 |
|
|
India to fix minimum wages for workers hired by GCC countries
Over 1,200 workers go on strike in Bahrain
Kanishka Bombing |
|
|
Indian killed during robbery bid in US
Three Madhesi parties form alliance
EC ultimatum to Nepal govt
Turkey lifts varsity headscarf ban
Rocket attacks: Israeli PM threatens action
Now supercomputer SUGAR to detect black hole
Lawyers to boycott courts till Feb 18
Bhutto’s last words: To condole PML workers’ deaths
US Awards
Fire at London’s Camden market
|
|||||||||||
|
India to fix minimum wages for workers hired by GCC countries
Dubai, February 10 He said in reports published by a daily here today that Indian diplomatic missions in the other GCC states (UAE, Oman, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia) have all been asked to forward their recommendations and proposals in this connection. Ravi said on phone from Chennai that the move was to protect the rights of overseas Indian workers, especially unskilled labourers in the construction sector. The minimum wage limit is likely to vary from one GCC state to another- on the basis of cost of living and other economic factors. He pointed out that in Bahrain top Indian embassy officials had already discussed the minimum wage limit issue with the local government authorities and industry leaders before making their recommendations. “A similar exercise is now be undertaken by Indian diplomatic missions in other GCC states,” Ravi said. “The implementation of the minimum wage policy will be carried out in a phased manner. We do not want any friction with any foreign government and as such our minimum wage policy announcement will be made only after prior consultation with local government authorities,” Ravi told the Khaleej Times. Indian Ambassador in Bahrain, Balakrishna Shetty, was quoted as saying three days ago starting March India will stop workers from leaving for Bahrain unless they have their contracts attested by the Indian embassy. Shetty also said the new wage limit will also apply to contracts that come up for renewal. An estimated 2 million unskilled Indian labourers are working in the six GCC states. The minimum wage will impact construction industry in the Gulf hiking costs and forcing employers to look for cheaper labour which is hard to find. — UNI
|
|
Over 1,200 workers go on strike in Bahrain
Dubai, February 10 Employees of the GP Zacharides company, based in Durrat Al Bahrain, downed tools asking for hike in their salary. The workers participating in the strike belong to India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nepal and Sri Lanka. They said they would not call off their strike until the demands were met. The strike comes days after Indian Ambassador Balkrishna Shetty revealed plans to institute a Bahraini Dinars 100 minimum wage for Indian workers in the Gulf. “We have decided to halt work until we get a salary rise. All we get paid is a basic of BD57 despite the fact that companies are making huge profits from us,” he said. Workers also complained that the firm does not provide adequate medical facilities to the workers.
— PTI
|
|
Kanishka Bombing
Toronto, February 10 Reyat (55) was escorted from Matsqui Institution in Abbotsford to a lower mainland jail yesterday to await his perjury trial, which is now scheduled in British Columbia Supreme Court for March 7. But Reyat is hoping to be released on bail. Roger Cutler, of the attorney general’s ministry, confirmed today that Reyat had applied for bail, and March 4 was fixed to hear that application. “He was kept in a federal institution while completing his manslaughter sentence, which came to end. And then he still has to deal with the perjury matter and he is in custody while awaiting that,” Cutler said. “The (arrest) warrant would have been issued way back then,” he said. Families of the Air India victims were contacted last month and told that Reyat had agreed to plead guilty to perjury for lying at the trial of two others accused in the terrorism plot. But Reyat appears to be intent on going to trial on the allegations that he lied repeatedly in September, 2003, when he was a crown witness against Ajaib Singh Bagri and Ripudaman Singh Malik. Both men were later acquitted. Reyat’s lawyer, Ian Donaldson, was not available to comment. — PTI
|
|
|
Indian killed during robbery bid in US
Silicon Valley, February 10 Surinder Kumar, a 55-year-old clerk at a ‘7-eleven’ store in Vallejo city, was shot during a robbery, since investigators found an undisclosed amount of cash missing from the register, the police said. Kumar died early Friday morning after a customer found him with gunshot wounds behind the counter, the Vallejo police said. It described the suspects as two black males, but said that no further details were immediately available. The police was also seeking public’s help to find the killers of Kumar. The customer contacted police in the wee hours saying Kumar was behind the counter, bleeding and unconscious, police said. He was taken to hospital where he was pronounced dead shortly after arriving, the coroner’s office reported. Kumar, who immigrated to the USA from Ludhiana in 2000, along with his family, had been working the graveyard shift at the store for about six years, Sgt Vic Massenkoff said. Solano County coroner’s office Deputy Adrian Garcia said Kumar had been shot twice - once in the leg and a fatal wound to the left side of his chest. The police are asking anyone with information about the incident to contact them and are urging anyone wishing to leave an anonymous tip can call Solano County Crime Stoppers.
