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St. Germain’s 66th OBA Day celebrated with great gaiety

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St. Germain

Bengaluru: The 66th OBA Day of St. Germain High School started with a mass celebration for present and past students.

It is in all the Germanite blood that the last Sunday of September is an OBA Day. This is one day where the Germanite family meets and enjoys with his old school friends and teachers.

St. Germain School

This year the Annual General Meeting was a short affair. The AGM unanimously elected the present managing committee for one more year.

After the customary photograph of the entire Germanite family, everyone was served a sumptuous food, and beverages till 4.30 PM.

The OBA ended with hot tea and everyone wished each other and promised to be back the next year.

Long live Germanite family.

Israeli troops clash with Palestinians at al-Aqsa

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Soldiers storm the mosque compound and fight with Muslim worshippers who have barricaded themselves inside.

al-aqsa

by Al Jazeera

Clashes have erupted for a second day in a row in occupied Jerusalem  after Israeli security forces stormed al-Aqsa Mosque compound and fought with Palestinian worshippers.

Witnesses on the ground told Al Jazeera that the Israeli police entered the mosque shortly before 7am local time (04:00 GMT) on Monday.

Sources told Al Jazeera the officers used al-Maghareba gate to enter the compound.

They reportedly fought with the worshippers, who have barricaded themselves at the mosque.

Sources said at least 15 Palestinians were injured.

Al Jazeera’s Imtiaz Tyab, reporting from occupied East Jerusalem, said clashes continued and tensions “are high” as far-right Jewish groups prepare to enter the mosque compound.

He said several police officers were spotted at the roof of the mosque.

He quoted witnesses as saying that the police fired the stun grenades through windows at a small number of worshippers, and used metal barricades to shield themselves as they approached the mosque’s main gate.

For their part, the worshippers threw stones and hurled fire crackers at the police, the witnesses said.

“The confrontations are relatively minor but they are ongoing,” Al Jazeera’s Tyab said.

The fresh violence occurred on the Jewish holiday of Sukkot, which began on Sunday evening. During the week-long holiday, many Jews visit Jerusalem.

According to a 50-year long agreement, Jews and people of other religions are allowed to enter the compound between 7:30am and 11:30am local time, but are not allowed to pray.

Palestinian worshippers, however, said that far-right Jews have been provoking them by praying, thus violating the agreement.

CAR’s Bangui tense as communal strife kills scores

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Sporadic gunfire and looting reported in the capital as government says clashes are aimed at derailing elections.

Voters are due to elect a new president and parliament in October to replace an interim government [EPA]

Voters are due to elect a new president and parliament in October to replace an interim government [EPA]

by Al Jazeera

Renewed violence between Muslim and Christian communities in the Central African Republic has killed at least 36 people and wounded at least 80 more, according to hospital workers.

Sporadic gunfire could be heard in the capital, Bangui, on Monday, with journalists also citing multiple reports of widespread looting in the city, suggesting that tensions that began on Saturday had yet to subside.

On Sunday, Doctors without Borders (MSF) said in a statement that their teams working in the city’s Mpoko camp, Castor hospital and Hopital General had been pressed to activate mass-casualty plans to cope with an influx of the injured.

“In total MSF received 75 wounded patients, and the teams stabilised patients and performed 15 surgeries,” MSF said.

Emmanuel Lampaert, MSF head of mission in Central African Republic, said: “It’s very sad to see violence of such a scale occur once again, as we haven’t experienced anything like this since October last year.

“All our teams in Bangui were mobilised and have worked intensively to provide care to those who were wounded. We continue to monitor the situation closely in case violence would erupt again.”

Ousmane Abakar, a Muslim community leader, said fighting began early on Saturday as Muslims attacked a Christian neighbourhood in Bangui after the body of a Muslim man was left near a mosque.

The government on Sunday announced a 6pm to 6am curfew to curtail the violence.

Earlier on Sunday, Christian anti-Balaka militia members were on the streets, retaliating for the previous day’s violence.

Tear gas used

Sunday’s clashes were aimed at derailing elections scheduled to take place next month, the government said.

Angry young men used tree trunks to block Bangui’s main arteries early on Sunday.

Soldiers from the UN peacekeeping mission, MINUSCA, fired tear gas at crowds in an unsuccessful attempt to clear the roads.

Thousands of Central Africans have died and hundreds of thousands remain displaced after two years of violence that erupted after mainly Muslim Seleka rebels seized power in the majority Christian country in 2013.

