News

Tamil Nadu to vote for all 39 Lok Sabha seats Thursday

by

Over 55 million voters will Thursday decide the fate of 845 candidates in Tamil Nadu’s 39 Lok Sabha constituencies that will go to the polls in a single phase, officials said Wednesday.

“A total of 9,226 polling stations have been identified as sensitive. Over one lakh security personnel have been deployed to see that voting is held in a peaceful manner,” chief electoral officer Praveen Kumar told IANS here.

There are 60,817 polling stations for the general election and also the Alandar assembly constituency by-election.

BC leaders will be PM & T CM: Chandrababu

by

Exhibiting courage in politics, TDP president N Chandrababu Naidu today announced that BC leader R. Krishnaiah would be party’s CM candidate in the Telangana State.

Addressing an election meeting at Bellampalli in Adilabad district on Wednesday, the TDP supremo said there should be government belonging to poor people and not of feudal landlords.

Another Congress leader joins TDP

by

In a setback to Congress party in Urvakonda Assembly constituency, Chennakeshava Rao, son of former minister late Gurram Narayanappa, today joined TDP.

Chennakeshavarao of Urvakonda in Anantapur district was given a ticket to contest from Uravakonda by the Congress. But he did not contest elections. Chennakeshava Rao was in Praja Rajyam party. But after its merger with the Congress, he was continuing in the Congress.

Sonia, Manmohan, Rahul to campaign in T

by

AICC General Secretary Digivijay Singh is expected to arrive here on April 24 for making arrangements for a poll campaign to be attended by AICC Chief Sonia Gandhi and vice president Rahul Gandhi, according to information.
Keeping the BJP-TDP combine and TRS’ intense campaigning in view, the Congress is roping in its national leaders and actors to attract electors for the meetings. Digvijay is to deal with polling campaign and Rahul is expected to campaign in Warangal and Hyderabad on April 25.

Pentagon plans to replace flight crews with ‘full-time’ robots

by

Pentagon’s research arm has come up with a plan to replace flight crews with “full-time” robots and turn the pilot into a high-level “mission supervisor” issuing commands through a touch screen.

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is currently working on technology that will be able to replace up to five crew members on military aircraft, in effect making the lone human operator a “mission supervisor”, tech magazine Wired reported.

Backward caste leader Krishnaiah declared TDP’s CM candidate

by

TDP today announced backward caste leader R Krishnaiah as the party’s chief ministerial candidate for Telangana state.

Krishnaiah, who has headed the Andhra Pradesh Backward Classes Welfare Association for several years, joined the TDP recently and is contesting the April 30 election from the L B Nagar assembly constituency in Telangana region.

Modi sidelined BJP veterans to promote himself: Chiranjeevi

by

Andhra Pradesh Congress campaign committee chief Chiranjeevi accused BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi of pushing aside veteran leaders of his party to promote himself.

Addressing a press conference here today during his election campaign on behalf of Congress candidates in the city, Chiranjeevi compared the Gujarat Chief Minister to Hitler.

Jung expresses concern over sanitation in schools

by

Delhi’s Lt Governor Najeeb Jung today expressed his concern over cleanliness and sanitation in schools, particularly of toilets.

Voicing special concern about girls’ toilets in schools, Jung said, “The doors of the toilets must have proper bolts and the toilets must be properly functional by the time the schools reopen.”

During a review meeting, Jung today directed the Education department to run a special drive this summer to ensure that the upkeep of toilets and school premises is improved once the schools reopen.

338 candidates to vie for Maharashtra’s 19 LS seats

by

A total of 338 candidates, including 24 women, will contest the third and final phase of polls in 19 Lok Sabha constituencies of Maharashtra Thursday, officials said Wednesday.

There are 119 Independent candidates in the fray.

Over 3.17 crore voters will exercise their franchise in 16 general and three constituencies reserved for thed Scheduled Tribes, spread across parts of northern Maharashtra, Marathwada and the coastal Konkan region.

Aurangabad has the maximum 27 candidates, while Nandurbar has just nine contenders.

French daredevils jump from Burj Khalifa, break world record

by

Two French daredevils have broken the Guinness World Record for the highest base jump after leaping off from the top of Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest man-made structure.

Professional base jumpers Vince Reffet and Fred Fugen broke the record on Monday after performing two base jumps from the top of the 828-metre Burj Khalifa here, the Gulf News reported.

Emirati jumpers Nasser Al Neyadi and Omar Al Hegelan held the previous world record after jumping 672 metres down the tower in 2010.

Govt to deploy CISF commandos to secure UIDAI centre in B’lore

by

The government is planning to bring the highly classified and sensitive data centre of the UIDAI-sponsored ‘Aadhar’ identity project in Bangalore under an armed security cover of central paramilitary forces.

The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has tasked the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), which guards sensitive vital installations in the government and the private domain, to conduct a security audit of the main building of the centre which is operated by the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI).

