New Delhi, May 1 : The first phase of houselisting and housing census along with collection of information for preparation of National Population Register in the States of Haryana, Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Punjab, Uttaranchal and Maharashtra commences from today. Starting with canvassing of houselisting and housing census and National Population Register schedules on April 1, 2010, the mammoth exercise has been undertaken in the States of West Bengal, Assam, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Goa, Kerala, Lakshadweep, Orissa, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Arunachal Pradesh, Chandigarh, Gujarat, Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu, Tripura and Andhra Pradesh. The Census exercise provides biggest source of data on semographic, economic and other characteristics of the population.
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Jammu, May 1 – Indian troops exchanged heavy gunfire with Pakistani forces overnight Saturday and foiled an infiltration bid by militants trying to cross the Line of Control (LoC) that divides Jammu and Kashmir between the two countries, officials said. The Border Security Force (BSF) retaliated to the gunfire from Pakistani rangers at Ballad post in Samba sector, about 45 km southwest of Jammu at 11 p.m. Friday.
April 30, 2010 | Filed under Politics | Read More
United Nations, May 1 – UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has appointed Atul Khare, a former Indian Foreign Service officer, as Assistant Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations. Khare, a former Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Timor-Leste and head of the UN Integrated Mission there (UNMIT), replaces Edmond Mulet of Guatemala, who was last month appointed as the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Haiti for one year. Announcing the appointment Friday, Ban said Khare served the UN with distinction in Timor-Leste from December 2006 to December 2009.
April 30, 2010 | Filed under Politics | Read More
Washington, May 1 – Two US citizens have been indicted for providing Al Qaeda with computer expertise and other technical support to help modernise the terrorist outfit. Prosecutors identified the men as Wesam El-Hanafi, 33, an American citizen, and Sabirhan Hasanoff, 34, a dual citizen of the US and Australia. According to an indictment unsealed Friday in Federal District Court in Manhattan, both the men, former residents of Brooklyn, have been charged with conspiring to provide Al Qaeda with computer advice and other assistance.
April 30, 2010 | Filed under Defence / Terrorism | Read More
Washington, May 1 – India’s software tycoon Azim Premji plans to set up a world-class university to train teachers who will fan out to the teacher training institutes in India’s 600 districts. ‘It will be a world-class university with a large endowment,’ 64-year-old Premji told Forbes magazine noting, ‘Most of these institutes are a complete mess with the teachers leading the classes worse than the teachers that come to get trained.’ The proposed university to upgrade teaching methods will be the latest venture of Azim Premji Foundation that focuses on education, improving standards in India by training teachers and, among other things, funding model schools. Started nine years ago and funded solely by Premji, the foundation was given stock valued at ‘much more than’ Rs 450 crore or roughly $101 million estimated by a newspaper.
April 30, 2010 | Filed under Business | Read More
Kolkata, May 1 – Rice, dal, brinjal fry, vegetables, fish or mutton curry, with some chutney thrown in…sounds just like home food? That’s what Kolkatans are loving about the many new services that promise healthy, homely and reasonably priced food. Working couples, the elderly, bachelors – basically anybody unable or unwilling to spend time in the kitchen and at the same time loathe to eating out because of rich and oily food – are part of this new trend in Kolkata.
April 30, 2010 | Filed under Business | Read More
Washington, May 1 – The landmark India-US civil nuclear deal giving New Delhi access to nuclear technology despite its refusal to sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) would not weaken the pact, says a top US official. ‘We don’t believe we weakened the NPT in our peaceful civilian nuclear deal with India,’ Ellen Tauscher, Undersecretary of State for Arms Control, said in a tele-conference with reporters Friday ahead of the NPT review conference Monday. ‘It’s a deal that comes with safeguards, and it comes with a number of other transparency mechanisms that we think, frankly, add to the security and the non-proliferation concerns that we had prior to that,’ she said.
April 30, 2010 | Filed under Defence / Terrorism | Read More
Agra, May 1 – Seven pilgrims were killed and 10 injured when the Tempo three-wheeler they were travelling in collided head-on with a car on the Agra-Jaipur highway, police said Saturday. The accident took place late Friday when the pilgrims were on their way to Goverdhan in Uttar Pradesh’s Mathura district. The Tempo collided with a Scorpio coming from Agra on the highway under Malpua thana area, 20 km from the Taj city.
April 30, 2010 | Filed under Accident / Crime / Disaster | Read More
Bogota, May 1 (IANS/EFE) Police and armed forces have destroyed 22 laboratories situated in the Colombian jungles where narcotics were being refined. Over one tonne of cocaine, nine tonnes of coca leaves and drug-processing chemicals were found and destroyed Friday, officials said. The discovery was made in the jungles of Cumaribo and Marandua in Vichada province where an organisation led by one of Colombia’s most-wanted criminals, Pedro Oliveiro Guerrero alias Cuchillo, had set up two clandestine aircraft landing strips as well.
April 30, 2010 | Filed under Accident / Crime / Disaster | Read More
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