Month: September 2011

Hyderabad, September 28: Claiming that the Centre was in favour of Telangana state, Telangana Rashtra Samithi president K Chandrasekhara Rao on Wednesday stated that the government was yet to take a decision on the State capital Hyderabad.

Addressing at Non-Teaching Nagara convention being held at Telangana Bhavan, K Chandrasekhar Rao made it clear that a separate Telangana state without Hyderabad as the capital would not be acceptable to people of Telangana. He warned the Centre and state government against any proposal to make Hyderabad a union territory.

Nalgonda, September 28: Infrastructure Minister Komatireddy Venkat Reddy was beaten up by Telangana activists when he went to express solidarity with the Telangana Teachers’ Joint Action Committee protest in the district headquarters on Wednesday.

New Delhi, September 28: The Enforcement Directorate has decided to send a team of its investigators to Switzerland, Singapore, UAE and the UK to gather data on investments and assets of stud farm owner Hasan Ali Khan who is being probed for allegedly evading income tax of over Rs.50,000 crore.

The move has come as the Directorate is looking to build a watertight case against 53-year old Khan after it booked him on money laundering charges earlier this year and submitted its probe report to the Supreme Court.

Sanaa, September 28: Tens of thousands of anti-regime protesters have once again taken to the streets in the Yemeni capital of Sana’a, as anti-government rallies continue in the Middle Eastern country.

The protesters that participated in the Wednesday rallies demanded the ouster of Ali Abdullah Saleh.

Similar protests were also held in the southern city of Taizz.

Last week, thousands of people took to the streets in Taizz, shouting slogans against the United States and Saudi Arabia for meddling in their country’s internal affairs.

Riyadh, September 28: A Saudi woman was sentenced to 10 lashes for defying a ban on women driving in the conservative kingdom, an activist said on Tuesday, while another woman was arrested in the capital.

Sheima Jastaniah was sentenced on Monday by a court in the Red Sea city of Jeddah, where she was caught driving in July, the activist said, requesting anonymity.

She said Jastaniah “had refused to talk to media about her trial … and we were shocked yesterday (Monday) that she was sentenced to 10 lashes.”

Jastaniah will appeal the verdict, she added.

New Delhi, September 28: It was around 8 p.m. when 12-year-old Saima was engrossed with dinner preparations in the Khan household, in the old quarter of the city. Saima, who was kneading the dough, got up to wash her hands when the three-storey building they lived in came crumbling down.

She is one of the 23 injured who are admitted to central Delhi’s Lok Nayak Hospital after the structure in Katra Data Ram Ki Haveli in Chandni Mahal area near Jama Masjid collapsed Tuesday, killing at least seven people.

New Delhi, September 28: India and Bhutan have extended their cooperation on electoral cooperation and a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) has been signed between the Chief Election Commissioners of both the countries.

Kolkata, September 28: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee and West Bengal Governor M.K. Narayanan Wednesday congratulated Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on her victory in the Bhawanipore assembly by-poll.

Manmohan Singh, who returned from his UN trip Tuesday night, congratulated Banerjee on her massive victory.

Mukherjee said the result showed that the people have expressed their faith in the work done by her in the last four months.

New Delhi, September 28: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders L.K. Advani and Arun Jaitley Wednesday met two former party MPs and Advani’s former aide Sudheendra Kulkarni, imprisoned in the cash-for-votes scam.

The two leaders reached the jail at around 3 p.m. ‘The meeting lasted for half-an-hour,’ Sunil Gupta, law officer and spokesperson told IANS.

The meeting took place in at the superintendent’s office in jail number three. All the three accused are housed in the same jail.

Dubai, September 28: An increasing number of Emiratis married to foreigners are seeking to end their marriages.

According to the Statistics Centre of Dubai, 26.3 per cent of divorce cases reported in the first half of this year involved a foreign partner compared to 23.3 per cent cases where both parties were nationals.

Of the 2,031 marriages registered about 54.7 per cent weddings were between an Emirati man and a foreign bride.

New Delhi, September 28: Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Wednesday wrote a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh clarifying his stand on the 2G scam note written by his ministry.

As per reports, Pranab has reportedly told Prime Minister that the note was written by his ministry and not by him.

He also clarified that he never took the name of Home Minister P Chidambaram in the 2G scam case.

—-Agencies

New Delhi, September 28: Rajya Sabha member Amar Singh’s interim bail in the cash-for-vote case was rejected on Wednesday by a Delhi court. He will be sent to AIIMS for further treatment for his kidney ailment. The doctors at AIIMS will decide as to how long the former Samajwadi party leader needs to spend at the hospital.

Amar Singh was arrested on September 6 for his alleged involvement in the 2008 cash-for-votes scam. He was sent to Tihar Jail but was later granted interim bail on health grounds.

