Istanbul: Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan and the governor of Istanbul made what appeared to be final efforts to end two weeks of anti-government unrest by negotiation on Friday, meeting opponents of controversial plans to redevelop a city park.
Erdogan met a delegation mostly made up of actors and artists but also including two members of the umbrella protest group Taksim Solidarity, hours after saying his patience had run out and warning protesters occupying Gezi Park to leave.
Separately, Istanbul Governor Huseyin Avni Mutlu offered to meet demonstrators from Taksim Square, the epicentre of the protests, at a cafe by the Bosphorus waterway to discuss their demands that the government abandon plans to build a replica Ottoman-era barracks on the park, which adjoins Taksim.
"For those who want to talk face to face tonight, from midnight we will talk in groups, if necessary until morning," Mutlu said on his Twitter account....
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06:25 AM, Jun 14, 2013
Inside Taksim Square, volunteers have set up make shift camps where basic supplies like blankets and food are being distributed. People are saying that they will not leave the Square until their demands are met. People are protesting the perceived authoritarianism of Erdogan and his Islamist-rooted AK Party, drawing in a broad alliance of secularists, nationalists, professionals, unionists and students. ...
11:11 AM, Jun 13, 2013
Imphal: Three months after two teenaged girls went missing in Manipur, they were spotted at a training camp in Myanmar. The two girls - one 14 and another 15 - were being trained by Manipur's banned rebel outfit Revolutionary People's Front. These children are being trained for war. A verified video of a Revolutionary People's Front training camp in Myanmar shows the child soldiers of the North-East. In March 2013,...
08:39 AM, Jun 13, 2013
Princeton University evacuated its sprawling campus in New Jersey on Tuesday after receiving a bomb threat to multiple buildings, the latest of threats that have disrupted schools, government buildings and air travel across the country the past two days. "This is NOT a test. There has been a bomb threat to multiple unspecified campus buildings," the university tweeted about 10:30 am. The threat came a week after Princeton's commencement, and...
07:47 AM, Jun 12, 2013
Raipur: Naxalites on Monday night opened fire at CRPF camps in Chhattisgarh's Sukma district but the attack was repulsed by security personnel. Sources said three different camps of the paramilitary in south Bastar were targeted in Naxal gunfire which was suitably retaliated to by the troops. The firing went on for about an hour, they said. There has been no loss of life or property. "This is Maoists' regular strategy...
12:25 AM, Jun 11, 2013
London: English county side Surrey announced on Saturday that they have signed Australia allrounder Glenn Maxwell for this season's domestic Twenty20 championship. The 24-year-old has played nine Twenty20 internationals and was a member of the Hampshire squad that triumphed in last year's English Twenty20 competition. "Glenn is one of the most exciting T20 players in the world and we are looking forward to him joining our squad for this year's...
12:11 AM, Jun 09, 2013
Washington: US military leaders said on Tuesday that sexual assault in the ranks is "like a cancer" that could destroy the force, but they rejected far-reaching congressional efforts to strip commanders of some authority in meting out justice. Seated side-by-side at a long witness table, Army Gen Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the head of each branch of the military testified on what is widely...
02:17 AM, Jun 05, 2013
New York: They might start calling it the McDiet. McDonald Corp's CEO Don Thompson revealed at an analyst conference this week that he shed about 20 pounds (9 kilograms) in the past year by getting his "butt up" and "working out again". But he said he hasn't changed his habit of eating at McDonald's "every, single day". Thompson, who has been on the job for less than a year, was...
07:41 PM, May 31, 2013
Cleveland: Christian Benteke scored two goals in the second half and Marouane Fellaini had another, leading Belgium to a 4-2 thrashing of the United States on Wednesday night in an international friendly the Americans hoped would get them ready for upcoming World Cup qualifiers. Boasting a strong roster with 10 players from the English Premier League, Belgium broke a 1-1 tie with three goals in the second half. They overpowered...
08:35 AM, May 30, 2013
Paris: France coach Didier Deschamps has called up Lyon forward Alexandre Lacazette for the first time to replace the injured Jeremy Menez for next month's friendly matches against Uruguay and Brazil. The French Football Federation said Thursday that Menez has pulled out because of back pains. The Paris Saint-Germain winger has not played since scoring the goal that clinched the league title in a 1-0 win at Lyon two weeks...
