faheem New Delhi, June 27: Several MLAs in Delhi assembly today demanded amendments in the relevant law so that they are allowed to use red beacon lights on their vehicles.
Raising the issue in the House, BJP legislator Saheb Singh Chauhan said although an MLA was higher in status in comparison to the Chief Secretary of the state, they were still not allowed to use beacon lights on their vehicles.
Washington, June 27: United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has said Farah Pandith will play a “leading role” in engaging Muslims across the world in her new capacity as Special Representative to Muslim Communities.
Pandith, a Muslim woman whose roots can be traced to India’s northernmost state of Jammu and Kashmir, was appointed by Clinton as the US Special Representative to Muslim Communities early this week. This is part of the Obama Administration’s effort to reach out to the Muslim communities across the world.
Lucknow, June 26: The distrcit administration of Pilibhit which had imposed NSA against the BJP leader and MP Varun Gandhi on March 29 last has forwarded the prosecutiion sanction order to the Uttar Pradesh government for approval.
The order, forwarded by the district magistrate of Pilibhit last evening through a special messenger, if approved, would pave the way for filing a chargesheet against Varun Gandhi facing charges in the wake of his hate speech during the Lok sabha elections.
New Delhi, June 26: Terming the announcements of Union HRD Minister Kapil Sibal regarding scrapping the board examinations and higher education as ”confusing, impractical and directionless”, the BJP today asked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to stop him from jeopardising the students’ future in the name of beating the 100-day deadline.
Patna, June 26: Neither display of placards nor shouting of slogans against the Nitish Kumar-led government — the month-long monsoon session of the Bihar assembly began on a different note Friday. Peacefully.
Contrary to past practice, when the opposition normally created ruckus in the house, the first day of the session saw the formal commencement marked by a brief address by the speaker Uday Narayan Chaudhary following which he ordered adjournment for the day.
Patna, June 26: The newly set-up Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) in this Bihar city will start its doctoral programmes from next month, an official said Friday.
“IIT-Patna will become the first among the eight new IITs set up last year to start PhD programmes,” institute official Subhash Pandey said.
The IIT will have PhD programmes in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Chemistry, Mathematics, Physics, Humanities and Social Sciences.
Pandey said that interviews of the applicants are underway and there are 30 vacancies.
Surat, June 26: Shahid Saiyad, who has been accused of raping a teenager with two other men here, was slapped by a youth while he was on his way to a local court Friday, police said.
“The youth who slapped Saiyad has been detained and is being questioned,” a police officer with the Surat Crime Branch said.
“It was only one person who slapped one of the accused. There was no mob involved,” the officer added.
Lalgarh, June 26: Maoist rebels fired at security personnel and triggered landmines in jungles as troopers advanced to reclaim new areas and flush out far-left radicals from West Midnapore district in West Bengal, officials said today.
A joint team of central paramilitary troopers and state armed policemen set out from their camp in Goaltore bordering Bankura district today morning to retake some strategic pockets still held by the ultras but met with resistance at a forested stretch in Pingboni after a 1 km march, an official said.
Hyderabad, June 26: Planning to withdraw money from ATM? You may have to withdraw not less than Rs 500. The reason: shortage of Rs 100 notes.
Of late, ATMs of some banks, especially those belonging to the public sector, have been running out of Rs 100 notes, causing inconvenience to customers who wish to withdraw less than Rs 500 or Rs 1,000.
The boards displaying ‘No Rs 100 notes’ have become a common sight at ATMs of many banks including State Bank of India, its associate banks and Andhra Bank, while it is a sporadic phenomena at private sector banks’ ATMs.
Mumbai, June 26: The rains finally kept their long delayed date with Mumbai today as they lashed the city and surroundings in full force, bringing welcome relief from the scorching heat.
Along with the rains came a plethora of delays that are common to the city – flights late by 25-30 minutes, suburban trains running behind schedules by 5-15 minutes and road traffic jams all over the city and suburbs.
Several low-lying areas in the city and suburbs were water-logged after overnight heavy showers, causing traffic snarls and delays for office-goers, and school and college students.
New Delhi, June 26: Cashing in on the water woes of residents, particularly students, in and around the Delhi University campus, shopkeepers here have started selling low quality bottled water that they themselves admit is not fit for drinking.
Ragini Sharma, a resident of Indira Vihar in north Delhi, for instance, said because of the water shortage, she had been using distilled water – not just for drinking purposes but also for cooking, cleaning, bathing and even filling the air cooler!
Sydney, June 26: It is hard to assess a fellow’s character in an interview lasting 40 minutes, which is the amount of time I have been allotted with Sachin Tendulkar – and properly privileged I feel to get it, too.
But I am afforded a useful insight before the interview even starts. We are in the Opus store near Covent Garden, where Tendulkar has been the subject of an interminable photo shoot as part of the launch of his latest website.
New Delhi, June 25: New Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal is strongly in favour of allowing foreign direct investment (FDI) in India’s education sector and also plans to ‘synchronise’ madrassa education with the mainstream.