If Modi becomes PM, country will go to hands of communal forces: BSP

by

BSP supremo Mayawati today cautioned the voters that if Narendra Modi became the prime minister, the country would slip into the hands of communal forces, and appealed to Dalits and Muslims to back her party to prevent such an eventuality.

“It’s important that Dalits and Muslims should vote for BSP in these elections. If BJP leader Narendra Modi becomes the prime minister, the country will go in hands of communal forces,” she told election meetings.

Omar hits out at BJP for anti-Muslim statements

by

Lashing out at BJP and Sangh Pariwar, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah today said the statements of some of their leaders against the Muslim community were part of a “well-planned conspiracy” to polarise voters in the ongoing elections.

“They are threatening time and again- be it (VHP leader Praveen) Togadia or Amit Shah or recently their candidate Giriraj (Singh) – this is being done as part of a well-planned conspiracy to divide people and to fight the elections on communal lines, this is their way,” he alleged.

Long term development plan needed for Vijayawada: YSR Congress

by

YSR Congress candidate from Vijayawada constituency Koneru Rajendra Prasad today said that a long-term plan is required for the faster development of the city and its adjacent rural areas.

Problems of drinking water, sanitation, drainage and proper roads are important issues which can only be solved by a long-term plan with the provision of sufficient funds from the government, he told PTI.

Vigilance seizes rice worth Rs 48 crore in AP

by

The Vigilance and Enforcement Department has seized rice worth Rs 48 crore during a special drive across Andhra Pradesh following allegations of diversion of PDS rice and other commodities.

As part of the special drive, 136 rice mills across the state were inspected yesterday and 94 cases were booked under relevant sections of Essential Commodities Act.

Pepsi IPL on starsports.Com set to break all records

by

The video streaming of Pepsi IPL on starsports.Com, India’s first multi-sports digital service, has garnered unprecedented traction attracting more than a million visitors everyday during the first week of the tournament.

During the period, starsports.Com attracted around 47 lakh visitors across web and mobile delivering just more than a crore of consumer visits. This is unprecedented in the history of Indian Premier League.

150 million minutes of video were consumed by users during the first seven matches played in the ongoing IPL, with an average of more than 32 minutes per match.

Malinga is Sri Lanka’s new T20 skipper, Chandimal gets axe

by

Paceman Lasith Malinga, who led Sri Lanka to World Twenty20 title in Bangladesh, has been rewarded with the captaincy in the shortest format as struggling batsman Dinesh Chandimal got the axe today.

Chandimal orginally was the captain of the side but Malinga had led the team in the final three games, including the summit clash, as stand-in-skipper in their successful campaign.

Chandimal, who at 23 became Sri Lanka’s youngest captain in any format last year, has seen a dip in his batting form during the World T20.

‘Encouraged’ by Modi’s remarks on ties: Pak envoy

by

Pakistan today said it was “encouraged” after BJP’s Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi’s remarks regarding ties with foreign countries and asserted that it was looking forward to a stable government here to engage “quickly, comprehensively and meaningfully”.

Making a strong pitch for resumption of dialogue process, Pakistan High Commissioner Abul Basit said talks were the only way to resolve outstanding issues and no one nation does any “favour” by talking, indicating that stopping of talks by India was not good for bilateral ties.

Missing jet: Unidentified material washes ashore, being checked

by

The search for the Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 that went missing last month took a new twist Wednesday with reports of some unidentified material washing ashore on the southwestern coast of Australia.

“Western Australia Police have attended a report of material washed ashore 10 km east of Augusta (a city south of Perth) and have secured the material,” the Joint Agency Coordination Centre (JACC) said in its latest update Wednesday afternoon.

Saudi announces 11 new MERS infections

by

Saudi Arabia today announced 11 new cases of MERS, including a 13-year-old child, as its acting health minister vowed to keep the public better informed on the coronavirus.

The new cases bring to 272 the total number of MERS infections, including 81 deaths, registered across the kingdom — worst hit by the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome which was first detected in eastern Saudi Arabia in September 2012.

Powerful sonar may join jet search; ‘object of interest’ found

by

A powerful sonar equipment similar to the one that found the wreck of the Titanic could be deployed in the next phase of the search for the crashed Malaysian jet, officials said today, even as an “object of interest” was recovered on the coast of western Australia.

Defence Minister David Johnston said that powerful sonar equipment will probably be used in the next stage of the search for Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 that mysteriously disappeared on March 8 with 239 people on board, including five Indians.

Kejriwal pips Modi in Time magazine’s poll

by

Aam Aadmi Party founder Arvind Kejriwal is leading the Time magazine’s readers poll of 100 Most Influential People in the world with the highest percentage of ‘yes’ votes, pipping BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi and American singer Katy Perry.

With some three weeks left in India’s marathon election, Indian politicians are dominating the list.

As of Tuesday morning, about 3,168,308 people had cast a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ vote for Kejriwal, while more than 5,075,588 had voted for Modi.

Till now, Kejriwal, 45, has received 71.5 per cent ‘yes’ and 28.5 ‘no’ votes.