News

Pentagon hails maritime guidelines for Pacific region

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The US Defence Department Wednesday hailed the maritime guidelines adopted by naval leaders at the Western Pacific Naval Symposium (WPNS) in China.

“The Code for Unplanned Encounters at Sea — we call them CUES — offers guidelines for maritime encounters at sea,” Xinhua quoted Pentagon spokesperson Steven Warren as saying at a press briefing.

“It offers safety procedures, basic communications plans and basic maneuvering instructions for naval ships and naval aircraft during unplanned encounters at sea,” he said.

Chhattisgarh goes to polls

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Balloting for seven Lok Sabha seats in Chhattisgarh began Thursday in the third and final round of polling in the state, officials said.

The state has 11 Lok Sabha seats.

————–IANS

Madhya Pradesh votes for LS, assembly

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Balloting for 10 Lok Sabha seats in Madhya Pradesh and one state assembly seat began Thursday, officials said.

This is the third round of polling in the state. Madhya Pradesh sends 29 representatives to the Lok Sabha.

———-IANS

Uttar Pradesh votes

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Polling for 12 Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh began Thursday, officials said.

As many as 188 candidates are in the fray in the third round of polling in the state.

Balloting is being held at 21,946 polling stations where 94,806 poll officials have been deployed.

Around 20 million voters, including nine million women, are eligible to vote.

The first two rounds saw 21 Lok Sabha constituencies going to polls.

Uttar Pradesh has the largest share of Lok Sabha seats among all states, and sends 80 representatives to the Lok Sabha.

—————-IANS

Jharkhand votes

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Balloting for four Lok Sabha constituencies in Jharkhand began Thursday in the third and final round of polling in the state, officials said.

Voters turned up early at the polling stations, in a bid to beat the heat.

As many as 72 candidates are in the fray.

In the first two phases, voting was held in 10 out of the 14 Lok Sabha constituencies.

Polling in these Maoist-affected constituencies is scheduled to end at 4 a.m. due to security reasons.

————–IANS

Assam votes for six Lok Sabha seats

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Balloting for six Lok Sabha seats in Assam began Thursday in the final round of voting in the state, officials said.

Enthusiastic voters turned out to cast their ballot, as long queues were seen at most polling booths.

As many as 74 candidates are in the fray. Over nine million electors, including more than 4.5 women, are eligible to vote.

Voting is taking place at 11,994 polling booths where 47,976 poll officials have been deployed.

In the first two rounds, voting was held in eight of the total 14 Lok Sabha constituencies in the state.

—————IANS

Bihar votes for Lok Sabha, assembly

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Balloting in Bihar for seven Lok Sabha seats and two state assembly seats began Thursday, officials said.

Voting is expected to pick up as the day progresses.

Balloting for the Lok Sabha and state assembly bye-polls is being held simultaneously.

As many as 108 candidates are in the fray for the Lok Sabha seats and 10 for the two assembly seats.

This is the third round of polling in the state. Voting for the 40 Lok Sabha constituencies will be completed in six phases.

Polling for 13 Lok Sabha seats was completed in the first two phases.

——–IANS

Kashmir’s Anantnag votes

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People turned up early at polling booths as voting for the Anantnag Lok Sabha seat in Jammu and Kashmir began Thursday, officials said.

As many as 12 candidates are in the fray in Anantnag, one of six Lok Sabha constituencies in the state.

Over 1.2 million electors are eligible to exercise their franchise in 1,615 polling booths.

This is the third round of voting in the state. Balloting will be completed in five phases. Voting in two Lok Sabha constituencies has been completed.

———-IANS

Voting begins for West Bengal’s LS seats

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Voting for six Lok Sabha seats in West Bengal began Thursday in the second round of polling in the state, officials said.

As many as 78 candidates are in the fray.

Balloting is taking place at 9,755 polling booths.

In the first phase, voting was held for four Lok Sabha seats. West Bengal sends 42 representatives to parliament.

———IANS

Rajasthan votes for Lok Sabha

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Balloting in five Lok Sabha constituencies in Rajasthan began Thursday, marking the second and final round of voting in the state, officials said.

As many as 81 candidates are in the fray.

Over eight million electors, including 3.7 million women, are eligible to vote in 9,113 polling stations where 192,000 poll officials have been deployed.

The first phase saw 20 constituencies going to the polls.

———IANS

Maharashtra votes

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Polling for 19 Lok Sabha seats in Maharashtra began Thursday in the third and final round of voting in the state, officials said.

As many as 338 candidates are in the fray.

Balloting is being held at 34,343 polling booths where 262,724 poll personnel have been deployed.

Over 31 million voters, including more than 14 million women, are eligible to vote.

The first two phases saw 29 of the 48 Lok Sabha constituencies going to polls.

———–IANS

Puducherry votes begin

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Polling for the lone Lok Sabha seat in the union territory of Puducherry began Thursday, officials said.

A total of 30 candidates are in the fray in the former French colony.

As many as 901,357 voters, including 469,128 women, are eligible to exercise their franchise.

Balloting is taking place at 905 polling booths where 5,700 poll personnel have been deployed.

——–IANS

Tamil Nadu votes for LS, assembly

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Voting for all 39 Lok Sabha seats in Tamil Nadu and by-poll for one state assembly seat began Thursday, officials said.

Tamil movie actor Rajnikant cast his vote at a polling booth near his residence here.

There were reports of some electronic voting machines (EVMs) non-functioning but officials sorted the issue.

As many as 846 candidates are in the fray for the Lok Sabha seats and 14 in the bye-poll for the Alandur assembly seat.

Voting is being held in a single phase in 60,817 polling stations, out of which 9,226 have been identified as sensitive ones.

