Month: March 2011

US stopped ‘Gaddafi’s deadly advance’: Obama

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Washington, March 29: US President Barack Obama has said his country is helping those looking for freedom in Libya, “stopped [Muammar] Gaddafi’s deadly advance” and would continue to seek resignation of the Libyan leader.

“For more than four decades, the Libyan people have been ruled by a tyrant – Muammar Gaddafi. He has denied his people freedom, exploited their wealth, murdered opponents at home and abroad, and terrorised innocent people around the world – including Americans who were killed by Libyan agents,” Obama said in a nationally televised address Monday.

Punter resigns as Aussie Captain

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Sydney, March 29: Ricky Ponting retired Tuesday as Australia cricket captain, ending a nine-year career that made him one of the country’s most successful skippers, but was marred recently by humiliating team performances at the World Cup and in the Ashes.

Ponting, 36, told a packed news conference in Sydney his resignation as test and one-day international captain was effective immediately, but that he wanted to be considered for selection as a batsman.

He endorsed Michael Clarke as his successor as captain.

Bollywood has no taste for ghazals: Jagjit

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New Delhi, March 29: Ghazal king Jagjit Singh says he keeps his distance from Bollywood because he feels Hindi filmmakers are money-minded and don’t appreciate the genre any more.

“Filmmakers have no taste for ghazals. A lot of youngsters like soft songs these days, but Bollywood has no interest in ghazals…the industry is only about making money. Sab paise ke peechhe bhaagte hain (Everyone runs after money),” said Singh.

Radiation from Japan nuclear disaster reaches Canada

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Toronto, March 29: Radiation from the damaged Japanese nuclear reactor has reached Canada whose western coast is more than 7,000 km away from the disaster zone.

According to Vancouver-based Simon Fraser University, radiation from the the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, which was damaged in the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, has been detected in rainwater samples and seaweed in British Columbia.

British Columbia is the western-most province of Canada.

Radiation levels still within norm in Russia’s Far East

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Moscow, March 29: Radiation levels are within the norm as they were checked on early Tuesday in Russia’s Far East region of Sakhalin, a spokesman for the regional emergencies ministry said.

Russia started actively monitoring radiation levels in the Far East after radioactive substances leaked from the blast-hit Fukushima 1 nuclear power plant in Japan.

“Radiation levels in the Sakhalin Region are within the norm as of 9.00 a.m. local time. There were no deviations from the norm in all districts of the region,” the spokesman said.

Failure to act in Libya would have cost America dearly: Obama

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Washington, March 29: “We hit Gaddafi’s troops in neighboring Ajdabiya, allowing the opposition to drive them out. We hit his air defences, which paved the way for a No Fly Zone.

We targeted tanks and military assets that had been choking off towns and cities and we cut off much of their source of supply. And tonight, I can report that we have stopped Gaddafi’s deadly advance,” Obama said.

”Regime change through military in Libya would be a mistake”

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Tripoli, March 29: “As President, my immediate concern was the safety of our citizens, so we evacuated our Embassy and all Americans who sought our assistance. We then took a series of swift steps in a matter of days to answer Gaddafi’s aggression. We froze more than USD 33 billion of the Gaddafi regime’s assets,” Obama said.

Israeli PM names new Shin Bet head

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Jerusalem, March 29: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has named a 30-year-long agent with the Israel security agency, Shin Bet, as the service’s new head.

On Monday, the premier tapped Yoram Cohen, the agency’s current deputy chief, to replace current director Yuval Diskin, the Associated Press reported.

“Yoram was the spearhead of activity in the agency over the past few years,” Netanyahu said.

Shin Bet is a mainstay of Israel’s intelligence apparatus alongside the spy agency of Mossad and the military intelligence.

‘Ouattara seize major Ivorian city’

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Ouattara, March 29: In Ivory Coast, forces backing the internationally-recognized President Alassane Ouattara have launched an all-out attack, claiming to have seized a major city.

The pro-Ouattara fighters have managed to take over the western town of Duekoue after fierce battles with troops loyal to incumbent President Laurent Gbagbo.

