Press Trust of India

Press Trust of India (PTI) is India’s premier news agency, having a reach as vast as the Indian Railways. It employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.

Indian national arrested for blasphemous Facebook post

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The Indian consulate in Jeddah has confirmed the arrest of an Indian in Saudi Arabia for allegedly posting a blasphemous image of the Kaaba on his Facebook page, media reported Thursday.

Consul General B.S. Mubarak on Wednesday confirmed that the Indian national has been jailed for violating the country’s cyber laws, the Arab News reported on Thursday.

“This happened a month ago in Jeddah and the Saudi law enforcement authorities are currently conducting an investigation,” he said.

“We are trying to help him in the best possible way,” he added.

CBI books former Andhra MP for cheating bank

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The CBI has registered a case against former parliamentarian and YSR Congress Party leader Kothapalli Subbarayudu for allegedly cheating State Bank of India (SBI) to the tune of Rs.5.73 crore.

The central agency also booked the chief manager and three then field officers of the SBI, Narsapur branch in West Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh.

Subbarayudu, a former state minister of undivided Andhra Pradesh, allegedly connived with bank officials and availed 22 fish tank loans between 2011 and 2013 by submitting fake and fabricated documents.

Kolkata’s Manipuri community celebrates Holi

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Manipuri people in Kolkata on Thursday celebrated Yaoshang, the Manipuri Holi festival, with traditional dances and food.

Yaoshang is celebrated for five days commencing from the full moon day (Friday) of Phalguna.

The highlight of the festival is the Thabal Chongba (moonlight) folk dance, performed by boys and girls, who form a circle, hold hands, sing and dance to the energetic beat of drums.

At the Manipur Bhavan, students from the northeastern state pursuing higher education in Kolkata, celebrated the festival by sprinkling powdered colours.

16 swine flu deaths in two Delhi hospitals; official toll is two

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Two top government hospitals in Delhi – Safdarjung Hospital and LNJP Hospital – have reported 16 swine flu deaths this year, top officials said Thursday, contradicting the figure of one death in each hospital given out by the union health ministry.

“There have been a total of 11 deaths in our hospital this year,” Rajpal, the Medical Superintendent of Safdurjung Hospital, one of the oldest in the capital, told IANS.

“Of these, seven victims were among the 29 cases referred to our hospital. Three other deaths were of patients who directly came to us,” he added.

Indian women’s hockey team sets sights on Rio Olympics

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India will be the clear favourites as eight international women’s teams battle it out to progress along the road to the 2016 Rio Olympics this weekend when the Hockey World League (HWL) Round 2 gets underway at the Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium here.

The tournament, which takes place between March 7-15, will witness Malaysia, Russia, Poland, Ghana, Kazakhstan, Singapore, Thailand and host nation India fighting for a top-two finish in order to guarantee a place in the HWL Semi-Finals where the coveted Olympic berths are on offer.

Karunanidhi urges party men to be united

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DMK president M. Karunanidhi on Thursday urged party men to add “unity” as the fourth principle of the party after duty, dignity and discipline.

Speaking at the party’s executive committee meeting, Karunanidhi urged the party men to maintain unity among themselves to win the elections and take forward the community.

“After duty, dignity and discipline (the party’s three basic principles) add unity-unity in the party- as the fourth word and resolve to maintain that,” Karunanidhi said.

Paes-Hingis gift PM autographed racquets

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Tennis legends Leander Paes and Martina Hingis presented Prime Minister Narendra Modi autographed racquets with which they won the Australian Open mixed doubles title on February 1.

“It was wonderful meeting you @mhingis & @Leander! Kind of you @mhingis & @Leander to present autographed racquets with which you played Aus Open Mixed Doubles Finals,” Modi tweeted on Thursday.

The prime minister also posted a photograph of himself standing with Paes and Hingis and holding the two racquets.

(IANS)

India-born woman to head JP Morgan’s North America M&A

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Financial giant JP Morgan Chase has elevated India-born Anu Aiyengar as co-head of mergers and acquisitions for North America, a media report said on Thursday.

