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.

Jute to make Kolkata book fair ‘green’

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The 39th International Kolkata Book Fair, that begins Jan 28, is set to go green, courtesy kiosks stacking up on innovative jute products to spread the message.

Organisers of the book fair, the Publishers and Booksellers Guild, have joined hands with National Jute Board to set up as many as eight kiosks selling low-cost jute bags spread across the book fair venue, the Milan Mela grounds here, till Feb 8.

In addition, designer jute bags and diversified jute products will also be available.

Pune FC sign Montenegrin striker

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Pune FC has completed the signing of Montenegrin football international Darko Nikac as their marquee player for the 2015 I-League season that kicks off Saturday.

The 24-year-old striker joins the Pune outfit after spending the first half of the 2014-15 season with Montenegrin top-flight side OFK Grbalj for whom he struck six times in 11 games.

As a full Montenegro international, Nikac becomes Pune FC’s marquee signing and joins fellow overseas players Luciano Sabrosa and Ryuji Sueoka in the lineup.

Mitchell Marsh to play Sydney Grade Cricket

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Injured Australian all-rounder Mitchell Marsh is trying to find his way back by playing Sydney Grade Cricket from Jan 24.

Though he won’t bowl before the World Cup as he is still recovering from a right hamstring problem, Cricket Australia (CA) wants Marsh to get some batting practice before joining the team at the quadrennial event as a specialist batsman, reports news.com.au.

Set of ‘Ek Rishta…’ turns into a gym

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A set acts as a second home for actors — but for actor Rahul Sharma, who is currently seen in TV show “Ek Rishta Aisa Bhi”, the serial’s set has become a gym.

Hectic shooting schedules are part and parcel of a daily show. Hence, Rahul was missing out on his health and fitness regime. Taking this into consideration, the show’s makers have arranged for some gym equipment for him.

“The channel and the production house have organised a mobile gym section in his make-up room for the actor, who couldn’t be regular at the gym due to his busy shooting schedule,” said a source.

Israeli arrested in Goa with party drug

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A 20-year-old Israeli national was Friday arrested in Goa for possession of popular party drug LSD valued at Rs.20.60 lakh, police said.

Neria Bendavid was arrested around 1.30 a.m. from the beach village of Arambol, 50 km from here.

Bendavid, who was in Goa on a tourist visa and was living in Chapora, a coastal village notorious for availability of narcotics, had gone to Arambol to peddle the drugs, police said.

South Korea aim to defeat Australia

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South Korea coach Uli Stielike Friday expressed his team’s desire to beat hosts Australia in the last group match Saturday to avoid a quarter-final match-up with China in the Asian Cup football tournament.

“We have to do everything for the victory against Australia,” Stielike was cited by Xinhua as saying.

If South Korea beat Australia, they would avoid an early meeting with China, who have been tagged as the “dark horse” of the tournament and would face either Saudi Arabia or Uzbekistan, both of whom lost to China in group matches.

Sensex ends flat; IT stocks fall

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A day after rallying 729 points up on the back of a surprise lending rate cut by the Reserve Bank of India, a benchmark index of Indian equities markets closed Friday’s trade flat on the back of largely negative global cues.

Healthy buying was observed in healthcare, capital goods and consumer durables stocks, while information technology (IT), technology, entertainment and media (TECK) and banking sectors came under selling pressure.

Agent, coach drop disgraced Kenyan athlete Jeptoo

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Athletes agent Federico Rosa of Italy and coach Claudio Berardille have announced they have cut any contact with Kenyan marathon runner Rita Jeptoo, who has been reprimanded for failing a dope test.

Rosa has also been the agent of the 33-year-old Chicago and Boston Marathon champion while Berardille, also from Italy, has been working with her as coach, reports Xinhua.

US to loosen restrictions on Cuba

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The Obama administration said Thursday that it will loosen trade, finance, and travel embargo against Cuba.

