Month: March 2011

World Wide Web conference begins in Hyderabad

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Hyderabad, March 28: The 20th edition of the International World Wide Web (www) conference began here Monday.

About 700 delegates from 50 countries are attending the five-day research oriented conference organised jointly by the International Institute of Information Technology (IIIT) in Bangalore, in cooperation with the IIIT, Hyderabad and the Institute of Information Technology-Bombay.

The conference with the theme “Web for All” has brought together different stakeholders – research, practitioners, technologists, business and standards bodies for sharing of ideas.

Raje criticises Cong govt in Rajasthan

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Bhilwara, March 28: Leader of Opposition in the Rajasthan Assembly Vasundhara Raje today hit out at ruling Congress and said the present government was responsible for deteriorating law and order situation in the state.

“Law and order situation has deteriorated in the state and also hooch tragedies, atrocities on women, rape cases have increased during the Congress rule. Several patients have died due to medicos’ strike,” the former CM told reporters after attending an event here.

Frenzy over India-Pakistan match: Big B

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New Delhi, March 28: Bollywood megastar Amitabh Bachchan is keen to watch Wednesday’s India-Pakistan World Cup semi-final, which he says has caused “unbelievable frenzy”.

“Pakistan is our neighbor. How we all wish that it were ‘simple, warm in spirit and with togetherness’!” Amitabh posted on his blog www.bigb.bigadda.com

The 68-year-old is keeping a tab on various details regarding the match to be played at Mohali.

“The winner goes to the final. There is unbelievable frenzy on this match. The entire country shall be coming to a stop while it is on. As will Pakistan.

Sadhu held with leopard skin

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Gopeshwar (Uttarakhand), March 28: A sadhu has been arrested for allegedly possessing a leopard skin in Uttarakhand’s Chamoli district, officials said here today.

Acting on a tip-off, a forest department team raided a temple at Kurji Makot village yesterday and recovered the leopard skin from the sadhu’s possession, they said.

—PTi

Two Maoists surrender in Andhra Pradesh

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Visakhapatnam(AP), March 28: Two Maoists including a Divisional Committee Member (DCM) surrendered before the police here today.

P Paramaseswra Rao and B Jagga Rao surrendered before the Superintendent of Police of Visakhapatnam District (Rural).

SP Vineet Brijlal told reporters that DCM member P Paramaseswra Rao alias Sankar, Papanna and Viswnadh Nandu have worked in several dalams including Tanadava, Sabari, Kalimela, Galiknoda for the last 26 years.

Afridi’s brother stopped at Wagah border

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Amritsar, March 28: Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi’s younger brother Mushtaq Afridi found himself stranded at the Wagah border today as he attempted to enter India to watch the high-profile World Cup semi-final between the arch-rivals on Wednesday.

Mushtaq, himself a first class cricketer and dashing batsman like his brother, was stopped at the Wagah border by the authorities here as he did not have proper documentation for his match-ticket.

“It is not a big issue. I had the copy of the ticket from the internet but the authorities wanted to see the hard copy.

Wave for change in Assam: Jaitley

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Guwahati, March 28: A wave for change is sweeping Assam and would help BJP improve its presence in the state in the upcoming assembly elections, senior BJP leader Arun Jaitley claimed here today.

“There is a wave for change in Assam, there is an anti-incumbency feeling among the people. The polls are being held under a special situation with Congress in power both in the state and at the Centre. This time there is double anti-incumbency feelings against the state and the central governments.”

280 school girls run away to protest

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Phulbani (Orissa), March 28: About 280 students of a residential girls high school left the hostel premises today protesting against the alleged mismanagement, irregularities and misbehaviour by their teachers, officials said.

The girls told reporters here, that the school’s physical education teacher along with the head mistress of the school misbehaved with a section of students repeatedly during last month over some trivial matters.

Poll panel has power to seize cash, court told

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Chennai, March 28: The Election Commission of India Monday told the Madras High Court that it has powers to search vehicles and residences and seize unaccounted cash to prevent its misuse to buy voters or influence them during an election.

