Battle starts over Rajmata home

(Top) Gayatri Devi; her grandson Devraj Singh. Picture by Surendra Jain Paras

Jaipur, July 23: Maharani Gayatri Devi’s descendants have begun a fight over her home of three decades a week before her second death anniversary.

A court case involving the late Rajmata’s French-style mansion Lilypool, adjacent to the Rambagh Palace Hotel, has now been added to the long list of lawsuits over the Jaipur royals’ Rs 1,000 crore worth of properties.

Amy Winehouse found dead

London, July 23: British singer Amy Winehouse, whose hit single Rehab became the anthem for troubled celebrity culture, has been found dead at her home in north London.

Police confirmed finding a 27-year-old woman’s body at a home in Camden Square, north London, after being called by ambulance services around 3pm. The cause of death was not immediately known.

London Ambulance Services said Winehouse died before the two ambulance crews it sent arrived at the scene. A spokesperson for the singer could not immediately confirm she had died.

Teacher search panels for Presidency

Calcutta, July 23: The Presidency University mentor group will draw up search committees for all subjects that will recruit new teachers and consider on merit the applications of existing teachers.

The 150-odd existing teachers should be given the option to re-apply to the university, the mentor group believes. Those who do will be screened along with the other candidates. The rest will be transferred to other government colleges.

Pay more to park your car

Calcutta, July 23: The Trinamul Congress-run Calcutta Municipal Corporation today raised parking fees for all categories of vehicles, announcing the first hike by a party-controlled body in recent memory.

The revised rates (see chart), to be implemented from next week, will fetch the corporation only Rs 7 crore a year. Still, the step marks a milestone since Mamata Banerjee had generally fought shy of biting the bullet when she helmed the railways and her party ran the corporation earlier. The civic body was then not allowed to impose a water tax.

Blue-eyed blond who killed 92

Stockholm, July 23 (Agencies): A 32-year-old blond, blue-eyed man held for massacring at least 92 people yesterday in Norway’s worst killings since World War II is a mystery to police: a Christian fundamentalist with anti-Muslim views but no known links to Far Right extremists.

“He just came out of nowhere,” an officer said about the Norwegian identified by the media as Anders Behring Breivik, whose target seems to have been the country’s liberal government that backs multiculturalism but whose only discovered tweet quotes liberal icon John Stuart Mill.

Rahul: Nice to get what I missed on my debut

London: It took Rahul Dravid 15 years, but he has finally made it to the honours’ board at Lord’s, a ground which is like home.

Back in the summer of 1996, Dravid fell for 95 on his Test debut, in an innings where fellow-debutant Sourav Ganguly got 36 more.

On Saturday, though, Dravid wasn’t to be denied (103 not out). He was dropped on 42 by Graeme Swann, off the absolutely brilliant Stuart Broad, but that can hardly be held against him.

Almost all the attention had been on Sachin Tendulkar, with just about everybody wondering if he’d get his 100th International hundred.

Asian Junior Table Tennis: Abhishek assures India of a bronze

New Delhi, July 23 (IANS) India's under-18 boys and girls bowed out of the individual event but Abhishek Yadav assured the hosts of at least a bronze as he qualified for the under-15 boys semi-final in the Asian Junior Table Tennis Championship at the Thyagaraj Stadium here Saturday.

Yadav's 4-3 stunning win over top-seed Lim Jonghoon of South Korea in was the lone bright spot in a disappointing day for India. The Indian came back from behind to win 9-11, 11-7, 8-11, 9-11, 11-5, 11-7, 11-9.

Passenger train derails in Syria; 1 killed

 

 

 

 

 

 Beirut: A passenger train derailed and caught fire in central Syria on Saturday, killing the driver, authorities said. The regime blamed the crash on "saboteurs" tied to the country's four-month-old uprising, but opposition figures dismissed the accusation.

The train was carrying 485 people when it derailed about 3 miles (5 kilometres) outside the central city of Homs, a flashpoint in the uprising against President Bashar Assad. The driver was killed instantly and 14 passengers were injured, rail officials said.

