Month: December 2011

Aligarh, December 11:Syed Sharique Ahmad, a BA (final year) student, has been elected president of the Aligarh Muslim University Students Union (AMUSU), an official said Sunday.

Abdul Quadir Jilani, MA (first year) was declared vice president and Hamad Nabi (Master of Social Work, first year) honorary secretary of the students’ union.

The result of the Students’ Union elections, held Saturday, were declared by the chief election officer, Prof. Mahmood S. Khan.

Hyderabad, December 11: The City Police on Sunday arrested two persons including a Kenyan national for possessing drugs.

On a tip off, a special team of West Zone DCP arrested George Peter, 35, and Vikram Malhotra, 42, near the Nizam’s Institute of Medical Sciences at Panjagutta while the former was trying to sell 15 grams of cocaine. Panjagutta inspector Ashok Chakravarthi told reporters that Peter has been staying in the Sainikpuri area for the last one year. Earlier, he used to stay in Gwalior of Madhya Pradesh from where he did his Masters in Political Science.

New Delhi December 11: While Anna Hazare may have widened the scope of his agitation to include issues like electoral reforms and public-flogging of alcoholics, a section of his supporters at Jantar Mantar feel that the Gandhian should only concentrate on the core issue of corruption.

Madhu Thakur, a 65-year-old businessman from Golf link area of the capital, claims to have been a part of Hazare’s anti-corruption movement from the very beginning.

Lucknow, December 11: Mafia don-turned-Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) MP Dhananjay Singh was arrested here Sunday evening in connection with his alleged involvement in a double murder.

Uttar Pradesh Police chief Brij Lal said Dhananjay was arrested for the murder of two members of an OBC Nishad community in 2010 in Kirakat town of Jaunpur district, about 230 km from here, which is his constituency.

‘This followed his indictment by the crime branch of the Criminal Investigation Department (CB-CID) to which the case was entrusted shortly after the incident,’ he added.

New Delhi, December 11: Opposition political leaders on Sunday snapped at Arvind Kejriwal after he pressed them to make public their opinion on some of the key issues pertaining to Lokpal Bill during Anna Hazare’s day-long agitation and asked him to leave the matter to Parliament for a decision.

New Delhi, December 11: Anna Hazare Sunday once again attacked Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi, accusing him of pressurising Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to go back on an assurance to include Team Anna’s demands in the Lokpal bill.

Team Anna had demanded a Citizen’s Charter, inclusion of the lower bureaucracy under the Lokpal and establishment of Lokayuktas in states.

‘The PM sent me a letter that the standing committee has made the changes. But then he changed his stance. Who did this? Isn’t Rahul Gandhi behind this,’ Hazare asked.

Chennai, December 11: India’s Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) is in the process of building robotic soldiers and mules as a part of its unmanned fighting systems of the future, said an official Sunday.

‘We are working on building soldier robots that can work like a human soldier. Such a robot needs data base, artificial intelligence to carrying out its activities and the DRDO is planning to build such a robot,’ V.K. Saraswat, scientific advisor to defence minister and director general, DRDO, told reporters here.

New Delhi, December 11: As thousands joined Anna Hazare’s day-long fast at Jantar Mantar Sunday, a group protesting against his team and their version of the Lokpal bill was ignored and forced to stay away from the site.

The All India Confederation of Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes Organisations protested opposite Jantar Mantar on Jaisingh Road as they failed to get police permission to fast near Hazare.

‘Due to Anna, police refused to give us the permission, citing lack of space as the reason,’ Udit Raj, national president of the confederation, told IANS.

New Delhi, December 11: Social activist Anna Hazare Sunday vowed to continue his anti-corruption crusade, and if need be hold street protests and fill jails, till the government heeds the will of the people for a strong Lokpal law.

Addressing a huge gathering at Jantar Mantar after breaking his symbolic day-long fast, Hazare threatened to intensify the stir by courting arrest if the government fails to pass a law in the winter session of parliament for a strong Lokpal that covers the entire bureaucracy and the prime minister under its purview.

Kolkata, December 11: The toll in AMRI Hospital fire tragedy rose to 92 when an evacuated patient died Sunday morning.

‘Babulal Bhattacharya died in the morning today. He died of cardiac arrest and not due to suffocation caused by the fire,’ said a doctor at the hospital’s Salt Lake facility.

Bhattacharya was earlier admitted to the Dhakuria branch of the hospital in the city with heart ailments. Following the fire in the early hours of Friday, he was evacuated and shifted to the Salt Lake facility of the same hospital, where he breathed his last.

Sanaa, December 11: Yemen’s national unity government, headed by the opposition, was sworn in on Saturday to lead a three-month transition period until early polls are held and President Ali Abdullah Saleh formally steps down.

The official Saba news agency said the swearing-in ceremony took place at the Republican Palace in the capital Sanaa in the presence of Vice President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi.

Washington, December 11: The exposure of yet another spy from Pakistan who used lots of “Brylcreem” (money) from “the library in Islamabad” (an ISI office) to peddle the Kashmiri separatist cause has put US-Pakistan ties on a slippery slope.

If confessed Pakistani-American Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) operative David Coleman Headley trained with Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) to prepare for the Mumbai terror attacks, Syed Ghulam Nabi Fai did the notorious spy agency’s bidding for 21 long years.

Sonipat, December 11:Supreme Court judge A.K. Ganguly has called a South Asian Human Rights Commission.