The US Departments of Treasury and Commerce Thursday announced regulatory amendments to sanctions on Cuba following the US president’s announcement of a set of diplomatic and economic changes to chart a new course in US relations with Cuba in December 2014, Xinhua reported.

Taylor Lautner, Marie Avgeropoulous part ways

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Actor Taylor Lautner and longtime girlfriend Marie Avgeropoulos have split up.

A source said the two broke up a couple months ago and “it was completely amicable”, reports eonline.com.

The source, who did not reveal a specific reason behind the young duo calling it quits, added: “Taylor is dating and having fun. Nothing serious.”

Lautner and Avgeropoulos met over the summer of 2013 on the set of “Tracers”.

(IANS)

Vaishavi wins leg 2 of golf tour

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Vaishavi Sinha won the second leg of the Women’s Professional Golf Tour 2015 at the Kalhaar Blues and Greens here Thursday.

Vaishavi, who started her day as the joint second on the leader board played with utmost caution to finish at the top with 218 after the final round, three shots clear of overnight leader Amandeep Drall, who finished second.

The Noida girl finished her final round carding a total of 218, which included three birdies on the 11th, 13th and 14th holes along with a couple of bogeys on the fourth and 12th holes at the Rs.7,00,000 event.

Kiran Bedi joins BJP, to give Delhi ‘all she has’

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Celebrated former IPS officer Kiran Bedi, who parted ways with AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal around two years ago, Thursday joined the BJP, saying Delhi needs a stable and honest government.

At an event attended by Bharatiya Janata Party president Amit Shah and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, she also lavished praise on Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his “inspirational leadership”.

Bedi, India’s first woman police officer, and Kejriwal were partners in social activist Anna Hazare’s anti-corruption campaign which shook India in 2011, eventually leading to the birth of the Aam Aadmi Party.

EU favours international arbitration in Italian marines’ case

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The European (EU) Parliament Thursday said the row between India and Italy over the prosecution of two Italian marines accused of killing Indian fishermen in 2012 should be settled under “Italian jurisdiction or through international arbitration”.

The members of the EU Parliament also called for the marines to be repatriated, as their detention without charge was a “serious breach of human rights”, according to a EU Parliament press release.

Nawaz Sharif, Saudi prince discuss issues faced by Muslims

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Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif Thursday met Saudi Prince Salman bin Abdul Aziz and discussed the situation in the Middle East.

During the meeting, bilateral relations, the situation in the Middle East and issues faced by Muslims across the world came under discussion, Dawn reported.

The premier took the Saudi crown prince into confidence about measures being taken to tackle terrorism and militancy in Pakistan.

Trade and economic ties between the two countries also came under discussion in the meeting.

Rs.5 lakh crore to be invested in road sector: Gadkari

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Union Road Transport, Highways and Shipping Minister Nitin Gadkari Thursday said an investment of Rs.5 lakh crore would be made in the road sector in the coming five years.

Inaugurating the eighth Rubber Expo and Tyre Show (IRE) here, the minister said: “In five years, there will be investment of Rs.5 lakh crore.”

The minister further said that the government plans to build 30 kms of roads per day in the next two years. Currently, only two kms of roads are built per day.

IANS

Man sentenced to death for double murder in Odisha

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A court in Odisha Thursday awarded the death sentence to a man accused of double murder in 2011.

The district and sessions judge of Jajpur pronounced the death sentence on Ganeswar Mahanta for killing his widowed aunt Kanchan Mahanta and her father Dukhabandhu Mahanta over a property dispute March 14, 2011.

The accused had hacked both of them to death with a sharp weapon, following a dispute over property in Banagaon Natasahi village in Jajpur district.

Public prosecutor Kishore Kar said it was a heinous crime and falls in the ‘rarest of the rare cases’ category.

