London: The operations of MI5, MI6 and GCHQ would undergo sweeping changes, Parliament’s secret intelligence watchdog said. The blueprint, to be published by the Intelligence and Security Committee, will set out "very radical" reforms to the law to help security services keep pace with the "tremendous changes in technology" that are allowing terrorists to evade detection online. Sir Malcolm Rifkind, the committee’s chairman, said that intelligence agencies should be given updated powers to access suspects’ mobile phone records, emails and internet messages, when authorised by a senior Cabinet minister. "The biggest threat has to be a potential terrorist attack," he said. The developments will widen the Coalition split between David Cameron and Nick Clegg over the need for new laws to fight terrorism.
Duke to speak about sex charges
London: The Duke of York will speak publicly for the first time since claims about his sex life were made public. Prince Andrew is to address 300 business leaders and international politicians at his annual reception at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. The party - which is being paid for by the drinks company Diageo and KPMG, will be the first occasion on which he has been seen in public since the sex allegations were published. The funding will be seen as a show of support from the City for the government’s former businesses ambassador, following lurid claims about his links to the billionaire Jeffrey Epstein during a Florida legal case.
British Jews no longer feel safe after the Paris attacks
London: British home secretary Theresa May said that Jews in the country no longer feel safe living here and she sounded the alarm against a new wave of antisemitism. She said that many members of the country’s 260,000-strong Jewish community now felt vulnerable going about their daily lives, after a poll last week found that 43 per cent said they felt life in Britain was getting worse. Tensions have been building since gunmen attacked a kosher bakery in Paris ten days ago, while a terror cell uncovered in Belgium last week is feared to have been targeting Jewish schools. Police said that they had stepped up patrols in Jewish communities across the UK.
Cameron asks British firms to give pay rise to workers
London: Prime Minister David Cameron has asked British companies which are making huge profits following the fall in oil prices to give pay rise to workers. He said that he wanted companies in Britain which have seen profits hit a 16-year high in recent months, to pass on the success to their employees.
Obama backs his 'great friend' Cameron
Washington: US president Barack Obama backed his “great friend” David Cameron as the leaders agreed on joint action on the world economy, Iran, Russia and countering violent Islamism. Obama was speaking at the end of two days of talks at the White House during which the US president went out of his way to help his ally before the election.
11-year-old responsible for his town’s one fifth crimes
London: The police have accused an 11-year-old boy responsible for one fifth of all crimes committed in Shepton Mallet in Somerset in November. Of the 50 offences committed there, the boy was accused by police of ten and charged with nine, including assault, arson, criminal damage, theft, handling stolen goods and threatening behaviour.
Factions trying to seize power in Saudi Arabia
Riyadh: Factions in Saudi Arabia vie for control of the world's largest oil exporter amid crises at home and abroad following the declining health of King Abdullah. The future of the monarchy is at stake as it approaches a historic and potentially unsettling transition, with power passing to a younger generation. The 90-year-old king, hospitalised two weeks ago, has tried to secure his dynasty, placing his sons in key positions of power. However, rival clans have designs on the throne and all sides are scrambling to secure their share of the staggering oil wealth. “Everyone is waiting. The immediate succession is secure but beyond that, things are unclear. Behind the scenes, people are fighting like crazy to position themselves,” one government adviser said.
Kamala Harris to run for US Senate
Washington: The Indian-American community is on track to make its debut in the US Senate with California's attorney general Kamala Harris, a “good friend“ of President Barack Obama, deciding to run for a seat vacated by party veteran Barbara Boxer. Various California papers reported that Harris is going to announce on her decision to run. “She's not testing the waters. She's charting the course. She's in with both feet,” one of her advisors was quoted as saying. Although she won a second term as California's attorney general only last November, speculation that she has set her sights higher has coursed through the political grapevine after both Boxer and her fellow senator from California, Diane Feinstein, indicated in recent weeks that they are finished with the Senate.
30 militants killed in Afghan operations
Kabul: At least 30 militants have been killed after the Afghan security forces waged offensives in two provinces, police said. Afghan army and border police, backed by army helicopter gun-ships, pounded several hideouts of militants in eastern Kunar province's Dangam district, Xinhua quoted provincial police chief Abdul Habib Sayyedkhel as saying. Twenty one militants have been killed so far," he added. The operation will continue before the militants in the area are cleared, he said. The district has been the scene of fierce fighting after Taliban militants launched frequent attacks in apparent efforts to take control of the district center in the mountainous province over the past couple of months.
NRI sets record for Chicago home buy
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Washington: Mumbai-born, Chicago-based technology entrepreneur Sanjay Shah has purchased the 15,000 square feet, 89th floor penthouse in Trump Tower for $ 17 million - the priciest residential real estate transaction in Chicago's history. Shah currently lives in Chicago's South Barrington with
wife and two daughters, is itself a sprawling 10,000 square feet. Shah had only a foggy idea, befitting an apartment that provides a panoramic, but often-misty 360-degree vista of the Windy City. He's sure he is not going to move from his current residence, which is two minutes from his work place, compared to the 45-minute drive through Chicago rush hour to the penthouse. He may use it as second home - or a guest house to host his friends and clients. And as a hotspot for fundraisers and philanthropic activities.
2014 was Earth's hottest year in recorded history
Washington: According to two separate analyses by NASA and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) scientists 2014 was Earth's warmest year in modern record since 1880.
The 10 warmest years in the instrumental record, with the exception of 1998, have now occurred since 2000. This trend continues a long-term warming of the planet, according to an analysis of surface temperature measurements by scientists at NASA's Goddard Institute of Space Studies (GISS) in New York. Since 1880, Earth's average surface temperature has warmed by about 1.4 degrees Fahrenheit (0.8 degrees Celsius), a trend that was largely driven by the increase in carbon dioxide and other human emissions into the planet's atmosphere. The majority of that warming has occurred in the past three decades. While 2014 temperatures continue the planet's long-term warming trend, scientists still expect to see year-to-year fluctuations in average global temperature caused by phenomena such as El Nino or La Nina.
Bobby Jindal wants to be known as American
Washington: Asserting that he didn't believe in hyphenated identities, Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal has said that his parents came to the US from India four decades ago to become Americans and not Indian-Americans. He invoked his ethnic heritage to make a call for immigrant assimilation and called people who talked about skin pigmentation as the "most dim-witted lot" around. "My parents came in search of the American Dream, and they caught it. To them, America was not so much a place, it was an idea. My dad and mom told my brother and me that we came to America to be Americans. Not Indian-Americans, simply Americans," Jindal said in a prepared remarks that he is scheduled to deliver. "If we wanted to be Indians, we would have stayed in India. It's not that they are embarrassed to be from India, they love India. But they came to America because they were looking for greater opportunity and freedom," Jindal said, explaining the reason why he does not like to be called or described as an Indian-American. "I do not believe in hyphenated Americans. This view gets me into some trouble with the media back home. They like to refer to Indian-Americans, Irish-Americans, African-Americans, Italian-Americans, Mexican-Americans, and all the rest. To be clear - I am not suggesting for one second that people should be shy or embarrassed about their ethnic heritage," he said. "I am explicitly saying that it is completely reasonable for nations to discriminate between allowing people into their country who want to embrace their culture, or allowing people into their country who want to destroy their culture, or establish a separate culture within," he said.
