Guna(MP), June 30: Congress leader Digvijay Singh today said anti-corruption crusader Anna Hazare should drum up public support before going on hunger strike from August 16.
“Anna’s decision to go on a hunger strike is okay but it should be remembered that during the freedom struggle whenever Mahatma Gandhi staged a fast, he undertook an agitation before it for public support. The same thing should be followed by Anna,” Singh told reporters here.
Hyderabad, June 30 (IANS) Indian Police Service (IPS) officer V. Dinesh Reddy will be Andhra Pradesh’s new director general of police, the state government announced Thursday.
The 1977-batch officer succeeds K. Aravinda Rao, who retired on reaching superannuation.
Dinesh Reddy was selected for the top post after 1975-batch officer K.R. Nandan, who is the son-in-law of former prime minister P.V. Narasimha Rao, reportedly refused to accept the job while the government ignored four other officers senior to Dinesh Reddy for various reasons.
Kolkata, June 30: The BC Roy Hospital in Kolkata has confirmed that 17 infants have died here in less than two days.
A nine-month-old died at the children’s specialty hospital this morning. Angry relatives reportedly trashed the hospital and attacked doctors who they say were negligent.
The Superintendent of the B C Roy Hospital, D Pal told PTI the babies who had died were either pre-mature or suffering from septicemia or low-birth weight problems. The medical institute is considered to be the largest referral paediatric hospital in the eastern region.
Lucknow, June 30: A court today sent two alleged shooters of the sensational Saifi murder case to judicial custody till July 13.
Saleem and Rustom were produced before the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate Rajesh Upadhyaya, who remanded them in judicial custody.
BSP leader Intizar Ahmed Abdi alias Bobby has already been arrested in connection with the murder case which took place in March 1.
Bobby is also an accused in a case relating to arsoning at UPCC president Rita Bahuguna Joshi”s residence.
Aurangabad, June 30: Six people were killed today and several others injured when a speeding state transport bus fell into a roadside well in Sillod taluka of the district, police said.
Rescue operation was underway, and the death toll might rise, they said.
Eight of the passengers have been sent to hospital and others trapped inside the bus were being brought out, police added.
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New Delhi, June 30: Pressing its demand for a strong Lokpal with teeth to fight corruption, the CPI today warned that the government could face “trouble” if it comes up with a bogus draft in Parliament.
The remarks came after a team of civil society activists led by Anna Hazare met leaders of the Communist Party of India (CPI) to put their points across on the issue of the Lokpal and seek support for their version of the bill.
Mumbai, June 30: Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee president Manikrao Thakre today said the party would field a candidate from the state for the July 22 bye-election to Rajya Sabha.
The bye-election is necessitated by resignation of Prithviraj Chavan, who took over as chief minister of the state in November last year.
Chavan resigned from Rajya Sabha seat after he got elected unopposed to the state legislative council in April this year. As a two-term Rajya Sabha MP, Chavan”s tenure was to end in 2014.
Lucknow, June 30: Condoling the deaths of 12 infants in a government hospital in Kolkata, Uttar Pradesh”s ruling Bahujan Samaj Party today demanded a high-level inquiry into the incident.
“The party condoles the deaths of 12 children in the hospital in the past 48 hours and we demand a high level probe into it,” said a party spokesman.
Taking a dig at the central commissions, he said that it was astonishing that none of the commissions, which make “a lot of hue and cry” in Uttar Pradesh, had so far taken cognisance of the incident.
Kabul, June 30: A UN report says violence in Afghanistan increased by 51 percent in the past three months despite the presence of about 150,000 US-led forces in the country.
“The majority of incidents involved armed clashes and improvised explosive devices,” United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in a report released on Thursday.
The report also said bomb attacks as well as abductions and assassinations of Afghan citizens have risen significantly since March.
Baghdad, June 30: The US military says three American soldiers have been killed in southern Iraq as June marks the deadliest month in combat related fatalities for US forces in Iraq since 2009.
A US military statement said the troops were killed on Wednesday, the Associated Press (AP) reported.
The statement did not identify the fallen soldiers, nor did it provide further details about the occurrence.
The killing of the three US soldiers raised the total death toll for American forces in Iraq to 4,469 since March 2003, according to an AP count.
New Delhi, June 30: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) President has hinted that his party may not attend the all-party meeting on the Jan Lokpal Bill on Sunday.
“The NDA will meet and take a decision on whether to attend the all-party meeting. The UPA wants us to attend the all-party meeting because now it needs our help,” said Gadkari.
According to reports, the government has convened a meeting of all political parties on Sunday to discuss the draft anti-graft Lokpal bill.
Chandigarh, June 30: The Punjab government today said over 667 child labourers were rescued last week by labour department during raids at several centres across the state.
The raids were conducted at 6,166 centres between June 12 and June 18 during the Child Labour Eradication Week observed in the state, state labour minister Arunesh Shakir said.
A fine of Rs 20,000 each was also slapped on 608 offenders, he said.
Of the rescued children, maximum 175 were rescued from Ludhiana, the minister said.
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Mumbai, June 30: Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray on Thursday said lakhs of Shiv Sainiks were his real property while making light of the orders of a Bihar court to attach his properties for failing to appear in a case charging him with publishing a ‘contemptuous’ article in party mouthpiece ‘Saamana’.
