Month: August 2012

Ammonium nitrate used as explosives in Pune blasts: Forensic

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The explosive material used by terrorists to trigger coordinated serial bomb blasts in Pune was ammonium nitrate, according to a preliminary forensic examination.

Official sources privy to the investigations said tonight that ammonium nitrate, which has been often used by banned terrorist outfits like Indian Mujahideen, was packed inside a steel box.

The sources said a timer was also attached to the steel box and a combination of Neogel, generally used in stone
quarries, and ammonium nitrate oil was used as the binding force for the Improvised Explosive Device(IED).

US sends first war reimbursement since 2010 to Pakistan

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Cash-strapped Pakistan has received USD 1.118 billion from the United States as reimbursement for its expenses on the war on terrorism, the first payment from the Coalition Support Fund since December 2010.

The State Bank of Pakistan received the payment from the US this morning, SBP chief spokesman Syed Wasimuddin said today.

The amount will be reflected in the foreign exchange reserves for next week, he said.

Wasimuddin said this was the first payment from the Coalition Support Fund since USD 633 million was received in
December 2010.

Olympic gymnastics: American Douglas pips Russians to gold

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Sixteen-year-old American gymnast Gabby Douglas won the gold in the women’s individual all around competition on Thursday, leaving Russia with silver and bronze.

Douglas triumphed with 62.232 points, just 0.259 ahead of Russia’s Viktoria Komova, whose teammate Aliya Mustafina took the bronze on 59.566.

Douglas, who grabbed team gold with the US Tuesday, put in a final floor performance of 15.033, leaving Komova needing at least 15.359.

Komova, 17, put in a dazzling routine, rounding off with a near-perfect double pike, but the judges ruled it was worth only 15.100.

Olympic cycling: Germany take women’s sprint gold after China demoted

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China’s Gong Jinjie and Guo Shuang were demoted to the silver medal in the women’s team sprint cycling Thursday, with gold going to Germany’s Kristina Vogel and Miriam Welte here at the Olympics.

The Chinese pair appeared to have been relegated for an illegal changeover, the same fault that had earlier stopped Britain’s Victoria Pendleton and Jessica Varnish competing in the final after initially qualifying in the German pair’s place.

The medal ceremony was delayed as the Chinese riders and coaches argued with cycling officials.

Pak Rangers hand over body of missing Indian police officer

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Pakistan Rangers today handed over the body of a missing Indian police officer to a team of Army and
J-K Police at Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu sector.

The body of sub-inspector Sunil Khajuria was handed over by Pakistan Rangers to a team of Army and J&K Police along LoC at Gigrayal forward post in Pallanwala sub-sector of Jammu district today,” IGP Jammu, Dilbagh Singh told PTI.

Apple applies for iPad Smart Cover patent

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Apple has applied for a patent on iPad Smart Cover with an embedded secondary display designed to enhance the functionality of the tablet computer.

“Thin flexible display technology can be integrated into the cover without affecting the overall form factor of the cover or tablet device,” Apple said in a patent application.

“Adding the integrated display to the flexible cover greatly enhances the overall functionality of the tablet device,” Xinhua Thursday quoted the document as saying.

43 killed in Syria: Report

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Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights has alleged that at least 43 young civilians were tortured and killed by the Syrian military in a school in the Middle East country, the AKI news agency reported Thursday.

Forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad “penetrated” the Jdaidet Artuz district Wednesday and arrested around 100 youngsters who were taken to a school where they were “tortured and murdered”, the Observatory was quoted as saying by Al Arabiya News.

On Thursday, the bodies of 43 people were discovered.

“Some among them were summarily executed,” it said.

Typhoon Damrey slams China

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Typhoon Damrey packing winds of 126 kmph made landfall in China Thursday night, authorities said.

Damrey, the 10th typhoon to hit China this year, battered Jiangsu and Shandong provinces. The storm has brought rains to at least 20 counties, Xinhua reported.

Earlier Thursday, a red alert had been issued for typhoon Damrey. Over 100,000 people in Jiangsu were relocated as a precautionary measure.

The country’s eastern seaboard also braced for storm. Typhoon Saola was expected to make landfall between Thursday evening and Friday morning.

Fans celebrate Bachchan’s ‘rebirth’ day

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Fans of Amitabh Bachchan today celebrated the 30th anniversary of the megastar’s ‘rebirth’,the day he had come out of coma after a near-fatal accident while shooting for the film “Coolie”.

Hundreds of members of the All Bengal Amitabh Bachchan Fans’ Association commemorated the day by organising a
cultural and musical soiree at Triangular Park in the southern part of the city.

Carrying film posters and playing songs from various films of Big B, the fans decorated the venue with Bachchan
memorabilia and also watched his films.

Olympics: Saina first Indian shuttler in semis, Paes-Sania advance

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Champion shuttler Saina Nehwal rewrote history by becoming the first Indian to cruise into the Olympics badminton semi-final while the crack mixed doubles tennis combination of Leander Paes and Sania Mirza stormed into the quarter finals at the London Games here Thursday.

The 22-year-old fourth seeded Saina warmed the hearts of her fans with a 21-15, 22-20 win over fifth-seed former World No.1 Dane Tine Baun at the Wembley Arena, before Leander-Sania blazed past the formidable Serbian pair of Nenad Zimonjic and Ana Ivanovic, 6-2, 6-4 on the iconic Wimbledon Grass Court.

Olympic boxing: India’s Vijender in 75 kg quarterfinal

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Fancied Indian boxer Vijender Singh moved closer to a podium finish as he pipped US rival Terrel Gausha 16-15 in a thrilling bout to enter the quarterfinal of the men’s 75 kg boxing category at the Olympics here Thursday.

