Month: December 2011

New Delhi, December 07: The Supreme Court Wednesday quashed a Punjab and Haryana High Court order directing a CBI probe into the alleged involvement of a senior IPS officer of Punjab in the killings of Balwant Singh Bhullar and Balwant Singh Multani during the period of Sikh insurgency in the state.

An apex court bench of Justice B.S. Chauhan and Justice A.K. Patnaik said the high court order suffered from ‘bias’ and was ‘legally impermissible’.

New Delhi, December 07: A 15-year-old Class 10 student was gang-raped by three people, including a minor, in east Delhi, police said Wednesday. Two of them have been arrested, while the third is on the run.

The incident happened Tuesday afternoon when the girl was on her way to her aunt’s house in Mayur Vihar Phase III.

Lucknow, December 07: Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi is arriving here Saturday to meet the recently selected 213 party nominees for the forthcoming assembly elections to the 403-member Uttar Pradesh assembly, party leaders said Wednesday.

He would also hold discussion with senior state Congress members to finalise the list of candidates for the remaining constituencies.

New Delhi, December 07: Asserting that it was for Parliament to take a final view on inclusion of Prime Minister under the ambit of Lokpal, Parliamentary Standing Committee chairman Abhishek Singhvi on Wednesday said the panel was not meant to reach out to or please Team Anna or any other group.

He said Standing Committee recommendations was nowhere near or resembling the government bill and they do not include or implement in any manner a government draft or a civil society bill.

Hyderabad, December 07: Mild tension prevailed in Darulshifa locality on Tuesday after two groups belonging to a particular community entered into a heated argument over use of loud speakers.

Trouble began when two groups organised separate meetings as part of Muharram. With the venues being too close, one group objected to the use of loud speakers at high volume by the other group leading to heated arguments.

Police personnel posted in the area intervened and pacified the warring members and also dispersed them.

Courtesy: Express

New Delhi, December 07: Congress party official spokesman Manish Tiwari on Wednesday stated that the Congress High Command would initiate disciplinary action against 16 MLAs who voted in favour of No Confidence Motion introduced against the Kiran Kumar Reddy Government violating the party whip.

Talking to media persons, Manish Tiwari said that the high command would initiate action against the rebel MLAs after consulting the Congress In-Charge of State Affairs Ghulam Nabi Azad. He said the party would not spare anyone who violates the party’s discipline and principles.

–Agencies

New Delhi, December 07: Amidst the debate over the inclusion of lower bureaucracy, Group C and D employees, and the Prime Minister under the Lokpal Bill, Parliament Standing Committee Chairman Abhishek Manu Singhvi has said that Parliament can add more to the draft once it’s tabled.

“Government is entitled to go beyond the Standing Committee report, and Parliament may add more to the report,” Singhvi told IBN18 Editor-in-Chief Rajdeep Sardesai.

New Delhi, December 07: The Parliamentary Standing Committee examining the Lokpal bill finalised its draft report Wednesday amidst increased dissent from members, including those of the Congress, over various provisions but Anna Hazare rejected the proposed legislation as unlikely to check corruption.

Panel chairman Abhishek Manu Singhvi said the report, carrying dissent notes, is likely to be presented in parliament Dec 9.

New Delhi, December 07: In an unfortunate incident, three people died when a bus fell into a river in Lucknow today.

While briefing mediapersons, a police officer, Dipika Sharma, said that the bus belonged to a local medical college named ‘Babu Banarasi Das College’ (BBD) and the accident happened when a group of interns were returning in it after attending a medical camp in Sahelia village.

Sharma further added that the police have recovered bodies of three victims and the bus driver is missing and the search operation is in progress.

Mumbai, December 07: Stand up comedian Bharti Singh was at the receiving end of Rakhi’s unique brand of insaaf at the Zee Rishtey 2011 recently.

An eyewitness revealed, “”Bharti was in her ‘Udi Baba’ element for the event and was taking potshots at every possible celebrity, when Rakhi’s turn came, Singh said, ‘Rakhi logon ki shaadiyon mein dance karti hai. Ek shaadi mein baraat mein dance kar rahi thi aur dulhe ke jija ne bola ki waah Rakhi kya dance kiya! Toh Rakhi boli, dance nahi, mere skirt mein cockroach ghus gaya tha’.

New Delhi, December 07: Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, who was admitted to a hospital following high fever and viral infection, is stable now and may leave hospital Thursday or a day after, a close aide said.

‘Her condition is stable now and she may leave the hospital tomorrow (Thursday) or day after. Not to keep any work pending, she had called for a cabinet meeting today (Wednesday) evening in hospital,’ the aide to Dikshit, 73, told IANS on condition of anonymity.

Ralegan Siddhi, December 07: Ratcheting up pressure on government on Lokpal issue, Anna Hazare on Wednesday questioned the Standing Committee’s proposal to bring lower bureaucracy under the ambit of Lokayuktas, saying it was against the resolution passed by Parliament.

