Month: March 2011

Jaya asks people to vote out Congress in Puducherry

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Puducherry, March 29: AIADMK General Secretary Jayalalithaa today launched a scathing attack on the Congress Government here, accusing it of failure to maintain law and order and neglecting development of the Union Territory.

“There is no protection to life and property of the people here as law and order is in shambles. The present Congress government has failed the students and farmers and corruption was ruling the roost everywhere as much as one could see in the UPA rule at the Centre,” she told an election meeting.

Gilani praises Manmohan as “good politician”

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Islamabad, March 30: Pakistan Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani has praised his Indian counterpart Dr Manmohan Singh as a “good politician” before leaving for India to watch the highly anticipated Indo-Pak World Cup semi-final match in Mohali.

“PM Manmohan Singh is a good politician,” Samaa TV quoted Gilani, as saying while talking to media persons at Chaklala Airbase in Rawalpindi before leaving for India on Wednesday (today).

Clarke succeeds Ponting as Australia captain

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Melbourne, March 30: Michael Clarke was today appointed as Australia”s Test and ODI captain, a day after his mentor Ricky Ponting stepped down from the post following their shocking World Cup exit.

Manmohan’s invite no googly: Gilani

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Islamabad, March 30: Hoping to better ties between the two countries, Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani arrived here Wednesday to watch the high-voltage World Cup cricket semifinal between India and Pakistan.

The Pakistan Air Force flight carrying Gilani and his delegation landed at the Chandigarh airport around 12.25 pm. Gilani, who is here at the invitation of Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, was received by union Minister of State for Communications Sachin Pilot.

Five persons detained, Rs 31 lakh cash seized

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Burdwan, March 30: Railway Protection Force (RPF) personnel today detained five persons and seized Rs 31 lakh in cash from them in Burdwan railway station, RPF sources said. The RPF personnel during routine checking saw five suspicious persons getting down from Padatik Express at the Burdwan railway station, RPF Inspector R K Mishra said. When the RPF personnel told them to open their bags they tried to flee. After a chase the RPF personnel caught hold of them and found Rs 31 lakh in cash from them, Mishra said.

South Korea holds drills in Yellow Sea

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Seoul, March 30: Amid tensions between South Korea and the North, Seoul has staged a live-fire artillery exercise near an island where the two Koreas exchanged fire in November 2010.

The exercise on Yeonpyeong Island near the tense Yellow Sea border began at 9.30 a.m. (0030 GMT) and was scheduled to last about one hour.

Earlier, an official from the country’s Marine Corps was quoted by the Yonhap news agency as saying that the corps “will hold the naval firing drills on Yeonpyeong and Baengnyeong islands as part of routine training.”

Pakistan PM Gilani arrives in Chandigarh

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Chandigarh, March 30: Hoping to better ties between the two countries, Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani arrived here Wednesday to watch the high-voltage World Cup cricket semifinal between India and Pakistan.

The Pakistan Air Force flight carrying Gilani and his delegation landed at the Chandigarh airport around 12.25 pm. Gilani, who is here at the invitation of Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, was received by union Minister of State for Communications Sachin Pilot.

The match will be played at the Punjab Cricket Association (PCA) Stadium in Mohali, 10 km from here.

US women to sue Wal-Mart over ‘sexism’

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Washington, March 30: Hundreds of thousands of female workers at the world’s biggest retail store chain in the United States, Wal-Mart, have taken the giant corporation to the US Supreme Court over alleged gender discrimination.

The lawsuit was firstly filed by Betty Dukes, a Wal-Mart cashier who charged her employer with sex discrimination for what was called a corporate culture of sexism where most managers are men and most workers women, getting less pay and fewer promotions than their male counterparts doing the same jobs, a Media correspondent reported on Tuesday.

Equipment reaches Tripura power plant via Bangladesh

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Agartala, March 30: The oversized heavy turbines and machines for the Northeast’s first giant power project of the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) reached Tripura from Haldia port in West Bengal after being transshipped for the first ever time through Bangladesh Wednesday.

“Four big lorries carrying the over-dimensional machineries weighing about 180 tonnes each entered Tripura through Akhaurah land port from Ashuganj river port on Meghna river in eastern Bangladesh,” an ONGC official told reporters.

‘Libya revolutionaries forced to retreat’

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Tripoli, March 30: Forces loyal to embattled Libyan ruler Muammar Gaddafi have reportedly pushed back revolutionary forces after intensifying attacks.

Anti-Gaddafi revolutionaries have lost the town of Bin Jawad and most of them have now retreated past the town of Ras Lanuf, the state-funded BBC reported on Tuesday.

Aided by US-led military strikes, anti-Gaddafi forces had progressed towards the west of the country from Benghazi in recent days.

The revolutionary forces had seized a number of oil-rich towns in crisis-hit Libya, including Ras Lanuf and Brega.

Iran MP slams UK crackdown on protests

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Tehran, March 30: A senior Iranian lawmaker has censured the brutal crackdown on peaceful anti-cuts protests in Britain, calling for the creation of a global “independent front” to counter crimes by the British government.

“The way the British police treated hundreds of thousands of protesters was very violent and contrary to Britain’s human rights gesture,” rapporteur of the National Security and Foreign Policy Commission of the Iranian Parliament (Majlis) Kazem Jalali told Fars news agency on Tuesday.

Palestinian killed in Gaza blitz

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Gaza, March 30: At least a Palestinian man has been killed and another injured as Israeli warplanes launched an airstrike on the Hamas-controlled and blockaded Gaza Strip.

