New Delhi, January 02: The Defence Ministry and the Armed Forces were stung by the scam in Adarsh Housing Society in Mumbai involving top serving and retired generals in 2010, leading to the case being handed over to CBI for investigating the rot in the system of defence land management.
Bhopal, January 02 (Pervez Bari): Two Kashmiri youths moving suspiciously have been arrested here by Bhopal Police in Talaiyya locality of the city. The arrests were made after Friday midnight when the New Year celebrations in the city were on.
New Delhi, January 02: Fifty eight applicants, including eight IAS officials and a retired High Court judge, are in the fray for the post of chairman of Delhi”s power regulator DERC.
The process of appointing a new chairman of Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission (DERC) will be completed by early next month following which the regulator is expected to finalise revised power tariff for the year 2011-12.
Mogadishu, January 02: Somali pirates have hijacked a Mozambican-flagged fishing vessel with a crew of 14 sailors onboard off the coast of the Comoros in the Indian Ocean.
The European Union’s anti-piracy task force said in a statement on Saturday that the 140-ton Vega 5 was seized about 200 nautical miles (370 km) southwest of the Comoros Isles.
The incident happened days after a Taiwanese fishing vessel and a German-owned freighter were seized by Somali pirates.
Hyderabad, January 02: For middle-aged Kausalya, a poor Banjara woman, the New Year’s Day was like a dream. She had the rare privilege of celebrating the day with none other than Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy. It’s not just spending time with the VVIP, but she had actually cooked food for the chief minister and even fed him by hand.
Kausalya served dal and jowar roti to the chief minister. Overcome by excitement and emotion, the Banjara woman was seen shaking while feeding the chief minister with her own hands.
New Delhi, January 02: After Congress chief Sonia Gandhi mooted a five-point plan at the recent AICC plenary session to put in place a system to confront corruption, the Centre is considering an ordinance to tighten the anti-corruption regime against politicians.
The Congress core group on Friday discussed the possibility of the new law which would tighten the rules to punish corrupt politicians and counter the popular belief that the system was created to benefit them. The meeting was attended by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi.
Mumbai, January 02: Actress Rani Mukherjee found her ghagra slipping down during a dance performance on stage for Big Star Entertainment Awards in Mumbai recently.
The actress took the stage in a black sequined dress and danced to the songs from her films, including a number from her upcoming film No One Killed Jessica.
But what troubled her constantly was her loose-fitting ghagra which kept sliding down during the performance. As a result of the broad girth of the ghagra, the actress had to rush backstage a number of times during her performance to adjust the costume.
New Delhi, January 02: To deflect heat generated by allegations against the Bellary Reddys, whom governor H R Bhardwaj wants dropped from the ministry, chief minister B S Yeddyurappa has indicated his government has shelved its plan to ‘chargesheet’ the governor.
New Delhi, January 02: Delhi will have to pay more for Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) as the rates of the fuel have been revised upward to Rs.29 per kg in the capital with effect from midnight of Jan 1, an official said Saturday.
The price was currently Rs.27.75, an official of Indraprastha Gas Limited (IGL) said.
“We are constrained to revise the prices of CNG because of increase in overall input cost of gas, its corresponding taxes & duties and marginal increase in operating expenses,” Rajesh Vedvyas, Managing Director, IGL said.
Mumbai, January 02: Aishwarya Rai Bachchan is fuming over Elle magazine cover “skin-whitening” scandal, reveal her pals. Fans of the actress were left stunned last week after her skin appeared to have been digitally lightened on the cover of the magazine’s new issue.
According to friends, the 37-year-old Bollywood star, who is widely believed to be the world’s most beautiful woman, is said to be considering suing the Indian version of the title over what has been deemed “racist airbrushing”.
Hyderabad, January 02: The year 2010 has shown how a party working for empowerment of people through alternative policies will make a difference in politics, the Lok Satta Party claimed in a statement here on Saturday.
The issues and policies which were otherwise ‘neglected by the traditional parties’ and which had ‘necessitated the Lok Satta movement to transform into a party’ had started becoming political agenda in 2010, the statement said.
Lucknow, January 02: Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mayawati on Saturday ordered a police inquiry into the allegations of gangrape and illegal confinement of a minor girl by a ruling Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) legislator and his supporters in the state’s Banda district.
In an official press release issued her, the chief minister said: “The Crime Branch of the CID has been asked to take over the investigation into the case of alleged gangrape of a girl in Banda. The investigating team has been asked to reach Banda by Sunday morning and start their work immediately.”
Melbourne, January 02: Usman Khawaja should get an opportunity to bat alongside stand-in captain Michael Clarke.
