Month: January 2012

New Delhi, January 04: India Wednesday secured the release of two Indian traders tortured and taken captive by locals in a trading hub in China. The two were escorted safely to the consulate in Shanghai, External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna said after talks with the Chinese envoy here.

Krishna met Chinese Ambassador Zhang Yan here Wednesday afternoon and was assured that Beijing was paying “serious attention” to the safety of Indian traders, Deepak Raheja and Shyam Sunder Agarwal.

Following the meeting, Krishna said the incident should not be blown out of proportion.

Agra, January 04: The city police swung into action on Wednesday after it received a call claiming that a bomb has been placed inside the Taj Mahal complex.

As per initial reports, the police control room received a call this afternoon in which the caller claimed that a bomb had been placed at the world heritage monument.

Bomb disposal squads are at the spot and are conducting an intensive combing operation.

More details are awaited.

–Agencies

London, January 04: Her Royal Highness Princess Basma Bint Saud Bin Abdul Aziz is one of the more unlikely critics of the elite that runs Saudi Arabia. The oil state boasts a 15,000-strong royal family but it is rare for a voice from within its ranks to become part of the growing clamour for reform in the desert kingdom.

Jaipur, January 04: Yesteryears Bollywood actor Prem Chopra and some others have been booked for defrauding a man in Rajasthan capital Jaipur on the pretext of giving him a role in a film and offering a partnership in a dance and acting school, police said Wednesday.

According to police, the first information report (FIR) was registered at Subash Chowk police station here Tuesday against Prem Chopra and other on a complaint by Waseem Khan, a resident of Ramgarh Road.

Washington,January 04: As Republicans kicked off the primary battle to pick the candidate who will challenge Barack Obama, the incumbent President had a reassuring message for his supporters — “I am more optimistic than in 2008“.

Four years back, Mr. Obama launched his bid for the White House, before going on to win a historic victory, and despite a slide in his popularity over the period, the President said he was more confident heading into his second presidential battle having fulfilled some of his key promises.

Jodhpur, January 04: Bishna Ram Bishnoi, an accused in Bhanwari Devi murder case, was today arrested by police in Maharashtra and handed over to CBI which will produce him before a special court here in the next two days.

Official sources said that Bishnoi, a Rajasthan-based gangster, was arrested in Pune for his alleged involvement in the abduction and murder of Bhanwari Devi.

Hyderabad, January 02: Andhra Pradesh government on Wednesday transferred four Additional Director Generals of Police, two Inspector Generals and a Deputy Inspector General of Police in the latest round of reshuffle of Indian Police Service officers.

Aruna M Bahuguna of 1979 batch has been posted as the Additional DGP, Andhra Pradesh Special Police, to fill the existing vacancy.

New Delhi, January 04: In a major cost-cutting exercise, private sector air-carrier Kingfisher Airlines is believed to be considering about 2,000 job cuts and longer working hours for its staff, among various options.

While e-mailed queries sent to Kingfisher Airlines in this regard remained unanswered, industry sources said the debt-ridden carrier could also abstain from any major hiring activities at least till August 2012.

Dhaka, January 04: A Bangladeshi university teacher who allegedly “whished death” to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Facebook has been sentenced in absentia to six months in prison for not obeying court summons.

A high court bench Wednesday ordered the home and foreign affairs ministries to bring Ruhul Amin Khandker from Australia, where he is currently on a study leave, and arrest him upon his return, reports Xinhua.

Khandker, a teacher at Jahangirnagar University near Dhaka, had moved to Australia in 2009.

Bhubaneshwar, January 04: Former President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam Wednesday appealed to schoolchildren participating in the Indian Science Congress (ISC) here to work to make their home free from corruption.

Answering questions fielded by some students present at the inaugural session, Kalam said: “Make your home free from corruption.”

Kalam inaugurated the Children’s Science Congress on the sidelines of the ISC here. He appealed to children to be unique and work in the field of science and technology.

Agra, January 05: The son of a BJP leader allegedly shot a hawker on Wednesday for not being given a free newspaper, police said here. BJP leader Rana Pratap’s son Vikas along with an accomplice Ajit beat the hawker Ram Kumar (22) and shot him twice in the chest when he had gone to distribute newspapers, they said.
Kumar claimed that the two had asked for free newspapers on January one and took the step when he refused, police said.

The victim, who was admitted to the Sarojini Naidu Medical college, is said to be in a critical condition.

–Agencies

Hyderabad, January 04: Indian Administrative Service (IAS) official Y. Srilakshmi Wednesday moved the Supreme Court, challenging the cancellation of her bail by Andhra Pradesh High Court on a charge of involvement in an illegal mining racket.

While cancelling the bail, the high court had Monday directed her to surrender in the special court for Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) cases before Friday.