Norway attacks shock, disgust Europe

 

 

 

 

 

 Berlin: The deadly twin attacks in Norway were greeted with an outpouring of sympathy and disgust across Europe and beyond on Saturday, and generated calls to counter the far-right intolerance that may have motivated the assailant.

A massive bombing on Friday in the heart of Oslo was followed by a horrific shooting spree on an island hosting a youth retreat for the Prime Minister's centre-left party. The same man, a Norwegian with reported Christian fundamentalist, anti-Muslim views, was suspected in both attacks.

Norway suspect deems killings atrocious but needed

 

Sundvollen: A suspected right-wing fanatic accused of killing at least 92 people deemed his acts "atrocious" yet "necessary" as Norway mourned victims of the nation's worst attacks since World War Two.

Police were hunting on Sunday to see if a possible second gunman took part in the shooting massacre and bomb attack on Friday that traumatised a normally peaceful Nordic country.

Blasts rock Tripoli, Libya TV says NATO strikes

 

 

 

 

 

Tripoli: Explosions rocked the Libyan capital early on Sunday, witnesses said, sending a giant plume of smoke into the air.

Libyan state television said NATO air strikes struck the Libyan capital but gave no further details.

Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi is clinging to power despite ongoing NATO-led air campaign and a lengthening conflict with rebels who now control roughly half the country.

Egypt: 140 hurt in clashes, rulers promise reforms

 

 Cairo: Scores of people were injured in Cairo on Saturday when thousands of demonstrators fought opponents with stones on their march to the Defence Ministry to urge their military rulers to speed up reforms, witnesses said.

They said most of the injuries occurred when civilians believed to be thugs hurled barrages of stones and firebombs at protesters, who fought back with stones torn up from pavements.

US wastes $34 bn in Afghan and Iraq contracting

Washington: The United States has wasted some USD 34 billion on service contracts with the private sector in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to a study being finalised for Congress.

The findings by a bipartisan congressional commission were confirmed to a news agency by a person familiar with the draft of the study, which is due to be completed in coming weeks.

Canada arrests suspected Pakistani war criminal

 

 

 

 

 

Montreal: Canada said on Saturday it had arrested a suspected Pakistani war criminal, the second such arrest made since the government listed 30 foreigners actively sought on Canadian soil.

Arshad Muhammad, 42, was arrested thanks to public tips, Public Safety Minister Vic Toews said in a statement.

Thai Army says third helicopter crashes in a week

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bangkok: Thailand's Army says a third military helicopter has crashed near the country's border with Myanmar in less than a week and that three troops are feared dead.

Army spokesman Col. Sansern Kaewkamnerd says the chopper crashed Sunday on a mission to retrieve bodies from an earlier crash.

China's fugitive arrested after extradition

 

 

 

 

 

Beijing: China arrested its most wanted fugitive in the capital Beijing Saturday after Canada deported him to end a decades-long saga that had plagued Sino-Canadian relations, but concerns remained among activists about whether he would receive a fair trial.

Beijing has sought the deportation of Lai Changxing, 53, accusing him of running a multibillion-dollar smuggling operation in the southeastern city of Xiamen in the 1990s in one of China's biggest political scandals in decades.

NY same-sex couples prepare for midnight weddings

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Niagara Falls: Same-sex couples readied Saturday for wedding bells in celebration of the state's legalization of gay marriage.

In Niagara Falls, about 150 guests gathered Saturday evening at a low-key reception and ate cupcakes before the planned midnight wedding of gay-rights activists Kitty Lambert and Cheryle Rudd. The Buffalo couple, grandmothers with 12 grandchildren between them, have been together for more than a decade and had long been fighting for the right to marry. They wanted Mayor Paul Dyster to pronounce them married one second after midnight — the moment the law would take effect and make New York the sixth and largest state to sanction gay marriage.

Slain man was student, not nuclear scientist: Iran

Tehran: Iran said the victim of a deadly shooting on Saturday was a university student — not a physicist involved in the disputed nuclear program, as state media first reported.

