Tehran, January 02: Iran and China will cooperate in the construction projects of eight railroads with a total length of about 5,000 kilometers in the Islamic Republic.
Managing director of the company for construction and expansion of transportation infrastructures of Iran said on Saturday that Tehran and Beijing signed several agreements last month to collaborate in railroad projects in Iran, Fars news agency reported.
Denmark, January 02: Denmark plans to immediately begin a gradual withdrawal of its combat troops from Afghanistan, highlighting the significance of handing over security to Afghan forces.
Danish Prime Minister Lars Loekke Rasmussen announced the pullout plan during his traditional New Year speech on Saturday, noting that the Danish contingent would instead focus on training the Afghan army, Xinhua reported.
Hyderabad, January 02: The Secunderabad MLA, Ms Jayasudha, has said that God will guide her whether to join or not in the proposed party of Mr Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy.
Ms Jayasudha, who came late to the Gandhi Bhavan to attend the New Year celebrations on Saturday, said that she was in Congress party though she participated in Mr Jagan’s 48-hour mass hunger strike at Vijayawada. She spent about half-an-hour in Gandhi Bhavan and spoke with the PCC president, Mr D Srinivas.
——–NSS
Hyderabad, January 02: Telangana Telugu Desam Party Forum convenor, Mr Nagam Janardhan Reddy on Saturday warned that they would begin agitation from January 6th evening itself, if the report of the Sri Krishna Committee is not in favour of separate Telangana state formation.
Hyderabad, January 02: The Chief Minister Mr N Kiran Kumar Reddy this morning called on the Endowments Minister Mr Joopalli Krishna rao, who was receiving treatment at NIMS here. Mr Reddy enquired with the doctors attending on the Minister, about his health condition.
Abu Dhabi, December 02: The UAE Environment and Water Ministry has set up two new technical committees to guide the farmers on agricultural and livestock affairs, it was announced Saturday.
The move is to strengthen security of vital food and livestock resources. The committees will be responsible for giving proper guidance to farmers on the use of modern technologies in these fields.
The committees will also develop specific time bound plans for launching nationwide awareness campaigns to educate farmers on agricultural issues.
——–IANS
Brasilia, January 02: Left-wing economist Dilma Rousseff, 63, was inaugurated Saturday as the first female president of Brazil, succeeding her popular mentor Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
In her inaugural address in the building that houses the lower house of the Brazilian Congress in the capital, Brasilia, Rousseff vowed that overcoming extreme poverty will be her top priority.
‘My government’s most obstinate fight will be to eradicate extreme poverty and to create opportunities for all,’ she said.
Washington, January 02: US President Barack Obama condemned as ‘outrageous’ the separate bombing attacks that took place Saturday in Egypt and Nigeria that left at least 47 people dead.
‘The United States extends its deepest condolences to the families of those killed and to the wounded in both of these attacks, and we stand with the Nigerian and Egyptian people at this difficult time,’ Obama said in a statement.
Moscow, January 02: At least three passengers were killed and over 40 injured when a Russian jet carrying 134 people exploded shortly after making an emergency landing at a Siberian airport.
The accident took place Saturday when the Russian Tu-154M passenger jet of Kogalymavia Airlines, which was to land at Moscow’s Domodedovo Airport, made an emergency landing at the Surgut Airport due to an engine flaming out shortly after take-off. The landing was followed by an explosion.
Bangalore, January 02: South Indian actress Ranjitha, who went hiding post Nithyananda sex scandal, has come out once again with allegations against Swami Nithyananda’s former aide, his driver Lenin who released the tapes and complained of ill doings in the swami’s ashram.
Ranjitha on Dec 31 registered a case against Lenin and also claimed that on Feb 13, 2010, Lenin showed her some poorly shot videos of him molesting two Brahmacharinies in the ashram. Lenin also allegedly showed her some pictures of a woman resembling herself getting intimate with a person resembling Swami Nithyananda.
Jerusalem, January 02: A notable American journalist says it is in Israel’s best interest to become a signatory to the NPT and dismantle its arsenal of nuclear weapons, which he described as a threat to Tel Aviv.
“I think ideally of course Israel would sign on the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and start to eliminate their nuclear weapons,” independent journalist Dahr Jamail told Media.
“I think that would be in the interest of real security for the government and people of Israel,” added the expert.
London, January 02 Superstar couple Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie have made a brief visit to a children’s cancer centre.The couple — who raise six kids, Maddox, nine, Pax, seven, Zahara, five, Shiloh, four, and two-year-old twins Knox and Vivienne, together — were joined by Brad’s parents to the St. John’s Jane Pitt Paediatric Cancer Centre Wednesday.
“They stayed about 45 minutes. It was a very nice visit,” femalefirst.co.uk quoted hospital’s spokesperson Cora Scott as saying.
