Month: June 2010

Monsoon brings dreaded swine flu to AP

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Hyderabad, June 25: THE dreaded swine flu, which claimed hundreds of lives across the country last year, appears to be in a revival mode this season. A 28-year-old woman from Mahabubnagar district fell prey to the virus at the Gandhi General Hospital on Thursday morning taking the toll in the last one week to three.

The condition of three others undergoing treatment at the same hospital is critical. The deaths recorded so far were from Visakhapatnam, Medak and Mahabubnagar districts each.

Purandaradasa statue unveiled at Tirupati

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Tirupati, June 25: Gaiety and religious fervour marked the unveiling of a statue of Sri Purandaradasa in the presence of seers from various mutts at Alipiri, at the foot of Tirumala today.

15 more marine police stations soon: DGP

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Vishakhapatnam, June 25: FIFTEEN new marine police stations will be set up in the state and the existing six will be strengthened to ensure better coastal security, directorgeneral of police RR Girish Kumar has said.

Talking to newsmen here today, Girish Kumar said adequate personnel would be recruited and provided training in Kolkata. The department was also planning to deploy AP Special Police and Indian Reserve battalions at Battinapalem in Visakhapatnam, Karimnagar and Chittoor shortly with the central government funds, he said.

PRP not to contest bypolls

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Hyderabad, June 25: The Praja Rajyam has announced that it will not field its candidates in the forthcoming byelections for the ten Assembly seats from the Telangana region.

Speaking to reporters here today, party political affairs committee member K Vidyadhar Rao said PRP workers and Chiranjeevi’s fans in the region were free to vote for the candidates of their choice.

The PRP, which was launched just before the Assembly elections, was skipping the second election since its inception. the PRP got two Assembly seats from Telangana in the 2009 Assembly elections.

Extortion case: MCOCA court convicts six Rajan aide

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Mumbai, June 25: A special MCOCA court today convicted six members of Chhota Rajan gang in an extortion case and sentenced them to five years imprisonment while acquitting five others, including dreaded gangster D K Rao.

Of the 11 accused in the case, Special Judge R G Awachat convicted six for extortion and conspiracy under IPC, while the rest were let-off for lack of evidence.

Sushma hopes BJP again returns to power in Karnataka

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Bangalore, June 25: Sushma Swaraj, the leader of the opposition in the Lok Sabha, Friday hoped Karnataka’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) would return to power in the elections due three years from now and would rule the state for another decade.

Hyundai Motor India aims to sell six lakh units this year

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Kolkata, June 25: Hyundai Motor India aims to sell six lakh units in 2010, registering a seven percent jump from the 5.6 lakh vehicles it sold last year, a top company official Friday said.

“In 2009, our market share was 20.6 percent. This year it will go up marginally by 0.1 percent,” Hyundai Motors India Limited managing director and chief executive H.W. Park said at the launch programme of the mid-size sedan, the new Verna Transform.

He said last year, 52 percent of the company’s sales was within the country and the remaining 48 percent was from exports.

‘Heroine’ to be Kareena’s best : Madhur Bhandarkar

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New Delhi, June 25: He is known for giving glam-dolls of Bollywood a milestone film in their career.Whether it’s ‘Fashion’ for Priyanka Chopra, which is regarded as her best act till day, or ‘Corporate’ for Bipasha Basu that revealed the actress in the ‘Bong Bombshell’.

And now, National Award winning filmmaker Madhur Bhandarkar has set his eyes on Kareena Kapoor and claims that his upcoming film ‘Heroine’ with the actress will be the best of her career.

Rollback of fuel prices demanded

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Mumbai, June 25: Both the opposition and key allies in the Congress-led ruling coalition, lost no time in criticising the fuel price hike decision of the government.

BJP, Trinamool Congress, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and the DMK asked the government to reconsider the decision. However, the Congress supported the government’s decision, saying there was no other option.

Nanavati panel submits status report

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Gujurat, June 25: The Nanavati Commission on Friday submitted the status report to the Gujrat High Court on Monday.

The Nanavati Commission, probing the 2002 communal riots, today submitted the status report to the Gujarat High Court.

The sealed cover was handed over by government pleader Prakash Jani to a division bench of Chief Justice S J Mukhopadhaya and Justice Akil Kureshi during the hearing on a petition seeking cross examination of Chief Minister Narendra Modi and three others in the case.

Mamata opposes fuel price hike

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New Delhi, June 25: By not being present at the meeting of Empowered Group of Ministers who took a decision to hike the fuel prices, Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday said that her party was not supporting the move and sought reconsideration of the same.

She, however, ruled out any strong action such as withdrawal of support to express her party’s opposition, saying “Government has our crucial support and it will remain.

We are in govt, but not in power : Left chief whip

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Kolkata, June 25: In an admission that the Left Front government was losing grip over the administration, party chief whip in the assembly Syed Md Masih today said though the CPI(M) was in government, yet it was “not in power”.

“We are in the government, but not in power,” he told reporters here.

He accused the opposition of resorting to violence in the state and said the state government was trying to maintain a peaceful atmosphere.

Congress leader Manas Bhunia said Masih’s remark proved that the government has become ‘lame duck’ and could not function.

Free stay in Dubai

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Dubai, June 25: Passengers flying to the Senegalese capital city of Dakar on Emirates airlines will get to stay at a Dubai hotel for free, which authorities call a “welcome break” in their journey.

Emirates will launch flights Sep 1 on a new route to Dakar, and is offering first and business class passengers a complimentary stay at a leading hotel in Dubai, plus a free four-day visa when they book a return flight to the Senegalese capital.

