Anantapur, October 31: Large-scale arrangements are being made by the government for the 85th birthday celebrations of spiritual guru Sri Satya Saibaba at Puttaparthi in Anantapur district.
Devotees from India and abroad in large numbers are expected to attend the event which will be held from November 15 to 23.
President Pratibha Singh Patil will take part in Women’s Day programme on November 19.
New Delhi, October 31: The controversy surrounding the remodelling and renaming of the Lalita Kala Thoranam has ended.
Congress MP T Subbirami Reddy, who offered to donate Rs 10 crore for construction of a closed auditorium (in place of the existing open air theatre) provided it is named after the late Rajiv Gandhi has dropped the proposal.
Hyderabad, October 31: In spite of announcing that they would defer their agitation by a month on Friday, priests and temple staff of eight major temples continued their agitation on Saturday.
They wanted a written assurance from the state government that their problems would be resolved in a month.
However, the state government officials refused to oblige their request.
It may be recalled that the Temple Employees Joint Action Committee representing staff of small temples yesterday announced postponement of the agitation by a month.
Hyderabad, October 31: Chief Minister K Rosaiah on Saturday asserted that the government has aimed to take the state to number one position in the country in the field of construction sector.
He called upon the entrepreneurs to come forward to invest in the state.
Hyderabad, October 31: It was not a burst of fire but a single bullet from a 9 mm carbine that killed two students and injured two more at the Open House organised as part of Police Commemoration Day at the Zilla Parishad High School in Velurupadu in Khammam district on Oct. 20.
Moreover, the constable demonstrating the gun to the students had not kept his gun loaded but did so only at the urging of the students.
Hyderabad, October 31: Life convicts and their family members have another reason to celebrate this Diwali with double dhamaka.
A week before the festival, the state government on Saturday issued guidelines for granting special remission to life convicts to mark the Republic Day on January 26, 2011.
A six-member committee under the chairmanship of the principal secretary, Home, was constituted to prepare a list of prisoners eligible for release.
Hyderabad, October 31: Heavy rains lashed Nellore and Visakhapatnam while flight services were affected in Tirupati due to vigorous monsoon and trough of pressure formed over the south west Bay of Bengal.
Normal life was thrown out of gear in Nellore and the rains claimed the life of a daily wage earner K Rajaiah (45) in Naidupet in the district. Several villages in Gudur division were cut off from the rest of the district as Kaivalya river, Pambaleru and other streams were in full spate.
The three north coastal districts were also lashed by heavy rains this morning.
Hyderabad, October 31: Demanding that the state government cancel the official celebration of the AP Formation Day on November 1, four students of Osmania University launched a hunger strike inside the Arts College today afternoon.
Naveen Yadav, D Balaraj, K Koti and Vikram had locked themselves inside a room and began their fast, OU Joint Action Committee members said. More than 100 students and other pro-Telangana activists gathered outside the room creating mild tension on the campus.
Hyderabad, October 31: A novel feature of e-mail confirmation in the online scholarship system has been introduced for the convenience of candidates under fee reimbursement and scholarships scheme with effect from Saturday.
All students registering for scholarships for the current academic year, will receive e-mail confirmations on the status of their applications.
Hyderabad, October 31: In order to coordinate the activities of several organisations which have been working for the cause of separate Telangana, the intellectuals in the region came together and launched the Telangana Co-Ordination Committee (TCC) here today.
“We will be like watchdogs of the Telangana agitation. Most of the members in the TCC are senior citizens who include IAS and IPS officers, doctors and professors,” TCC chairman Dr A Gopal Kishan told reporters.
TCC members said they would observe Andhra Pradesh Formation Day on November 1 as a black day.
New Delhi, October 31: Support to India’s rightful claim to a permanent seat in the UN Security Council is what Indian lawmakers expect from the US during the address of President Barack Obama in Parliament.
The issue has become the talk among Indian lawmakers and leaders with an MP putting it succinctly that “this is my wish list. It would be great if it comes true” on November 8 when Obama addresses the joint session of Parliament of the world’s largest democracy.
New Delhi, October 31: Telecom operators may have given compliance reports on upgrading their networks to intercept BlackBerry services, but the maker of the high-end handsets, Research In Motion (RIM), has asserted there is “no change” to its security architecture, which is the same around the world. “No changes to the related stories
Mumbai, October 31: The Maharashtra unit of BJP will meet Governor K Sankaranarayanan tomorrow to demand dismissal of the Ashok Chavan-led government, which is facing heat over the controversial Adarsh Housing society scam.
State unit spokesman Madhav Bhandari said the party delegation will be led by state BJP president Sudhir Mungantiwar.
Leader of Opposition in the Legislative Assembly Eknath Khadse, senior leader Vinod Tawde would also be present along with legislators and office-bearers.