Aiyengar and Henry Gosebruch, both 42 years old, will soon assume the newly created roles.

Aiyengar has worked on several of JP Morgan’s biggest assignments in recent years, focusing on consumer, retail and financial institution deals, the New York Times reported.

University of Mumbai VC asked to resume work

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Exactly two weeks after asking University of Mumbai Vice-Chancellor Rajan Welukar to “abstain” from duties, Maharashtra Governor C.V. Rao Thursday asked him to resume work.

The governor’s decision follows a ruling by the Supreme Court on February 27, an official said.

On February 19, Welukar had been relieved of his charge pursuant to a bunch of petitions filed in the Bombay High Court challenging his eligibility for the post.

Pro Vice-Chancellor Naresh Chandra was directed to officiate till further orders.

Spectrum auction sees bids of Rs.65,000 crore at end of Day Two

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Day Two of the e-auction of radio frequency spectrum, or airwaves, for telecom services saw bids placed for all the four frequencies on the block, with the eight companies in the fray making an offer for Rs.65,000 crore at the end of the 11th round, the government said on Thursday.

“The auction of spectrum in 2,100 MHz, 1,800 MHz, 900 MHz and 800 MHz Bands re- commenced today (Thursday) at 9 a.m. and today, 5 rounds of bidding were completed. Till now, 11 rounds of bidding have taken place,” a government statement said.

Toyota India executive heads CII Karnataka council

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Toyota Kirloskar Motor Ltd. vice chairman Satish Vishwanathan was on Thursday elected chairman of the Confederation of Indian Industry’s (CII) Karnataka state council for the new fiscal 2015-16.

Bharat Fritz Werner (BFW) chief executive Ravi Raghavan will be the vice chairman of the industry’s representative body in the state.

Election to the top two state council posts was held at the council’s annual general meeting here.

Police approach CERT-In to block BBC documentary from internet

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Delhi Police Thursday approached the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) – a nodal agency which deals with cyber security of the Indian internet domain – to block the documentary made by BBC on the December 16, 2012 rape incident from running on internet.

“We have approached the CERT-In to take the BBC documentary out from internet portals and video sharing website like YouTube,” said a senior police official.

The documentary will soon be blocked, he added.

Moody’s lauds India for new mechanism to tame inflation

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Global financial services firm Moody’s on Thursday lauded India for setting up a new mechanism to tame inflation through the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

“The new mechanism targeting inflation will increase predictability of the central bank’s monetary policy and the effectiveness of its tools to take future price trends into account,” Moody’s investors service associate analyst Shirin Mohammadi said in a statement here.

2G money laundering case: Raja, others to answer 400 questions

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A special court on Wednesday supplied a draft copy of the questionnaire of 400 questions to former telecom minister A. Raja, DMK MP Kanimozhi and others in a money laundering case related to 2G spectrum allocation.

Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Special Judge O.P. Saini supplied the draft questionnaire — that runs into about 225 pages — to the accused which they have to answer as part of their statement in the case.

“The process of drafting of questionnaire is completed by today itself,” the court said.

Restoring BCCI’s image my first priority: Dalmiya

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Asserting that restoring the BCCI’s image was his first priority, newly elected Indian cricket board president Jagmohan Dalmiya on Wednesday called for properly conducting the Indian Premier League (IPL).

“My first priority is to ensure that the image of the BCCI is restored. Also, we would have to make certain that the IPL, which would be commencing shortly, is conducted in a proper way,” Dalmiya said in a press statement.

“Finally, I would want to wish the Indian team all the very best and I sincerely hope that the team would continue to perform well in the World Cup,” he added.

Swine flu: UAE advises citizens against travelling to India

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The United Arab Emirates (UAE) Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Abu Dhabi warned its citizens against travelling to India due to the spread of swine flu.

Out of the 9 million residents in the UAE, around 30 percent are Indian nationals, forming the biggest group of expatriates, Xinhua reported.

