Hyderabad, June 03: Recharge coupons valued at Rs 144 lakhs were stolen from the Adarshnagar centre of the public sector Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) and at least five of the employees have been questioned by the police.
BSNL Adarshnagar area manager had failed a complain at the Saifabad police station that 14,600 recharge coupons and 26 CDs had been missing from the centre.
New Delhi, June 02: Suspended IPL Commissioner Lalit Modi said the series of allegations levelled on him by England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) Chairman Giles Clarke was “motivated” and stemmed from the “past history of disagreement and discord” between them.
It was on the basis of Clarke’s e-mail that BCCI slapped a second show cause notice on Modi and the suspended IPL boss, in his reply, said the ECB chief’s allegations were motivated.
Beijing, June 03: Thirty people were killed and 18 others, including two students reported missing in landslides and floods in south China’s Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region today, local authorities said.
Heavy rains caused landslides which killed eight persons in Yangchong Village, Cenxi City, and ten in Rongxian County, the region’s Land and Resources Department said.
A total of 30 bodies were recovered after landslides and flash floods struck five counties in Guanxi region.
New York, Jun 03: Times Square car bomb suspect Faisal Shahzad’s case has been postponed for three weeks until June 21 to allow him to speak with US authorities about the terror plot.
Shahzad, Pakistani-born American accused of planting a car bomb in Times Square, through his lawyer agreed to waive his right to indictment for another three weeks.
US Magistrate Judge Theodore Katz signed an order granting the delay.
Mangalore, June 03: The 12 unidentified victims of the IX-812 flight crash were given a mass burial on Wednesday, as the 24 families who had laid claim to the bodies stood in silence. The burial was done in a government land on Kulur-Thaneerbavi road, under the supervision of the district administration.
Government and Air India authorities decided on a mass burial after DNA testing failed to help identify the bodies.
London, June 03: Singer Gwen Stefani has revealed that she can’t cook and relies on her husband to feed their family.
“I don’t cook. I can toast in the toaster. I can pour and set the table. It’s(cooking) not even an option,” femalefirst.co.uk quoted her as saying.
The “Rich Girl” singer, who has two kids Kingston, four, and 21-month-old Zuma with husband Gavin Rossdale, admitted that her husband is passionate about cooking.
Mumbai, June 03: Actress Sonali Bendre is looking trimmer than ever and says she works out regularly — not to look glamorous but to keep herself fit.
“I have been working out regularly for the last two months and that is why you see a change in me. But it is purely for health reasons that I started exercising and taking care of my body,” Sonali told IANS.
Kabul, June 03: Afghan tribal elders hold more talks on Thursday seeking a political settlement of a nine-year war, but hopes of progress slipped further after Taliban commandos attacked the peace gathering with rockets and gunfire.
President Hamid Karzai, who launched the traditional jirga as the rockets fell nearby, is hoping to secure national support for his plans to seek reconciliation with the Taliban ahead of a planned U.S. military withdrawal from 2011.
New Delhi, June 03: India and Seychelles today agreed to cooperate in the global efforts at fighting piracy in the Gulf of Aden that was adversely impacting business due to the threats posed to cargo ships sailing through the Indian Ocean.
Seychelles President James Alix Michel, who held wide-ranging talks with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh here, said the two countries would make efforts to make the sealanes in the Indian Ocean safer.
Jerusalem, June 03: Israel has said about 40 of the activists arrested in the attack on the Gaza-bound aid flotilla may have had links to Al-Qaeda.
According to the Israeli defence forces (IDF), a special meeting of the security cabinet late Tuesday heard that a group of 40 people on board the Mavi Marmara ship with no identification papers belonged to Al Qaeda.
New Delhi, June 03: A Delhi court today dismissed a plea of Rahul Mahajan, son of slain BJP leader Pramod Mahajan, seeking return of his mobile phone, SIM card and other belongings seized by police following his alleged involvement in a drug abuse case in 2006.
“The alleged seized objects of the accused form part of the case properties and they cannot be released to him at this stage. Hence, the application is dismissed,” Additional Sessions Judge J P S Malik said.
Washington, June 03: The Indo-US Strategic Dialogue being held in Washington this week is a milestone in the relationship of the two largest democracies of the world, the US Ambassador to India Tim Roemer has said.
“This week is another milestone in the US-India strategic relationship that has grown in leaps and bounds in the past 10 years,” Roemer said in his address to the US India Business Council (USIBC).
Mumbai, June 03: The Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex today surged by over 247 points in opening trade tracking firm global cues.
The Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex today surged by over 247 points in opening trade tracking firm global cues.
The 30-share index, which rose by 169.81 points in the previous trading session, shot up by 247.25 points, or 1.47 per cent, to 16,989.09.
Sectoral indices, led by realty and metals, were trading up to 2.06 per cent higher.
New Delhi, June 03: Tropical Cyclone Phet, that is building in Arabian sea, has transformed into dangerous Category-5 super cyclone but is likely to spare the coastal areas of Gujarat.