In a country that has teetered for months on the brink of civil war, the latest push could open the way for troops loyal to Ouattara to march south to the strategic port of San Pedro, or east to the political capital of Yamoussoukro, AP reported.

BJP MLA walksout from Assembly over water supply to Katra town

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Srinagar, March 29: Lashing at the central and state governments for turning down a mega water-supply project in Katra town, a BJP legislator today walked out from the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly.

Raising the issue during the Zero Hour, BJP”s Reasi MLA, Baldev Raj Sharma raised the demand of the shortage of water supply to the town, which is the base camp fo Mata Vaishnodevi for the past several years.

He said that state government had decided to set up a mega water supply project to cater to the needs of the town, which is thronged by over 80 lakh pilgrims annually.

MBA student commits suicide in south Delhi

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New Delhi, March 29: A 21-year-old MBA student allegedly committed suicide in Khanpur area of south Delhi this evening, police said.

The incident took place in Neb Sarai area at around 7:30 PM.

The deceased, identified as Shikha Tiwari, was found hanging at her residence.

A student of the privately-run Delhi Institute of Management Okhla, Tiwari was residing in a flat in Khanpur along with her three friends.

She did not leave any suicide note and her body has been sent for postmortem, a senior police official said.

HC reserves order on plea against Murasu symbol to DMDK

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Madurai, March 29: The Madurai Bench of Madras High Court today reserved its order on a petition seeking a stay on the Election Commission”s order allotting “Murasu” (drum) symbol to actor-politician Vijaykant”s DMDK for the April 13 assembly polls.

Petitioner S Muralimohan, proprietor of a knitwear unit, filed a petition seeking a direction to the EC not to allot Murasu symbol to any political party as it was the logo for a T-shirt manufactured by his company.

Two-fold salary hike for legislators, ministers in JK

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Srinagar, March 29: Jammu and Kashmir Assembly today passed bills for two-fold hike in salaries of legislators and ministers.

Three Bills moved by Minister for Law and Parliamentary Affairs Ali Mohammad Sagar were passed with voice vote after a debate in the Assembly.

Sagar said the Bills were introduced one-and-a-half years ago but due to certain reasons they could not be passed. He said the government has succeeded in building consensus on the structure and quantum of hike in the salaries and perks for legislators and Ministers.

AP Oppn firm on House panel probe in land allotment to firms

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Hyderabad, March 29: Opposition parties in Andhra Pradesh tonight demanded that the Government cancel allotment of lands to companies that failed to start their operations or generate employment as promised.

Raising the issue in the Assembly, they reiterated their demand for constitution of a Joint Legislature Committee (JLC) or a Assembly House Committee to probe the allotment of land made to several Information Technology companies, Special Economic Zones, infrastructure firms and ports.

PETA protests against use of leather balls in cricket

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Mumbai, March 29: Activists of an animal rights group today protested outside the Wankhede stadium, venue of the 2011 cricket World Cup, against the use of leather balls in the popular sport.

The activists, representing the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals India, held signs resembling cricket balls that read – ”Give Cows A Break: Choose Fake” and bats emblazoned with the words ”No Leather” and asked the International Cricket Council (ICC) to switch over to synthetic balls.

Smoke seen, controlled at New Hampshire nuclear plant

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Boston, March 29: Smoke billowing from an equipment elevator at a New Hampshire nuclear plant briefly triggered an “unusual event” on Monday but did not impact operations or affect any employees, officials said.

Smoke was detected in a transformer attached to a service elevator in a support building at Seabrook Station in Seabrook, said Jim Van Dongen, spokesman for the state’s department of safety.

The plant’s own fire brigade addressed the “unusual event,” the lowest of four emergency classifications for a nuclear plant, he said.

Take the game in the right spirit: Shoaib Malik

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Meerut, March 29: As cricket lovers keenly await the India-Pakistan world cup semi-final clash, Pakistan”s former captain Shoaib Malik today said the game should be taken in the right spirit and not as if it is a battlefield.

