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.

Two wanted real estate promoters arrested in Maharashtra

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More than a year after the collapse of an under-construction residential building which killed 31 people, most of them construction workers, Goa Police Friday arrested two promoters of the project from Maharashtra.

A police spokesperson said Pardip Singh Birring and Jagdeep Sehgal were arrested in Navi Mumbai following a tip-off that the promoters of the Ruby Residency complex were to visit the headquarters of a real estate company in Navi Mumbai.

Andhra signs MoUs with oil firms for LNG terminal

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The Andhra Pradesh government has signed two MoUs with oil firms for a floating Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) terminal in the state’s Kakinada deep water port, an official statement said Friday.

The MoUs were signed during Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu’s two-day visit to Delhi, which ended Friday.

The first MOU for the development of the terminal was inked between Andhra Pradesh Gas Distribution Company (APGDC), GDF SUEZ and Shell, said the statement

Delhi Police hold inter-state meeting on security

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In view of the Republic Day celebrations with US President Barack Obama as the chief guest and the forthcoming assembly election, the Delhi Police Friday held a meeting with the northern states police officials. This was for strengthening cooperation between the police forces to ensure security in the national capital.

The meeting, addressed by Delhi Police Commissioner B.S. Bassi, was attended by senior police officers of Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Rajasthan, Jammu and Kashmir, Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh.

Navy’s third indigenous LCU launched

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The third indigenous Landing Craft Utility (LCU) useful for transporting tanks, armoured vehicles and soldiers during amphibious operations, was launched in Kolkata Friday.

Named LCU L53, this is the third vessel in the series of eight Landing Craft Utility Ships being built by Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers Ltd (GRSE) here for the Indian Navy.A

The first LCU was launched in March last year, and the second in September.

Man arrested after hostage drama in Paris

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An armed man, who took two hostages in a Paris postal office in the suburbs Friday, was arrested after he surrendered to the police, media reports said.

The armed man entered an office of La Poste in Colombes, west of Paris, and took two people hostage. The man had past convictions and he called the police himself, Xinhua reported citing the news channel BFMTV. The demands made by him were not clear, the report added.

A civil security helicopter flew over the area where a large security perimetre was set up.

BALCO gets nod for 1,200 MW captive power unit

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Bharat Aluminium Company Limited (BALCO) Friday said it has received approval from the Chhattisgarh government to start a 1,200 MW captive power plant comprising four units of 300 MW each at Korba.

“We are very grateful to the government of Chhattisgarh for the approval granted, at a time when we are celebrating our Golden Jubilee Year. It enables us to further ramp up our state-of-the-art aluminium smelter, thereby taking the aluminium capacity to 570,000 MT per annum,” said CEO and whole-time director Ramesh Nair.

Shuttlers Sindhu, Jayaram enter Malaysia Masters semis

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Indian shuttlers P.V. Sindhu and Ajay Jayaram rose to the occasion to beat their respective last eight opponents and enter the semi-finals of the $120,000 Malaysia Masters Grand Prix Gold here Friday.

However, it was the end of the road for reigning Commonwealth Games champion Parupalli Kashyap, Aditya Prakash and B. Sai Praneeth who floundered their chances to lose in their respective pre-quarter matches at the Stadium Perpaduan Kuching.

Women’s singles second seed Sindhu took just 36 minutes to move past fifth seed Porntip Buranaprasertsuk 23-21, 21-9.

Decomposed bodies buried in Unnao

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There was no activity Friday at the spot in Unnao where 104 bodies were found floating in the Ganga river a few days back, officials said here.

All the bodies, many of them highly decomposed, were buried in the sand under the supervision of local authorities. Unnao is 60 km from here.

District officials told IANS that DNA samples of most bodies were taken before they were buried in graves.

Bengal minister sent to jail again, PIL seeks removal as minister

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West Bengal Transport and Sports Minister Madan Mitra – arrested in the Saradha scam – was Friday yet again denied bail with a city court extending his judicial custody till Jan 30.

During the day, a public interest litigation (PIL) was also filed before the Calcutta High Court seeking Mitra’s disqualification as a minister as he can’t discharge his ministerial responsibilities from jail.

Mitra, a senior leader from the state’s ruling Trinamool Congress, was presented in the court of Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate H. Mukherjee on the expiry of his earlier judicial remand.

Haryana private schools asked to explain girl child event ignore

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The failure of private schools in Haryana to participate in a campaign for the girl child and against female foeticide has drawn the ire of the state’s school education department, which Friday sought an immediate explanation from all on this issue.

Principal Secretary, School Education, T.C. Gupta shot off a letter to the district education officers (DEOs) pointing out that the private schools, especially in urban areas, had defied a recent request of the department to hold various event and competitions to mark the `Beti Bachao Beti Padhao’ campaign held Thursday.

Goa carnival to be held from Feb 14

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Goa’s popular Carnival festival will be held over four days from Feb 14, state tourism officials said Friday.

The Carnival, a festival which is symbolic of Goa’s Portuguese legacy will be held in six towns, including capital Panaji, over the four days.

According to a press release issued by the state tourism ministry, the carnival float parade this year will feature themes “revolving around socio-cultural, environment and tourism-related aspects”.

Indian-origin envoys of US, Canada take charge in New Delhi

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Four new envoys Friday presented their credentials to President Pranab Mukherjee and of them, two were persons of Indian-origin – the US ambassador and the Canadian high commissioner.

Richard Rahul Verma is the first American of Indian-origin to occupy the post, while Nadir Patel is the first Canadian of Indian-origin to do so.

Both have impressive credentials and come with considerable diplomatic and administrative experience, an indication of the importance the India posting has become in world capitals.