The EC’s contention came as it sought a stay on last week’s court order stopping the poll panel from searching and seizing unaccounted cash carried in vehicles. The court had ordered the panel to carry out searches only if it has credible information about the cash being carried for distribution among voters.

Advani, Sushma, Modi to campaign in Tamil Nadu

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Coimbatore, March 28: Top BJP leaders including L K Advani, Nitin Gadkari, Sushma Swaraj and Narendra Modi are set to visit Tamil Nadu to campaign for their candidates in the run-up to the April 13 Assembly elections, party All India Secretary, B Muralidhar Rao said today.

Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Sushma Swaraj, will campaign for two days in Coimbatore and Tirupur districts on March 31 and April one, Rao said.

Mayawati denies fuelling Jat trouble

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Lucknow, March 28: Strongly refuting the allegation about instigating the Jat trouble in Uttar Pradesh, Chief Minister Mayawati has termed the opposition charge as “baseless, false and unfounded”.

“Right from day one, the chief minister had made it clear that even though she favoured the demand of the Jats to include them in the list of OBCs (Other Backward Classes), there was no question of allowing them to take law into their hands,” State Cabinet Secretary Shashank Shekhar Singh told a press conference here Monday on behalf of Mayawati.

Air strikes go on over Libya, NATO in command

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Tripoli, March 28: The Western-led coalition forces Sunday continued their air strikes on Libyan government forces after NATO decided to take full command of the Libya air campaign, as rebels reportedly retook control of a key oil exporting terminal.

Explosions were heard in the capital and both civilian and military targets were hit by the “colonialist aggressors,” Libya’s state TV reported.

Kiran Kumar Reddy plans to visit New Delhi after session

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Hyderabad, March 28: N. Kiran Kumar Reddy, is planning to visit New Delhi once the Budget session of the state Assembly ends, to meet the Congress central leadership and resolve pending political issues. Some of the issues on which decisions have to be taken are a reshuffle of the state Cabinet following the Praja Rajyam’s formal merger with the Congress, reshuffling portfolios, filling up nominated posts to several public sector undertakings, and selection of Congress candidates for the Kadapa Lok Sabha and Pulivendula Assembly by-elections.

Briton faces death sentence in Saudi Arabia

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London, March 28: A 41-year-old British teacher may be sentenced to death in Saudi Arabia if found guilty of murdering a friend after a drinking session.

Andrew Cannon and his colleague Robert Colman, 57, worked as English teachers in the Saudi capital, Riyadh. They lived in bachelor accommodation in the same building.

The two had a quarrel during a drinking session, and Cannon claims Colman struck him first, using his fists and an ashtray.

Cannon fought back, hitting his friend on the head with a chair.

Student shoots himself after parents’ scolding

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Hardoi (Uttar Pradesh), March 28: A 17-year-old Class 12 student shot himself dead here Monday after he was scolded by his parents for not paying attention to his studies, police said.

Rahul Mishra, a student of Government Inter College (GIC), shot himself with his uncle’s licensed gun in his house in Brahmapuri locality.

“Rahul first locked his room from inside and shot himself in the stomach. He died on his way to the hospital,” police inspector Rajendra Singh told reporters in Hardoi, some 110 km from Lucknow.

Audi Q5’s diesel variant launched

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Mumbai, March 28: German luxury car manufacturer Audi’s Indian subsidiary Monday launched a new diesel-engine variant of its luxury sports utility vehicle (SUV) Q5, priced at Rs.3,905,000 (ex-showroom Maharashtra).

“We are confident that the addition of the powerful 2.0 TDI q engine to the Audi Q5 range in India will strengthen and sustain our leadership position in the luxury SUV segment,” Audi India’s head Michael Perschke said.

According to Perschke, the new variant would ensure higher efficiency and dynamic performance.

51 Indian expatriates rescued from Malaysia

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Pune, March 28: Fifty-one Indian expats, including 17 from Pimpri-Chinchwad area, were recently rescued from the clutches of a Malaysian contractor with efforts of Shiv Sena MP from Maval, Gajanan Babar.

