Washington D.C.,February 26:IMC-USA, an advocacy group dedicated towards safeguarding India’s pluralist and tolerant ethos was extremely shocked and disheartened to hear that well-known Mumbai based advocate Shahid Azmi was gunned down in broad daylight on February 11 in his office in Taximen’s Colony, Mumbai.
New Delhi, February 26: An increase of 700 per cent from last the financial year was announced in the budget allocation for Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation Ministry’s ‘Rajiv Awas Yojana’, which aims at making India slum free in the next few years.
Tiruchirapllai, February 26: A change of pattern in civil service entrance examinations is on the cards pending approval from the central government, a top official said.
Replacing preliminary exam with an aptitude test is one among the recommendations made by the second administrative reforms committee, D P Agarwal, Chairman, Union Public Service Commission, told reporters here yesterday.
Vacancies in civil services were being added by 10 per cent Y-o-Y and in the current year it stood at 980, he said.
Ahmedabad, February 26: Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi today asked ‘Ahmedavadis’ to be proud of their city and make its presence felt on the global map.
“Today we are celebrating 600 years of city after being named Ahmedabad, but the history of this great city dates long back to the age of Rishi Dadhichi,” Modi said while addressing a function to commemorate 600 years of the city.
“I had asked people of all cities in the state to find out about their city’s birth date, and suggested them to make it a tradition to celebrate it every year,” he said.
Bhubaneswar, February 26: The union budget for 2010-11 is largely neutral for the steel industry, Tata Steel managing director H.M. Nerurkar Friday said.
“This budget is largely neutral for the steel industry and Tata Steel, but does contain other growth measures which may have an indirect effect on the steel demand,” Nerurkar said in a statement.
“Increase in petro-fuel and energy costs, however, may have an inflationary impact on consumers or margin squeeze for suppliers,” he said.
Greater Noida, February 26: Two people were shot dead and two others critically injured when an argument over throwing garbage in a drain turned ugly in Greater Noida, police said Friday.
According to Superintendent of Police (Greater Noida) Surendra Verma, four men – Ashutosh, Jitendra, Deependra and Rajeev – lived together in a rented house in Deola village on Noida-Dadri Road. They had an argument with their neighbour Naubat Singh, a factory security guard, over throwing vegetable waste in a drain nearby.
Bhopal, February 26: The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) workers Friday tried to set a train on fire and damaged property at Jabalpur railway station in Madhya Pradesh, alleging the city’s interests were overlooked in the railway budget.
The violent workers were protesting extension of Jabalpur-Mumbai Garib Rath up to Allahabad in Uttar Pradesh and Jabalpur not getting a railway division status.
Government Railway Police (GRP) baton charged the workers to disperse them.
New Delhi, February 26: Abhishek Bachchan, who was eagerly looking forward to see his father Amitabh’s performance in “Teen Patti”, says the veteran actor just keeps getting better with every film even at the age of 68.
“‘Teen Patti’ releases today. Can’t wait to see what Big B has in store for us this time round. (I am) still getting over his performance in ‘Rann’. He’s just this force that has become unstoppable! Shocks you with every new performance…full power to you Pa,” Abhishek posted on Twitter.
New Delhi, February 26: Olympic bronze medallist Vijender Singh will spearhead India’s challenge in the 5th Commonwealth Boxing Championships to be held at the Talkatora Stadium here from March 10-18.
The Indian Boxing Federation today announced the 10-member men’s team for the mega-event, which includes Olympian and Commonwealth Games gold medallist Akhil Kumar in the all new 56 kg category which has been created after scrapping feather weight (57kg).
Akhil defeated Olympian Jitender Kumar and Chote Lal, who is a gold medallist in South Asian Games, in the trails in Patiala.
Alwar, February 26: A three-year-old child and his uncle were killed on the spot when a mini bus run over their motorcycle near Piproli village on Alwar-Delhi highway today.
The incident occurred when the duo and the mother of the child were going to Vasopur on a motorcycle and the speeding mini bus crushed them, police said.
The deceased were identified as Jamil Khan (30), Mohammed Kaif (3). The injured mother Dhoopi was rushed to hospital, they said.
–Agencies
Lucknow, February 26: Uttar Pradesh government today decided to give bonus to its employees fulfilling their long pending demand.
The decision would benefit about 15 lakh employees and cause an additional burden of Rs 506 crore to the state exchequer, an official release here said.
Besides group C and D employees, staff of aided schools and technical institutes, local bodies, zila panchayat and casual, daily wagers who had continuously worked for three years would also benefit from the government’s decision.
New Delhi, February 26: Describing the foreign secretary-level talks as ”an encouraging step”, External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna Friday told parliament that the future of bilateral dialogue with Pakistan will depend on Islamabad’s response to India’s ”core concerns on terrorism” which remains undiluted.
“On Pakistan’s view that the composite dialogue between the two countries should be restored, we responded that the resumption of such a process would have to await the restoration of greater trust and confidence,” Krishna told the Lok Sabha.
Mumbai, February 26: A handicapped woman has lodged complaint against Bollywood superstar Salman Khan for using her photograph with him to promote his recently released movie ‘Veer’.
