursework and physically attend classes. Federal investigating authorities are now sweeping out on each of those students, who paid lakhs for obtaining students visa and also students work permit. Several of them have been interrogated, creating a panic reaction among the Indian student community. Many of the students from Andhra Pradesh, who were planning to join the university for the new semester, have cancelled their US travel plans. Classes were scheduled to start on January 10 after the winter break. It is understood that many of these students are planning to leave the country as soon as possible as they are being interrogated. There are unconfirmed reports of some of the students being detained and deportation process has been started against them. Once the university has been shut down, the students who come on F-1 visa, lose their status within a stipulated time. These students have been making desperate calls to Indian American immigration attorneys. "We have received verification that ICE has detained some of the students and placed them in removal proceedings," Murthy Law Firm, a popular immigration attorney firm among Indian-Americans, said in a posting on its website. — PTI
|
|
Nepal approves changes to end political deadlock
Kathmandu, January 25 A five-member parliamentary committee headed by Ek Raj Bhandari recommended making it mandatory to vote in a multi-cornered prime ministerial poll in the House. Under the recommendations, lawmakers will not be allowed to abstain, attendance will be mandatory, and the Parliamentary speaker will be able to disqualify candidates after three failed rounds of voting. It has proposed termination of the election process if the House fails to elect a prime minister in the third round of polls. “We have proposed drastic changes to the laws in practice for electing a prime minister. The new provision suggests compulsory voting in favour of one candidate if there are more than one candidates,” said Bhandari. This would ensure that the meaningless elections for the Prime Minister witnessed over the past few months would not be repeated this time. Nepal’s deadlocked political parties are unlikely to form a consensus government amid the failure to agree on a new prime minister, as a key deadline set by the President expires tomorrow. — PTI
|
|
Rehman gets two Oscar nominations
Los Angeles, January 25 ‘If I Rise’, the 45-year-old singer-composer’s collaboration with British pop star Dido, has been nominated in the Best Song category. Rahman will also be competing for the Best Original Score trophy with John Powell (‘How to Train Your Dragon’), Hans Zimmer (‘Inception’), Alexandre Desplat (‘The King’s Speech’) and Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross (‘The Social Network’). The nominees in the Best Song category are ‘Coming Home’ from ‘Country Strong’, ‘I See the Light’ from ‘Tangled’ and ‘We Belong Together’ from ‘Toy Story 3’. The Mozart of Madras first won the award for his music in Boyle’s Mumbai-based potboiler ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ in 2009. He had lost out on the golden trophy last year, after his song ‘Na Na’ (from ‘Couple’s Retreat’) failed to get a nomination despite being in the long list for the ‘Best Song’ category. Rahman has already won a Critics Choice award this year for the film, which has received good reviews for it’s “haunting tracks” and “wonderful crescendos”, and is in the running for a Best Original Music BAFTA for the same. Earlier, the ‘Jai Ho’ hitmaker had lost out on a Golden Globe in the same category to Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, who won for their music in ‘The Social Network’. Rahman, who was honoured with a Padma Bhushan last year, had enjoyed a golden run at the 52nd Grammy Awards, where he had again bagged two gramophones for his music in the ‘Slumdog Millionaire’. ‘127 Hours’, starring James Franco as real-life mountain climber Aron Ralston who cut off his arm to escape from beneath a boulder after being trapped for more than five days, has won six nominations including best film.
— PTI
|
|
‘The Kings Speech’ gets 12 nods
'The Kings Speech', a British drama about the stammering monarch King George VI, leads this year's Oscar nominations with 12 nods, while another period drama 'True Grit' follows closely with 10 nominations.
Favourite 'The Social Network' only managed the third spot with eight nominations, while Leonardo DiCaprio-starrer psychological thriller 'Inception' got seven. Colin Firth is nominated in the Best Actor category for 'The King's Speech' and the film's director Tom Hooper has bagged a nomination in the 'Best Director' category. Helena Bonham Carter is in the run for the Best Supporting Actress, while Geoffrey Rush won a nomination for the Best Supporting Actor for the same. The film is also nominated in the Art Direction, Cinematography, Costume Design, Editing, Original Screenplay and Original Score categories. Besides 'The King's Speech', the Best Film category also includes 'The Social Network', 'The Fighter', 'Black Swan', 'Inception', 'The Kids Are All Right', '127 Hours', 'Toy Story 3', 'True Grit', and 'Winter's Bone'.
— PTI
|
|
15 killed in Pak suicide attacks
Lahore/Karachi, January 25 In the first attack in the
eastern city of Lahore, a teenage suicide bomber today blew himself up
when he was challenged by policemen guarding a Shia procession. The
attack occurred at Lahori Gate near Karbala Gamay Shah, a Shia 'imambargah'
or prayer hall. Lahore police chief Aslam Tareen said the bomber, who
was 14 or 15-year-old, detonated his explosive vest when he was stopped
for checking. Besides the vest, the bomber was carrying explosives in a
bag, he said. The face of the bomber, minus the skull, had been found
by police, he said. "The attacker detonated his explosive vest at
the first layer of security, where policemen were checking people
(joining the procession)," SP (Security) Faisal Rana told
reporters. Thirteen people, including a woman and four policemen, were
among the dead. Over 70 people were injured. The second bomber struck a
short while later, targeting a police van in the Malir area of Karachi.
Two policemen were killed and five others, including three policemen,
injured in the attack. — PTI
|
|
SC upholds 30-month jail for Fonseka
Sri Lanka’s Supreme Court held on Tuesday that a military court that handed down a 30-month jail sentence to country’s former army chief-turned-politician Sarath Fonskea is “constitutional” causing a setback to several legal challenges mounted by the former military strongman against his sentencing.
A five-member Supreme Court Bench had unanimously held that a military court could be constitutionally accepted as a “body administering justice” in the country. The determination was made public by the Appeal Court Judge Ranjith de Silva to a packed court house.
The Appeal Court, before which Fonseka had filed the case, had earlier requested the Supreme Court to give its interpretation of the validity of a court martial. Fonseka, too, was present at the time of the announcement. Though he is serving a prison sentence, Fonseka was brought to the court on days the cases are taken up for hearing. Fonseka lost his parliamentary seat three months ago after the military court sentenced him. However, he filed an appeal against the sentencing on the ground that the sentencing by a military court could not deprive him of a seat to which he was been duly elected. Under the Sri Lankan law, a Member of Parliament, who is sentenced to a prison term exceeding two years automatically, loses his parliamentary seat.
|
|
Coaster ride hangs people mid-air for two hours
Beijing, January 25 People hung mid-air in panic for two hours before park staff brought them down to safety one by one, Shanghai Daily quoted eyewitnesses as saying. The 65-metre-tall Diving Coaster, the most thrilling ride in the park and the tallest of its kind in the world, is being examined for the cause of the incident, the report said. A similar accident had happened last March when the same coaster stopped running. — PTI
|
|
|
| HOME PAGE | |
Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir |
Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs |
Nation | Opinions | | Business | Sports | World | Letters | Chandigarh | Ludhiana | Delhi | | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
Los Angeles, January 25
Sri Lanka’s Supreme Court held on Tuesday that a military court that handed down a 30-month jail sentence to country’s former army chief-turned-politician Sarath Fonskea is “constitutional” causing a setback to several legal challenges mounted by the former military strongman against his sentencing.
A five-member Supreme Court Bench had unanimously held that a military court could be constitutionally accepted as a “body administering justice” in the country. The determination was made public by the Appeal Court Judge Ranjith de Silva to a packed court house.
