New Delhi, February 25: The government Thursday declined to take the initiative of declaring a ceasefire with the Left-wing radicals and allowed the deadline set by Communist Party of India-Maoist leader Koteshwar Rao alias Kishenji to lapse.
“There is no question of us calling up the number. And first of all, we think it is a hoax played up by Maoist sympathisers,” a senior home ministry official told.
New Delhi, February 25: Irked over non-compliance of its order to release the confiscated money to a litigant, a Delhi court today issued a bailable warrant against a customs commissioner and asked the police to execute it by tomorrow.
“Issue bailable warrants against the Commissioner of Customs in the sum of Rs 10,000 to be executed through SHO of police station Tilak Marg,” Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Ajay Pandey said.
New Delhi, February 25: The Supreme Court today allowed Madhya Pradesh government to go ahead with the construction of canal for Indira Sagar and Omkareshwar projects.
The apex court said the state government can continue with the digging, excavation and other works related to the canal subject to the approval of the Command Area Development (CAD) plan submitted by it before the Centre.
Riyadh, February 25: Major streets of oil-rich Saudi Arabia’s capital have been decked up with Indian flags to welcome Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who is scheduled to arrive here late this week on an important official visit to the Kingdom.
Senior officials from the two countries are busy making arrangements to host the Indian political and business leaders as well as fine-tune several agreements to be signed during the visit, the first by an Indian premier since 1982.
New Delhi, February 25: Officials and staff of various Embassies and High Commissions in India will showcase their football skills in the United Cup 2010 tournament to be held at Jaypee Integrated Sports Complex in Greater Noida.
The six-a-side tournament will be played at the weekends from February 26-28 and March 5-6 on a smaller-sized field as per the FIFA guidelines.
Washington, February 25: The US favours the resumption of “direct talks” between India and Pakistan and “encourages” them to proceed with the dialogue as it is in their mutual interest, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has said.
Hours before the Foreign Secretaries of India and Pakistan held talks in New Delhi, their first meeting since the Mumbai attacks, Clinton told lawmakers that the Obama Administration is in favour of resumption of direct Indo-Pak talks “which were suspended when (then Pakistan) President (Pervez) Musharraf, left office.”
New Delhi, February 25: The number of attacks on Indians in Australia has come down due to a slew of steps taken by the federal and provincial governments there to meet Indian concerns, External Affairs Minister S M Krishna told the Lok Sabha today.
Making a suo motu statement in the House on the ‘Attacks on Indians in Australia’, he said the issue involves a number of “complex factors” which are “interlinked” and need to be dealt with in a “concerted and coordinated manner”.
Keonjhar (Orissa), February 25: Unable to cope with life inside the jungle and alleged atrocities in the organisation, two women Maoist cadre today surrendered before the police in Orissa’s Keonjhar district.
The women cadre were identified as Malini Hosa alias Muni (20) and 17-year-old Bela Munda alias Lili. Both of them surrendered before Superintendent of Police (SP) Asish Kumar Singh.
Alleging the Maoists no more operate on any ideology, the women cadre said they were physically abused in the organisation.
“There were 40 women and 30 men in our area committee,” Malini said.
New Delhi, February 25: A Delhi court today sentenced a man to life imprisonment for killing his elder brother over a financial dispute three years ago.
Additional Sessions Judge K S Mohi also awarded a fine of Rs 20,000, besides the life term to Nanku Yadav, after holding him guilty of murder under the IPC.
The court relied upon the statement of eye witness Ram Vilas Chaudhary to convict Yadav of the murder of his elder brother Biltu.
Jammu, February 25: Jammu and Kashmir government today lashed out at opposition PDP for allegedly creating problems in smooth functioning of the government.
PDP has always been creating problems in smooth functioning of the government and playing to the galleries, Law and Parliamentary Affairs minister Ali Mohammad Sagar said while reacting to PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti’s statement in the House.
“PDP has been misleading the people by sloganeering regarding the stone pelters,” Sagar said, alleging that for political gains PDP keeps fabricating stories.
–Agencies
Washington, February 25: Dick Cheney went home from the hospital Wednesday, three days after suffering his fifth heart attack. The 69-year-old former vice president “will resume his normal schedule soon,” a spokesman says.
Former Vice President Dick Cheney speaks at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference on Feb. 18, 2010, before his latest heart attack.
Nothing so remarkable about that these days. And that’s the point.
Patna, February 25: Bihar Assembly today adopted a unanimous resolution congratulating Sachin Tendulkar for creating a world record by scoring a double century against South Africa in the second ODI at Gwalior.
Speaker Udai Narayan Choudhry said the congratulatory message would be faxed to Tendulkar and the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).
–Agencies
New Delhi, February 25: Describing self-exiled eminent artist M F Husain as the “pride of India”, Government today said it is willing to provide security to him and that no case is pending against him in any of the courts in the country.