The contractor maltreated and forced them to live in inhuman conditions in Kuala Lumpur. He allegedly seized their passports after they arrived in Kuala Lumpur in July last year. These Indians were made to work more and were given less than promised salaries. Moreover, they were given jobs, which were not matching their qualifications.

Prachi Desai talks about her struggles in Bollywood

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Mumbai, March 28: Actress Prachi Desai knows that being an outsider in Bollywood always makes your journey tougher, but the young star admits that she never let that bother her when she started her career.

“I knew that I had to take it slow and steady and that there was a lot of turf for me to cover. So I never let any small talk bother me. I never got nervous by seeing the distance that I had to cover. I know that I will have to hold on to my ground,” says Desai.

Yuvraj need to keep his cool on home turf: Ganguly

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Kolkata, March 28: Former India captain Sourav Ganguly today said in-form Yuvraj Singh will have to keep his cool when he comes out to bat in front of his home crowd in the high-voltage World Cup semifinal against Pakistan in Mohali on Wednesday.

“He has been in outstanding form throughout the tournament. Semi-final is a big game and he needs to keep his cool. He will be playing in his home ground, so there will be pressure on him,” Ganguly told reporters on the sidelines of an Election Commission campaign shooting in Eden Gardens here.

Record RTI applications disposed of

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Hyderabad, March 28: A record applications were disposed of in the State under the Right to Information (RTI) Act in 2010 as the achievement crossed 90 per cent mark for the first time.

As many as 1 lakh out of 1.10 lakh applications (90.97 per cent) were dealt with and 98,000 pieces of information furnished, said the report of AP Information Commission which was submitted by its Chief Commissioner Jannat Hussain to Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy on Saturday.

Congress MLA hits back at JC

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Hyderabad, March 28: There was no respite from the on going war of words among the Congress leaders from Anantapur district despite an appeal made by APCC president D. Srinivas to end the mutual acrimony.

On Sunday, it was the turn of Congress MLA from Dharmavaram K. Venkatarami Reddy to hit back at former Minister J. C. Diwakar Reddy. Barely a day after the former Minister launched a scathing attack on Revenue Minister N. Raghuveera Reddy daring him to resign and contest from Kalyandurg constituency, Mr. Venkatarami Reddy accepted the challenge.

Civilians injured in coalition air strike in Libya

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Tripoli/Cairo, March 28: A number of civilians, including children, were wounded in a coalition air strike early Monday on a weapons depot in the southwest city of Jabal al-Sabha, according to Libyan sources.

The opposition Libya al-Youm said the proximity of the air strike to stores and residential areas caused a number of injuries to civilians and destroyed several homes.

There were no numbers given for how many people were injured, but no deaths were reported.

According to the Libyan state-run JANA news agency, children were among the wounded.

Foreign guerrilla killed in Kashmir gunfight

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Srinagar, March 28: A foreign guerrilla was killed in a gunfight with the security forces in Baramulla district of north Kashmir Monday, police said.

“One foreign militant identified as Chacha Talha, affiliated with the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) outfit, was killed this (Monday) afternoon in an encounter with the security forces near Reban village of Sopore tehsil in Baramulla,” a police official said.

The operation was jointly carried out by the Jammu and Kashmir police and the troops of counter-insurgency Rashtriya Rifles.

PM to stay at Punjab Raj Bhawan, Gilani at the Taj

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Chandigarh, March 28: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his wife Gursharan Kaur will stay overnight at Punjab Raj Bhawan here during their visit to watch the India-Pakistan World Cup semifinal match at Mohali on Wednesday, an official said.

Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, has accepted Manmohan Singh’s invitation to watch the crucial match, will be staying at the Taj Hotel, the official said Monday.

Dattatreya demands JLC to probe land allotments

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Hyderabad, March 28: Senior leader of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Bandaru Dattatreya on Sunday demanded the State Government to set up Joint Legislature Committee (JLC) to go into the allotment of land to industries, projects and special economic zones as a debate in the Assembly will not bring out the culprits.

Addressing a press conference here, he urged Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy to convene an all-party meeting to discuss all issues related to land allotment, including JLC, so that setting up the committee is expedited at the earliest.