120 shot dead by Egyptian security forces

Protesters killed in wee hours near pro-Mursi vigil
Violence after rival rallies across the country
Cairo, July 27
Egyptian security forces shot dead scores of supporters of ousted Islamist President Mohamed Mursi on Saturday, witnesses said, days after the army chief called for a popular mandate to wipe out "violence and terrorism".
Men in helmets and black police fatigues fired on crowds gathered before dawn on the fringes of a round-the-clock sit-in near a mosque in northeast Cairo, Mursi's Muslim Brotherhood said.
"They are not shooting to wound, they are shooting to kill," said Brotherhood spokesman Gehad El-Haddad. "The bullet wounds are in the head and chest."
A Muslim Brotherhood website said 120 people had been killed and some 4,500 injured. A Reuters reporter counted 36 bodies at one morgue, while health officials said there were a further 21 corspes in two nearby hospitals.
Activists rushed blood-spattered casualties into a makeshift hospital, some were carried in on planks or blankets.
One ashen teenager was laid out on the floor, a bullet hole in his head. Egypt's Interior Minister Mohamed Ibrahim told reporters only 21 had died and denied police had opened fire, accusing the Brotherhood of exaggerating for political ends.
Ibrahim said local residents living close to the Rabaa al-Adawia mosque vigil had clashed with protesters in the early hours after they had blocked off a major road bridge. He said that police had used teargas to try to break up the fighting.
Well over 200 people have been killed in violence since the army toppled Mursi on July 3, following huge protests against his year in power. The army denies accusations it staged a coup, saying it intervened to prevent national chaos.
The Arab world's most populous state is battling economic woes and struggling with the transition to democracy two years after Hosni Mubarak was swept from power in the Arab Spring.

Tension mounts

Men in helmets and black police fatigues fired on crowds gathered before dawn on the fringes of a round-the-clock sit-in near a mosque in northeast Cairo, Mursi's Muslim Brotherhood said.

A Muslim Brotherhood website said 120 people had been killed and some 4,500 injured.

Takht directs DSGMC ex-chief Sarna to do religious service

High priests ask him to withdraw plea filed against construction of ’84 riots memorial
Amritsar, July 26
Akal Takht Jathedar Giani Gurbachan Singh today directed former Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC) president Paramjeet Singh Sarna and his aide Manjeet Singh Sarna to immediately withdraw the petition filed by them in the Delhi High Court opposing the construction of a memorial at Gurdwara Rakab Ganj Sahib in New Delhi to remember those killed in the 1984 riots.
The duo has also been asked to hold an ‘Akhand Path’ in the memory of Sikhs killed in the riots at Gurdwara Rakab Ganj. They too have been told to listen to gurbani, organise ‘langar’, and perform ‘sewa’ and ‘ardaas’ for the “mistakes committed by them”.
Akal Takht Jathedar Giani Gurbachan Singh announced the decision from the balcony of the highest temporal seat of Sikhs as Sarna and his aide stood outside. The Jathedar said the decision on Sarna was reached following deliberations among the Sikh high priests after the ex-DSGMC chief gave his clarification on the issue. While the Akal Takht Jathedar maintained that asking Sarna to organise an ‘Akhand Path’ was ‘Dharmik Sewa’ (religious service), Takht Patna Sahib Jathedar Giani Iqbal Singh said it could be termed as ‘tankhah’ (religious punishment).
Sarna said he will certainly obey the directions of Akal Takht. “Whether the decision is right or wrong, it has come from Akal Takht and I fully accept it,” he said. Saran even took a dig at Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal. “I am not Badal. I follow all the directions of Akal Takht,” he said.
Sarna, however, clarified that he had not resorted to any religious defiance. “I clarified my position before the Sikh high priests too, but Akal Takht still chose to give these directions.”
Saran said the Sikh clergy told him that he had committed a ‘big blunder’ while referring to some “objectionable contents” in the petition filed by him in the Delhi High Court. “I told them the paragraphs in question were removed from the petition the very next day,” he said.
There was difference of opinion among the high priests on the decision regarding Sarna. While the Akal Takht Jathedar was in favour of seeking an apology from Sarna for his mistakes, Takht Patna Sahib Jathedar Giani Iqbal Singh differed with him. Earlier, Sarna, in his six-page clarification, said, “I had filed petition not to oppose the memorial but to remind the DSGMC that it could not be built on the premises of the gurdwara which is the epitome of the supreme sacrifice made by Guru Teg Bahadur.” He also gave various examples to support his argument. The Jathedar said a blueprint of the memorial had been sought from the DSGMC. “We will take a decision in this regard soon,” he said, adding that the affidavit filed by the DSGMC in the Delhi HC will also be examined.
SGPC member Navtej Singh Kauni, who was summoned for attending the congregation of Dera Sacha Sauda, could not make it to Amritsar as he was unwell. He has now been summoned in the next meeting. The Akal Takht Jathedar said he has issued directions to the SGPC for initiating legal action against those who tamper with Sikh Gurus’ photos on social networking sites.

