The CBI Special Court on Friday adjourned the hearing on bail petition of former Excise and Prohibition Minister Mopidevi Venkata Ramana Rao to August 7. He is one of the accused in the disproportionate assets case of YSR Congress party president Jagan Mohan Reddy.
Main opposition Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) leader Swami Prasad Maurya today sarcastically remarked that the ‘power grid’ in Uttar Pradesh had collapsed on March 15, the day the Samajwadi Party government came to power in the state ‘Now the state is being ruled by at least four Chief Ministers,’ who included one super CM Mulayam Singh Yadav and two Chief Ministers in waiting, resulting in utter confusion, the newly-appointed BSP national General Secretary alleged at a press conference drawing a parallel between the grid failure and recent political events.
Poverty in the country has come down to 26 per cent as per the latest data of household expenditure prepared by the NSSO for 2011-12, the Planning Commission said on Friday.
“Many of the academicians…said that poverty in 2011-12 using the Tendulakar line would probably be around 26 per cent or little more than that which is much lower than what it was in 2000, ” Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia said.
He said this while commenting on the latest data on household expenditure compiled by the National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) for 2011-12.
Noted Journalist Syed Majeed-Ul-Hassan Jaffri died at Jeddah in Saudi Arabia yesterday following cardiac arrest. He was 60. He is survived by his wife, a son and three daughters, his family sources here today.
Adi Kavi Nannaya University (AKNU) Registrar DSVVD Prasad today said the affiliation of Degree Colleges in both East and West Godavari districts to AKNU was now under process and already Andhra University has issued the relevant proceedings affecting the transfer on August one. Addressing a press conference at Rajahmundry today, he said half-a-dozen retired and experienced employees of Andhra University would be joining AKNU shortly to oversee the affiliation process.
Andhra Pradsh Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy today said the ambitious task of providing employment to 15 lakh youths under ‘Rajiv Yuva Kiranalu’ will be achieved despite formative difficulties and criticism. Speaking at the Natiional Work on ‘Skill development: Opportunities & Challenges’ organised by the Rajiv Education and Employment Mission in Andhra Pradesh (REEMAP) here, the Chief Minister said, “We made an aggresive start of the programme. There are some hurdles which we have to overcome. There was criticism without understanding the programme.
Five Pakistani Army officers, including a brigadier, have been jailed for having links with a banned extremist group.
The Field General Court Marshal convicted them for having links with Hizb-ul-Tehrir group, Xinhua reported on Friday. The trial lasted for several months.
Brigadier Ali Khan, Major Sohail Akbar and Major Jawad Baseer will serve five, three and two years of rigorous imprisonment respectively, while Major Inayat Aziz and Major Iftikhar were awarded one and a half year in jail each, the Army said in a statement.
The convicts have the right to appeal.
–IANS
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minster N Kiran Kumar Reddy today visited the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport’s state-of-the-art Maintenance Repair and Overhaul (MRO) facility. This was the first visit by the Chief Minister to the MRO facility.
The Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited (RINL) Chairman cum Managing Director AP Choudhary today inaugurated the two day second “AP State Level Student Convention 2012” jointly organised by Computer Society of India(CSI)in the Steel City. Speaking after inaugurating the two-day State Level Students convention here, he asked the Students to develop communication skills through interaction amongst themselves. He said opportunities exist outside campus selections and one should not get perturbed if not selected in the campus interviews.
Dismissing the media reports that they had arrested three IT employees, Cyberabad Deputy Commissioner of Police Yoganand today said the investigation over the death of software employee Neelima on July 31, at Infosys campus located at Hitec-city in the city was underway. Talking to the media here, Mr Yoganand said police got visuals of Neelima on the day of her death, through the CCTV cameras in the Infosys campus where she was found dead.
In a widely followed case of dishonour killing, a Pakistan-origin couple was on Friday jailed for life after being held guilty of murdering their teenaged daughter who allegedly brought shame to the family due to her westernised lifestyle.
Shafilea Ahmed, 17, was missing from her home in Warrington, Cheshire, in 2003 and was found dead on the banks of the River Kent in Cumbria six months later.
Her parents, Iftikhar Ahmed, 52, and Farzana Ahmed, 49, had denied her murder but the jury at Chester Crown Court today returned guilty verdicts against them both after a three-month trial.
The CBI has quizzed two Rajasthan legislators over the past 10 days in connection with communal violence in Bharatpur district September last year which left at least 10 Meo Muslims dead and 21 others injured, sources close to the agency said Friday.
Parliamentary secretary and Congress legislator from Kaman constituency in Bharatpur, Zahida Khan, was summoned to the Central Bureau of Investigation’s Delhi headquarters and interrogated till late Thursday, the sources said.
At least five soldiers were killed and as many military personnel injured after a roadside bomb exploded on Friday in an Iraqi town, police said.
The explosion occurred near an Iraqi security force patrol in Dhuluiyah town, some 80 km from capital city Baghdad, Xinhua reported citing a police source.
Security forces cordoned off the area and launched a search operation following the incident, he added.