Speaking here on Human Rights Day Saturday, he said that India had the “inescapable responsibility” to set up a Human Rights Convention for SAARC nations and therefore must take the lead.

Delivering an address at at event organised by the O.P. Jindal Global University and UNDP, Justice Ganguly underlined that it was imperative for uplifting the lives of the people in South Asia.

Port of Spain, December 11:West Indies Players Association (WIPA) chief Dinanath Ramnarine believes there is a conspiracy afoot to marginalise Chris Gayle, Ramnaresh Sarwan and Daren Ganga because of their strong alignment with the controversial players’ union.

Gayle has been shut out of the West Indies side because of an ongoing feud with the regional board while Sarwan and Ganga were surprisingly excluded from their national squads for next month’s Caribbean Twenty20 Championship.

“I am seeing a movement to get rid of these strong thinkers,” Ramanrine said Friday.

New Delhi, December 11:Dilip Kumar celebrated his 89th birthday Sunday and celebrities like Deep Mehta, Shabana Azmi and Javed Akhtar wished him and showered praise on the legend.

Bollywood took to twitter to express its love and fondness for the thespian, known for his memorable performances in “Amar”, “Madhumati”, “Devdas”, “Shaheed”, “Leader”, “Daag”, “Naya Daur” and “Mughal-E-Azam”.

This is what the celebs have to say about Peshawar, now in Punjab, born Yusuf Khan, who was introduced to the Hindi film industry as Dilip Kumar by Devika Rani.

Mumbai,December 11:Finally the cat is out of the bag on the Veena Malik nude photo controversy. Mumbai-based fashion designer and stylist Umair Zafar, who has done several shoots with controversial photographer Vishal Saxena, spilled the beans on the Veena Malik-FHM cover shoot controversy.

Says Umair Zafar, “A few days before the FHM cover was out, photographer Vishal Saxena told me to be prepared for a big ‘dhamaka”.

Mumbai, December 11: On the eviction night in Bigg Boss when host Sanjay Dutt asked Sunny Leone if she is hiding anything the adult film actress was taken by surprise.

Sanjay Dutt went on to pester her and indirectly asked her if she wanted to reveal to the inmates of the house her true identity.

Dutt, however, left the decision entirely on Sunny and respected her move.

It all started when Pooja Misrra made a re-entry into the house and advised Sunny to disclose her occupation. Sunny however did not like interference.

California, December 11: A California state prison psychologist has been charged with faking her own rape in an unsuccessful bid to persuade her husband to move to a safer neighborhood, authorities said on Friday.

Laurie Ann Martinez conspired with a friend to create the appearance that she was beaten, robbed and raped in her Sacramento home in April, according to conspiracy charges filed by the Sacramento County district attorney.

Riyadh, December 11: A Saudi university banned four female students from sitting to mid year examinations for wearing tight skirts in line with a decision issued by the management last week.

The university in the northern province of Hail said it had deprived the four students from the examination because they defied the decision issued by the university’s management to ensure all students wear decent clothes.

Riyadh, December 11: An official Saudi newspaper says a man convicted of raping his daughter has been sentenced to receive 2,080 lashes over the course of a 13-year prison term.

The court in the holy city of Mecca found the man guilty of raping his teenage daughter for seven years while under the influence of drugs.

The Okaz newspaper reported on Saturday that the man will receive the lashes in stages throughout his prison sentence. The man’s name was not published.

Saudi religious police say the girl’s uncle tipped them off to the crime.

New Delhi, December 11:The Congress Sunday rejected Anna Hazare’s token fast for a strong anti-corruption Lokpal bill, calling it an insult to parliament.

“I have no hesitation in saying that Anna is insulting parliament,” Congress spokesperson Rashid Alvi told reporters.

“The Lokpal bill report has been submitted. There will be debate and decision will be taken. Laws cannot be made at Jantar Mantar,” he added.

Islamabad, Pakistan,December 11:All U.S. forces have vacated a military base in Pakistan, meeting a deadline set by Islamabad after a NATO airstrike killed dozens of soldiers, local military officials said Sunday.

Pakistan requested U.S. forces to vacate the Shamsi Airbase by December 11 in response to the November 26th attack that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers in the northwest of the country.

Hyderabad, December 11: Distinguished humour writer Mujtaba Hussain paid a tribute to the versatile genius of Imran Azmi and termed him as an extraordinary pen man. He was inaugurating the collection of his humour essays and poems yesterday evening at Urdu Hall, Hyderabad.

Hyderabad, December 11: Mr. Hasanuddin Ahmed, IAS (Rtd) in a statement said that Govt. of A.P. has sanctioned for the payment of Rs. 70 lakh as compensation to the victims of Makka Masjid bomb blast incident. It is very surprising that various organizations are taking its credit. During the discussions on the ‘No Confidence Motion’ C.M. of A.P. announced that Muslim victims will be compensated and after that assurance G.O. was issued. So far it is a fact. This step has been taken after the willful negligence of the recommendations of the Central Minorities Commission.

Hyderabad, December 11: State Minister for Rural Development Mr. D. Manikya Vara Prasada Rao has declared that he would represent to the Govt. of India for the creation of 7 to 10 new districts in A.P. So far, there was a demand of dividing the state into Telangana and Andhra regions but the Minister for Rural Development started a new discussion by initiating the proposal of creating 7 to 10 new districts in the state.