Month: June 2009

Adaptability to weather is the key,says Dhoni

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Kingston, June 26: After playing in cooler climes for over five months, adapting to hot, humid conditions of the Caribbean isles will be the key to his team’s success in the four-match ODI series against West Indies, feels India skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni.

After playing two Tests, five One-dayers and two Twenty20 games in New Zealand in March-April, the Indians went to South Africa for the Indian Premier League (IPL) before moving to England for the World Twenty20. In all the three countries the players had to brave cold, windy conditions.

Nawaz Sharif acquitted of wrongdoing in acquiring chopper

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Rawalpindi, June 26: A division bench of Lahore High Court Friday acquitted former prime minister Nawaz Sharif of wrongdoing in acquiring a helicopter in the mid-1990s, saying he had taken it on rent for an election campaign.

A two-member bench of judges Tariq Shamim and Saeed Ijaz declared as null and void an accountability court’s verdict holding Sharif guilty of acquiring the Russian-made Mi-8 helicopter.

The court also condoned Sharif’s delay in filing his appeal.

Ahead of NAM meet, India asks Pakistan to address terror issue

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Trieste/New Delhi, June 26: Ten days after the crucial meeting between the leaders of India and Pakistan in Russia, Indian External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna Friday told his Pakistani counterpart Shah Mehmood Qureshi to address the issue of terrorism ‘centrally’ and fulfill Islamabad’s pledge of not allowing its territory to be used for anti-India activities.

Never touched alcohol, tobacco, says Ghulam Nabi Azad

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New Delhi, June 26: Minister of Health and Family Welfare Ghulam Nabi Azad Friday said he and his family had never “touched” alcohol, tobacco products and drugs, and thus he had no first-hand idea about their effects.
“I have the proud privilege to announce that in my life so far, till today, I haven’t touched alcohol, cigarette, betel and gutkha-putkha. I never allowed my family to touch any of this. So, I don’t know the after-effects of all these,” the health minister said at a function here on the occasion of the International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking.

CM advises market intervention to control prices

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Hyderabad, June 26: Expressing concern at increase in prices of pulses, oils, vegetables and rice in the open market, Chief Minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy instructed senior officials concerned to go for market intervention wherever and whenever required. “While prices of pulses and oils are beyond our (Government) control, we should see to it that prices of superfine rice and vegetables are brought down to reasonable levels,” he noted.

State aims to bring down HIV/AIDS cases by 2012

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Hyderabad, June 26: Chief Minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy exuded confidence that Andhra Pradesh would be able to halt and reverse the spread of HIV/ AIDS infection in the State by 2012. A delegation from UNAIDS led by convenor of AP Legislators Forum on HIV/AIDS Sailajanath and APSACS Project Director RV Chandravadan met the Chief Minister at the latter’s Camp Office this morning, to discuss and take his message on effective methods to combat HIV/ AIDS.

CM rules out Express rail link to airport

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Hyderabad, June 26: Chief Minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy is of the view that the ‘Express Rail Link from Begumpet to Rajiv Gandhi International Airport at Shamshabad’ is not viable. Instead, he wants the Investment & Infrastructure Department to prepare a comprehensive plan connecting all the railway stations in the HMDA area, MMTS stations, Hyderabad Metro line and also the entire length of Outer Ring Road with radial connectivity to the Shamshabad Airport.

Property tax payment to get easier

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Hyderabad, June 26: House owners who live on the outskirts of the city would soon be able to pay their property tax online or at any of the e-seva centres located in the Greater Hyderabad limits. The facility would be available in two months’ time for the houseowners living in Kukatpally, Gaddianaram, Uppal Kalan, Kapra, L B Nagar, Malkajgiri, Quthbullapur, Seri Lingampally, Alwal, Rajendranagar, Patancheru and Ramachandrapuram. Now the tax-payers need not cover long distances to reach their respective ward and circle.

ATM card helps unveil the mystery of Headless Body

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Hyderabad, June 26: He was done to death on the night of June 11 and his headless body was discovered in the forests on the city outskirts two days later. Though the victim was no more, someone went on withdrawing cash using his ATM card. It was this clue that helped the Cyberabad police crack the mystery behind the brutal murder of 38-year-old Subba Raju, a contractor, whose headless body was found in Pet Basheerabad police limits on June 13.

TERI University signs pact with Deutsche Bank

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New Delhi, June 26: The Deutsche Bank Friday signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) University to support its management programmes in infrastructure.
Under this MoU, three Deutsche Bank scholarships will be provided per year for the MBA (infrastructure) programme offered by TERI for a period of three years.

For MJ’s Indian fans, he lives forever

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New Delhi, June 26: From tears to tributes, fans of the ‘King of Pop’ Michael Jackson across India mourned the musical genius who captured their imagination with his music and his persona.
“Micheal was the best. He will live in our hearts forever. No matter what injustice has been done upon him, he will continue to be a legend and the best in the world of music,” Mumbai-based professor Shalini Iyer told IANS.

Another fan, Bhavan Kher, who is also from the financial capital of India, says she can never refer to the music genius in past tense.

