News

Human trafficking law to be redrawn

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Abu Dhabi, April 22: The Government will strengthen the law on human trafficking to make it easier to prosecute the gangs behind it, a senior Ministry of Interior official said yesterday.

Officials will redraw the classifications for human trafficking offences, Col Ahmed al Muharami, the manager of the human rights department at the ministry, said at a symposium in the capital.

The Government also plans to compile a database of offenders and victims to help keep tabs on the illegal trade and improve the sharing of information among UAE authorities.

Sharia verdicts cannot be challenged in Supreme Court: cleric

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Islamabad, April 16: Verdicts handed down under the newly-imposed Sharia laws in parts of Pakistan’s restive northwest cannot be challenged in the Supreme Court but only before special appeal courts, says a Taliban-linked radical cleric.
“The judicial system here (Malakand division of the North West Frontier Province) will be different from the rest of the country. Here, all the cases will be settled in the Qazi courts in accordance with Sharia,” The News Thursday quoted Sufi Muhammad as saying.

World’s biggest democracy heads to the polls

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Hyderabad, April 16: First came the sound of film music, muffled by the ridge of the hill. Then a convoy appeared around a bend in the road. At once, thousands of people erupted in a frenzy – waving banners, screaming, shouting, rushing towards the vehicles in a crush.
Heading the cavalcade, at the front of an open-topped bus, stood a man in a white shirt, raising his hand and smiling. Chiranjeevi had come to town.

Renuka Chowdhury, Purandareswari face tough test

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Hyderabad, April 15: While union minister S. Jaipal Reddy has a strong chance of being re-elected to the Lok Sabha, his colleagues Renuka Chowdhury and D. Purandareswari are facing tough fights. All three are in the fray for the first phase of parliamentary polls in Andhra Pradesh Thursday.

The first phase covers 22 Lok Sabha and 154 assembly constituencies in 10 districts in Telangana and north coastal Andhra.

Make this city shine again, Moradabadis tell Azhar

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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.

Now, five DSPs get marching orders from EC

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Hyderabad, April 13: The Election Commission on Sunday shunted out five DSPs in the state for dereliction of duty. Those given the marching orders were G Malla Reddy of Tadipatri, N Sai Nath of Kadiri, T Janardhan of Nagarkurnool, T S Krishnamurthy of Adoni and V R N Tagore of Guntur rural.

Mohanty cracks the whip

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Hyderabad, April 05: Placed on the hot seat barely few days before polling by the Election Commission, DGP A K Mohanty has begun cracking the whip.

He has recommended the transfer of East Godavari SP Y Nagi Reddy to the Election Commission for not fulfilling the poll-related responsibilities. Sources said the axe is likely to fall on at least two other SPs and some DSPs.

Ponting hails Aussie match-winner Hussey

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Durban, April 04: Captain Ricky Ponting hailed the return to form of Mike Hussey as Australia gained a crushing 141-run win over South Africa in the first One-Day International at Kingsmead on Friday.

Hussey hit 83 not out as Australia piled up 286 for seven. South Africa were bowled out for 145 in the opening encounter of a five-match series.

“It’s been a difficult few months for him,” Ponting said of Hussey, who scored only 132 runs at an average of 22 in a three-match Test series and was out for a duck in a Twenty20 international.

Congress veteran takes on young CPI-M candidate in Kannur

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Kannur, March 29: The battle for the Kannur Lok Sabha seat will be an acid test for the ruling Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) as the Congress is pulling out all stops to capture the constituency after a gap of 10 years.

The Congress has fielded ‘the best possible candidate’ there, sitting Kannur assembly legislator and 60-year-old former minister K. Sudhakaran, a battle scarred veteran who completed a hat-trick of victories in the 2006 assembly polls from here.

Poonam Mahajan meets Raj Thackeray, denies rift with BJP

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Mumbai, March 27: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) youth wing leader Poonam Mahajan-Rao, daughter of late Pramod Mahajan, Friday met Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray, then said there was ‘nothing political’ about the meeting.

After the meeting, Poonam denied rumours that she was quitting the BJP and joining the MNS.

‘I continue to remain in the BJP,’ she said.

Mahajan was hopeful of securing the BJP ticket from Mumbai North-East constituency in the ensuring Lok Sabha polls but the nomination was given to Kirit Somaiya.

BJP on Kodnani: law will take its own course

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New Delhi, March 27: The law would take its own course in the case of Gujarat minister Maya Kodnani, who quit Friday after her bail plea was rejected for her role in the 2002 sectarian violence, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) said.

‘Once the decision has come from the Gujarat High Court, the party asked her to resign. She resigned. Rest, the law will take its own course,’ party spokesperson Balbir Punj told reporters here.

Chiranjeevi to contest from Tirupati

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Hyderabad, March 27: Actor-politician Chiranjeevi would be contesting from Andhra Pradesh’s Tirupati assembly seat, his Praja Rajya Party (PRP) announced Friday while declaring the first list of candidates for the state assembly and Lok Sabha elections.

Unlike other parties, which declared their lists either in Delhi or Hyderabad, he chose Jaggampet in coastal Andhra Pradesh’s East Godavari district to announce the candidates for 100 assembly and nine Lok Sabha seats.

Varun Gandhi withdraws anticipatory bail plea

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New Delhi, March 27: The Delhi High Court Friday dismissed the anticipatory bail plea of Varun Gandhi after the lawyer for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate charged with making communal speeches withdrew the petition.

