New York: President Donald Trump's nominee for administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Seema Verma was approved by the Senate in a 55-43 vote. Verma is now second Indian-American to be in charge of a plum administration post, after Nikki Haley- the US Ambassador to the United Nations. Verma's confirmation comes as congressional Republicans escalate their efforts to repeal and replace Obamacare. Verma, who is an ally of Vice President Mike Pence, has been working on health care policy for more than a decade and developed an alternative Medicaid plan in Indiana. When Obamacare became law, Verma helped Pence, who was then Indiana governor at the time, tweak the plan and sell it to the Obama administration.
Madhesis serve ultimatum to Nepal PM
Kathmandu: The agitating Madhesi group has threatened Nepalese PM Prachanda that they would withdraw their support to his government if their demands were not addressed in a week. They had earlier served a five-point memorandum to Prachanda. In the memorandum, Madhesi leaders have demanded withdrawal of local elections' programme, discussion on the Constitution amendment bill in the Parliament, probe of police firing in Saptari and action against persons found guilty in the firing incident.
Lanka to release Indian fishermen
New Delhi: India's Ministry of External Affairs said that all 85 fishermen, who are in custody of the Sri Lankan Government, would be released soon. "The Government of Sri Lanka has informed the High Commission of India in Colombo that all 85 Indian fishermen, currently in custody, will be released. We understand that the instructions in this regard have been issued. We are awaiting further orders from Sri Lanka in this regard," MEA official spokesperson Gopal Bagley said. With regards to the killing of an Indian fishermen allegedly by the Sri Lankan Navy, Bagley said that the High Commission has reached to "the highest possible levels in Colombo" and was assured of "thorough investigation" into the matter.
Sikh man arrested for killing daughter-in-law in US
Washington: A Sikh man was arrested for killing his daughter-in-law during an argument at the family's home in California's Suisun City, the police said. According police, Amarjit Singh, 63, confessed that he was upset with his daughter-in-law Shameena Bibi for being "disrespectful." The attack took place earlier this week and Singh told the police that he was angry with Bibi over a bicycle and confronted her in the garage of their home in the Solano County city, east of the San Francisco Bay. The Indian-American attacked his 29-year-old daughter-in-law with a hammer, the police said. Bibi was living with her husband, two-year-old son, and husband's parents. Her mother-in-law and son were inside the home when the fatal attack occurred, said officials.
Pope open to married men being priests
Berlin: Pope Francis said in an interview that the church may consider ordaining married men who could potentially then work in remote areas faced with a shortage of priests. “We must think about whether viri probati are a possibility,” Francis said referring to older, married men who are already involved in church business. “Then we have to decide what tasks they can take on, for example in remote communities,” he said when asked about lack of priests in many places. Pope Francis said in May 2014 that “there are married priests in the Church” citing married Anglican ministers who joined the Catholic Church, Coptic Catholics and the priests of some Eastern churches.
IS jihadis using Telegram to dodge sleuths in Pakistan
Islamabad: The Islamic State terror group militants in Pakistan are dodging authorities by using a messenger app to communicate instead of calling each other to avoid detection. The militants have been using the Telegram messenger app and not the traditional communication channels like mobile phones to avoid detection and so far their strategy has proved more than successful, a police official said. The application has proved beneficial for militants to communicate and the most important feature is that it is `self-destructible', he said. “Once a voice message is sent via Telegram app it is deleted automatically from the phone so you have no back-up and that is why it is currently impossible for the police and intelligence agencies to intercept it,” he said.
Indonesian Buddhists get sharia lashes
Jantho: Two Bhuddists in Indonesia's Jantho city opted for sharia law after they were accused of cockfighting. They were lashed in front of residents in the city of Jantho, Aceh province. Caning is common in Aceh for breaking the province's strict Islamic laws, for offences ranging from drinking alcohol, to gambling to gay sex. In the past only Muslim residents could be caned but that changed in 2015, when Aceh's regulations were overhauled. Non-Muslims can either choose to be tried under the national legal system or sharia.
17 trapped miners found dead in China
Beijing: Rescuers found bodies of 17 miners who had been trapped underground after the mine accident in Heilongjiang Province on 9 March, state-run Xinhua news agency quoted local officials as saying. The workers were in a cage which suddenly fell down during operation after its electric cable caught fire at Dongrong Second Mine of the Shuangyashan branch of Longmay Mining Holding Group. A total of 256 miners escaped, local officials said.