Israeli fighter jets fired several rockets at two Palestinians early on Wednesday as they were riding a motorcycle on the road from Khan Younis to Rafah. One person was killed and another sustained injuries in the aerial attack, Reuters cited a statement released by the Islamic Jihad resistance movement.

The development comes as Israeli warplanes have repeatedly targeted the coastal strip during the recent days.

India, Pakistan PMs to talk at Mohali stadium

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Mohali (Punjab), March 30: Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will hold formal talks with his Pakistani counterpart Yousuf Raza Gilani at a meeting room of the Punjab Cricket Association (PCA) Stadium here Wednesday evening while the cricket teams of both countries clash in the high-voltage semifinal match of the 2011 Cricket World Cup here .

Sources in the security establishment said a conference room has been kept on standby at the PCA clubhouse for both prime ministers to hold discussions.

Sambashivudu murders: Four killers surrender

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Nalgonda, March 30: Four persons, claiming to have killed TRS polit bureau member and former Maoist Sambashivudu, surrendered before police in Nalgonda district today.

Four persons, including three from Hyderabad, surrendered at the Choutuppal police station claiming that they had murdered Sambashivudu, district SP Rajesh Kumar said. “They are yet to reach the district headquarters.

India should be polio free in three years: Rotary International

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Chandigarh, March 30: Rotary International expects India to be the first to be free of polio among the four countries where it runs a campaign and that should happen within three years, says its president Ray Klinginsmith.

“As per our estimation, India will be the first of the four countries (the campaign is active in Nigeria, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India) to be declared polio-free,” Klinginsmith told IANS.

Rotary International will formally declare India a polio-free country within the next three years, he said.

Ten held for damaging statues on Tank Bund

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Hyderabad, March 30: Special Teams of Central Crime Station investigating the incident of damaging statues at Husain Sagar (Tank Bund) have arrested 10 persons including members of New Democracy and shifted them to jail.

Deputy Commissioner police detective department J Satnarayan said the accused had booked Arya Samaj function hall near Tank Bund in a planned manner in pretence of Million March and during that members of New Democracy (CPI ML) damaged the police vehicles and videos cameras of press and electronic media.

Sack Sheila Dikshit, says BJP

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New Delhi, March 30: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Wednesday sought the sacking of Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit over allegations of corruption by civic agencies ahead of the Commonwealth Games (CWG).

Delhi BJP vice president Vijay Jolly said Dikshit needed to go as she had been indicted by the V.K. Shunglu Committee for corruption and diversion of funds during last year’s Games in Delhi.

Salman won’t watch Ind-Pak clash

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Mumbai, March 30: Mumbai, March 30: Trust Salman Khan to be different. While most of India and B-Town will be watching the India-Pakistan World Cup semi final, Sallu will pump iron at his gym at his farmhouse in Panvel. And it isn’t for any film.

Not as interested in the game

“Salman has never been as interested in cricket as his brothers Sohail (who’s watching the match at home) and Arbaaz (who’s flying to Mohali with sis Arpita).

India among the most corrupt nations: PERC

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Singapore, March 30: India finds itself bracketed with countries like Philippines and Cambodia, rated as the fourth most corrupt nation among 16 countries of the Asia Pacific region surveyed by leading Hong Kong-based business consultancy firm PERC. The Political & Economic Risk Consultancy Ltd (PERC) rated India at

8.67 on a scale of zero to 10 with the high end being the worst case of corruption scenario and ahead of the Philippines (8.9 points), Indonesia (9.25 points) and Cambodia (9.27 points).

Ishrat: Cop files complaint against SIT member

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Ahmedabad, March 30: In a new twist to the 2004 Ishrat Jahan encounter case, a police constable has lodged a complaint with Shahibaug Police Station alleging that Joint Commissioner of Police Satish Verma, along with two other police officers, had threatened him to give statements according to their instructions and illegally confined him for around four hours at an office in Shahibaug.

Verma is one of the three members of the HC appointed Special Investigation Team probing the case.

Hafeez backs ‘strongest attack in the world’

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Mohali, March 30: Mohammad Hafeez, the Pakistan allrounder, has backed his team to come up trumps in the World Cup semi-final against India, who, he claimed, would be up against the “strongest bowling attack in the world”. Pakistan’s bowlers, led by Shahid Afridi, the tournament’s highest wicket-taker, have set up wins for their team in six of their seven games so far in the World Cup.

Misbah not worried by batting numbers

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Mohali, March 30: Misbah-ul-Haq is not impressed by statistics and he doesn’t care about history either. That helps, particularly with an India-Pakistan match due to break out at the World Cup within three days.

One of the anchors of Pakistan’s batting and the man with the team’s top score in the World Cup so far – 83 not out against Sri Lanka – Misbah said numbers could be meaningless if they did not agree with the results column. Pakistan’s certainly don’t.

PM should resign: Sushma

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Silichar, March 30: Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj on Tuesday demanded the resignation of Prime Minister for allegedly failing to stem corruption in his ministry. Addressing an election rally, Swaraj said the Prime Minister should resign on moral grounds as he had failed to punish the corrupt ministers involved in the various scandals hitting the government in the recent past.

BJP, she said, was seeking mandate on the plank of good governance.

Advocates pay tribute to the services of Siasat daily

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Hyderabad, March 30: Mr. Zahid Ali Khan editor Siasat daily, while addressing the felicitation function stressed that it is the duty of every responsible person of the community to continue Telangana movement and strive against oppression and injustice till the goal is reached.

This function was organised by pro Telangana advocates to pay tribute to the remarkable services rendered by Siasat daily for separate state of Telangana.