Month: June 2012

Police bust bike-lifter gang in Gurgaon

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The Special Cell of Gurgaon police arrested four people, including two final year college students, on charges of lifting two-wheelers, police said on Friday.

The police also recovered 65 two-wheelers from them. This is the biggest recovery ever made by Gurgaon police.

“We have taken them on two days’ remand. We are sure that more bikes would be recovered after grilling them,” Sanjeev Balhara, Special Cell chief told IANS.

The accused started lifting bikes to entertain their girlfriends, Mr Balhara said.

Delhi MLA Bharat Singh shot at,critical condition

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Najafgarh independent MLA Bharat Singh was shot at this morning in south-west Delhi by “four-five” unknown attackers with police suspecting it to be a case of personal rivalry.

A passerby Dharampal was also injured in the incident which took place near the MLA’s office in Najafgarh’s Sarangpur village at around 8:30 AM, a senior police official said.

According to the official, four to five people came and opened fire at Singh, the 35-year-old MLA from Najafgarh, who suffered a bullet injury.

Bill Gates meets Indian business heads in Bangalore

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Microsoft founder Bill Gates on Friday held talks about philanthropy and its impact on society with some of India’s top businessmen in Bangalore.

Mr Gates shared his thoughts on philanthropy with industry stalwarts like Wipro Chairman Azim Premji, Infosys Chairman Emeritus Narayana Murthy, Tata Group Chairman Ratan Tata and Biocon Chairman and Managing Director Kiran Mazumdar Shaw among others, industry sources said.

Prosecutors ‘tarring’ Rajat Gupta: US judge

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A US federal court judge trying Rajat Gupta on insider trading charges has observed that prosecutors were “tarring” the former Indian-American managing director of McKinsey & Co. with an unrelated separate scheme.

“That’s the problem,” US District Judge Jed Rakoff said when Gupta’s lawyer, Gary Naftalis, argued in a hearing Friday outside the jury’s presence that prosecutors were attempting to retry the case of convicted hedge fund billionaire Rajaratnam to get his client.

Will Hosni Mubarak face death penalty?

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An Egyptian court may announce its verdict on Saturday in the landmark trial of ousted president Hosni Mubarak, 15 months after a popular mass uprising forced him out of power.

Mubarak (84) along with former interior minister Habib al-Adly and six others could face the gallows if convicted of ordering the deaths of some of the estimated 850 people.

The case also includes the president’s sons, Alaa and Gamal. They are accused of killing peaceful protesters and wasting public funds.

Tatra deal:Gen Singh rejects demand for apology

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Former Army Chief General VK Singh on Friday rejected the demand for an apology made by BEML chief V R S Natarajan on allegations of bribe in the Tatra truck deal.

“Apology for what, I would like to ask Natarajan that. I have not alleged anything, I have just stated some facts, he said reacting to Natarajan’s demand at a press conference in Bangalore where he had said the BEML has slapped a legal notice to Gen Singh seeking an apology for levelling allegations of bribe in the Tatra truck deal.

Ramdev, Team Anna vitiating atmosphere: Cong

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The Congress on Friday made light of the proposed fast by Ramdev and Anna Hazare on Sunday and accused them of “vitiating” the atmosphere by putting out “half baked, out of reference stories”.

“Fasting is good for health in summers. You should eat less and drink more water in the hot months,” Congress spokesperson Renuka Chowdhury said on the proposed fast by the activists on the issue of corruption.

Hitting out at Team Anna and Ramdev for targeting the Prime Minister on coal bloc allocations, she said it was “irresponsible” talk by Ramdev and others.

16 fall sick after having curd

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Sixteen persons fell sick after having curd at Jaypur area of Howrah district today.

Official sources said the people, belonging to adjoining Khalna and Jaypur localities, complained of vomitting and nasuea after consuming the curd bought from a sweetmeat shop in Khalna area.

None of the ailing persons was in serious condition but the curd of the shop has been seized and taken for test.

