Thursday, 23 May 2013 14:37
Posted by Parvez Jabri
NEW DELHI: Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh pledged on Thursday to crack down on corruption in the defence sector after a string of recent graft scandals left his government facing renewed calls to step down.The premier said he was committed to making the process of buying arms and other military hardware more "transparent, smooth, efficient and less vulnerable to unethical practices"."Adequate defence preparedness is critically dependent on sound defence acquisition policies," Singh said in Gurgaon, ...
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COLOMBO: A Sri Lankan monk set himself on fire on Friday to protest the slaughter of cattle, in the country's first attempt at self-immolation by a monk, police said.The monk doused himself with a flammable liquid and set himself ablaze near a temple in the central town of Kandy during an important Buddhist festival, police said."Policemen near the temple doused the flames and rushed the monk to hospital," police spokesman Buddhika Siriwardena told AFP."Just before setting himself alight, he shouted that his action was to protest the slaughter of cattle."The monk was in a critical condition in a Colombo hospital, police said.The protest came as the country celebrated Wesak, the commemoration of the birth, enlightenment and the death of the Buddha, in the Buddhist-majority country which marks the occasion with two days of holidays.Eating meat is common in Buddhist Sri Lanka, although according to the religion killing animals is a ...
NEW DELHI: Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh pledged on Thursday to crack down on corruption in the defence sector after a string of recent graft scandals left his government facing renewed calls to step down.The premier said he was committed to making the process of buying arms and other military hardware more "transparent, smooth, efficient and less vulnerable to unethical practices"."Adequate defence preparedness is critically dependent on sound defence acquisition policies," Singh said in Gurgaon, ...
KABUL: The number of women jailed in Afghanistan for "moral crimes" such as fleeing abusive husbands has risen sharply, Human Rights Watch said on Tuesday, undermining claims that the status of women has improved.The campaign group said interior ministry statistics revealed that the number of women and girls convicted of "moral crimes" in the war-torn country increased by 50 percent over 18 months from 400 to 600.According to the HRW report, most of the 600 ...
NEW DELHI: Visiting Chinese Premier Li Keqiang pledged on Tuesday to open up domestic markets to Indian businesses and narrow a gaping trade deficit between the two countries."As for Indian concerns over the trade deficit, the Chinese side is willing to provide facilitations for more Indian products to access the Chinese market," Li said during a speech in New Delhi."I am confident we have the ability to mitigate the trade imbalance between our two countries," ...
TEHRAN: Iran hanged two convicted spies on Sunday, one found guilty of working for Israel, the other for the United States, the Tehran prosecutor's office announced.Mohammad Heydari was convicted of "receiving payment to provide intelligence on various security issues and national secrets in repeated meetings with the Mossad," Israel's intelligence agency, a statement said.Koroush Ahmadi was found guilty of "providing intelligence on various issues to the CIA."The statement did not give further details.Iran accuses its ...