— PTI
|
|
Three Madhesi parties form alliance
Despite repeated calls from the Nepal government for peaceful negotiations, three major Madhesi parties — Madhesi People’s Rights Forum, Tarai-Madhes Democratic Party and Sadbhavana Party — on Saturday decided to intensify their agitation in southern Nepal by constituting an alliance, named the United Madhesi Democratic Front (UMDF).
Following this decision, both the seven-party alliance’s coalition government and the Election Commission are likely to face problems in making preparations for the Constituent Assembly elections, slated for April 10. At a press conference here on Saturday afternoon, the newly-established UMDF floated a six-point charter of demands. It asked the government to fulfil the demands at the earliest or else UMDF leaders would hold protests, including an indefinite general strike, from February 13. The UMDF has threatened to block the highway from February 17 and show non-cooperation to the government in the Tarai region. However, Mahanta Thakur of the Tarai-Madhes Democratic Party said they would hold talks with the government and take part in the Constituent Assembly elections if their demands were fulfilled. Meanwhile, just a few hours after the UMDF made public its programme, leader of the government’s talks committee and minister for peace and reconstruction Ram Chandra Poudel invited the Madhesi leaders to hold a dialogue and resolve the problems through mutual consent. Speaking at a function on Saturday, Poudel said the government was ready to consider the UMDF demands and reach an amicable solution on the negotiating table so that the country would be able to hold the elections in a peaceful manner within the stipulated time frame.
|
|
EC ultimatum to Nepal govt
Just 59 days before to go for the Constituent Assembly (CA) election, the Chief
“All surfaced political and security complexities should be settled down within three days to create an election-friendly atmosphere across the country,” said CEC Bhoj Raj Pokharel, while interacting with the political delegation of interim parliament led by Speaker Subas Nembang at the commissioner’s office this afternoon. “Otherwise, it will seriously affect the commission’s efforts in expediting election procedures,” he added. Expressing serious concern over the ongoing violent agitations mainly in southern and eastern regions unleashed by different armed and unarmed outfits of Madhesi and ethnic communities, Pokharel said, “This kinds of incidents should not be remained continue because it will hamper the election as well.” He also urged the government, political parties concerned and parliament to take immediate initiative to find an amicable solution through peaceful negotiations and improve the law and order situation so that the entire country would become election-friendly. On Saturday, three major political parties mainly based in the southern region (Tarai region) had decided to form an United Madhes Democratic Front and intensify fresh protest programmes in the Tarai from the next week if the government fails to fulfil their six-point demands. It may be recalled that the government of Nepal has already postponed the election twice earlier due to the existing political crisis in the Tarai and deteriorating security conditions across the country.
