Month: September 2011

Hyderabad, September 23: Pradesh Congress Committee president Botsa Satyanrayana expressed hope that the Congress party candidate would win the by-elections for the Banswada assembly seat to be held on October 13.

Addressing a press conference at Gandhi Bhavan on Thursday, Botsa announced that Srinivas Goud would be party’s candidate for by-polls. Goud had earlier held the post of PCC Secretary and is said to be a close associate of Minister Sudarshan Reddy. He hails from Backward Classes community.

New Delhi, September 23: Activist Swami Agnivesh, who fell out with Anna Hazare’s team during the agitation over Lokpal Bill, today sought forgiveness from the Gandhian and the others “who felt hurt” through his “unintentional acts”.

“I am turning 73 tomorrow. The Jain Samaj is celebrating forgiveness week. I seek forgiveness from those who I unintentionally hurt,” Agnivesh said on the eve of his birthday.

Hyderabad, September 23: Medical services in the Telangana region are likely to be hit with the doctors from the region deciding to join the ‘Sakala Janula Samme’, the general strike from Friday onwards demanding separate statehood for Telangana.

The Telangana doctors have decided to boycott the family planning services from September 23. However, the Telangana Doctors JAC leaders stated that the doctors would be attending the emergency services in the hospitals, on humanitarian grounds. But the emergency services would be attended only for two hours daily.

Hyderabad, September 23: Telugu Desam Telangana Forum convener Erraballi Dayakar Rao on Thursday challenged the Telangana Congress MLAs to come to the Legislative Assembly premises on September 28 along with their resignation letters.

Hyderabad, September 23: The Central Bureau of Investigation Special Court on Thursday adjourned the hearing of bail petitions of former Karnataka Minister Gali Janardhan Reddy and his brother-in-law Srinivasa Reddy to September 29.

The CBI special court took this decision following continuing strike by the Telangana lawyers.

Gali and Srinivas Reddy were arrested by CBI in connection with illegal mining case registered against the Obulalpuram Mining Corporation.

Ongole, September 23: Telugu Desam Parliamentary Party Leader Nama Nageswara Rao on Thursday stated that the state government was cheating the poor and middle class people by promising to give a kilogram of rice for just one rupee.

Ongole, September 23: Primary Education Minister Dokka Manikyavara Prasad on Thursday stated that the state government was committed to implement one rupee kilo rice scheme for the poor and down trodden people.

United Nations, September 22: US President Barack Obama  on Wednesday praised the anti-corruption campaign launched by anti-corruption crusader Anna Hazare in India, but he did not refer to him by name.

In his speech to the United Nations General Assembly,  Obama hailed the wind of change sweeping across the Middle East and the Arab world. He spoke of the will of the people around the world, who want to live in freedom and dignity.

Jhansi, September 23: Yoga guru Ramdev today said if the government fails to bring back money stashed in foreign banks, he will call upon people not to pay taxes.

“If the government fails to bring back the black money from abroad, I will make an appeal to people not to pay taxes,” he told a gathering on the second day of his ‘Bharat Swabhiman Yatra’.

Hitting out at foreign companies, the yoga guru alleged they are looting people in the name of trade.

Hyderabad, September 23: Over 26,000 employees of the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation on Thursday resumed their duties by exempting emergency services from the on-going ‘Sakala Janula Samme’.

The GHMC employees connected with health and sanitation wing joined the general strike from Tuesday midnight in protest against the arrest of union leaders who participated in a protest demanding separate Telangana. However, GHMC Commissioner MT Krishna Babu held an hour-long meeting with the union leaders on Thursday and convinced them to resume their duties.

Hyderabad, September 23: Congress leaders from the Telangana region will visit the national capital on September 26 to convince their party’s high command to take an immediate and favourable decision on formation of Telangana state.

Hyderabad, September 23: Ram Gopal Varma’s Department seems to be turning out into a jinx to the Bachchans. First it was the junior Bachchan to be injured while shooting an action scene and now it is the turn of the senior.

The accidents come at a time when a third generation child is due in the Bachchan family.

Hyderabad, September 23: Telangana agitation on Thursday took an ugly turn when some activists barged into the high-security J-Block of the State Secretariat and disrupted a press conference being addressed by three ministers.

Paris, September 22: Hind Ahmas is one of two women to be fined by a French court for wearing niqab in public in the first legal punishment to be handed out since the ban. Photograph: Magali Delporte for the Guardian
A judge in Meaux has fined two French women for wearing the niqab – the first sanction since France banned Islamic full-face veils in April.

Hind Ahmas, 32, a single mother from a Paris suburb, and Najate Nait Ali, 36, were handed fines of €120 and €80 (£105 and £70) respectively. The judge is expected to hand out a full ruling explaining his decision.

