Month: August 2011

Moscow, August 17: Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev on Wednesday criticized the government for taking Russia backward and said that the nation needs free elections and fresh leadership.
Gorbachev was speaking ahead of the 20th anniversary of Aug. 19, 1991, hardline coup that briefly ousted him and precipitated the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Gorbachev criticized the United Russia party led by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, which he described as a bad copy of the Soviet Communist Party.

Beijing, August 17: China has refuted a media report that said it was allowed access to the US stealth helicopter that crashed during a raid to kill Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in Pakistan’s Abbottabad city.
A press release sent to China Daily by the Ministry of National Defense said such reports are “groundless and ridiculous”.

Osama was gunned down in Abbottabad city May 2. One of two stealth helicopters, which had flown into the country undetected, crashed during the operation at the Al Qaeda leader’s high walled mansion.

London, August 17: London’s police force says 1,000 people have now been charged in connection with the violence and disorder that rocked the capital for four days.

Acting commissioner Tim Godwin says while the milestone is significant, the investigation is ongoing.

Godwin issued a statement Wednesday in which he said the public had been coming forward with information. He urged people to turn in anyone involved in the disorder. As he put it: “Don’t let them get away with it.”

London, August 17: It sounds like something straight out of a science fiction movie, and the ultimate fantasy of many travellers — a vacation in space. But, for those fed up with overcrowded resorts with no room to move, it will be a real holiday with plenty of space, thanks to a Russian firm which is to build a hotel in orbit 217 miles up.

Just getting there will be an adventure in itself — it will take two days aboard a Soyuz rocket and it won’t be a budget holiday: A five-day stay will cost you 100,000 pounds on top of 500,000 pounds for journey, the ‘Daily Mail’ said.

Hyderabad August 17: House owners of Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) have to pay five percent additional property tax from the next financial year. The GHMC standing committee which met here on Tuesday has approved the proposal to levy additional five percent tax from the next financial year.

Mayor Banda Karthika Reddy and GHMC commissioner M T Krishna Babu told reporters that the tax hike is towards repayment of `600 crore loan being taken from banks and other financial institutions to take up major developmental works, civic and transport infrastructure projects in city.

Hyderabad, August 17: Third post-mortem on music director T Anil Reddy’s body was performed by a team of forensic experts from Warangal and Kurnool district hospitals on Tuesday. The re-postmortem was held following High Court directions.

Hyderabad, August 17: Combating climate change is not restricted to international deliberations but has far reaching effects closer home. This was the point driven home by scientists at a round table meet at the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) at Patancheru on Tuesday.

Dr. A.K Singh, deputy director general of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), New Delhi and William D. Dar, director general of Icrisat, were among the speakers.

—Agencies

Hyderabad, August 17: The Andhra Pradesh Pollution Control Board (APPCB) is advocating celebrating eco-friendly Ganesha Chaturthi through various awareness programmes and workshops to promote clay Ganesh idols and use of environment-friendly colours to protect the water bodies.

Hyderabad, August 17: The Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority has blamed the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation for demolition of portions of Devdi Mehdi Nawaz Jung, a Grade-I notified heritage building.
“It is the responsibility of the GHMC to maintain and protect heritage structures as per government orders,” said HMDA officials and urged GHMC authorities to take stringent action, including criminal proceedings, against the culprits.

Hyderabad, August 17: Task Force sleuths nabbed five persons for indulging in gambling and recovered Rs 24,430 and two mobile phones from them in Kalapather on Tuesday . Ahmed Ali of Kalapather, Mirza Amjad Baig alias Amjad of Moghalpura, Syed Ahmed alias Basha Khan of Baba Nagar, Mahmood Bin Abdul Rahman and Md Sadeq alias Chotu of Kalapather were held when the raid was conducted on a residential premises near Ismail Patel Masjid.

Hyderabad, August 17: Thieves broke into a senior CRPF personnel’s residence at Jubilee Hills and reportedly, decamped with about 30 tulas gold and Rs 2 lakh on Tuesday.

The theft took place at IG NRK Reddy’s house in the CRPF campus.
The incident came to light when Reddy returned home an hour after the burglary took place and found that the valuables were stolen. He lodged a complaint with the Jubilee Hills police who registered a case and are investigating it.

—Agencies

Hyderabad, August 17: The principal of a government junior college for girls in Gooty of Anantapur district was caught by the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) sleuths on Tuesday while taking bribe from the college librarian.

Hyderabad, August 17: Surabhi Theatre, the theatre family which is synonymous with Telugu theatre recently celebrated their 125th year. The group is known for their spectacular theatre which mostly are based on Hindu mythological themes. Bhoomika, a theatre group started in 1982 by Udaya Bhanu Garikipati, in collaboration with the National School of Drama (NSD) organised a workshop specifically for the younger generation of Surabhi, hoping to encourage them to stick with theatre as a mainstream profession.