Those who faced Takht’s wrath earlier

• Former President Giani Zail Singh
• Former Union Home Minister Buta Singh
• Former Punjab CM Surjeet Singh Barnala
• Budha Dal chief Baba Santa Singh
• Nanaksar Kaleran (Ludhiana) chief Baba Ghala Singh 

New sex abuse crisis in Scottish Catholic church

Priest claims he was abused by older cleric, and church is punishing him for speaking out

London: The Catholic church in Scotland faces a fresh sex-abuse crisis involving some of the country’s senior clerics. The Observer has seen documents suggesting a scandal similar to the one that led to the resignation of Cardinal Keith O’Brien as Archbishop of Edinburgh and St Andrews. As a seminarian, a priest known as “Father Michael”, who wishes to remain anonymous while an appeal to Rome is made, said he was sexually assaulted by a parish priest, Father Paul Moore. Father Michael said the church failed to deal appropriately with his complaint over a 17-year period, and that he is now being ousted from the church while, he feels, his abuser is being protected. Father Michael is recovering from cancer but has been refused permission by Bishop John Cunningham of Galloway to reduce his workload during his convalescence. The church has demanded that he resign or face removal. The priest, who reported Moore to the police in 1997, said he feels this treatment amounts to punishment for whistle-blowing. “It’s a tragic story,” said Father Michael. “It’s about cover-up, deceit and lies. The church is a big mafia, and they trash you. They will do everything to destroy me.” The bitter internal division comes just days after the “new broom” appointment of Vatican diplomat Leo Cushley to replace O’Brien, who resigned after admitting inappropriate sexual behaviour towards priests in his care. Father Michael requested Cardinal O’Brien’s intervention in 1996 and again in 2013. O’Brien expressed “shock”, he said, but said he could not help. Father Michael also appealed to Cunningham’s predecessor, Bishop Maurice Taylor, and, recently, to O’Brien’s temporary successor, Archbishop Philip Tartaglia. Tartaglia, the senior cleric in Scotland, claimed he could not help as he had no authority in the matter. “I think it is better for me to return these documents to you,” he wrote in March 2013. Father Michael alleged the assault took place at St Quivox church in Prestwick in 1996. “I woke to find Moore fondling me under the bedclothes. I placed a chair behind the door and would sometimes hear it rattling,” he said. He claimed the incident was repeated and he didn’t know where to turn. While Moore was away from the parish, a young man visited. He claimed to Father Michael that Moore had sexually abused him as an altar boy. He gave Father Michael details of another alleged victim. Father Michael claims that Taylor insisted he remain in the parish and advise Moore to visit him. Confronted by Father Michael, he alleges Moore reacted violently and a scuffle broke out. Suddenly, Moore began to weep, confessing everything, including inappropriate behaviour with relatives. He also admitted the abuse to Taylor. Moore emerged, euphoric, from a subsequent meeting with Taylor. He understood that the bishop said Moore had come voluntarily, so nobody could blame him. Father Michael said he was instructed by Taylor to remain silent. But he became suicidal and informed police about the incident with Moore. Taylor later said that he spoke to the authorities, but that was after Father Michael had reported the matter to the police. The Procurator Fiscal told Father Michael the case would proceed, but it did not happen. Moore, who now lives in a church-owned home, is reported to have said that he regretted any of his actions being seen as abusive, and he had not intended them to be so. Taylor refused Father Michael’s repeated pleas for help, it is understood, only allowing him counselling when a centre waived the fee. Moore, however, was sent to Southdown, a Canadian treatment centre for clergy with psychological problems, for reasons that were not made clear. “A letter has been issued to the parish saying I am on leave of absence after sabbatical,” he wrote to Father Michael. When Moore returned from Canada he went to Fort Augustus Abbey, following which Taylor tried to place him in a home for the elderly in Scotland. Protests ensued and Moore retired to the church property. “He should have been laicised,” insisted Father Michael. When Taylor retired, Father Michael lobbied his successor. “I know Maurice made mistakes but it’s too late,” Bishop Cunningham allegedly told him. “What would Maurice think of me?” In 2004, Father Michael was posted to a three-church parish. He merged two but when he was diagnosed with cancer, doctors advised him to drop the third. In February, the Diocese’s vicar general, Willie McFadden, told parishioners to put complaints in writing. Father Michael was told there were 23 complaints but more than 130 letters of support, including one from the parish council, which has petitioned Rome. “This is really about his stance over Paul Moore,” one member claimed. In June, Bishop Cunningham insisted that Father Michael, who is in his mid-fifties, retire. Still physically weak, he sought counselling. Supportive letters from both his doctor and his therapist were sent to the Bishop but he feels they were used against him. Last week, a letter signed by Bishop Cunningham told Father Michael he must retire because of “your ill-health, both physical and psychological, as you yourself have detailed to me in your letters and in those sent by your medical doctors and psychotherapist”. Father Michael has been told to leave by mid-August. “What I have had to face is something very evil. Had I known what I would experience when I was lying on the floor at ordination, I would have stood up and walked out. I focused my life on priesthood, thinking it was about goodness, kindness and everything I wanted to aspire to. I discovered it was nothing like that.” The Catholic Church refused to comment, “due to the complex legal situation, criminal, civil and canonical”.

