Jerusalem, November 07: When Western diplomats considered Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’s announcement that he did not want to stand for re-election yesterday, they must have asked themselves the famous question attributed to Metternich about the death of a rival, “What did he mean by that?”
New Delhi, November 07: Polling for one Lok Sabha and 31 Assembly seats spread across seven states started this morning amid tight security.
As polling started at 8 am, voters were seen trickling in at some booths.
Congress’ politician-turned-actor Raj Babbar is pitched against SP supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav’s daughter-in- law Dimple in the Firozabad Lok Sabha seat in Uttar Pradesh.
As polling started, people were seen queueing across some booths in the state including Firozabad.A total of 177 candidates are in the fray for 12 UP seats including Firozabad parliamentary constituency.
Washington, Nov 07: An ex-employee of an engineering consulting firm who was laid off in 2007 opened fire at his former workplace in Orlando, Florida, on Friday, killing one person and wounding five others, police said.
The suspected gunman, who caused panic for several hours at the Gateway Center building in downtown Orlando, was arrested at his mother’s home after fleeing the scene, Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer and Police Chief Val Demings told reporters.
New Delhi/Ranchi, November 07: In the first arrest in the Rs 2,000 crore illegal assets case involving former Jharkhand Chief Minister Madhu Koda, his close aide Vikash Sinha was picked up today while look out notices were issued against another two key associates.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) meanwhile is preparing to arrest Koda who is likely to be discharged from a Ranchi hospital tomorrow. Koda’s personal assistant Harendra was also questioned in Ranchi by the IT department.
Jaipur, November 06: A doctor was arrested here today in connection with a dowry harassment case on the basis of a complaint lodged by his doctor wife, police said.
The doctor was posted at a government hospital in Rajasthan’s Churu district, police sources said.
Manoj Kumar Garg was arrested here after an FIR was lodged by his wife Pratibha who married him nine years ago, they said.
Further investigations into the matter are on, they added.
–Agencies
New Delhi, Novmeber 06: On his maiden visit to Delhi after taking over as Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister, K Rosaiah tonight met senior party leader Veerappa Moily and is understood to have discussed the current political situation in the state among other issues.
After arriving here late this evening, Rosaiah drove straight to Moily’s Tughlaq Road residence and held discussions with the Law Minister, who is also the incharge of party affairs in the state.
Motihari (Bihar), November 06: Custom officials today seized ‘charas’ and ‘ganja’ from a truck at Semra village of East Champaran district.
Superintendent of Customs V N Mishra said, on a specific information, a private truck was intercepted at Semara village on NH 28 and the contraband, worth over Rs 17 lakh in international market, was seized.
The driver and the cleaner of the truck managed to give a slip to the officials
–Agencies
Chapra (Bihar), November 06: Former Bihar Chief Minister and leader of opposition in the state assembly Rabri Devi today moved the court of chief judicial magistrate, seeking bail in connection with a case related to violation of election model code.
Rabri Devi’s counsel Bhola Yadav filed the petition in the court of CJM Y N Sinha this afternoon. The hearing on the petition is likely to take place tomorrow.
New Delhi, November 06: The crisis in Karnataka reached a “make or break stage” on Friday as Chief Minister BS Yeddyurappa bowed to the rebels by removing his principal secretary VP Baligar.
He awaited word from the party high command on a reshuffle of his cabinet under a compromise formula.
Top BJP leaders went into huddle at LK Advani’s residence for what was seen as a final take on the situation that has brought the party’s first government in the south to a halt for the last 10 days.
Allahabad, November 06: The Allahabad High Court today issued contempt notice to the Principal Secretary of the Public Works Department of Uttar Pradesh and asked him to appear in person on November 23 and reply why he should not be punished for wilful disobedience of court order.
The order was passed by Justice D P Singh on the contempt petition of Mahesh Kumar Sharma and others, all of them posted as stenographers in the state Public Works Department.
New Delhi, November 06: The US today hailed India’s developmental assistance of USD 1.3 billion to Afghanistan, saying it is “critical” for the success there in the fight against terror which is not limited to military campaign.
“India already participates in Afghan operations. India provides for Afghanistan a substantial development assistance of USD 1.3 billion at this point. The Indian government is making an important contribution and it is critical to the success of the Afghan operations,” US Deputy Secretary for Defence William J Lynn told reporters here.
Panaji, November 06: The joint mock drill conducted by Goa Police and Indian Coast Guard exposed the shortcomings in the system with two decoy terrorists managing to enter the vital installation in the port town of Vasco despite the alert today, officials said.
Two decoy terrorists were planted in the Arabian sea who were to enter Mormugao Port Trust (MPT) at Vasco. The ICG and state police were alerted.
