Month: July 2011

New Delhi, July 04: The Union Ministry of Women and Child Development on Monday announced that popular actor Aamir Khan has been appointed as its Brand Ambassador to spread the message of curbing malnutrition among children.

The announcement came after Aamir Khan held a meeting with the Minister of State (Independent Charge) of Women and Child Development Krishna Tirath and officials of the WCD ministry in New Delhi on Monday, along with his creative team led by Prasoon Joshi.

Riyadh, July 04: Nearly 1.1 million women in Saudi Arabia are smokers but the number if dwarfed by male smokers who are estimated at six million, according to a local study.

Total consumption of tobacco in the world’s dominant oil power and largest Arab economy exceeded 40,000 tonnes last year, with a value of nearly SR12 billion ($3.2 billion), showed the study by the Khair anti-smoking association, a private company based in the western town of Makkah.

Hyderabad, July 04: The TRS chief has said he was not attaching any significance to the fresh statement of the Union Home Minister Mr. Chidambaram on Telangana. On the minister’s statement that the situation has not gone out of hands, Rao said the Congress MLAs and MPs had resigned only because the situation had slipped out of hands.

Riyadh, July 04: A Chadian man died while praying in a packed mosque in Saudi Arabia a day after he performed Umra (mini pilgrimage) in the holy city of Makkah, a newspaper in the Gulf kingdom reported on Monday.

Ahmed Adam Hassan bent down along with scores of Moslems at a mosque in the western Red Sea port of Jeddah and remained in the same position throughout the noon prayers, ‘Sabq’ said.

New Delhi, July 04: A 32-year-old woman was battling for life here Monday after she jumped in front of a Delhi Metro train with her two daughters, who miraculously survived, police said.

Anita, along with the two girls aged four and two, leapt from the platform as the train was entering the Seelampur Metro station in east Delhi.

Police said the woman took the extreme step because of a quarrel with her husband, Vinod, who works as a salesman in an apparel shop in east Delhi.

New Delhi, July 04: A crucial meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs (CCPA) was held on Monday to take a decision on the issue of creating a separate Telangana state from Andhra Pradesh. The meeting was held in view of the rising pressure from the Congress, TDP and TRS legislators from the region.

According to reports, the CCPA meeting was held under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh at his 7, Race Course Road residence.

New Delhi, July 04: Signalling a stepped-up campaign against Uttar Pradesh’s Mayawati government ahead of the assembly polls next year, Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi will address a “Kisan Mahapanchyat” in Aligarh July 9 to raise the issues of farmers including land acquisition.

The party had earlier planned to hold the rally in Bhatta-Parsaul village in Greater Noida – the epicentre of protest by farmers in May over acquisition of their land – but had to shift the venue to Aligarh as it was denied permission by the state government for Bhatta-Parsaul.

New Delhi, July 04: BJP today welcomed the Supreme Court appointing a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to look into the black money issue, saying it came as a “slap in the face” of the UPA government for consistently failing to bring back the money stashed in foreign banks.

New Delhi, July 04: Six of the Telangana Congress MPs have not resigned along with others.

Nine Lok Sabha members and one Rajya Sabha member, Dr K Keshava Rao, have submitted their resignations on Monday. However, of the Lok Sabha members, the Union Minister, Mr. S Jaipal Reddy, Mr Sarve Satyanarayana and Mr Anjan Kumar Yadav have not submitted their resignations. Though Mr Sarve Satyanarayana has gone to Parliament along with other members, he has not submitted his resignation. He made it clear that he had no intention of resigning.

Chandigarh, July 04: A 12-hour general strike called by Punjab”s ruling Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD)-BJP alliance against price rise today evoked a mixed response across the state.

While markets were closed at many places, shops and other business establishments in a few other areas functioned normally during the bandh period.

However, a SAD spokesman claimed the half-day bandh was a “complete success.”

At Faridkot, the bandh evoked poor response as offices, courts, business centres, banks and other commercial offices and educational institutions were open, reports said.

New Delhi, July 04: The Supreme Court Monday rejected a petition filed by film producer Shakeel Noorani seeking cancellation of bail granted to Bollywood star Sanjay Dutt in the 1993 Mumbai serial bomb blasts case.

An apex court bench of Justice P. Sathasivam and Justice B.S. Chauhan rejected the plea which said that Dutt was misusing his liberty and issuing threats to Noorani to withdraw a case against him claiming damages.

Noorani had moved the Bombay High Court seeking damages from Sanjay Dutt for jeopardising his film project by not giving dates for the shooting of the film.

New Delhi, July 04: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Monday said ministries should make various schemes more accessible to people with HIV/AIDS, from employment under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Programme to more access to women and children to Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS).

Hyderabad, July 04: TRS President K Chandrasekhar Rao on Monday warned of intensifying the agitation from tomorrow in support of Telangana if the Centre continued to dilly-dally on the issue and demanded that immediate steps be taken for the formation of the separate state.