03:38 PM, May 24, 2013
Beirut: The United States chided Russia for sending missiles to the Syrian government as plans for a peace conference promoted by Washington and Moscow were hit by diplomatic rifts over its scope and purpose. Sectarian bloodshed in neighbouring Iraq during Friday prayers, a hacking attack on a Western newspaper by sympathisers of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and defiant comments by a rebel commander filmed eating a slain soldier's flesh were...
07:35 AM, May 18, 2013
Washington: The top general in the US Armed Forces warned of a crisis of confidence in the growing ranks of women soldiers due to a rash of sexual assault cases that has prompted lawmakers to act. The warning by Army General Martin Dempsey came hours before President Barack Obama asked military leaders at a White House meeting to get the problem of sexual assaults under control. "We're losing the confidence...
07:21 AM, May 17, 2013
Karachi: Pakistan's left-arm pacer, Sohail Tanvir is looking at a full season with English county, Hampshire to shed the tag of being a specialist T20 player. Tanvir, who will leave later this month to join Hampshire for a full season after getting clearance from the Pakistan Cricket Board, said he wanted to use the opportunity to show everyone he was good at any format of the game. "The irony is...
08:53 AM, May 15, 2013
London: Clint Dempsey scored the tying goal on a sliding shot into an empty net from 30 yards, then crossed to Emmanuel Adebayor for the a goal-ahead in the 83rd minute to lead Tottenham over Stoke 2-1 Sunday and into fourth place in the Premier League. Steven Nzonzi gave Stoke the lead in the third minute, and Dempsey put the ball in the net in the 15th, only to have...
11:07 PM, May 12, 2013
London: Britain's 2008 Olympic sailing champion Andrew Simpson was killed when his yacht capsized during a training session in the United States, his team said Friday. "The entire Artemis Racing team is devastated by what happened," CEO Paul Cayard said. Simpson, who won an Olympic gold in the Star class at the games in Beijing and silver in London last year, was one of the 11-man crew aboard Artemis Racing's...
02:19 PM, May 10, 2013
New Delhi: The Cabinet on Thursday approved amendments in a law for disqualifying MPs for holding an office of profit to exempt the chairpersons of the National Commission for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes from its purview, said official sources. The government will introduce a bill in Parliament to bring about the changes, said the sources. According to sources, Section 3 of the Parliament (Prevention of Disqualification) Act, 1959, as...
03:46 AM, May 10, 2013
Kolkata: The West Bengal government has sealed the offices of MPS group, a business house that has an estimated liability of Rs 17,000 crore and is under the scanner of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI). The crackdown comes after the collapse of Saradha group's chit fund business in April, which affected thousands of depositors. Panicking depositors and agents protested outside the MPS group's office at Lake Town...
09:58 AM, May 05, 2013
London: Essex were glad to have England captain Alastair Cook on board for a rare County Championship appearance as 15 wickets fell on a dramatic first day against Hampshire at Chelmsford on Monday. The opening batsman finished the opening day of this four-day Second Division clash unbeaten on 25 in an Essex total of 5 for 72 after the hosts had dismissed Hampshire for a seemingly meagre 197 featuring 60...
10:00 AM, Apr 30, 2013
Kolkata: The chit fund scam in West Bengal is getting bigger with market regulator Sebi turning the heat on over a dozen other companies running similar Ponzi schemes. People are rushing to withdraw Rs 20,000 crore invested in these companies. Sebi has asked the government to look into the operations of all these companies. One such company is the Rose Valley Group, which has now approached West Bengal Chief Minister...
09:45 AM, Apr 26, 2013
Kolkata: The chit fund scam in West Bengal is getting bigger. Market regulator Sebi has asked the government to look into the operations of other companies, which could be compromising investor money like the Saradha group. The Rose Valley Group is one of them. The company has approached West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee seeking protection. Its chairman Goutam Kundu wrote to the CM on April 23 saying that the...
07:50 AM, Apr 26, 2013