Seoni (MP), November 06: To revive the big cat population in the Panna Tiger Reserve, a tiger was today translocated to the forest to provide company to two tigresses already shifted there.
The tiger was taken to the Panna reserve in a cage van via Jabalpur after an expert team, comprising doctors and forest officials tranquilised it at Gumtara range in Pench, a state forest official said.
Panna Reserve, once home to a considerable tiger population, was devoid of its pride due to rampant poaching.
New Delhi, November 05: With the arrest of seven persons from Maharashtra and Delhi, the country’s premier investigating agencies today claimed to have busted a wildlife racket and seized tiger and otter skins besides tiger bones from their possession.
The CBI and Wildlife Crime Control Bureau (WCCB) in a joint operation yesterday carried out simultaneous raids in some places in Nagpur and Majnu ka Teela in Central Delhi and arrested seven persons for allegedly indulging in illegal wildlife activities.
New Delhi, November 06: As India warned of retaliatory action in case of a terror attack, the US Friday said both India and Pakistan should avoid a conflict situation.
“Any conflict should be avoided. We need confidence building measures both side and we are confident that both governments will take it,” US Deputy Secretary of Defense William J. Lynn said here.
Lynn was in here in Delhi for the annual Defence Policy Group (DPG) meeting between India and the US. He held talks with Defence Secretary Pradeep Kumar.
Hyderabad, November 06: Uppal, a suburban locality in the city, is popularly known as the Industrial Development Area (IDA) as it has hundreds of major, medium and small industries. It is referred to as ‘mini-India’ since people from various States including West Bengal, Kolkata and Bihar have settled here. Residents are hoping that the construction of an underground drainage system, which was stopped abruptly, be completed now that polls are on the horizon.
Hyderabad, November 06: The ruling Congress in Andhra Pradesh found itself in a muddle following resentment by aspirants who have been denied tickets for the civic polls in Hyderabad scheduled to be held on November 23.
Greater Hyderabad Congress Committee President D Nagender today quit his post following allegations of corruption in ticket distribution.
Expressing anguish over the allegations against him, Nagender, also state health minister, said he has submitted his resignation to state Congress president D Srinivas.
Karimnagar, November 06: The National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) in Ramagundam, known generally as a power generating corporation, is also a socially responsible organisation.
The 2600-MW capacity Corporation not only distributes power to the southern states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Goa and Pondicherry but also organises community development (CD) programmes .
Hyderabad, November 06: The gory incident of Villa Marie student Anusha jumping to her death from the college building created a scare on the college campus and worried parents of other students were seen rushing to the college to take home their daughters on Thursday.
Anxious parents were seen enquiring with security guards at the main entrance and information desk on the first floor about their wards’ classrooms.
Students in shock
Hyderabad, November 06: The Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) has, as expected, announced that it will not contest the elections to the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC).
Addressing a news conference here today, party chief K Chandrasekhara Rao said that as these elections were not important, the party decided to keep away from the elections.
“The GHMC elections do not merit the party’s attention. Fightig them is nothing but indulging in cheap politics,’’ Rao said.
Hyderabad, November 06: Every rupee donated will wipe out the tears of the flood-affected people and every single rupee received by the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund for the purpose will be spent most judiciously and the government will see to it that it reaches only the needy, Chief Minister K Rosaiah has said.
He gave this assurance today in a message to philanthropists seeking their generous contribution to the CMRF. His message came on the occasion of the donations totalling Rs 165 crore sofar.
Hyderabad, November 06: B Anusha, the Degree Final Year student who jumped to her death from the fourth floor of the Villa Marie College on Thursday, was hoping that all would be well after a 10-day break.
Hyderabad, November 06: Considering the views of various parties for changing the date of election of Mayor and Deputy Mayor, the SEC advanced the election date to December 4.
The election will be held at 11 a.m. Earlier, the date of election was December 6 and the parties represented to the SEC that the day was observed by the minorities as a ‘black day’. Meanwhile, more than 850 nominations were filed on Thursday. The last date for filing papers is Friday.
–Agencies
Hyderabad, November 06: After a two-day elaborate exercise by PCC president D Srinivas and Chief Minister K Rosaiah of finalising names of Congress candidates for the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation elections, the State Congress Committee today released the candidates’ list for 130 municipal divisions/wards as against a total of 150.
Hyderabad, November 06: The Arogyasri Health Care Trust admitted that certain hospitals did collect money from patients “due to poor understanding of the scheme and lack of awareness about the guidelines.”
It said disciplinary action was initiated against 25 such hospitals and it was ensured that money was returned to the beneficiaries.
Service deficiencies
Responding to a report published in these columns on Wednesday, the trust said disciplinary action was also taken against 89 hospitals for various service deficiencies.
Continuous monitoring