Music composer M S Viswanathan passes away

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Chennai: Acclaimed music director and composer M S Viswanathan (86) passed away at a private hospital here. His end came around 4.30 am on Tuesday. Viswanathan had been undergoing treatment for age-related ailments.

Viswanathan's body has been kept for the public to pay homage at his residence in Chennai.

Viswanathan has done music for more than 2000 movies, including 100 Malayalam ones.

Born at Elappully in Palakkad in 1928, he moved to Chennai at the age of 10. Since 1945, he has been active in music composition.

12-day Eid holiday bonanza for soudi govt staff

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RIYADH: The Eid Al-Fitr holiday has been extended for government employees from 10 to 12 days, according to the Ministry of Civil Services. This is the longest Eid break in many years. 
“All government employees are entitled to a period of Eid Al-Fitr holidays beginning on July 10 (Friday), continuing through the weekend, and ending on July 21, to spend this blessed time with their families,” an official at the ministry said on Thursday, the last working day before the break.
The private sector, however, will have six days of holidays, commencing on July 16. 
A large number of people flock to various tourist destinations across the Kingdom during the Eid break, while many government agencies organize a number of festivals and events during the holiday to attract people to domestic tourism, which is growing constantly. Many Saudi families also go abroad looking for a vacation away from home.
According to travel and tour offices in Riyadh, most people have booked tickets for their preferred destinations in advance, including Dubai, Bahrain, Istanbul, Kuala Lumpur, London and other European destinations.
Earlier, the government had slashed working hours with the advent of the fasting month.

India’s Supreme Court orders probe into job scam, deaths

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NEW DELHI: India's top court Thursday ordered a federal investigation into a multimillion-dollar college admission and government job recruitment scandal in central India said to be linked to dozens of mysterious deaths.

The Supreme Court ordered the Central Bureau of Investigation, India's FBI, to take over from the state police the investigation into the alleged irregularities in job recruitment and college admissions as well as the deaths of nearly 50 people associated with the scam.
Police have arrested hundreds of parents and students for paying bribes and officials for allegedly rigging eligibility tests for admission to medical colleges and recruitment for jobs in the police force, schools and banking sector in Madhya Pradesh state.
The court also directed the Madhya Pradesh government to respond to a petition demanding the removal of the state's federally appointed governor after questions were raised about his involvement in the scandal. Gov. Ram Naresh Yadav's son Shailesh Yadav died mysteriously in May after the younger man was alleged to have accepted bribes in the governor's house.
Opposition Congress party leaders had been demanding a federal inquiry into the scam, accusing the Madhya Pradesh government of trying to influence the outcome of the inquiry by the state police.
Congress leader Digvijay Singh demanded the resignation of Madhya Pradesh's top elected official, saying Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan should step down to allow for a free and fair investigation.
"Students who have been arrested in connection with the scam should be made witnesses for the state," Singh said. "Isn't it strange that hundreds of students and their parents are in jail, while those who took the bribes are roaming free," he told reporters Thursday.
More than 2,500 people have been accused in connection with the scandal and around 1,900 of them have been arrested.
Dozens of people, either witnesses or accused participants in the scam, have died over the last five years in inexplicable circumstances. Congress leaders have alleged that some top state bureaucrats and politicians accepted millions of dollars in bribes to facilitate the admissions.
The scandal has come to be known in India as the "Vyapam scandal," after the Hindi language acronym for the state-run employment agency in Madhya Pradesh. For the past couple of weeks, Indian media have given wide coverage to the sudden deaths of a number of people connected to the scam.
The scandal hit the front pages of newspapers once again last weekend after the death of an investigative journalist who had gone to Madhya Pradesh to speak with witnesses.
The following day, the body of a medical college dean was found in a New Delhi hotel. The official, Arun Kumar, headed a medical college in Madhya Pradesh that was involved in the admissions scandal. Kumar was helping the state police in its investigation.
The many suspicious deaths of people linked to the scam have raised concerns among civil society groups who feel the deaths were in some way connected. Many of the dead were younger than 40 and autopsy reports in most cases were inconclusive.
Madhya Pradesh home minister Babulal Gaur dismissed the opposition's charge that witnesses and whistle-blowers were being targeted to shield top politicians and bureaucrats. He said most of the deaths were due to natural causes.

