The Rediff News Bureau

Stories by The Rediff News Bureau

'Keep the faith with India and Bombay'

'Keep the faith with India and Bombay'

Rediff.com   2 Dec 2008

The Melbourne, Australia-born Roberts who, since escaping from Pentridge Prison has made a new life in India and who, famously, wrote his best-selling novel Shantaram seated in a corner table of Leopold's Cafe in South Mumbai, makes an eloquent plea on behalf of the country that changed him from convicted bank robber to much lionized author

8 foreigners killed, 22 injured in terror attacks

8 foreigners killed, 22 injured in terror attacks

Rediff.com   28 Nov 2008

M L Kumawat, secretary, internal security, quoting figures from the Maharashtra government, on Friday gave out the nationality-wise breakup of the foreigners killed in the Mumbai terror attacks

Defence minister had warned of maritime terrorism

Defence minister had warned of maritime terrorism

Rediff.com   27 Nov 2008

March 9, 2007, Defence Minister Antony cited intelligence reports to inform the Lok Sabha of the possibility that terrorists would use sea routes to enter the country. In his statement, Antony identified maritime terrorism, gun-running and piracy as major threats along India's seas, and said the government had worked out a menu of measures aimed at enhancing coastal security.

Jewish group's director, wife held hostage

Jewish group's director, wife held hostage

Rediff.com   27 Nov 2008

The director of Chabad-Lubavitch, Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg, and his wife Rivika are suspected to be among those being held hostage at its office in Nariman House, Colaba in South Mumbai, by terrorists since Wednesday night

Even in death, Rauf shrouded in mystery

Even in death, Rauf shrouded in mystery

Rediff.com   24 Nov 2008

A top Member of Parliament in the UK has asked if the government knew about the US missile strike in Pakistan which killed an on-the-run militant from the UK.

Report predicts US decline, rise of India, China,

Report predicts US decline, rise of India, China,

Rediff.com   21 Nov 2008

It is not all hosannahs for India in the report, however. Terming it as a 'complicated rise', the report says over the next 15-20 years Indian leaders will strive for a multi-polar international system, with New Delhi as one of the poles, and serving as a political and cultural bridge between a rising China and the US

US got India to block North Korean flight to Iran

US got India to block North Korean flight to Iran

Rediff.com   4 Nov 2008

The aircraft, an Ilyushin 62 owned by Air Koryo, the North Korean state airline, made a stopover in Myanmar on August 7 and sought air traffic controllers' permission to fly over India en route to Iran. Initially the air traffic control in Kolkata gave the plane the go-ahead, but around noon on August 7, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation in New Delhi messaged Kolkata cancelling the permission, reports WSJ

Men with more wives live longer, says study

Men with more wives live longer, says study

Rediff.com   20 Aug 2008

A study by Virpi Lummaa, an ecologist at the University of Sheffield, UK, says men aged over 60 from 140 countries that practiced polygamy lived on an average 12 per cent longer than monogamous men

Advani's campaign hopes to do an Obama

Advani's campaign hopes to do an Obama

Rediff.com   11 Jul 2008

For months now, the Washington Post reports, a core group of political strategists, computer specialists and management graduates have been poring over Obama's speeches and web site, his campus of change and, of course, the rhetoric of change, to nail down how Advani's campaign can be run to inspire India's untapped potential of young voters

We are today's Jews, says UK's Muslim minister

We are today's Jews, says UK's Muslim minister

Rediff.com   4 Jul 2008

Shahid Malik, who was appointed minister in the department for international development last summer by British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, said many Muslims today feel like they are aliens in their own country. He, however, made it clear that that he was not likening the prevailing situation to the Holocaust, reports The Independent, London

Rediff wins at PC World Web Awards 2008

Rediff wins at PC World Web Awards 2008

Rediff.com   16 Jun 2008

Rediff.com has been judged the overall winner in the mobile content category and rated as having the best design in the news category, at the PC World Web Awards 2008

Top US official warns of Al Qaeda attack

Top US official warns of Al Qaeda attack

Rediff.com   11 Jun 2008

Adm Michael Mullen, chairman of the US joint chiefs of staff, said despite the scale of threat, progress would be slow since Pakistan has been lagging behind in its strategy to eliminate safe havens for terrorists in the lawless Federally Administered Tribal Areas

British-Indian cop's husband convicted of murder

British-Indian cop's husband convicted of murder

Rediff.com   29 May 2008

Nisha was murdered the night after the couple celebrated their third wedding anniversary. Initially the cops believed that she was stabbed by an intruder in her home, but as the investigations proceeded the suspicion shifted to the husband when he started transferring assets in his name

Indian American to head college in California

Indian American to head college in California

Rediff.com   29 May 2008

Come January 2009, Sunder Ramaswamy, Middlebury College dean for faculty development and research and Frederick C Dirks Professor of International Economics, will be the new president of the Monterey Institute of International Studies, California, USA

Al Qaeda to call for WMD attack on West

Al Qaeda to call for WMD attack on West

Rediff.com   28 May 2008

FBI spokesperson Richard Kolko told ABC News in an email that 'there have been several reports that Al Qaeda will release a new message calling for the use of weapons of mass destruction against civilians.'

Israel has 150 N-weapons: Carter

Israel has 150 N-weapons: Carter

Rediff.com   27 May 2008

At a press conference at the annual literary Hay Festival in Wales, former president Jimmy Carter said the Jewish State has at least 150 nuclear weapons in its armoury. His answer came in response to a question on America's policy towards a nuclear-armed Iran, wherein he argued that any newly-turned nuclear State faces enormous odds

There's an Indian link to Mars landing

There's an Indian link to Mars landing

Rediff.com   27 May 2008

Prasun Desai is the project's senior engineer and Entry, Descent and Landing lead engineer, Langley Research Centre, Virginia, one of the four agencies working on the Phoenix project. The other three are NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, University of Arizona and Lockheed Martin Space Systems

Pak tells US cross-border attacks can't be stopped

Pak tells US cross-border attacks can't be stopped

Rediff.com   16 May 2008

Pakistan has more or less told the United States where it can get off in the War on Terror in effect, that the cross-border attacks on Afghanistan from Pakistan's tribal areas cannot be stopped

Israel@60: Osama to issue fresh message

Israel@60: Osama to issue fresh message

Rediff.com   16 May 2008

Al Qaeda's poster boy Osama bin Laden is all set to announce a new message on the 60th anniversary of the creation of Israel, reports ABC News' The Blotter

I know who killed my daughter, says Scarlett's mom

I know who killed my daughter, says Scarlett's mom

Rediff.com   5 May 2008

Fiona MacKeown, who visited Goa last week to follow up on the murder case, tells The Guardian that the man's identity is "common knowledge" in Goa. "I was approached by many people who told me his name. He is a powerful person with money. It would explain why the police have tried to cover up the case," she has been quoted as saying by the newspaper