———————–PTI

UN agency expresses concern over Pakistan scribes’ killings

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The head of UN agency, which defends news media freedom, has expressed concern about the increasing number of journalists being killed in Pakistan, and called upon the authorities in South Asian nation to investigate the two most recent murders that took place in May.

Irina Bokova, the director-general of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation, in a statement issued yesterday described the situation as alarming. “The number of journalists who are paying with their lives for doing their job in Pakistan is alarming,” she said.

BJP to launch countrywide stir from June 7

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BJP on Friday announced it will hold a fortnight-long agitation across the country from June 7 which will culminate in a court arrest programme on June 22 to protest steep hike in petrol prices, alleged attack on the country’s federal structure by the Centre and price rise.

In a statement issued, BJP General Secretary Ananth Kumar said the decision to launch a ‘Jan Sangharsh Abhiyan’ (Public Struggle Campaign) was taken at a meeting of office-bearers on Thursday chaired by Party President Nitin Gadkari.

Pak hikes defence allocation 10 per cent

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Pakistan today increased the defence allocation in its fiscal 2012-13 budget to Rs 545 billion (about USD 5.82 billion), marking an increase of 10 per cent over the outlay for the current fiscal.

The allocation for the defence services amounted to 18.4 per cent of the federal budget of Rs 2,960 billion for fiscal 2012-13.

Further details, including allocations for the three services and weapons acquisition programmes, were not
immediately available.

Official budget documents presented in parliament said a sum of Rs 545 billion had been allocated for the defence

5.0 magnitude quake hits north western China

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An earthquake measuring 5.0 on the Richter scale jolted northwestern China bordering Tajikistan and Kyrgyztan on Friday.

The earthquake struck Wuqia county in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region of China at 8:32 pm (local time), according to the China Earthquake Networks Center (CENC), state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

The epicentre, with a depth of 7 km, was at 39.9 degrees north latitude and 75.1 degrees east longitude.

There were no immediate reports of damage or casulty.

–PTI

Heat wave to continue in coastal AP, Telangana for next 2 days

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Severe heat wave conditions would continue to prevail in Guntur and Krishna districts of Coastal Andhra Pradesh and heat wave would also prevail in Adilabad, Warangal, Khammam and Karimnagar districts of Telangana region during the next two days.

Heat wave conditions were likely to abate in coastal Andhra Pradesh and Telangana and the forecast for Hyderabad city and neighbourhood valid until the morning of June 3, 2012, was that the maximum and minimum temperature would be around 41 and 29 degrees Celsius respectively, MET office said in a bulletin here today.

Verdict for ousted Egyptian president expected today

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An Egyptian court may announce its verdict today in the landmark trial of ousted president Hosni Mubarak, 15 months after a popular mass uprising forced him out of power.

Mubarak (84) along with former interior minister Habib al-Adly and six others could face the gallows if convicted of ordering the deaths of some of the estimated 850 people.

The case also includes the president’s sons Alaa and Gamal.

They are accused of killing peaceful protesters and wasting public funds.

Misbah calls for quick revival of Indo-Pak bilateral cricket

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Pakistan’s Test and one-day skipper Misbahul Haq called for quick revival of bilateral cricket against arch-rivals India, saying fans were keen to see the teams play.

‘It is very important that we have a quick revival of Indo-Pak cricket, because fans desperately want to see both countries play,’ Misbah was quoted as saying by the ‘Express Tribune’.

India broke off diplomatic and sporting ties with its neighbour after the 2008 attacks on Mumbai which left 166 people dead and were blamed on militants based in Pakistan.

Ramdev, Team Anna vitiating atmosphere: Cong

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The Congress on Friday made light of the proposed fast by Ramdev and Anna Hazare on Sunday and accused them of “vitiating” the atmosphere by putting out “half baked, out of reference stories”.

“Fasting is good for health in summers. You should eat less and drink more water in the hot months,” Congress spokesperson Renuka Chowdhury said on the proposed fast by the activists on the issue of corruption.

Hitting out at Team Anna and Ramdev for targeting the Prime Minister on coal bloc allocations, she said it was “irresponsible” talk by Ramdev and others.