Prince Saud mourned

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JEDDAH: Veteran former Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al-Faisal died on Thursday at the age of 75, two months after he stepped down following 40 years in the job, family members and a Foreign Ministry spokesman said.
Nawaf Al-Faisal, a relative, announced the death on Facebook, while a ministry spokesman also confirmed the death on Twitter and expressed condolences.
I wish I could deny the rumor of the news of your death," the spokesman Osama Nugali tweeted.
Prince Saud's nephew Saud Mohammed Al-Abdullah Al-Faisal also acknowledged the death. "May God accept him in paradise," he wrote on Twitter. 
Prince Saud, who was appointed in 1975, was the world’s longest serving foreign minister.
The prince, who was born in 1940, was one of the highest profile members of Saudi's ruling elite and steered the diplomacy of the world's leading oil exporter for four decades before stepping down in April for health reasons.
Prince Saud retained an influential position in Saudi foreign policy circles even after his replacement, serving as an official adviser to King Salman, who took power in January, and was sometimes present when foreign leaders met the monarch
Prince Saud's tenure covered Israeli invasions of Lebanon in 1978, 1982 and 2006, the Palestinian intifadas that erupted in 1987 and 2000, Iraq's invasion of Iran in 1980 and Kuwait in 1990, and a US-led coalition's occupation of Iraq in 2003.

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Bosnian women tell tale of loss through objects of memory



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  SORROW: A woman cries as she touches a truck carrying 136 coffins of newly identified victims of the 1995 Srebrenica massacre in the town of Visoko, near Sarajevo on Thursday. (AFP)

out Europe’s worst carnage since the end of World War II — a massacre of 8,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys that a United Nations court calls a genocide. As Dutch peacekeepers stood helplessly by, the Serbs stormed the Srebrenica safe haven, separating men and boys from women. They drove the males away in trucks and massacred 2,000 on the spot. About 15,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys fled into the woods; the Serbs hunted 6,000 of them down and killed them one by one — some 8,000 in all. The bodies were dumped in mass graves that were bulldozed to hide the evidence, causing remains to be jumbled up into a jigsaw puzzle that has yet to be fully solved. About 1,000 victims remain to be found. Many families have reburied a few bones identified as belonging to their loved-ones through DNA testing.

Two decades later, Srebrenica’s women still grieve. Here are some of their stories told through cherished objects.
Fazila Efendic, 64, keeps her husband Hamed’s old terracotta-color shirt in the closet. He was 46 when the Bosnian Serb troops shot him dead in the forest. “When I miss him, I open the closet, touch the shirt and I can’t say if I feel better or worse then,” she says. “But I must touch it.” It’s the same thing with the school diplomas of her only son Fejzo, who was 20 when he was killed in the Srebrenica massacre. “He won several regional competitions in math and physics. He was a very good child.” She showed a white handkerchief with blue stripes that her son gave her before Srebrenica fell. 
Meva Hodzic takes out a tobacco box, a rusted Swiss knife and a key from a plastic box, and with them fall crumbs of clay. She puts the clay back in the bag, because it’s a kind of relic, too: It comes from the mass grave where her husband was found after Serbs killed him in the forest, as he fled carrying the three objects.

Pay revision commission recommends salary revision once in 10 years

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 Thiruvananthapuram: Along with raising the pay package and other benefits of state government employees on par with the Central government staff, the Kerala Pay Revision Commission has recommended pay revision once in 10 years.

In the report tabled on Assembly on Thursday, it also wanted constitution of Migration Development Bank for judiciously utilizing the NRI investment.

This is the fourth report presented by the panel chaired by Dr K Pushpangadan. Dr K V Joseph, Dr Mary George and Dr Nagarajan Naidu are other members.

This recommendation comes against the backdrop of the panel preparing to submit the pay revision report of government employees and teachers to government on Friday.

The panel warned that the pay revision in every five years creates acute finacial crisis. In the current situation, the salary is hiked immediately as the wages, pension as well as the arrears of previous revision are settled, it noted.

US Army to downsize, lay off 40,000 soldiers by 2018

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Washington: The US Army has announced that it will cut 40,000 soldiers by the end of 2018, shrinking its size from 490,000 to 450,000 due to budget constraints, an official statement said.

The statement issued by the US Department of Defense on Thursday said the reduction of force structure will occur in fiscal years 2016 and 2017. The end-strength reduction of 40,000 will be completed by the end of 2018, and will be accompanied by a reduction of 17,000 army civilian employees.

The army will convert the 3rd Infantry Division's 3rd Brigade Combat Team at Fort Benning, Georgia, and the 25th Infantry Division's 4th Airborne Brigade Combat Team at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska, into smaller units -- manoeuvre battalion task forces -- by the end of 2017.

The statement said the army would try to draw down the active force and strength gradually in order to 'minimise the turbulence we have with soldiers and their families'.

In 2012, the regular army of the US had a strength of about 570,000 soldiers. In 2013, the army announced a drawdown of 80,000, that brought the size of the Army to 490,000 soldiers at present.

Budget constraints are forcing the army's reduction, said Lt Gen Joseph Anderson, US army's deputy chief of staff for operations and plans, at a Pentagon press conference on Thursday.

'These were very difficult decisions to make as all of our installations and their communities offer tremendous value to our army and the nation,' he said.

