India

Mumbai, May 19: Lesbians and gays want the UPA to bend it for them. It’s the law we are talking about here. The ‘queer’ community wants the alliance, which got a clear mandate, to amend IPC’s Section 377 that discriminates against them

They have voted. Now they want their pound of flesh. Young members of the gay and lesbian community want the “youth-friendly” Congress to help them live life their way.

Give us the right to love: Photograph by gay activist Sunil Gupta

Mumbai, May 19: Egg donors scramble to sell for reasons that vary from no job to wanting a nose job. Lookers & the learned are making a killing

The reasons are many a new house, a jobless husband, the economic downturn or even a nose job. An overwhelming desire for a nest- egg ensures several women in the city under the age of 33 are increasingly turning to egg donations, say doctors. Good looks and good education can earn the donor as much as
Rs 50,000.

New Delhi,May 18: Except in 1996 and 1998, Delhi has never sent more than one woman and sometimes none to the Lok Sabha to represent the capital.

Of the 17 women contestants in the fray in the recently held elections, Congress candidate Krishna Tirath is a lone woman who has been elected to the 15th Lok Sabha to raise the voice of strong 1.1 crore electorate, including over 49 lakh woman voters, in Parliament.

The sitting MP from erstwhile Karol Bagh Lok Sabha seat has defeated her nearest rival Meera Kanwaria of the BJP in the reserved constituency, Northwest Delhi.

Islamabad,May 09: Pakistan — As the president of Pakistan preparedfortalks in Washington on Wednesday, the security forces here, underAmericanpressure to show greater resolve in combating militants, claimed tohavekilledatleast 35 Taliban fighters in hotly contested areas of the country’s northwest.

Kathmandu, May 03: The violence and uncertainty that had gripped Nepal three years ago during deposed king Gyanendra’s military-backed rule returned Sunday to haunt the Himalayan republic once more as the ruling Maoist party fired its old foe, army chief General Rookmangud Katawal, causing its allies to consider quitting the coalition government.

Patna, May 03: Tension prevailed in Bihar’s Sasaram town after the body of an old Muslim man was dug out from his grave near Sher Shah’s tomb and thrown on a pile of garbage, allegedly by activists of a Hindu outfit, police said Sunday.
Rohtas district’s superintendent of police Vikas Vaibhav told IANS over telephone Sunday morning that there was tension in the town – the headquarters of Rohtas district – and police were keeping a close watch.

Ahmedabad, May 01: The Supreme Court-constituted Special Investigation Team, probing certain Gujarat riot cases afresh, on Friday filed a chargesheet in Naroda Gam case in which BJP leader and former state minister Maya Kodnani is one of the prime accused.

“We have submitted a chargesheet against the accused in a local court here. The charges have been framed under IPC Sections 120 (B) for criminal conspiracy, 302 for murder, 307 for attempt to murder, 395 and 397 for loot and 143 to 147 for rioting,” a senior official in the SIT said.

Mumbai, April 30: Film stars, industrialists and other celebrities may have turned up but the 10 parliamentary constituencies in Mumbai and Thane notched only 5.5 percent voting in the first three hours of polling for the final phase of Maharashtra’s general elections Thursday.

However, the turnout is expected to increase later in the day as people finish their morning chores before stepping out to vote, a polling official said.

Siliguri, April 30: There was a poll boycott in two booths of West Bengal’s hill district of Darjeeling though enthusiastic queues of people were seen elsewhere under a thick blanket of fog and intermittent rain Thursday.

Fifteen to 20 percent votes were cast in the first two hours of the polls for the only Lok Sabha constituency of the district – Darjeeling – from where Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) heavyweight Jaswant Singh is trying his luck.

Kathmandu, April 29: As Nepal’s ruling Maoist party continued its war with the army, pushing for the ouster of the controversial army chief, the UN has expressed concern, saying strained ties between the major political parties could block the long-awaited unification of the Maoists’ guerrilla fighters with the state troops.

Lucknow, April 16: The people of this town are still star-struck with Mohammed Azharuddin turning Congress candidate and campaigning here. They have huge expectations from India’s former cricket skipper. They want him to put the sheen back on the city known for its brassware.

It is called the ‘Brass City’ , but Moradabad’s famous brass industry is going through a bad time thanks to the global economic downturn. Hundreds of small units have closed down due to lack of orders from abroad. And everyone here wants their MP to articulate their problems in New Delhi and to find solutions.

Jammu, March 26: The Srinagar-Kargil Highway, closed since December last owing to heavy snowfall in the region, is expected to be thrown open to traffic from April 7, a senior official said here Thursday.

“With snow clearance operations being undertaken around Zojila pass, the Srinagar-Kargil road is expected to be thrown open for vehicular traffic by April 7, 2009,” Deputy Commissioner (Kargil) Satish Nehru said.

Lucknow, February 28: A controversial question on Azamgarh’s alleged links with terror has been scrapped from the Uttar Pradesh civil services preliminary examination following objections from the Ulema Council, it was announced Saturday.
The Uttar Pradesh Public Service Commission said in a statement: ‘After giving thought to the objections from a certain community, the question has been scrapped.’

The commission has also blacklisted the person who set the question, the statement said.

Lucknow, February 27: Days after a caller from Pakistan warned of terror strikes in Uttar Pradesh’s Saharanpur district, the police have received an anonymous letter naming sites where the attacks would take place, an official said Friday.

‘We received the letter Thursday night from a local journalist, who got a call on his mobile phone to collect the letter placed near a pole outside City Palace shopping complex in Saharanpur,’ district police chief Amit Chandra told IANS over phone.

Mysore, February 24: Jai Ho, these two words are on everyone’s lips today. The man who said these words is Vijay Prakash from Mysore. “It is with the grace of Goddess Chamundeshwari that the song won an Oscar and I am proud to be a co-singer.

I am grateful to my father, mother and brother for their unstinted support,” an emotional Vijay Prakash told TOI after Jai Ho won the Oscar.

Chandigarh, February 25: A day after former Haryana deputy chief minister Chander Mohan alias Chand Mohammed denied disowning her,

wife Fiza demanded on Tuesday that Congress president Sonia Gandhi take action against the Kalka Congress MLA “for running down the dignity of a woman”.

In a brief fax sent to Mohali Police from the UK on Monday, Chand, son of former chief minister Bhajan Lal, categorically denied changing his Islamic faith and abandoning Fiza.

New Delhi, February 24: The Haryana government hurrying to auction off what it calls the”remaining stones” of Khori Jamalpur and Sirohi may be a bid to bypass a new set of guidelines that Haryana officials agreed to during a meeting with the central empowered committee (CEC) of the Supreme Court.

These are now under consideration of SC and will probably be taken up

during the hearings in the matter between March 18-20.

The state government, at a meeting with the CEC and the Forest Survey of India on January 7,

Ahmedabad, February 24: The Gujarat Secondary and Higher Secondary Education Board declared its plan of action on Monday to curtail invigilators from any misconduct for the forthcoming class X and XII exams beginning from March 17.

Mumbai, January 17:Mumbai Police’s crime branch has registered an offence against Colaba Fishermen Colony resident Anita R. Uddaiya for attempting to mislead investigators in the Nov 26 terror attacks, a senior official said here Friday.

Mumbai, January 17:Mumbai Police’s crime branch has registered an offence against Colaba Fishermen Colony resident Anita R. Uddaiya for attempting to mislead investigators in the Nov 26 terror attacks, a senior official said here Friday.