Month: March 2010

Malaysian air force pilot dies in crash

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Kuala Lumpur, March 25: A Malaysian air force training aircraft crashed Thursday during an air show, killing its pilot, news reports said.

The pilot with the Royal Malaysian Air Force had been manoeuvring the Pilatus PC-7 plane during an airshow at the Northern University of Malaysia in Kedah when the plane’s engine compartment exploded and caught fire, the Star newspaper said.

Thousands of students and their family members witnessed the pilot eject from the burning aircraft, which soon crashed just outside the university grounds, the report said.

Jaya wants Big B to endorse MP

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New Delhi, March 25: Almost a week after the CPM government rejected him as Kerala’s brand ambassador, Amitabh Bachchan seems to be on the path to fulfil the role for Madhya Pradesh.

During a recent visit to the state, Jaya Bachchan, the actor’s wife and Rajya Sabha MP from the Samajwadi Party, said she would love to have the Narmada’s tale recorded in her husband’s voice.

“This way the new generation can know about the Narmada and make people aware about the environment,” she said.

According to her aides, Jaya is not known to make such announcements about her husband.

Four killed, 26 affected after consuming poisonous food

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Rampur, March 25: Five persons, including three children, died and at least 26 others were taken seriously ill after they consumed poisonous food at a religious function here. A large number of devotees participated in the function held last evening where they were served ”prasad”.

After eating the food, they complained of giddiness, vomiting and chest pain, district magistrate Samyukta Samadder said, adding one person died yesterday, while four other, including the children succumbed today. An inquiry has been ordered in the incident, district magistrate Samyukta Samadder said today.

Under-fire Raghuvanshi removed as ATS chief

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New Delhi, March 25: Additional Director General K P Raghuvanshi was today removed as the head of Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad, days after he was criticised by the Centre for disclosing some information following the arrest of two suspected terrorists here.

He will be replaced by Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) Rakesh Maria, a Home Department source said. “Raghuvanshi has been relieved of the responsibilities of the ATS chief. Joint Police Commissioner Maria will take over,” the source said.

Four killed in road mishap

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Jaipur, March 25: Four persons were today killed and as many injured when a jeep in which they were travelling collided with a train in Jaisalmer district, 645 kms from here.

The mishap occurred in Delasar village when the jeep collided with the train at an unmanned railway crossing, police said, adding, that condition of the four injured was stated to be stable.

—-PTI

Australian police officers face sack over racist emails

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Melbourne, March 25: A veteran police officer who killed himself this week is among many officers identified during a crackdown over racist and pornographic emails, an Australian police officer said Thursday.

Chief Commissioner of Victoria Police Simon Overland stated that the racist, homophobic and pornographic emails shared by the officers were too shocking ever to be released, the Herald Sun reported.

Senior police officers are among about 100 officers who could be reprimanded or sacked.

Two hideouts busted in JK

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Jammu, March 25: Two hideouts were busted by the security forces and a cache of arms and ammunition was recovered in Doda and Poonch districts of Jammu and Kashmir.

On a tip off, security forces and police launched a search operation in Damdidan area in Surankote tehsil of Poonch district early today and busted the hideout, officials said, adding 140 rounds of PIKA gun, five electronic detonators, two chinese grenades, three AK magazines were recovered from it.

Hughes can be Australia’s Virender Sehwag: Ponting

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Wellington, March 25: Captain Ricky Ponting was highly impressed with Philip Hughes’ well-timed knocks in the recent past, and is hoping that the young Test opener could be Australia’s version of Indian hard-hitter Virender Sehwag.

Hughes scored an unbeaten 86 off just 75 balls to power Australia to an emphatic 10-wicket against the Black Caps in the first Test, and Ponting said he couldn’t believe what he saw yesterday.

Akriti Kakkar to launch namesake album ‘Akriti’!

