Qayam Ali

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) is closely monitoring a depression that has developed over the Arabian Sea and is expected to turn into a “deep depression”, bringing heavy rain in Maharashtra, Goa and Gujarat. Such a phenomenon affects the progress of monsoon, weather experts said.

The IMD is yet to term it a “cyclonic storm”, but Skymet, a private weather forecasting agency, has said that the “depression” has already developed into a “deep depression” and is rapidly gaining strength showing features of a “tropical storm”.

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) have fielded their candidates in all the constituencies, while Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) are contesting on 22 seats, media reported. AP file photo
Polling began on Monday to elect 24 legislators in Pakistani Kashmir’s Gilgit-Baltistan legislative assembly amid strict security arrangements.

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) have fielded their candidates in all the constituencies, while Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) are contesting on 22 seats, media reported.

A Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday met Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) chief and former Bangladesh prime minister Khaleda Zia here.

Khaleda led a six-member team to meet Modi at the Pan Pacific Sonargaon hotel where he was staying in the afternoon.

The delegation held a 45-minute meeting with Modi after which he held a 10-minute meeting with Khaleda separately, the outcome of which is not known.

The BNP delegation discussed Bangladesh’s latest political developments with the visiting Indian prime minister.

At least two inmates were killed in a riot at a prison in Brazil, a media report said.

The riot broke out in the Governador Valadares prison of the Minas Gerais state during visiting hours on Saturday morning and ended after a 21-hour standoff, leaving two inmates dead on Sunday, Xinhua reported, citing the local social defence secretariat.

During the incident, a group of inmates broke security railings and invaded administration offices to protest the overcrowding of the prison, which, with a capacity for 290 holds some 800 inmates.

Flags were flown at half-mast here on Monday as the country mourned the deaths on Malaysia’s Mount Kinabalu following a 5.9 magnitude earthquake that hit Sabah state on June 5.

Monday was named a day of national remembrance for six Tanjong Katong primary school students, their teacher Sebastian Terence Loo, and adventure guide, Muhammad Daanish, The Straits Times reported.

The students are: Peony Wee Ying Ping, Ameer Ryyan bin Mohd Adeed Sanjay, Emilie Giovanna Ramu, Matahom Karyl Mitzi Higuit, Rachel Ho Yann Shiuan and Sonia Jhala.

A First Information Report (FIR) has been filed in Visakhapatnam against Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao for allegedly defaming his Andhra Pradesh counterpart Chandrababu Naidu.

The FIR comes after the Andhra Pradesh Government said last evening that the voice in the tapes released last evening with respect to the vote scam during the Telangana MLC elections did not belong to Naidu.

The Anti Corruption Bureau had earlier arrested a TDP MLA, Revanth Reddy, and two others for allegedly handing over Rs 50 lakh to the nominated member a few days before the election.

The BJP has slammed Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal for his remarks against Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung, alleging that the language used by the AAP chief was that of “C-grade Bollywood characters”.

Amid a bitter confrontation with Mr Jung over the authority to run the city administration, Mr Kejriwal had called him a “polling agent of BJP”.

“Arvind Kejriwal seems to be under influence of the language used by C-grade Bollywood characters,” Delhi BJP President Satish Upadhyay alleged on Saturday.

In the dock over alleged lapses of food safety standards in its famous Maggi noodles, Nestle India has disclosed having spent Rs. 445 core on ‘advertising and sales promotion’ last year, while the expenses towards ‘quality testing’ was less than five per cent of such amounts.

Similar has been the trend over the last five years, when the ‘advertising and sales promotion’ expenses ranged between Rs. 300-450 crore annually, while expenditure on ‘laboratory or quality testing’ moved between Rs. 12-20 crore.

Malaysian authorities have finally shared with India interrogation and other details pertaining to a Sri Lankan national, who had been arrested in that country on the charge of conspiring to carry out terror strikes on the US and Israeli consulates in South India.

The decision comes after Maggi noodles, a popular brand of noodle manufactured in India, was banned in different Indian states after a high level of lead along with excessive amounts of taste enhancer such as monosodium glutamate (MSG) were detected in the noodle.

Bahrain has temporarily banned the import and sale of Nestle’s Maggi noodles from India, amid reports that the level of lead content in the popular instant snack in India was found to be above permissible limit.

India Meteorological Department (IMD) ) bulletin forecasts a heavy rainfall in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh in the next 24 hours, as the monsoon will cover both the states by Monday. There is already a dip in the day temperatures in the city due to sudden change in the weather

With the conditions favourable for the monsoon, temperatures will come down giving respite from the scorching heat. On Sunday, heavy rains accompanied with strong winds lashed Warangal, Karimnagar and Nalgonda Districts.

A British Muslim woman was allegedly assaulted by a group of women, who had ripped off her hijab in a racially motivated attack in London. Police say they have arrested two people in connection with the crime.

The investigation is going on for the incident, which happened on Thursday as a young mother was walking to a private Islamic primary school in the south London to collect her children. she was approach by a group of women, who allegedly started shouting abuse at her.