“Buses and trains would not move. Telangana will be like a furnace from tomorrow. You (Centre) should not delay the formation of Telangana any further,” he said.

New Delhi, July 04: A minor girl was gangraped in a moving van and the act was video recorded by three boys in north Delhi, police said Monday. One of the accused has been arrested.

The incident took place in Subzi Mandi area June 27 but the girl registered a complaint only Sunday afternoon, almost a week after the incident as she could not muster the courage earlier, said police.

A minor boy involved in the crime was arrested Monday, police said.

Tehran, July 04: Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has warned against political and non-political gimmicks to stop the country’s progress, stressing enemies will never achieve their objectives.

“Enemies are insulting the Iranian nation and officials and spreading lies against them with the purpose of preventing the country’s progress but they are mistaken,” said President Ahmadinejad in the southeastern province of Sistan-Baluchestan on Monday.

Tehran, July 04: Iran plans to test-fire new “supersonic surface-to-sea missiles” as part of its war games in the Persian Gulf in the coming days, says a senior Iranian military commander.

Commander of the Aerospace Division of Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC) Brigadier General Amir Ali Hajizadeh said that the new missiles have been designed to target ships and forces at sea, IRIB reported Sunday.

“Last year, we achieved (the technology of) new anti-ship missiles that can hit targets with multiple speed of sound,” he went on to say.

Egypt, July 04: An Egyptian pipeline carrying natural gas to Israel and Jordan in the Sinai Peninsula has been bombed, causing a fire and halting the gas flow.

A car had parked near the pipeline in the Bir al-Abd area, 80 kilometers (about 50 miles) from the north Sinai town of El-Arish, shortly before the blast occurred, AFP quoted Egyptian officials as saying on Monday.

Emergency services were dispatched to the area to try to bring the fire under control, a security official said.

New Delhi, July 04: Senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader LK Advani Monday described as “unique and without precedent” an all-party meeting on the Lokpal bill, saying it was unanimous in its criticism of the government.

“I have been in Parliament for 40 years, and have attended numerous all-party meetings convened by the government. The meeting held by the prime minister on July 3 evening, however, proved unique and without precedent,” Advani wrote in his blog.

Washington, July 04: Pakistan-based LeT wanted to invite Bal Thackeray for a fund raiser in the US, hoping he would make inflammatory comments to the benefit of the ISI, but they never planned to kill the Shiv Sena supremo, David Headley, the Pakistani-American terrorist has said.

Describing Shiv Sena as very influential in India, Headley said killing Thackeray would have been operationally a stupid thing to do and tantamount to killing the goose that lays the golden egg.

New Delhi, July 04: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will Sep 6 go on a two-day visit to Bangladesh, on a trip that is expected to underline a new phase in improving relations despite the recent row triggered by his off-the-record remarks about the situation in that country.

Vishnu Prakash, the spokesperson of the External Affairs Ministry, Monday disclosed the dates for the Prime Minister’s forthcoming visit to Dhaka in a tweet posted on the social networking site.

New Delhi, July 04: The Delhi government was on Monday directed to pay compensation of Rs 15 lakh each to the families of two businessmen 14 years after they were shot dead by a police team that mistook them for mobsters.

Justice S Muralidhar of the Delhi High Court said: “Compensation of Rs 15 lakh will be awarded to each of the families. However, the amount shall be distributed equally among the widow and the children.”

Mumbai, July 04: The cine-wings of Shiv Sena and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) have warned the filmmakers and TV channels against casting Maria Susairaj, a convict in the 2008 Neeraj Grover murder case.

Ram Gopal Varma, who has made a film ”Not A Love Story” on the gruesome incident, had said that he was interested in casting Maria for a role in his next film. Stories of Maria to be a part of the next season of Bigg Boss also made rounds, even though Colors channel, which airs the reality show, dismissed these speculation yesterday.

New Delhi, July 04: The Supreme Court today appointed a high-level Special Investigation Team (SIT) headed by former apex court judge B P Jeevan Reddy to monitor the investigation and the steps being taken to bring back black money stashed away in foreign banks.

Besides Justice Reddy, who will be the chairman of the SIT, the apex court also appointed its former judge, Justice M B Shah as the vice-chairman of the panel.

Hyderabad, July 04: The Telangana Joint Action Committee (JAC), which is spearheading the movement for a separate Telangana state, has called for a two-day shutdown in the region beginning Tuesday.

JAC, which comprises the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and other political and non-political groups, has also called for a rail blockade July 8 and 9.

New Delhi, July 04: A final decision on the “extremely sensitive and complex” issue of a separate Telangana state was yet to be taken, Home Minister P. Chidambaram said Monday as crisis brewed in the Congress government in Andhra Pradesh following the resignations of 36 party legislators.

“The central government’s view will be made known after the consultation process is over. We have to bring everyone on board. There is a strong view of a large number of people. We are yet to take a final decision,” Chidambaram told reporters here.