Ranchi, November 10: The Income Tax officials will today interrogate former Jharkhand chief minister Madu Koda around 11 am in Rs 4000 crore hawala scam.
However, it is still uncertain weather he will be arrested or not. Koda will also appear before Enforcement Directorate (ED) on November 13. Madhu Koda’s aide Bhanu Pratap Shahi would also be questioned today.
Thiruvananthapuram, November 10: The Congress Tuesday won all three assembly constituencies in Kerala that saw by-elections Saturday, officials said.
In Kannur, former CPI-M Lok Sabha member A.P. Abdulla Kutty defeated M.V. Jayarajan of the ruling Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) by over 12,000 votes.
In Ernakulam, Dominic Presentation defeated CPI-M’s P.N. Seenulal by more than 8,000 votes.
In Alappuzha, A.A. Shukur defeated G. Krishnaprasad of the Communist Party of India (CPI) by over 5,000 votes.
—IANS
Mumbai, November 10: Krishnamachari Srikkanth-led national selection committee will meet today to pick the squad for three-match Test series against Sri Lanka.
Left-hand pacer Zaheer Khan is all set to return to Test cricket after injury during second edition of Indian Premier League (IPL). Another left-hand speedster Ashish Nehra is likely to get berth in longer version of game after a gap of five years.
Mumbai, November 10: A key index of the Indian equities markets started trade in the green Tuesday and was 0.78 percent higher than its previous close about 20 minutes into trade.
The 30-scrip sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) opened higher at 16,552.43 points and, about 20 minutes after the opening bell, was at 16,626.79 points, 0.78 percent or 128.07 points above its previous close at 16,498.72 points.
Around the same time, the S&P CNX Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) was also higher at 4,935.4 points, up 0.76 percent from its last close.
Indore, November 10: In real life her marital status may still be single, but a fake certificate prepared here suggests that Bollywood diva Katrina Kaif is the better half of local BJP MLA Ramesh Mendola.
A marriage certificate approved by Indore Municipal Corporation claims that the actress married the local MLA on December 2, 2008 and got the same registered with the civic body on December 11 the same year.
Mumbai, November 10: It is not the first time that Raj Thackeray and Samajwadi Party leader Abu Asim Azmi, who was assaulted by MNS members in the Maharashtra Assembly, have crossed swords.
The rivalry between the two leaders began last year, when Raj launched an anti-north Indian campaign, demanding rights for sons-of-the-soil.
The campaign took a violent turn when MNS men thrashed north-Indians, forcing several of them to leave the state.
Raj even opposed celebrating Chhat pooja and north India day in Maharashtra and said “only Maharashtra Day must be celebrated in Maharashtra”.
Kirkuk, November 10: Iraq’s parliament yesterday passed a long-delayed election law paving the way for a national vote in January after overcoming a potentially explosive row over the disputed city of Kirkuk, lawmakers said.
The parliamentary election next year is a crucial test for the world’s 11th largest crude oil producer as it emerges from sectarian carnage unleashed by the US invasion in 2003 and starts to stand on its own feet while US troops pull out.
Mumbai, November 10: Zaheer Khan is set to return to Test cricket while Ashish Nehra would also fancy a comeback to the longer version after a five-year hiatus when the national selection panel meets here tomorrow to pick the Indian squad for the three-match home series against Sri Lanka.
Zaheer, who returned to first class cricket recently after undergoing a shoulder surgery, is set to bolster India’s pace attack.
Islamabad, November 10: A spokesman of Pervez Musharraf said on Monday that a statement by Pakistan’s former military ruler has been misinterpreted by the Indian media and was not being presented in the correct context. Musharraf said in an interview with CNN on Sunday that there is “ingress of the ISI in every terrorist group”.
“Always, in every group, there is an ingress of the ISI. And that is the efficiency, the effectiveness of the ISI. You must have ingress, so that you can influence all organisations,” Musharraf told CNN.
Ahmedabad: It is widely believed in state BJP circles that chief minister Narendra Modi is set to play an important role in the party at the national level, as he may succeed Rajnath Singh as party president.
Speculation about a national role for the Gujarat chief minister intensified after RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat indicated in an interview that the next national president of the BJP will not be from Delhi.
Bhagwat’s statement came at a time when the saffron party had trouble keeping order in its own house after its defeat in the recent assembly polls in three states.
Washington, November 10: Governors of Florida and Alabama followed Louisiana’s Indian American chief executive Bobby Jindal in declaring emergency as hurricane Ida weakened to a tropical storm but still dangerously churned toward the US Gulf Coast.
Forecasters warned of heavy rainfall when Ida comes ashore near the Mississippi-Alabama state line.
Although the forecast track does not show Ida making a direct hit on Louisiana, Jindal said, residents should be alert and prepared for the possibility of flooding, particularly in low-lying areas.
Mumbai, November 10: Maharashtra Legislative Assembly today suspended four MNS members for four years on charges of assaulting SP MLA Abu Asim Azmi, who took the oath in Hindi against their party leader Raj Thackeray’s diktat, and misbehaving with a woman legislator.
The resolution for their suspension, moved by parliamentary affairs minister Harshvardhan Patil, was adopted by a voice vote with Shiv Sena-BJP alliance members abstaining.
