The world watches Venus-Sun visual treat
New
Delhi: Enthusiastic Indians joined others the world
over today to witness the rare visual treat of the Planet
Venus transiting across the disc of the Sun even as warnings
were issued against watching the event through the naked
eye. The brightest planet started crossing the disc of the
Sun at 10:43 a.m. and will take about six hours to cross
it. The event, similar to a solar eclipse, is visible from
all over India. It can also be seen from other Asian nations,
Africa, Europe, eastern parts of US and Australia. Since
the Venus does not cover the face of the Sun, it appears
as a tiny dot moving from the Sun's south eastern edge to
south western. "The transit is not exactly an eclipse. We
can call it a microscopic eclipse," Professor Subramanium,
director, Birla Planetarium was quoted as saying by a television
channel. The phenomenon is taking place after 122 years.
The last time it occurred was in 1882. It will occur again
in 2012. And then only in 2117. Scientists have also made
elaborate preparations to make use of the opportunity. The
entry of the Venus being inside the Earth's orbit will enable
them to gather valuable information about the size of the
Sun and the accurate distance between the Earth and the
Venus.
Two Pak-based militants shot dead in
Badgam encounter (Go
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Badgam
(J-K): Army jawans in Kashmir on Tuesday gunned down
two separatists, including deputy chief of the Pakistan-based
Al Badr group. Officials said the encounter in Badgam was
a major setback to the terrorist group. "These two militants
who have been killed belong to the al Badr group. Al Hasnan
alias doctor is a deputy chief of Al Badr in Jammu and Kashmir.
It is a major setback to the organisation. We have recovered
two AK 47 rifles, magazines and two radio sets from them,"
said Colonel Daljeet Singh of 34 Rashtriya Rifles. Al-Badr
is one of the dozen militant groups fighting New Delhi's
rule in the Himalayan region.
Manmohan pays tribute to Reagan (Go
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New
Delhi: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday (June
8) paid rich tributes to former U.S. President Ronald Reagan
who died on June 5. He signed a condolence message at the
American embassy in the capital. Singh was accompanied by
the minister for external affairs, K. Natwar Singh. Reagan,
93, was suffering from Alzheimer's disease for 10 years.
Alzheimer's is a progressive, irreversible, incurable neurological
disorder that causes loss of memory and mental abilities-eventually
leading to dementia. His wife, Nancy Davis Reagan, and their
two children, Ronald Jr. and Patty Davis, were with him
when he died at his home in the Bel Air district of Los
Angeles. Reagan, a former Hollywood actor, led a conservative
revolution that set the economic and cultural tone of the
1980s, hastened the end of the Cold War and revitalized
the Republican Party. A week of tributes will culminate
with Reagan's state funeral and burial on Friday, which
has been designated as a national day of mourning during
which U.S. stock markets and government offices will close.
Reagan's body will be flown to Washington to lie in state
in the U.S. Capitol from Wednesday evening through Friday
morning, when a funeral service will be held at the National
Cathedral. President George W. Bush will deliver the eulogy
at the service and the body will then be flown back to California
for a private burial. Reagan, who was the US President for
two terms from 1981-1989, did not visit India.
Atwal to be new LS Deputy Speaker (Go
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New
Delhi: Charanjit Singh Atwal will be the new deputy
speaker of the Lok Sabha. Atwal, who belongs to the Shiromani
Akali Dal (SAD) party in Punjab, was chosen for the job
at a meeting of the main Opposition National Democratic
Alliance (NDA). The ruling Congress party had offered the
post of deputy speakership to the Bharatiya Janata Party
(BJP). The SAD is an ally of the BJP-led NDA. BJP spokesman
Vijay Kumar Malhotra said Atwal will be elected unanimously
on Wednesday. "(Charanjeet Singh) Atwal of Shiromani Akali
Dal has been nominated by all parties of the National Democratic
Alliance (NDA) to the post of deputy speaker. Former Prime
minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, leader of opposition Lal
Krishna Advani, George Fernandes, Mamata Banerjee and others,
who form the NDA. The Congress and the Left parties also
will be nominating him and the election of the deputy speaker
will be on consensus," Malhotra said after the meeting.
UP Govt must be removed: Rahul Gandhi
(Go
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Amethi:
Amethi accorded a grand welcome to Congress MP Rahul
Gandhi, who is on his first visit to the constituency after
an emphatic win in the Lok Sabha elections. The scion of
Nehru-Gandhi family, who will stay in Amethi for two days,
addressed party workers at Jagadishpur. Rahul said that
though Samajwadi Party and the Congress were supporting
each other at the Centre and in Uttar Pradesh, there was
lack of coordination between the two. Rahul also maintained
that given the deteriorating law and order situation in
the state, the Mulayam Singh government should be brought
down. Sharply condemning the recent attacks on party workers
in Rae Bareli, the Congress' leader said, "These incidents
were a matter of serious concern for us". Rahul, 33, the
newest face of India's most famous Nehru-Gandhi family,
was on his first visit to Amethi after his emphatic win.
Opposition in no mood to relent on tainted
ministers (Go
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New
Delhi: There was no immediate end in sight to the deadlock
in Lok Sabha over the issue of "tainted" ministers despite
a meeting Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had with leader
of the Opposition L K Advani on Tuesday. "There is no change
in the schedule of the session," which is concluding on
June 10, he told reporters separately. An aggressive opposition
led by BJP stepped up its offensive against the Manmohan
Singh Government over the induction of "tainted" persons
as ministers, paralysing proceedings in both Houses and
forcing their adjournment for the day. While Rajya Sabha
was adjourned for the day amid pandemonium shortly after
it met this morning, Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee
called it a day in the afternoon as agitated Opposition
members rejected pleas by the Chair for restoration of order.
