Month: June 2011

Beijing, June 30: China has opened the world’s longest cross-sea bridge.
The Jiaozhou Bay bridge is 26 miles (42 kilometers) long and links China’s eastern port city of Qingdao to an offshore island, Huangdao.
State-run CCTV says the 110-foot (35-meter)-wide bridge is the longest of its kind and cost more than 10 billion yuan ($1.5 billion).
CCTV says the bridge passed construction appraisals on Monday and the bridge and an undersea tunnel opened to traffic on Thursday.
It has taken four years to build the bridge, which is supported by more than 5,000 pillars.

Beijing, June 30: China objected Thursday to France’s arming of Libyan civilians under attack from government forces, saying that the international community should work toward a peaceful end to Libya’s conflict.
In response to a question about France’s air-dropping of weapons to civilians fighting Moammar Gadhafi’s forces, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei did not criticize France by name but told reporters that foreign countries should not exceed U.N. Security Council directives.

Washington, June 30: Militant groups under the banner of the Taliban in Pakistan as well as those operating in South and Central Asia pose the “greatest threat” to Islamabad’s nuclear infrastructure, a report by a US think tank has said.
As Pakistan continues to build up its stockpile of nuclear weapons, the Washington-based Federation of American Scientists (FAS) said there is a broad appreciation of the danger of them falling into the hands of what the report called the ‘Pakistani Neo-Taliban’.

Washington, June 30: US President Barack Obama has said he was pleased with the outcome of a”contentious and emotional”legislative battle in New York that ended with the state passing a gay marriage law.
But just days after New York became the latest — and largest — US state to legalize same-sex marriage, the US leader said he was”not going to make news”by expressing his views on whether the time had come for a nationwide policy allowing matrimony between homosexuals.

Hong Kong, June 30: Former Bond girl Michelle Yeoh, who plays Myanmar pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi in an upcoming biopic, says she is “saddened” by her recent deportation from the country.
The 48-year-old Malaysian actress arrived in the country’s main city, Yangon, on June 22 and was deported the same day because she was on a blacklist, a government official said Tuesday.
In her first comment on the deportation, Yeoh said in a statement Thursday that she was “shocked and terribly saddened by the action.” She said she harbors no ill will and remains fond of Myanmar and its people.

Beijing, June 30: He might be the founding father of the People”s Republic of China, but the economic policies Mao Zedong followed have few takers today in the Communist Party of China which believes “he did it all wrong”.
In fact, as it celebrates its 90th anniversary, the party says Mao”s ways resulted in “chaos in entire society” and it was a policy crafted out of the lessons learnt from his failures that have put China on a path to economic glory.

New York, June 30: About 150 turtles, in search of beaches to lay their eggs, crawled into the busy tarmac of John F Kennedy airport here and delayed dozens of flights.
The parade of slow-moving diamondback terrapins began about 6:45 a.M On Wednesday The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey said there were so many turtles on one runway and nearby taxiways that air controllers were forced to move departing flights to another runway.

Hyderabad, June 30: Plastic manufacturers and retailers in the city seem to be getting ready for the impending ban by GHMC on plastic of thickness less than 40 microns. With July 1, the enforcement date of the ban, fast approaching, the sale of low thickness plastic carry bags seem to have dropped and many small manufacturers of these bags have shut shop.

Hyderabad, June 30: The Art of Living will celebrate its 30th anniversary in Berlin with the ‘World Culture Festival’ on the July 2 and 3 where more than 70,000 people across 151 countries will congregate with an aim of ‘Celebrating diversity and enriching life’.
Highlights of the festival
*A grand guitar ensemble for peace with 2,000 guitarists, 30 pianos, and a choir performance with 3,000 singers

Hyderabad, June 30: Average overall thickness of carry bags should be taken into consideration while calculating microns of plastic carry bags, Mayor Banda Karthika Reddy has said.
At a meeting with plastic manufacturers association here on Wednesday attended by deputy mayor Jaffer Hussain, and GHMC commissioner M T Krishna Babu, Karthika Reddy said the GHMC is determined to implement ban on use of plastic carry bags less than 40 microns from July 1.
The GHMC would implement the government of India guidelines and action will be initiated against the offenders as per the Act, she said.

Hyderabad, June 30: When you stop moving around, working, thinking, talking, seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting – when all voluntary activities are arrested – then you get rest or sleep.
In sleep, you are left with only involuntary activities such as breathing, heartbeat, food digestion and blood circulation.
Yet this is not total rest. Total rest happens in meditation. And meditation happens only when the mind settles down.
How to settle this mind? By understanding the aim of life and having a clear focus.

Hyderabad, June 30: “More than 200 varieties of scents are made from flowers,” says Faisal Siddique of Berket and Sons Perfumers, a store near Mozamjahi Market, adding, “The most popular ones are Jannatul-firdous, Majmuah, Firdous, Gulab, Pahadi Phool, Mogra, Chameli, Kacchi kali and Hina.”

Hyderabad, June 30: A financier was arrested by the police for lending at exorbitant rates of interest from his borrowers.
Police has recovered a two-wheeler, Rs 3,190 in cash, pocket note books and several other documents from him.
Surjeeth Singh of Gowliguda Chaman was nabbed by the Bhavani Nagar police on Tuesday night when he went to collect money from his debtors at Bhavani Nagar.
Surjeeth Singh runs Singh Enterprises and Finance without a licence.
Santoshnagar assistant commissioner of police Md Ismail said that Surjeeth Singh used to run a video cassette business.