A mix-up over the victim's name apparently led to the confusion, the English-language Press TV said.

Initial reports said a pair of gunmen firing from motorcycles killed 35-year-old Darioush Rezaei, a physics professor whose area of expertise was neutron transport. Several news reports, including by the semi-official ISNA news agency, linked him to the country's nuclear program.

Senegalese opposition says President must go

Dakar: Senegal's opposition went ahead with a protest Saturday and thousands poured into a square to call for the resignation of the country's octogenarian President after a last-minute change to the venue in order to skirt a ban on demonstrations issued by the Senegalese government.

They amassed at Place de l'Obelisque, just outside Dakar's downtown district, to demand the departure of 85-year-old President Abdoulaye Wade who is attempting to run for a third term. The constitution only allows a President to serve for two terms, and Wade has angered the population of this normally stable country on Africa's western coast by insisting on an interpretation of the electoral code which would allow him to run again in 2012.

Latvians sack their Parliament in historic vote

Riga: Latvians voted to sack their Parliament in a historic referendum Saturday as the recession-weary country attempts to dismantle a culture of graft existing between politics and business.

With some 73 percent of ballots counted, 94.7 percent of voters supported the legislature's dissolution, according to Central Election Commission data early Sunday, setting the stage for a snap parliamentary election in September.

Iran asks Germany to try Kurdish rebel chief

Tehraan: Iran on Saturday called on Berlin to put on trial the leader of a Kurdish rebel movement, Rahman Haji Ahmadi, who reportedly lives in Germany, the official IRNA news agency reported.

Haji Ahmadi's rebels at the Party of Free Life of Kurdistan (PJAK) operate out of bases in neighbouring Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region, and have been involved in deadly clashes with Iranian troops for many years.

Shiite mosques demolished in Bahrain crackdown

 

 

 

 

Manama: A Bahraini cleric says authorities have demolished 30 Shiite mosques during their five-month-old crackdown on dissent in the Sunni-ruled Gulf kingdom.

Seyyed Abdullah al-Ghoreifi says 30 Shiite mosques have been destroyed as part of the government's campaign against the Shiite majority demanding greater freedoms and more rights.

Train collision in China kills 35, injures 191

Beijing: A bullet train crashed into another high-speed train that had stalled after being struck by lightning in eastern China, causing four carriages to fall off a viaduct and killing at least 35 people and injuring 191 others, state media and an official said on Sunday.

It was the first derailment on China's high-speed rail network since the country launched its bullet trains in 2007 with a top speed of 155 miles (250 kilometres) per hour, the China Daily reported.

Protest marches converge on Spain's capital

Madrid: Several hundred Spaniards angry about their country's economic crisis protested on the outskirts of Madrid Saturday after spending about a month marching to the capital from their hometowns.

The marchers set off from Barcelona and Bilbao in the north, Valencia in the east and Cadiz in the southwest on June 25. En route, they were joined by other people angry about Spain's economic woes, including high unemployment, and what they see as their government's inept handling of the crisis.

Blaming non-state actors for terror no excuse: PC

Thimphu: In a veiled attack on Pakistan, India on Saturday said that no country can escape its responsibility by blaming non-state actors for terrorist activities emanating from its soil.

As long as the territory of a country is used by non-state actors to prepare for terror attacks, that country owes a legal and moral responsibility to its neighbours and to the world to suppress those non-state actors and bring them to justice, Home Minister P Chidambaram said.

‘Naxals sexually exploit girls in squad’

 











Lohardaga (Jharkhand)/ New Delhi: In a yet another spine chilling revelation of the naxal atrocities, a female cadre alleged that the senior CPI (Maoist) leaders sexually exploit women in their squad as per reports.


The girl, identified as Sunita Kumari alias Shanti, who was an active member of Akshay Kherwar group in the Koel-Shankh zone committee said this in her statement to Lohardaga police.

Probe into cash-for-vote should be impartial: BJP

New Delhi: BJP on Sunday said the cash-for-vote scam is being finally investigated after three years due to the Supreme Court's intervention and demanded an impartial probe into it, warning the government against acting as the "murderer, munsif and witness" in the case.