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Mumbai, March 25: After enjoying success in Bollywood, singer Akriti Kakkar will now be foraying into non-film album, titled “Akriti’. The album will comprise of seven tracks, and most importantly, Akriti herself has composed the music for five of the seven tracks. The other two tracks have been composed by ace Shaker Mahadevan.

The songs for the album have been penned down by Rani Malik, Neelesh Misra and Manoj Yadav. The music videos will hit the air on 4th April, and will be formally released on 6th April 2010.

Shahid Kapoor turns down his mother

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Mumbai, March 25: How can a son say no to his mother? Actor Shahid Kapoor is very close to his parents but he has turned down a film by his mother Neelima Azim, and that too after agreeing to act in his father Pankaj Kapoor’s film Mausam.

After Shahid turned down her offer, Neelima declared that her son id too big a star to act in her film and that she wanted a relatively unknown face. However, it is said that Shahid decided to say no to his mom, as he didn’t like the script.

Crowd spoils Rani Mukherjee’s secret day out

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Mumbai, March 25: You have to pay a big price for being famous – privacy. Recently, Rani Mukherjee decided to go for shopping at Khan Market in Delhi, thinking that she might not be recognised but she almost ended up being mobbed by the public.

Rani, who is currently shooting for Rajkumar Gupta’s No One Killed Jessica in Delhi, did some shopping unescorted, and without her driver, as the market is just a kilometre away from her hotel. Just as she was beginning to enjoy window-shopping, she heard some people calling out her name. To her surprise, a huge crowd had gathered around her.

Deepika Padukone bonds with Aishwarya’s hubby

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Mumbai, March 25: Bollywood actress Deepika Padukone has been linked with every actor she is seen with since her break-up with Ranbir Kapoor, and so, it comes as no surprise when the stories of her friendship with Abhishek Bachchan hit the headline. But this time, she is lucky, as everybody knows that Abhishek is happily married to Aishwarya Bachchan.

No OBC quota in Women’s Reservation Bill: Moily

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Bangalore, March 25: Union Law Minister M Veerappa Moily today ruled out providing reservation for Other Backward Castes in the Women’s Reservation Bill, saying data on OBCs is not available at the national level.

Moily said there would be no change in the bill compared to that passed in the Rajya Sabha and exuded confidence that it would get through the Lok Sabha also in April.

Pak still ‘very focused’ on India: Mullen

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Washington, March 25: The chairman of the US military’s Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen, said that Pakistan still considers India as a priority for them.

The US-Pak Strategic Dialogue, he said, is a huge step forward in terms of strengthening partnership. “It is a partnership. (Pak Army Chief) General (Ashfaq Parvez) Kayani has moved troops from east to west; he has trained his people in counterinsurgency; he’s had a huge impact where they have fought,” Mullen said.

Food inflation falls even as index moves up a tad

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New Delhi, March 25: Annual food inflation fell marginally once again to 16.22 percent for the week ended March 13 from 16.3 percent for the week before even as prices of lentils, fruits and vegetables moved up over the past week.

According to data on Wholesale Price Index released by the Commerce and Industry Ministry on Thursday, the index for food articles rose 0.1 percent during the week under review, while that for non-food articles fell 0.2 percent.

Food inflation slips to 16.22 pc

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New Delhi, March 25: Food inflation eased marginally to 16.22 per cent for the week ended March 13 from 16.30 per cent in the preceding week even though prices of certain items such as pulses and vegetables continued to rise. While moong and pork became dearer by 5 per cent each, urad price shot up by 4 per cent, vegetables by 2.63 per cent and coffee by 2 per cent during the week.

Mulayam unapologetic over offensive whistle remarks

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New Delhi, March 25: Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav on Thursday refused to tender an apology over his offensive remarks against women despite facing flak from several quarters.

An unrepentant SP leader today said that he has no qualms over what he said as he stands firm on his statement.

“I have deliberately made the whistle remark and I have done nothing wrong. I wanted a debate to start on this issue (Women’s Quota Bill). Don’t assume that it was a slip of tongue,” Mulayam said while addressing his supporters.

