|
|
|
|
|
Iran N-talks have failed: EU
25 killed in suicide attack at Iraq campaign meeting
Mandela discharged from hospital
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Hefajat-e-Islam activists attend a rally in Dhaka on Saturday. AFP
36 killed in Nigeria road accident
Savita inquest to call on 16 of 60 witnesses: Report
H-1B visa cap reached; lottery will decide fate Five killed in Egypt clashes
Pak hackers ‘deface’ 1,059 Indian websites
|
|
Almaty, April 6 Expectations that the negotiations were making progress rose as an afternoon session was extended into the evening. But comments by Catherine Ashton, the European Union's head of foreign policy made clear that the two sides failed to make enough headway to qualify the meeting as a success. "What matters in the end is substance, and... we are still a considerable distance apart," Ashton told reporters at the end of the two-day talks. Ashton said negotiators would now consult with their capitals. She made no mention of plans for a new meeting another sign that the gap dividing the two sides remains substantial. The six insist Iran cut back on its highest grade uranium enrichment production and stockpile, fearing Tehran will divert it from making nuclear fuel to form the material used in the core of nuclear warhead. They say Iran must make that move and make it first to build confidence that its nuclear programme is peaceful. They were asking Tehran to greatly limit its production and stockpiling of uranium enriched to 20 per cent, which is just a technical step away from weapons-grade uranium. That would keep Iran's supply below the amount needed for further processing into a weapon. But Iran wants greater rewards for any concessions that the six are ready to give. They have offered to lift sanctions on Iran's gold transactions and petrochemical trade. — AP
|
|
|
25 killed in suicide attack at Iraq campaign meeting
Baquba (Iraq) April 6 The assault raises further questions over the credibility of the election, Iraq's first since 2010, and comes some 10 years after the US-led invasion that ousted Saddam Hussein and aimed to usher in a stable democracy but instead unleashed brutal violence which continues to plague the country. Supporters of Muthanna Ahmed Abdulwahid, a Sunni Arab candidate for the Azimun Ala al-Bina (Determined to Build) party, a small local list, had been gathered at around lunchtime in the restive city of Baquba, 60 kilometres north of Baghdad. As they were meeting, a militant threw a grenade before a suicide bomber then blew himself up, a police colonel and a medic at Baquba hospital said. At least 25 people were killed and 60 others were wounded, the officials said, though Abdulwahid appeared to have been unharmed. Diyala province, of which Baquba is the capital, is among Iraq's most violent -- 560 people were killed there last year, according to Britain-based NGO Iraq Body Count, which said it suffered the highest per capita rate of civilian deaths in the country. Iraq has been plagued by attacks against election candidates ahead of provincial council polls due on April 20, with 12 hopefuls killed already, according to an AFP tally. Diplomats have also raised concerns over a government decision to postpone elections in two provinces which, combined with the fact that four were never slated to vote, means that just 12 of Iraq's 18 provinces will cast ballots. — AFP
|
|
|
Mandela discharged from hospital
Johannesburg, April 6 "(He) has been discharged from hospital today, April 6, following a sustained and gradual improvement in his general condition," the South African presidency said on Saturday. It was the third health scare in four months for the Nobel Peace Prize laureate, who became South Africa's first black President in 1994 and became a global symbol of tolerance and the struggle for equality. — Reuters
|
|
|
Rally against ‘atheist’ bloggers in B’desh
Dhaka, April 6 The Islamists, under the banner of newly emerged 'Hafazat-e-Islam', also called for a nationwide general strike on April 8 and issued a one month deadline for the Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's government for accepting their 13-point demand. They threatened that if the demands are not met, they would lay a siege to capital on May 5. The demands included enactment of an anti-blasphemy law and arrest of five prominent people they called "atheist" and ban on mingling of sexes in public. During the rally, people shouted, "God is great, hang the atheist bloggers". "A tough hartal will be observed across the country on April 8," a spokesman of the group announced on behalf of the group's elderly chief Allama Shafi, as he sat on the makeshift stage at the city's Shapla Chattar Square at Motijheel. The Islamists rally came as 23 cultural and Left leaning groups, backed by 1971 Liberation War veterans waging a campaign for toughest punishment for the 1971 war criminals, enforced a nationwide shutdown to prevent the radicals from rallying in the capital. Transport and ferry operators and the state-run railway suspended their services towards Dhaka carrying the Islamists fearing violence but several thousand arrived Dhaka beforehand as ordinary passengers while several thousand others preferred to walk miles to reach Dhaka. — PTI
