Month: July 2010

Trinamool will not support shutdown: Mamata Banerjee

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Kolkata, July 04: Railway Minister and Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee Sunday criticised the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) led Left Front for calling a 12-hour shutdown Monday in protest against the fuel price hike.

“We don’t support this bandh. The bandh will not reduce the suffering of the common people,” Banerjee said.

While addressing mediapersons at her Kalighat residence, she asked: “What good has the CPI-M-led Left Front government done in the last 34 years except doing bandh politics?”

Bipasha: Dhoni’s wedding was planned

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Mumbai, July 04: Contrary to rumours that Indian cricket captain M.S. Dhoni decided to get married on the spur of the moment, actress Bipasha Basu, a close friend of his cricketer, says the wedding was planned months in advance.

Says Bipasha: “The wedding on Sunday night was all planned. But no one was supposed to know about it. Whatever the truth, we must all be happy for the couple. It’s party time!”

Alas, Bipasha’s party for Dhoni’s wedding would have to wait. She is shooting in the back of the beyond and couldn’t join her boyfriend John Abraham for the wedding ceremony.

Krishna in Mozambique; boosting trade high on agenda

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Maputo (Mozambique), July 04: External Affairs Minister S M Krishna today arrived here on a two-day visit during which he is expected to give a push to bilateral relations, mainly focusing on trade and energy sectors.

Krishna is the first External Affairs Minister to visit this mineral-rich African nation in over a decade.

India is expected to sign an agreement to extend a line of credit of USD 25 million to Mozambique during talks Krishna will have with the country’s leaders.

Fire breaks out at new-born care unit in Bhopal hospital

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Bhopal, July 04: Panic today gripped a government hospital here when fire broke out at its new-born care unit today where 17 babies were undergoing treatment.

The condition of the infants was stated to be fine, officials said.

There was a small fire at Sick New-born Care Unit (SNCU) caused due to an electric short circuit at around 4 pm. It sparked off from the electricity switchboard, but was put out quickly, they said.

Three infants who need round-the-clock attention have been shifted to a near-by room as the electricity supply to the newly-built unit went off.

Suspected ISI agent held in Tripura

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Agartala, July 04: A suspected Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agent and two other persons were arrested and arms and ammunition recovered from their possession from Siddhi Ashram area on the city outskirts today, police said.

Acting on a tip off, police raided a house at the area and arrested the trio, they said.

Some arms and ammunition were also recovered from their possession, police said refusing to divulge anything more as it will hamper the investigation.

Chib cautions people against communal forces

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Jammu, July 04: Asking people not to pay heed to rumours, the state government today cautioned them against communal forces out to disturb peace in Jammu and Kashmir.

“People should remain cautious against communal forces, who are bent upon dividing them and disturbing peace in J&K”, Sports Minister R S Chib told a public gathering at Suchetgarh border belt, 30 kms from here.

Asking them not to pay attention to rumours being spread by vested interests, he said the Amarnath Yatra will be conducted smoothly like previous years.

–Agencies

Modi asks BCCI to provide decisions of SGM

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Mumbai, July 04: Suspended Indian Premier League commissioner Lalit Modi has demanded that he be provided with a copy of all the decisions taken at the Cricket Board’s Special General Meeting held here yesterday, his legal counsel Mehmood Abdi said today.

A letter to this effect was dashed off by Modi to BCCI president Shashank Manohar and secretary N Srinivasan late last night by e-mail and was also hand-delivered, Abdi said.

Reject mercy petition after three months: Ujjwal Nikam

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Nagpur, July 04: Special public prosecutor of the Maharashtra Government Ujjwal Nikam today said there should be a time frame for consideration of mercy petition of a convict in terror cases, which should be treated as rejected after three months.

“There should be a specific time frame for consideration of mercy petitions filed with President of India after confirmation of capital punishment by the Supreme Court. They should be treated as deemed to have been rejected after three months,” Nikam said while delivering a lecture organised by Koshish Foundation here this evening.

