News

Clinton terms anti-Islam video ‘disgusting’

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US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton Thursday slammed the anti-Islam video that has triggered waves of anti-US protests in a number of Muslim countries, terming it “disgusting and reprehensible”.

In a televised speech, Clinton stressed that the US government has nothing to do with the video, Xinhua reported.

The secretary of state said there was “no justification” for responding to this video with violence.

Clinton urged leaders of other countries to stand up and condemn the violence.

US imposes sanctions on Hezbollah leaders

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The US Thursday slapped fresh sanctions on three leaders of Lebanese militant group Hezbollah for their alleged role in aiding the Syrian government in its crackdown on opposition forces, the Wall Street Journal reported.

The US Treasury formally charged Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, and two other members of the organisation — Mustafa Badr Al-Din and Talal Hamiyah — of supporting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s forces by providing training and logistical support.

Mulayam says Third front after polls, admits PM ambitions

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Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav for the first time made clear his prime ministerial ambitions Thursday but in a shift of stance, declared the formation of the Third Front will have to wait till the general elections, which could be held prematurely.

Addressing the media at the end of the party’s two-day national executive meeting here, Mulayam Singh also announced that his party would contest the next Lok Sabha polls without forging any alliance.

Justice Altamas Kabir to be next Chief Justice of India

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Justice Altamas Kabir will be the new Chief Justice of India and will assume charge Sep 29, said official sources Thursday.

Incumbent Chief Justice S.H. Kapadia will relinquish office Sep 28.

Born on July 19, 1948 at Kolkata, Justice Kabir did his LLB and MA from the University of Calcutta.

He was enrolled at the Bar on Aug 1, 1973 and was made a permanent judge of Calcutta High Court on Aug 6, 1990.

Justice Kabir assumed the office of acting Chief Justice of Calcutta High Court Jan 11, 2005.

BJP asks PM to introspect on reasons for media criticism

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In a sharp reaction to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s views asking the media to exercise restraint, BJP on Thursday said he should instead introspect on why the press was critical of him.

BJP General Secretary and spokesperson J P Nadda said the Prime Minister as well as the Congress have for long been engaged in putting all the blame on the Opposition for all “negative events” and have also wrongly accused social activists and constitutional bodies.

Rahul Gandhi annoyed with poor quality of development works in

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Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi expressed his deep concern over poor quality of development work, particularly construction of road taken out in his Amethi constituency and directed the officers concerned to look into the matter and punish the guilty. He warned the local officials that he did not want to see any slackness in the development work and directed them to maintain quality.

Court calls ATR on complaint against Thackeray

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The Delhi Police was on Thursday directed by a court here to inform it as to what action it has taken on a complaint filed against Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray for allegedly branding Bihar natives in Mumbai as infiltrators.

Metropolitan Magistrate Neeraj Gaur directed the police to file an Action Taken Report(ATR) by September 22.

“ATR be called from SHO of concerned police station (Subzi Mandi),” the court said.

Actress says was duped, as anti-Islam film details emerge

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The origins of a crudely made anti-Muslim movie that sparked violent protests in Egypt and Libya began to slowly emerge on Wednesday, with an actress in the California production saying she was duped and was unaware it was about the Prophet Mohammad.

Cindy Lee Garcia of Bakersfield, California, who appears briefly in clips of the film posted online, said she answered a casting call last year to appear in a movie titled Desert Warrior.

CAG not competent to decide loss on basis of presumption: Cong

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Keeping up its attack on the CAG, the Congress Thursday said the auditor was “not competent enough” to decide on the loss to the government in the coal block allocation issue “just on the basis of presumptions”.

The party also said that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was “clean” and no one could raise an accusing finger at him in the wake of the CAG report and there has been “no error or wrongdoing”.

PM looking into demands of Chandy

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Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy today said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had assured that he would consider various demands of the state favourably. Talking to newsmen here, he said a delegation led by him held discussions with the Prime Minister last night and submitted a memorandum seeking immediate intervention to the state’s demands. Mr Chandy said the Prime Minister had assured the delegation that except three, all other demands in a 16-point charter would be considered favorably.

Andhra police chief orders probe into hostage drama

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Andhra Pradesh’s police chief Thursday ordered a probe into the incident in Hyderabad in which a suspended police constable took a senior police official hostage for four hours.

Director General of Police Dinesh Reddy directed a senior official of the rank of additional inspector general of police to conduct the probe and submit a report at the earliest.

Earlier, Giriprasad Sharma, a suspended head constable with the Police Transport Organisation (PTO), called on Reddy and apologized for his behaviour.

Constable apologizes for taking senior hostage

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A suspended police constable who took a senior police official hostage here Wednesday night has apologized for his behaviour.

Giriprasad Sharma, a suspended head constable with the Police Transport Organisation (PTO), Thursday called on Director General of Police Dinesh Reddy.

He told reporters that he took Superintendent of Police Lakshmi Narayana hostage to highlight his problem, corruption and other issues. He made allegations of corruption against senior officials.

He claimed the police chief promised that no case would be booked against him for taking the official hostage.

Talwars may have won over witness: CBI

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In the Aarushi murder case, the CBI failed to present a maid as witness in a special court here Thursday and claimed that the slain teenager’s parents, Rajesh and Nupur Talwar, may have won her over.

