Asian News International

Asian News International. Multi-media news agency, content for information platforms: TV, Internet, broadband, newspapers, mobiles.

Maruti Suzuki’s Celerio will shortly launch diesel and CNG variant

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Maruti Suzuki’s tailgate car Celerio, which hit the Indian roads in February 2014, will shortly launch its diesel variant in the country this fiscal. It is currently India’s cheapest automatic car. Moreover, Celerio’s CNG variant will be launched in June 2014 and will be available only in manual variant.

The car has received good reviews post its launch and the demand for the set of wheels is surging and the company is finding hard to keep the increased demand.

Mayor directed BBMP officials to clear all SWDs areas of encroachments

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On Monday, Mayor B S Satyanarayana, directed Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) officers to take immediate action to make progress in all major storm water drain (SWDs) areas that have been encroached upon.

He give orders to the Palike to take action regarding clearing the major SWDs following a complaint by Jayanagar MLA, B N Vijay Kumar, at a meeting held at the BBMP head office.

Vijay Kumar rued that regardless of several meetings, no action had been taken to clear the encroachments on SWDs.

BBMP collects betterment charges for converted sites

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From Wednesday, Betterment charges were collected by the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike for regularisation of sites formed on converted land.

The site owners will be eligible to get ‘A’ khata on payment of betterment charges and their site will be as legalized as any site of the Bangalore Development Authority.

A circular in this regard will be issued by the Palike commissioner on Tuesday after consulting the legal cell officials and the charges could be paid from Wednesday.

Action plan to tackle monsoon woes

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An action plan was chalked out by the The Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) to deal with the monsoon woes.

At a meeting, Mayor B S Satyanarayana and BBMP Commissioner M Lakshminarayana directed zonal and division level officers and engineers to take preventive measures to forestall any mishaps and flooding during the rainy season.

They made a decision to set up 10 control rooms in BBMP during the rainy season, working round the clock.

Karnataka CM wishes Modi best of luck

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Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah Monday wished BJP’s prime minister-designate Narendra Modi best of luck in leading the NDA government at the centre.

“I wish Modi all the best and hope the ensuing NDA government will extend the same cooperation as the UPA government to Karnataka despite being in different political parties,” he told reporters here.

Flagging the achievements of his government on completion of its first year in office, he said a central government of any party would have to maintain healthy relations with states in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution.

Pawan Kalyan proved lucky mascot for all

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Kismets of the mega actor-brothers have reversed as far as politics is concerned.

Till yesterday when, megastar Chiranjeevi who was a Union Minister is in the city, his house was always crowded with political leaders, visitors and fans. In direct contrast was star brother Pawan Kalyan, whose house had a muted and deserted look with hardly anyone around.

The most recent general elections have upturned their fortunes.

Steep dumping duty on imported solar cells likely

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Government is likely to impose an exorbitant dumping duty on solar gear imports, a move that could deal a massive blow to solar power producers in India.

A dumping margin which was identified by the commerce ministry ranges 50-60% from the United States and 100-110% from China, which is the largest exporter of solar cells worldwide.

The commerce ministry has identified 58 manufacturers, mostly from China, followed by Taiwan, Malaysia and the US as the subject countries involved in the case of dumping filed by a group of domestic manufacturers two years ago.

APGenco ties pact with Karnataka power supply firms

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The Andhra Pradesh Power Generation Corporation (APGENCO) and Electricity Supply Companies (ESCOMs) of Karnataka have signed a power purchase agreement (PPA) for sharing 230 MW power generated from Priyadarshini Jurala Hydro power project.

The project commissioned in April 2011 at an expense t of Rs.720 crore (Rs.3 crore per MW) has a built in tariff to be determined at identical rates for both the states by APERC. The cost of the project is low since the dam related expenditure is incurred by irrigation department, Andhra Pradesh.

EFLU stir: Prof and students arrested

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The ‘Occupy Vice Chancellor’s Chamber’ dharna at the English and Foreign Language University on Monday leads to the arrest of three professors and about 70 students as part of preventive measures.

The protest was against the rustication of three university students for breaking the library door in March.
Chaos prevailed at the Eflu campus, with constant exchange blows between students and the about 100 police personnel, deployed to reinstate normalcy.

Mother’s illicit affair kills daughter

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A 10-year-old girl was strangled to death by a man who was having a sexual affair with her mother at Reddy Colony in Saidabad on Monday.

According to Police, the killer choked her to death after an argument with her mother. Later on, he surrendered to the police.

The accused is alcoholic demanded money from the victim’s mother, but when she says no, he killed the child.

The 10- year-old victim K. Pushpa, a first standard student was staying with her mother K. Kavitha, 32, who works as a helper at Raju Caterers. The accused Babu, 25-years, was staying with them.

Uttar Pradesh criminal MPs gives headache to Modi

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It seems that Prime Minister-designate Narendra Modi has a tough task on his hands in Uttar Pradesh.

Mr Modi, who had given his word to keep criminals out of the Lok Sabha, will now find that a good number of criminals from Uttar Pradesh belong to his own party.

The BJP’s sweeping success in the state may have kept other criminals out however those within the BJP have managed to win on the Modi wave.

NDA meet: Babu, Pawan Kalyan to attend

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Telugu Desam will have ministers in the Union Cabinet? Well it will be decided on Tuesday.

TD president N. Chandrababu Naidu, along with a large contingent of senior MPs and MLAs, left for Delhi on Monday night to participate in the meeting of NDA allies called together by BJP president Rajnath Singh on Tuesday.

“We are not for power. We are interested in development of the state and the nation. That was the reason we supported Modi. Anyway, we will decide it tomorrow.”Mr Naidu said before leaving for Delhi.

