News

Bombers strike two Pakistan mosques

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Lahore, June 12: At least two people have been killed in near-simultaneous blast in Pakistan, officials say.

One blast took place inside the offices of the Jamia Naeemia religious school and mosque in the eastern city of Lahore soon after Friday prayers, police said.

One of those killed in Lahore was a prominent religious leader known to oppose the Taliban, police said.

“Unfortunately, Maulana Sarfraz Naeemi has been martyred,” Pervez Rathore, a Lahore police chief, told the Reuters news agency.

Another person was killed and at least six others hurt in the attack.

Six-year-old is India’s latest swine flu case

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Hyderabad, June 12: India Friday reported one more swine flu patient, taking the number of cases to 16, with a six-year-old girl who had arrived here from the US testing positive for the H1N1 virus.

The samples of the girl, who arrived here along with her parents and six-month-old brother from New York on June 9, had tested positive for influenza A(H1N1), commonly known as swine flu, doctors said.

She has been quarantined and is being treated at the Andhra Pradesh Chest Hospital, the nodal centre for dealing with flu cases.

Congress steps up campaign against TRS

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Hyderabad, June 12: The Congress appears to be preparing for an all-out offensive against the Telangana Rashtra Samithi. Apparently taking a cue from Chief Minister YS Rajansekhara Reddy’s tirade against Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) president K Chandrasekhar Rao in the Assembly on Wednesday, ministers belonging to the Telangana region as well as PCC chief D Srinivas stepped up their campaign against the TRS.

Its Suggested To Lok Sahba Seats Increasing, Women’s Reservation Bill

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New Delhi, June 12: Raising the number of seats in the Lok Sabha and the state assemblies is being seen as a way out to arrive at a consensus on the Women’s Reservation Bill which is being opposed in the present form by some political parties.

Both the government and the Congress have made it clear that there would be no dilution of the proposed 33% reservation for women in Lok Sabha and in state assemblies.

Over a decade after the exercise started, there is no unanimity on how to go about with the task without antagonising various sections.

LeT man was setting up terror hub on Maha coast

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Mumbai, June 12: Terrorists are still trying to penetrate the country’s, especially Maharashtra’s, coastline. The November 26 terror attacks had exposed the vulnerability of the state’s porous coastline.

Mohammed Omar Madani, the Laskar-e-Tayiba operative arrested by officers of the special cell of Delhi police on June 4, has told them that his primary duty was to make inroads into the Konkan coast of Maharashtra and the Malabar coast of Karnataka. But in the course of interrogation, police learnt that Madani was entrusted with multiple tasks.

China cautions India on troop build-up near border

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Beijing, June 12: China on Thursday rejected suggestions that incursions by its troops into the Indian territory were on the rise, and cautioned India that any move to increase troop presence along the disputed border in Arunachal Pradesh “would only lead to a rivalry between the two countries.”

Ragging punishable, ASP warns students

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Hyderabad, June 12: Adilabad Assistant Superintendent of Police Tarun Joshi on Thursday warned that ragging by students outside the college premises also attracted the stringent penal sections of the AP Prohibition of Ragging Act, 1997. He said students who indulged in ragging of juniors can face problems even later in life once they are found to be guilty under this Act.

Only time will tell how long this ‘change’ lasts? News Analysis

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Hyderabad, June 12: Both Chief Minister Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy and Leader of Opposition N. Chandrababu Naidu are changed persons after the general elections, at least going by what they said about each other.

Mr. Naidu said “I am told the Chief Minister has changed his ways of late and I hope to see a different Rajasekhara Reddy”.

The Chief Minister observed about his rival, “I found a change in his attitude. I welcome it totally”. As these compliments were traded on the floor of the Assembly, they cannot be treated lightly.

Woman ‘falls’ from 10th floor of building, dies

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Hyderabad, June 12: A 22-year-old woman, Chinna, working with the housekeeping section of My Home Navadeep apartment complex beside Cyber Towers in Madhapur, died after falling from the 10th floor of one of the buildings on its premises on Thursday.

