Month: January 2012

London, January 24: The European Union agreed on Monday to slap an embargo on Iran’s oil exports as the West ramped up pressure on Tehran’s suspect nuclear drive and urged it to return to the negotiating table.

“This is an important decision. It will be a major strengthening of the sanctions applied on Iran,” said British Foreign Secretary William Hague.

“It is absolutely right to do this in view of Iran’s continued breach of UN Security Council resolutions and refusal to come to meaningful negotiations on the nuclear programme,” he added.

Hyderabad, January 24: It’s the owners of residential properties in the Old City who are rejoicing these days. With no new constructions underway to satiate the ever-spiraling demand for space in this part of town, rentals here have shot through the roof, say observers.

Hyderabad, January 24: CM Mr. N. Kiran Kumar Reddy has started preparations for by elections of six Assembly constituencies of Telangana. He has decided to conduct a survey on the performance of Congress Party. An institution from Delhi has been entrusted the responsibility of conducting the survey of the status of Congress in Telangana area.

Suri, January 24: An 18-year-old girl was allegedly tortured and paraded in a semi-naked condition by family members of her second husband in a Birbhum village on Sunday night.

The administration admitted the girl to Rampurhat subdivisional hospital on Monday. Her sister-in-law was detained for interrogation though the rest of the accused and the woman’s husband went into hiding.

Fiji, January 24: A magnitude-6.3 earthquake has shaken the Pacific region south of the Fiji islands.

There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries, and the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center did not issue any alerts or warnings after the quake.

The United States Geological Survey reported the earthquake struck Tuesday afternoon 759 km south of Fiji, at a depth of 583 km.

–Agencies

Srinagar, January 24: Seven security personnel went missing on Tuesday after being hit by an avalanche near the LoC in Kupwara district.

“A snow avalanche struck Furkian top in Kupwara at 7.20 AM. Five armymen and two BSF jawans were hit by the avalanche and are yet to be traced,” Defence Spokesman Lt Colonel J S Brar said.

He said the joint team of Army and BSF were clearing snow between their camp and an outpost when the avalanche occurred.

“Rescue teams from local camp and Gulmarg have been rushed to the spot to trace the missing soldiers,” he said.

Uttarakhand, January 24: Top leaders of different political parties are criss crossing poll bound states, making allegations and counter allegations.

Campaigning in Uttarakhand for the first time, Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi hit out against BJP questioning its commitment to fight corruption.

Addressing a rally in Srinagar, he said BJP changed the Chief Minister of the state to cover up wrong doings of the previous ones.

He further said turning blind eye to corruption in other states under its rule and admitting tainted former UP Minister Baburam Khushwaha exposed BJP.

New Delhi, January 24: Dubbing the controversy surrounding controversial author Salman Rushdie as a case of “match fixing” between intelligence agencies and “jehadis”, BJP today accused the Congress of using it to gain political mileage in poll-bound Uttar Pradesh.

“It is a clear case of match fixing between intelligence agencies and jehadis in which the Congress government of Rajasthan played a supportive and active role,” BJP chief spokesperson Ravi?Shankar Prasad told reporters here.

Jeddah, January 24: A total of 448 people involved in smuggling children from Yemen to the Kingdom along the southern borders were caught last year, Al-Eqtisadiah reported Monday. The local daily was quoting commander of the Saudi Border Guards Gen. Zameem Al-Sawwat.

He said the arrested smugglers would receive jail terms of 3 to 6 months and the punishment would be doubled in case the crime was repeated. “The smuggled children will be sent back to their home countries,” he added.

Abu Dhabi, January 24: A man returned home in Abu Dhabi to relax away from work only to find his four wives locked in a heated argument. His decision to end the fight was so decisive that he divorced three of them and beat up the fourth.

The court was equally decisive when it sentenced him to one month in prison and fined him Dh2,000. He then appealed for mercy, a chance he had not given to his wives but the appeals court upheld the earlier verdict.

Mumbai, January 24: Possibly following Shahrukh Khan’s footsteps, Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan is also on his way to rediscover himself in a new metrosexual avatar. Being metrosexual is a pleasure, a luxury- possibly Big B has understood why ladies spent their lives in beauty salons and parlours.

For the first time in life, Amitabh went offbeat and shed his angry young man image. He went for his first manicure and pedicure at the age of 69. An excited Big B shared his great experience on his blog.

There was a time when our country was a colony of Britain and these days many colonies have come up in our country. It is another thing that these colonies are called housing colonies. Whether the colonies of Britain or of housing, the purpose of both is to trouble people.

Chennai, January 24: Tamil Nadu Chief minister J. Jayalalithaa on Monday filed defamation complaints against Nakkheeran Gopal for printing a false article alleging that she ate beef and against Mr N. Ram of The Hindu for reproducing the malicious matter in his newspaper.

City public prosecutor M.L. Jagan moved the petitions on her behalf before the principal sessions court here.

The petition against Mr Gopal has also named his joint editor A. Kamaraj and reporter Umarmukhtat, while Mr B. Kolappan of The Hindu too figures as the author of the article that appeared in his paper.

New Delhi, January 24: Asking a catering manager to take his articles to a train through a proper passage cost a 53-year-old railway police constable his life this morning.