The lawyer said he was withdrawing the petition since the Allahabad High Court had already dismissed Varun Gandhi’s plea to quash the first information report (FIR) filed by the police in Pilbhit, the Uttar Pradesh constituency from which he is contesting in the April-May Lok Sabha poll.

Srinagar-Kargil Highway to open from April 7

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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.

Sourav Ganguly dropped as Kolkata Knight Riders captain

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New Delhi, March 25: Kolkata Knight Riders coach John Buchanan has dropped Sourav Ganguly as captain of the IPL team for the Twenty20 tournament to be held in South Africa from April 18 next month.

The team will have four captains, team coach John Buchanan announced on Wednesday in Kolkata.

Times Now had reported on Tuesday of a rift between the coach and the captain and that Buchanan wanted Dada to be axed as captain.

Buchanan had expressed favour of a rotating captaincy in a match.

Congress’ vague Telangana stand leaves it isolated

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Hyderabad, March 25: With the realignment of political forces in Telangana making statehood to the region a dominant issue in the assembly and Lok Sabha elections in Andhra Pradesh, the Congress is under pressure to bring some clarity on its stand.

Have an election related query? Just dial 47617500

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New Delhi: Have an election related query and don’t know whom to ask? Simply call the toll free number 47617500 and get an answer by one of the young employees of the Delhi election commission’s round-the-clock call centre. Answering more than 500 calls every day, the call centre, which has been functioning since March 15, is the election commission’s effort to attract people to vote and make the seemingly cumbersome process of voter registration easier by answering all their queries.

Weather and proximity clinch IPL for South Africa

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Johannesburg, March 25: Weather and proximity to India were the decisive factors in South Africa edging past England as hosts of the Indian Premier League (IPL), which has now been shortened to five weeks starting April 18. IPL commissioner Lalit Modi and Cricket South Africa (CSA) chief Gerald Majola in a joint press conference confirmed that the second edition of the Twenty20 league, which was moved out of India because of security reasons, will be held in six venues in South Africa.

The venues include Durban, Cape Town, Bloemfontein, Pretoria, Johannesburg and Port Elizabeth.

TDP, TRS reach seat sharing agreement in Andhra

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The leaders of the two parties reached the agreement in the evening. However, a formal announcement is likely to be made Wednesday.

TRS leaders claimed that the TDP has agreed to leave 48 assembly and nine Lok Sabha seats for the party, which is spearheading the movement for separate statehood to the Telangana region.

On a day of dramatic developments, the TRS had set a deadline for the TDP to accept its demands and had even threatened to walk out of the alliance, which also has the two communist parties as the other constituents.

Kashmir on alert amid fears of militant incursion: Police Chief

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Director General of Police Kuldeep Khuda said after a brief ‘deceptive lull’, Pakistan has restarted pushing infiltrators into the state.

Security forces ‘have been asked to be on highest alert on the Line of Control (LoC) and the international border’ after reports that militants are grouping to infiltrate to this side, Khuda told IANS in an interview.

He said Pakistan continued to support militancy and push terrorists into Kashmir though there had been a drop in infiltration and ‘terrorist activities after the Nov 26 Mumbai attacks’.

Blind can vote without help at the polls

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New Delhi, March 25: It is aimed at giving the blind voter dignity and secrecy. For the first time, Braille-facilitated electronic voting machines (EVMs) are being introduced on a large scale for the 15th Lok Sabha polls.

‘A total of 1.05 million EVMs are being used, of which 450,000 are Braille-enabled. These EVMs are spread across the country in many states,’ an Election Commission official told IANS.

He said earlier the rule was that one person would accompany the blind voter. ‘Now, the blind persons can cast their vote without any help.’

IPL move was hardest BCCI decision ever: Modi

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Johanesburg, March 25: The decision to move the India Premier League 2009 to South Africa was “one of the hardest decisions that the BCCI ( Board of Control for Cricket in India) has ever had to take”, Lalit Modi, chairman and commissioner of the IPL, told a press conference in Johannesburg as he jointly announced the decision with Cricket South Africa chief executive Gerald Majola.

“But I am equally confident that staging it here will be a massive success for us,” Modi said on Tuesday evening.

Lahore attack: TV footage shows terrorists escaping

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Islamabad, March 05: The Geo news channel – a Pakistani TV – has aired what it claims is footage of the terrorists escaping the site of Tuesday’s dastardly attack on the Sri Lankan cricket players in Lahore. The dramatic visuals show the gunmen fleeing on motorcycles and on foot.
The edited footage of Geo TV were captured on CCTV cameras in the streets around Liberty chowk and Gaddafi stadium where a group of gunmen, said to number 14 killed six policemen and injured five members of Sri Lankan cricket team.

No objection to separate Telangana, but consensus needed: Sonia

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Hyderabad, March 01: Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Saturday said here the party had no objection to carving out a separate state of Telangana from Andhra Pradesh but was trying to evolve consensus on the issue. Addressing a massive public meeting, she merely reiterated the party’s stand on the issue, leaving Telangana supporters disappointed.

Iran warns Iraq over prolonged presence of US forces

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Tehran, March 01: Iran’s supreme leader Saturday warned Iraq over the prolonged presence of US forces in that country, the Iranian media reported.

‘The occupiers are preparing grounds for a long and enduring presence in Iraq and this is a big danger of which the Iraqi officials should be aware,’ Ayatollah Ali Khamenei told visiting Iraqi President Jalal Talabani.