Month: August 2011

Hyderabad, August 11: Police today claimed to have busted two money-circulation rackets, operating under the guise of multi-level marketing, and arrested six persons including a Telugu film producer. Commissioner”s Task Force (Central Zone) today raided the office of M/s Vishwajyothi Realtors and arrested three persons, including firm”s director Tata Pramod, and seized Rs 2.4 crore in cash, and other material. The firm”s bank account, which had Rs 35 lakh in it, has been frozen.

New Delhi, August 11: The Centre has alerted the States about the possibility of a terror attack, particularly in Jammu and Kashmir and the NorthEast, in the run up to the Independence Day and asked them to take every possible step to foil any attempt by militants to disturb peace.

Acting on intelligence inputs which suggested various militant groups may try to carry our terror attacks particularly in Northeastern States and Jammu and Kashmir, the Home Ministry asked the State governments to intensify vigil at sensitive locations and public places.

Dhaka, August 11: Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has been named the seventh among 12 top world women leaders by Time magazine.

Ahmedabad, August 11: Senior Gujarat police officer Rahul Sharma Thursday moved the state high court after being hauled up for passing on, without government permission, information to a panel probing the 2002 Gujarat riots.

The proposed action against him was cleared at the highest level in the state, sources said here.

Sharma was posted as the district superintendent of police in Bhavnagar during the riots. His prompt action ensured that the district and town remained unscathed. He was immediately transferred thereafter to the police control room in Ahmedabad.

Ranchi, August 11: A former health minister and two former state health secretaries of Jharkhand were bribed Rs.8.5 crore in the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) scam, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has said.

In a charge-sheet filed before a CBI court here Wednesday, the investigating agency said these bribes came from a company that supplied medicines and equipment worth Rs.48 crore in the Rs.130-crore scam.

“This is the first charge sheet and supplementary charge sheets will be filed in the near future,” a CBI official said.

Dubai, August 11: To make the most of the intense detoxification process that takes place during fasting, it is crucial to understand what goes on in your body when you fast.

With no food or water being consumed by the body for an average of 14 hours during the Ramadan fast, it is important to take precautions against dehydration and ulcers, a medical professional warns.

Mumbai, August 11: The reason why we say so is that John and Bipasha reportedly bumped into each other on Tuesday at the gym in Bandra they both go to work out. Normally, they arrive at different times, but on Tuesday they coincidentally found themselves at the gym at the same time but tried to pretend that they did not notice each other.

New Delhi, August 11: After the Government conceded that it had sent its recommendations on Afzal Guru to the President, a Shiv Sena MP today urged the President that he should be hanged without any further delay.

In a letter to President Pratibha Devisingh Patil, Dr Bharat Kumar Raut said that the nation was keenly awaiting her decision as it was almost a decade since the offence was committed on December 13, 2001.

Sharjah, August 11: Separated from her two sons, Sharjah-based Pakistani mother has pinned hopes on her fervent prayers being answered this Ramadan, as she fights a complicated custody battle against her Indian husband who has flown with the children to India.

Irum, 27, has been separated from her sons, Arafath, four and Hasanath, two, for the last seven months and she says every moment has been a nightmare for her, according to Dubai-based tabloid Xpress.

New Delhi, August 11: Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad Thursday demanded a debate in the Lok Sabha on “degrading” Indian values due to cultural aggression from internet and other tools originating in the west.

“Where is our country headed to?” Lalu Prasad said, referring to Delhi’s first slut walk, held last week to denounce the view that women’s dress is to blame for the sexual harassment they face.

Hyderabad, August 11: The Andhra Pradesh Sarpanches Association on Thursday urged Pradesh Congress Committee president Botsa Satyanarayana to ensure that the sarpanches continue in the posts even after August 23 when their terms expire.

Submitting a memorandum to the PCC chief at the Gandhi Bhavan, honourary president of the Sarpanches Association Pilli Venkata Sathi Raju and president Dokuru Rammohan Reddy pointed out to Mr Satyanarayana that the government has failed to conduct elections for the sarpanches posts due to a petition pending before the Court.

Mumbai, August 11: Looks like model-turned-actor Mink Brar’s scandal sheet is just getting longer. Mink was seen kissing a girl at a pool party in a video that went viral two days ago.

Mink doesn’t deny that she was “drunk and high” at the time. “Yes it was me, and I was drunk. But so what? It’s not as if went and had sex with her. I didn’t realize what I was doing,” she told us.

New Delhi, August 11: In the wake of the Comptroller and Auditor General’s (CAG) report highlighting irregularities in Commonwealth Games projects, the Engineering Council of India (ECI) Thursday said engineers were being made ‘scapegoats’ for the lapses of others.

Speaking to reporters, ECI chairman Uddesh Kohli said: ‘The cost of the projects shot up due to delay in the decision making process… Despite completing most of the projects on time, the engineers were not given any credit for there work and now they are being made scapegoats in the CWG fiasco.’

