New Delhi, July 25: Union minister and incharge of AP affairs Ghulam Nabi Azad’s brief halt at Shamshabad airport on Saturday gained political significance in view of proposed dialogue process with the leaders of both the regions from July 25.
New Guinea, July 25: A strong earthquake has struck off the coast of the Pacific nation of Papua New Guinea. There are no immediate reports of damage or injuries and no tsunami alert was issued.
The U.S. Geological Survey says the magnitude-6.2 quake struck on Monday, 46 miles south of the town of Kavieng on the island of New Ireland. The earthquake struck at a depth of 21 miles.
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre did not issue a tsunami alert.
Hyderabad, July 25: Faced with allegation from the Telangana forum of the TDP that the region’s Congress leaders had struck a deal with the party high command on the resignations issue, the ruling party leaders met here on Sunday but were divided over their next course of action.
Of the 10-odd Telangana Congress MPs and MLAs that met at panchayat raj minister K Jana Reddy’s residence in the evening, some advocated submitting the quit letters to the party high command this time around, while another group wanted to give the resignations again to the assembly Speaker’s office.
Hyderabad, July 25: While the Congress remained undecided on the Telangana issue, the Telugu Desam leader, Mr Erraballi Dayakara Rao told newsmen that the party was committed to creating a political crisis to force the central government to act on the issue.
The small group of TD rebels led by Mr Nagam Janardhan Reddy, Mr Koppula Hariswara Reddy, Mr S. Venugopala Chary and Mr Jogi Ramanna submitted fresh resignations on Sunday itself with the Speaker’s office.
The TRS legislators also decided to submit fresh resignations on Monday.
New Delhi, July 25: ‘Whenever the BJP has ruled, Muslims have not been exploited’ Wary of Congress’ efforts to woo Muslims ahead of next year’s Assembly election in Uttar Pradesh, Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav hit out at the grand old party for its “anti-Muslim policies” and said BJP was “lesser evil” when came to dealing with minorities.
Manama, July 25: An international commission set up by Bahrain’s King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa has launched a probe into the Saudi-backed regime’s crackdown on popular protests in the Persian Gulf sheikdom.
The panel, which consists of a team of six non-Bahraini investigators, will examine the controversial role of security forces during popular demonstrations that have rocked Bahrain in recent months, Reuters reported on Sunday.
“We will investigate the role of the army. The army is not above the law and not beyond the law,” said Cherif Bassiouni, chairman of the panel.
Riyadh, July 25: Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah has urged Islamic scholars to teach young people “true” Islamic principles and avoid extremism and fanaticism.
The king’s remarks were read out by Prince Khaled Al Faisal at an international Islamic conference in Saudi this week. The king said that scholars should resolve problems facing the international Muslim community, such as the widespread association of Islam to terrorism, the Saudi Gazette reported.
Mumbai, July 25: Pinto, who was born in Mumbai, says she is constantly mistaken for other ethnicities when travelling abroad.
“The Portuguese people love to claim me as one of their own, and I don’t like that,” she told the Interview magazine.
“I also came from Mangalore, which is in the southern part of India, where you have a big Catholic population. Some of them were forced conversions by the British and Portuguese. So I may not necessarily have that kind of lineage. I could pretty much be a Hindu from India… I’m going to do the DNA testing because I”m very curious.”
Kabul, July 25: Insurgents in southern Afghanistan hanged an eight-year-old boy six days after they abducted him, the Afghan government said.
The boy’s captors had demanded that his father, a police officer, supply them with a police vehicle and he refused, said a statement from President Hamid Karzai’s office. The militants hanged the boy on Friday in Helmand province’s Gereshk district.
“President Karzai both strongly condemns this act and rejects it as a brutal and cowardly crime that is not acceptable in any religion or culture,” the statement said.
New York, July 25: Two women in New York city Sunday turned the first same-sex couple, marrying under the new law of New York state that allows same-sex marriages, a media report said.
Phyllis Siegal, 77, and Connie Kopelov, 85, tied the knot before a city official and in the presence of many onlookers who cheered them on this occasion.
Siegal and Kopelov were among the hundreds of same-sex couples that luckily won the marriage lottery to wed Sunday, the day the state’s Marriage Equality Act took effect.
London, July 25: The Norwegian mass murderer Anders Behring Breivik, who shot dead more than 90 young socialists at their summer camp on Friday after mounting a huge bomb attack on the centre of Oslo, has been described as a fundamentalist Christian. Yet he published enough of his thoughts on the internet to make it clear that even in his saner moments his ideology had nothing to do with Christianity but was based on an atavistic horror of Muslims and a loathing of “Marxists”, by which he meant anyone to the left of Genghis Khan.
Baghdad, July 25: Separate attacks in central and eastern Iraq have claimed the lives of 2 policemen and a civilian, and injured 9 other people, police say.
A roadside bomb blast in the southern city of Ramadi, the capital of Anbar province and 110 kilometers west of Baghdad, killed a policeman and wounded three others, one of them civilian, Xinhua reported a provincial police official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, as saying.
London, July 25: Extra security will be put up at mosques around the UK in the wake of the deadly attacks in Norway, British Muslim leaders said on Sunday.