The very severe cyclonic storm, Phet has changed its path and now moving towards the coast of Oman in the Arabian Peninsula.
However, Met department has predicted “heavy to very heavy rain falls” over coastal areas of Saurashtra & Kutch from Friday.
Gale winds could even reach 85 kmph over the weekend and increase thereafter.
Jerusalem, June 03: The Israeli prime minister has defended the deadly attack on the Gaza-bound Freedom Flotilla and says Israel will never apologize for the incident.
The Israeli military attacked the Freedom Flotilla in international waters in the Mediterranean Sea early on May 31, killing at least 19 people on board the six ships, mostly Turkish nationals, and injuring about 50 others.
New Delhi, June 03: The first India-US strategic dialogue between minister of external affairs SM Krishna and US secretary of state Hillary Clinton will be high on atmospherics but low on substance. There will be much public display of warmth, with Clinton showering lavish praise on India in an attempt to soothe frayed tempers.
Cuba, June 03: Former Cuban President Fidel Castro has condemned Israel’s attack on the Freedom Flotilla as “Nazi fascist fury.”
The Israeli commandos who boarded the ships fired “frenetically” at the aid workers, AFP quoted Castro as saying in an article on Wednesday.
Castro, 83, writes regular columns for Cuban media commenting on world events.
Castro also said it is unlikely that US President Barack Obama will be able to serve another term in office if the United States does not launch a nuclear attack on Iran.
Jerusalem, June 03: Terming it an “unintentional mistake”, Israel has dropped India’s name from the list of violence hit countries it said had been “ignored” by the United Nations while the Jewish state was being condemned for its “unmistakably defensive actions” last Monday that resulted in the death of nine activists aboard Gaza aid flotilla.
“India was mentioned in the press release by mistake. It was totally unintentional”, Israel’s Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman’s media adviser Tzachi Moshe told a news agency.
Beijing, June 03: China, the world’s top source of the toxic gases blamed for global warming, said Thursday it was “not very optimistic” that its efforts to slash emissions were working.
Beijing issued a similar warning a month ago, prompting speculation that it could miss its emissions reduction targets.
The country’s vice minister for environmental protection, Zhang Lijun, told a press conference that sulphur dioxide emissions had risen by 1.2 percent year-on-year in the first quarter of 2010 — the first jump since 2007.
Geneva, June 03: The United Nations Human Rights Council on Wednesday voted to set up an independent fact-finding mission to look into what it called violations of international law in Israel’s raid on a Gaza aid flotilla.
In a resolution proposed by Pakistan for the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) and Sudan for the Arab group, the Council by a vote of 32 of its 47 members also condemned the Israeli action as outrageous.
Washington, June 03: Taking the Indo-US ties to a new high, External Affairs Minister SM Krishna is set to hold the first ever Strategic Dialogue with his counterpart Hillary Clinton Thursday during which the two sides are expected to discuss the Af-Pak situation and bilateral counter-terrorism cooperation.
Mumbai, June 03: Slain Rajan aide Farid Tanasha was guarded by four police-trained canines
“My only desire is to gun down Dawood,” is what Farid Tanasha, a key lieutenant of gangster Chhota Rajan who was shot dead outside his Tilak Nagar residence late yesterday, had told this correspondent in an earlier interview.
He had led several teams to plan the killing of rival gangster Dawood Ibrahim at his Karachi hideout.
Eyewitnesses said Tanasha (37), who is married to the sister of Chhota Rajan’s wife Sujata Nikhalje, was strolling in his building compound at the time of the incident.
Jaipur, June 02: The Rajasthan Anti Terrorism Squad ( ATS) on Friday arrested a suspect in the 2007 Ajmer Sharif bomb blast case.
The arrest of Chandrashekhar Barod, who was picked up from Shajapur in Madhya Pradesh, comes within 48 hours of another suspect, Devendra Gupta, being rounded up for his alleged role in the blast.Barod is believed to have close links with rightwing Hindu organisation Abhinav Bharat, accused in the 2006 Malegaon blasts case. He is also known to be an active member of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh ( RSS).
Bangalore: Director Mani Ratnam`s Hindi-Tamil bilingual film `Raavan` will be released in only 24 theatres in one of the three distribution areas of Karnataka, the state`s film chamber said late Wednesday.
Vasant Kumar Patil, president of Karnataka Film Chamber of Commerce (KFCC), told reporters that `Raavan`, titled `Raavanan` in Tamil, will have a restricted release.
“A decision has been taken to follow the existing policy of allowing non-Kannada films in a stipulated number of theatres,” Patil said.
Tehran, June 03: An Iranian court has confirmed a sentence of three-and-a-half years in jail and 50 lashes for a journalist and film maker found guilty of anti-state propaganda and insulting the supreme leader, media reported.
Mohammad Nourizad was arrested late last year after he published on his blog letters deemed disrespectful to Iran’s highest authority, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and other senior officials.
Opposition blogs say he has been beaten while in detention in Tehran’s Evin jail where he has begun a hunger strike.