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UK set to go ahead with controversial visa bond

* Scheme due to start in November
* Will affect some but not all visitors
London: Indian visitors to the UK could soon be asked to post a £3,000 (Rs 2.7 lakh) bond before they are granted a six- month visa to the UK.

The pilot scheme, which is due to start this coming November, will affect some but not all visitors from India, Nigeria, Kenya, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Bangladesh. It aims at reducing pressure on the National Health Service which currently offers anyone in the UK free access to doctors and hospitals.

In London, a Home Office spokesman said: “In the long run, we are interested in a system of bonds that deters overstaying and recovers costs if a foreign national has used our public services.”

"We are planning a pilot that focuses on those who overstay and examines a couple of ways of applying bonds. The pilot will apply to visitors' visas but if the scheme is successful we would like to be able to apply it on an intelligence-led basis on any visa route and any country,” said the spokesman.

Sources in London stress that only so-called “high-risk” visitors will be asked to pay the bond which will be refunded after they return to their home countries. The scheme will not apply to all 500,000 visitors from the six Commonwealth countries who are estimated to visit the UK annually, although it is visitors from these countries who are charged with comparatively high levels of abuse by staying on long after their visas expire.

The planned scheme was first proposed earlier this year, but then postponed after an outcry among the affected Commonwealth countries. India in particular was concerned by its implications and questions were raised in both New Delhi and London about what impact it might have on bilateral trade. There were also mutterings in New Delhi at the time about ‘reciprocity’ if the scheme goes ahead.

Apart from India, Nigeria and Ghana are the other Commonwealth countries that take a particularly dim view about the bond, asking London to reconsider its policy.

Meanwhile the Home Office, which will be charged with implementing the cash bond scheme, has been involved with another controversial scheme after sending vans around London telling illegal immigrants to “go home.”

The vans carry the message: ‘In the UK illegally ? Go home or face arrest.’ But a spokesman for the Lib Dem members of the ruling coalition government criticised the posters as ‘distasteful’ and ‘ineffective.’

THE SCHEME

To prevent overstaying, ‘high-risk’ visitors will be asked to pay a £3,000 (Rs 2.7 lakh) bond before they are granted a six- month visa to the UK. The bond money will be refunded after they return to their home countries

THOSE WHO WILL GET HIT

• Visitors from India, Nigeria, Kenya, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Bangladesh
• The scheme will not apply to all 500,000 visitors from these six Commonwealth countries who are estimated to visit the UK annually.

Sangrur students selected to visit Nasa

SANGRUR: Six students of a Sangrur village school have been selected to visit NASA(US). The students of Tara convent school of Malerkotla and pioneer public school of village Gajjanmajra in the district have been invited to visit Nasa.