Centre must carry out govt employees’ cadre review: SC

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New Delhi, March 25: The Supreme Court has ruled that a Government employee has a fundamental right to be considered for promotion and it is mandatory for the Centre and States to carry out cadre review of eligible officers for promotion to the Indian Administrative Service (IAS).

“The right of eligible employees to be considered for promotion is virtually a part of their fundamental right guaranteed under Article 16 (Equality of opportunity in matter of public employment) of the Constitution,” a bench comprising Justices R V Raveendran and A K Ganguly held in a recent judgment.

Cloth merchant and his son kidnapped

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Bagaha, March 25: Motorcycle borne persons kidnapped three people– a cloth merchant, a hotelier and his son –from near Belhawa Chowk under Chautaha police station area of Bihar”s West Champaran district, police said today.

Superintendent of Police, Special Task Force (STF) Sidhartha Mohan Jain told reporters here that Santosh Kumar, a cloth merchant, Pramod Kumar, a hotelier and his son Rahul Kumar were kidnapped by men wearing police uniform of the State Auxiliary Police (SAP) at gun point last night.

M’rashtra ATS chief removed, Maria steps in

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Mumbai, March 25: Additional Director General K P Raghuvanshi was on Thursday removed as the head of Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad, days after he was criticised by the Centre for disclosing some information following the arrest of two suspected terrorists here.

He will be replaced by Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) Rakesh Maria, a Home Department source said.

“Raghuvanshi has been relieved of the responsibilities of the ATS chief. Joint Police Commissioner Maria will take over,” the source said.

Police say wife’s lover murdered Ghaziabad man

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Ghaziabad, March 25: The Ghaziabad police on Wednesday said it had cracked the mystery behind the death of Deepak Teotia, an executive with HDFC Standard Life Insurance, who was found dead on January 14.

They alleged that Vineet Suman, a second- year BBA student of a private college in Noida, had killed Teotia.

Suman, the police said, had an affair with Teotia’s wife Megha.

SSP Raghubir Lal said Megha and Suman were classmates at Dehradun Public School, Ghaziabad.

Quake strikes near Philippine capital Manila

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Singapore, March 25: A 6.1 magnitude earthquake shook the Philippine capital Manila on Thursday.

There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage, but residents in the capital’s central business district said they felt the tremor and that office buildings swayed.

The United States Geological Survey said the quake was centred 66 miles (100km) west of the city of Batangas, south of Manila.

-Agencies

Tiger Woods to face media on 5 April

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Washington, March 25: Tiger Woods will hold a news conference on the Monday of Masters week, Augusta National Golf Club officials said on Wednesday.

Woods will face the media on Monday April 5 of tournament week, a departure from his usual Tuesday news conference, before the start of the year’s first major.

The American world number one has not competed since his victory at the Australian Masters on Nov. 15, following his stunning fall from grace amid tawdry revelations about his extra-marital affairs.

SC dismisses Sahabuddin’s plea against holding trial in jail

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New Delhi, March 25: The Supreme Court today dismissed RJD leader Mohammed Sahabuddin’s petition challenging Bihar government’s decision to conduct his trial in various criminal cases in Siwan jail.

A division bench headed by justice Dalveer Bhandari upheld the state government’s decision to hold criminal trial against the former MP in the jail.

The apex court said the notification issued by the government and the Patna high court for shifting his trial is valid and the high court is empowered to change the venue of trial.

Bihar distt issues circular on mentioning caste in exams

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Muzaffarpur, March 25: The district administration here has issued a ‘controversial’ circular making it mandatory for students appearing in annual exams in state-run primary and high schools to mention their caste in answer sheets, otherwise their results would be withheld.

The circular, issued by Bihar Education Project (BEP) officials in Muzaffarpur district, said it would be useful to tabulate the percentage of students belonging to a particular caste appearing in annual examinations from class I to VIII for ‘honest assessment’.