|
|
Turkey lifts varsity headscarf ban
Dubai, February 10 The decision, taken yesterday to lift the ban imposed in late 1990s in the fiercely secular country, will bring further pressure on women and “it will ultimately bring us Hezbollah terror, Al Qaeda terror and fundamanetalism”, Nesrin Baytok, MP from the opposition secular party warned during the debate in parliament. On the face of it the innocuous amendment allows all citizens the right to go to college regardless of how they dress but the secular crowds protesting outside the parliament in Ankara were unconvinced, according to newspaper reports in Turkey. Another member from the secular opposition, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, said the group would take the amendments to the Constitutional Court, a pro-secular institution that is likely to rule against Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s move. The Turkish Daily News said the move pitted the Islamist-rooted government against secularists. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP) proposed the reform last week, following a deal with the opposition Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), saying that enabling all women to attain university education is essential in ensuring basic human rights in the country but the opposition Republican Peoples Party (CHP) are not amused saying the proposal was unconstitutional. President Abdullah Gul is expected to approve the reform soon. The government must also amend a law governing the state body for higher education before the changes can take effect. Turkey’s powerful secular establishment, which includes army generals, judges and university rectors, sees the headscarf as a symbol of radical Islam and believe it threatens the country’s secular order. Turkey is 99 percent Muslim. The secular opponents said that lifting the ban will undermine the principle of secularism, one of the founding principles of the 84-year-old Republic.
— UNI
|
|
Rocket attacks: Israeli PM threatens action
Jerusalem, February 10 Olmert has been wary of launching a large-scale ground operation in the densely populated coastal territory that could result in heavy Israeli as well as Palestinian casualties. But he is under mounting domestic pressure to do more to counter the rocket fire, which seriously wounded two Israelis, including an eight-year-old boy, in the southern Israeli town of Sderot yesterday. Part of the boy’s leg was amputated. “We need to act in an orderly and methodical fashion over time. This is what we are doing. This is what we will continue to do,” Olmert told his Cabinet. The Prime Minister vowed to target “all terror elements” in the Gaza Strip — both those directly responsible for the rocket attacks as well as those who help organise them. “We will not give special consideration to anyone,” Olmert said, the strongest hint yet that Israel could start assassinating political leaders of the Hamas movement, which seized control of the Gaza Strip in June.
— Reuters
|
|
|
SRK not interested in Hollywood
Berlin, February 10 Khan, who attended the Berlin Film Festival to promote his latest blockbuster “Om Shanti Om”, defended the type of movies made by the Indian film industry, perceived as loud and overly melodramatic by many western audiences. “We do express ourselves a little loudly. We wanted people to know that our movies are like this and we’re very proud of it,” he said. Khan said he wanted to help remove some misconceptions about Indian films in the West. “I may be someone to bind Europe and India through films,” he said. Despite the mass success and adulation he enjoys, ‘King Khan’ said Hollywood was not on his radar. “There is no place for me in the Hollywood or in the European cinema. I would like to continue to work in India and to take the Indian cinema to the outside world.” He also warned against the dangers of “films being eaten up by technology”, and suggested that the more technologically advanced western film industry could learn a thing or two about storytelling from Bollywood. “I love ‘Spiderman’, ‘Superman’ ... but sometimes there is nothing beyond the special effects. Maybe our stories would be interesting to take on.” At the same time, the Indian cinema, which has not changed very much during the past four decades, should look at the changes taking place around the world,” he said.
