Month: June 2010

Rosaiah’s supporters swell

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Hyderabad, June 03: With the strong signals coming from New Delhi indicating that the Congress high command is firmly backing chief minister K Rosaiah, the party leaders who were wavering till now over taking sides, lined up to greet him on his arrival at Renigunta airport today.

The number of leaders turned up to receive him swelled like anything this time compared to his previous visits to the temple town. Ministers, MPs, MLAs, MLCs, former legislatures and local leaders queued up to present bouquets to Rosaiah and later followed him in his official programmes.

Horrific incident in Britain

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London, June 03: Twelve people were killed and 25 wounded by a lone gunman in Britain Wednesday in a shooting spree described by the police as a ‘terrifying incident.’

The suspected killer, identified as 52-year-old taxi driver Derrick Bird, was later found dead in a forest after taking his own life, police said. Two weapons were recovered.

The attacks took place in the Lake District of Cumbria in northwest England, an area popular with tourists.

‘This has shocked the people of Cumbria and around the country to the core,’ regional chief constable Stuart Hyde said.

Zuma arrives in India

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Mumbai, June 03: South African President Jacob Zuma arrived here to begin his three-day state visit, accompanied by a delegation of 200 prominent businessmen.

This is the first ever visit to India by Zuma since his inauguration as South Africa’s president. This is also his first trip to Asia.

He met Maharashtra Governor K. Sankaranarayanan during his stay in Mumbai.

Zuma will reach Delhi Thursday. As per his official schedule, he will hold talks with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Friday, as well as address a business luncheon.

Six joint family died in Ambala

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New Delhi, June 03: Six persons from the Capital, five of them members of a joint family, died after the mini-bus they were travelling on hit a speeding truck in Ambala on Wednesday. The family, based in Shalimar Bagh East, was on a tour to Vaishno Devi shrine. Six others were injured in the incident.

The families of Gulshan Arora, Harminder Singh Sachdeva and Kamal Manchanda left Delhi at 2 am. Their bus collided with the truck around 6 am on the Ambala Highway. Four adults and two children were killed on the spot.

Eight IPS officers in Haryana promoted to DIG rank

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Chandigarh, June 02: The Haryana Government has promoted eight Superintendents of Police to the rank of Deputy Inspector General with immediate effect.

Those who have been promoted from SP rank to DIG are Navdeep Singh Virk, Shrikant Jadhav, Kala Ramachandran, Anil Kumar, Kuldip Singh Siag, Suman Manjri, Sat Parkash and Paramjit Singh Ahlawat, an official release said here today.

–Agencies

UPSRTC bus torched, driver untraced

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Gorakhpur (UP), June 02: A Uttar Pradesh state roadways minibus was torched by some people after it hit their car in Ramgarh Lake area here today, police said.

Local residents said the driver of the Deoria-bound minibus of UP State Road Transport Corporation was also abducted by the arsonists, but police did not confirm it. They said the driver might have fled the spot.

The trouble started after the bus hit the car and left a dent on it, police said adding, the irate occupants of the car got out and had a row with driver while the passengers also got down from the bus.

TV channel booked for intimidating Swamy

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Hyderabad, June 02: Criminal cases have been registered against the CEO and two employees of Telugu channel, NTV, today following a complaint by the pontiff of Visakhapatnam-based Sarada peetam, Swamy Swaroopananda, alleging that the former tried to extort money from him and threatened to expose his `misdeeds’ if he did not pay the amount.

The channel started telecasting stories about the alleged misdeeds of Swamy Swaroopananda today morning and the same was denied by the pontiff.

Kavita demands free revaluation of papers

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Hyderabad, June 02: Telangana Jagruthi president K Kavita has demanded that the state government all revaluation of the answerscripts of all Intermediate students hailing from the Telangana region free of cost. She has also urged the government to direct the Board of Intermediate Education (BIE) to take stringent action against those who were careless in evaluating the Intermediate students’ answerscripts.