Mumbai, September 22: All the sporty and handsome men are getting committed in more ways than one! They are committed to playing their game well, but on the personal front, too, they seem to be only too happy to be settling down.

It’s cricketer Gautam Gambhir, next, who is going to give up his ‘eligible bachelor’ status and tie the knot with a certain Natasha Jain, who hails from a business family.

Tehran, September 22: Two U.S. citizens sentenced in Iran to eight years’ jail for spying flew out of the country on Wednesday after Oman paid bail of $1 million, diplomats said.

Josh Fattal and Shane Bauer, who were arrested while hiking along the Iraq-Iran border in 2009 and denied being spies, flew initially to Oman, whose officials helped secure their release.

“Two years is too long in a prison,” Bauer said in a brief statement on behalf of the two. “We sincerely hope for the freedom of other political prisoners and other unjustly imprisoned people in America and in Iran.”

London : A woman in the US lives with 1,000 cats and she spends a whopping 26,000 pounds every month on them, it was reported here.

Lynea Lattazio runs Cat House On The Kings, which is a cage-free cat sanctuary in California.

It is home to 1,000 cats, including around 100 kittens.

“I’m not crazy, but what I do is crazy,” The Sun quoted her as saying.

The rescued cats’ food and medical supplies cost 26,000 pounds each month.

“Cats are independent, they’re humorous, they’re not as needy as a dog – I just love them. The cats love me no matter what I look like,” she said.

Mumbai, September 22: Mumbai will become the first city in India with automatic number plate recognition (ANPR), a system widely used by the police in the UK to track down errant motorists, and as a key counter-terrorism tool.

This is the main ingredient that a high-profile delegation from Maharashtra, including Home Minister R R Patil and Mumbai Police Commissioner Arup Patnaik, will return with after a three-day visit to London aimed at increasing Mumbai’s terror-security apparatus.

Mumbai, September 22: Qawwali, ghazals, discussions and Sufi music will be offered at the first edition of the International Sufi Festival Oct 21-27 in Ajmer, Rajasthan.

The week-long event will bring together Sufi artists from countries like Britain, Pakistan, Egypt and France with an aim to capture and project the spirit of Sufism.

“I want to bring about the true message of Sufism globally where the core belief and practice is nothing but the acceptance of each other without the barrier of religion,” festival director Gulshaa Begum told IANS.

Hyderabad, September 22: A youngster has climbed a hoarding tower at the Women’s college in Kothi and threatened to jump down unless the Telangana public representatives resigned forth with.

The incident created sensation and the youth did not heed the requests of the Chief Minister Mr. N. Kiran Kumar Reddy, balladeer Mr. Gaddar, TRS MP Ms. Vijaya Santi, MLA Dr. Nagam Janardana Reddy, BJP senior leader Mr. Bandaru Dattatreya, Telangana JAC Convener Prof. Kodandaram, Telangana Jagruti President Ms,. Kavita, TRS MLA Mr. T Harish Rao and several others.

Patna, September 22: At a time when Bihar is on the verge of eradicating polio, more than 400 families here refused to immunise their children against the disease, saying the orally-administered drops cause impotency, an official said .

“More than 400 families have refused to vaccinate their children against polio in different localities,” a health official associated with polio campaign said.

The government, the World Health Organization (WHO) and Unicef have been seeking help of local representative and social activists to convince people in the state not to refuse polio drops.

Zaporizhya, September 22: A 77-year-old Ukrainian man won a jar full of sour cream for coming first in a dumpling eating contest and then promptly died, local media reported on Wednesday.

Ivan Mendel ate 10 dumplings in half a minute to win first place and a one-litre jar of sour cream in the contest held in the town of Tokmak in the southeastern Zaporizhya region on September 18, Fakty I Kommentarii newspaper said.

Shortly afterwards, Mendel became unwell and died, according to local news websites.

Hyderabad, September 22: Congress leaders from the Telangana region will visit the national capital on September 26 to convince their party’s high command to take an immediate and favourable decision on formation of Telangana state.

Meaux, September 22: A judge in Meaux has fined two French women for wearing the niqab – the first sanction since France banned Islamic full-face veils in April.

Hind Ahmas, 32, a single mother from a Paris suburb, and Najate Nait Ali, 36, were handed fines of €120 and €80 (£105 and £70) respectively. The judge is expected to hand out a full ruling explaining his decision.

Hyderabad, September 22: It appears that TDP president N Chandrababu Naidu is going Vastu way to capture power in the next elections. After two successive defeats, Naidu has decided to make slight changes to the TDP office (NTR Bhavan).

It is learnt that N Balakrishna, the starcampaigner in the next elections for the party, spent a lot of time at the party office recently along with a vastu expert.