Five school students go missing

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Hyderabad, June 26: A group of five students of Bhashyam school in Santoshnagar are reported to be missing since Wednesday. On suspicion that they might have travelled either to Bhadrachalam or Visakhapatnam, police teams have been dispatched to get them back.

Michael Jackson’s music will immortalise him: Shilpa Shetty

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New Delhi, June 26: Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty, a die-hard fan of King of Pop Michael Jackson, says she was taken aback at the news of the singer’s demise but his music will immortalise him.
“I woke up to the most devastating news of Michael Jackson passing away. I just sank in my chair… words can’t express my emotions because I am a huge huge fan of his.

Delhi woman now tells court policemen did not rape her

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New Delhi, June 26: A woman who had accused five police officials of raping her in a police station here Monday, admitted before a court Thursday that her allegation was false.
A 35-year-old woman had alleged a station-house officer (SHO) and four constables gangraped her inside the Inderpuri police station three days ago. On Thursday in a statement before a city magistrate she said that she leveled false allegations against the policemen as the SHO had tightened the screws against illegal activities in the area.

Gandhi statue unveiled in British city amid tight security

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New York, June 26: A large statue of Mahatma Gandhi was unveiled in this southeastern English city Friday by the British home minister amid tight security after internet protesters warned it could be defaced.

Around 1,000 people, including a large number ethnic Indians, turned up to watch the unveiling by Home Minister Alan Johnson and Hindu spiritual leader Swami Satyamitrananda of Hardwar. The bronze statue stands seven and a half feet tall, and is placed on five-and-a-half-foot plinth.

Jackson lived like king but died awash in debt

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Los Angeles, June 26: Michael Jackson the singer was also Michael Jackson the billion-dollar business.

Yet after selling more than 61 million albums in the U.S. and having a decade-long attraction open at Disney theme parks, the “King of Pop” died Thursday at age 50 reportedly awash in about $400 million in debt, on the cusp of a final comeback after well over a decade of scandal.

Pakistani military winding down operations in northwest

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Islamabad, June 26: The Pakistani military Friday seemed to be winding down its 61-day anti-Taliban operations in Swat and two other districts of the northwest and was focusing on mopping up operations in the areas that have been cleared of the militants.
One indication of this is that no Taliban have been been killed in the 48 hours to Friday afternoon, to go by an Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) statement.

“During the last 24 hours, security forces apprehended two terrorists and also recovered arms and ammunition,” the statement said.

Imran refuses to promote Luck on small screen

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Mumbai, June 26: Imran Khan, who is not a big fan of reality shows, has turned down a chance to appear on one to promote his film Luck. Imran Khan snubbed the producers as well as the channel, and now his co-star Shruti Hassan will appear with the second choice – Sanjay Dutt.

Karan refuses to shoot in Australia

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Mumbai, June 26: Karan Johar has shifted the outdoor shooting schedule of his untitled production, which is the remake of Hollywood film Stepmom, from Australia to US. The shift in schedule is his mark of protest against the attacks on the Indian students in Australia.

AP to weed out bogus ration cards

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Hyderabad, June 26: The Andhra Pradesh Government today announced that all bogus ration cards would be weeded out by November by undertaking an elaborate physical verification survey.

Talking to newspersons on the sideline of a two-day District Collectors Conference here, Revenue Minister D Prasada Rao said the Government wanted to build a database based on IRIS de-duplication and physical verification of ration card datas.

The Government decided to identify and weed out duplicate ration cards by using Optical Mark Recognition(OMR) sheets.

Prosecution sanction sought in Varun’s case

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Lucknow, June 26: The distrcit administration of Pilibhit which had imposed NSA against the BJP leader and MP Varun Gandhi on March 29 last has forwarded the prosecutiion sanction order to the Uttar Pradesh government for approval.

The order, forwarded by the district magistrate of Pilibhit last evening through a special messenger, if approved, would pave the way for filing a chargesheet against Varun Gandhi facing charges in the wake of his hate speech during the Lok sabha elections.

Envoy says US arms sales policy towards Taiwan unchanged

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Taipei, June 26: A top US envoy to Taiwan Friday said Washington will continue its arms sales policy towards Taiwan, despite China’s objection.

“We do not consult with Beijing on our security cooperation and arms decisions involving Taiwan,” said Stephen Young, director of American Institute in Taiwan, the de facto US embassy on the island, in a news conference.

BJP advises Sibal to stop jeopardising students’ future

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New Delhi, June 26: Terming the announcements of Union HRD Minister Kapil Sibal regarding scrapping the board examinations and higher education as ”confusing, impractical and directionless”, the BJP today asked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to stop him from jeopardising the students’ future in the name of beating the 100-day deadline.

Bihar assembly’s monsoon session begins – peacefully

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Patna, June 26: Neither display of placards nor shouting of slogans against the Nitish Kumar-led government — the month-long monsoon session of the Bihar assembly began on a different note Friday. Peacefully.

Contrary to past practice, when the opposition normally created ruckus in the house, the first day of the session saw the formal commencement marked by a brief address by the speaker Uday Narayan Chaudhary following which he ordered adjournment for the day.