Doha, October 31: Qatar Airways confirmed Sunday that it had shipped US-bound parcels that originated in Yemen and were found to contain explosive materials, state-run media in the Gulf country reported.
The airline, however, charged that responsibility for cargo inspections lies with the country of origin and not with transit countries.
The statement came two days after two US-bound packages shipped by Qatar Airways from Yemen to Dubai via Doha International Airport were found to contain explosive materials, setting of terrorist alerts on both sides of the Atlantic.
Jalgaon (Maha), Oct 31 (PTI) The RSS today condemned Home Minister P Chidambaran’s “saffron terrorism” remarks, saying the organisation has believed in peace and non-violence ever since its inception.
Addressing a press conference here at the end of the three-day national executive meeting of the RSS, Sarkaryavah Suresh Joshi said the organisation believed in peace and non-violence ever since its inception.
He said RSS will observe the 150th birth anniversary of Madan Mohan Malviya and Rabindranath Tagore in 2011.
Cambodia, October 31: Pledging to do more to help end sexual slavery, US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton visited a rescue and rehabilitation center for child prostitutes in northern Cambodia on Sunday.
Before touring the famed 12th century Angkor Wat temple complex, Clinton met with a group of about 50 victims of human trafficking at the US-funded facility in Siem Reap and promised them continued American support.
Mumbai, October 31: Wielding the mike with as much gusto as he does the bat, dashing Indian opener Virender Sehwag on Sunday said he was least concerned about a radical move by the cricket authorities to send undercover agents to players posing as illegal bookmakers.
“I am not bothered whether they are undercover or overcover. I am clean. Only those who have something to hide need be concerned. I know my role and goals,” said Sehwag at a media conference on Sunday.
Jangipur (West Bengal), October 31: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will try to strike a balance between the need for growth and the necessity to contain inflation at its monetary policy review next week, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said here Sunday.
He refused to speculate on the steps the central bank would take at its Nov 2 monetary review. “We have to wait till monetary review by RBI,” he told reporters after laying the foundation stone of a campus of the Management Development Institute here, some 260 km from Kolkata.
Mumbai, October 31: A gangster, facing several cases of extortion and robbery, was killed allegedly in a shoot-out with police in suburban Chembur here today, police said.
Mangesh Narkar (34), a history sheeter, was recently sent in judicial custody in connection with firing on a hotel-owner for extortion.
On October 6, he and co-accused Sachin Khambe gave the police the slip while being taken to Nashik Central Prison.
Khambe was re-arrested immediately, but Narkar could not be traced.
Hyderabad, October 31: Heavy rains today continued to lash coastal Andhra Pradesh and several places in Rayalseema region for the second consecutive day.
Chittoor, Nellore, West Godavari, Krishna, East Godavari and Visakhapatnam districts have been receiving heavy rains for the last two days.
Mumbai, October 31: A gangster, facing several cases of extortion and robbery, was killed allegedly in a shoot-out with police in suburban Chembur here today, police said.
Mangesh Narkar (34), a history sheeter, was recently sent in judicial custody in connection with firing on a hotel-owner for extortion.
On October 6, he and co-accused Sachin Khambe gave the police the slip while being taken to Nashik Central Prison.
Khambe was re-arrested immediately, but Narkar could not be traced.
Srinagar, October 31: Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram, at the conclusion of his two-day visit to Jammu and Kashmir Sunday, expressed his satisfaction over the state government’s handling of the security situation in the Kashmir Valley.
Chidambaram flew to the north Kashmir Baramulla town Sunday afternoon and went around getting a first-hand feel of the ground situation.
He also interacted with some locals at the Baramulla town where strict security arrangements had been made for the home minister’s arrival.
New Delhi, October 31: Close on the heels of BJP leader Sushma Swaraj stirring a controversy by claiming that Narendra Modi’s magic may not work in Bihar, senior leader L K Advani today heaped praise on the “leadership” of the Gujarat Chief Minister.
Udhagamandalam (TN), October 31: Union Minister for Communications and IT, A Raja today said that he had no knowledge about a section of Congress leaders seeking change in his portfolio following the spectrum scam.
Raja, who is under fire for alleged irregularities in the allocation of 2G spectrum in the wake of the Supreme Court’s sharp criticism of CBI’s “slipshod” investigations into the case, said “as far as I know, there was no such demand (for change of portfolio) from Congress leaders.”
Banka, October 31: A policeman today sustained bullet injuries after he accidentally shot himself with his own self- loading rifle (SLR) while taking seat in a vehicle near Bausa police station in Bihar’s Banka district.
The cop, identified as Lalayan of the Fifth battalion of the Mizoram police, sustained injuries in his leg after he accidentally pressed the trigger of the SLR, Superintendent of Police, Shyam Kumar said.
The injured cop was taken to a nearby hospital where doctors referred him to the Referral hospital at Bhagalpur, he said.