Egypt's ex-President Hosni Mubarak to be released
Cairo: Former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak was on Monday ordered released in view of his having served his maximum pre-trial detention sentence. In May 2014, Mubarak was sentenced to three years in jail after he was found guilty of appropriating millions of Egyptian pounds which had been allocated to the presidential palaces. The Attorney General's release order in this regard declared that Mubarak served his term during the pre-trial detention period, according to Al-Ahram.
Back in April 2011, an Egyptian prosecutor ordered Mubarak's detention for 15 days pending an investigation into charges of corruption and abuse of power. The former President was subsequently tried for murdering protestors who demonstrated against his rule in 2011.
23 Asian countries meet in Pakistan to mull union like EU
ISLAMABAD: Representatives of 23 Asian countries are meeting in Islamabad to talk about creating a regional block similar to the European Union. The chairman of Pakistan's upper house of the parliament, Raza Rabbani, addressed the gathering. He urged the participants to take steps to ensure "that the destiny of Asia must not be directed by the capitalist Western" states. However, with huge rivalries among the countries of the continent, the possibility of an Asian bloc similar to the EU is remote. India and Afghanistan have both sent envoys to the gathering, which comes amid increasingly tense relations the two of them have with Pakistan.
Pak govt to act against Imran Khan
Islamabad: The Pakistan Government has decided to take action against Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan under cybercrime and defamation laws for what it described as trying to influence the Supreme Court's judgement in the Panama Papers case and damage Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's reputation through vilified media campaigns. According to reports, Minister of State for Information Marriyum Aurangzeb and the ruling PML-N's MNA Daniyal Aziz said that the PTI chief had tried to damage the Prime Minister's reputation by levelling false allegations against him during his speeches and on the social media. The government had a right to proceed against him under the country's cybercrime and defamation laws, they added.
Muhammad Ali's son stopped again at airport
Washington: One day after Muhammad Ali Jr spoke with members of Congress about being detained at a Florida airport last month, he was briefly stopped again before boarding a flight on Friday afternoon, his lawyer said. When Ali arrived at Reagan National Airport in Washington for a flight to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, he gave his Illinois identification card to a JetBlue agent to get his boarding pass, said his lawyer, Chris Mancini. Almost immediately, Ali was told that there was a problem and that the agent needed to call the department of homeland security, Mancini said. Ali, 44, was asked his date of birth, where he was born and his social security number, Mancini said. After answering the questions, he was told that his Illinois-issued identification card, which expires in 2019 but is not a driver's licence, was invalid for flying. Mancini said that the episode lasted between 20 and 25 minutes.
Sharif asks clerics to preach peace
Lahore: Pakistan's PM Nawaz Sharif appealed to clerics to use the mosque's pulpit to spread the message of peace and counter the extremist mindset. Sharif made the remarks while addressing a seminar at Jamia Naeemia in Lahore, a leading seminary of majority Sunni school of thought, on the eighth death anniversary of its founder Maulana Sarfaraz Hussain Naeemi, who was killed by militants. Sharif said the religious scholars should promote true teachings of Islam and stand up against those who are sowing seeds of discord and disunity.
Man tries to burn down India's store in US
Washington: A 64-year-old man attempted to burn down a convenience store owned by the Indian-Americans in Florida as he mistakenly thought it was owned by Muslims. Richard Lloyd, who wanted to “run the Arabs out of our country,” pushed a dumpster in front of the Port St Lucie store and set the contents on fire. The store was closed at the time of the incident and firefighters extinguished the fire without it causing any property damage. “It's unfortunate that Lloyd made the assumption that the store owners were Arabic when, in fact, they are of Indian descent,” St Lucie County Sheriff Ken Mascara said. He said Lloyd's mental health will be evaluated and the state attorney's office will decide if this was a hate crime.
`Ghosts' force Brazil Prez to flee palace
Rio de Janeiro: Brazil's President Michel Temer blamed bad vibes and even ghosts for driving him from his official residence in the capital Brasilia, a Brazilian weekly said. Temer surprised many this week with the revelation that he has decamped from the Alvorada Palace and moved with his former beauty queen wife and their son down the road to the smaller vice-presidential residence. Temer, 76, and his 33-year-old wife Marcela found the modernist Alvorada place spooky. “I felt something strange there. I wasn't able to sleep right from the first night. The energy wasn't good,” Temer was quoted as saying.
