Month: January 2012

New Delhi, January 26: Claiming that the UPA government has gone into a ‘coma’, BJP on Wednesday said it has lost credibility both at home and abroad due to a spate of corruption charges against it and its failure to deal with security and economy related issues.

“Government is in coma. It is not yet dead. Therefore, the doctor cannot issue a death certificate… being led by a Prime Minister whose hands are tied…the government lacks direction and is unable to fight corruption,” party president Nitin Gadkari said here.

Bahrain, January 26: A Bahraini police car runs over a protester in the town of Sitra south of the capital Manama, bringing the number of the opposition activists murdered at the hands of the regime over the past 24 hours to four.

The victim, identified as Muhammad Ali Ya’qhoub, died from the incident on Wednesday.

Earlier in the day, Saudi-backed Bahraini forcers tortured a protester to death. Saeed Fakher’s body, which bore horrific signs of torture, was found one day after his arrest.

Tripoli, January 26: Supporters of Libya’s slain dictator Muammar Gaddafi have retaken control of the town of Bani Walid in the northwest, once a stronghold of the former regime, according to Libyan officials.

Mubarak al-Fatamni, the head of Bani Walid’s local council, said on Wednesday that hundreds of well-armed pro-Gaddafi fighters recaptured the town, located 150km (93 miles) southeast of the capital Tripoli, and raised the former regime’s green flag over its buildings late on Monday after hours of clashes with the ruling National Transitional Council (NTC) forces.

Washington, January 26: US President Barack Obama has ignored the growing Occupy Movement in his State of the Union Address, drawing criticism from protesters listening to him in their camps.

Obama delivered his State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday night, but he did not specifically refer to the Occupy Wall Street movement in the annual speech.

A group of “Occupy DC” protesters issued a “State of the 99%” in response to the State of the Union address, reading it out loud in front of the White House.

New Delhi, January 26: A ground-to-air security apparatus was put in place on the eve of Republic Day yesterday with security personnel fanning out across various states in a bid to prevent any untoward incident.

In the capital, over 25,000 police personnel, including those from paramilitary forces and sharpshooters from NSG, have been deployed in the run-up to the celebrations, which will be attended by Yingluck Shinawatra, the first woman Prime Minister of Thailand.

New Delhi, January 26: The President of India on the eve of Republic Day, Wednesday, approved the list of recipients of the prestigious Padma Award for 2012. In total 109 Padma Awards would be conferred this year – 5 Padma Vibhushan, 27 Padma Bhushan and 77 Padma Shri Awards.

The Awards are given in the field of art, social work, science and engineering, public affairs, trade and industry, medicine, sports, civil service, literature and education, etc. The Padma Awards will be conferred by the President of India at a function held at Rashtrapati Bhawan in March/ April 2012.

New Delhi, January 26: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Thursday paid a solemn tribute to soldiers who have sacrificed their lives for the nation by laying a wreath at the Amar Jawan Jyoti at India Gate.

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Prior to the start of the 63rd Republic Day parade showcasing India’s military might and cultural diversity, Manmohan Singh drove to the tomb of the unknown soldier — marked by a reversed rifle, standing on its barrel and crested by a soldier’s helmet.

New Delhi, January 26: Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra Thursday became the third consecutive leader from South East Asia to be the chief guest at India’s Republic Day parade.

Shinawatra, who took over the reins of the Thai government in August 2011 at age 44, is in India on a two-day state visit beginning Wednesday at the invitation of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

This is her first visit to India as prime minister.

Islamabad, January 26: A PML-N lawmaker today suggested that controversial actress Veena Malik should be made a member of the upper house of Pakistan`s parliament to ensure greater attendance during sessions.

PML-N leader Mushahidullah Khan, himself a member of the Senate or upper house of parliament, said making Malik a member of the Senate in the upcoming elections would ensure that the Senators attended sessions.

He made the suggestion in a lighter vein to Express News channel after becoming frustrated that the Senate rarely witnessed a full house.

Riyadh, January 26: A Saudi Arabian woman who defied the kingdom’s prohibition on women driving has died in a car accident in the country’s northern Hael province.

“One woman was immediately killed and her companion who was driving the car was hospitalized after she suffered several injuries,” police spokesman Abdulaziz al-Zunaidi told AFP.

The woman’s death comes months after a 32-year-old computer security consultant was arrested and detained for 10 days after posting a video of herself on YouTube as she drove in the eastern city of Khobar.

Washington, January 26: After nearly a full-term in office, US President Barack Obama’s eligibility for presidency is being challenged as an Atlanta court has summoned him.

A Georgia judge has ordered President Obama to appear in court on Thursday for a hearing on a complaint that says Obama cannot be president as he is not a natural-born US citizen. It is, however, unclear whether a court could force a sitting president to appear in court.

California attorney Orly Taitz has filed the lawsuit which is challenging the presence of Obama’s name on the March presidential primary ballot.

