Ali Khan

A new study has found high levels of toxic mercury in vegetation and sediment collected from the vicinity of a thermometer factory which was shut 14 years ago in the hill station of Kodaikanal in Tamil Nadu, an NGO claimed today.

“Lichen samples contained 53 mg/kg of mercury, a moss sample had 8.68 mg/kg,” Advisor, Community Environmental Monitoring, Nityanand Jayaraman said here.

The NGO had the samples analysed at the Department of Atomic Energy’s National Centre for Compositional Characterisation of Materials in Hyderabad, he said.

In its maiden Budget, the AAP government today made overtures towards the business community by promising to put an end to “license raj” although the proposals were devoid of anything concrete to attract immediate investment.

In the post-budget press interaction, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal invited the finances, services and the industrial sector to set up units in Delhi promising them a “business friendly environment”.

Delhi government today proposed to increase the penality on defaulters and evaders from five to ten times of the deficit amount of stamp duty.

Presenting the Budget in the assembly, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said that under the present scheme of things in the Indian Stamp Act 1899 as applicable in the NCT of Delhi, the collector of stamp can impose penalty from Rs 5 upto 10 times of the amount of deficit of stamp duty in case of impounded documents.

He also said that government wants to rationalise the penalty 2% of deficit amount for every month of delay.

Head of Indian Cricket Board’s Anti-Corruption Unit Neeraj Kumar today called on BCCI president Jagmohan Dalmiya for a closed door meeting on his return from the Bangladesh series.

“It was an informal meeting and details of the discussions are not known,” a Cricket Association of Bengal official said.

The former Delhi Police Commissioner was with the Indian team during the just-concluded ODI series as a designated anti-corruption official.

Delhi government has constituted a committee to review the existing licensing system and will suggest measures to simplify the process of issuance and renewal of licenses done by various agencies of the government.

“The term ‘ease of doing business’ has been loosely used and conveniently interpreted to suit the circumstances.

Three senior officials of Reliance Jio, the telecom venture from Reliance Industries that is slated for commercial launch by December, were today booked for allegedly digging the roads in the city without prior permission from municipal authorities.

Police here said in a release that they booked site engineers Nitin Patil, Manohar Raut, cluster manager Ajay Thackeray and some other officials associated with the project following a complaint by the Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC).

To meet its ambitious plan of making Delhi an educational hub, the AAP government today doubled the plan expenditure for education and increased the budget for the sector to Rs 9,836 crore.

Presenting the Delhi budget, Deputy Chief Minister and Education Minister Manish Sisodia said, “Our government is proposing a historical initiative for the bright future of Delhi. I propose a total expenditure of Rs 9,836 crore for the education sector in the financial year 2015-16.”

Union Labour Minister Bandaru Dattatreya today said the Centre will ensure full implementation of the Majithia wage board.

Addressing a press conference here, the Union Minister of State for Labour and Employment (Independent Charge) said even the Supreme Court’s order has come on its implementation and he had written to all Chief Ministers to ensure its implementation in their respective states.

Buying private vehicles in the national capital will become costlier as the AAP government today proposed to increase the vehicle registration tax by 25 per cent.

The government’s move will be applicable on those private vehicles registered in the name of companies and partnership firms and the proposal will not affect individuals, Deputy CM Manish Sisodia while presenting the Delhi Budget.

Cloud-based solutions provider CimplyFive today appointment Suresh Senapaty as non-executive Chairman on its board.

He was earlier Executive Director of Wipro Limited.

“Senapaty brings a wealth of ideas, experience and wisdom which will benefit our young ambitious team,” CimplyFive Founder and CEO Shankar Jaganathan said in a statement.

CimplyFive Secretarial Services is a pioneering start-up offering cloud-based solution for compliance with company laws in India.

Looking to shore up liquidity of the currency options market, RBI today proposed to allow exporters and importers to write covered options against their actual contracted export or import exposure.

Under the present regulatory framework, writing of options by the users on a standalone basis is not permitted.

However, end-users can enter into option strategies of simultaneous buying and selling of plain vanilla European options, provided there is no net receipt of premium.

A 42-year-old Afghani refugee was arrested from South Delhi’s Jamia Hamdard University for allegedly stealing high-end gadgets and valuables from educational institutions and hospitals by posing himself as student or doctor, police said today.

The accused — identified as Sajid alias Zamil — was arrested along with his accomplice Nand Kishor alias Deepak (34) by the staff of Ambedkar Nagar Police Station.

Police claimed to have solved 12 such cases with the arrest of the duo.

A police team has been attacked here allegedly by men involved in illegal sale of liquor, police said today.

On June 23, ASI Hariom, posted at Police Post Dhauj here received a call informing him that a person is transporting liquor on motorcycle, filled in milk containers.

A police team then rushed to the spot at Crusher Zone of Dhauj.

A motorcycle carrying milk containers was asked to stop and when police insisted on checking the containers, the man driving the motorcycle escaped, they said.

The crime branch of Nashik police has arrested three persons in a case of house-break in Gangapur Road area here and seized 920 grams of gold, 740 grams of silver, three watches and Rs 7.5 lakh in cash.