Seleka abuses prompted reprisals by anti-Balaka fighters that drove most Muslims from the south in a de-facto partition of the country.

Protesters alleged that UN and French forces did little to intervene in Saturday’s violence and called for the sidelined Central African army, the FACA, to assume responsibility for security.

“We are calling for a civil disobedience movement starting now and we demand the immediate redeployment, without conditions, of the FACA,” Gervais Lakossa, a civil society leader, said.

Anti-Balaka fighters armed with assault rifles and machetes were seen on Bangui’s streets on Sunday as many city residents fled their homes for protected displacement camps.

“The government asks the population not to cede to the manipulation of extremists who are seeking to set the country on fire to satisfy their selfish political ambitions,” Dominique Said Paguindji, CAR’s security minister, said on state radio.

Voters are due to elect a new president and parliament on October 18 to replace an interim government led by acting President Catherine Samba-Panza.

Despite lagging preparations and the renewed violence in the capital, Paguindji said the polls would go ahead as scheduled.

Makkah stampede: 10 more Indians die, toll 45

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The stampede occurred in a street between pilgrim camps in Mina [Saudi civil defence handout]

The stampede occurred in a street between pilgrim camps in Mina [Saudi civil defence handout]

New Delhi: The toll of Indian Haj pilgrims killed in the stampede near Makkah in Saudi Arabia has risen to 45, with 10 more injured dying, the government announced on Monday.

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj tweeted: “The death toll of Indians killed in Haj stampede is now 45. We have 50 Indian pilgrims in various hospitals in Saudi Arabia.”

Among the 10 who have died now, three are from West Bengal, two each from Kerala and Jharkhand, one each from Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra, and an Indian who is a local resident.

Over 1,000 people were killed on Thursday in a stampede near Makkah during the Haj.

(IANS)

Now Amma mobile phone scheme in Tamil Nadu

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Amma Mobile Phone

Chennai: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa on Monday announced the distribution of Amma mobile phones to trainers of women’s self-help groups.

Making this announcement in the state assembly, Jayalalithaa said in the first phase, 20,000 mobile phones at an outlay of Rs.15 crore would be distributed.

She said the women’s self-help group trainers have to keep records of membership subscription, savings, loans and recoveries.

Jayalalithaa said a software in Tamil will be developed enabling to record the above data and a computerised mobile phone will be distributed to the women’s self-help group trainers.

The Amma mobile phone scheme is the latest of the several Amma branded schemes implemented in the state like Amma cement, Amma mineral water, Amma canteen and others.

(Agencies)

India joins space observatory owners club with ASTROSAT launch

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ASTROSAT

Sriharikota: India on Monday joined a select group of nations owning space observatory with the successful launch of ASTROSAT by its rocket, which also put into orbit six other foreign satellites.

With the successful launch of ASTROSAT, India gained an entry into the select club of nations having its own space observatory after the US, Japan, Russia and Europe.

Exactly at 10 a.m. the 44.4 metres tall weighing around 320 ton polar satellite launch vehicle’s XL variant (PSLV-XL) blasted off the first launch pad at the rocket port here, around 80 km from Chennai.

The PSLV-XL rocket with seven satellites cumulatively weighing 1,631 kg climbed up steadily gathering speed amidst the cheers of Indian space agency officials and the media team assembled here.

The expendable rocket carried Rs.180 crore ASTROSAT, India’s first dedicated multi-wavelength space observatory that will help in understanding the universe, and six other foreign satellites.

While ASTROSAT with a five year life span weighed 1,513 kg, the six foreign satellites (four from the US and one each from Indonesia and Canada) together weighed 118 kg.

Incidentally, this is the first time that an Indian rocket launched satellites from the US.

According to an official of Antrix Corporation – the commercial arm of India Space Research Organisation (ISRO) – a deal has been signed to put into orbit nine American nano/micro satellites by the end of 2016.

While four US satellites have been put into orbit on Monday, the remaining five would also piggy back on a bigger satellite later.

At the mission control room, space scientists at Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) were glued to their computer screens watching the rocket escaping the earth’s gravitational pull.

Just over 22 minutes into the flight, the rocket slug ASTROSAT at an altitude of 650 km above the earth.

Soon after, six other satellites were put into orbit and the whole mission ended in just over 25 minutes.

For the third time a PSLV rocket has launched seven satellites in a single mission. In 2008, ISRO had launched 10 satellites in one go, including India’s Cartosate-2A satellite.