Tara group of companies chairman Jaswant Singh Gajjanmajra said the three students of Tara school Gazal Tiwana, Khushi Jain, Dhruvi Jain and students of pioneer school Harman Kaur, Harmanjot Kaur, Gurkeerat Singh will leave on September 4 with Tara School principal Parminder Kaur Mander. He said it is big achievement for small schools of small place.

Ludhiana-Delhi Shatabdi via Sangrur to run seven days a week

The bi-weekly Shatabdi train between Ludhiana and Delhi will run seven days a week, Union Railway Minister Mallikarjun Kharge said in Rohtak on Sunday.

The express train will also have a stoppage at Jind in Haryana, said the Union minister.

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Chinese troops violate LAC in Ladakh

Jammu, July 21

Amidst bonhomie exhibited by Beijing, around 100 Chinese troops breached the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh yet again and held banners asking the Indian troops to vacate “their” territory.

“They carried out the latest misadventure for two days last week in Chumar sector — on the southern end of eastern Ladakh,” said an Army source.

The officer said the latest incursion by the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) resulted in a face-off. “They crossed the LAC and held banners asking us to vacate ‘occupied’ territory and go back. There was a face-off but status quo was restored on July 18 via set mechanisms of peace and tranquility diplomacy in place along the Indo-China border,” he said.

China had started showing a lot of interest in the Chumar region lately, he said. “They have become more active in that area.” The incursion led to an eyeball-to-eyeball confrontation between the two armies after which the Chinese troops retreated.

“The matter has been conveyed to the Army Headquarters, Defence Ministry, the Prime Minister’s Office and the External Affairs Ministry,” he said. A meeting with Chinese officials, including the area commanders, had been sought at Spanggur Gap, he added.

On April 15-16, around 50 troops of the PLA had intruded 19 km into the Indian Territory in Daulat Beg Oldie (DBO) sector in Ladakh and pitched tents. The same night, two Chinese helicopters flew into DBO sector supervising the intrusion by the PLA troops.

The Indian Army had rushed a contingent of 60 troops of Ladakh Scouts to the area, resulting in an eyeball-to-eyeball situation between the two sides for three weeks before the stalemate ended on May 5 after hectic diplomatic exercises.

On June 12, the Indian Army detained three persons of Chinese origin along the LAC in the Sultanchusku area of Leh district.

On June 17, Chinese troops intruded into Chumar sector and vandalised some observation bunkers besides damaging a surveillance camera. The broken camera was returned to the Army at a flag meeting on July 3 in the Chushul area, a day before Defence Minister AK Antony flew to China to enhance “strategic cooperative partnership” and jointly maintain “peace and tranquility” along the LAC. On July 14, the Chinese again violated Indian airspace in Chumar sector when two of its helicopters surveyed the area “satisfactorily” before returning to their territory.

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Content of cinema has declined: Randhir Kapoor

New Delhi, Sat Jul 13 2013 - Yesteryear actor Randhir Kapoor feels today's films have improved technically but content has declined over the period of time.

Randhir, 66, who helmed projects like Kal Aaj Aur Kal, Dharam Karam and Henna, said the interpretation of emotion has changed today. "Our films have improved technically but content wise we have declined. The meaning of emotion in a film has changed. I think it's all due to the society because cinema is the reflection of our social life," he said.

The actor was in the capital to promote Prabhudeva's family dramaRamaiya Vastavaiya along with Vinod Khanna,

Poonam Dhillon, producer Kumar Taurani and debutante Girish Kumar.

Khanna, 66, was also of the same view about Indian cinema, which is celebrating its 100 years. "There is no demand of great story today. People just want entertainment. But technically, we are on par with Hollywood," said the actor, who is also playing an important role inRamaiya Vastavaiya. He suggested that the film industry should introduce novelists and writers to writing screenplays.

Poonam is also making a comeback in the silver screen after a gap of two years with the film. She is playing Girish's mother and Randhir's wife. Praising the debutante actor's hard work, Poonam said, "Girish has worked really hard for the film. As a newcomer it is really a tough role because it has got too many shades in it. He starts off a carefree guy and towards the end he turns out to be a responsible and passionate lover," she said.

The film is the remake of Prabhudeva's directorial debut Telugu blockbuster Nuvvostanante Nenoddantana and also stars Shruti Haasan. She was not present at the promotion here as she is busy shooting another project.

Ramaiya Vastavaiya will hit theatres on July 19.