Cong demands CEC to defer Durgapur bypolls

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Kolkata, July 04: Congress today sought Chief Election Commissioner Navin Chawla’s intervention in deferring the by-election to the Durgapur-I Assembly constituency slated tomorrow in view of the nationwide bandh called by the Left parties against fuel price hike.

“It is my sincere appeal to you to intervene immediately and kindly consider deferring the by-election to the Durgapur-I Assembly Constituency from July 5 to any other convenient day as early as possible,” WBPCC chief Manas Bhuinya said in a letter to the CEC.

Naxals blow up bridge in Chhattisgarh

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Raipur, July 04: Naxals today blew up a bridge on a national highway in Chhattisgarh’s Bastar district, police said.

The extremists blew up a small bridge on the national highway, connecting Chhattisgarh with Andhra Pradesh, near Tongpal valley, Bastar SP Sundaraj P said.

Traffic on the highway was affected following the blast, however, there was no report of any casualty, he said, adding that the bridge repair work is on.

–Agencies

Gadkari flays Cong, terms it a private limited company

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Lucknow, July 04: Launching a scathing attack on the Congress, BJP president Nitin Gadkari today described it as a private limited company where, he said, the post of the party head was reserved for the Gandhi family.

“Manmohan Singh can become the Prime Minister and P Chidambaram the Home Minister, but they can never dream of becoming the party chief even in their wildest dream,” he said.

“In the Congress, the post of the party president is reserved for the Gandhi family,” Gadkari told a rally of party workers on his maiden visit to Uttar Pradesh after becoming the BJP chief.

Queen’s Baton given rousing reception as it enters HP

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Shimla, July 04: The Queen’s Baton Relay (QBR) for the forthcoming Commonwealth Games was accorded a rousing reception today as it entered Himachal Pradesh at Mehatpur neighbouring Punjab with school children waving tricolours lining up the route.

The QBR which arrived from Chandigarh was received at the border by several dignitaries including Una’s Deputy Commissioner K R Bharti.

Villagers kill leopard that attacked nine persons

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Banaskantha (Guj), July 04: Locals of a village here killed a leopard that had sneaked into the locality and attacked nine persons including a forest official today, officials said here.

“This is a serious incident of people killing a leopard, which is an endangered species under schedule one of the wildlife (protection) Act 1972,” R J Patel, district collector, told PTI tonight.

Monsoon to arrive in Delhi in two days: Met

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New Delhi, July 04: The much-awaited monsoon is at Delhi’s doorstep, with the weatherman today predicting that the rainy season will descend in two days over the city which has received good pre-monsoon showers in the past 24 hours.

However, the pre-monsoon rains did not give any respite to Delhiites from uncomfortable weather conditions due to higher humidity levels, though the maximum dipped to 33 degree Celsius. The humidity oscillated between 55 and 95 per cent during the day.

Iran hangs two for ‘waging war against God’: report

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Tehran, July 04: Iran today hanged two men convicted of “waging war against God” after they were found guilty of drug trafficking, armed robbery and abduction, a report said.

The two Amanollah Pourian and Younes Rahmani were hanged in the southeastern city of Zahedan, Fars news agency reported quoting a local judiciary statement.

Pranab sees double-digit economic growth in 2 yrs

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Kolkata, July 04: Pinning hopes on a normal monsoon, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee today said the Indian economy will expand by 8.5 per cent this fiscal and achieve double-digit growth in the next two years.

“If the monsoon this year is favourable, then we will get 8.5 per cent (this year) and nine per cent plus next year and double digit growth thereafter in a sustainable manner,” Mukherjee said at an event on financial inclusion organised by Assocham here.

Centre to Ktk: Consider CBI probe into illegal mining

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New Delhi, July 04: The Centre has asked Karnataka to consider taking the CBI’s help to investigate illegal mining in the state, an issue that was taken up by Chief Minister BS Yeddyurappa himself with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh last week.

In a letter to Yeddyurappa, Union Mines Minister B K Handique said that Karnataka could take the assistance of the Centre for investigating various incidents of illegal mining in the state.