"After three years the cash-for-vote scam is being finally investigated. But the government cannot be the murderer, munsif (magistrate) and witness all rolled into one... The government should not be allowed to make attempts to cover-up the case and strict action should be taken against the guilty," BJP spokesperson Shahnawaz Hussain said.

Stapled visas: India upset with China

New Delhi: India on Saturday expressed unhappiness over the issuance of stapled visas by China to five sportspersons from Arunachal Pradesh although the issue appeared to have been resolved some months ago.

"We are still searching for a de-stapler. We are obviously not amused by the fact that they continue to issue stapled visas for our nationals," government sources said here adding that they were constantly in touch with Chinese authorities on the issue.

Cong to target BJP in Parliament if BSY doesn’t go

New Delhi: BS Yeddyurappa could become the albatross round the neck of BJP if it failed to remove the Karnataka Chief Minister by the monsoon session of Parliament beginning August one.

This appears to be the feeling in Congress circles which say the party and the government would be a "relieved" lot if BJP does not dump Yeddyurappa in the wake of indictment by Lokyaukta in the illegal mining issue.

Winds caused turbulence: Jet scare probe

New Delhi: A preliminary probe into last week's midair scare on a Delhi-Guwahati Jet Airways flight that suddenly shook and plummeted for a few seconds, has indicated that the turbulence might have been caused by winds or air pocket and not by another passing plane.


Earlier, the airline had said that the turbulence was caused by the engine thrust of a Boeing 747 jumbo coming from the opposite direction, which forced the Jet's Boeing 737, a smaller plane, to shake violently and lose some height.

India, China can complement each other: Diplomat

Chandigarh: India and China need a strategic alliance to woo business into each other's country and together can complement one another to become global leaders, a Chinese official said on Saturday.


Penng Gang, Economic and Commercial Counselor, Chinese Embassy in India, invited Indian entrepreneurs for doing business in China during a seminar organised by CII here and described China as the "world factory" and India as the "world office", a CII release issued here said.

Railway Minister reviews ongoing projects

Kolkata: Railway Minister Dinesh Trivedi on Saturday reviewed ongoing railway projects with special emphasis on those in West Bengal, railway sources said.


At a high-level meeting here, Trivedi stressed on the need for categorising the projects in terms of priority and then reviewed the projects of all zonal railways, the sources said.

Exclusive: IM-ISI behind Mumbai blasts

 











Zeenews Bureau

New Delhi: Making a major breakthrough in the July 13 Mumbai serial blasts probe, the investigative agencies have traced its link to Nepal, sources revealed to Zee News on Saturday.

According to investigative agencies’ sources, the conspiracy of the blasts was hatched in Nepal by a joint team of Pakistan’s ISI and Indian Mujahideen.

Dawood's daughters’ marriage pics surface

 












 Zeenews Bureau

New Delhi: The photographs of underworld don Dawood Ibrahim's daughters’ marriage, which was wrapped under a cloak of secrecy, have surfaced. Zeenews posses the first pick of the exclusive photographs.

The photographs could add to the piling up evidences of Dawood’s presence in Pakistan.

Mahrukh, the first daughter of Dawood Ibrahim had tied the knot with Junaid, son of former Pakistani Test cricketer Javed Miandad way back in July, 2005 at a five star hotel in Dubai.

Govt should decide Padgaonkar's fate: Jethmalani

Jammu: Maintaining that Dileep Padgaonkar the chief interlocutor on J&K should have been more careful with reference to Kashmir American Council President Dr Gulam Nabi Fai, Kashmir Committee today said the decision on his fate should be decided by the government.

"That (sacking of Padgaonkar) is a matter for the government to decide," Kashmir Committee Chairman and jurist Ram Jethmalani told reporters here late this afternoon.

Fate of Vastanvi to be decided today

 Deoband: Decision on the fate of Ghulam Mohammad Vastanvi, the vice-chancellor of Darul Uloom Deoband, would be taken on Sunday by a three-member Majlis-e Shura.

