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Hours after his elevation as the BJP’s central campaign committee chairman, Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi addressed a convention of Goa party workers, positioning himself as the BJP’s future prime ministerial candidate. And Rajnath Singh and Arun Jaitley showered praise on him, virtually presenting his prime ministerial candidature as a certainty.In his 50-minute speech, Modi, clad in a white kurta-pyjama, attacked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and the UPA government, saying they couldn’t inspire faith and projected himself as a leader who could do much better.

A Mumbai sessions court will today deliver its verdict on actor Salman Khan’s appeal against a magistrate’s order for his retrial in the 2002 hit-and-run case under stringent charge of culpable homicide not amounting to murder.
Sessions court judge U B Hejib had fixed June 10 for deciding the appeal after arguments concluded a month ago.

Advancing his argument against invoking the grave charge of ‘culpable homicide not amounting to murder’ (section 304 part II IPC), Ashok Mundargi had pleaded that the magistrate’s order was “erroneous, bad in law and contrary to evidence on record.”

Grand Mufti Sheikh Mohammed Rashid Qabbani rejected on Sunday statements attacking Saudi Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdul Aziz al-Shaikh, considering that this is an “offense to all Muslims.”

“An attack on the Mufti of Saudi Arabia is an attack on all Muslim due to the noble religious status he represents in the Arab and Islamic world,” Qabbani said in a released statement, adding that al-Shaikh is a “renowned Islamic and international reference in religious matters.”

He noted: “Fools are attacking our top clerics and people are silent despite insults against their scholars.”

Narendra Modi has been given the charge of the BJP’s campaign for next general elections, a move some say is his unofficial donning of the party’s prime ministerial candidate role, but past experiences tell a different tale.

The head of the election management committee and the prime ministerial face of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have not been the same person so far.

In 2004, when the outgoing BJP government was headed by Atal Bihari Vajpayee, he was declared the prime ministerial candidate of the party. The election management committee was then headed by Pramod Mahajan.

After the BJP named Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi Sunday as its campaign chief for the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, a section of the party’s allies welcomed the move while others said it was not an NDA decision. The Congress pointed to the rift in the rival party and retorted that it “was not afraid of anyone”.

An email, a telephone call or even the murmur of a conversation captured by the vibration of a window they’re all part of the data that can be swept up by the sophisticated machinery of the National Security Agency.

Its job is to use the world’s most cutting edge supercomputers and arguably the largest database storage sites
to crunch and sift through immense amounts of data.

Islamabad, Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has called US drone attacks in Pakistani territory as ”unacceptable” and violates the country”s sovereignty and international laws.

Actors Aamir Khan, Deepika Padukone, Randhir Kapoor, Sanjay Kapoor and many other attended the prayer meet to pay their last respects to actress Jiah Khan.

Jiah was found hanging at her flat in Sagar Sangeet Building in the posh Juhu area here on June 3 around midnight.

Aamir was seen at Jiah’s condolence meet held at the Vile Parle Medical Club last night. His wife Kiran Rao was present at Jiah’s burial.

A sum of over Rs 642 crore has been incurred on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s air travels abroad in the last nine years.

This information has been made public by the PMO as part of obligations under the mandatory proactive disclosure clause of the Right to Information Act.

The information reveals that Singh undertook 67 travels since 2004 when he took over as PM, of which bills of five have not been received. The bills received from the rest 62 visits show that Rs 642.45 crore was spent on air travel.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is likely to make a big announcement on making Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi as its poll panel chief for the upcoming Assembly elections and the 2014 Lok Sabha polls.

All eyes are now on party chief Rajnath Singh”s valedictory address today to see if he will announce a Modi promotion at the gathering of 300 leaders.

Singh yesterday promised that everyone will go home happy, energised and enthusiastic.

As Bollywood actors gathered at the condolence meeting for 25-year-old actress Jiya Khan here this evening, superstar Aamir Khan broke down while praising the lady.

Aamir Khan came to the condolence meeting at 6:30 am, went to the last row and quietly sat down. For nearly 20 minutes, Aamir wept sitting in his chair, and then he went to meet Jiah’s mother Rabia and again wept.

When actor Deepak Parashar requested Aamir to speak on the mike, Aamir came forward and again broke down, saying ‘I knew Jiah since her childhood days, when I used to study in college.

Congress General Secretary Digvijay Singh took a dig at BJP leaders’ absence on account of ill health from the Goa conclave wishing them a long life.

“I would be happy if the BJP is sick but I do not want anything to happen to its leaders who should live up to a 100 years,” he said.

Singh said that although Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi talks a lot about ‘swarajya’, he has hired a foreign company for his public relations at a huge cost.

A youth accused of raping his live-in partner after promising to marry her has been acquitted by a Delhi court on the ground that the girl did not turn up to depose against him.