–Agencies

Mumbai terror probe: Witness recounts how her daughter died

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Mumbai, June 12: A 25-year-old woman broke down in the Special Court as she narrated how her daughter – a victim of gunfire of the terror pair Mohammed Ajmal Mohammed Amir Kasab and Abu Ismail at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus – had collapsed before her eyes and died.

Nafisa Qureshi, a resident of Kurla here, could not hold back tears when she deposed Additional Sessions Judge M L Tahilayani, who is conducting the trial of the November 26-29, 2008 Mumbai terror attack.

After Indians, Sri Lankan students attacked in Australia

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Melbourne, June 12: After Indians, a group of students from Sri Lanka have been allegedly attacked in Australia, with three men smashing the windows of their home and taunting them with “racist insults” in capital Canberra.

Police are investigating allegations of attacks against a group of Sri Lankan students at their home, ABC News reported.

It is alleged that three men smashed the front windows of the students’ house in Macquarie in north Canberra after an unsuccessful attempt to crash a party.

Minister offers Rs42cr crown at Tirupati temple

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Hyderabad, June 12: Karnataka tourism minister and Bellary mine baron Gali Janardhan Reddy will probably be better known for something else: with

an offering of a diamond-studded crown worth Rs 42 crore, he became the biggest donor to Lord Venkateswara at Tirupati since the Vijayanagara

kings 400 years ago.

The 20-kg stunner was a “thanksgiving” gesture, the minister said. Sources added that 32kg of `aparanji (pure)’ gold went into its making,

CBI cracks down on India’s corrupt babudom

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New Delhi, June 12: India regularly features in the list of most corrupt nations in the world and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has revealed just why. The agency’s countrywide drive against corruption by public functionaries threw up an arc of corruption — from forgery of caste certificates and data theft to bungling in purchases in the much-vaunted Indian Army.

Forensic experts to probe murder of Maharashtra Congress leader

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Mumbai, June 11: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has summoned forensic and ballistic experts to help probe the murder of Congress leader Pavan Raje Nimbalkar allegedly by his cousin and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) MP Padamsinh Patil, an official said here Thursday.

The team will assist the CBI probe the murder, which has created a political storm in Maharashtra and led to Patil’s suspension from the NCP.

Sonia in Rae Bareli, talks development, assembly polls

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Lucknow, June 11: Congress president Sonia Gandhi, on a visit to her Rae Bareli parliamentary constituency in Uttar Pradesh, Thursday said that development would top the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government’s agenda for the next five years and also urged party workers to gear up for the next assembly elections.

“We are not going to compromise with the issue of development as it will continue to remain on top (of the agenda) for our government,” Gandhi told a gathering of party workers at the Feroz Gandhi Degree College in Rae Bareli, some 80 km from here.

Karnataka minister donates Rs.450 million gold crown to Tirupati

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Hyderabad, June 11: Karnataka’s minister for tourism and leading industrialist Gali Janardhan Reddy Thursday presented a diamond-studded gold crown, estimated to be worth Rs.450 million (Rs.45 crore), to the famous Lord Venkateswara temple at Tirupati.

Janardhan Reddy, who owns Brahmani steel plant and Obulapuram mines in Andhra Pradesh, made the rich offering on the occasion of his birthday.

He refused to publicly divulge the value of the crown but it is estimated to be Rs.450 million. The crown weighs 30 kg and it took nine months for the diamond workers to make it.

Verdict 2009: Jaswant questions BJP leadership

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New Delhi, June 11: Veteran Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Jaswant Singh has called for making it a “current party” and admitted that it had failed to effectively convey its message to the masses, leading to its election debacle.

“There is a need for ideological distillation of thought. The BJP has to be a current party. It can’t be a party of yesterday. I think there’s lack of clarity on what Hindutva means,” the former central minister told a news channel in an interview on Wednesday.

