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Putin derails G8 efforts to oust Assad
28 killed, over 60 hurt in Pak blast
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NSA secret data gathering transparent, claims Obama
Turkish PM claims victory after protest crackdown
Srinivasan sworn in as top US court judge
Srikanth Srinivasan with his mother and sister at a reception hosted by the Indian envoy to the US, Nirupama Rao, in Washington on Monday. — PTI
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Putin derails G8 efforts to oust Assad
Enniskillen, June 18 In a final communique after two days of intense talks, global leaders called for peace talks to be held as soon as possible to resolve the Syrian civil war. But it did not even mention Assad's name. Putin, seemingly isolated at the summit, had clashed with other leaders continuously over Syria and resisted attempts to get him to agree to anything that would imply Assad should step down. Speaking at the end of the summit held in a secluded golf resort in Northern Ireland, Putin struck a defiant tone. He told the West that sending weapons to rebels could backfire one day while he defended his own military contacts with the Syrian government. "There are different types of supplies. We supply weapons based on legal contracts to a legal government. And if we sign these contracts (in the future), we will supply (more arms)." Obama and his allies want Assad to cede power while Putin, whose rhetoric has become increasingly anti-Western since he was re-elected last year, believes that would be disastrous at a time when no clear transition plan exists. Russia has been Assad's most powerful supporter as his forces struggle to crush an uprising in which 93,000 people have been killed since March 2011. It has vetoed two United Nations Security Council resolutions censuring the Assad government, widely criticised for the ferocity with which it has waged the war. Syria is one of Moscow's last allies in the Middle East, where its influence has declined since the collapse of the Soviet Union. British PM David Cameron, who chaired the summit, said separately after the talks that the West believed strongly that there was no place for Assad in a future Syria. "It is unthinkable that President Assad can play any part in the future of his country. He has blood on his hands," Cameron told reporters. — Reuters
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28 killed, over 60 hurt in Pak blast
Peshawar, June 18 Over 100 persons were at the funeral of a businessman in the Shergarh area of Mardan district of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province this afternoon when the bomber detonated his explosive vest near legislator Imran Khan Mohmand, police officials and witnesses said. Mohmand was among the people killed in the attack, Shaukat Yousafzai, Information Minister of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, told reporters. Other officials said a total of 28 persons were killed and 57 others injured. Doctors described the condition of 10 wounded as serious. The blast occurred at the end of the 'namaz-e-janaza'. — PTI |
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NSA secret data gathering transparent, claims Obama
Washington, June 18 "The one thing people should understand about all these programmes, though, is they have disrupted plots, not just here in the United States but overseas as well," he said. He added that while other factors were at work, "we are increasing our chances of preventing a catastrophe like that through these programmes". "My job is both to protect the American people and to protect the American way of life, which includes our privacy. And so every programme that we engage in, what I've said is 'Let's examine and make sure that we're making the right tradeoffs'," Obama told the popular "Charlie Rose" show on PBS channel. "What I can say unequivocally is that if you are a US person, the NSA cannot listen to your telephone calls, and the NSA cannot target your emails and have not," Obama said in his interview, which took place on Father's Day, just hours before the First Family departed for Belfast for the G8 summit. Edward Snowden, an ex-National Security Agency systems analyst contractor, recently leaked documents revealing Obama administration's spying programmes. — PTI |
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Turkish PM claims victory after protest crackdown
Ankara, June 18 "Our democracy has been tested again and came out victoriously," the premier told members of his ruling Justice and Development party (AKP) to roaring applause. After a weekend of heavy clashes, demonstrators struggled to regroup and the police has since fought only sporadic battles with smaller groups of demonstrators across the country. Overnight, riot police in the capital Ankara briefly fired tear gas and water cannon at protesters who hurled back stones and hid behind makeshift barricades, but there were no other reports of confrontations. — AFP
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Srinivasan sworn in as top US court judge
Washington, June 18 Described by President Barack Obama as “trailblazer”, Srinivasan attributed phenomenal success to his family and the Indian American community. “You all made it possible,” Srinivasan told a gathering of Indian Americans at a reception hosted in his honor by the Indian Ambassador to the US, Nirupama Rao. “I am incredibly honored and humbled by the tremendous support you have given me,” he said. Srinivasan was first nominated by Obama on June 11, 2012. On January 2, 2013, his nomination was returned to the President, due to the sine die adjournment of the Senate. On January 3, 2013, Obama re-nominated him for the same office. Srinivasan was confirmed by a rare US Senate 97-0 votes, which he attributed to the overwhelming support he received from the Indian American community throughout the nation. Addressing the gathering, Rao said Srinivasan personifies the “extraordinary” accomplishments of the Indian Americans in the country and much more. Having achieved so much at this young age, Rao said the best is yet to come. She hoped that soon, there would be an Indian American in the US Supreme Court. Srinivasan began his legal career by serving as a law clerk for Judge J Harvie Wilkinson on the US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit from 1995 to 1996. — PTI |
31 killed in suicide bomber attacks on Baghdad Shiites 4,500 British soldiers to be retrenched 98-year-old charged with Nazi war crimes Hairy stockings to fend off perverts |
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Ankara, June 18
Indian-American legal luminary Sri Srinivasan was today sworn in as a judge in the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit, the second most powerful court in the United States after the Supreme Court. With this, Chandigarh-born 46-year-old Srinivasan has become the first Indian American judge in the second most powerful court of the country.