“It is a game and it should be taken in that spirit and not as if it is a battlefield,” Malik, who is married to Indian tennis sensation Sania Mirza, told reporters while replying to queries on the Mohali match on Wednesday.

DMK MP among 10 held following clash in TN

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Ramanathapuram, March 29: DMK MP J K Ritheesh was among ten persons detained after a clash between his partymen and DMDK-AIADMK workers at Kalavankudi in the district today, police said.

Ten persons were injured in the clash that broke out when panchayat officials were making arrangements to lay a road at Kavalankudi which was opposed by the villagers, who said the work had been taken up only because of the April 13 assembly elections. One of the protesters took away the key of a road laying machine.

Nominations of TNCC chief”s wife among 1,153 rejected in TN

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Chennai, March 29: The nominations of Congress candidate and TNCC chief K V Thankgabalu”s wife Jayanthi Thankgabalu and a PMK contestant were among 1,153 rejected today during scrutiny of papers filed for the April 13 Assembly elections.

Nomination papers of 4,228 candidates were taken up for scrutiny and among them, 1,153 nominations were rejected for various reasons, an Election Commission statement late tonight said.

In total, 3,082 nominations were found to be valid and were accepted subject to final verification scheduled tomorrow, it said.

Indian peace delegation meets Pak PM

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Hyderabad, March 29: An Indian peace delegation, which visited Pakistan from March 17-25 under the leadership of Kuldip Nayar, a veteran journalist, called for setting up a joint mechanism against terrorism and stressed on promotion of cooperation and friendship between the two countries.

The 12-member delegation, consisting of filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt and Bhalchandra Mungekar (MP), among others went to Karachi, Hyderabad, Islamabad and Lahore and interacted with a cross section of society, a release said here today.

TCS to open its learning & development centre in Hyderabad

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Hyderabad, March 29: Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) will inaugurate its first learning and development centre for campus trainees here tomorrow.

The facility is equipped to train 6,000 professionals in a year. It will offer TCS” leading edge learning curriculum over three months to those who join the company directly from colleges, a TCS release said here today.

“The new Learning and Development Center reinforces the company”s leading role in the city”s rapidly growing IT industry,” it said.

MP Assembly passes Appropriation Bill

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Bhopal, March 29: The Madhya Pradesh Assembly today passed the Appropriation Bill of over Rs 60,985 crore by a voice vote for the financial year 2011-12.

With this, the Madhya Pradesh”s budget, which was presented by the Finance Minister, Raghavji on February 24 has got the clearance of the House after a debate.

Replying to the debate, Raghvaji said the passage of the Appropriation Bill of such a huge amount was historical, and added that enormous amount of money had been earmarked in it for development.

Bill to regulate moneylenders in Gujarat passed

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Gandhinagar, March 29: A bill seeking to regulate transactions worth several crores annually by moneylenders in Gujarat was today approved in the state assembly unopposed.

The bill makes registration of money lenders mandatory in the state. It also empowers the government to fix interest rates for the sector.

“The government will appoint a Registrar General of Money Lenders, with whom all the persons intending to carry out the business of money lending will have to be registered,” Minister for Cooperation Dileep Sanghani told the House.

30 entry passes of Mumbai airport employees missing: MLC

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Mumbai, March 29: As many as 30 entry passes issued to Mumbai airport employees have gone missing and these could be misused by terrorist groups, NCP MLC Kiran Pawaskar said in Maharashtra Legislative Council today.

“The employees working at the airport need to get character certificate from police after which they are issued entry passes to work in the airport area. Thirty such passes have gone missing. These passes can be misused by anti- national or terrorists groups,” Pawaskar said.

Obama: Libya cannot be another Iraq

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Washington, March 29: US President Barack Obama says that the US forces will not be bogged down in Libya, since Washington cannot afford repeating its errors during war in Iraq.

“Regime change there took eight years, thousands of American and Iraqi lives and nearly a trillion dollars. That is not something we can afford to repeat in Libya,” Obama said in a nationally televised address on Monday.

The US president warned that should Libyan ruler Muammar Gaddafi be ousted in Libya, the transition to a legitimate government would be a “difficult task.”