Press Trust of India

People Monday blocked the Gurgaon-Rewari state highway for over five hours while alleging police inaction against cow smugglers.

The residents of several villages Monday afternoon blocked the state highway near Hyatpur village, eight km from the Gurgaon bus stand. It resulted in a huge traffic jam.

Aam Aadmi Party leader Yogendra Yadav criticised the police for inaction against cattle smugglers.

In his statement, Yadav said police remained inactive despite the people informing them about smuggling of the animals.

Assam has approached the union government for support for setting up skill development centres across the state to increase employability of the state’s youth, a minister said Monday.

State Industry and Power minister Pradyut Bordoloi said a proposal has been sent by the state government to Union Minister of State for Sports and Youth Affairs and Skill Development Sarbananda Sonowal in this regard.

Thailand’s Election Commission (EC) is accusing former prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra of abusing power by using public funds to campaign for elections, local media reported Monday.

EC investigators have alleged that Yingluck, along with eight other former cabinet ministers and national police chief, violated the already-abrogated 2007 constitution by making trips across the country ahead of the later-nullified Feb 2 general elections, Xinhua reported citing the Bangkok Post which quoted a high-placed source in the EC.

Four people, including two women, have been arrested after a woman in Rohtak town in Haryana said they assaulted her and hammered nails into her private parts, police sources said Monday.

The woman alleged that two men, and their wives, abducted and assaulted her and her husband over a petty dispute.

She said the accused hammered nails into her private parts. The woman was admitted to a hospital in Rohtak Sunday.

Alleging that the incident took place a week back, the woman said she was kept in illegal confinement.

The aviation regulator Monday directed budget passenger airlines SpiceJet to immediately refund the passengers of a Mumbai-Delhi flight which was delayed for five hours last month.

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) took cognisance of aborted flight SG-419 which was ferrying 172 passengers between Mumbai and New Delhi on June 16. The flight was delayed by around five hours due to a technical fault.

The flight was finally operated after about four-and-half hours of delays when another plane was brought in.

India’s men paddlers suffered a disappointing finish in the team bronze medal playoff, losing to Nigeria 1-3 at the Commonwealth Games here Monday.

India, who had won the bronze in the same category four years ago at home in New Delhi, started well by winning the first singles match but lost the next three to go down to the Africans at the Scotstoun Sports Campus.

Veteran A. Sharath Kamal gave India a good start by winning the first match 3-0 (11-9, 11-5, 11-7) against Segun Toriola.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon Monday urged Israel and te Islamist Hamas movement to renew a humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza and called on those responsible to “step back from provoking or inflicting yet more tragic violence on civilians there”.

“The secretary general calls on the parties to renew a humanitarian pause in Gaza and reiterates his demand for a durable ceasefire that could set the ground for the start of comprehensive negotiations,” said a statement issued here by Ban’s spokesman.

At least 31 people were killed and 20 others wounded in the latest violent attacks and conflicts in Iraq, police source said Monday.

Police patrols Monday found 14 unidentified bodies – 11 men and three women – in different parts of Baghdad, a police source told Xinhua, noting that most of the bodies had signs of torture and gunshot wounds.

It was not immediately clear when and why they were killed and no group has so far claimed responsibility for the killings.

A search is under way for an Indian sailor who went missing after he fell overboard from a ship he was working in in Australia, media reported Monday.

Mukesh Lala Fulbaria, 41, fell off from a crude oil tanker MT Sigma Integrity off the coast of Carnarvon in western Australia Sunday and has been missing since then, the WAtoday.com news portal reported.

The Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) issued a general shipping call and two vessels, The Venus and the Vil Atlantic, immediately joined the search along with an AMSA Dornier aircraft out of Perth.

Health Minister Harsh Vardhan Monday said health personnel at both the central and state levels will be mobilised to boost diarrhoea-control measures.

He was speaking at the launch of the nationwide “Intensified Diarrhoea Control Fortnight (IDCF)”.

“The measures are a set of activities which include enhancing advocacy, stepping up awareness generation, establishing more ORS-zinc corners, enthusing ASHA volunteers to reach oral rehydration solution (ORS) packets to families with children as well as detecting kids in need of treatment,” the minister said.

Two men, against whom 125 cases including that of murder are registered in Haryana and the National Capital Region (NCR), have been arrested here, police said Monday.

Sanjay, 32, and Sandeep, 26, were arrested July 24 from Palam Vihar area here.

Sanjay is a resident of Delhi while Sandeep hails from Sonipat district of Haryana. Both are school dropouts.

“During interrogation, they revealed that 125 cases of heinous crimes, including murder, are registered against them in Sonipat, Panipat and Delhi,” Joint Commissioner of Police Vivek Sharma told media persons.

A 40-year-old man has been arrested here for molesting a 10-year-old girl, police said Monday.

Ram Swarup Mandal, who hails from Madhubani district in Bihar, was arrested for sexually molesting his landlord’s daughter in Naharpur Rupa area.

“He molested the girl on the night of July 25 when the child was sleeping with her family on the terrace as there was no electricity,” a police officer said.

During a similar power cut Sunday night (July 27), when the family went to the terrace, the girl refused to go and revealed about the molestation.

Union Shipping Minister Nitin Gadkari Monday announced an ambitious plan to double the capacity of 12 major Indian ports from the current 800 million metric tonnes to 1,600 mmts in the next five years.

