Month: January 2012

I swear I heard an audible sigh of relief from one distinct group of viewers as The Learning Channel aired the season finale of All-American Muslim on Sunday evening.

Anyone following the controversy surrounding this show might assume I’m speaking of the Florida Family Association, which claimed this reality series following the everyday lives of five Muslim American families in Dearborn, MI was deeply dangerous because it didn’t depict Muslims as they really are, jihadists.

Tehran, January 09: A political analyst says the US military and/or law enforcement must arrest the current war criminals to prevent Washington from launching another “lie-started and unlawful war” on Iran.

“The basis of law provides US military and all with Oaths to defend the US Constitution to refuse unlawful orders and act to arrest those who issue them,” Carl Herman wrote on Global Research.

“If not, it will repeat by mass-murdering Iranians, and more ignorant/gullible US soldiers.”

Lucknow, January 09: Come election time, it’s the turn of political parties to turn into Santas. Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav on Sunday played the populism card by promising to provide free water supply to farmers, medical care and education to the poor if voted to power in Uttar Pradesh.

Addressing a public rally in the Barabanki district on Sunday, he also said that the SP would ensure all round development and jobs for the youth, failing which they would be given unemployment doles.

Hyderabad, January 09: Anjani Power Generation Private Ltd will set up four solar power units in Andhra Pradesh.

Each of the units will have a capacity of 5 MW. “The company has received Central Government permissions to set up these units,” Mr Ponnala Lakshmaiah, Minister for Information Technology (Andhra Pradesh), said.

“This will go a long way in meeting the ever growing demand for power in the State,” the Minister said.

Hyderabad, January 09 (INN): Senior TDP leader Motkupalli Narasimhulu on Sunday called upon the Telangana martyrs family members to file a petition against Telangana Rashtra Samiti president K Chandrasekhar Rao in the court seeking compensation from him.

Anantapur, January 09 (INN): Minor Irrigation Minister T G Venkatesh on Sunday once again fired a salvo against TRS president K Chandrasekhar Rao.

Talking to media persons after performing pooja at Kanyaka Parameswari Temple in Guntakal and distributing financial help to poor Arya Vysya students, he said that there were no committed people behind the Telangana agitation led by KCR. He accused KCR of running the statehood agitation by making provoking statements and resorting to attacks on other party leaders using ‘goondas’ while causing law and order problem.

Mahbubnagar, January 09 (INN): Telangana Rashtra Samithi president K Chandrasekhar Rao on Sunday urged the State Government to name Palamuru University after Suravaram Pratap Reddy, a social historian from the Telangana region.

Hyderabad, January 09: Kadapa MP YS Jagan Mohan Reddy is likely to face opposition from Telangana supporters during his proposed fast in Nizamabad district this week, over his “ambivalent stand” on the separate statehood demand.

Ankara, January 09: A US Predator drone had reportedly fired the first bomb in an airstrike that killed 35 Kurdish civilians in southeastern Turkey last month, Media reports.

In its main headline on Sunday, Turkish Aydinlik newspaper quoted “credible sources” as saying that the US drone had launched the airstrike by targeting the victims.

The report added that Turkey’s F-16 fighter jets had arrived at the scene between 16 to 18 minutes later.

Karachi, January 09: Former Pakistani military ruler Pervez Musharraf on Sunday announced that he will be return home between January 27 and 30 to launch his political career despite facing arrest in the assassination case of former premier Benazir Bhutto.

His announcement came at an impressive rally organised by the All Pakistan Muslim League (APML) near the Quaid-e-Azam Mazar in the city which was attended by hundreds of people who kept on imploring him to return to Pakistan.

London, January 08: Yasmin Chaudhry, 26, a Norwegian national, whose husband left her and settled in Pakistan, drowned her baby daughter in a bucket while her boyfriend watched live over the internet.

Yasmin killed the one-year-old by plunging her into a bucket of water during a 3am Skype video call with her British partner, Daily Mail reported.

Yasmin said she had just wanted to discipline her baby for waking up and ‘disobeying her’.

She called an ambulance and initially told paramedics that the baby had fallen into the bucket by accident.

Hyderabad, January 09(INN): TRS stand of opposing TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu’s padayatra has come under fire from many quarters, including the ruling Congress.

Vijayawada MP Lagadapati Rajagopal on Sunday stated that anyone has the right to go anywhere in the State and no one has the right to oppose or obstruct any democratic process.

Talking to media persons after emerging out of meeting with Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy at his Camp Office here, Rajagopal slammed TRS for trying to obstructing Naidu padayatra and causing law and order problem in the district.

Hyderabad, January 09 (INN): The Jubilee Hills police on Saturday night registered a case against ‘Arya’ fame actor Siva Balaji for driving in drunken condition.

The actor Siva Balaji was found driving in an inebriated condition during the routine checks at Vidya Bhavan crossroads near Film Nagar. Police stopped the actor’s Fiesta car which he was driving and conducted the breath-analyser test.

