Gali Nagaraja

The efforts are on to bring back nearly 120 fishermen in sixteen boats who had ventured into the Bay of Bengal on June 17, East Godavari District Collector Arun Kumar said today.

“Of the total 31 boats, 15 boats have returned so far.

Search is going on to trace another 16 boats. The Coast Guard is conducting search operation in 200 nautical miles area. We expect them to be back by tomorrow evening,” Kumar told PTI.

According to him, so far 90 fishermen have returned and search is on to trace another 120 fishermen in the 16 boats which have not returned.

Andhra Pradesh Government today said it would set up a retail liquor shop in every mandal of the state to prevent flow of adulterated liquor and has already identified land for this purpose.

“In order to prevent illicit or adulterated liquor and overcharging of consumers, the government has decided to set up a liquor shop to be run by state government in every mandal (administrative unit),” an official release stated here today.

Land required for setting up shops in all mandals has been identified, it said.

Union Steel, Minerals and Geology Minister Narenda Singh Thomar today called on Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao at camp office here. The union minister unveiled a book on “Geology Mineral source of Telangana” on the occasion. They discussed on the exploration of new mines, mining activity in the existing mines across India and availability of the iron ore reserves and the possibility of beginning new mines. The mines are playing a key role in Indian economy and national development besides providing ample job opportunities they felt. They agreed upon to set up RINL unit at Warangal.

Heavy rains may occur in most parts of Telangana during the next 24 hours, the MeT department said today.

“Heavy to very heavy rainfall would occur at isolated places in the districts of Adilabad, Nizamabad, Karimnagar, Warangal, Nalgonda and Khammam of Telangana,” a weather bulletin issued by the state government said.

The depression over north-west and adjoining west central Bay Of Bengal off North Andhra Pradesh-South Odisha coast has moved north-westwards and crossed south Odisha coast between Gopalpur and Puri around 6.30 AM today, it said.

Andhra Pradesh Police, probing the case of alleged tapping of phones of Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, ministers and others by Telangana government, has slapped notices on 12 telecom firms here asking their representatives to appear before it.

The AP government had last week constituted a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to handle cases registered against Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao and others in various police stations of the state over alleged phone tapping by his government.

Mark Rutte, Prime Minister of Netherlands came under heavy criticism for wishing Ramazan greetings to Muslims.
This was the first time that Dutch prime minister wished Muslims happy Ramazan. He twitted the message “I want to wish the one Million Muslims in the Netherlands a nice Ramadan. Ramadan kareem.”

Geert Wilders, a Dutch politician who is known for his anti-Islamic views and many other citizens did not like PM’s greetings towards Muslims.

They objected that why Mr. Rutte didn’t send greetings on the occasion of Christmas and other national festivals.

Attorney-General of India, Mukul Rohatgi tendered his advise that Governor, E.S.L. Narasimhan has the powers to maintain Law and Order. He has requested the Governor to take necessary steps to resolve the Cash-for-Vote case.

Referring to Section 8 of AP Reorganization Act of 2014, Governor has been given special powers for maintaining Law and Order in Hyderabad. In view of this, Governor should summon the police officials of both the states and supervise the investigation process.

CAB secretary Aditya Verma today wrote to BCCI President Jagmohan Dalmiya, questioning N Srinivasan’s election as TNCA President and his proposed presence at the ICC Board meeting as BCCI representative.

ICC Board meeting will be held in Barbodas from June 24-26. Srinivasan will also chair the meet as the head of world governing body of the game.

Verma said his representation at the ICC meet was against the spirit of the Supreme Court order which barred him from heading the BCCI.

After he was reported for a suspected illegal action by match officials in Galle against Sri Lanka on Sunday, Pakistan all-rounder Mohammad Hafeez faces a one year ban.

The off-spinner will now undergo bowling tests within the next 14 days. If his action is found illegal for the second time in the span of seven months, he will automatically be given a 12-month ban from his own country, the Guardian reported.

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Monday lauded the success of the International Yoga Day, adding that barriers like caste and religion were broken to celebrate the worldwide event.

“I am very happy that international Yoga day was more successful than we had expected. United Nations secretary general Ban Ki-moon and General Assembly president Sam Kutesa participated in the event. Around 192 countries celebrated the Yoga Day,” Swaraj told ANI in an exclusive interview.

Commenting on the debate on race relations and gun control that has swept the United States in the wake of last week’s gun attack in South Carolina’s African-American church, U.S. President Barack Obama has said that America has not been cured of racism yet.

During an interview with comedian Marc Maron for the podcast ‘WTF with Marc Maron,’ Obama said that he always urged young people to not say that nothing had changed when it comes to race in America, unless they had lived through the 1950s, 60s or 70s as a black man.

Ex-cricketer Chetan Chauhan believes that skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni was not the only person to blame for India’s loss against Bangladesh, holding the whole team responsible for the defeat.

“The players looked tired and it seemed that they just wanted to complete the formality. I would not blame the captain alone but the entire team and the entire management for the debacle against Bangladesh,” Chauhan said.