Israeli air force strikes terror cell in Gaza

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The Israel Air Force struck a terror cell in the Gaza Strip Wednesday afternoon that was poised to fire rockets into southern Israel, the media reported.

Four people were reportedly wounded in the attack in the city of Beit Lahia in northern Gaza, Palestinian media quoted medical officials in the Hamas-ruled territory as saying, according to Xinhua.

The Israeli military confirmed in a brief text message that it carried out a counter-terrorism operation with the assistance of Shin Bet, the internal security service, in northern Gaza.

United Muslim Forum emergency meeting today

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According to the information furnished by Mr. Mohammed Raheemuddin Ansari, General Secretary of United Muslim Forum an emergency meeting of the Forum will be held at 11 a.m. today at Madina Mansion, Narayanguda Hyderabad to review and revise the candidatures of some of the candidates about whom certain objections have been raised.

–Siasat News

Jamiatul Ulema decides to approach Gujarat High Court for the release of Maulana Abdul Qavi

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After the rejection of Bail Petition of Maulana Abdul Qavi, Jamiatul Ulema has decided to approach Gujarat High Court. It may be noted that special POTA court of Ahmedabad rejected the bail petition of Maulana Abdul Qavi treating him as absconding for the past 10 years. The advocates of Jamiatul Ulema produced more than 72 proofs to show that he was never absconding since past 10 years. It is understood that political pressure must have been exerted on the case for not releasing him on bail. Under the supervision of Mr. Mahmood Paracha, Advocated a team of legal experts consisting of Mr.

Dept. of Minorities Welfare – Bifurcation process in progress

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Governor of A.P. has instructed the Chief Secretary to finish the process of bifurcation of the State as early as possible. In accordance with his instructions, the Dept. of Minorities Welfare is also getting bifurcated. A Secretary level official will be incharge of Telangana region whereas Commissioner of Minorities Welfare will be made incharge in Andhra Region. It is reported that Secretary of the Dept. of Minorities Welfare will also shoulder the responsibilities of Commissioner of Minorities Welfare in Telangana State.

Urdu Shareef High School reduced to two rooms

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Urdu Shareef High School completed 100 years of its existence. There was a time when the students used to take pride in getting admission in this school due to its high standard. It was housed in Devdhi Iqbaluddola, Shah Gunj. It had 38 rooms but the old building is in dilapidated condition and hence it has been shifted to another place. It is now running two rooms. The old building is now running the factory. Education Department should take care to save this school.

–Siasat News

Summer vacation for schools

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Dept. of School Education issued orders that all the schools in Telangana and Andhra regions will have vacation from 24th April to 11th June. They will reopen on 12th June for the academic year 2014-15.

Telangana and Andhra states would be formed on 2nd June. Keeping this in mind the syllabus have been changed to highlight the local cultures of both the areas. The printing of text books from 1st to 10th Standard have been completed. During the past 20 years this is the first time that the printing process of the text books has been completed before the reopening of schools.

Holiday on 30th April in Telangana and 7th May in Seema Andhra

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Commissioner of Labour announced that in all the 10 districts of Telangana there will be holiday on 30th April on account of polling in these areas whereas 7th May has been declared as public holiday in Seema Andhra region.

He has instructed all the employers to give holiday with wages to ensure polling on these days.

–Siasat News

MBT candidate Farhath promises to open Charminar mosque

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MBT candidate for Yakutpura Assembly constituency Mr. Majeedullah Khan Farhath in a public meeting held at Rain Bazar Chaman told that other parties are making the future of the youths dark by playing politics on temple issue. They should have ensured opening of Charminar Masjid but they exploited this issue for fulfilling their political motives. He said that if MBT candidates are elected they would ensure opening of Charminar mosque. During his tenure as MLA, he plans to prepare several Farhath Khans from Yakutpura.

Modi ‘anti-Dalit’: Congress

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Congress today dubbed BJP leader Narendra Modi as “anti-Dalit”, citing a quote from a book written by him in 2007 in which he purportedly says Valmiki community do manual scavenging not for living but to attain “spiritual experience”.

“Narendra Modi thinks that scavenging is a way to attain spiritual enlightenment as he mentioned in his book ‘Karmayog’ printed by Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation. (If it is so), why Modi himself does not engage in scavenging for attaining spiritual enlightenment,” Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala told a press conference.

Ilmi takes on Modi, calls him agent of industrialists

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AAP leader Shazia Ilmi accused Narendra Modi of being an agent of industrialists and said there was no ‘Modi wave’.

“There is no Modi wave (lehr), there is a poison (jehr) . This wave is a bought one.

“You (Narendra Modi) called Arvind Kejriwal AK 49, an agent of Pakistan, whose agent are you? You are an agent of big industrialists while Arvind Kejriwal is an agent of Aam Aadmi,” Ilmi said, addressing a public gathering at Vatva area here.

She was canvassing for AAP candidate from Ahmedabad East Dinesh Waghela.

Super Kings beat Royals by seven runs

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Chennai Super Kings defeated Rajasthan Royals by seven runs in an Indian Premier League (IPL) clash at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium here Wednesday.

Defending their total of 140/6, Super Kings bowled out the Royals for 133 in 19.5 overs with left arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja picking up 4/33 from his four overs.

Don’t underestimate the power of your vote: Tendulkar

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Cricketing legend Sachin Tendulkar has appealed to all Indians to exercise their franchise in the ongoing Lok Sabha polls.

In a post on his official Facebook page, Tendulkar – now a nominated Rajya Sabha member – urged his countrymen not to “underestimate” the power of their vote.

“Every run counts in the game of cricket and every vote counts in an election. Don’t underestimate the power of your vote.”

Tendulkar said he was now in Mumbai to exercise his democratic right Thursday.

“Hope you play your part – Please cast your vote,” the batting genius added.

–IANS