A Muslim woman’s tale: Salma by morning, Seema by evening

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To go from Azad Apartment to Sancharlok—two residential buildings in East Delhi — all one needs to do is to cross a busy main road. But one woman has to go a step farther: she has to wear new identities.

She is Salma when she gets down from one building; Seema when she climbs into the other.

“When I was new in Delhi, I was thrown out from work several times because of my name. Then I decided to live with a double identity,” said Salma, who declined to give her full name or be photographed. “Now I am a Hindu for Hindus and a Muslim for Muslims.”

Advani, Congress MPs keep away from Modi’s pathshala

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Gandhinagar, June 11: As is the prevalent practice, all newly elected members of parliament from the state were called to attend a meeting here on Wednesday before they go back for the parliament’s monsoon session. The meet discussed pending issues of the state before the central government.

Manmohan offering ‘badly needed’ olive branch: Pakistani media

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Islamabad, June 11 : Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has offered a ‘badly needed’ olive branch to restore sub-continental peace by offering to walk half the way to resume the dialogue with Pakistan, an editorial in a leading English daily said Thursday, while another hoped Islamabad would ‘be able to meet’ New Delhi at that point.

Manmohan Singh’s statement in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday “will be seen as the olive branch that is badly needed in the present state of impasse between India and Pakistan”, Dawn said in an editorial headlined “A silver lining”.

T20 WC: India thrash Ireland by 8 wickets

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Trent Bridge, June 11: Zaheer Khan wreaked havoc while Rohit Sharma continued his purple patch as a ruthless India decimated Ireland by eight wickets in a rain-marred Group A tie of the Twenty20 World Cup on Wednesday.

Scorecard | In Pics | Points Table | Schedule | Women T20 WC ’09

Zaheer Khan (4/19) led the rout as India restricted a hapless Ireland to a mere 112 for eight in 18 overs and then went on to overwhelm the target in 15.3 overs with Rohit (52 not out) and Gautam Gambhir (37) making merry against the toothless Irish attack.

‘Judge saab, please hang him. He has ruined my daughter’s life’

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Mumbai, June 11: It was 9.50 pm on November 26 last year, at Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST). Passengers waiting for trains on the mainline platforms heard a loud explosion. Two terrorists — one taller than the other — allegedly sprayed bullets at the waiting passengers, killing many. Three witnesses, who were lucky to survive the attack, gave their accounts of the horrifying incident at the court on Wednesday.

Chiranjeevi makes a mark in the House

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Hyderabad, June 11: “I am well prepared to face ragging in the House,’’ Praja Rajyam Party floor leader Chiranjeevi said while making his maiden speech in the Assembly during the Motion of Thanks to Governor’s address today.

When Chiranjeevi claimed that his party gave tickets to 100 Assembly seats to backward classes, some Congress members shouted: “You sold the tickets.’’ Responding to this, Chiranjeevi said: “Like in the college where freshers are teased by seniors, I am also prepared to face such things here,’’ Chiranjeevi said.

Nine ministers given additional charge

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Hyderabad, June 11: Nine ministers in the State Cabinet have been given additional charges here today. Major Industries Minister K Lakshminarayana has been allocated additional portfolios of Commerce, Export Promotion, and Food Processing. Higher Education Minister D Sridhar Babu will also look after NRI Affairs. As per the orders issued here today, Secondary Education Minister D Manikya Vara Prasada Rao will hold the additional charge of Intermediate Education, Government Examinations, AP Residential Educational Institutions Society, and Hyderabad Public School.

Parents attack school over fee hike

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Hyderabad, June 11: The sudden and irrational fee hike by a school management led to an attack by irate parents, which damaged the furniture and window panes.

The attack took place on the Madina Quranic Mission School at Asifnagar on Wednesday morning. Humayunnagar police said the parents of some of the students gathered near the school and protested the irrational hike in fees which they could not afford.