Dhoni has been facing criticism from all corners after the humiliating defeat in Bangladesh and earlier offered to step down from as captain.

RJD leader Lalu Prasad’s dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi with a picture of Modi and country’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru doing yoga today triggered a war of words on Twitter, with BJP hitting out at Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi’s absence from the celebrations.

Lalu had put up a picture of Nehru and Modi on Twitter that said “Difference between originality and unoriginality”.

Terming Nehru as a practitioner and Modi as a preacher, Lalu said, “Difference between practitioner and preacher.

Bollywood actor Shahid Kapoor will replace veteran actress Madhuri Dixit as a judge on the upcoming eighth season of dance reality show “Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa”.

Colors channel CEO Raj Nayak took to Twitter on Monday to announce Shahid’s entry.

“Colors welcomes the King of dance and actor par excellence @shahidkapoor to #JhalakDikhlaJaa Coming soon #YouthIcon,” he tweeted.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday called for each school in India to plan its own targets which it aims to achieve by 2022, the country’s 75th year of independence.

Reviewing the progress of the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, the government’s flagship universal education programme at a high-level meeting here, Modi reiterated his suggestion for “Swachh Bharat – Swachh Vidyalaya” competitions among various schools, an official release said.

The Congress on Monday sought Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s apology over BJP general secretary Ram Madhav’s tweets about Vice President Hamid Ansari’s absence from the Yoga Day event but AYUSH Minister Shripad Naik said the leader had apologised and the matter should be put to rest.

The Congress accused the Bharartiya Janata Party of playing divisive politics and sought the prime minister’s apology over Madhav’s tweets taking a jibe at Ansari’s absence. He had, however, later deleted the posts.

Six persons including three “prime witnesses” in the Sunanda Pushkar death case were put through lie detector test, Delhi Police Commissioner B S Bassi said amid indication that a number of other witnesses may be asked to undergo the examination.

“Our investigation is continuing and whatever is required to be done will be done. So far we have carried out polygraph tests on six persons. If there is any requirement we will conduct further tests,” Bassi said.

Scotching speculations of going with the Congress in its fight against TMC in Bengal, CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury today said the party will follow the resolutions adopted in the last Party Congress of not aligning or joining any front with the Congress.

Former captain Sourav Ganguly today demanded respect for beleaguered Mahendra Singh Dhoni, saying he has astonishing One-day records as skipper and needs to be given all the time in the world to take a decision.

Following India’s defeat in the second ODI against Bangladesh, in an unusual show of emotions, Dhoni last night said he can step away from captaincy if it brings back good days to Indian cricket.

Ganguly said one must not take it seriously since Dhoni’s words were result of frustration.

Former captain Sunil Gavaskar today said it is too early to write off Mahendra Singh Dhoni and called him the best Indian ODI skipper ever and still has a lot to offer.

India lost the first two ODIs to allow Bangladesh take an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match series and Dhoni said he is willing to quit if it helps Indian cricket.

However, Gavaskar advised against knee-jerk reactions and said the decision should be left to Dhoni.

Congress today used BJP patriarch L K Advani’s remarks that an Emergency-like situation could emerge to hit out at the Narendra Modi dispensation alleging that an “Emergency” is being witnessed for the past 13 months in the country.

“Whatever Advaniji has said…the arrow has hit the target. Without approval of the Cabinet and assent of the President, the country is witnessing an Emergency in the past 13 months,” Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha told reporters.

Both Israel and Palestinian militants may have committed war crimes during the 2014 Israel-Gaza conflict, UN investigators said on Monday.

In a long-awaited report, the UN Human Rights Council team said there was evidence of “serious violations” of human rights and international law by both sides, BBC reported.

Israel dismissed the investigation as “politically motivated and morally flawed from the outset”.

The conflict lasted for 50 days between July and August last year, and ended in a truce.

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J.Jayalalithaa on Monday said the by-election in the Radhakrishnan Nagar constituency, from where she is contesting in order to enter the legislature, was forced on the people due to the conspiracy of her political foes.

Beginning her election campaign, she said: “My aim to win the election emphathetically. Opposition parties are telling various stories for not contesting in the poll.”

Wearing a green colour saree, Jayalalithaa addressed the huge crowd while sitting inside her campaign van.

Telangana’s new industrial policy has started yielding results with 17 companies coming forward to set up their units with an investment of Rs.1,500 crore.

The state government has given all approvals to the investment proposals within 10 days against a time-limit of two weeks under the policy.

Ten days after the government unveiled the new policy at a gala ceremony here, the state has attracted the first investment. The government said these units will provide employment to 4,000 people.

Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Monday condemned the Taliban militant attack on the Afghanistan Parliament and said that India stands by the Islamic Republic.

“India condemns the attack on Afghanistan Parliament and in this time of trial, India will stand by Afghanistan,” Rajnath Singh told the media here.

Kabul Police chief Abdul Rahman Rahimi confirmed that a car detonated outside the Parliament earlier today, followed by a series of explosions which resulted in the immediate evacuation of MPs and journalists from the Parliament.