Racial
attacks: Anger spills on to Oz streets
After a series of unprovoked attacks on their
community in the last few days, things are finally
coming to a head with over 5000 angry Indian students
taking to the streets in Melbourne on Sunday.
The peace rally, organised by the Federation of
Indian Students of Australia (FISA) to create
awareness about hate crimes against Sourabh Sharma,
Shravan Kumar, Baljinder Singh and many others,
began at around 12 noon from the Federation Square
and students then marched all the way to the Victorian
State Parliament building.
Besides a huge turnout from the Indian community
in Australia, the rally also saw some Australians
join in to express their solidarity. There was
huge police presence, with mounted squads and
armed cops maintaining vigil. But while the mood
at the rally was aggressive, it was not violent,
claims Saurabh Azad who was present at the scene.
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Meira Kumar to be first female LS Speaker?
Meira Kumar, who was sworn in as a Cabinet minister
after UPA’s decisive victory in the Lok
Sabha elections, on Sunday appeared to be a clear
frontrunner to claim the post of Speaker in the
15th Lok Sabha.
The indication came as Meira Kumar met Congress
chief Sonia Gandhi at her residence on Sunday,
a day after it became clear that after installing
Pratibha Patil as the country’s first woman
President during its first five-year term, the
Congress-led UPA was all set to give Lok Sabha
its first woman Speaker. Apart from Meira Kumar,
the name of Girja Vyas was also doing the rounds
for the coveted post yesterday.
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Punjab and Haryana HC accepts SGPC definition
of 'Sikh'
Punjab and Haryana High Court accepted the definition
of Sikh as mooted by Shiromani Gurdawara Parb
handak Committee(SGPC) and ruled that persons
with shorn hair can't be described Sikh. Observing
that keeping hair unshorn is an essential component
of the Sikh faith, the Punjab and Haryana High
Court Saturday upheld denial of admission to some
students to a medical college on grounds of having
plucked eyebrows or trimmed beard.
"Having dealt with the historical background
of the Sikh religion, the legislative enactments
and views expressed by scholars, we are satisfied
all this leads to one unambiguous answer that
maintaining hair unshorn is an essential component
of the Sikh religion," the Court said.
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Bankruptcy looms for GM; Chrysler awaits fate
General Motors has cleared a couple of key roadblocks
on the ailing automaker's route to an almost certain
bankruptcy filing on Monday. Early Saturday in
Berlin, Germany's finance minister said a plan
was approved for Canadian auto parts maker Magna
International Ito move ahead with a rescue of
GM's Opel unit.
That news came after the United Auto Workers
union on Friday ratified a package of concessions
designed to reduce GM's labor costs. The developments
appeared to put in place two more pieces of the
automaker's massive restructuring effort as its
board of directors meets Saturday for a second
day to decide what GM will do when its government
restructuring deadline arrives Monday.
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Djokovic wilts, Serena blasts "cheat”
A listless Novak Djokovic made a shock exit
at the French Open on Saturday, while Serena Williams
provided more fireworks by labelling her opponent
a "cheat". The fourth-seeded Serb, tipped
as the man who could deny Rafael Nadal a record
fifth consecutive title after snapping at the
Spaniard's heals throughout the clay court season,
instead became the biggest name to tumble out.
Djokovic hopes were snuffed out 6-4, 6-4, 6-4
in the third round by Germany's Philipp Kohlschreiber
before women's second seed Williams created some
drama of her own.
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