Immediately on the successfully ejection, scientists at the mission control centre were visibly relieved and started clapping happily. In the process India crossed the half century milestone when it its rocket injected the six foreign satellites successfully into their intended orbit.

Till date, India has launched 45 foreign satellites for a fee.

It will not be right to call ASTROSAT as India’s ‘Hubble’. The Hubble owned and launched by the US in 1990 is 10 times heavier than the ASTROSAT and is said to cost $2.5 billion.

While the Hubble space telescope is still working now, India’s ASTROSAT’s life span is five years.

ASTROSAT, will observe the universe through optical, ultraviolet, low and high energy X-ray components of the electromagnetic spectrum, whereas most other scientific satellites are capable of observing through a narrow wavelength band.

The five payloads/instruments of ASTROSAT are selected to facilitate deeper insight into the various astrophysical processes occurring in the various types of astronomical objects constituting our universe, ISRO said.

The payloads are developed by different institutions-domestic and foreign- on their own or collaborating with ISRO.

Of the five payloads, the Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope (UVIT) is jointly developed by Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA), Bengaluru and Inter University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA) at Pune in collaboration with Canadian Space Agency and ISRO.

This instrument can observe the sky in the visible near ultraviolet and far ultraviolet regions of the electromagnetic spectrum.

The second payload Large Area X-ray Proportional Counter (LAXPC) is developed by Tata Institute for Fundamental Research TIFR), Mumbai and Raman Research Institute (RRI), Bengaluru.

The third payload Soft X-ray Telescope (SXT) is developed by TIFR in collaboration with the University of Leicester, UK and ISRO.

The fourth payload Cadmium Zinc Telluride Imager (CZTI) was developed by TIFR and IUCAA in collaboration with ISRO.

And the fifth one Scanning Sky Monitor (SSM) was jointly developed by ISRO Satellite Centre at Bengaluru and IUCAA.

The Indonesian 76 kg LAPAN-A2 is a micro-satellite from the National Institute of Aeronautics and Space, meant for providing maritime surveillance using automatic identification system (AIS), supporting Indonesian radio amateur communities for disaster mitigation and carrying out earth surveillance using video and digital camera.

The 14 kg NLS-14 (Ev9) of Space Flight Laboratory, University of Toronto Institute for Advanced Studies, is also a maritime monitoring Canadian nano satellite using the next generation AIS.

The remaining four LEMUR nano satellites from Spire Global Inc., San Francisco, US, are non-visual remote sensing satellites, focusing primarily on global maritime intelligence through vessel tracking via AIS and high-fidelity weather forecasting using GPS radio occultation technology, the ISRO said.

(IANS)

No evidence against Manmohan Singh in coal case: CBI

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manmohan singh

New Delhi: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Monday told a special court that there is no prima facie evidence against former prime minister Manmohan Singh in coal block allocation case allegedly involving Jindal group firms.

Special Public Prosecutor R. S. Cheema told Special Judge Bharat Parashar that there is no prima facie evidence against Manmohan Singh to name him as an accused in allocation of Jharkhand’s Amarkonda Murgadangal coal block to Jindal Steel and Gagan Sponge.

Former Jharkhand chief minister Madhu Koda had filed a plea last month seeking summoning of Manmohan Singh in the case but the CBI opposed it saying that the application was filed to delay the trial.

The court set October 16 for delivering its order on Koda’s plea.

Koda, in his plea, said: “Materials placed by the CBI shows the said conspiracy, if any, cannot be complete without the involvement of the (then) coal minister (Manmohan Singh) who had the final say in the entire allotment.”

He also sought summoning of the then energy secretary Anand Swaroop and the then mines secretary Jai Shankar Tiwari, saying they were part of the three-member sub-group formed by the Jharkhand government to evaluate the pleas of firms and suggest suitable application for recommendation by the state.

Apart from Koda, Congress leader Naveen Jindal, former union minister of state for coal Dasari Narayan Rao, former coal secretary H.C. Gupta and others have been named as accused in the case.

They have been charge-sheeted for criminal conspiracy and cheating as well as under the Prevention of Corruption Act.

(IANS)

Ashamed of Modi’s behaviour on foreign soil: Congress

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modi-usa

New Delhi: Congress on Monday hit back at Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his barbs at the party in the US, saying they were “ashamed” of his behaviour on foreign soil.