Hyderabad, January 09 (INN): Over 55,000 candidates appeared for the Diploma in Education (DEd) paper-I held across the State on Sunday.

According to Teachers Eligibility Test Director Sheshukumari, nearly 67.82 per cent candidates appeared for the DEd exam held on Sunday. Of 81,957 candidates who registered themselves for the test, 55,584 candidates attended the exam.

Hyderabad, January 09: Shamshabad, the area where the world’s fifth largest international airport is located, has now turned into a hub of illegal constructions. The area now has the highest unauthorized constructions outside the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) limits. Also, compounding the problem is the fact that the gram panchayat has no mechanism either to prevent unauthorised constructions or demolish them.

New Delhi, January 09: A 35-year-old man, on the run for almost six months after murdering his girlfriend and dumping her body in a forest in Jharkhand, has been arrested, police said Sunday. He murdered her after she threatened him with legal action for not marrying him.Sanjay Surana, a resident of south Delhi’s Greater Kailash, was arrested from Mahipalpur area Saturday evening on a tip-off.

Surana had an affair with Geeta Vaid, a resident of south Delhi’s Lajpat Nagar and a manager in an export company.

Hyderabad, January 09: You have got an opportunity to serve citizens of the city. Utilize it and make the city a ‘jannat’ (paradise). The mayor’s post is not for making money as some previous occupants assumed it to be,” was the advice to GHMC mayor Mohd Majid Hussain by a caller during the Face-to-Face programme organized by the corporation here on Saturday.

The Face-to-Face is held by the GHMC on the first Saturday of every month in which the mayor and officials of various departments field calls from people on their grievances and petitions.

Lucknow, January 09: Mausam Sard hai, Jazbat Garm Hai– with this punch line national general secretary of Samajwadi Party (SP) Mohd Azam Khan set the tone for the first election rally of the party along with SP supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav at Barabanki on Sunday.

Known for his oratory skill, Azam Khan handled the situation deftly. Lashing out at the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) Chief Mayawati, he remarked: “With your hard earned money, they have constructed the statues. Remember the statues of dictators in Iraq were also first draped then pulled down.”

Islamabad, January 09: Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari has questioned the judiciary’s inaction against his predecessor Pervez Musharraf despite an email Benazir Bhutto sent before her assassination holding him responsible for anything happening to her on returning to Pakistan.

Former prime minister Bhutto, Zardari’s wife, was assassinated Dec 27, 2007, while leaving Rawalpindi’s Liaquat Bagh after addressing an election rally.

Zardari, in an interview with Geo TV, also said Interior Minister Rehman Malik was not responsible for Bhutto’s security during the Liaquat Bagh rally.

Patna, January 09: Security has been tightened at Bihar’s Raxaul railway station and an alert sounded Sunday following a terrorist threat to blast the station premises and target long-distance trains, an officer said.

Railway Protection Force commandant S.N. Arya said that security of Raxaul railway station was tightened after an intelligence report warned of a terror threat to it.

“A Pakistan-supported terrorist organisation has threatened to blast Raxaul railway station and target trains passing through the station, according to an intelligence report,” he said.

Mumbai, January 09: Very few dare to take panga with mercurial Salman Khan since he is known for not sparing those who rub him the wrong way.

Hyderabad, January 08: The Tukaramgate cops on Sunday afternoon arrested a 17-year-old boy for allegedly raping a Class X girl. Following a complaint by the girl’s father, a car driver, on Saturday night, the cops took the boy into custody. Hailing from Warangal district, the boy had been working as an auto driver and his family stays at Azad Chandrasekhar Nagar. The girl’s family stays near Marredpally MRO office.

Jerusalem, January 08: Pakistan’s former military ruler General Pervez Musharraf has said that he is “100 per cent” sure that he had no knowledge about the presence of al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden near the Pakistani capital. In his first ever interview to an Israeli daily, Musharraf insisted on his innocence and said he was sure about himself that he did not know he (Osama) was there in Pakistan. “I am very sure about my answer. Especially so because when they say bin Laden was there for five years, that means two years under my watch.

Jeddah, January 08: Most women in a Saudi city were found that they do not know the emergency elephone numbers of the police and civil defence in the Gulf kingdom while almost all of them do not have fire extinguishers at home.

A survey conducted by Arar News Arabic language nerwspaper in the northern town of Arar showed the majority of women call their husbands or fathers in case of emergency or accident at home. It also found that 31 homes do not have any first aid tools.

Vijayawada, January 08: Yet another Telugu film star is set to enter politics with TDP founder N T Rama Rao’s son Nandamuri Balakrishna today announcing that he would contest the election in 2014.

“I will jump into the electoral battle in 2014, apart from campaigning for TDP in Andhra Pradesh,” said Balaiah, as he is popularly known.

Balaiah, who acted in several Telugu blockbusters in a career spanning three decades, had campaigned for the TDP when his father was at the helm, and even later when Chandrababu Naidu took over the reins.