Responding to questions from the media on Husain being conferred honorary citizenship by Qatar, Union Home Secretary G K Pillai said, “there is no case against M F Husain. Supreme Court has quashed all the cases against him.”
Srinagar, February 25: Curfew was clamped in Pattan town of north Kashmir this evening after clashes broke out between two sects of Muslims that left 20 people injured, one of them critically, and damaged nearly 25 shops.
Ghulam Hassan Mir, who was hit on the head during the clashes, was initially declared brought dead at a hospital here but later authorities clarified that he was in a critical condition at the S K Institute of medical sciences, Soura.
Kanpur, February 25: Ahead of Holi, about 150 quintal adulterated khoya was seized from a cold storage and godown by city municipal corporation here.
On Monday, about 600 kgs of the adulterated milk product was seized during raids on sweet shops in the city.
Raids were conducted last night also at a cold storage in Fazalganj and a godown near Jhakarkati bus stand and about 150 quintal of the adulterated product was seized from there, Municipal Commissioner Rajiv Sharma said today.
This is the biggest seizure of adulterated khoya from the city in the recent past, he said.
Hyderabad, February 25: Expressing their opposition to Srikrishna Committee on Telangana, Osmania University students announced that they presume the committee to be dead today. They said they would observe the 11th day ceremony on March 6 in the campus. More than 2,000 people are expected to attend the ceremony and arrangements are being made for the day at the Arts College.
New York, February 25: You may not differentiate between Arabs as an ethnic group and Islam as a religion. You start punching in the words “why do Arabs…” And here you will be baffled, amused or horrified at what happens next.
The ‘Google Suggest’ feature, a labor saving device designed to predict queries will automatically suggest completing your query with ‘why do Arabs stink?’ or ‘why do Arabs have big noses?’
The suggestions are not programmed by Google but rather are based on an algorithm that takes the frequency of Google queries into account.
Jerusalem, February 25: Harvard fellow calls for genocidal measure to curb Palestinian births. Is this genocide that Prof. Martin Kramer of Harvard, the Washington Institute of Near East Policy, and president of Israel’s Shalem Center is advocating here? I think it may be as the international genocide treaty specifically bans “imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group.”
Mumbai, February 25: Police probe reveals gigolos visited his house very often Was Mahadevan Padmanabhan Iyer, the 46-year-old senior scientist from Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (Barc), who was found murdered, a sex maniac?
Well, numerous packs of condoms, pornographic videos, photographs of men and a proof that gigolos visited his house very often at least point to the fact that Iyer indeed had a very colourful life.
New Delhi, February 25: Lok Sabha today congratulated Sachin Tendulkar for creating history by scoring a double century in a One-Day International cricket match, with Speaker Meira Kumar saying the unique achievement was a matter of national pride.
“I am sure members will join me in conveying our heartiest felicitations and congratulations to Sachin Tendulkar for being the first cricketer in history of one-day cricket to score a double century,” she said in the House.
Amid thumping of desks, Kumar described this as a “unique achievement” which was a matter of national pride.
Kochi, February 25: Kerala police has filed a chargesheet against seven persons, including two former employees of the Kochi-based Dream Hotel owned by NRI hotelier Sant Singh Chatwal, for allegedly cheating the hotel of Rs 9 crore.
The chargesheet has been filed before the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Ernakulam, N Leelamani against Ram Gupta, former Managing Director, and Satyendar Khurana, former director, projects of the Middle East Hotel Company and five others including three Delhi-based contractors.
Farrukhabad (UP), February 25: Former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Kalyan Singh has termed as “unconstitutional” the recommendations of the Rangnath Misra and Sachar committees on reservation to Muslims.
Jankranti Party leader Kalyan Singh said last night that his party was opposed to reservation on the basis of religion as it is totally unconstitutional as well as an infringement to the rights of backward, and Schedule Caste and Schedule Tribe class and was prepared to fight for the cause.
New York, February 25: America’s CIA has taken its war against Taliban and al-Qaeda from the mountainous Af-Pak border region to the bases in Pakistan’s Peshawar and Quetta cities, a media report said today.
The report by New York Times said that the agencies that have previously shared a “tormented relationship” are now working on the several reconnaissance missions together but their long-term strategies when it comes to the Taliban and Pakistan’s role in Afghanistan’s future are different.
Riyadh, February 25: Major streets of oil-rich Saudi Arabia’s capital have been decked up with Indian flags to welcome Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who is scheduled to arrive here late this week on an important official visit to the Kingdom.
Senior officials from the two countries are busy making arrangements to host the Indian political and business leaders as well as fine-tune several agreements to be signed during the visit, the first by an Indian premier since 1982.
Jaipur, February 25: The resignation of former Rajasthan chief minister and BJP leader Vasundhara Raje from the post of Leader of Opposition in Rajasthan assembly has been accepted, ending nearly five months of defiance of the party leadership by her.
The acceptance of her resignation was announced by Speaker Dipender Singh Shekhawat in the House today after the Question Hour.