The official’s petition is likely to come up for hearing in the Supreme Court Thursday.

Meanwhile, the CBI has also filed a caveat in the Supreme Court, opposing her petition.

Bangalore, January 04: Karnataka High Court today issued notice to former Lokayukta Santosh Hegde in connection with an appeal filed by a senior IPS officer challenging a lower court order dismissing his defamation suit against the former Supreme Court judge.

Hyderabad, January 04: City’s first citizen Mohammad Majid Hussain is an accused in seven cases, including an attempt to murder, criminal assault and intimidation . All these cases have been registered at the Humayun Nagar police station in whose jurisdiction his Ahmednagar residence is located.

Kolkata, January 04:The tense relationship between West Bengal’s two ruling parties nose-dived Wednesday after the Congress called the Trinamool Congress a ‘B-team’ of the BJP and Left. A furious Trinamool asked the Congress to quit the state government.

The state Congress leadership’s comment came a day after Trinamool leader and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee alleged that the state Congress was colluding with the Marxists to hurt her party.

Cairo, January 04: An Egyptian woman used her apparently attractive features to think of an innovative but illegal way to make wealth. She married five men and was about to trap a sixth husband before she was finally trapped by police.

The 40-year-old woman in Cairo had targeted wealthy men and her tricks did work. Through those five husbands, she did become rich and owned a building in one of the most luxury areas in the Egyptian capital.

Shanghai, January 04 :A Chinese woman gave birth to a baby girl on a flight from southwest Sichuan province to Wuhan.

The young female crew members trained to handle in-flight childbirth came to her help, China Eastern Airlines said.

Feng Yu, who was near the end of her term, felt the first contractions around 9 a.m. The 23-year-old’s baby weighed three kg.

On landing, medical workers boarded the plane and took Feng and the baby to a nearby hospital. “Both the mother and baby are in good condition,” a doctor told Shanghai Daily.

Islamabad, January 04: Over 3.7 million Afghan refugees have been sent back to their homeland from Pakistan in the last decade, the UN refugees agency said Wednesday.

Between March 2002 and December 2011, over 37,31,000 Afghan refugees were sent back to their country through the repatriation centres in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan provinces, Xinhua reported quoting the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

Jodhpur/Pune, January 04: In two major breakthroughs in the missing nurse Bhanwari Devi case, the leader of a gang suspected to have disposed off her body was arrested in Maharashtra while a man believed to be the owner of a jeep used to dispose the body was nabbed in Rajasthan, police and sources said Wednesday.

Pune police in a joint operation with the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) arrested Bishnaram Bishnoi in Lonavala, 70 km from Pune.

Ajmer, January 04: Saiyed Saleem Chishty, arrested Tuesday in connection with the infamous 1992 Ajmer sex scandal case in which over 100 schoolgirls were blackmailed on the basis of their photographs in compromising positions, was remanded in two-day police custody by a court here Wednesday, officials said.

“Chishty was produced in the court of additional chief judicial magistrate Wednesday. The court has remanded him in judicial custody till Jan 5,” a senior police officer told IANS.

Hyderabad, January 04: A team of experts comprising officials from Archaeological Survey of India, state department of archaeology and museums and Intach on Tuesday conducted an inspection of the historic Charminar to determine whether measures taken to conserve the monument were good enough to deem it fit for Unesco’s World Heritage Site status .

Sanaa, January 04: Armed Islamists on Wednesday attacked a hotel in Aden that they suspected of hosting prostitutes and set it on fire, causing the death of two who tried to escape from windows, Yemeni police said.

The gunmen opened fire on workers at the Layali Dubai (Dubai Nights) hotel, in the Sanafir neighbourhood in the southern city, “before they set the hotel on fire, causing the death of two and injuring 15 guests,” a police official told AFP.

New Delhi, January 04: The Supreme Court today granted two weeks
time to National Investigating Agency (NIA) to respond to the
petition filed by former Lt Col Srikant Purohit seeking bail in the
2008 Malegaon bomb blast case.

A bench, comprising Justices H L Dattu and C K Prasad, issued
the directions after hearing counsel for NIA, who sought time
for filing counter-affidavit to the petition filed by the accused.
Purohit in his petition prayed for grant of bail on the grounds
that the investigation in the case is already over and it will

Dubai, January 04: Indian housewives in the UAE and other Gulf states are worried about reports that a major Indian curry powder brand exported to the Middle East has been found to contain a substance suspected to cause cancer.

Mumbai, January 04: Bipasha Basu once said that Rana Daggubati is a tall good looking friend, but guess this friend isn’t taking the Bong bombshell as her friend. The two were rumoured to be more than just ‘good friends,’ but now it seems that their friendship has gone kaput.