"The decision on Vastanvis's fate would be taken in tomorrow's meet," acting vice-chancellor Mufti Abul Qasim Nomani said on Saturday.

Indian envoy to receive Liberia's highest award

Monrovia: India's Honorary Consul General to Liberia Upjit Singh Sachdeva will receive the West African nation's highest award, the Knight Grand Commander, from President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf during its 164th independence day celebrations on Tuesday.

Sachdeva, a prominent businessman and humanitarian, was selected for the honour by the president.

Judicial commission on 26/11to visit India: Pak

 












Zeenews Bureau

Thimphu: Pakistan has confirmed to India that it will soon send a judicial commission to pursue the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks case. Sources said this was conveyed by Pakistani Interior Minister Rehman Malik to Home Minister P Chidambaram when they met on the sidelines of the SAARC Interior/Home Ministers meeting here on Saturday.

'Rising' India still reluctant to lead: Analysts

New Delhi: A US challenge to India to take a more assertive role on the global stage runs counter to a decades-old foreign policy that has nearly always valued diplomatic caution over strategic ambition.

Since independence in 1947, India has sporadically flexed its diplomatic, economic and military muscles, but such instances have been largely restricted to its immediate neighbours.

I fell in love with tennis far too late: Agassi

 















 Newport :The long hair is long gone, the denim shorts have faded to memory, and there was Andre Agassi accepting induction into the International Tennis Hall of Fame on Saturday with an overdue affection for the sport he once resented and a rejection of the "Image is everything" attitude that helped propel him to stardom.
In a tender tribute to family and philanthropy, Agassi was introduced by a student at the charter school he opened in Las Vegas and joined on center court by his wife, fellow Hall of Famer Steffi Graf.

Somdev surrenders to Fish

 










 Atlanta: India's Somdev Devvarman went down 4-6, 3-6 to top seed and defending champion Mardy Fish of the US in the men's singles quarterfinals of the Atlanta Tennis Championships.

Fish recovered from an early break of serve to take control of the match that lasted 52 minutes.

The American was leading 5-0 in the second set but fumbled on two match points against the Indian's serve. It took him three more games to finally to close the match.

The curious case of Arsenal

New Delhi: The recent highs and lows between Arsene Wenger and Pep Guardiola over the transfer of Arsenal captain Cesc Fabregas makes one recall the issues concerning the Gunners for a long time now.

The biggest worry for this English Premier League side is their inability to remain consistent for a whole season. Being one of the leading clubs of English football, they are expected to perform much better than they have done lately - Arsenal haven't won a single title for the last 6 years now and even the most ardent admirers are losing patience.

Uruguay favourite in Copa America final

 











 Buenos Aires: One fact illustrates the nature of this bewildering Copa America: Paraguay goes into Sunday's final against Uruguay as the first team to reach the title game without a single victory in five matches.

Add to it the flops of Brazil and a Lionel Messi-led Argentina, a repeat of their disappointing exits in the 2010 World Cup when they both also went out in the quarterfinals.
It leaves Uruguay as the clear favorite, once again showing that teamwork trumps star power in the small country of only 3.5 million, which reached the semifinals in South Africa a year ago before going out against the Netherlands.

FIFA bans bin Hammam on charges of poll-bribery

 Zurich : FIFA has banned Mohamed bin Hammam from football for life after finding him guilty of bribing presidential election voters.

A FIFA ethics panel has ruled that the Qatari candidate conspired to pay Caribbean officials $40,000 cash bribes to back his ultimately abandoned challenge to FIFA President Sepp Blatter.
Bin Hammam is the most senior FIFA official convicted of corruption in its 107-year history.

Steve Waugh rates Eden Gardens Test as his best

 



















 London: Former Australia captain Steve Waugh was in the stands to watch the 2000th Test match between India and England at Lord's. On the occasion, the Aussie revealed his favourite Test match.
 Which is the best ever Test match according to you?
Among the 1999 Test matches, if I have to speak about one Test that would be the game at Eden Gardens in 2001 where India won after following on. How can we forget Laxman's innings of 281? In my opinion that is the best Test match in the game's history.