Additional Sessions Judge Yogesh Khanna let off Delhi resident Rahul Choudhary, saying the case was lodged by the alleged victim to bring back her former lover in “her life”.

Besides Rahul, the court also acquitted his sister and mother of charges of house trespass and assaulting the girl.

As many as 350 women were allegedly put through virginity and pregnancy tests during a mass marriage programme organised by the Madhya Pradesh government at Harad village in the tribal-dominated district.

A day after the alleged incident, the district administration today ordered a magisterial probe into the complaints regarding the tests conducted on the would-be-brides, including 90 tribal women, according to Betul district collector Rajesh Prasad Mishra.

The Delhi High court has rejected the anticipatory bail plea of a man on his wife’s complaint that she was physically assaulted by her husband for not covering her face in the presence of his elder brother.

The woman also alleged her husband Virender Pal and in-laws have been demanding a car and Rs two lakh from her
parents.

A man wearing Afghan uniform shot dead three US soldiers today in the east of the country, officials
said, in the latest apparent example of an “insider attack”.

The strike came on the same day that one Italian soldier was killed and three others were wounded when a grenade was thrown into their armoured vehicle in the western province of Farah.

Scores of foreign soldiers have been killed in insider attacks, breeding fierce mistrust and threatening to derail
the process of training Afghan forces to take over security duties ahead of NATO’s withdrawal next year.

Andhra Pradesh assembly speaker Saturday disqualified 15 members of legislative assembly belonging to the ruling Congress and the main opposition Telugu Desam Party (TDP) for violating party whips.

Speaker N. Manohar, who heard the petitions moved by the two parties during the last few weeks, announced his decision Saturday evening. Nine of those disqualified belong to the Congress while six others are members of the TDP.

Jiah Khan committed suicide on June 3, 2013. Bollywood actress Jiah Khan’s family has found a six-page note, in which she made a mention about her troubled love-affair with the son of an actor couple before committing suicide, police said.

Jiah’s family members, who found the note at their house, preferred to retain the original doubting police action, but has agreed to give notarised copy to the investigators, a police officer at Juhu police station said.

BJP was in a dilemma today over anointing Narendra Modi as campaign committee chief for the 2014 Lok Sabha elections in the absence of patriarch L K Advani and other senior leaders, who have not turned up for the ongoing National Executive meeting here as they are said to be opposed to such a move.

Ill health was cited as the reason for Advani’s decision to keep away from the two-day meeting of the National Executive that began today with leaders clamouring for Modi’s elevation as campaign head for the elections.

Ever since the news of Nafisa alias Jiah Khan’s suicide has surfaced, days have been very hard on the Pancholi family. Actor Aditya Pancholi says his son Suraj, the late actress’s boyfriend, is being made the “villain” in the story for no reason.

Jiah, 25, was found hanging in her Juhu

“If Suraj is to be blamed then please make him the villain,” says protective father Aditya.

In a recent blog post, writer Shobhaa De recently commented: “Like father, like son” in reference to Aditya and Suraj. Aditya is clearly unhappy.

The family members of actress Jiah Khan have found a six-page note in which she has penned aspects about a bumpy relationship, some other disappointments and even a medical procedure she underwent that may have likely contributed to her ending her life on Monday.

Jiah’s mother and sister were looking through her some of her personal items in her room at their Juhu residence on Friday afternoon, when they discovered the note in English that they believe was written by the actress.

At first glance, the main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) would seem an unlikely candidate for winning support from Muslim voters. The party is known for its adherence to Hindu nationalism, and has come under frequent criticism for its alleged bias against Muslims.

Party leaders, however, are out to change that image. As next year’s elections approach, the BJP is seeking to woo Muslims by insisting it can offer real opportunities, and not just “token support”

Myanmar’s opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi has rejected criticism leveled at her over her silence about the persecution of the Rohingya Muslim community, while announcing her desire to run for president.

The Muslim minority of Rohingyas in Myanmar accounts for about five percent of the country’s population of nearly 60 million. The persecuted minority has faced torture, neglect, and repression since the country achieved independence in 1948.

It is most unfortunate that the Muslims living in India have been subjected to various atrocities including rape cases but there is no one highlight their cases either in print media or in electronic media. Recently a rape case occurred in New Delhi which created a furor in the entire country. Ms. Sonia Gandhi, Dr. Manmohan Singh and Mr. Sushil Kumar Shinde showed their concerned. A special commission was constituted and a bill was passed to punish the culprits in such cases.

An embattled Raj Kundra, co-owner of Rajasthan Royals team, who is facing accusations of betting on IPL matches, on Friday claimed innocence and said he would be willing to forfeit his shares in the franchise if found guilty.

“I was called by Delhi Police since I am a minority shareholder of Rajasthan Royals and a few questions were put to me to which I have satisfactorily answered,” Kundra, husband of actress Shilpa Shetty, said in a statement.