300 cops were present at railway station:DGP

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Hyderabad, June 02: Director General of Police RR Girish Kumar today claimed that 300 police personnel were present in and around the Mahabubabad railway station on May 28, the day violence broke out following the visit of Kadapa MP YS Jagan Mohan Reddy but appeared at a loss to explain why these many men could not prevent trouble, or at least gain control over the situation quickly.

Trinamool Sweeps Kolkata in Civic Polls

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Kolkata, June 02: The Trinamool Congress Wednesday wrested control of the prestigious Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) in an electoral sweep of the civic polls that saw it humble West Bengal’s ruling Left Front across the state.

The state’s urban voters gave the thumbs down to the Left, which suffered a humiliating defeat although the major opposition parties, the Trinamool Congress and the Congress, failed to come to an electoral understanding.

French Open: Stosur sinks Serena

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France, June 02: Samantha Stosur outlasted frustrated top seed Serena Williams 6-2, 6-7 (2-7), 8-6 Wednesday to reach her second straight French Open semi-final.

World number one Williams was left adrift by the efficient forehands of the no-nonsense Australian as Stosur duplicated her breakthrough semi-final at Roland Garros a year ago.

The Australian completed the Paris elimination of the Williams sisters as she followed-up on her fourth-round upset of four-time winner Justine Henin. Venus Williams was beaten by Russia’s Nadia Petrova in the fourth round.

India access to Headley ?

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Washington, June 02: It was not clear what kind of access the team of investigators from India in Chicago to interrogate Pakistani-American David Coleman Headley would get to the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) operative who helped plan the 2008 Mumbai terrorist attack.

Both US and Indian officials were tight-lipped about the modalities and timing of access to Headley, with US ambassador to India Timothy Roemer cryptically suggesting that both countries have been “burning the midnight oil” and “working our fingers to the bones” to resolve the issue.

Pope condemns Israel

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Vatican City, June 02: Pope Benedict XVI on Wednesday condemned Israel’s deadly attack on a Gaza-bound humanitarian aid flotilla in which nine activists were killed.

“With great trepidation I followed the tragic events that occurred near the Gaza Strip,” Benedict said and urged world leaders to press for peace in the Middle East.

“Again I say with a heavy heart that violence does not solve disputes, but increases their tragic consequences and generates more violence.”

Tejas LSP-4 aircraft takes off first

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Bangalore, June 02: The first flight of Tejas Aircraft LSP-4 (Limited Series Production aircraft) took to the skies here today, going supersonic touching a 1.1 Mach speed.

The aircraft took off at 1110 hrs from HAL’s Bangalore airport and landed forty minutes later, a DRDO release said.

The flight marks for the first time a Tejas aircraft flying in the configuration that will be finally delivered to the Indian Air Force.

This milestone is another step in the direction of releasing the Tejas for IAF service, which is planned for December 2010, it said.

More investment in Gujarat from Tata group

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Ahmedabad, June 02: The Tata’s are mulling more investments in Gujarat, group Chairman Ratan Tata indicated here Wednesday.

He said Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi had asked him about his future plans for Gujarat. “I told him that it will be a surprise.”

Tata was speaking at the inaugural function of Tata Motors’ new Nano plant here.

SC orders Haryana to protect Dalits

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Haryana, June 02: While hearing a petition seeking protection of caste violence hit Dalit victims in Haryana, the Supreme Court Wednesday ordered the Haryana government to provide protection to Dalits.

The apex court’s vacation bench of Justice G.S. Singhvi and Justice C.K. Prasad said the failure to provide protection would be viewed seriously.

Israel releases over 600 captured aid activists

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Tel Aviv, June 02: Israel on Wednesday released and deported more than 600 foreign activists whose accounts of a deadly raid on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla contradicted Israeli reports that its soldiers acted in self-defence.

As a new standoff with another aid ship loomed, British Prime Minister David Cameron took a tough stand against Monday’s pre-dawn Israeli raid, which killed nine activists on the flotilla, terming it “completely unacceptable.”

