New Delhi, Against the backdrop of the death of the Delhi gang-rape victim, the Army has issued advisories to all its formations across the country against holding new year parties. Advisory has been issued to all formations that they should not organise new year parties, Army officials said here. Army chief Gen Bikaram Singh and his wife Bubbles Singh will visit patients in Army Research and Referral Hospital here and Base Hospital on the first day of the new year and distribute sweets. Congress president Sonia Gandhi too has announced that the party will not be celebrating the new year following the incident. Amid outpouring of anger and grief in the country, the body of the 23-year-old victim was flown here from Singapore early on Sunday morning and cremated within ...
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New Delhi, Indian's main Opposition party, the BJP, has questioned the government for conducting the Delhi gang rape victim's funeral in secret. "(Performing the last rites) in a hush hush manner was avoidable. We understand the right of privacy. But this raises lot of curious questions," CNN IBN quoted BJP spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad as saying. However, minister of state for home affairs RPN Singh defended the government saying: "We wanted to respect the privacy of the family. Even the media has done the same. We didn't have any intention (to do anything) secretly. (The last rites) was done according to the wishes of the family." The body of the 23-year-old victim was cremated within hours of its landing in the national capital on Sunday. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi received the body and the victims's family members, who were on the same flight, at Delhi airport. The special flight from Singapore landed here around 4.15am and the victim's body was taken to her residence before being cremated. Media was not allowed in the ...
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Singapore, The distraught family of the young gang-rape victim hopes her death will contribute to making India a safer place for woman, an Indian diplomat said on Saturday. Indian high commissioner TCA Raghavan said the family was "deeply affected" by the death of the woman who was brutally raped and tortured in a moving bus in Delhi on December 16 and left to die by a roadside. But the family was also moved by a large number of messages of support they had received from everywhere, Raghavan told the media. "They hope that the death of their child will lead to a better future for women in Delhi and India," he quoted them as saying. The gang-rape victim was shifted out of Delhi's Safdarjung Hospital to Singapore on Thursday in a desperate bid to save ber life after she suffered multi-organ failure. ...
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Singapore, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and President Pranab Mukherjee on Saturday deeply mourned the death of the Delhi gangrape victim in a Singapore hospital calling her a brave girl and the daughter of India who fought till very last for dignity and life. President Pranab Mukherjee said: "She was a brave and courageous girl who fought till the very last minute for her dignity and her life. She is a true hero and symbolises the best in Indian youth and women." "I convey my condolences to her parents and family who have faced this adversity with fortitude and grace. I pray that they have the strength to bear this loss The nation will mourn the passing of this brave daughter of India." "At the same time, let us resolve that this death will not be in vain. We will do everything possible to ensure that such an incident never happens again," said the President. "I request everyone to maintain peace and calm and call upon the authorities to take all necessary steps to bring the perpetrators of this ghastly crime to justice," said Mukherjee. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said: "I join the nation in conveying to her family and friends my deepest condolences at this ...
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Singapore, The 23-year-old Delhi gang rape victim has reached Singapore and she has been admitted to the ICU of Mount Elizabeth Hospital here, said reports. The hospital specializes in multi-organ transplant procedures. Large parts of the victim's intestines were removed as a result of the injuries she suffered from the attack. The victim was moved to the airport on Wednesday from a hospital in Delhi in an ambulance and her papers have been arranged by the government. Doctors who have been treating the woman at Safdarjung Hospital did not issue the usual medical bulletin on Wednesday, but have maintained that even she has been responding to the treatment, her condition has remained critical. As the condition of the woman remained worrying, authorities have been under tremendous pressure from all fronts as the incident sparked protests nationwide. In their medical bulletin on Tuesday doctors attending the victim said she continued to be critical but is improving and is a shade better than she was a day ago. The 23-year-old medical student was raped and brutalized with an iron rod on a moving bus and then thrown off the vehicle along with her male companion on ...
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New Delhi, An India-Singapore Friendship Group in the Indian parliament was launched here Thursday on the visit of a four-member parliamentary delegation from Singapore. The delegation, led by the country's parliament speaker Michael Palmer, called on Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar at the Parliament House here. On the occasion, a 22-member India-Singapore Friendship Group was launched in the Indian parliament, a statement said. The group is headed by Congress MP B.K. Handique, and has P. Karunakaran, Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) MP from Kerala, and Shanta Kumar, Bharatiya Janata Party member from the Rajya Sabha, as vice presidents, besides other members from both the houses, the statement said. Commending the initiative, Meira Kumar hoped the group would further bolster bilateral ties. Palmer said that a similar group exists in the Singapore parliament and hoped that the two groups would be "warm and proactive in their approach, rather than being routines bodies". Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong is visiting India on the invitation of Prime Minister Manmohan ...
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Singapore, The Pentagon will shift more Navy warships to the Asia-Pacific region over the next several years, and by 2020, about 60 percent of the fleet will be assigned there as part of a new strategy to increase US presence in Asia, defense secretary Leon Panetta said Saturday. While noting it may take years to complete the transition, Panetta assured his audience at a security conference in Singapore that US budget problems and cutbacks would not get in the way of changes. He said the defense dpartment has money in the five-year budget plan to meet those goals. Speaking at the annual Shangri-La Dialogue conference, Panetta provided some of the first real details of the Pentagon's impending pivot to the Pacific. "It will take years for these concepts, and many of the investments that I just detailed, but we are making those investment in order that they be fully realized,'' Panetta said in a speech opening the conference. "Make no mistake, in a steady, deliberate and sustainable way, the United States military is rebalancing and is bringing an enhanced capability development to this vital region.'' His promises, however, are likely to be met with scepticism from ...
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Singapore, Singapore's bank lending almost stalled in October, with the Singapore dollar lending growing by a modest 0.3 percent to 406.5 billion Singapore dollars ($312.7 billion), statistics released by the Monetary Authority of Singapore showed. This is in comparison with the growth of 3.1 percent for September, local daily Business Times said Thursday. Business loans shrank by 0.1 percent to 233.3 billion Singapore dollars ($179.5 billion), reported Xinhua. Analysts said they expected the bank loan growth to slow further in 2012. The government warned last week that the Singapore economic growth is expected to slow sharply to just 1-3 percent next year and could stall if the developed economies slide into ...
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Singapore, Singapore's economic growth is likely to be relatively slower in the coming decade compared with its past high growth, Minister of State for Trade and Industry Teo Ser Luck said Wednesday. The city state will face tougher global competition and a tightened supply of foreign workers, he said. Singapore government moved to tighten its immigration and foreign worker policies after the voters voiced their concerns over the inflow of foreigners in the general election earlier this year. Nevertheless, Teo said the outlook for Asia is much brighter despite the gloomy global economic climate, reported Xinhua. He urged local enterprises to tap on government schemes to increase productivity to deal with rising business cost and look overseas for growth and success. The government will continue to work with local enterprises to identify opportunities, especially niche areas and markets where there are more growth and expansion opportunities, he ...
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