–IANS
Over 350 Haj pilgrims selected for free accommodation in the ‘rubath’ (buildings) of the former Nizam of Hyderabad in Makkah are caught in a fight between the property’s caretaker and the Wakf Committee over the right to choose the beneficiaries.
Mohammed Hussain Al-Shareef, ‘nazer’ or caretaker of the two ‘rubath’ in the Saudi Arabian holy city, last week conducted an online draw of lots to select 367 pilgrims from Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Maharashtra. The two buildings can accommodate 408 pilgrims but the caretaker has set aside 10 percent for the Nizam’s family members.
An orphan girl was allegedly sold for Rs 50,000 by one of her friends in Aligarh district, police said.
The girl, who belonged to Tanda area in Bulandshahr, was taken to Aligarh by her classmate with the help of some of her accomplices on July 20, Superintendent of Police, Bulandshahr, Srikant Yadav said.
The girl was sold for Rs 50,000 in Aligarh, the SP said. A case was registered and the accused girl has been arrested, he said.
–PTI
BJP President Nitin Gadkari on Friday said he has discussed the issue of NDA Prime Ministerial candidate with ally and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and assured him that no decision has yet been taken on Narendra Modi being the party’s choice for the top post.
“I told him (Nitish Kumar) that we have not taken a decision on it (Prime Ministerial candidate). I told him that you are a part of NDA and when we in NDA decide who should be the candidate, we will discuss it with you too. Till then, discussing it is irrelevant,” Gadkari told a TV channel.
(IANS/RIA Novosti) A late burst in the last 20 meters gave American swimmer Michael Phelps gold in the men’s 100 meters butterfly final Friday, his last individual competition.
Phelps clocked 51.21 to take his 17th career gold medal, two tenths ahead of Russia’s Evgeny Korotyshkin, who claimed the silver.
“It’s a good way to finish my last individual swim ever,” said Phelps.
Chad le Clos of South Africa won the bronze, given the same time as Korotyshkin.
Phelps has vowed to retire after the London Games.
India’s Vikas Krishan kept alive hopes for an Olympic medal in boxing as he won the pre-quarterfinal bout to enter the last eight of the men’s 69 kg category here at ExCel London Friday.
The 20-year-old beat American Errol Spence with an overall score of 13-11.
The Indian pugilist took off well. Aided with some sharp jabs at his American opponent he took a lead of 4-2 in the first round.
Spence, 22, came back well with a flurry of punches into Vikas’ body. The Bhiwani boxer responded well and punched Spence on his forehead twice.
Haryana police today conducted a raid at the central jail here and seized a mobile phone and drugs from the inmates.
A team of around 60 policemen, including a few senior officers, conducted the raid on a tip-off that mobile phones
and drugs were being used by jail inmates.
A mobile phone, two chargers and a small quantity of drugs were recovered during the raid, police said.
During the last one year, jail authorities have recovered around 20 mobile phones from the inmates of the central jail.
Film: “Jism 2”; Starring: Randeep Hooda, Arunoday Singh, Sunny Leone; Directed by: Pooja Bhatt; Rating: ***Nine years after “Jism” gave us a new kind of heroine in Bipasha Basu who emerged with erotic insouciance out of the water and headed straight for the hip region, “Jism 2” gives us a strangely inhibited porn-star heroine.
The CBI has quizzed two Rajasthan legislators over the past 10 days in connection with communal violence in Bharatpur district September last year which left at least 10 Meo Muslims dead and 21 others injured, sources close to the agency said Friday.
Parliamentary secretary and Congress legislator from Kaman constituency in Bharatpur, Zahida Khan, was summoned to the Central Bureau of Investigation’s Delhi headquarters and interrogated till late Thursday, the sources said.
Five Pakistani Army officers, including a brigadier, have been jailed for having links with a banned extremist group.
The Field General Court Marshal convicted them for having links with Hizb-ul-Tehrir group, Xinhua reported Friday. The trial lasted for several months.
Brigadier Ali Khan, Major Sohail Akbar and Major Jawad Baseer will serve five, three and two years of rigorous imprisonment respectively, while Major Inayat Aziz and Major Iftikhar were awarded one and a half year in jail each, the army said in a statement.
The convicts have the right to appeal.
LeT operative Sayed Ansari alias Abu Jundal has told interrogators that four Indians were working for the banned terror outfit in Pakistan in 2006 and the raids conducted by the Army and Federal Investigation Agency on terror camps in that country after the 26/11 strike were an “eyewash”.
(IANS/AKI) An Italian journalist is suing the US government and the Italian interior ministry for $25 million, claiming that she provided information which helped US to reach former Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and shot him dead last year.
Investigative journalist Mary Pace, known for her work in solving Italian mysteries, claims that in 2003, she gave Italian authorities information on the terror chief’s whereabouts that was passed on to the US government.
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy today visited the Maintenance Repair & Overhaul (MRO) facility at Rajiv Gandhi International Airport.
This is the first visit by the Chief Minister to the facility, which was inaugurated in March this year.
Home Minister Sabitha Indira Reddy, Major Industries Minister J Geeta Reddy and Infrastructure Minister Ganta Srinivasa Rao accompanied the Chief Minister, a release said.
–Agencies