I've never had to work harder: Pietersen

 









 London: It was on this ground three years ago that Kevin Pietersen's career reached a plateau of contentment. Against South Africa in 2008, he stroked a century in his first Test appearance against his former countrymen, and declared immediately afterwards that he'd never felt "so loved". On Friday his emotions were ever so slightly different. There was plenty of love, he said, from his grateful colleagues in the dressing room as he basked in the brilliance of his 202 not out, but one sensed that his over-riding emotion was relief.

Dravid becomes second highest run scorer in Tests

 London: Rahul Dravid on Saturday went past Australian Ricky Ponting to become the second highest run getter in Test cricket during the historic first Test between India and England at Lord's.
The 38-year-old Dravid, who had 12,314 runs from 153 Tests at an average of 52.40 before coming into the match, surpassed Ponting who has scored 12,363 runs in 152 games.

YouTube to stream Lollapalooza

YouTube will live stream Lollapalooza and Austin City Limits in the video site's continuing push to bring music festivals to digital screens.

The Google Inc.-owned YouTube will announce Friday that it will present online coverage of the festivals, two of the summer's largest. YouTube has previously streamed festivals such as Tennessee's Bonnaroo, San Francisco's Outside Lands and, earlier this year, Southern California's Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival.

Sales of new chip lift AMD to 2Q profit

Advanced Micro Devices Inc. has been punished so hard for unexpectedly ousting its CEO more than 6 months ago that the second-quarter profit it posted Thursday gave investors a measure of confidence about its direction.

AMD shares rose 38 cents, or 5.9 percent, to $6.88 after the No. 2 maker of computer microprocessors reported its results. The stock had fallen by 30 percent since CEO Dirk Meyer was ousted in January.

Apple: Mac OSX Lion crosses million downloads

Apple has announced that its latest operating system the Mac OSX Lion has been bought and downloaded by over a million users in a day.

Apple also revealed that it was the fastest adoption rate for any OS released by the company.

Google's lobbying bill tops $2M for 1st time in 2Q

Google Inc.'s quarterly lobbying expenses surpassed $2 million for the first time as the U.S. government conducts a wide-ranging investigation into the Internet search leader's business practices.

The company spent $2.06 million trying to make its points with lawmakers and regulators during the April-June period, a 54 percent increase from $1.34 million a year earlier, according to documents filed late Wednesday.

Star Wars-themed Xbox 360 unleashed

The Force will be with the Xbox 360.

Microsoft Corp. unveiled a limited edition Xbox 360 console at a Comic-Con panel on Thursday that will be modeled after the character R2-D2, with a wireless gold-colored controller resembling his droid pal C-3PO.

The console will make the character's signature beeping sounds when the white-and-blue console is turned on and the disc tray is opened. It will also feature a 320-gigabyte hard drive, the largest available for Microsoft's gaming system.

Upgrading to Lion means embracing the iPad

It must be excruciating to design a new version of an already mature operating system. How do you add enough new stuff to attract upgrade customers -- without junking up the works? And how do you revamp enough things to make the upgrade exciting -- without alienating people who don't like change?

In Mac OS X 10.7, known as Lion, Apple went with the "shake things up" philosophy. It follows an old Apple pattern of embracing what's cool and progressive, and ruthlessly jettisoning what it considers antiquated. That's great if you love stuff that's cool and progressive, and not so great if you hate people moving your cheese.

Microsoft's Skype buy to close by October: CEO

Skype chief executive Tony Bates said Thursday he expects Microsoft's purchase of the Internet voice and video leader to close by October, once it gets the green light from European regulators.

"We already got through the US side of it," Bates said at the Fortune Brainstorm Tech conference in this Colorado ski resort.

"We still have Europe so it's anyone's guess, but I would say we've got a couple of months more here," he said. "Maybe sort of an October timeframe would be my guess."