Bangalore, November 10: In a shocking incident that could probably be a first in the history of the Indian judiciary, Karnataka high court chief justice PD Dinakaran and two other senior judges were assaulted by agitating advocates on Monday.
The two senior judges, justices V Gopala Gowda and BV Nagarathna, were also detained in a court room by the advocates who were angered that they were hearing cases despite a call to boycott all proceedings in courts across the state on Monday.
London, November 10: Socialite heiress Paris Hilton has threatened legal action against a New Zealand company for plastering her face across a billboard with the word “vacant” stamped across it.
The reality TV star was left fuming when she discovered bosses at Media5 had used her image to advertise billboard space in Wellington, reports dailyexpress.co.uk.
Hilton’s manager, Jamie Freed, claims the company doesn’t have permission to use the picture and insists the star plans to settle the matter in court.
Shimla, November 10: Counting of votes began Tuesday morning in two assembly constituencies of Himachal Pradesh that saw by-elections Saturday.
The counting in Rohru and Jawali began at 8 a.m. The results are expected before noon, state chief electoral officer Anil Khachi told IANS.
While Rohru in Shimla district saw 69.36 percent polling, Jawali in Kangra district witnessed 66.99 percent polling.
The main contest is between the opposition Congress and the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
–IANS–
Buenos Aires, November 10: Some 400 clowns and doctors skilled at clowning took part in an international conference in Buenos Aires to present scientific evidence, backed by their own experience, to show why laughter was healthy.
The third International Congress of Hospital Clowns, which was held Nov 7-8 in the Argentine capital, brought together artists and health professionals from around the world who combine humour with health care, the Spanish news agency EFE reported.
New Delhi, November 10: In a bid to tone down the row over its fatwa against the singing of ‘Vande Mataram’, clerics from the Deoband Islamic seminary have said they won’t stop Muslims from singing the national song but the fatwa would stay.
The climbdown comes after some clerics from Darul Uloom Deoband met Hindu spiritual leader Sri Sri Ravi Shankar.
“The clerics have changed their stand on ‘Vande Mataram’ to bring the Hindu-Muslim communities closer,” said a press statement from Sri Sri Ravi Shankar.
Istanbul, November 10: Hard-hit by a global economic crunch, Muslim leaders are meeting on Monday, November 9, to discuss ways of bolstering inter-Muslim economic cooperation.
“Since the adoption of a series of trade facilitating and trade financing measures, the increase in volume of trade among OIC countries has become significant,” Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, Secretary General of the Organization of the Islamic Conference, told the meeting, Xinhua news agency reported.
“We have now reached 16.60 percent going by the latest statistics.”
London, November 10: A wall of ice melted in London Monday as part of celebrations to mark the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.
The 3.5-metre-high art installation “Work in Progress” was erected outside the German embassy by German artist Benjamin Walther and his Welsh-born wife Manon.
With temperatures hovering around 10 Celsius, the wall immediately began to melt, changing in appearance as the day progressed.
Washington, November 10: American mosques are taking a leading role in preparing Muslims for hajj, arranging seminars and workshops that educate would-be pilgrims and ready them for the soul-searching journey.
“We will have the classes every night until November 18 that relate one way or another to hajj,” Imam Abdul Rafaa Ouertani, of ADAMS Islamic Center in Sterling, Virginia, told.
“It is offered to everybody, and anybody is welcomed to come.”
A Jewish rabbi has issued a book giving Jews permission to murder non-Jews, including babies and children, who may pose an actual or potential threat to Jews or Israel.
“It is permissible to kill the Righteous among non-Jews even if they are not responsible for the threatening situation,” Rabbi Yitzhak Shapiro, who heads the Od Yosef Chai Yeshiva in the Yitzhar settlement in the occupied West Bank, wrote in his book “The King’s Torah.”
He argues that goyem (a derogatory epithet for non-Jews) may be killed if they threaten Israel.
Tehran, November 10: US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton Monday called for Iran to immediately release three US hikers charged with espionage after four months of detention in Tehran.
Shane Bauer, Sarah Shourd and Josh Fattal were arrested by Iranian security forces in July after disappearing along the Iran-Iraq border. At the time, Iran said the trio were journalists working for pro-Israeli news websites.
San Francisco, November 10: The open source internet browser Firefox marked its fifth anniversary Monday, celebrating its rise from an unknown challenger to Microsoft’s Internet Explorer to a formidable competitor that has been downloaded over one billion times by 330 million users around the world.
“Over the last five years we’ve been setting ourselves up for the next five. The web is moving faster, not slower, and modern browsers are set to handle it,” said Chris Blizzard of the Mozilla Foundation.
Washington, November 10: US President Barack Obama is set to approve sending thousands of soldiers to Afghanistan to bolster the fight against the Taliban, CBS News reported Monday.
CBS News, citing “informed sources,” said Obama will approve most of the 40,000 additional soldiers requested by General Stanley McChrystal. Obama for weeks has been holding high level meetings with his top advisors to plot a new strategy for Afghanistan.
Washington, November 10: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday he is committed to peace negotiations with the Palestinians without preconditions and that he wanted to complete an accord “soon.”
Netanyahu spoke hours ahead of a closed door evening meeting with President Barack Obama, who has seen his effort to revive Israeli-Palestinian talks founder. Netanyahu and Obama have also sharply differed over settlements in a rare public dispute between the US and Israeli leaders.