The incident took place at New Delhi railway station at around 6 AM, and the deceased has been identified as Riyaz, a Government Railway Police (GRP) constable. He was on duty at Platform no one, police said.

“Riyaz objected to the caterer’s men bringing articles to load them in a train through an unauthorised route. He asked them to take a proper gate and not the back gate.

London, January 24: Israel could launch a unilateral strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities without much prior notice to its closest ally for over 60 year, US, according to information reaching here from Tel Aviv.

Chandigarh, January 24: Acting on a tip off, District Mining Officer, Yamunanagar, on Sunday carried out searches in Asra farm in village Faizpur to stop illegal mining activities being allegedly undertaken in Khizrabad zone by the farm owner.

Yamunanagar’s Mining Officer Sanjay Sabharwal searched the farm where the illegal mining was being allegedly carried out by Asra, son of Mamudin, the owner of the farm, and arrested two persons on the spot, an official release said here.

Mumbai,January 24 : TAKING a serious view of the Maharashtra ATS claim of having worked out the 13/ 7 serial blasts in Mumbai, home minister P. Chidambaram on Monday called up state agency chief Rakesh Maria and demanded to know the basis of his assertion.

The call came minutes after Maria made the claim at a hurriedly convened press conference in Mumbai and the special cell of the Delhi Police reportedly complained to Chidambaram that among the Maharashtra ATS “ catches” was Naqi Ahmed Sheikh, who was actually helping police nab Yasin Bhatkal and unravel the blast conspiracy.

New Delhi,January 24:AS THE figures suggest, Delhi’s child sex ratio — or the number of girls in the 0- 6 age group per 1,000 boys — has dipped over the past decade. This should be a cause of concern for the government. As it is, the Capital’s child sex ratio always compared unfavourably with the national average.

Now it has started sliding. But Delhi’s woman and child welfare minister Kiran Walia feels the statistics don’t tell the true story.

Amritsar, January 24: Living in penury and hardly being able to make two ends meet has not prevented a 60 year-old rickshaw puller from jumping into the poll fray.

Mahinder Singh is contesting the January 30 Punjab Assembly polls from Amritsar (East) as an Independent.

Following his daily routine, he gets up early in the morning and quickly goes around looking to pick up the ‘sawaaris’ (passengers) so that he has some money at the end of the day to feed his family.

Hyderabad,January 24 :The All India Congress Committee ( AICC) general secretary is said to be looking for a bridegroom for his daughter in Hyderabad rather than in his home state of Jammu & Kashmir.

Azad, who is also the AICC incharge of Andhra Pradesh affairs, came to Hyderabad recently for participating in the party’s coordination committee meeting at Gandhi Bhavan, the state headquarters of the Congress.

In a departure from practice, this time he also brought along his wife Shameem, who is a prominent Kashmiri singer.

Hyderabad, January 24: The State machinery got busy today to make arrangements for the visit of Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, on February 4, to give a push to two mega projects — the L&T implemented Hyderabad Metro Rail Project and Rajiv Yuva Kiranalu.

The Chief Minister, Mr N. Kiran Kumar Reddy, along with ministers and government officials inspected the Gachibowli main stadium for “Rajiv Yuva Kiranalu” function and the proposed site for the “Hyderabad Metro Rail Project” near NIFT, Madhapur.

Islamabad, January 24: Pakistan’s ISI chief Lt Gen Ahmed Shuja Pasha held a secret meeting with former military ruler Pervez Musharraf in Dubai and advised him not to return to the country, according to a media report Tuesday.

“Gen Pasha, who has remained very close to the former President, held a meeting with (Musharraf) in Dubai and advised him not to return to the country as the situation is not conducive for his return,” a source was quoted as saying by Dawn News channel.

Islamabad, January 24: Amidst security concerns, controversial Pakistani-American businessman Mansoor Ijaz’s counsel on Monday said that his client will not come to Pakistan. However, Pakistani Interior Minister Rehman Malik assured foolproof security to the businessman at the heart of the Memogate scandal.

Ijaz is currently in Dubai. He was scheduled to appear before the Pakistani judicial commission probing the Memogate scandal on January 24.

Mumbai, January 24: Bollywood’s fashionista Sonam Kapoor is now heading for Paris fashion show. Actor Anil Kapoor’s daughter darling Sonam received a personal invitation from French designer Jean Paul Gaultier for his show in Paris.

Sonam Kapoor recently wore a couture dress by the French designer during her film Players’ Dubai premiere. The dress was from Jean Paul Gaultier Fall 2011 collection. Also if reports are to be believed, she received another invitation from a Lebanese designer.

——-Agencies

Mumbai, January 24: One of India’s most wanted men, Yasin Bhatkal, had planned and executed the deadly triple blasts that rocked Mumbai on July 13, 2011, the Maharashta Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS), which cracked the case, said on Monday.

Announcing the breakthrough, ATS chief Rakesh Maria said, “Till date we have made two arrests in the blasts case – 22-year-old Naqi Ahmed; he is a resident of Deora Bhangoli village in Dharbhanga disctrict of Bihar but since Sep-Oct 2010, had come to Mumbai and lived in Madanpura area, and 23-year-old Nadim Akhtar; he was staying in Antop Hill.”