Hyderabad, August 17: The Andhra Pradesh Handicrafts Development Corporation Limited is organising exclusive exhibition-cum-sale of Ganesha idols in myriad hues and made with different materials like bronze idols from Tamil Nadu, sand stone Ganesha carving from Orissa, wooden and clay Ganesha from Andhra Pradesh etc.

Hyderabad, August 17: Mild tension prevailed at Chandrayanagutta and Barkas for some time on Tuesday morning when the town planning officials of the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) made a vain bid to demolish a residential-cum-commercial building belonging to Mohammed Pahelwan at Chandrayangutta crossroads in old city.

Pahelwan is the key accused in the attack on MIM floor leader Akbaruddin Owaisi recently.

Hyderabad, August 17: Having Aadhar card number is very important though it is not linked to any government scheme, post-master general K Sandhya Rani has said.

Speaking to newsmen after inaugurating an Aadhar centre at Begumpet post office here on Tuesday, she said the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) has given permission to set up Aadhar centres and arrange special postmen to deliver the Aadhar cards to complete the project at the earliest.

Hyderabad, August 17: Having Aadhar card number is very important though it is not linked to any government scheme, post-master general K Sandhya Rani has said.

Speaking to newsmen after inaugurating an Aadhar centre at Begumpet post office here on Tuesday, she said the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) has given permission to set up Aadhar centres and arrange special postmen to deliver the Aadhar cards to complete the project at the earliest.

Riyadh, August 17: The Alanoud Charitable Organization will organize Umrah for 2,500 newly-converted Muslims during the last 10 days of Ramadan. Dr. Yousif Bin Othman Al-Huzaim, the organization’s secretary general, said the program will include transportation, accommodation and daily expenses.

He said the program is taking place with the support of Dawah and community organizations. The organization organized Umrah trips for 1,550 new Muslims in the Kingdom last year.

Bhopal, August 17 (Parvez Bari): As she sat behind the wheel of her car to drive to an Anna Hazare protest meet, Muslim wildlife activist Shehla Masood, who had filed at least 40 Right to Information applications involving forest and police officers, was fatally shot by an unidentified assassin outside her home on Tuesday. The 35-year-old resident of Bhopal’s Koh-e-Fiza neigbourhood was shot in her chest and until late night police remained clueless about her killer though suspicion fell on tiger poachers she had sought to expose in her campaigns.

New Delhi, August 17: Amid countrywide protests over the arrest of Anna Hazare, the Supreme Court has held that preventive detention law can be invoked only if there is “imminent danger to peace” and a person sought to be arrested is likely to commit a cognisable offence.

A bench of justices P Sathasivam and B S Chauhan said that preventive detention of a person in apprehension of breach of peace is permissible only if the police is satisfied that the person is likely to commit a cognisable offence.

New Delhi, August 17: Three days after the AICC projected that Anna Hazare was “steeped in corruption from head to toe”, a senior party leader on Wednesday said it was wrong to call Hazare corrupt as people see him as a crusader against corruption.

The remark posted on Twitter by Anil Shastri, a Special Invitee to Congress Working Committee, comes today after a party spokesperson had on last Sunday questioned the credentials of Hazare quoting from an old judicial commission report that had stumbled upon financial irregularities in organsations associated with Hazare.

Hyderabad, August 17: The Telangana Joint Action Committee (JAC) Wednesday decided to intensify the agitation for a separate state from Thursday by pressuring legislators who had given their resignation letters earlier to submit the letters again.

Accusing the ministers and legislators of ruling Congress party of betraying the cause of the separate state, JAC urged people not to allow the legislators who refuse to resign to enter the villages.

JAC, which is spearheading the Telangana movement, also asked all legislators of opposition Telugu Desam Party (TDP) to quit again.

New Delhi, August 17: Amidst an opposition attack on the government over the arrest of Gandhian Anna Hazare, Home Minister P. Chidambaram Wednesday defended the Delhi Police action, saying it was allowed under the law as the civil society activist had expressed his intent to violate prohibitory orders.

Chidambaram, while replying to a debate in the Lok Sabha on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s statement on Hazare’s arrest, said under the relevant sections of the criminal laws, preventive arrests were permitted if there was apprehension peace and tranquility would be disturbanced.

Turky, August 17: The attack took place on Wednesday in the Cukurca region, which is close to the border with Iraq, AFP reported.

Doldar Hammo, a PKK spokesman, later claimed responsibility for the assault on behalf of the militants, saying, “Our forces have carried out an ambush against the Turkish army … on the border.”

Turkey’s Defense Minister Ismet Yilmaz said, “They (rebels) are testing our patience… We’ll retaliate in kind.”