Fidel Castro slams Israel’s ‘Nazi fascist fury’

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Havana, June 02: Cuban ex-president Fidel Castro in an article out Wednesday described Israel’s interception of aid ships bound for the Gaza Strip as “Nazi fascist fury.”

He said the Israeli commandos that boarded the ships fired “frenetically” into the aid workers, killing at least nine.

He also wrote that it was unlikely that US President Barack Obama would be re-elected without first letting the US military or Israel launch a nuclear attack on Iran.

Castro, 83 convalescing away from government since 2006, writes regular columns for Cuban media commenting on world events.

UN chief calls on Israel to lift Gaza blockade

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Kampala, June 02: Israel’s blockade of the Gaza Strip was responsible for the deadly raid on a foreign aid flotilla and should be lifted, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said Tuesday.

“Had Israelis heeded to my call and to the call of the international community by lifting the blockade of Gaza, this tragic incident would not have happened,” the UN chief said.

At least nine activists were killed on Monday when Israeli navy commandos stormed a Gaza-bound aid flotilla, sparking international outrage and plunging the Jewish state into a diplomatic crisis.

Top Swedish author condemns Israeli ‘brutality’

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Stockholm, June 02: Top Swedish author Henning Mankell condemned Israel’s “brutality” in attacking an aid fleet heading for Gaza, when he returned to Sweden from taking part in the operation, a press report said.

“What will happen next year when we come back with hundreds of boats? Will they fire a nuclear bomb,” the author of the Wallander crime series told the TT news agency when he returned to Gothenburg airport on Tuesday night.

Gaza’s misery lingers as convoy fails to break siege

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Beit Hanun, June 02: One day after Israel’s bloody raid on a Gaza-bound flotilla, Hazem Juha returned to the fields of rubble along the territory’s border with Israel where he collects the detritus of years of conflict.

“I am trained as an electrician but there has been no construction in Gaza for three years and my family needs money to live,” he said, while gathering scrap metal and breaking down concrete chunks in the scorching heat.

He can make 12 dollars (10 euros) for each half ton of scrap, which will be used in the limited rebuilding efforts following the 2008-2009 Gaza war.

Kabylia region declares government in France

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Paris, June 02: A movement demanding autonomy for Algeria’s Kabylia region said Wednesday it had set up a government-in-exile in France to challenge the national leaders in Algiers.

“We are setting up our provisional government so that we no longer undergo the injustice, contempt, domination, frustration and discrimination that we have endured since 1962,” said the movement’s leader, Ferhat Mehenni.

Homeless Iraqis prompt fears of social crisis

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Baghdad, June 02: The alarming spread of illegal squatter settlements has aid groups fearful of a looming social crisis, one which a senior United Nations official considers “the greatest humanitarian problem facing Iraq”.

Recent reports from two international agencies found that of Iraq’s 1.5 million internally displaced people, or IDPs, at least 500,000 have been forced to dwell in squalid squatter camps without access to health care or public services.

India committed to n-liability regime, Krishna tells US

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Washington, June 02: Assuring the US of India’s commitment to a nuclear liability regime, External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna has invited American companies to invest in India and make a robust partnership with two-way trade in advanced technology products.

“The government is committed to put in place a nuclear liability regime. We look forward to US companies investing in India,” Krishna said.

Oman braces for possible hit by Cyclone Phet

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Muscat, June 02: Authorities were evacuating the Omani island of Masirah on Wednesday over fears that Cyclone Phet might hit the country’s east coast on the Arabian Sea, a civil defence official said.

The official said civil defence units had been put on alert for the cyclone, which could hit by Thursday afternoon.

Oman Air and the country’s air force were evacuating the residents of Masirah.

Cyclone Phet was still more than 300 kilometres (186 miles) away from Masirah and moving at 10 kilometres (six miles) per hour, the weather authority said