Mumbai, January 26: Bollywood stars Ranbir Kapoor and Vidya Balan picked the best actors` trophies at the star-studded seventh edition of Apsara Awards here Wednesday night for their performance in ‘Rockstar’ and ‘The Dirty Picture’ respectively.

The best film award went to ‘Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara’, and Zoya Akhtar won the best director for the movie. Her actor-filmmaker brother Farhan took home the best supporting actor award for the movie too.

Hyderabad, January 26: South Zone Police has continued its campaign against the money lenders who charge exorbitant rates of interest and cause inconvenience to poor persons. Police has so far arrested 55 such money lenders including 17 Muslims.

Hyderabad, January 26: In order to prevent the country from slowing down the progress, it is necessary to conduct election only once during a span of 5 years. Frequent by-elections are hampering the progress of the country.

This proposal was made by Governor of A.P. Mr. E.S.L. Narasimhan while addressing a gathering at Ravindra Bharathi on the occasion of ‘Voters’ Day’ celebration.

Hyderabad, January 26: Chairman of Wakf Board Mr. Khusro Pasha visited the site of Masjid Balapur. Later, he spoke to newsmen and said that the intention of the land grabbers could be observed vividly.

If they wanted to reconstruct the mosque, they could have informed Wakf Board. By looking at the photograph of the mosque one can say that the mosque was in good condition.

Hyderabad, January 26: An American woman causes a flutter by abandoning her two-month-old son, born via an Indian surrogate mother, at the Passport Office in Secunderabad here on Wednesday, protesting delay in issuing passport to him.

J. Perllinda Vanburen Green, 40, however, took back her son after the police promised her to secure the travel documents at the earliest. The drama unfolded around 5 p.m. when the woman went up to the passport office. Later, she left the baby wrapped in clothes in the verandah and disappeared.

New Delhi, January 26: Author Salman Rushdie on Tuesday said that “Indian politicians are in bed with extremist groups”, reacting angrily to the cancellation of his visit to India and video address for the Jaipur Literature Festival.

“There is a lot of personal disappointment, but overwhelmingly for

New Delhi, January 26: The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India on Wednesday removed limits on text messages to computer systems that monitor industrial processes.

TRAI had earlier placed a daily limit of 200 messages per SIM card to curb unsolicited SMSes from telemarketers.

“The authority… hereby directs all access providers to exclude from the limit of two hundred SMS per day per SIM, all machine to machine and person to machine messages, where machine is not a mobile handset and no manual intervention is required at the receiving end,” TRAI said in its order.

Hyderabad, January 26: Politics over statues has come alive again in the state at a time when political parties and caste groups in the state are struggling for their identity. While the political parties are trying to strike a chord with the public by unveiling the statues of popular leaders, Sunday’s attack on the statues of Ambedkar and the subsequent protests have become an issue of argument with Dalit communities complaining of oppression by upper castes.

Mumbai, January 26: Shahrukh Khan, who is usually very good to the media apparently lashed out at a journalist who asked him a very general question on his actress and good friend Juhi Chawla.

Shahrukh Khan is mostly very nice to people and the media in particular. In fact, he hardly loses temper and is known to laugh off even the most serious and offensive questions.

Mumbai, January 26: Poonam Pandey, who is always on the lookout for opportunities to hit the headlines, posted her picture, dressed only in a white coloured lingerie. This was Poonam’s way to welcome the Indian Prime Minister’s office on Twitter.

Poonam Pandey, in her characteristic style posted on Twitter, “#iHeard @PMOIndia is on Twitter, does he Knows that @iPoonampandey is on Twitter too..so a Welcoming Pic.”

Tehran, January 26: Iran is mulling over a plan to stop oil exports to the European Union (EU) in retaliation against its oil embargo.

The EU foreign ministers Monday banned imports of oil from Iran that will take effect from July 1.

Iranian parliament is seeking to approve a plan to stop oil exports to Europe, Xinhua quoted the daily Tehran Times as saying Wednesday.

“All European countries that have imposed sanctions against Iran will not be able to buy even one drop of oil from Iran,” Nasser Soudani, member of parliament’s energy commission, said.

Mumbai, January 26: Claiming that there was a bid to separate Mumbai from Maharashtra, Shiv Sena executive president Uddhav Thackeray on Wednesday said the megapolis was not for sale.

“The chief minister (Ashok Chavan) and (Congress president) Sonia Gandhi won’t understand the price we have paid for getting Mumbai,” Uddhav said.

Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru did not want Mumbai to be a part of Maharashtra, he said addressing a poll campaign rally for BMC elections due next month at Vikhroli, a city suburb, on Wednesday night.

Hyderabad, January 26: Bengaluru-bound Indigo Airlines passengers on Thursday have to suffer 20-minutes delay as Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy and his retinue were late to catch the flight.

Indigo Airlines informed about the delay and claimed that they changed the rules due to the misleading information given by the chief minister’s staff.