|
|
|
36 killed in Nigeria road accident
Abuja, April 6 However, Nigerian media reports claimed that 60 people were killed in the incident. The collision yesterday caused the tanker to explode and 30 occupants of the bus died while four persons inside the tanker also lost their lives. Two children from a nearby mechanic workshop were also killed in the mishap while three persons were rescued. — PTI |
|
|
Savita inquest to call on 16 of 60 witnesses: Report London, April 6 As few as 16 individuals, out of the total of up to 60 who gave statements to gardai (Irish police), will be called to testify at the inquest which proceeds to a full hearing on Monday morning, well placed sources were quoted by the Irish Times as saying. Savita, hailing from Karnataka, died from blood poisoning on October 28 last year after doctors refused to terminate her 17-week pregnancy, telling her that the foetal heartbeat was still present and "this is a Catholic country". The inquest opened in Galway in January for one day and was adjourned until April 8. It is understood the weight of the witness evidence will come from personnel involved in the latter days of Savita's care at the University Hospital Galway in Ireland and less so in relation to the earlier days when, according to her husband Praveen Halappanavar, the couple asked repeatedly for a termination of the 17-week pregnancy she was miscarrying. The coroner, Ciaran McLoughlin, will also call five of his own expert witnesses, among them will be Peter Boylan, former master of the National Maternity Hospital in Holles Street, Dublin. Ireland's abortion laws are the strictest in Europe. Savita's death caused widespread outrage in India and re-ignited protests and debate on abortion laws. — PTI
|
|
|
H-1B visa cap reached; lottery will decide fate Washington, April 6 The US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) yesterday announced that it would no longer accept applications for the H-1B visas for the fiscal year 2014 beginning October 1, 2013, the Congressional mandated cap for which is 65,000 as it has received sufficient applications for this. USCIS has also received more than 20,000 H-1B petitions filed on behalf of persons exempt from the cap under the advanced degree exemption. "USCIS will use a computer-generated random selection process (commonly known as the "lottery") for all FY 2014 cap-subject petitions received through April 5, 2013," the statement said. "The agency will conduct the selection process for advanced degree exemption petitions first. All advanced degree petitions not selected will be part of the random selection process for the 65,000 limit," said USCIS which started accepting the applications on Monday. Due to the high number of petitions received, USCIS is not yet able to announce the exact day of the random selection process. Also, USCIS also did not provide the total number of petitions received, noting that it continued to accept filings yesterday. USCIS will continue to accept and process petitions that are otherwise exempt from the cap, the statement said. — PTI
|
Jayapura (Indonesia)
A major 7.1-magnitude earthquake struck the Indonesian province of Papua on Saturday sending panicked crowds running into the streets. There were no immediate reports of damage and no tsunami warning was issued after the quake struck on land at a depth of 75 km, 272 km west-southwest of provincial capital Jayapura. — AFP Seoul Foreign diplomats in North Korea appeared to be staying put on Saturday, ignoring a warning by Pyongyang that they should consider evacuating their missions amid soaring nuclear tensions. Pyongyang had informed embassies it could not guarantee their safety if a conflict broke out. — AFP Kandahar Six American troops and civilians and an Afghan doctor were killed in attacks today in southern and eastern Afghanistan as the US military's top officer began a weekend visit to the country, officials said. — AP
|
||||||
|
| HOME PAGE | |
Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir |
Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs |
Nation | Opinions | | Business | Sports | World | Letters | Chandigarh | Ludhiana | Delhi | | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | E-mail | |
Iran and six world powers today failed to reach an agreement on an approach to reducing fears that Tehran might use its nuclear technology to make weapons, with the EU's foreign policy chief declaring that the two sides "remain far apart on substance."
Former South African president Nelson Mandela was discharged on Saturday after spending more than a week in hospital for treatment of pneumonia, raising global concern about the health of the 94-year-old anti-apartheid leader.
