Month: April 2012

MP’s letter forged to recommend Bappi Lahiri for award

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Unidentified individuals forged the signature of Uttar Pradesh MP Kamal Kishor on his letterhead and sent the government a recommendation for awarding music director and singer Bappi Lahiri a Padma Bhushan, India’s third highest civilian award, Delhi Police said Thursday.

On receiving a complaint from Kishor, who represents Bahraich constituency, a case was registered Wednesday, police said.

The MP approached police April 10 alleging that his letter pad and signature used by the miscreants were forged and he never sent any letter recommending Lahiri for the award.

Ahmedabad slum children to spread Gandhi’s message in US

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Sixteen children from the slums of Ahmedabad in Gujarat, will tour the United States from May 6 to June 16 to spread Mahatma Gandhi’s message of “Oneness” through a 90 minute dance-drama.

Called “Ekatva” (Oneness), the show sharing a “message of love, inspiration, and a call to action: to push the world closer to oneness and peace” will be staged in Chicago, Washington DC, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Houston, Austin, Atlanta and Montclair and New Jersey.

Team Anna alleges kickbacks in India’s major deals

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Team Anna Thursday released a set of documents that allude to “kickbacks and money laundering” in several defence and commercial deals of the Indian government, alleging that top government functionaries were aware of these.

The team also alleged the involvement of an accused in the Naval War Room leak case in these deals, as indicated by these documents, though they did not want to take responsibility for the authenticity of the documents or the veracity of their contents.

Suicide bomber gunned down in Pakistan

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A suicide bomber was shot dead and two of his companions sustained bullet injuries Thursday before they could attack a bus carrying Shia pilgrims in Pakistan’s Quetta city, officials said.

Police stopped the three suspects at a check-post but they tried to run away. Armed policemen followed and fired in the air to stop them but they threw a hand grenade at the security personnel besides opening fire with pistols.

In retaliation, the policemen shot one of them dead and injured his two companions, Xinhua reported.

HSBC says to cut 3,167 jobs in Britain

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HSBC on Thursday said it would cut 3,167 jobs as part of previously announced plans to reduce the bank’s global workforce by 30,000 over two years to 2013.

The London-headquartered bank added that due to the creation of 950 positions, the net loss for British jobs would total 2,217.

“HSBC is today announcing a restructure of its business in the UK which means that 2,217 people will be leaving the UK Bank during the coming months,” Europe’s biggest bank said in a statement.

Students clash with police in Allahabad, torch vehicles

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Protesting the order to vacate hostels, students of the Allahabad University Thursday fought pitched battles with police as they torched a police vehicle and two state transport buses as well damaging varsity property. Several students were injured in the clashes and taken to nearby medical facilities.

With the violence threatening to escalate further, police baton-charged the rampaging students and chased them away, a police spokesman told IANS. Police also lobbed tear gas shells to disperse the mob.

Deposed Miss Dominican Republic apologises

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Carlina Duran accepted the decision of organizers of the Miss Dominican Republic competition to strip her of her crown after verifying that she was married in violation of contest requirements.

Duran, a 26-year-old professional model, said she regretted the situation and attributed it to her “inexperience” in a communication read at the ceremony where the new Miss Dominican Republic, Dulcita Lieggi, was crowned.

Duran admitted that she married in 2009, but she said that the marriage never crystallized as per an agreement with her spouse, shortly thereafter, to annul the nuptials.

Sachin likely to take oath as MP today

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He has never set a foot wrong in the cricket field or off it. But now, Sachin Tendulkar finds himself in the middle of an altogether different ball game as he is likely to begin his political innings by taking oath as a Rajya Sabha MP today.

On Thursday, the government had nominated Sachin along with veteran actor Rekha and business leader Anu Aga to the Rajya Sabha, which was approved by the President of India, Smt. Pratibha Patil under Article 80 of the Constitution that allows the President to nominate 12 members to the 250-member Upper House.

Teenaged girl raped, set afire

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A teenaged girl was allegedly raped and set afire by a youth in Basantpur Parta village in Tikaitnagar area here, police said Thursday.

The incident took place last evening when the girl (16) was alone in her house and one Sonu Tiwari, who had come to the village to visit his relative, raped her and later sprinkled kerosene oil and set her afire, they said.

The girl was rushed to the hospital, where with 50 per cent burn injuries her condition was stated to be critical.

The police are trying to nab the accused.

–PTI

Rahul to visit Amethi April 30-May 2

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Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi would be in his Amethi parliamentary constituency in Uttar Pradesh from April 30-May 2. This would be his first visit to the state after the party’s drubbing in the assembly polls, party sources said on Wednesday.

He was expected to restrict himself to his constituency during the visit and find out the reasons for the party’s poor show in the assembly constituencies in Amethi, they said.

Minor raped, killed in UP

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A 16-year-old girl has been allegedly raped and killed in Jehananbad area here, police said on Thursday.

The victim was returning from a wedding last night when a youth Rajesh of his village allegedly raped her at gun point, police said.

Later, the girl was strangled to death by the youth.

Body of the girl was recovered from a field this morning, police said, adding the accused has been arrested.

–PTI

Snake in woman’s handbag

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A two-foot long snake in a Kerala tourist’s handbag created a flutter in a hotel in Udhagamandalam today.

The couple from Kochi had arrived at the hotel after spending the night at a resort in Mudumalai yesterday. When the woman opened her handbag in the hotel, she discovered a snake nestled inside. It was later identified as belonging to the non-venomous ‘wolf’ species.

As panic spread through the hotel, two volunteers from Save Snake -a service organisation- arrived at the scene and captured the reptile.