In this context, the ports have already drawn up action plans for capacity addition of 500 mmts, of which projects to the tune of 350 mmts will commence from the current fiscal, he said.

“Ports and roads play a key role and country’s GDP can be boosted by two percent if these key infrastructure sectors are developed to their potential.

Militias in the self-proclaimed Lugansk People’s Republic (LNR) in eastern Ukraine have killed 23 Ukrainian army troops over the past 24 hours, media reported Monday.

The Ukrainian army’s territorial battalion Aidar was taking part in three different operations in the southeast of the country and each of its groups sustained losses, the UNIAN news agency reported.

In all, 23 troops were killed, the news agency reported citing the battalion’s social network account.
(IANS/ITAR -TASS)

Calcutta High Court today ordered a Criminal Investigation Department (CID) probe in Tapas Pal case asking for registration of an FIR against him within 72 hours. Earlier, Tapas Pal a Member of Parliament (MP) from Bengal”s Krishnanagar, who has been advised to take complete bed rest after he complained of a sudden increase in blood pressure, had kick started a controversy when he was caught on tape exhorting party workers to kill Communist Party of India (Maoist) (CPI-M) activists even as he himself asserted he will gun down his rivals and let loose his “boys” to rape their women.

Uttar Pradesh government today recommended a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe in the Mohanlalganj rape and murder case.

Actress Shazahn Padamsee sang for the first time on stage where her mother and popular singer Sharon Prabhakar also belted out few hit numbers. The “Houseful 2” actress called the experience “magical”.

The daughter of theatre personality and ad filmmaker Alyque Padamsee had made her acting debut in 2009 with “Rocket Singh: Salesman of the Year”.

But now she is following her mother’s footsteps.

“What happened last night (Sunday) was truly magical! Never thought singing for the first time on stage would feel so surreal,” she tweeted Monday.

Delhi talent Navdeep Chhabra is excited to make his acting debut in director Devang Dholakia’s untitled film.

“I am very excited about my first film. It is a very relevant story, which will challenge me to explore many shades of my personality. It is an entertainer and a hard hitting reality,” Navdeep said in a statement.

“It’s too early to talk about the storyline beyond this but in times to come there will be lots to reveal,” he added.

The film’s producers and star cast are also yet to be revealed.

England continued to dominate proceedings in their third cricket Test against India as a 142-run partnership between Gary Ballance (156) and Ian Bell (68 batting) took the hosts to 358 for three at lunch on day two at The Rose Bowl here Monday.

England, who started the day on 247 for two, scored 111 runs in 29 overs, losing just one wicket.

Joe Root (2 batting) was the other unbeaten batsman.

With rainfall in catchment areas not being adequate this year, the water level in reservoirs of the Bhakra Dam and the Pong Dam continues to be lower than in the same period last year, officials of the Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB) said Monday.

The Congress Monday said it suspected that there might have been snooping of union minister Nitin Gadkari and demanded an investigation into the issue.

Without targeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi by name, Congress spokesperson Shakti Singh Goyal said: “The one who snooped on people in Gujarat is now in Delhi and hence incidents of snooping are now also taking place in Delhi.”

Goyal was referring to widespread media reports Sunday that said a listening device was found in Gadkari’s house.

Gadkari, however, termed the reports “highly speculative”.

A benchmark index of Indian equities markets plunged 135.52 points or 0.52 percent Monday as metal stocks dipped.

Most of the stocks were trading in red and selling pressure was seen in metal, oil and gas, banking and auto sectors.

The 30-scrip Sensitive Index (Sensex) of the S&P Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened at 26,173.47 points, closed trade at 25,991.23 points, down 135.52 points or 0.52 percent from the previous day’s close at 26,126.75 points.

The Sensex touched a high of 26,181.83 points and a low of 25,900.25 points in the trade so far.

Political rivals attacked West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee after a policeman, grievously injured during a political clash, died Monday, and demanded arrest of a ruling Trinamool Congress leader who had called for attacking police.

“Assistant Sub-Inspector Amit Chakraborty today (Monday) died at a private nursing home,” Superintendent of Police (Birbhum) Alok Rajoria said. Chakraborty received fatal injuries in his abdomen after being hit by splinters while trying to prevent a clash June 3 in Dubrajpur in Birbhum district.

Cinestaan Entertainment Private Limited has joined hands with renowned filmmaker Rakeysh Om Prakash Mehra for a three-film deal. Their first offering will be “Mirziya”.

Rohit Khattar has launched Cinestaan Entertainment Private Limited in partnership with industrialist Anand Mahindra.

The Cinestaan Film Company, which is Cinestaan’s first subsidiary, will make the films in collaboration with Mehra’s ROMP Pictures.

Indian para-discus thrower Jai Deep narrowly missed out on the bronze medal finishing fourth in the men’s F44/42 final of the Commonwealth Games here Monday.

England’s paralympian Dan Greaves won the gold with a throw of 59.21 metres, Welsh Aled Davies came in second with 46.83m to take home silver while Nigerian Richard Okigbazi clinched the bronze with 39.38m.

Jai Deep’s best throw of 38.68m came on his first attempt. However, the 24-year-old Rohtak-born could not improve on that on his next five attempts.