Hazare said he will campaign in five poll-bound states telling people that the UPA government has neither intention nor honesty in tackling corruption and so don’t vote for them.

New Delhi, December 07: A Delhi Court hearing the former diplomat Madhuri Gupta spying case on Wednesday wanted to know from the investigators whether some of the contents of the report of the Indian High Commission allegedly passed on by her to Pakistan’s ISI falls in the category of classified or public domain.

The court asked the Delhi Police to answer the question relating to the status of the contents of the weekly assessment of a particular period relating to developments in Pakistan by the Indian High Commission in Islamabad.

New Delhi, December 07: Expressing “happiness” over ending of logjam in Parliament on the FDI in retail issue, BJP on Wednesday said the government has finally “realised its mistake”.

“Now they (government) have realised their mistake. We are happy about it as the House was able to resume,” BJP leader Venkaih Naidu told reporters outside Parliament.

Government today announced the suspension of FDI in retail trade decision, bringing Parliament back to business after nine-day deadlock.

Ralegan Siddhi, December 07: Social activist Anna Hazare on Wednesday hit out at the government saying that it was not committed to a strong Lokpal Bill.

“The government is not serious to fight corruption,” Hazare said addressing mediapersons.

“There is rampant corruption in lower bureaucracy. To check the corruption there is a pressing need to bring the Group-C and D employees under Lokapl,” he said.

Patna, December 07: The Bihar assembly Wednesday passed a bill for setting up a three-member Lokayukta with jurisdiction to probe corruption charges against public servants from the chief minister down to lowest rung of state employees.

Chief Minister Nitish Kumar described the bill as strong and effective to check corruption in the state but opposition termed it weak.

Nigeria, December 07: A three-year-old child was among the dead, spokesman for Nigeria’s National Emergency Management Agency Yushau Shuaib said on Wednesday, the Associated Press reported.

Eyewitnesses said many others were also wounded in the blast, which occurred near cylinders of natural gas.

Investigators are looking at the cause of the blast, Kaduna state police commissioner Bala Nasarawa said.

Kaduna is located on Nigeria’s dividing line between its largely Christian south and Muslim north.

Washington, December 07: This weekend’s story of Iran shooting down a drone came with odd commentaries from the CIA and NATO, with officials claiming that they were “missing” a drone but that there were no indications Iran actually shot it down.

The CIA/NATO story was silly on the surface, as missing a drone and having someone say they shot it down seems like indication in and of itself, but now the Washington Post is reporting that the comments were a flat out lie.

Hyderabad, December 07:A city court on Wednesday directed the police to take action against the film The Dirty Picture and register cases against the actress Vidya Balan and producer Ekta Kapoor.

Mumbai, December 07: After being thrown out of ‘Bigg Boss 5’ for her aggressive behaviour, VJ Pooja Misrra is now set to re-enter the reality show albeit as a translator for Australian cricketer Andrew Symonds, who stepped into the house in Karjat Wednesday.

Amsterdam, December 07: An Islamic cleric residing in Europe said that women should not be close to bananas or cucumbers, in order to avoid any “sexual thoughts.”

The unnamed sheikh was quoted saying that if women wish to eat these food items, a third party, preferably a male related to them such as their a father or husband, should cut the items into small pieces and serve.

He said that these fruits and vegetables “resemble the male penis” and hence could arouse women or “make them think of sex.”

Dubai, December 07: In an Arab world rife with social stigma, government inaction and often limited access to education and medical care, experts warn that an HIV epidemic is on the rise.

“In the Middle East and North Africa, the HIV epidemic has been on the rise for the past decade,” said Aleksandar Sasha Bodiroza, HIV/AIDS adviser at the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).

“The number of people needing treatment in the region has spiked from approximately 45,000 in 2001 to nearly 160,000 in 2010,” Bodiroza told AFP.

New Delhi, December 07: The DRDO has conducted the maiden flight of Airborne Early Warning and Control (AEW&C) system at a special facility in Brazil, taking a major step forward in the development of such system indigenously.

The first maiden flight of indigenously developed AEW&C took place yesterday at Sao Jose dos Campos in Brazil with about 1000 mission system components provided by Bangalore- based DRDO lab, the Centre for Airborne Systems (CABS), a DRDO spokesperson said here.

Does India have too much democracy and would it be better off with less? The question is inevitably raised whenever comparisons are made with China, where a lack totalitarian rule has enabled growth and economic development that has been dramatically faster and more efficient than India’s since the two countries began to liberalise controls 20 years or so ago.

Chandigarh, December 07: Police lathicharged protesting teachers and arrested three of them when they tried to gherao Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal during a function at Muktsar district here.

A few of the Education Guarantee Scheme (EGS) teachers, including a woman, were injured in the lathicharge.

The teachers wanted to meet Badal during his visit but were stopped by police following which a scuffle broke out and police resorted to lathicharge, EGS teachers association president Pritpal Singh said.