Police probing stay of Pak pilot in city hotel

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Thiruvananthapuram, July 04: The city police is investigating the stay of a Pakistani pilot of a foreign airline in a hotel here without the information of intelligence and security agencies.

An assistant commissioner with the city police has been entrusted with the inquiry in the case, focussing on how the pilot managed to stay in the city after arriving here two months back without the knowledge of intelligence and security agencies, police sources said.

Maoists call for bandh, Azad cremated

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Hyderabad, July 04: Rattled by the killing of its top leader Cherukuri Rajkumar alias Azad, the banned CPI (Maoist) today called for a two-day strike from July 7 and vowed to avenge his death, prompting authorities to beef up security in Naxal-hit areas.

Fans celebrate Dhoni’s new innings in life

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Ranchi, July 04: Cricket fans here burst crackers and distributed sweets to celebrate Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s wedding with childhood friend Sakshi Singh Rawat today.

The fans came out in streets and distributed sweets among themselves as soon as the news came that their idol will enter into wed-lock tonight.

One fan was relieved that Dhoni decided to marry a “girl-next-door”.

“We are relieved today; he is marrying to a girl who is just like a girl next door … three cheers for Dhoni and his life partner,” said Anuj Kumar, a Dhoni fan.

‘Bill on child sexual abuse likely in monsoon session’

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Chennai, July 04: A Bill to introduce a new law to effectively deal with child sexual abuse cases is likely to be introduced in the monsoon session of Parliament, Union Law and Justice Minister M Veerappa Moily today said.

“The draft for the bill is in the advanced stage… We hope to introduce it in the next session of Parliament,” Moily told reporters on the sidelines of a function here.

To a question on making ‘Tamil’ as the court language in the Madras High Court, he said the judiciary had to take a view on it.

RNRL to merge with Rel Power in 50,000-cr deal

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New Delhi, July 04: In a mega Rs 50,000-crore deal, Anil Ambani group today announced merger of RNRL with another group firm Reliance Power, which would now become a direct beneficiary of the gas deal signed with Mukesh Ambani- led Reliance Industries.

As part of the all-stock deal, Reliance Power will give one of its shares for every four held in RNRL.

RNRL shareholders, including the promoters, would get Reliance Power shares worth about Rs 7,150 crore, as per the current market prices. Out of these, promoters would get shares worth over Rs 3,600 crore.

Congress announces eight candidates for Andhra by-polls

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Hyderabad, July 04: Andhra Pradesh Congress chief D. Srinivas will contest from the Nizamabad Urban assembly constituency in the July 27 by-elections.

The Congress Sunday announced candidates for eight assembly seats while the nominees for the remaining four seats are likely to be announced in couple of days.

The party has fielded the same candidates who lost in last year’s elections. Former minister Mohammed Ali Shabbir will contest from Yellareddy while another former minister G. Vinod has been fielded from Chennur.

SRK not driving world’s fastest car in ‘Ra.One’

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New Delhi, July 04: Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan has denied reports that he is driving one of the world’s fastest cars – the Volkswagen Bugatti – in his new film “Ra.One”.

“Just to clarify the rumor…I am not driving a Bugatti or anything…it’s a Ducat mobike that we have in Ra.One,” Shah Rukh wrote on microblogging site Twitter.

Meanwhile, the actor has just got an iPad and is rejoicing every moment with his new gadget. However, he said he was having a little problem while typing.

Modi remains defiant, says geared up for a battle

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New Delhi, July 04: Lalit Modi’s expulsion from the BCCI appeared certain after the Cricket Board referred the charges against him to the disciplinary committee, but the suspended IPL chief today remained defiant, saying that truth will come out and he is geared up for a “battle”.

BCCI yesterday took the first step towards Modi’s expulsion at a Special General Body Meeting by unanimously ratifying all charges against him and authorising its President Shashank Manohar to initiate civil and criminal proceedings against the suspended IPL chief.