Mohammed Shafiq, the leader of Ramadhan Foundation, one of Britain’s largest Muslim groups, says mosques are being extra vigilant as it emerges that the suspect blamed for the Norway attacks opposed Muslim immigration to Europe.
Shafiq told that he was talking to other European Muslim leaders about the need to increase security and to British police about extra protection.
Tripoli, July 25: The leader of Libyan opposition says the country’s embattled ruler Muammar Gaddafi and his family can stay in Libya if some conditions are met.
“Gaddafi can stay in Libya but it will have conditions. We will decide where he stays and who watches him. The same conditions will apply to his family,” Mustafa Abdel Jalil said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal on Sunday.
The opposition chief said the first step would be for Gaddafi to quit power.
Hyderabad, July 25: About 1,600 cases of atrocities against Schedules Castes and Tribes have been pending for several months in the police stations across the state. Sarvajana Satta, an affiliate of Lok Satta party representing weaker sections, complained to the SC/ST Commission to resolve the pending cases.
In a representation to the SC/ST Commission here on Saturday, a delegation of Sarvajana Satta comprising Eeda Chennayya, Srikant Chintala, Hanumantha Rao and PV Rao submitted a memorandum to officer of special duty at the commission R Subba Rao.
Anantapur, July 25: Dismissing the allegations levelled by Telangana leaders that Speaker Nadendla Manohar was acting in favour of Seemandhra leaders by rejecting their resignations, Seemandhra Forum convener S Sailajanath on Sunday said that Mr Manohar was within his rights and has not violated any norms by refusing to accept the resignations.
Hyderabad, July 25: Congress MLAs from Telangana on Sunday failed to decide whether to resubmit their resignations Assembly Speaker Nadendla Manohar, leaving a decision on the subject till after their scheduled meeting with Congress In-Charge of Andhra Pradesh Affairs Ghulam Nabi Azad in New Delhi on Monday evening.
Medak, July 25: Expressing futility at the exercise, Congress MLA from Patancheru Nandishwar Goud on Sunday refused to resubmit his resignation for the cause of Telangana state.
Talking to media persons here, Mr Nandishwar Goud said “I had already submitted resignation two times earlier. But nothing has happened. There is no question of my submitting any resignation again for the separate statehood.”
Hyderabad, July 25: An auto driver’s body was found in a sack in an auto near Navayuga Engineering Company in Chandanagar on Saturday.
Cyberabad police said, locals found the body of the victim, Mohammed Waheed Ali (35), in a sack inside an auto (AP-28-Y-6712).
Police suspect Ali might have been strangled to death. “Ali left his house on Friday night and went missing since then. In the wee hours of Saturday, Ali’s body was found in an auto,” Chandanagar police said.
The auto driver was staying alone at his house in Papi Reddy Nagar ever since his wife deserted him.
–Agencies–
Hyderabad, July 25: The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation will seek the help of both wings of the city police, (Law and Order as well as Traffic), when it begins to implements an ‘Anti-Encroachment Action Plan’ from July 26 onwards.
New Delhi, July 25: Supporters of sacked Darul Uloom Deoband vice chancellor Ghulam Mohammad Vastanvi said Sunday they may go to the Supreme Court against the decision.
The decision to remove Vastanvi over his comments in praise of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi’s developmental policies was taken Sunday by the powerful Majlis-e-Shoora.
“There is no case against Vastanvi sahab. The three-member committee has given him a clean chit so there is no case to remove him,” a supporter of Vastanvi said.
New Delhi, July 25: A Delhi court has awarded three years’ imprisonment to a painter who inflicted grievous injuries on his wife’s face and body after a quarrel over a petty issue.
Additional Sessions Judge Kamini Lau sentenced Ravinder for attempt to commit culpable homicide and also fined him Rs.50,000.
The penalty would be paid by him to his wife Sandhya, the court said.
Sentencing Ravinder, the court said: “To say the wife is of a quarrelsome nature or to question her character is no justification for causing physical injury to her.”
London, July 25: Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni faces the danger of a one-match ban following a slow over rate during England’s first innings in the first cricket Test at Lord’s.
India recorded an over-rate of 13 per hour instead of the required 15.
The ICC code of conduct says that the captain of any team which is found guilty of bowling slow over-rates on three occasions in a 12-month period will face a one-match suspension.
Hyderabad, July 25: Alleging that Speaker Nadendla Manohar cheated the people of Telangana by rejecting the resignations of the regions MLAs `unilaterally’ without consulting them, Telugu Desam Party Telangana Forum convener Errabelli Dayakar Rao on Sunday said that his party Legislators would seek the opinion of legal experts before submitting their resignations a second time.
Nellore, July 25: Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy on Sunday stated that five lakh jobs would be created through government schemes every year for the unemployed youth by providing training to them to hone their skills.
Addressing a gathering after distributing Loan Eligibility Cards to tenant farmers at a Rythu Saghu programme in Nellore, the Chief Minister said that the government would integrate education with job-oriented schemes and provide five lakh jobs to unemployed youth by honing their skills.