Bappi’s tribute to MJ

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Mumbai, June 25: ‘Disco King’ Bappi Lahiri released two singles composed in the honour of ‘King of Pop’ Michael Jackson to mark his first death anniversary.

Lahiri in association with MusicBizPro anounced the worldwide digital release of the tracks, “Don’t Say Goodbye” and “Michael O’ Michael” (a remix). Track will also be available on all major web portals.

The songs feature vocals from Jackson’s very own backup singers Ricky Nelson, Terry Young and Glenda.

Bappi has pledged to donate royalty earned from the tracks to the underprivileged children in Maharashtra.

Power cuts in Delhi, demand soars to record high

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New Delhi, June 25: The national capital continued to reel under long power cuts with some areas facing outages for three to four hours as demand soared to record high today.

Power Department officials said the maximum demand was recorded at 4,644 mw, the second highest power demand in the city.

The power demand in the city had touched an all-time high of 4,668 mega watt last week.

Power department officials attributed the loadshedding to planned shutdown of major transmission lines as well as to local faults.

Antony for increasing response to threats from sea

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New Delhi, June 25: Reviewing coastal security measures taken after the 26/11 attacks on Mumbai, Defence Minister A K Antony today stressed on the need for increasing vigilance and response to threats from sea.

“Decisions and approvals for coastal security including the procurement cases should be implemented in a time-bound manner and the concerned agencies should regularly monitor the progress,” the Defence Minister told a meeting to review coastal security.

Another arrest in Jnaneswari disaster

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Midnapore, June 25: Based on the statement of Bapi Mahato key accused of Jnaneswari Express derailment, another arrest has been made from the West Midnapore district on Friday.

Abid Ali, a resident of Manikpara in Jhargram subdivision, was arrested from Kaliakunda last night, police said.

Ali’s link with Maoists was being ascertained, they said.

He is the eighth person to be arrested for the May 28 disaster that claimed 148 lives.

Amiya Mahato, a close associate of Bapi Mahato, was earlier arrested from Koimasoli village, near here, on Wednesday night.

Mulayam rules out Amar Singh’s return

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Jaipur, June 25: Samajwadi Party President Mulayam Singh Yadav today virtually ruled out the return of friend-turned-foe Amar Singh to the party.

“Unka (Amar) mun nahi laga voh chale gai party se…

unki vapsi aap kah rahein hain” (He did not like it in the party so he left,.. only you are talking abou his return),” Yadav told a press conference here.

Amar Singh was expelled by the SP in February on charges of indulging in activities inimical to its political interests and damaging its image.

Acting might end for Rambo

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Mumbai, June 25: Hollywood action star Sylvester Stallone has hinted to draw an end to his acting career as he wants to concentrate on being a director.

At the Los Angeles Film Festival, the 63-year-old actor said his new movie ‘The Expendables’ where he plays a gang leader of veteran mercenaries on a deadly mission, could be his last as an actor.

“I’m on borrowed time. At this age I hear the ticking clock and it’s as loud as the gong on Big Ben,” the actor, best known for his roles as boxer Rocky Balboa in the ‘Rocky’ movie series, said.

Father held for rape of daughter

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Rewari (Haryana), June 25: A man was arrested from Mohalla Nai Abadi area here for allegedly repeatedly raping his 20-year-old daughter, police said today.

Following a complaint from the victim, Amar Singh was arrested and produced before a local court which remanded him to judicial custody.

Earlier the girl alleged that her father had been sexually assaulting her for last several years. When she told her mother about his behaviour recently, she asked her to keep mum, according to the chargesheet.

PM unlikely to raise Anderson’s extradition with Obama

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New Delhi, June 25: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is unlikely to raise the issue of extradition of former Union Carbide chief Warren Anderson when he meets US President Barack Obama in Toronto on Sunday.

The two leaders will meet on the sidelines of the G-20 for a review of bilateral ties and exchange of views on global and regional issues. The issues that will come up in the Summit will also be discussed.

Sources said the Anderson extradition issue was an “old request” and it was for the CBI to do its home work. The US had raised some points and it was for the CBI to answer them.

Pakistan monitor Google, 6 other sites for un-Islamic content

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Islamabad, June 25: Pakistan has put seven major websites, including the Google search engine, under observation for hosting alleged un-Islamic material, officials said Friday.

The decision to monitor the leading sites was taken by the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA), after a court in eastern province of Punjab ordered Thursday to ban websites showing blasphemous matter.

PTA also blocked 17 lesser known websites, saying they present un-Islamic content.

Chidambaram meets Malik, presses for action against Saeed

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Islamabad, June 25: Home Minister P Chidambaram tonight met his Pakistani counterpart Rehman Malik and is understood to have pressed for urgent action against JuD chief Hafiz Saeed and 26/11 handlers, including those who are believed to be in the Pakistani Army.

Chidambaram, the first Indian Home Minister to visit Pakistan in three decades, met Malik at the Interior Ministry here, where he was accorded a red carpet welcome and given a ceremonial Guard of Honour.

Lalit Modi guilty of major irregularities: Farooq Abdullah

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Mumbai, June 25: The noose tightened further around Lalit Modi today with IPL Governing Council member Farooq Abdullah saying that the suspended commissioner of the Twenty20 league committed “major irregularities” during his days in the office.

The T20 World Championship 2010The Governing Council also approved an amended media rights agreement with MSM Satellite, which will recover the Rs425 crore facilitation fee it had paid to World Sports Group (WSG) and pay it back to BCCI as rights fees.