“My real wealth is the lakhs of Shiv Sainiks and the Marathi masses who respond to my call to battle. Can anyone attach this property? Such a law and court is yet to be created,” Thackeray said in an editorial in ‘Saamana’.
Hong Kong, June 30: In the bid to keep sports free from politics, the International Cricket Council (ICC) on Thursday, asked member countries to refrain from appointing politicians to national boards.
The ICC said the decision by its executive board at its meeting here was taken to uphold “the important principle of free elections and the independence” of the sport.
According to the board, the ICC can suspend a member country in the event of government interference in the administration of a national cricket board.
Dhaka, June 30: Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Thursday asked opposition political parties to refrain from doing anything that may cause suffering to people.
“If you have any formula, come to parliament and place it. Do not indulge in any kind of chaos that may make people suffer,” the Daily Star quoted Hasina as saying in the Jatiya Sangsad, the country’s parliament.
The Jatiya Sangsad Thursday passed the 15th amendment to the constitution, which abolished the caretaker government system in the country.
Hasina said the passing of the amendment would ensure people’s power.
London, June 30: Saudi Arabia has warned NATO that it would pursue policies that could lead to “untold and possibly dramatic consequences” if Iran obtains nuclear weapons, a British newspaper reported.
The Guardian newspaper quoted Prince Turki al-Faisal, a former Saudi intelligence chief and ambassador to Washington and Britain, speaking to senior NATO officials earlier this month at an unpublicised meeting at a British air base.
Kolkata, June 30: Twelve babies died at a state-run hospital here, triggering protests by locals and relatives, which prompted the West Bengal government to order an enquiry into it.
Superintendent of B C Roy Hospital for Children, D Pal told PTI that most of the 12 babies were either pre-mature or suffering from septicemia or low-birth weight problems. The medical institute is considered to be the largest referral paediatric hospital in the eastern region.
“Most of these babies were brought in a moribund stage,” he said.
New Delhi, June 30: The Prime Minister on Wednesday, in a meeting with editors of newspapers,tackled the most embarrassing question – the Rahul Gandhi -for-PM demand – with the same straight bat, neither hitting a boundary nor giving his wicket away. “I have no objections to Rahul becoming PM,” he said, only to add the non-controversial caveat that this specific issue “had not arisen before the government and the party”.
New Delhi, June 30: The United States today said it “strongly and vehemently” supports the NSG clean waiver for India and hoped that the civil nuclear deal between the two countries will continue to move in a positive direction.
“I want to say that the US and the Obama Administration strongly and vehemently support the clean waiver for India. The 123 civil nuclear legislation also underscores our support for India in this debate that is going on and our law also points to the clean waiver for India,” US Ambassador to India Timothy J Roemer told reporters here.
Mumbai, June 30: Music maestro Bhupen Hazarika has been admitted to the intensive care unit of a hospital in suburban Andheri here after he complained of breathing problems.
The 85-year-old was hospitalised yesterday after he suffered breathing problems. He was treated immediately. He is stable and doing fine, hospital sources told PTI today.
The maestro has been kept in the ICU and is under observation but is out of danger, the sources said.
New Delhi, June 30: Union Textile Minister and DMK MP Dayanidhi Maran met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in New Delhi on Thursday ahead of a likely Cabinet reshuffle. Sources have told CNN-IBN that Maran could be dropped in the reshuffle, which could have political repercussions for the United Progressive Alliance Government.
New Delhi, June 30: Activist Anna Hazare wanted to meet Sonia Gandhi on Thursday but he has been given an appointment for Saturday because the Congress President has prior commitments.
“No meeting is likely between Anna Hazare and Sonia Gandhi today. No appointment has been fixed for today,” sources at 10 Janpath said.
Hazare had on Wednesday said that he will try to persuade Gandhi to include the office of the Prime Minister in the Lokpal Bill.
“We will meet all parties…We will meet Sonia and tell her if the Prime Minister is saying so, then what is the problem,” he had said.
Yangon, June 30: Myanmar’s state media warned pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi on Wednesday that her plans to travel outside Yangon to meet supporters could trigger riots.
A commentary in the state-run New Light of Myanmar newspaper also drew attention to the status of her National League for Democracy, which was deregistered as a party last year by the government but still operates as a nationwide organization.
Washington, June 30: To destroy the Al Qaeda “evil”, the US needs to dismantle its core in the tribal regions of Pakistan and prevent its ability to re-establish a safe haven in the Pakistan-Afghanistan region, a senior US official has said.
“We aim to render the heart of Al Qaeda incapable of launching attacks against our homeland, our citizens, or our allies, as well as preventing the group from inspiring its affiliates and adherents to do so,” John Brennan, assistant to the president for Homeland Security, said Wednesday.
Villacoublay, France: Two journalists have come home to France after 18 months in captivity in Afghanistan.
Stephane Taponier and Herve Ghesquiere arrived at a military airbase in Villacoublay outside Paris on Thursday. They were freed Wednesday along with their Afghan translator.
The three and two other Afghans were kidnapped in December 2009 while working on a story about reconstruction on a road east of Kabul. Their plight prompted a nationwide campaign in France for their release.