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Partially burnt body of Indian migrant found in Australia

Gibson — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 07:32:57 +0000

The body found on a roadside near Griffith last week is yet to be formally identified but police believe it is that of an Indian man, an ABC report said.

Ahmedabad shines as model city in Copenhagen

Gibson — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 06:39:23 +0000

Ahmedabad enjoyed pride of place at the ongoing Climate Change summit at Copenhagen as it was among the 10 cities from across the world discussed as a model for low-carbon growth in the future. A presentation, ‘Ahmedabad — Low Carbon Society Vision 2035′, by Prof PR Shukla of IIMA, showed that Ahmedabad’s current emission of around 10.2 million tonnes of carbon dioxide will increase to 61.1 million tonnes by 2035. This, if it is business as usual and there is no reduction in the current emission rate.

Indias 29th state could lead to many more

Gibson — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 10:43:05 +0000

The surprise announcement this week that India would create a new state has sparked what advocates of the status quo have long feared: a host of other regions clamoring for statehood.

The catalyst for the decision to create the new state of Telangana out of southern Andhra Pradesh state was an 11-day fast by a struggling regional politician who had vowed to starve himself to death if India didn’t redraw the map.

The all but desperate move by K. Chandrasekhar Rao was meant to evoke the strategic fasts of the last century by Mohandas Gandhi, father of modern India, to protest British colonial oppression and contain religious violence.

Govt bows to pressure, agrees to form Telangana state

Gibson — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 10:59:34 +0000

The process of carving a new state of Telangana out of the existing Andhra Pradesh will soon begin, Home Minister P. Chidambaram announced late on Wednesday evening.

Responding finally to an 11-day long hunger strike by Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) leader K. Chandrasekhar Rao, demanding a separate state, and street protests across the Telangana region in his support, top Congress leaders including Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi held a series of meetings through the day to resolve the issue.

“After these consultations, I am making this statement. The process of forming the state of Telangana will be initiated. An appropriate resolution will be moved in the state Assembly,” Home Minister P Chidambaram told reporters late in the night.

Mumbai remains extremely vulnerable: Shobhaa De

Gibson — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 04:52:07 +0000

A year has gone by since the devastating 26/11 terror attacks, but the city is still vulnerable and people far from secure, says well-known author and columnist Shobhaa De.

“The government has taken certain steps, but nearly a year later the city still remains extremely vulnerable. Mumbaikars are worried and far from secure,” De told IANS.

The 60-hour terror siege in India’s financial capital began on the night of Nov 26 and claimed 166 lives and injured more than 300. Over 26 locations were targeted, including the Taj Mahal Palace and Tower Hotel, the Oberoi Trident and the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus.

De is still reeling from the shock.

“It is not possible to ever emerge from such a trauma. This feeling of shock and sorrow has nothing to do with five-star hotels. Many innocent lives were lost in the terror attacks, whether at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST), Cama Hospital, Nariman House or Cafe Leopold. I mourn every single death.”

Her daughter was supposed to get married around that time, but the venue was shifted after the terror strike.

“We cancelled most of the functions as a mark of respect to the dead. My daughter’s wedding was shifted to another venue immediately. All of us were highly disturbed and our state of mind was agitated,” she said.

A New Indian Travel Fad: Divorce Tourism

Gibson — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 10:40:24 +0000

Perhaps it’s a case of life imitating bad art. In this year’s mirthless Hollywood comedy Couples Retreat: Return to Eden, eight Americans attempt to recharge their foundering marriages by undergoing counseling on a tropical island. At about the same time the movie was disappointing U.S. audiences, a handful of Indian travel agents began pushing “divorce tourism” — package deals designed to help clients salvage their vows while getting away from it all. Six months ago, Viresh Hirjee, chief executive of KV Tours & Travels in Mumbai, pioneered the field by sending customers on holiday with marriage counselors in tow. “We are trying our best to bring the coup

A nuclear power's act of proliferation

Gibson — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 11:18:33 +0000

In 1982, a Pakistani military C-130 left the western Chinese city of Urumqi with a highly unusual cargo: enough weapons-grade uranium for two atomic bombs, according to accounts written by the father of Pakistan’s nuclear weapons program,...

Maoist rebels spreading their tentacles across India

Gibson — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 07:26:20 +0000

At the edge of the Indravati River, hundreds of miles from the nearest international border, India effectively ends. Indian paramilitary officers point machine guns across the water. The dense jungles and mountains on the other side belong to...

Kashmiris observe Black Day

Gibson — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 09:34:37 +0000

A one-day strike to protest the arrival of Indian troops in Indian-administered Kashmir in 1947 shut most shops and businesses in the disputed region’s main city on Tuesday.

Many banks, post offices and government offices in Srinagar, the urban hub of militants and separatist politicians fighting to end India’s rule in Kashmir, were also closed.

‘The strike is to protest India’s occupation of Kashmir,’ separatist leader Syed Ali Geelani said in a statement.

Indian troops arrived in Kashmir on October 27, 1947.

Gang crackdown, mob trials transfix China

Gibson — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 13:07:33 +0000

After she refused a corrupt cop’s demand that she turn her teahouse into an illegal casino, three thugs beat Chen Yanling with electric batons, sending her to the hospital for nearly a month.

Chen is now getting some vicarious revenge, joining the throngs outside a courthouse where modern-day China’s biggest, most lurid mob trials are under way.

The trials are exposing sordid, deep-seated connections between organized crime and corrupt officials and police in the central mega-city of Chongqing, once known as Chungking. Among the suspects: the 46-year-old sister-in-law of the city’s deputy police chief, who is accused of running 20 illegal gambling halls, all protected by the police.