‘FDI must come into India. Entry into the education sector must neither be limited nor over-regulated. I want the system to be accessible from outside too,’ Sibal, 61, who is a practising lawyer, told IANS in an interview.
Patna, June 25: LJP today charged Chief Minister Nitish Kumar with deliberately trying to divide Dalits for votes and threatened to launch a state-wide stir if “discrimination” against the community continued.
Referring to the state government’s bid to keep Ravidas (chamaras) and Paswan (dusadhs) out of the ‘mahadalit’ category, LJP chief Ram Vilas Paswan said it reflects “dirty politics” to divide Dalits for votes, something his party will “never tolerate”.
He was talking to reporters at the site of a dharna organised by Dalit Sena, headed by Ramchandra Paswan, a former party MP.
Lucknow, June 25: A 35-year-old man was allegedly beaten to death by his in-laws over a petty dispute in Thakurganj area of the city, police said here today.
Vishwanath (35), an employee of a gas agency, was brutally beaten up by his in-laws yesterday, police said adding that he later died at a city hospital.
The attackers have been identified as Santosh, Amar, Guddu and Manish, police said.
Santosh, father-in-law of Vishwanath, also worked in the same agency.
Five persons have been detained by police in this connection.
–PTI
Tuebingen, Germany, June 25: At first glance it looked like a piece of bone that had been thrown away. But what Katharina Koll found in a cave in southern Germany late last year is the world’s oldest known flute. “I picked it up, looked at it and then quickly put it aside,” said the 19-year-old, a trainee at the Institute for Archaeology in Tuebingen.
Her boss, archaeologist Nicholas Conard, said the find demonstrates the presence of a well-established musical tradition at the time when modern humans colonized Europe, more than 35,000 years ago.
Germany, June 25: Saturn’s icy moon Enceladus could contain watery underground caverns, forming a potential home for alien life, say scientists.
German researchers have found salt – a signature chemical for seawater – in ice grains from vapour jets streaming out of surface cracks, providing the strongest evidence yet of a liquid water reservoir beneath the moon’s frozen crust.
Tehran, June 25: President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad accused President Barack Obama of behaving like his predecessor on Iran and called on him to apologise for what he called US interference following the Iranian elections.
Obama has ramped up his previously muted criticism, saying he was “appalled and outraged” by a crackdown on protests which followed Ahmadinejad’s disputed re-election.
London, June 25: Three soldiers have been fined after leaving an officer with “nasty” injuries when they tied him up and carried him naked from his bedroom in a drunken “prank”.
Corporal Paul Kingswood, Lance Corporal Mark Foster and Lance Corporal Matthew Stenton were at a party at a barracks in Germany after their return from Iraq when they were “put up” to the prank by an army captain.
They dragged the officer from his bed and, in the struggle to carry him outside, ripped off his boxer shorts and caused him to suffer carpet burns to his torso, elbow and knee.
Puducherry, June 25: The ruling Congress in Puducherry is all set to stake claim to the lone Rajya Sabha seat here which has been vacated by Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs, V Narayanasamy following his election to Lok Sabha.
The party’s move to contest the seat comes a day after its ally DMK denied reports that its local unit wanted to stake a claim for the seat.
New Delhi, June 25: Legendary singer Lata Mangeshkar had only iconic actor Dilip Kumar to thank for her Urdu skills as one of his remarks made her almost vow that she would have a grasp over the language, says a new book.
Hyderabad, June 25 (Siasat News): AP state Haj committee has submitted approx. 150 passport application forms with the regional passport office situated at Secunderabad.
It is to be noted here that AP state Haj committee had started accepting the passport applications forms two days ago. The response was overwhelming and the committee received 200 application forms, out of which 150 forms are dispatched to the office of the regional passport office.
Hong Kong, June 25: A Hong Kong language tutor was Thursday facing jail after being convicted of using threats to force a 14-year-old girl pupil into having sex with him.
Gary Siu Cheuk-ming, 27, lured the girl who attended his private Japanese lessons to a meeting in a hostel after claiming he could get modelling work for her and filmed her naked.
He then had sex with her at least 10 times over a three-month period after threatening to distribute the video if she did not sleep with him, the South China Morning Post reported.
New York, June 24: Joseph Brooks, who won an Oscar in 1978 for the song You Light Up, was arrested Tuesday and charged with sexually assaulting 11 women. According to Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau, Brooks, 71, used Craigslist and a talent web site to lure his victims by promising private auditions at his Manhattan apartment. Brooks pleaded not guilty at his arraignment Tuesday and was freed on bail of 500,000 dollars.
Islamabad, June 24: Pakistan said today it would not hand over to India its citizens suspected of causing the 26/11 mayhem but would try them under its own laws.
“No Pakistani would be handed over to any other country including India,” Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Malik Amad Ahmed Khan said during the debate in the National Assembly, the lower house of parliament, on the budget for fiscal 2009-10, a news agency reported.