“Listening to the Prime Minister’s speech I am ashamed. Indian PM after going to California is making fun of his countrymen and is only praising himself,” Congress leader Rashid Alvi said. In a veiled attack on corruption during UPA regime and a barb at the Congress President’s son-in-law Robert Vadra, Modi in his address to the Indian community in California today deprecated the culture of graft in the country.

“In our country it doesn’t take much for allegations to come up against politicians… Someone made 50 crores, someone’s son made 250 crores, (someone’s) daughter made 500 crores, (someone’s) damaad (son-in-law) made 1000 crores…” he said. Countering Modi, Congress leader Manish Tiwari said, “Indians are fed up with the government who helps a ‘baghoda’.

Is there any state government in India like Rajasthan where there are scams after scams. Before taking a dig at others, he should look at his party,” he said. JD(U) leader K C Tyagi also took a dig at Modi, saying, “Questions can also be raised as to why he does not stay with his mother”. He said the Prime Minister should never attack his country’s opposition in the foreign land.

Alvi said he had written to Modi after Lok Sabha polls, saying “You say your mother works even today. Then why are you not caring for your mother. Is your salary less that you cannot take care of your mother?”

Modi had on Sunday got emotional while talking about the sacrifices his mother made as he grew up.

(Agencies)

Social activist Medha Patekar arrested in Allahabad

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Social activist Medha Patekar was on her way to Kachari village when police tried to prevent her from going ahead, fearing tension in the area.

Medha Patekar

Lucknow: Social activist Medha Patekar was arrested in Allahabad on Saturday.

She was on her way to Kachari village when police tried to prevent her from going ahead, fearing tension in the area. As she refused to abort the plan, senior police officials arrested her and took her to the police lines.

Patkar was going to attend an event in the village on death anniversary of a social activist Banwari Lal Sharma and was later also due to meet families of some people arrested for opposing the land acquisition in the area.

District Magistrate of Allahabad Sanjay Kumar on Friday night had urged the social activist to cancel her visit, as prohibitory orders were in place there.

Patkar was detained at the guest house at Allahabad university. But she was arrested as she began to move towards a rally venue and staged a sit-in.

Patkar is demanding immediate release of people arrested for opposing land acquisition by the government authorities in that area.

After 13 Years without charge, Shaker Aamer to be freed from Guantanamo

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‘He has been tortured and abused for more than a decade, and what he wants most is to be left alone with his family to start rebuilding his life.’

Shaker Aamer has been held at Guantánamo Bay without charge or trial since 2002. (Photo: File)

Shaker Aamer has been held at Guantánamo Bay without charge or trial since 2002. (Photo: File)

by Nadia Prupis, Common Dreams

Shaker Aamer, the last remaining UK prisoner in Guantánamo Bay prison, will be released and allowed to return home, a British government spokesperson announced Friday.

Aamer, 46, a Saudi citizen and UK resident, has been held at the U.S. military base in Cuba for 13 years without charge and has twice been cleared to go home. A report last month revealed that the Pentagon had been actively blocking his release, despite participating in one of the federal reviews that found he posed no threat to national security and could be returned home.

Reprieve attorney Clive Stafford Smith, who represents Aamer, said the most likely date for Aamer’s return is October 25, absent “robust intervention” by the UK government.

“This is great news, albeit about 13 years too late,” Smith said. “The UK must demand of President [Barack] Obama that he should be on a plane tomorrow, so that Shaker’s family do not have to endure more of the agony of waiting, uncertain every time a phone rings.”

“British politicians may bombasticate about our ‘robust and effective systems to deal with suspected terrorists’ but Shaker is not and never has been a terrorist, and has been cleared by the Americans themselves for 8 years,” Smith continued. “I hope the authorities will understand that he has been tortured and abused for more than a decade, and what he wants most is to be left alone with his family to start rebuilding his life.”

According to his lawyers, Aamer was abducted by bounty hunters in Afghanistan in 2001 and handed over to U.S. forces, who transferred him to Guantánamo Bay two months later. While there, he organized and participated in hunger strikes and other actions to draw attention to torture and mistreatment of detainees, including himself.

Amnesty International USA executive director Steven W. Hawkins said Friday that Aamer’s case is “a symbol of Guantánamo’s utter failure.”

“This is a man who was held without trial or charge for more than 13 years, alleges he was tortured repeatedly, was cleared for transfer twice, and the UK government has asked that he be transferred back to the United Kingdom, yet he still languished in detention from February 2002 until today,” Hawkins said.

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