BJP attracting female members a healthy sign: Tharoor

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Congress MP Shashi Tharoor Thursday termed it a “healthy sign” that the BJP was finally inducting female members, after former IPS officer Kiran Bedi joined the party, but said attracting new faces was not a great achievement for a party that would in power for five years.

Bedi joined the Bharatiya Janata Party Thursday, ahead of the Feb 7 Delhi assembly election. There was speculation that Jaya Prada could follow suit.

Land ordinance: Farmers’ body to lay siege to parliament

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A farmers’ body here Thursday announced that it would lay siege to parliament Feb 20 to protest the new Land Acquisition ordinance.

The Rashtriya Kisan Mazdoor Sangthan described the ordinance as a “kaala kanoon” (black law).

The body’s spokesman Satya Pal Chaudhary said by promulgating the ordinance, the central government showed that it was working for the industrialists.

“Now, the farmers have no right to oppose the acquisition of their land. The government can acquire land without hearing their voices,” he said.

Cross currency hits TCS net in Q3

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Cross currency due to volatility in the forex market impacted net profit and revenue of Indian IT bellwether Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) for third quarter of fiscal 2014-15.

As a result, the global software major’s net profit for the quarter under review (Q3) at Rs.5,328 crore was flat or marginally lower year-on-year (YoY) from Rs.5,333 crore posted in same period year ago, under the Indian General Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP). Sequentially, net profit was 1.6 percent up from Rs.5,244 crore posted in second quarter of the fiscal.

Labourer dies while cleaning wine fermentation tank

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Two people were booked for negligence after a labourer died of suffocation while cleaning a wine fermentation tank in Goa, police said Thursday.

The incident happened in Margao, 35 km from Panaji.

Police in their complaint filed on behalf of the state said that proper safety protocol was not followed while cleaning the tank, which resulted in the death of Santosh, an unskilled labourer hired for cleaning it.

“The deceased’s full identity is not known yet. Another labourer Prakash Majhe, who was also cleaning the tank, managed to save himself,” Sub-Inspector Akshay Gaonkar said.

Mourinho named Portugal’s “Coach of the Century”

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Chelsea coach Jose Mourinho has been awarded the title of ‘Portugal’s Coach of the Century’ by the country’s football federation.

The 51-year-old coach was feted at a gala ceremony held as part of the commemorations of the 100th anniversary of the Portuguese Football Federation Wednesday.

Mourinho has won two Champions League trophies and is the first coach to win domestic league titles in Europe’s four top footballing nations – Portugal, England, Italy and Spain.

His current team Chelsea are table-toppers in the English Premier League after 21 rounds of matches.

EMIs to come down, as RBI announces unscheduled rate cut

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Monthly instalments on auto, home and consumer durable loans may finally come down, as the apex bank in a surprise move cut key lending rates.

The unscheduled rate cut served early Thursday morning led Indian Inc. to cheer the move and stock markets to rally.

The industry which is reeling under an economic slowdown coupled with high fuel and interest rate costs said that it expect more such moves in the coming month to kick-start the investments and buying cycle.

Essar exits telecom business after monetising $6 bn

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Essar Global Fund Limited (EGFL) Thursday said it has completely exited from telecom business globally after selling all existing stakes in its telecom businesses worldwide for $6 billion.

“Essar Global Fund Limited, a global investment fund controlling a number of world-class assets, today (Thurssday) said that it has completely exited the telecom business with successful closure of the transaction in Kenya. With this EGFL has completed monestising its telecom business for an aggregate value of over $6 billion,” the company said in a statement.

Pakistan parliament condemns caricatures in French magazine

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The National Assembly of Pakistan Thursday unanimously passed a resolution condemning the blasphemous caricatures published in a French magazine.

The resolution maintained that there were deliberate attempts to incite violence, create discord, widen misunderstandings among civilisations and provide opportunities to terrorist elements to capitalise on public sentiments, The News International reported.

The resolution maintained that such malicious attacks on the sanctity of the Prophet also mean hate speech.