The seized booty was worth Rs 17 lakh in total, said police commissioner S Jagannathan.

The arrested men were identified as Sanjay alias Santosh Rajbar from Uttar Pradesh, Raju Swami from Chennai and Nandu Borade, a Deolali-based jeweler.

Another accused, Ganesh Bhandare, was absconding.

Solar charkha will help in increasing productivity of khadi products besides generating healthy income for weavers, Minister of State for MSME Giriraj Singh said today.

“The government plans to make khadi a changing agent and believes solar charkhas will lower strain on weavers, increase productivity and generate between Rs 5,000 to Rs 8,000 a month for each workers,” a MSME statement quoting the minister said.

He said that there is no increase in the number of people associated with khadi production due to low wages, exodus of artisans and less productivity.

Dismissing reports of a rift in the Indian dressing room after their first-ever ODI series loss to Bangladesh, former India cricket captain Sourav Ganguly today said such talk is normal when a team loses.

“Whenever India lose, this question crops up. I am sure everything is fine in the Indian dressing room,” Ganguly told reporters here today.

However he termed the 1-2 series loss to Bangladesh disappointing.

“Bangladesh played better cricket and we should give credit to them,” he said.

Mortal remains of BJP Lok Sabha MP Dileep Singh Bhuria consigned to flames today as the last rites were performed with full state honour at his ancestral village Macchlia near here.

His eldest son Jaswant lit the funeral pyre amid chanting of mantras as hundreds of people bid their last farewell to the departed tribal leader.

Union minister Thawar Chand Gehlot, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, state BJP unit chief Nandkumar Singh Chauhan, former Jharkhand chief minister Arjun Munde, BJP vice president Prabhat Jha among others paid their last respect to Bhuria.

To drive its strategy of becoming a seamless ‘omni-channel’ retail store by the end of 2016, Shoppers Stop has earmarked an investment of Rs 60 crore over the next three years to strengthen its technology.

The company will implement its omni-channel strategy in three phases, Govind Shrikhande, Managing Director of Shoppers Stop, told PTI on the sidelines of a conference here.

“In total, we will invest Rs 60 crore over the next three years,” he added.

Marvel Studios President, Kevin Feige, has met “Selma” helmer Ava DuVernay to discuss its upcoming film “Black Panther”.

Feige said he met with many other directors too in the same regard and will soon finalise the helmer for the film on Marvel comic’s first black superhero. Said The Hollywood Reporter.

“I think by the end of the summer, we’ll have most of those things. ‘Black Panther’ especially. We’ve met with her for sure,” Feige confirmed, referring to DuVernay.

Cyber drama “Mr Robot”, which premiered on Wednesday, has been renewed for a second season.

The renewal happened hours before the USA network series’ launch, reported Aceshowbiz.

The second season will consist of at least 10 episodes and will debut next year.

An Iraqi pilot who has been training in the United States for four years has crashed in Arizona while flying an F-16 Fighting aircraft, a spokesman for the Iraqi defense minister has said.

“We have no word yet on his fate or the reason behind the crash,” Brig. Gen. Tahseen Ibrahim told The Associated Press.

“We are in contact with the Americans to get more details.”

Ibrahim confirmed the pilot is Brig. Gen. Rafid Mohammed Hassan but said the pilot’s fate still is not known.

A 15-minute, on-the-spot blood test for Ebola was as accurate in a patient trial as the most widely-used laboratory-based test, its US-based developers said today.

An affordable, rapid diagnostic test would be an invaluable tool for health workers on the ground, allowing them to quickly identify and isolate infected individuals and curtail the spread of the deadly haemorrhagic virus.

Dubbed ReEBOV, the kit manufactured by Colorado-based Corgenix, works with a drop of blood from a finger prick and a test strip that changes colour in five to 15 minutes.

Greece and its EU-IMF creditors once more failed to break the deadlock in emergency bailout deal talks, sending the crisis hurtling towards a critical weekend meeting in a bid to avoid a default by Athens.

Eurozone finance minister talks which were meant to pave the way for EU leaders to endorse an accord on releasing vital aid at a summit in Brussels broke up abruptly with no agreement on a Greek financial reform plan.

High-stakes talks to nail down a historic deal with Iran to curtail its nuclear programme may “slip” past a June 30 deadline, a top US official has admitted ahead of crunch weekend negotiations in Vienna.

“We may not make June 30, but we will be close,” the senior official told reporters as top US diplomat John Kerry prepared to head today for what could be the last talks between Iran and global powers on the deal.

The official said the target date to finalise the historic deal — the main outlines were agreed in April in Lausanne, Switzerland — would only “slip” by a few days.

Pakistan “strongly rejects” accusations by Afghanistan’s spy agency that a Pakistani intelligence officer helped orchestrate an attack on the Afghan parliament earlier this week.

The Foreign Ministry said in a statement yesterday that the allegations aim to “disrupt the improving relations between the two brotherly nations.” It condemned “terrorism in all its forms” and said it would continue to work with Kabul to combat it.