Hyderabad, August 11: Doctors advise diabetics not to fast because the timing of meals and regular medication is crucial in diabetes treatment.

But many Muslims who are diabetic still want to observe the fasting ritual and so doctors and dieticians advise them to change their medication before they start the month-long fast. Diabetics should consult their physicians and undergo counselling on how to monitor their bodies during fasting.

New Delhi, August 11: The Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) Thursday accused Prime Minister Manmohan Singh of misleading the nation on clean waiver for import of enrichment and reprocessing (ENR) nuclear technology.

‘The parliament as well as the nation was misled by the prime minister when he said that India has got a clean waiver. It was not a clean waiver,’ CPI-M leader Basudeb Acharia said, demanding a statement from Manmohan Singh on ‘why were we told time and again that waiver would be clean’.

New Delhi, August 11: After days of disruption by opposition MPs protesting varied issues, peace finally returned to parliament Thursday and the government was able to get crucial legislation passed in the two houses – a first this monsoon session.

Both houses of parliament were able to conduct their respective question hours without any disturbance. Important papers related to the functioning of various government departments and ministries were also laid on the table. Debates and discussions were also held, without a single adjournment.

New Delhi, August 11: Former Telecom Minister A Raja on Thursday rejected CBI’s contention that he had taken unilateral decision on 2G spectrum, saying the PMO had given the nod for spectrum allocation to new operators in January, 2008.

Raja made the remarks while contending that he never wanted to shift the blame on the Prime Minister during his earlier arguments opposing corruption and other penal charges against him.

New Delhi, August 11: The Delhi High Court on Thursday dismissed the bail plea of former telecom secretary Siddhartha Behura, arrested for his alleged role in the 2G spectrum scam.

“The bail application is dismissed,” Justice Ajit Bharihoke said.

“Prima facie involvement of petitioner (Behura) in the conspiracy to cause undue advantage to Swan Telecom Pvt Ltd is apparent,” the court said.

Melbourne, August 11: An official report released on Thursday ruled out racial reasons behind the more frequent attacks and assaults on Indian students in Australia as compared to the other foreign.

Australian Institute of Criminology (AIC) released a 72-page report a first of its kind against the backdrop of student attack crisis that dealt with the growing incidents of assault and robbery crimes against overseas students in Australia between 2005-2009.

New Delhi, August 11: Citing former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi’s observation that only 15 paise of a rupee reached the deserving, Congress member Mani Shankar Aiyar on Wednesday said he was “ashamed” of belonging to the bureaucracy which was responsible for the situation.

“I am ashamed of belonging to the bureaucracy. If we see them (bureaucracy) from the point of view Rajiv Gandhi’s statement,” Aiyar said in Rajya Sabha during a debate on the Appropriation Bill, 2011.

New Delhi, August 11: In yet another faux pas, External Affairs Minister SM Krishna on Thursday got confused about an octogenerian Pakistani doctor lodged in Ajmer jail, saying the Government of Pakistan must consider his release on humanitarian grounds.

Krishna’s strange answer during the Question Hour in the Rajya Sabha led to an intervention by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh who clarified the matters.

Krishna’s answer led to interruptions by Opposition members, and so Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had to intervene who cleared the air.

Kochi, August 11: In the first verdict in NIA- investigated terror case in Kerala, a court on Thursday held suspected LeT militant T Naseer and another man guilty of offences in the March 3, 2006, twin blasts case in Kozhikode.

The CBI Special court here, the designated court hearing National Investigation Agency cases, however, acquitted two other accused. While Abdul Halim got the benefit of doubt, there was no evidence against C Yusuf, judge S Vijay Kumar said.

The quantum of punishment will be pronounced tomorrow.

New Delhi, August 11: After days of disruption by opposition MPs protesting varied issues, peace finally returned to Parliament on Thursday and the government was able to get crucial legislation passed in the two houses – a first this monsoon session.

Both houses of Parliament were able to conduct their respective question hours without any disturbance. Important papers related to the functioning of various government departments and ministries were also laid on the table. Debates and discussions were also held, without a single adjournment.

Hyderabad, August 11: Telangana JAC rejects AP govt’s talk proposal Hyderabad: Government employees in Telangana on Thursday rejected the Andhra Pradesh government’s invitation for talks over their proposed indefinite strike from Aug 17 to demand creation of separate state and resolution of service-related issues.

The Joint Action Committee (JAC) of Telangana employees, teachers and gazetted officers took the decision at its meeting to discuss the invitation by the cabinet sub-committee.

Hyderabad, August 11: The state government has come out with a fresh proposal to avert the strike by the Joint Action Committee of Telangana Employees from August 17.

Following the ‘boycott’ of a second round of talks by the Telangana Employees JAC leaders with the Group of Ministers earlier in the day, one of the GoM members and Labour Minister Danam Nagender told media persons at the Secretariat that the question of invoking or revoking ESMA will not arise, provided the Telangana leaders dropped the strike move.