Phoolbanu Shaikh, 30, is seeking Rs 25 lakh as compensation from the actor. She has also denied reports that Salman had donated Rs one lakh to her.
Shaikh’s lawyer Iqbal Solkar told PTI that the Non Cognisable (NC) offence was registered in V P Road police station recently against the actor for using her physically challenged client’s picture to promote his movie ‘Veer’.
Istanbul, February 28: Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned the army Friday that no one is above the law as prosecutors grilled the suspected ringleader of an alleged 2003 coup plan to oust the democratically elected government.
“Those who make plans behind closed doors to crush the people’s will must see that from now on they will face justice,” Erdogan told a party gathering in Ankara as 11 more soldiers were charged in the unprecedented judicial onslaught against the influential Turkish military.
“No one is above the law, no one has impunity,” he added.
Sydney, February 26: Israel’s Mossad has regularly faked Australian passports for its spies, an ex-agent said on Thursday, as anger grew over the use of foreign travel documents for an alleged assassination.
Former Mossad case officer Victor Ostrovsky told ABC public radio that the spy agency had used Australian passports for previous operations before last month’s assassination of a top Hamas commander in Dubai that has been blamed on Israel.
He said agents had little trouble passing themselves off as Australians as few people in the Middle East have much knowledge about the country.
Baghdad, February 26: Business has never been so good for Iraq’s printers in the runup to the March 7 election, but the boom has its own headaches in a country short on printing presses.
“In two weeks, I’ve pocketed what I would normally make in six months,” says Omar Hamid, owner of the Al-Sima printing press in central Baghdad’s Al-Mutanabi neighbourhood.
“If it were up to me, we would have elections every year,” the 31-year-old adds with a smile.
London, February 26: Britain’s secret services faced criticism from a senior judge over their “dubious record” Friday amid allegations they colluded in the torture of an ex Guantanamo Bay inmate.
The comments from Lord David Neuberger, head of the civil justice system in England and Wales, were initially published in a draft judgment earlier this month in the case of Binyam Mohamed.
But they were then removed from the ruling following a complaint from Jonathan Sumption, one of Britain’s top lawyers, who was representing the government.
Tel Aviv, February 26: Harline Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was lambasted by the Israeli press Friday over his plans to renovate two holy sites in the Israeli-occupied Palestinian West Bank, with two papers warning he is playing with fire.
The Israeli move is seen as an attempt to retain illegal Israeli control of holy sites in the Palestinian territories.
Three of Israel’s leading dailies accused the prime minister of pandering to the settler lobby and the far right.
Baghdad, February 26: The Iraqi military will reinstate 20,000 Saddam Hussein-era army officers who were dismissed from their posts after the 2003 US-led invasion for serving under the former dictator, an Iraqi defence spokesman said today.
The announcement, a little over a week before the March 7 parliamentary elections, immediately raised questions about whether the move was timed to pump up votes for Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.
United Nations, February 26: The Islamic bloc at the United Nations on Thursday called for international action to force Israel to rescind its decision to renovate two contested holy sites in the Israeli-occupied Palestinian West Bank.
The Israeli move is seen as an attempt to retain illegal Israeli control of holy sites in the Palestinian territories.
Syria’s UN Ambassador Bashar Jaafari, speaking on behalf of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) UN ambassadors, condemned the “illegality and illegitimacy” of the Israeli decision which is “null and void.”
Bangalore, February 26: A patch of dry grass caught fire at the Jakkur aerodrome here today, but it was immediately put off by fire personnel.
Fire officials said the minor fire was caused by cigarette butts thrown on the grass by some unidentified persons.
No damages were reported in the fire
–Agencies
Tokyo, February 26: Iran’s parliamentary speaker Ali Larijani on Friday accused the UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), of bending to pressure from the world powers.
“One of the defects in the IAEA is that it changes positions and attitudes if it is put under certain political pressure,” said Larijani when asked about an agency report that said Iran may be seeking nuclear weapons.
Islamabad, February 26: Pakistan has asked India to revive the stalled composite dialogue process as soon as possible because open-ended talks or engagement would not help the two countries to address their outstanding issues, Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir said today.
“We told the Indian side very clearly that Pakistan believes it is necessary to resume the composite dialogue as soon as possible,” Bashir said at the Wagha border after crossing over from India following talks yesterday with his Indian counterpart Nirupama Rao.
“There will be no benefit from an open-ended dialogue.
Washington, February 29: US lawmakers voted Thursday to extend key parts of the Patriot Act law enacted after the September 11th attacks without adding privacy safeguards sought by the White House’s Democratic allies.
The US House of Representatives, following the Senate, voted 315-97 to renew the counter-terrorism tools, sending the legislation to President Barack Obama to sign into law.
Chennai, February 26: A senior Neyveli Lignite Corporation (NLC) official was arrested here on graft charges and remanded in judicial custody today.
P Kirubanandan, General Manager with NLC, was arrested last night by the Anti-Corruption Branch of CBI, following a complaint by a contractor that the corporation official had demanded Rs 50,000 for issuing balance payment regarding a contract, the CBI said in a statement.