All four UAE airliners, Emirates Airline, Etihad Airways, Air Arabia and FlyDubai offer daily flights from the UAE cities to Indian cities.

(IANS)

Europe lifts ban on Indian mangoes

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The European Commission (EC) has lifted the ban on the import of Indian mangoes but not vegetables, Union Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Wednesday.

In a written reply in the Rajya Sabha, Sitharaman told the lawmakers that the ban on mangoes from India was lifted through a notification by EC on February 12.

“Ban on import of vegetables from India has not been lifted by the EU (European Union),” Sitharaman told lawmakers during question hour.

India exported mangoes to the EU valued at $10.09 million in 2013 and $6.73 million in 2012.

Garner takes advice from Witherspoon

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When Jennifer Garner needs some life advice, the actress relies on “Legally Blonde” star Reese Witherspoon.

“If I run into Reese, she and I have so much to talk about,” Garner told people.com.

“We’ll be on the street corner and just be like, ‘What do you do about this, and how did you handle this?’ I’m so grateful for that very specific kind of friend,” she added.

(IANS)

Six highway development projects cleared

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The union cabinet Wednesday approved six highway development projects, worth Rs.12,646 crore, spanning several states, an official statement said.

The projects under various phases of National Highways Development Project (NHDP) would be carried out on the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) mode.

The projects include four-laning of Ghaghra Bridge-Varanasi national highway (NH) 233 in Uttar Pradesh, Rewa-Katni-Jabalpur NH- 7 in Madhya Pradesh, Baharagora-Singhara NH-6 in Odisha, Parwanoo-Shimla NH-22 in Himachal Pradesh, Ghoshpukur-Salasbari NH-31 D in West Bengal.

Gauhati HC allows prisoners to watch cricket World Cup

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The Gauhati High Court Wednesday directed the Assam government to provide cable connections to TV sets in Guwahati Central Jail so that inmates can watch news, entertainment programmes and matches of the ongoing cricket World Cup.

The direction came while the court was hearing a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by seven prisoners, who had appealed to the jail authorities to provide cable connections for the television sets in the jail but whose appeal was rejected.

India should boost exports to China: Government

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Indian businessmen and industrialists should identify opportunities to increase their share in the world market, especially China where the economy was doing well, Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Wednesday.

In a written reply in the Rajya Sabha, Sitharaman told lawmakers that as China’s economy was not receding, Indian businessmen and industrialists should take advantage and increase their market share by manufacturing and supplying quality goods at competitive prices.

AAP ousts Bhushan, Yadav from top body in split decision

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In a move that brought into the open the schism within, Delhi’s ruling AAP Wednesday ousted senior leaders Prashant Bhushan and Yogendra Yadav from its top decision-making body, after weeks of infighting that pitted the two against Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.

With 19 of the 21 members attending the Aam Aadmi Party’s National Executive, 11 voted to drop Bhushan and Yadav from the Political Affairs Committee (PAC) while eight voted against, party sources said.

Saina, Jwala-Ashwini through, Srikanth, Kashyap lose in All England

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Saina Nehwal and women’s doubles pair of Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa entered the second round, while male shuttlers Kidambi Srikanth and Parupalli Kashyap lost in the opening round of the All England Open Badminton Championships at the Barclaycard Arena here on Wednesday.

World No.3 Saina registered a comfortable 21-8, 21-12 victory in 38 minutes over qualifier and World No.53 Bellaetrix Manuputty of Indonesia. In the next round the Olympic bronze medallist will face the winner between two qualifiers – South Korean Kim Hyo Min and Japan’s Yui Hashimoto.

38 killed by storm in Tanzania

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At least 38 people were killed and 60 others injured by a storm that lasted for 30 minutes in Kahama district in Tanzania’s lake zone region of Shinyanga.

Benson Mpyesa, Kahama district commissioner, on Wednesday said 35 people died on the spot while three others died when undergoing treatment at Kahama district hospital, Xinhua reported.

“The number of people killed by the storm could rise because rescue operations are still underway,” Mpyesa said, adding that most of the victims were young children.