Shouting slogans like "daagi mantri gaddi choro (tainted
ministers should resign), chara chor, khazana chor, gaddi
choro (fodder and coffer thief, quit Government)", the angry
Opposition members stormed the well in the Lok Sabha. "We
want justice", shouted BJP and its allies when the House
re- assembled at 1400 hours after its first adjournment
in the pre- lunch session for over two hours. Efforts by
the Speaker to restore order proved futile as the Opposition
made it clear that they were in no mood to relent. Trouble
started in Lok Sabha the moment the former Defence Minister
and NDA Convener George Fernandes rose to speak but ruling
UPA members shouted him down. In the midst of din and bustle,
Congress member Pawan Kumar Bansal moved the Motion of Thanks
to the President for his address to the joint sitting of
Parliament on Monday, which was seconded by his party colleague
Jyotiraditya Scindia.
Amarinder acted like super-judicial
body in SYL issue: SC (Go
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New
Delhi: In a stinging criticism of Punjab Chief Minister
Amarinder Singh in the Sutlej Yamuna Link (SYL) canal case,
the Supreme Court has remarked the Chief Minister and officials
instead of obeying the court directive "arrogated to themselves
the power of sitting as a super-judicial body over this
court". The court, while rejecting the Punjab Government's
plea for review of its January 15, 2002 directive to complete
the SYL canal within a year, had on Friday asked the Centre
to take up the construction work in Punjab portion of the
canal. A Bench comprising Justices Ruma Pal and P V Reddi
said "Punjab was required to complete the canal by January
15, 2003 by the decree. Instead of accepting the decree
in good grace, every possible step has been taken to thwart
the decree." Recounting the manner in which the Punjab government
delayed the implementation of the Court decree passed in
favour of Haryana, the Bench said "the correspondence and
the record of minutes show that the Chief Minister as well
as the government officials named in the correspondence
have arrogated to themselves the power of sitting as super-judicial
body over this Court."
Manmohan to head ten-member CCEA (Go
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New
Delhi: The United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government
has constituted the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs
(CCEA) with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as its Chairman.
The members of the Committee are Defence Minister Pranab
Mukherjee, Agriculture, Food and Civil Supplies Minister
Sharad Pawar, Railway Minister Laloo Prasad Yadav, Chemicals
and Fertilizer and Steel Minister Ram Vilas Paswan, Finance
Minister P Chidhmabaram, Road Transport and Highways and
Shipping Minister T R Baalu, Commerce and Industry Minister
Kamal Nath, Power Minister P M Sayeed, Rural Development
Minister Raghuvansh Prasad Singh and Communications and
IT Minister Dayanidhi Maran. The Planning Commission Deputy
Chairman will be the Special invitee, an official release
said here on Tuesday.
Oil prices expected to continue to be
high by Ioannis Solomou (Go
To Top)
Nicosia:
The decision taken in Beirut recently by the Organisation
of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to increase
the oil cartel's production ceiling by 2 million barrels
a day (b/d) as from July and to 2.5 m b/d as from next August,
is not expected to lead to a significant fall in oil prices
or have a lasting effect on the market.
Experts say that the global demand for crude this year is
rising by 2 million b/d and this puts the oil industry close
to capacity. The rise in oil prices is attributed to gasoline
bottlenecks in the United States, continuing acts of sabotage
on oil installations and pipelines in Iraq, the possibility
of civil war in Saudi Arabia and speculation in future energy
markets. Analysts insist that the current crude oil price
has a 12 dollar premium per barrel reflecting uncertainties
in Iraq and Saudi Arabia and capacity shortages in the US
and Asia, where refineries are unable to produce enough
fuels.
Moreover
the International Energy Agency has revised upward its global
demand projection for 2004 to 80.6 million barrels a day,
which represents a 2.5 per cent increase over the previous
year. Moreover, China has shifted to energy-intensive manufacturing
and is now the second largest energy consumer, relegating
Japan to the third place. It should be mentioned that demand
for crude oil in Asia and the OECD Pacific region rose by
3.6 per cent per year, making it the fastest growing oil
market in the world which is likely to remain so for the
next decade.
Sikh train driver derailed over refusal
to shed turban in NY (Go
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New York: In yet another blatant case of racial discrimination
on foreign soil, a 53-year old Sikh has been banned from
driving a train he had been driving for over two decades
because he refused to wear a Transit Authority (TA) cap
over his turban. According to the New York Daily News, Kevin
Harrington, a TA motorman for 20 years, will be reassigned
to his new job, of moving trains in a subway yard, on Tuesday.
"I'm very angry. I feel it's a betrayal on their part, and
I consider it a violation of my freedom of religion," the
paper quoted Kevin as saying. He said that he wore a turban
when he was hired, when he was promoted to motorman from
cleaner and for every trip he had taken on the rails. Meanwhile,
the TA union officials have been outraged at the decision.
"They are making matters worse by going after Brother Harrington,
a Sikh, who has been operating trains for two decades. We
intend to take every available avenue to respond to these
attacks," Transport Workers Union Local 100 President Roger
Toussaint said.
This is not the first time people from other countries or
belonging to minority communities have been discriminated
against. According to the paper, at least three Muslim bus
drivers were ordered to wear TA caps over their religious
headdresses. When they refused they were given assignments
moving buses between garages.
