| President
confers Indira Gandhi Peace Prize on Bill Gates New
Delhi: President Pratibha Patil on Saturday presented the Indira Gandhi Prize
for Peace, Disarmament and Development to Microsoft founder Bill Gates for his
charity work. Gates received the prize on behalf of his 38 billion dollars Bill
and Melinda Gates Foundation. The foundation has been working for a range of issues;
including HIV/AIDS. Speaking on the occasion, Gates said that he was honoured
to receive the prestigious award and that his foundation aimed at giving everyone
a chance to live a healthy life. "We started our foundation because we believe
that all lives have equal value. A poorest child in the poorest country is just
as precious as your children or ours. We wanted on our part to give every person
a chance to live a healthy and productive life," he said. Speaking on the occasion,
Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh, lauded the efforts of Gates and said that the
work of the Bill and the Melinda Gates Foundation is an inspiration. "The same
innovation and scientific genius that brought the digital age to millions of homes
around the world can equally be used to make billions of our children healthier,
better educated and empowered to live lives of dignity and self respect. This
is the vision and the promise behind the work of the Foundation and indeed of
the work that we do in government," he said. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
has been working in India in the field of health and development, especially HIV/AIDS.
Gates on Thursday said that his foundation would give 80 million dollars more
in aid for combating AIDS in India . The foundation has committed close to one
billion dollars for health and social development in India. Manmohan
condemns Continental Airlines for Kalam frisking Top New
Delhi: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday deplored the frisking of
former President APJ Abdul Kalam by US-based Continental Airlines at the Indira
Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi. "This should not happen. Kalam is a
highly respected and honoured citizen of our country," Singh told reporters here.
When asked to comment on the frisking of the former President, Singh said Kalam
is entitled to all courtesies that are extended to the Heads and former Heads
of State and "any infringement (of that) is something which is deplorable." He
added that Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel is already looking into the issue.
On Friday, Continental Airlines had apologised for the incident. Its senior officials
yesterday met Civil Aviation Secretary MM Nambiar to present their version of
the incident. Terming the April 21 incident as a case of misunderstanding, the
airlines tendered an apology after the Government had filed a First Information
Report (FIR) against it for breaching Indian aviation rules. The case was registered
after the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) approached the police against
the staff of the American airliner for carrying out a pre-embarkation body check
of Kalam, which it maintains, is in gross violation of a BCAS circular which exempts
specified VVIPs/VIPs from security checks. Continental Airlines had clarified
that it didn't insult Kalam by frisking rather it was done following American
aviation policy to frisk everyone, including VIPs and VVIPs. The incident created
a furore inside Parliament. Nepal-to-Gulf
flesh trade busted in UP Top Gorakhpur:
Police officials of Uttar Pradesh's Gorakhpur district recently detained five
women, who were allegedly being taken to Gulf countries for flesh trade. Passports
recovered from them indicated that they are citizens of Nepal. The women were
reportedly being taken by a pimp to Mumbai from where they were to be sent to
certain destinations in the Middle East. However, the detained women denied that
they were being trafficked to Gulf countries for flesh trade. "We are going on
our own wish to do household work. We are facing lot of problems in Nepal as we
don't get any work there. There is nothing like that," said Nirmala, a woman,
who was allegedly being trafficked to Gulf counties. Police officials refused
to comment on the incident. Gorakhpur being close to Nepal is often used as a
transit point for trafficking women. Article 23 of the Constitution of India prohibits
trafficking of humans in any form and also forced labour. Three million women
in India fall prey to trafficking according to some estimates.