Waiter identifies Salman Khan, says he served drinks to his group

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A bar waiter today identified actor Salman Khan in a court saying he had come along with his friends in a group to have drinks in a five-star hotel on the same night, hours before Khan ran over his car over people sleeping on footpath in suburban Bandra, 12 years ago.

The waiter, Molay Baug, told Judge D W Deshpande he had served cocktails and Bacardi (White Rum) to the group who had come along with Salman to ‘Zen Bar’ in J W Marriot hotel, but could not remember whether the actor had consumed drinks.

Results of Class 10th examination of CBSE to be declared today

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The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) on Tuesday, will declare the results of Class 10th examination.

The results will be available on websites and through Interactive Voice Response system (IVRS) phone calls and SMS from 4 PM onwards.

The websites where results can be accessed are www.results.nic.in, www.cbseresults.nic.in and www.cbse.nic.in.

Phone numbers to know the results are 011-24300699, for MTNL subscribers 011-28127030 and for BSNL subscribers 1255536.

US court awards 25 years in prison to Mississippi man for sending poisoned letters to Obama

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A Mississippi man has been sentenced to 25 years in prison for sending letters dusted with the poison ricin to President Barack Obama and other officials.

James Everett Dutschke was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Sharion Aycock in Aberdeen.

According to the Washington Times, he also was sentenced to five years of supervised release and remains in federal custody .

He was accused of sending the letters to Obama, Republican U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker and Mississippi judge Sadie Holland.

Meet the world’s oldest cat that is 24-years-old!

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A 24-year-old tortoiseshell cat in Bournemouth, England has been officially recognized by Guinness World Records as the world’s oldest cat.

Poppy, which is as old as a 114 human, was born in February 1990 and has lived through five British prime ministers, but is now a deaf and blind and spends most of her time indoors, the Daily Express reported.

Owner Jacqui said that her cat’s longevity is down to a good diet and lots of exercise and by keeping fit by walking around and eating a lot. (ANI)

5.5 million newborn and stillborn babies die every year

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New data on global newborn deaths and stillbirths show 5.5 million “invisible deaths” every year.

A major new Series of papers, published in The Lancet, presents the clearest picture to date of progress and challenges in improving newborn survival around the world, and sets targets that must be achieved by 2030 in order to ensure every newborn has a healthy start.

Oil companies get Rs 8,000 crore as March quarter subsidy

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The Finance Ministry has paid Rs 8,000 crore to state-run oil marketing companies as part subsidy for the March quarter of 2013-14 fiscal.

“The cash subsidy of Rs 24,000 crore will be paid in three tranches over this month. The first tranche of Rs 8,000 crore has been paid and another two of Rs 8,000 crore each would be paid over the next fortnight,” an official said.

DoT issues letter of intent for unified licence to Airtel

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The Department of Telecom (DoT) has issued letter of intent to Bharti Airtel for taking new telecom licence in Delhi and Kolkata service areas, following which Vodafone may have to sell its about 4.4 percent stake in a subsidiary of Bharti group.

“LoI (Letter of Intent) to Airtel was issued early last week for Delhi and Kolkata,” a DoT official said.

Licences of Airtel in Delhi and Kolkata are expiring in November this year and it will need Unified Licence (UL) for continuing operations.

CM vows to make Karnataka “hunger free” within his 5-year term

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Chief Minister Siddaramaiah today said Congress Government in Karnataka will make it a “hunger free” state within five years of his term in office, apparently laying thrust on the ambitious Re 1 a kg rice scheme ‘Anna Bhagya’.

Siddaramaiah, while speaking to reporters on the occasion of his completing one year in office on May 13, also dismissed the charge by the Opposition that the government had failed to realise the goals of the previous budget.

Man and woman found dead at Konaje Campus

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Two employees of the Mangalore University were found dead at the Konaje Campus staff quarters of the university here, police said.

Ramappa (59) was found hanging and the body of Tilaka (40), both employed as attenders, was lying on the floor, police said, adding, both had been missing for the last three days.

A neighbour had informed the police about the foul smell emanating from the staff quarters following which police broke open the door and found their bodies.

Pak court drops ammunition case against FBI agent

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Pakistan has dropped charges against an FBI agent who was arrested for carrying ammunition.

Police told the Karachi court they were dropping the case after the government confirmed Joel Cox was authorised to carry arms for ‘personal protection’.

Cox was held under anti-terrorism laws after security staff found 15 bullets for a 9mm handgun in his luggage ahead of a flight from Karachi to Islamabad.

Police added that no weapon was found so Cox could not be booked under the Illegal Arms Act.

According to the BBC, the US government said that he was on a temporary mission in Pakistan.

Indian-origin beauty pageant contestants ‘too beautiful’ for Kiwi judges to judge!

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A Fiji-born teenager in New Zealand has sought compensation and an apology from the organisers of a beauty pageant, after they declared her the winner but later informed her that she was mistaken for “another Indian girl”.

Synthia Nath, 19, was told two days after winning the top prize at the Miss Globe New Zealand beauty pageant that they had confused her with “another Indian girl”, Loriza Latif, News.com.au reported.

Thai army says declaration of martial law not tantamount to coup

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Thailand’s Army has reportedly declared martial law throughout the country but is insisting that the move is not a coup.

Describing the situation as “half a coup d’etat,” Lt. Gen. Nipat Thonglek, an aide to the country’s embattled prime minister, said that the army took the action unilaterally and the government is having a special meeting regarding this, the CNN reports.

Thonglek said that the government will have to wait and watch and see if the army chief honors his declaration of impartiality.