Hyderabad, September 28: Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (APSTRC) will soon introduce Indira bus services. Executive director Sri Ram Moorty told this. He visited Venkatgiri bus deport of Nellore district yesterday. On the occasion he told that the Indira buses will be akin to Volvo in which air conditioner facility will also be available. He told that commuters will be offered long distance traveling on quite less rate. He further informed that the new buses are being purchased with an expenditure of 200 crore rupees to provide better services to the commuters.

Kabul, September 28: The overnight attack took place in a district in Nangarhar province near the border with Pakistan on Wednesday.

Witnesses said US troops also arrested a number of Afghans during the attack.

Local officials confirmed the attack and claimed that those killed were anti-government elements.

However, the US Military has yet to confirm the assault.

US warplanes also targeted a residential area in Ab Band district of the Ghazni province on Tuesday, leaving 35 people dead.

Mumbai, September 28: Salman Khan’s popularity seems to have infected Hollywood too. Actress Milla Jovovich has not only seen the Bollyood star’s “Bodyguard”, she is also impressed with his sturdy looks and would love to work with him.

“I am really very convinced with the growing affinity of Indian audiences to action films.

Recently I got an opportunity to view ‘Bodyguard’ of Salman Khan, and I am really amazed with his sturdiest look in the movie and the action scenes played by him,” said Jovovich in an e-mail interaction.

Kabul, September 28: A trooper serving in New Zealand’s Special Air Services (SAS) has reportedly died in a US-led operation against Taliban militants in Afghanistan’s eastern province of Wardak.

“I was informed earlier today that the soldier was shot while the SAS were mentoring the Afghan Crisis Response Unit during an operation in the Wardak province of Afghanistan near Kabul,” New Zealand Prime Minister John Key said on Wednesday.

The US-led soldier, who was not identified, is the third New Zealander to be killed in Afghanistan this year.

Sanaa, September 28: At least two people have been killed and several others injured around the Yemeni capital of Sana’a in the continuing protests against Yemen’s Ali Abdullah Saleh, Press TV reports.

On Tuesday, Yemeni security forces killed at least two protesters and injured several others in the mountainous region of Arhab on the outskirts of Sana’a.

The latest killings in the district come as Saleh’s regime continues its brutal clampdown on anti-government protesters that again took to the streets in the capital, calling for the ouster of Saleh.

Mumbai, September 28: Vivek Oberoi is taking his anti-smoking crusade seriously. The actor apparently refused to light up a cigarette for a scene in his forthcoming Zilla Ghaziabad recently.

The producers, of course, couldn’t give in to his demand as the actor plays a gangster from UP and hence smoking is crucial to the scene.

They did, however, agree to add an anti-smoking clip at the beginning of the film, after which he reluctantly agreed to smoke up.

Washington, September 28: The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that since July, two people have died from listeriosis in Colorado, four in New Mexico, two in Texas and one each in Kansas, Maryland, Missouri, Nebraska and Oklahoma, Denver Post reported on Tuesday.

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said that it had found Listeria monocytogenes, in the samples of melons taken from a Denver-based farm, called Jensen Farms.

Jensen Farms has recalled all of its Rocky Ford melons since September 14 in response to the outbreak.

Mumbai, September 28: Navratri begins today and Sonakshi Sinha has revealed how she loves to be a chamak challo and head to the garba pandals.

She also likes to gorge on the mithais but at the same time does not miss her workouts.

Kajol on the other hand, loves to watch people play garba rather than participate.

She has some fond memories from her childhood when she used to serve at the pandals and play all day during Durga festivities.

PS: Kajol says she has never asked for anything from God. She just thanks him for the blessings he has showered on her!

-Agencies

Dubai, September 28: Seventeen Indians, whose death sentence for killing a Pakistani was revoked after the blood money was paid, were sent back to a Sharjah jail in the wake of demands for compensation by two men injured in the same incident, days before they were to fly back home.

The 17 Indians, mostly from Punjab, were pardoned after over Rs 4 crore was paid as blood money to the victim’s family. They now face a travel ban owing to a “technical error”, the law firm handling the case has said.

Hyderabad, September 28: A man dejected over frequent deaths in the family hanged himself to death. The incident occurred at LB Nagar police station limits.

According to police sources 40 year old Raj Shekhar who was resident of Bodhaguda, hanged himself to death yesterday night. Raj Shekhar’s wife died three years ago and his mother died three month ago. And now his father is struggling for life for 15 days. Due to frequent mishaps Shekhar suffered mental trauma and resorted to the extreme step.

Siasat news

New Delhi, September 28: The Central Vigilance Commission has sought an exclusive investigation bureau under it to deal more efficiently with cases of corruption and ensure speedy prosecution.

“There is need for creation of a dedicated investigation wing as certain important cases are enquired into directly by the Commission,” Central Vigilance Commissioner Pradeep Kumar said.

At present, the CVC refers to the CBI cases pertaining to criminal conspiracy among others.