Netanyahu's diplomatic meltdown on Palestinian unity

The events surrounding Israel’s attempts to undermine the establishment of a Palestinian unity government can be summed up in two words — diplomatic meltdown. In the space of a few hours on Tuesday, the world’s powers, one after another, lined up and recognized the new Palestinian reality.

First was the United States. Then came the obvious suspects — the European Union’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs Catherine Ashton, the British and French foreign ministers and of course the UN secretary general. But they also included states Israel had wooed lovingly in the past few months.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman and Economy Minister Naftali Bennett told us with shining eyes that China and India aren’t interested at all in the Palestinians and only want Israeli high-tech. In a bid to endear itself to Russia’s President Vladamir Putin, Israel caved in on the issue of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

That did not prevent the foreign ministries of Moscow, Beijing and New Delhi from issuing eager announcements in support of the new Palestinian government. The United States and European states at least added conditions to their support of the Palestinian unity government, like recognizing Israel. The Chinese, Russians and Indians didn’t show the slightest interest...

Source: News in Hindi

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From haaretz News

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1993 Mumbai blasts: Supreme Court stays Yakub Memon’s execution

The Supreme Court on Monday stayed the execution of Yakub Abdul Razak Memon, the lone convict in the 1993 Mumbai serial bomb blasts case whose death penalty was upheld by the apex court in March last year.

Memon had moved court for commutation of his capital punishment to life imprisonment after the President rejected his mercy petition two weeks ago.

While entertaining Memon's petition after brief arguments from senior advocate Upamanyu Hazarika, a vacation bench of Justice JS Khehar and Justice C Nagappan ordered it to be listed along with a petition filed by Mohd Arif aka Ashfaq, who was awarded death penalty in the Red Fort attack case of 2000 in which two Army jawans and another person were killed.

Both Memon and Ashfaq have sought commutation of death penalties on similar grounds — they could not be sentenced twice for the same offence. Their contention is that they served 14 years in jail, which is equivalent in general terms to a life sentence, and hence, could not now be executed following the death penalty awarded by the courts.

Memon also challenged rejection of his mercy petition, saying the President did not appropriately consider his incarceration for nearly 20 years during pendency of the case, first before the designated TADA court and then before the apex court...

Source: Latest News in Hindi

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From TOI News

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Mita Vashisth in Jodha Akbar

Mita Vashisth has been finalised to play the role of Maha Chuchak in Jodha Akbar. Earlier, several actresses including Urvashi Dholakia and Meghna Malik had been considered for the role. Maha Chuchak will be shown to be a power-hungry woman, who has her eye on Akbar's throne. Says Mita, "I have been told she has a reference in history. The character is completely unsual and I am looking forward to playing it.

She will come in as major antagonist creating trouble in Akbar's life." Mita, however, is waiting for a detailed narration from producer Ekta Kapoor for the role. "I will be meeting her soon. Ekta is very good at giving the finer nuances, the tone and rhythm of the character. I remember when I played Trishna in Kahaani Ghar Ghar Kii, it was after Ekta gave a clue to the character, that I took off," says Mita, who has already played characters with grey shades in the past. 

Maha Chuchak will however be her first stong negative character. "I like the large vision they are giving to the character," smiles the actress who had played a seductive siren in Swabhimaan and recently shot for an episode of Encounter, where she is essaying a powerful role that of the head of a family based in Bihar, known for their underworld activities...

Source: Bollywood Celebrities News & Box Office Report

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From DNA News

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Bulls take a break; Sensex tanks 476 pts after 3-week gains

The S&P BSE benchmark Sensex snapped a three-week strong winning spree and dropped 476 points due to profit-booking from operators in view of expiry of the futures and options May contract and ahead of the Reserve Bank of India's policy review meet next week.

Market sentiment remained weak as overseas investors were net sellers in the first four sessions of the week.

The Sensex resumed higher at 24,693.89 and once again crossed 25,000 mark to quote at 25,175.22 on strong initial buying before the swearing-in of Narendra Modi as Prime Minister on Monday.

The 30-share index, however, declined afterwards to 24,163.62 on profit-booking before finishing the week at 24,217.34, showing a loss of 476.01 points, or 1.93 per cent over the previous week's close.

In the last three weeks, the key BSE barometer had gained a whopping 2,289.46 points, or 1 ..

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From economictimes News

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Better NPA picture for fourth quarter likely, says RBI Deputy Governor

 The banking system's non-performing assets (NPA) position for the fourth quarter of 2013-14 is likely to come out better than the third quarter, Reserve Bank of India Deputy Governor R Gandhi said.

Use of credit ratings could be an important proactive step that a bank can take to stem the problem of increasing level of NPAs and stressed assets, he said at an Assocham organised national conference on 'Growing NPAs in banks'.

Use of external ratings

However, banks need to balance the use of external ratings, as the recent financial crisis has highlighted the dangers of over dependence on ratings.

As at end December 2013, the gross NPAs of the domestic banking system was 4.4 percent of gross advances. The final figure for March 2014 is yet to be known.

While some may view this ratio (4.4 percent) as reasonable given the economic conditions prevalent in the country and elsewhere, the total stressed assets in the banking system (which include NPAs and restructured standard assets) as at end December 2013 was 10.13 percent of gross advances of banks, Gandhi said.

"This is a cause of concern for the Reserve Bank", he said.

Why are NPAs increasing?

Gandhi highlighted that the NPA increases have been more pronounced in the case of public sector banks.

There are various factors affecting the asset quality of scheduled commercial banks adversely such as the current slowdown, global and domestic, persistent policy logjams, delayed clearances of various projects, aggressive expansion by corporates during the high growth phase etc...

Source: Today Business News

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From thehindubusinessline News

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Taliban says US troop withdrawal plan is ‘continued occupation’

The Taliban on Wednesday condemned President Barack Obama’s announcement that US troops would stay in Afghanistan until the end of 2016.

“Now that Obama has announced that he will keep around 10,000 troops until the end of 2016 and continue their occupation, Afghanistan Islamic Emirate condemns it and considers it a violation of sovereignty, religion and human rights,” said a statement, using the insurgents’ name for the country.

“We have always clearly expressed our stance that even if one American soldier is in Afghanistan, it is not acceptable to our nation and Jihad will continue against them.”..

Source: News in Hindi and News in Vedieos

From indianexpress News

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Husband of Pregnant Pakistani Woman Beaten to Death Demands Justice

The husband of a pregnant Pakistani woman who was brutally beaten to death outside Lahore's High Court for marrying him against her family's wishes vowed Wednesday he would fight for justice.

Farzana Iqbal, 25, was attacked outside Lahore's grand high court building by more than two dozen brick-wielding assailants including her brother and father, who has been arrested, police said.

Three-months pregnant Iqbal had gone to testify in defence of her husband Muhammad Iqbal, who was accused by her relatives of kidnapping her and forcing her into the marriage.

Speaking to AFP by telephone from his home village of Jaranwala where had had gone to bury Farzana, Iqbal said: "We demand justice, we were being threatened since we got married."

The 45-year-old said he and his wife had survived a previous attack during the first hearing of the case on May 28.

"On Tuesday as we were going to court from our lawyer's office almost 30 people attacked us, including her father, brothers and cousins," he said.

The group of 10 or so people accompanying him were overwhelmed by the suddenness of the attack and fled in all directions, he said...

Source: Latest News in Hindi & Hindi News Videos

From ndtv News

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