The probe agency told Special Judge S. Lal that the Talwars seemed to have won over maid Kalpna Mandal as she refused to take the witness box.

The CBI had earlier urged the court to issue summons against Mandal.

In their application, the investigators submitted that they contacted the maid and tried to persuade her to come to court for deposition but she did not.

Mamata mouths lies, says CPI-M leader

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Accusing West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee of misleading the people of the state, Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) leader Gautam Deb Thursday said the wrong policies of the Trinamool Congress-led state government had caused disenchantment among the masses.

“She lives near the famous Kalighat temple. I have heard that she is very religious. I can’t understand how she can mislead the people like this. Everyday, she claims that the government has created six lakh jobs, that is a big lie,” said Deb, addressing media persons.

Meena criticises BJP for ‘double speak’ on CAG

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Union Minister of state for Finance Nama Narain Meena on Thursday criticized the BJP for stalling parliament and its “double speak” on CAG.

“They accuse the Congress of blaming the CAG, but forget what they said about the CAG in the past. Arun Shourie had called CAG idiotic on the issue of disinvestment of Centaur Hotel,” Meena told reporters here.

Mulayam’s 3rd Front statements misleading: Rajnath

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Describing Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav’s remarks favouring a Third Front, as “misleading”, senior BJP leader Rajnath Singh here on Thursday sought a firm assurance from the SP on withdrawing support to the UPA.

“The statements of Mulayam are misleading and if he is serious on the issue of Third Front then he should give in writing that his party has withdrawn support from the Congress-led UPA,” Singh told the reporters here.

Fraud Coal block allotments would be cancelled: Ashwani

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Blaming the BJP for negative politics over coal block allotment, government Thursday said Coal blocks allotment based on fraudulent misrepresentation of facts would be cancelled and action would be initiated against allottees if found guilty.

Ashwani Kumar, Union Minister of State for Science and Technology, said that the BJP was inviting lawlessness and anarchism in the country by doing negative politics over the issue of coal block allocation.

Farooq for ‘balancing act’ on fuel price hike

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Ahead of the CCPA meeting, National Conference, a key constituent of the UPA, on Thursday suggested a “balancing act” while taking a decision to hike fuel prices and said the increase should be such that it does not put burden on people.

“Price rise (petrol) is already there. What to do?… I do not decide petrol prices. Those who produce petrol, they decide. There has to be a balancing act so that price should not be hiked so much that poor people suffer badly,” NC leader and New and Renewable Energy Minister Farooq Abdullah told reporters on the sidelines of a function here.

Deccan Chronicle Holdings reject bid for Deccan Chargers

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The Indian Premier League (IPL) team Deccan Chargers owned by Deccan Chronicle Holdings Ltd. (DCHL) remained unsold Thursday after the sole bid from PVP Ventures was rejected on the basis of the payment terms offered by them.

The Indian cricket board announced that the offer given the bidders was not acceptable to DCHL.

“The bid that was received by DCHL met the BCCI’s eligibility and suitability criteria,” said a BCCI press release.

Dr Shankar Greets Kiran, Asks Him To Quit

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Former minister Dr P Shanker Rao has said the party workers, who were working sincerely for the sake of the party, have no recognition. He said that the PCC and DCC executives, which were constituted before 2004 remain in tact till date.

Extending greetings to Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy who turned 52, Shankar Rao said the party and the government would be respected if he shed his arrogant behaviour. He also said that the Chief Minister’s father N. Amarnath Reddy was a perfect gentleman, but Kiran Kumar Reddy has not got even 10 percent of qualities of his father.

Ministers appeal OUJAC not to obstruct biodiversity meet

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The State Government on Thursday appealed to the Osmania University Joint Action Committee (OUJAC) not to bring disrepute to the government by obstructing the International Conference on Biodiversity scheduled to be held in the State Capital from October 1 to 19.

Congress ridicules Naidu’s declaration of assets

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Senior Congress leader and MLC KR Amos has ridiculed the declaration of assets by Telugu Desam Party president N Chandrababu Naidu.

Talking to reporters in the Assembly premises here on Thursday, Amos said that Naidu’s declaration of assets was a prelude to his proposed Padayatra. He said Naidu was trying to project himself as a leader with clean image before going to the people. However, he alleged that Naidu has concealed his real assets.

Muslim woman journalist sentenced in Russia

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A Muslim woman journalist in Russia was given a suspended jail term by a Moscow court Thursday for distributing material that prosecutors said contained “calls for terrorism”.

Tatyana Tarasova, a convert, was convicted of posting an “extemist” article on the internet when she was chief editor of a website belonging to Muslim rights group Islamic Committee in 2008.

She was given a suspended sentence of one year and six months after Tarasova pleaded guilty to the offence. The judge said a real jail term would be “excessively harsh”.

Chandrababu Naidu declares assets of Rs 35 Cr

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Telugu Desam Party president N Chandrababu Naidu on Thursday declared his and his family’s assets, totalling about Rs 35.59 crore.

Naidu’s assets have come down by nearly Rs 3 crore compared to last year. Naidu’s assets of Rs 31.97 lakh as on March 31 this year includes a residential house in Jubilee Hills worth Rs 23.20 lakh, an Ambassador car worth Rs 1.52 lakh and balances in Savings Bank Accounts of Rs 7.24 lakh. Last year Naidu’s personal assets were of Rs 39.88 lakh.