— PTI
|
|
|
Nicole’s swimsuit auction buys 9 cows for poor Indians
Stockholm, February 10 “The swimsuit went to the highest bidder for $ 2,500. That’s enough to buy nine cows,” the suit’s previous owner Zlatko Nedanovski, 32, told AFP. Last Wednesday, a day into the week-long auction, Nedanovski said he hoped to raise enough to buy five cows, or around 9,000 kronor, as part of a project run by the Swedish aid organisation Erikshjaelpen. “This went amazingly well,” he said, acknowledging however that he would miss the suit, which has been on display in a second-hand store in the southern Swedish town of Esloev for the past five years. Kidman, a keen swimmer, forgot the suit at a pool she had reserved for her personal use in the southwestern town of Vaenersborg during a 2002 stay in Sweden to shoot Lars von Trier’s “Dogville”. Pool staff found it and handed it over to a local radio station. Nedanovski then bought the swimsuit for 5,500 kronor. Bids for the swimsuit had come from all over the world, Nedanovski said, but it finally went to 49-year-old Bengt Olsen from Sweden’s film town Trollheattan. “And I hope the bathing suit will raise more money for more cows for more poor Indian families.” he said, explaining that he planned to charge a small fee to allow people to “I’ve also decided to give one cow each year to an Indian family, and I want to encourage everyone else to do the same,” he said. — AFP
|
|
Now supercomputer SUGAR to detect black hole
New York, February 10 The supercomputer, dubbed SUGAR, is being assembled by the scientists at Syracuse University’s Department of Physics. According to lead researcher Prof Duncan Brown, the supercomputer will receive massive amounts of data collected at Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory (LIGO), which would help in separating the sound of a black hole. But, before they can isolate the sound of a black hole from the LIGO data, the scientists will figure out what a black hole sounds like by listening for their gravitational waves which are produced by violent events in the distant universe. In fact, Professor Brown and his colleagues will use SUGAR and Einstein’s equations from the general theory of relativity to create models of gravitational wave patterns from collision of two black holes-these are massive gravitational fields in the universe that result from the collapse of giant stars. “Gravitational waves can teach us much about what is out there in the universe. Looking for gravitational waves is like listening to the universe. Different kinds of events produce different wave patterns. “We want to try to extract a wave pattern, a special sound, that matches our model from all of the noise in the LIGO data,” the ‘ScienceDaily’ quoted Professor Brown as saying.
— PTI
|
|
Lawyers to boycott courts till Feb 18
Islamabad, February 10 The convention demanded the restoration of pre-November 3 judiciary and the release of sacked chief justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry and 60 other judges of the superior courts. It also demanded the release of all detained lawyers, including Supreme Court bar association president Aitzaz Ahsan. Baig said if the general elections were not held on February 18, lawyers would go on a complete boycott of the superior courts for an indefinite period.
|
|
Bhutto’s last words: To condole PML workers’ deaths
Former premier Benazir Bhutto’s last wish was to talk to Nawaz Sharif and condole the deaths of four Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz workers killed in a rally, Naheed Khan, Benazir’s political secretary told Geo News.
Naheed was sitting besides Benazir, when the slain PPP chairperson stood up inside the car to wave to crowds shouting welcome slogans. She questioned the validity of the report of the Scotland Yard’s detectives that Bhutto was not killed by bullet shot. She said these had been her last words before she stood and started waving to the crowd. Naheed denied that the impact caused by the explosion had killed Benazir. She said Bhutto had fallen inside the vehicle six seconds before the blast occurred. Naheed reiterated that the shots fired at Benazir caused her death, adding that Benazir did not say anything after she was shot.
|
|
US Awards
Los Angeles, February 10 The Writers Guild of America annually honours its members with awards, marking one of the key ceremonies leading to the Oscars on February 24. But this year’s WGA’s dinner was canceled because writers were striking against major film and TV producers. Guild leaders said yesterday they had reached a tentative agreement with companies represented by the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers and its members were meeting to hear the terms of the
deal. — Reuters
|
|
|
Fire at London’s Camden market
London, February 10 No one was injured but market storage areas and shops were set ablaze and adjoining houses damaged, the fire brigade said. The fire devoured the Hawley Arms pub, a popular haunt of celebrities, including singer Amy Winehouse and model Kate Moss. Throngs of revellers stood in the streets of Camden, a fashion and music hub, watching flames and smoke billowing into the air. By late evening, the blaze had died down. Fire brigade spokesman Guy Foster told reporters that the blaze appeared to have started in market stalls. Investigators were at the scene but it was too early to say what had caused it, he said.
— Reuters
|
|
| HOME PAGE | |
Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir |
Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs |
Nation | Opinions | | Business | Sports | World | Mailbag | Chandigarh | Ludhiana | Delhi | | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