'In the end, we had to make decisions based on a number of strategic factors, to include readiness impacts, mission command and cost.'

IANS

ISL auction: Mumbai City FC bag Chhetri for Rs.1.20 crore

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Mumbai: India national football team captain Sunil Chhetri was bagged by Mumbai City FC for a massive Rs.1.20 crore at the 2015 Indian Super League (ISL) players auction here on Friday.

Four-time All India Football Federation (AIFF) player of the year, Chhetri had the highest base price in the auction at Rs.80 lakh. The second edition of the ISL is scheduled to start on October 3.

The prolific forward has made 87 international appearances and scored 50 goals for India.

Chhetri plays for Bengaluru FC in the I-League and helped the club to the title in 2014, becoming the joint top scorer in the league that year. Chhetri didn't play in the the first edition of ISL after his club refused to release him for the tournament.

Speaking after being selected in ISL, Chhetri said: 'I am really excited to be a part of ISL this season.'

The auction of 10 footballers, which is ongoing here on Friday, has been divided into two phases, Pool A and Pool B, with five players in each group. Chhetri was the star action of Pool A of the auction.

Chhetri, Eugeneson Lyngdoh, Anas Edathodika, Thoi Singh and Jackichand Singh comprise Pool A.

Midfielder Eugeneson Lyngdoh, who had a base price of Rs.27.5 lakh, was bought by FC Pune City for a whooping Rs.1.05 crore. In 62 I-League appearances, he has scored eight goals. The 28-year-old played also played for Bengaluru FC in the I-League last season.

Defender Anas Edathodika, 28, was bought by Delhi Dynamos for Rs.41 lakh. He featured for Pune FC in I-League last year. He has made 53 appearances for his club so far and has a base price of Rs.40 lakh.

Bengaluru FC's midfielder Thoi Singh, with a base price of Rs.39 lakh, was bought by Chennaiyin FC for Rs.86 lakh. The 24-year-old has scored eight goals in 37 I-League appearances.

I-League club Royal Wahingdoh's medio Jackichand Singh was lapped up by FC Pune City for Rs.45 lakh. The 23-year-old had a base price of Rs.20 lakh. The midfielder has five goals to his name in 18 I-league appearances.

IANS

Modi-Sharif talks: Mumbai terror trial to be expedited

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 Ufa (Russia): India and Pakistan on Friday agreed to expedite the trial of the 26/11 Mumbai attack, hold a meeting of their National Security Advisors and to cooperate with each other to eliminate terrorism after talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif here.

Reading out a joint statement, the foreign secretaries of both countries, Pakistan's Aizaz Ahmed Chaudhary and India's S. Jaishankar, said that the Modi-Sharif meeting was held in a cordial atmosphere.

'The two leaders exchanged views of bilateral and regional interest.'

Chaudhary said the two leaders agreed that 'India and Pakistan have a collective responsibility to ensure peace and promote development'.

'To do so they are prepared to discuss all outstanding issues.'

'Both leaders condemned terrorism in all its forms and agreed to cooperate with each other to eliminate this menace from South Asia,' he said.

They also agreed on five steps, including a meeting in New Delhi between the two NSAs to discuss all issues connected to terrorism.

An early meeting of the DG of the Border Security Force of India and the DG of the Pakistani Rangers followed by meeting of the DGMOs (Director Generals of Military Operations).

A decision for release of fishermen in each other's custody along with their boats within 15 days mechanism for facilitating religious tourism and both sides agreed to discuss the ways and means to expedite the Mumbai case trial, including additional information like providing voice samples.

As many as 166 people, including foreigners, were killed in Mumbai in a terror attack on November 26, 2008. The attack was carried out by 10 terrorists from Pakistan.

Prime Minister Sharif invited Prime Minister Modi to visit Pakistan for the SAARC summit 2016, and Modi accepted the invitation, said Jaishankar.

Both the officials refused to take questions.

IANS

Pay Commission report on Monday

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 Thiruvananthapuram: The 10th pay commission headed by Justice C N Ramachandran Nair will submit its report to the government only on Monday.

Though it was earlier said that the report would be submitted on Friday, it was deferred after Finance Minister K M Mani leaving for Kochi following the death of Additional Advocate General P C Iype.

The pay commission has reportedly recommended a pay hike ranging from Rs 2,000 to Rs 7,500. Last time it was Rs 1,104 – Rs 4,490. The revised pay package will be implemented with retrospective effect from July, 2014.

The commission also proposes a 10-15 percent hike in pension while various allowances are increased from 10-50 percent.

With the dearness allowance of 80 percent is merged with the basic pay, it is expected that the staff would get a reasonable hike in salary. Also, a recommendation has been made to discontinue the special pay for employees in quasi-judiciary, PSC and technical sessions and also the personal staff of ministers.