Hyderabad, January 01: TDP president N Chandrababu Naidu on Friday came out all guns blazing over the “injustice” meted out to the State by the Krishna Water Disputes Tribunal, holding the late YS Rajasekhara Reddy’s “corrupt” activities and inability of his successors responsible for the “unfortunate verdict.” “For six projects proposed on the river Krishna, the Advocate General submitted in writing to the tribunal that the State will not stake claim to an increased share of the assured waters. No one gives anything in writing on such issues.
Hyderabad, January 01: Government Order No:288, the issuance of which had led a city civil court to direct the ACB to register a case against former chief minister K Rosaiah, in fact, was not in the nature of granting outright clearance for withdrawing proceedings of land acquisition in respect of nine acres and 14 guntas in Ameerpet in Hyderabad.
Hyderabad, January 01: In a major relief to former chief minister K Rosaiah, the Andhra Pradesh High Court on Friday stayed an order of a designated ACB court which directed the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) to initiate probe against the veteran Congress leader over alleged irregularities in transferring government land to a private party.
Justice Tamada Gopalakrishna issued the stay orders while hearing a petition filed by N Satyendra Prasad, one of those named in the original complaint lodged with the ACB court by S Ranga Rao, an advocate.
Hyderabad, January 01: Chief minister N Kiran Kumar today wished that the new year would bring peace, happiness and wealth to the denizens of the State.
Hyderabad, January 01: Ahead of Justice BN Srikrishna Committee’s report becoming public on Jan 6, TRS chief K Chandrasekhar Rao has made it clear that nothing short of separate state would be acceptable to the people of the region.
Hyderabad, January 01: Officials of various departments on Friday submitted their action plans for development of Greater Hyderabad within 100 days. The chief minister has decided to supervise these programmes personally by visiting each of the 24 Assembly constituencies once in two or three days.
At a three-hour meeting with various departments here, Kiran Kumar Reddy directed the officials to come up with action plans to bring about visible changes within 100 days.
Vijayawada, January 01: The leaders of farmers’ organisations in coastal districts are seething with rage over the Justice Brijesh Kumar Tribunal award which, according to them, had denied whatever little water that trickles through the mighty Krishna river to AP.
The Krishna Delta Protection Committee has called upon people’s representatives to fight the injustice and ensure that the award is reviewed. According to Mandali Budha Prasad, former minister and member of the committee, an all-party meeting will soon be convened in Vijayawada to decide the future course of action.
Hyderabad, January 01: IPS officer Ch Dwarka Tirumal Rao has been appointed as the new Cyberabad police commissioner. The state government today issued orders posting Tirumal Rao to the post and he took charge of his new assignment from the outgoing commissioner S Prabhakar Reddy, who retired from service today.
Though the new year began on a happy note for Tirumal Rao, Prabhakar Reddy, who was looking forward for his promotion as Additional DGP before calling it a day from service, was left unhappy as he retired as IGP itself.
Hyderabad, January 01: Chief minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy directed the Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority (HMDA) officials to complete the 158-km Outer Ring road (ORR ) stretch in all respects by December 2012.
On Friday, the chief minister along with half a dozen ministers made an inspection of the 38-km strecth from Peddamberpet to Shamshabad which was completed recently. He also directed HMDA to complete the stretch from Narsingi to Patancheru (23.7 km), whose expected date is April 2011.
Hyderabad, January 01: Revenue department continues to be the most corrupt department followed by the Municipal Administration and Urban Development, Transport, Home, Panchayati Raj and Social Welfare. A majority of babus have been caught by the Anti-Corruption Bureau from these departments either for possessing disproportionate assets or accepting bribes among other irregularities, sources say.
Out of the 424 officials caught on the charges of corruption in 2010 by the ACB, 64.23 percent were convicted.
Hyderabad, January 01: The B M Birla Science Centre director general B G Siddharth has stated that the year 2011 would be a year of eclipses. January 4 would witness a partial solar eclipse. But this would be visible only in the northern and western parts of India and not in Hyderabad.
The partial eclipse begins at (IST) 10 minutes past noon on January 4 in these places with the maximum eclipse at 2.20 p.m. Utmost precautions must be taken while viewing the eclipse and only certified viewing devices like filters or mylar goggles should be used, he said.
–Agencies
Hyderabad, January 01: As expected, all the political parties, including the ruling Congress, are preparing to find ways to undo the injustice meted out to Andhra Pradesh by Justice Brijesh Kumar’s Krishna Water Disputes Tribunal.
Hyderabad, January 01: Anticipating protests in the wake of Justice Srikrishna Committee submitting its report, security is being beefed up at the Secretariat and the Legislative Assembly apart from the Raj Bhavan, the Chief Minister’s Camp Office and other major public and private properties.
The Border Security Force personnel took control of the security of the Secretariat and the Legislative Assembly today.