Vijender, a bronze medallist in the Beijing Asian Games four years back, played a brilliant tactical game using his height advantage to hold off the lightning fast Gausha in a round of 16 middleweight contest at the Excel arena.

SP hushing up scams of BSP regime: BJP

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BJP today accused Samajwadi government in Uttar Pradesh of attempting to hush up scams committed during the BSP regime on the pretext that it would not resort to political witch hunting.

Though the election manifesto of the SP promised setting up of a commission to conduct a time frame inquiry into the scams under the BSP regime, senior SP leader and minister Azam Khan is now saying that the government will not indulge in political witch hunting and it should not be taken as its weakness,” BJP spokesman Vijay Bahadur Pathak said.

Annan criticises divided UNSC for lack of action on Syria

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Kofi Annan today resigned as the international envoy for Syria after months of failed efforts to end conflict in the troubled nation, and lashed out at the divided international community for failing to support his peace plan.

Annan announced today that he was resigning from his post as UN-Arab League Joint envoy, six months after he was
appointed by the UN to broker peace and engage with President Bashar Al Assad’s regime and rebel forces to bring an end to the violence that has killed over 10,000 people in the last 17 months of the conflict.

Woman, children commit suicide

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A woman allegedly committed suicide alongwith her three children over domestic problems by jumping before a running train today in Chandvak police station area.

Gulabi Devi (42) jumped before the Orihar-Jaunpur passenger train along with her three daughters Soni (9), Moni
(7) and infant Guddi, police said.

Their bodies have been sent for the postmortem.

——————PTI

Ammonium nitrate used in Pune blasts: Patil

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Ammonium nitrate is suspected to be the explosive used in four low-intensity serial bombs which rocked Pune the day before, Maharashtra Home Minister R.R. Patil said here Thursday.

“According to preliminary reports, ammonium nitrate was the primary ingredient used in the devices which were apparently triggered by electronic triggers. We are awaiting a detailed forensic report on this,” Patil told reporters Thursday evening.

The minister also said that there was no central intelligence input received on the possibility of the blasts which left one person injured.

Deccan Chronicle rejects reports about its debts

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Deccan Chronicle Holdings Ltd today said its networth far exceeds its current outstanding and rejected reports that its debts ran to the tune of thousands of crore.

“The net worth of DCHL far exceeds its current outstanding. The loan outstanding and the overdue sums relate to payments that were due only in the last couple of months.

–Agencies

Mystery shrouds Techie Neelima’s death

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Mystery continues to shroud the death of Infosys employee and software professional Neelima who jumped to her death under mysterious circumstances on Tuesday.

Postmortem of the girl who has come back to India only a few days before allegedly committing suicide was completed on Thursday. Doctors who performed the postmortem have found deep injuries on her body. They have filmed the postmortem process in view of the mystery surrounding Neelima’s death. Doctors said they had samples for analysis to the forensic laboratory.

EC will act if Parthasarthy’s affidavit was wrong:Bhanwarlal

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State’s Chief Electoral Officer Bhanwar Lal has said that if it was proved that minister Parthasarathy has filed a wrong affidavit during the 2009 elections, the Election Commission would take suitable action.

Bhanwar Lal has held a review meeting with the Collector and Tahsildar on the changes in voters list and setting up of polling centers here on Thursday.

Speaking on the occasion, he said if there were mistakes and deliberate omissions in the affidavit filed by the minister suitable action would be taken.

Four African Nationals arrested for selling drugs

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The Police of Osmania University Police Station nabbed four African nationals for possessing contraband narcotic drug Cocaine and for involving in Credit card fraud

The arrested accused were Patrick Emario(29)) Rosita Miriam Thangavalu(22), Samuel Kings Hedion(40) and Liatu Baraya Yelmi(28).

VHR dubs KVP as YSRCP’s agent

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Condemning the remarks of former advisor to government K V P Ramchander Rao against the party for not using YSR’s picture on the banners hung at the Prakasham Hall recently, Rajya Sabha Member V Hanmantha Rao alleged that KVP was a ‘covert’ of YSR Congress president Jaganmohan Reddy.

HC grants bail to Koneru Prasad in Emaar case

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The High Court on Thursday granted conditional bail to Trimex Chairman Koneru Rajendra Prasad in the Emaar Properties scam.

While sanctioning bail to Koneru Prasad, the Court directed him to furnish a surety bond of Rs 5 lakh. The court also asked Koneru Prasad not to leave the state without informing the probing agency.

Presently Koneru Prasad was lodged in the Chanchalguda jail since nine months.

Telangana employees allege discrimination by Andhra officials

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Alleging discrimination and disrespect by the State Government and Andhra officials over distribution of health cards to employees, members of Telangana Gazetted Officers Association on Thursday barged into the Secretariat where a review meeting under the chairmanship of Chief Secretary Minnie Mathews on the subject was going on.

Sensing the situation the officials have postponed the meeting immediately. Later, the Chief Secretary announced that the meeting would held on Friday.

Alia did not want to be launched by father Mahesh Bhatt

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Filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt’s daughter Alia, who makes her debut with Karan Johar’s directorial venture `Student of the Year’, says she did not want to enter B-town through her father’s film.

Mahesh Bhatt’s banner Vishesh Films has given a break to several actors in B-town including Emraan Hashmi, John
Abraham and Kunal Khemu.

I had already decided that I would not want to be launched by my father’s production company. Honestly speaking,
it was an easy option and why would not my father launch me,” Alia told reporters here at the first look of her debut film.

VHR dubs KVP as YSRCP’s agent

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Condemning the remarks of former advisor to government K V P Ramchander Rao against the party for not using YSR’s picture on the banners hung at the Prakasham Hall recently, Rajya Sabha Member V Hanmantha Rao alleged that KVP
was a ‘covert’ of YSR Congress president Jaganmohan Reddy.