A Man and his family awarded 13 years imprisonment in dowry death case in UP’s Ballia
According to victim’s father, her husband and in-laws were demanding dowry and when their demands were not met they killed Rekha by strangulating her on May 17, 2002.

Additional district Judge, Amarpal yesterday awarded 13-year imprisonment to Dhananjay Pandey, his father Babban and mother Manki devi, for killing his wife Rekha over dowry.

Airtel is now offering 1 GB of 3G data with 28 days validity for Rs 255 against charge of Rs 249 for the same data usage with 30 days validity.

The company has withdrawn discounts that it was offering for online purchase of mobile data packs, bringing the prices at par with internet packs sold offline through retailers.

“There is a slight change in few of our online prepaid data packs owing to the discontinuation of discounted offers on these,” an Airtel spokesperson told PTI.

Also, sources said that Airtel has raised prices of 10 data packs.

Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) Chief Mohan Bhagwat has been extended top category ‘Z+’ security cover with the commandos of CISF having been tasked with the job.

Officials said Bhagwat will now be guarded by an armed squad of the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) during his stay at the RSS headquarters in Nagpur and when he travels to any place in Maharashtra and across the country.

“The special security group of CISF has been entrusted with the task of securing the VVIP after a threat analysis made in this regard necessitated that Bhagwat be guarded by a trained team.

A grand celebration is being planned on the Tank Bund to mark the closing ceremony of the week-long celebrations of the State Formation Day on Sunday, Telangana Minister for Commercial Taxes Talasani Srinivas Yadav has said.

The closing ceremony is likely to be about three-hour long from 5 p.m., the Minister said and invited people from all walks of life to be part of the event.

In controversial remarks, Uttar Pradesh Minister Totaram Yadav on Saturday said that “rapes happen with the mutual consent of boys and girls”.

Asked if the rape incidents in the state could be controlled, Yadav said, “What is rape? There is nothing as such. Rapes happen with mutual consent of boys and girls.”

The Election Commission will dispatch four special teams of ‘auditors’ to poll-bound Bihar for weeding out duplicate entries from electoral rolls.

According to official sources, the four teams, comprising six officers each, are part of the Commission’s newly-set up Regulatory Audit Division and Bihar will be their first assignment.

The Audit Division has been mandated to detect specific instances of non-adherence to the Commission’s guidelines or legal provisions required to be followed by the field election machinery. Maintenance of the quality of electoral rolls is its other task.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Sunday referred to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s maiden visit to Bangladesh as ‘historic’ and dubbed it the ‘second foundation stone’ of the relationship between New Delhi and Dhaka.

A family court in Mumbai has restrained a Muslim US-returned pediatrician from marrying for the second time till he settles the rights and dues of his first wife.

“The religion and the law both do not permit a Muslim men to perform another marriage as of a right by thrashing and delaying the rights of his first wife,” said Judge Swati Chauhan in her order.

Britain’s schools minister has announced he would be tying the knot with his male partner after a nearly 29-year secret affair. Nick Gibb said he will marry Michael Simmonds, the chief executive of the Populus polling organisation, in November, having just last week come to his family as gay.

Gibb told ‘The Times’ that he and Simmonds had enjoyed a “wonderful life” together but said the forthcoming wedding had necessitated the “practical” step of informing his 79-year-old mother and other relatives.

US President Barack Obama is committed to further intensifying relationship with India and the recent visit of a top American defence official is reflective of the depth of the ties, the White House has said.

“The President, as he discussed on his trip to India back in January, is committed to further intensifying the relations between our two countries,” White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said at a news conference.

Referring to the recently concluded visit of Defense Secretary Ashton Carter, he said this is reflective of the depth of the relationship between the US and India.

A day after banning Maggi noodles, food safety regulator FSSAI on Saturday said it will test samples of instant noodles across brands to ensure food safety.

Food Safety and Standards Authority of India said it will also examine branded pasta and macaroni products while asserting that it’s not considering any action against brand ambassadors as of now.

“We will check all other instant noodles brands as well. Why should we restrict to one brand? We are drawing samples of other noodles brand,” FSSAI CEO Yudhvir Singh Malik told PTI.

In a major boost to connectivity between India and Bangladesh, two bus services were flagged off on Saturday by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, his Bangladesh counterpart Sheikh Hasina and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in Dhaka.

The bus services — Kolkata-Dhaka-Agartala and Dhaka-Shillong-Guwahati — will link West Bengal to three North Eastern states of India via Bangaldeshi capital Dhaka.

Questioning the leadership of the Indian Army’s 3 Corps in wake of the deadly ambush in Manipur, Rajya Sabha MP and member of the Standing Committee on Defence Rajeev Chandrasekhar today said the force needs to get its act together in the Northeast.

“My personal view is that the army and security forces in the Northeast have got sloppy and in my opinion are not alert to the very rapidly changing situation on the ground which is driven by divisions in the insurgent movements,” Chandrasekhar said speaking to reporters here.