Usman Khawaja and Michael Beer will earn their first Test caps in the Ashes finale at the Sydney Cricket Ground after being named in the Australian XI by stand-in captain Michael Clarke.
New South Wales batsman Khawaja replaces injured skipper Ricky Ponting at number three in the line-up with Western Australia spinner Michael Beer picked as Australia’s only specialist tweaker.
In terrorists attacks innocent lives are lost without any gain for those who perpetrate these unforgiving crimes against humanity and above all against God. Laws of God dictate that every human life deserves a dignified existence and protection from all acts of violence, yet the attackers invoking the name of God seem to be determined to take innocent lives at will and show their sickening happiness at every drop of blood they shed in the name of their so called ideology.
Lucknow, January 02: The landmark Allahabad High Court verdict on Ayodhya title suits, loss of 63 lives in a stampede in Pratapgarh and conviction of a former Uttar Pradesh chief secretary in a land allotment case kept the state among headlines in 2010.
Riyadh, January 02: There are some 6,000 sick Saudis across the Kingdom awaiting organ transplants, something that has in recent years become difficult due to an annual decrease in the number of organ donors in the region, Al-Riyadh newspaper reported.
As a result, such people pin their hopes on an ambitious organ exchange program that has been implemented by Saudi authorities in cooperation with their counterparts in other GCC states. The program is managed by the Saudi Center for Organ Transplantation (SCOT) in coordination with the Air Ambulance Evacuation Department.
Islamabad, January 02: Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari on Saturday gave his formal assent to the 19th Constitutional Amendment Bill which changes the process for appointments in Pakistan’s superior judiciary and is aimed at resolving differences between the judiciary and the executive.
Legislation now in Pakistan will be enacted through mutual consensus by taking along all political forces with the aim to make the country stronger.
Cairo,January 02:In an interview with the Arabic-language version of al-Jazeera, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange revealed that a large number of the documents that his organization is in possession of prove that top officials across the Arab world have been spying on their own governments on behalf of the CIA.
“These officials are spies for the US in their countries,” reported Assange, adding that there was also information proving allegations that the US regularly sends “suspects” to some nations for torture.
Islamabad, December 02: Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani on Saturday said dialogue is the only way to resolve outstanding issues between Pakistan and India as both countries cannot afford to fight wars.
Gilani made the remarks during the debut episode of the live show “Prime Minister Online” in which he answered questions from the public and tried to address their grievances.
San Francisco, January 02: Microsoft is working on a new Windows system for mobile devices like tablet computers, according to reports.
The system would focus on devices using energy-saving chips designed by the British company ARM. Many of ARM’s chips are currently used in both the iPad and iPhone from Apple.
Now Windows will reportedly offer versions of its Windows CE and Windows Phone 7 systems that run on ARM chips. Its standard Desktop Windows system will be designed for x-86 architecture chips from Intel and AMD.
Tehran, January 02: Iranian Health Minister Marzieh Vahid-Dastjerdi has announced that the Islamic Republic has become self-sufficient in producing blood plasma.
She said on Saturday that Iran produced all the plasma it needs from the blood donated inside the country.
The Iranian minister also said that the achievement can annually save the country an estimated $200 million in therapeutic costs.
Hungary, January 02: Hungary has taken over the rotating presidency of the European Union amid criticisms against Budapest over adoption of a new law, which is said to restrict freedom of press.
“A transformation of incredible speed and depth is happening throughout the world; Europe must be able to stand in a much stronger global competition than ever before,” Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on Saturday.
Most important of all, Hungary will oversee talks about EU budget for 2014-2020 amid the blocs worsening debt crisis, AFP reported.
Jerusalem, January 02: Israel braces for an indefinite strike by local authority workers in protest to budget cuts while Tel Aviv seems unable to reach a timely deal with local authorities.
The move will shut down municipal services, offices that normally receive members of the public, social welfare services and clubs for children and the elderly, as well as veterinary services.
Washington, January 02: The region “is no longer directly under the thumb of the US corporate power and US military power,” Co-Director of International Action Center Sara Flounders said.
“That certainly is infuriating US policy makers, the Pentagon, and the corporations that are used to treating the economies of Latin America as extensions; as sources of cheap raw material and cheap labor,” she told Media.
Flounders specifically referred to the US attempts to rig Venezuela-Colombia relations as an evident example of Washington’s agenda for destabilizing the region.
Kolkata, January 02: Bollywood bombshell Tanushree Dutta feels that actresses are asked to shed inhibitions in front of the camera mainly to cater to the public demand and not because the script demands it.”Actually, when people come to you with the line that shedding of inhibitions is the demand of a particular screen role, they are actually pandering to the public demand. Words like demand of the role or the character are all trash,” Tanushree told IANS in an interview.