No further appeal against Bhagvad Gita translation in Russia

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Russian prosecutors have decided against taking forward their case seeking a ban on a translated version of Bhagvad Gita, bringing down the curtains on the sensitive issue that had enraged Hindus globally and even threatened to strain Russia’s ties with India.

State prosecutors in the Siberian city of Tomsk will not challenge a lower court decision to refuse to declare the translation of the Hindu scripture as “extremist”, RAPSI legal news agency reported.

Oil companies may cut petrol price by Rs 1.75 per litre next week

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Petrol prices may be cut by about Rs 1.75 a litre early next week as oil companies skipped the regular date for revision in rates.

State-owned oil firms, which as per practice revise rates of petrol on 1st and 16th of every month based on average oil price in the previous fortnight, decided to “wait and watch” the situation for a couple of more days before cutting prices, industry sources said.

Petrol prices were last week raised by a steep Rs 7.54 a litre and softening in international oil rates had given them a huge scope for rollbacking a part of this.

HC orders probe into custodial torture allegation against SP

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Gujarat High Court today ordered a probe by CID crime into the allegation of custodial torture against
Subhash Trivedi, Superintendent of Police of Jamnagar.

Justice A S Dave ordered that a DIG level official of CID Crime be entrusted with the probe and he should submit his report till June 25. The probe would cover issues including who pressurised the complainant to withdraw his complaint against Mr Trivedi, in what circumstances and for what reason.

Ban Ki-Moon says bold steps needed to stop Syrian violence

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The escalating violence in Syria shows the urgent need for the international community to take bolder steps, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told a news conference in Istanbul today.

Ban voiced fears a day earlier that any repeat of the massacre of civilians a week ago in Houla could tip Syria
into a civil war, and drag neighbouring countries into a bloody sectarian conflict.

If the escalating violence shows anything, it is that we urgently need bolder steps,’ Ban told a news conference
at the end of an international meeting on aid for Somalia.

——————–REUTERS

Clinton: Iran must take concrete nuclear steps

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Major powers will know within a few weeks if Iran plans to take concrete action to demonstrate that its nuclear programme is for peaceful purposes, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said today.

Six major powers are scheduled to hold a third round of talks with Iran in Moscow on June 18-19 that the West hopes
will persuade Iran to answer questions about its nuclear programme, which the West suspects is designed to develop
nuclear weapons.

ran says its nuclear programme is for peaceful purposes.

Home sweet home: Obama to sleep under own roof in Chicago

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President Barack Obama will spend the night in his own home in Chicago today, the White House said.

White House spokesman Josh Earnest confirmed the president would stay in the house in the upscale Hyde Park
neighborhood of Chicago, and might even indulge in that simplest of pleasures – making his own breakfast.

Obama, joking with reporters last month after a NATO summit in Chicago, made it clear that security and traffic
concerns had made it impossible for him to go home for a night during that visit, even though he was only a few
miles away.

Court issues non-bailable warrant against Emaar MD

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The Principal Special CBI court at Nampally today issued Non-bailable Warrant (NBW) against Emaar Managing Director Shravan Gupta in Emaar properties land scam case.

The court issued the NBW against Mr Gupta after taking into cognizance the supplementary charge sheet filed by the
Investigating agency in the court.

Judge A Pullaiah also directed the Chanchalguda Jail authorities to produce Vijay Raghava, Emaar-MGF Finance
Head (South) and Sunil Reddy, a distant relative of Kadapa MP Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy who were allegedly involved in the case, in the court on June 18.

Jagan turned MLAs into purchaseable commodities: Nama

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Telugu Desam Parliamentary Party leader Nama Nageswara Rao has alleged that the YSR Congress party chief Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy has turned MLAs into purchasable commodity.

Talking to the media here on Friday, he called upon the people not to allow defectors to move about amongst them. Referring to suspension of a CBI court judge for accepting bribe to grant bail to the jailed former Karnataka Minister Gali Janardana Reddy, Nama said that it was shocking that the Mafia in the State has started to corrupt all the systems, including the judiciary.