Student
barred from exam for derogatory remark on Mayawati Top Muzafarnagar:
The Uttar Pradesh Board High School and Intermediate Education barred one
student from appearing any examination in the state for allegedly making derogatory
remarks against Chief Minister Mayawati in his answer sheet. The board came to
know about the derogatory remarks during the evaluation of class 12 examinations
in April, that Kayamuddin Ansari, a student of Inter College in Devariya district
made derogatory remarks about Mayawati in his answer sheets. The board also suspended
two Principals and five staff in this connection. According to sources in the
board, Ansari has written insulting remarks against Mayawati in his answer sheets
after he was allegedly given the question paper of Sanskrit instead of his optional
paper English during the examination. The UP Board had subsequently ordered an
inquiry into the matter and barred Ansari from appearing any examinations conducted
by the board in the state. Al
Qaeda trying to get nukes: Mullen Top Washington:
Expressing concern over the expanding terror threat, US Joint Chiefs of Staff
Chairman Admiral Mike Mullen has said Al Qaeda is trying to get hold of nuclear
weapons to wreak havoc across the world, particularly in America. Speaking at
the Junior Statesman Summer School Programme, Admiral Mullen said the leadership
of both Al-Qaeda and the Taliban is desperately trying to acquire nukes to target
Western countries. "Terrorist organisations, al Qaeda in particular, have been
very open and direct about their desire to get a nuclear device and continue to
terrorise people in accordance with their strategic approach, killing as many
Americans and westerners as they possibly can with a device like that," Admiral
Mullen said. Admiral Mullen said it is very important to check the expansion of
nuclear armaments among countries that already possess the technology. "It is
a very dangerous time. Those are very dangerous weapons. And we would like to
contain them and see them over time reduced as much as possible. It becomes all
the more important to make sure no new countries are able to acquire it," The
News quoted Admiral Mullen, as saying. Admiral Mullen's statements comes a day
after he claimed that Al-Qaida chief Osama-bin-Laden is hiding in Pakistan's Federally
Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) and can strike the United States from there.
American
police unions demand apology from Obama Top London:
President Barack Obama has been urged by American police unions to tender an apology
after he accused an officer of "acting stupidly" by arresting leading Black scholar,
Professor Henry Louis Gates. Police representatives queued up at a press conference
to insist race had played no part in the incident and the president should retract
his "disgraceful" comments and apologise to Sgt James Crowley, The Telegraph reports.
However, Obama refused to apologise at a hastily arranged White House press conference
where he said: "In my choice of words, I unfortunately gave the impression that
I was maligning the Cambridge Police Department or Sergeant Crowley specifically."
Obama criticised police earlier this week after the incident involving Professor
Gates who was arrested after trying to force a jammed front door at his home near
Harvard University. A neighbour reported seeing two men trying to break into the
building and Gates was taken into custody after a confrontation, even though he
had shown his identity card. At a press conference, Obama admitted he did not
have all the facts but linked the incident in Cambridge, Massachusetts, to a history
of racial profiling by US police. Deval Patrick, the Governor of Massachusetts,
who is also black and a friend of Prof Gates, supported Obama yesterday. "In some
ways, this is every black man's nightmare, and a reality for many black men,"
The Telegraph quoted Patrick, as saying. But Dennis O'Connor, chairman of the
Cambridge Superior Officers Association, accused the president of blundering into
something he knew little about. He said: "When you don't have all the facts, your
next words should be 'I have no comment'." Stephen Killian, the president of the
Cambridge Police Patrol Officer's Association said that Obama's comments were
disgraceful. Obama
invites professor and sergeant for beer to end racial row Top Washington:
In a bid to defuse the controversial racial row following his remark in the arrest
of a Black Harvard professor, US President Barack Obama has telephoned and invited
the White Sergeant and the professor to the White House for a beer. "My impression
of him was that he was an outstanding police -officer and a good man," Obama revealed,
adding that he made a five minute long telephone call to the concerned officer.
Seeking to lighten the situation further, he said that he had invited both Crowley
and Gates for "a beer here in the White House", The Guardian reports. Earlier
this week, Obama had said that Sergeant James Crowley "acted stupidly" in arresting
Professor Henry Louis Gates in his own home. His statement had triggered American
police unions to seek an apology. Obama made a surprise appearance at the daily
White House press briefing and said: "In my choice of words I think I unfortunately
gave an impression that I was maligning the Cambridge Police Department or Sergeant
Crowley specifically - and I could have calibrated those words differently. And
I told this to Sergeant Crowley." Police representatives insisted that race had
played no part in the incident and the president should retract his "disgraceful"
comments and apologise to Sergeant James Crowley. However, Obama stopped short
of apologising: "I continue to believe, based on what I have heard, that there
was an overreaction in pulling Professor Gates out of his home to the station.
I also continue to believe, based on what I heard, that Professor Gates probably
overreacted as well. "My sense is you've got two good people in a circumstance
in which neither of them were able to resolve the incident in the way that it
should have been resolved and the way they would have liked it to be resolved,"
he added. Police had arrested Henry Louis Gates on charges of disorderly conduct
when he was trying to force a jammed front door at his home near Harvard University.
A neighbour reported seeing two men trying to break into the building and Gates
was taken into custody after a confrontation, even though he had shown his identity
card. |