AYUSH ministry seeks hike in budgetary allocation

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The AYUSH ministry, which deals with alternative medicine like ayurveda and homeopathy, has sought a hike in allocation for itself in the coming budget from the current Rs.4 billion to Rs.27 billion.

Ayush Minister Sripad Yesso Naik said that until now, a meagre Rs.4 billion was allocated for it for the fiscal 2014-15 which needed to be multiplied in view of the emerging importance of evolving AYUSH and the ministry has already proposed to the finance ministry to take it to the level of Rs. 27 billion for the next fiscal, a release said here Friday.

National Billiards: Advani, Sitwala set up final clash

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Twelve-time World Champion Pankaj Advani and Dhruv Sitwala posted contrasting wins to set up the final face-off in the Senior National Billiards Championship at the Bengal Rowing Club here Friday.

Advani had a minor shock as he lost two frames but overcame the setback to win the encounter 4-2 beating Siddharth Parikh of Railways.

Leading 2-0, the 29-year-old came across a hurdle in the third frame when Parikh registered a 107 break on the way to a 114-150 win, but Advani came back strong to clinch the fourth to make it 3-1.

Attacks on children setback to securing rights: Satyarthi

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Attacks on children take us back several steps in our actions towards collective progress of securing child rights across the globe, said child rights champion Kailash Satyarthi Friday.

He regretted incidents like attacks on school children in Peshawar, kidnapping of girls by Boko Haram and ISIS and the Maoist attack in Assam.

In a communication on the eve of the seventeenth anniversary of his organisation – Global March Against Child Labour – Satyarthi, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize last year, said the new year was not the time to lose hope.

BSF chief reviews security along Bangladesh border

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In the wake of recent attacks by Bangladeshi smugglers, Border Security Force Director General D.K. Pathak Friday reviewed the security scenario and border management along the India-Bangladesh border in West Bengal.

Accompanied by senior BSF officers, Pathak visited Angrail, Haridaspur and Petrapole border outposts and was briefed by commandants and company commanders regarding crime profile and operations being under taken by the BSF to control trans-border crime.

He also carried out patrolling on the newly-inducted twin engine speed boat in the riverine areas of the frontier.

Indian junior women’s boxing team wins 8 medals

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The Indian junior women’s boxing team punched their way to the top perch in the ongoing fourth Nations Cup, winning eight medals including three golds, three silvers and two bronze here Friday.

Russia and Kazakhstan were second and third, respectively, on the medals tally.

Sandeep Jajodia, president of Boxing India, joyfully stated that the medal tally shows there is no dearth of talent in India and thanked the winners for placing the country in a prominent position in the world of sports.

HC notice to central, Delhi governments on CCTV cameras

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The Delhi High Court Friday issued notice to the central and Delhi governments on a plea asking them not to remove over 15,000 CCTV cameras installed here ahead of US President Barack Obama’s visit.

Obama will be in the city as the chief guest at the Republic Day parade.

A division bench of justices B.D. Ahmed and Sanjeev Sachdeva asked the governments to file their response by Jan 30.

Ahead of Obama’s visit to Delhi, the authorities have installed more that 15,000 CCTV cameras across the city for surveillance.

Advocate Meera Bhatia filed the plea.

Thailand extradites terrorist Jagtar Tara to India

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Authorities in Thailand Friday issued orders for the extradition of Khalistan Tiger Force (KTF) chief Jagtar Singh Tara and a Punjab Police team was given custody of the terrorist in Bangkok.

“A four-member Punjab Police party positioned in Bangkok is bringing Jagtar Singh Tara to India today (Friday) after his extradition by Thailand. After completion of administrative formalities, Jagtar Singh Tara has been handed over to the Punjab Police team today,” a Punjab Police spokesman said here.

Winter chill continues, schools closed in Lucknow

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Uttar Pradesh continued to shiver as the cold wave intensified Friday, a development which led to the closure of all schools up to class eight till Jan 21 in Lucknow, officials said.

The decision was taken after the regional met department predicted no change in the cold weather conditions for the next few days in the city, officials said.

Lucknow District Magistrate Rajshekhar, confirming the extension of the winter vacation, told IANS that schools will be open only for students of class nine to 12. However, the timings will be from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Falcao needs to prove himself: Van Gaal

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English football club Manchester United’s coach Louis van Gaal has said out-of-favour Colombian striker Radamel Falcao needs to prove himself at the club.

“He has to prove himself. We have made a deal and everything is clear. It’s not the end of the year so he has a chance,” Van Gaal was quoted as saying by dailymail.co.uk Friday.

The Dutch coach also revealed that Falcao’s heavy wages did not guarantee him a place in the side.

‘If a player cost 95 million pounds or 5,000 pounds it’s not any different for me. You have to prove yourself.’

Former footballer Ginola to fight Blatter for FIFA presidency

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Former France footballer David Ginola has confirmed his intention of standing against incumbent Joseph Blatter in the FIFA presidential election.

“We all know that the FIFA system isn’t working,” said Ginola in a video message on his campaign website Friday.

In the video message, the 47-year-old has invited football fans and other organisations to join ‘Team Ginola’.

Ginola needs the support of at least five football associations to be eligible for standing in the election which would be held in June this year.

National Games on schedule, says top official

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The 35th National Games technical committee chief, K. Murugan, Friday said the event to be held in Kerala will begin as per schedule.

Media reports have criticised the Games, fearing postponement because certain venues will not be ready.

Addressing reporters here after a two-day on-the-spot inspection of all the venues, Murugan said Kerala has put up an excellent show and the event will go as per schedule.