–PTI

Newly wed bride found hanging

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Less than a fortnight after her marriage, a woman was found hanging from a ceiling fan with her family alleging she was murdered by her husband for dowry. 39-year-old Sunita was found hanging from a ceiling fan last night and her husband Rakesh Sharma informed the Police. The couple got married just 12 days back on April 13 in Himachal Pradesh.

Student riot shuts down Allahabad University for 2 days

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Protesting the order to vacate hostels, students of the Allahabad University Thursday fought pitched battles with police as they torched a police vehicle and two state transport buses as well damaging varsity property. Several students were injured in the clashes and taken to nearby medical facilities.

With the violence threatening to escalate further, police baton-charged the rampaging students and chased them away, a police spokesman said. Police also lobbed tear gas shells to disperse the mob.

Church asks British schools to oppose gay marriages

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The Roman Catholic Church has contacted its schools in England and Wales and asked them to encourage pupils to oppose gay marriages and promote traditional heterosexual relationships.

The Catholic Education Service contacted a total of 385 secondary schools, and asked them to circulate a letter defending the traditional definition of marriage, the Telegraph reported.

Schools were also invited to promote a petition by the Coalition For Marriage opposing the government’s plans to allow homosexual couples to marry.

Verdict in ND Tiwari paternity case today

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The Delhi High Court on Friday is expected to deliver a decision on the ND Tiwari paternity row. Rohit Shekhar, who claims to be the senior Congress leader’s biological son had challenged the high court’s order. The court had earlier noted that Tiwari cannot be forced to give his blood samples for a DNA test.

The court had on February 28 reserved its order on Shekhar’s plea which said the single-judge bench had failed to deal with Tiwari’s “dismissive conduct” against its previous order to give his blood sample to decide his paternity suit.

India’s financial system is strong: RBI

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A day after global credit rating agency S&P cut India’s outlook to ‘negative’, RBI today said the country’s financial system is strong and sometimes these ratings are discounted by markets.

It also said that the Reserve Bank will intervene in the forex market only if there is high volatility in the currency market, not just because of the ratings.

RBI Deputy Governor K C Chakrabarty said the central bank will come out in June with its next financial stability report, which showcases the country’s financial strength, and it will reflect the position of the economy.

Thackeray senior would not meet Hazare, says Uddhav

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Shiv Sena executive president Uddhav Thackeray said this evening that his father and party supremo Bal Thackeray would not meet Anna Hazare as long as he was accompanied by “corrupt people”.

Hazare has been meeting prominent politicians from the state for a strong Lokayukta in Maharashtra.

Uddhav was here to lay the foundation stone of Marathwada Mukti Sangram Museum at the Siddharth Udyan area.

“Balasaheb would not meet him as long as Hazare is surrounded by corrupt people,” Uddhav said, reacting to a
question.

Hillary Clinton to visit India on May 5

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US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will visit India early next month as part of a three-nation Asia tour to consult with the Indian leadership on key regional and global issues including Afghanistan, Pakistan, China and Myanmar.

Clinton’s sudden decision to visit India came as a surprise as a stopover in New Delhi was not on her initial Asia itinerary that was primarily meant to attend the fourth round of US-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue in Beijing on May 3-4.

’10-year-old girls can marry,’: Saudi grand mufti

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The Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia has reportedly voiced his support for the marriage of under-age females in the kingdom, while condemning those who seek to raise the legal marriage age.

A girl is ready to marry at 10 or 12 years of age according to Islam, London-based Al Hayat reported Sheikh Abdul-Aziz Al Sheikh as saying, adding that Islamic law is not repressive to women.

“Those who call for raising the age of marriage to 25 are absolutely mistaken,”Al Sheikh said in a lecture at the faculty of Imam Mohamed bin Saud Islamic University in Riyadh.

SC to hear Nupur Talwar’s review petition today

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The Supreme Court on Friday will hear a petition filed by Nupur Talwar, an accused in the 2008 murder of her teenaged daughter Aarushi, seeking review of the court’s order that directed her and husband Rajesh Talwar to face trial in the case.

Today’s hearing comes after the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) told the Supreme Court on Wednesday that the Nupur Talwar – accused in the 2008 double murder of her daughter Aarushi and domestic help Hemraj – is “misusing the law”.

EPF interest rate will be raised to 8.6% this year

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Interest rate on employees’ provident fund will be increased to 8.6 per cent for the current fiscal, a move which will benefit around five crore subscribers.

“The rates were brought down due to lower income (on investment in Special Deposit Schemes)…There is no question of minimum or maximum interest rates. We distribute it as per our revenue. Next time, it will be 8.6 per cent,” Labour Minister Mallikarjun Kharge said in the Rajya Sabha replying to a debate on working of Labour Ministry.

Govt. building housing society for Secretariat employees on wakf land

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In continued encroachment of wakf properties, the Andhra Pradesh government is now going to usurp the 86 acre land of Dargah Syed Rohullah and Mahdavia community graveyard to construct housing for the state secretariat employees.

The A.P. government has started the construction work for the housing society that will consist of 850 houses. For the purpose, the government has taken away 86 out of 100 acres of Dargah Syed Ruhulllah in Neknampur, a suburb of the state capital Hyderabad.

BJP refuses to withdraw candidate from RS poll

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Ruling BJP today rejected the plea of its state coalition ally Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) to it
to withdraw its candidate S S Ahluwalia for Rajya Sabha poll even as the last date of withdrawal of nominations ended.

“Our candidate is very much in the fray and we will ensure his win,” BJP’s state unit secretary Pradip Kumar Sinha
told PTI here.

BJP persisted with its candidate a day after JMM leader and Deputy Chief Minister Hemant Soren had written a letter to BJP President Nitin Gadkari and urged him to withdraw Ahluwalia from the race and instead support JMM candidate