Hyderabad, June 30: Several persons from North East who came to Hyderabad for pursuing higher studies were staying back in the city as they are preferring to take up employment here, former home secretary K Padmanabhaiah has said. “It is a positive sign,” he added.

Hyderabad, June 30: Task Force sleuths on Wednesday nabbed two criminals and seized two swords from them.
The nabbed included Hyder Ali Razvi alias Hyder of Rein Bazar, an associate of gangster Syed Najaf Ali who used to supply arms to the latter’s gang. Hyder was handed over to Rein Bazar police for further action.
Hyder was nabbed near Ganga Nagar nala near Yakuthpura.
Police said he was associated with Najaf Ali gang since 2007. Najaf Ali was having rivalry with gangs belonging to Fayyaz and Ayub Khan.

Hyderabad, June 30: Pseudo cops relieved a cloth businessman from Kurnool of Rs 1 lakh at Secunderabad on Wednesday.
The victim, Bala Venkata Rao, from Allagadda, purchases clothes from wholesale dealers in the city and sells them in his place.
Rao took a bus at the JBS to General Bazar.
He was carrying Rs 1.50 lakh in a bag. On his way, 3 persons, claiming to be cops, stopped him near MG Road and stole cash.

–Agencies

Hyderabad, June 30: The MD of a private limited company was nabbed by the Task Force sleuths on Wednesday for preparing fake documents to process visas for his clients.
On a tip-off, the sleuths and Mahankali police raided Magix Corporate Services at SD Road and nabbed its MD, T Anjaiah, a resident of Warasiguda.
“Anjaiah used to process the applications of the clients who would want to go abroad on visit, business, job and dependent visas. For this, he prepared fake letter heads and rubber stamps of fictitious firms,” police said.
Anjaiah charged nearly Rs 2 lakh from each client.

Hyderabad, June 30: As a government school teacher in the city, Sharada (name changed) was given the respect her profession deserved by people around her. But at home, she was a victim of domestic violence.
Her husband, a raging alcoholic used to abuse her sexually and also beat her. Unable to bear the assaults further, Sharada approached the police in 2008 and registered a case under the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005.
The case was taken up by Sannihita, a women’s protection cell in the city and was solved after two years of intense counselling of the husband.

Hyderabad, June 30: Even as India was taken off the ‘watch-list’ for human trafficking by the US, a meet of survivors in the city brought forth the web of human trafficking that exists.
The tales of 40 survivors from different parts of the country had a common thread- the lack of sensitisation among police and need for proper rehabilitation.
The vicious cycle of poverty and exploitation made the women from socially poor background vulnerable. Lured by promise of a job in the city, they are entrapped in the trafficking racket.

Hyderabad, June 30: The matrimony season in the country sees the marriage market registering a boom in their sales, with buyers purchasing all sorts of wedding related accessories.
The ongoing three-day long wedding expo Parinay in the city provides the locals an opportunity to pick up exclusive range of wedding garments and jewellery, thus providing visitors an opportunity to experience and buy a gamut of wedding related merchandise.
The fair has been launched by Telugu actress Lalitya.

Hyderabad, June 30: A Hindu couple, Papalaland Jayshree, who fought fundamentalist forces to give life to a Muslim girl, Sonia, orphaned during the 2007 Hyderabad blasts have now been nominated for National Communal Harmony award by the National Commission for Minorities.
Papalal found a little girl, then four-years-old, at the Gokul Chat Centre blast site and figured out that the child was a Muslim who had been orphaned. He and his wife took little Sonia home where she lived with the couple.

Hyderabad, June 30: S R Kolluri a retired petroleum geologist has a penchant for art. And not just any art but digital art.
The 70 year-old who took voluntary retirement, was always interested in painting.
He had interest in visual arts right from childhood days, he had attempted to paint in acrylic and water colours.
Later, the self-taught artist discovered computer graphics would be a much more easier and relatively less messier affair.
He started his spiritual sojourn with his project for painting Ramayana with the help of computer in 2001.

Hyderabad, June 30: It was just a regular day out for a group of students from the National Academy of Legal Studies and Research (NALSAR) on June 28. A group of eight students hit the Celebrity Club to chill and have a swim but the day did not go as planned.
In an unfortunate incident, Mahesh Gopan (19), a second-year student of BA.LLB, entered the pool, only to be found drowned a few minutes later. He was taken out of the pool and declared dead after being rushed to the hospital.

Hyderabad, June 30: Estranged badminton couple Chetan Anand and Jwala Gutta have finally been granted a divorce. The couple had applied for a divorce six months ago.
“The six-month period for notification of the divorce was over today (Wednesday),’’ Arjuna awardee Anand confirmed.

Hyderabad, June 30: The laying of a five-km sewerage line from Liberty Junction to Nimboliadda, using a sophisticated trench-less technology is going at a snail’s pace, due to lack of funds.
The work was taken under the National River Conservation Development (NRCD) for checking pollution of the Musi, at a total cost of Rs 76 crore. Under the project, it was proposed to transmit sewerage entering the river from 18 open nalas to the nearest treatment plants, before releasing it into the river. However, the works which began in 2009, has seen only a 2-km stretch completed in two years.