Month: September 2012

Five people died Thursday after they were buried under a pile of waste that collapsed on them in north China’s Shanxi province, the government said.

The accident took place in Qinwangling village in Shanxi, killing two at the scene and injuring three others, Xinhua reported. The three injured died in a hospital.

The waste belonged to the Tianma Energy Company, whose major businesses include iron and coke production and casting.

It was not clear whether the dead were workers of the company.

A foreign national was detained at New Delhi railway station Thursday morning for dumping a suspected bag, said police.

“Three taxi drivers – Satnam, Sonu and Satish – at around 10:40 a.m. found the foreign national coming to the parking lot and leaving a bag there. They followed him and then caught hold of him. After getting unsatisfactory replies from him, the taxi drivers informed police,” said a police officer.

Following this, panic gripped the whole area, which was vacated immediately. Fire and bomb disposal squads were called in.

Two people, including a foreign national, who smuggled drugs across the India-Pakistan border were arrested here with 8.10 kg of heroin worth Rs.20 crore, police said Thursday. They belonged to an international drug trafficking gang with links in Afghanistan.

They were arrested from west Delhi’s Pankha Road Sep 24 while receiving a consignment of heroin.

Theophilus, 29, resident of Agbor in Nigeria and Gurpreet, 24, hailing from Punjab, have been residing here in the capital since 2009.

A 16-year-old Class 10 student, who was allegedly raped earlier last month, reported the incident to police Wednesday when her alleged attacker circulated an MMS of the heinous crime, police said Thursday.

The incident came to light Wednesday when girl’s family approached east Delhi’s Mayur Vihar police alleging that one of her friend’s elder brother Vivek, 22, raped her Aug 14 while his friend Raja, 23, allegedly made an MMS clip of the crime.

Though traditionally seen as dull but among the most hardworking students in any institute, economics undergraduates have been found to have nearly five sexual partners since starting university classes.

A survey of 4,656 undergraduates from 100 British universities conducted by the StudentBeans.com website also found that those studying environmental science had less than two sexual partners, the Daily Mail reported.

Undergraduates studying economics had an average of 4.88 sexual partners, followed by those studying social work, community care and counselling (4.7 partners).

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange addressed a UN meeting in New York by satellite link from the Ecuadorian embassy here in the British capital.

Assange Wednesday accused the US of persecuting his organisation and torturing Bradley Manning, the US army private accused of supplying WikiLeaks with hundreds of diplomatic and military cables, the Daily Mail reported.

Assange accused the US of detaining Manning without charge and mistreating him.

He told the UN that Manning was “degraded, abused and psychologically tortured”.

A political party in Nepal has said it will prohibit the entry of Indian-registered vehicles and screening of Hindi movies in Nepal, Xinhua reported.

Pumpha Bhusal, spokesperson of the Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist (CPN-Maoist), a party formed after splitting from the United CPN-Maoist, said the decision was taken to “safeguard national sovereignty and integrity”.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s media adviser, Ali-Akbar Javanfekr, has been jailed “for undermining the Islamic establishment and principles”, the Tehran Times daily reported Thursday.

Javanfekr, who was also the caretaker manager of the Iran Daily and chief of the official IRNA news agency, was arrested Wednesday and sent to prison.

Xinhua said a Tehran court sentenced Javanfekr to one year in jail in November 2011, but three months later an appeals court reduced his sentence to six months.

Russian President Vladimir Putin Thursday criticised Western countries again over their conduct in connection with the civil war in Syria.

“The main thing is that our partners cannot stop. Having already created an atmosphere of chaos in many countries, they are now continuing that policy in others, in particular Syria,” Putin said at a meeting in his residence outside Moscow with a delegation of residents from Ryazan region.

The West Indies scored 179 for five against England in their Super Eight match of the World Twenty20 cricket tournament here Thursday.

John Charles top scored with 84 off 56 balls and was well supported by Chris Gayle, who scored 58 off 35 balls. Captain Stuart Broad was the pick of the bowlers for England with figures of two for 26.

An anti-US rally called by Muslim groups here turned violent Thursday with protestors trying to break police barricades and enter the American Center, police said.

They were rallying against an “anti-Islamic” film made in the US.

Gathered in thousands and belonging to various Muslim organisations, including the All-Bengal Minorities Youth Federation, the protestors were stopped some distance away from the American Center.

“Some protestors tried to break the barricades but were stopped by the police. Situation is under control and nobody has been injured,” said a police officer.

Security was stepped up in and around Hyderabad city ahead of the proposed ‘Telangana March’ on September 30 even as police intensified checking in neighbouring Telangana districts to “prevent statehood supporters” from joining the march.

TDP Telangana leaders Errabelli Dayakar Rao, Mothkupalli Narsimhulu and Kadiam Srihari here on Thursday announced that they were supporting the Telangana March of TJAC on September 30.

A delegation of TRS, BJP and JAC members on Thursday called on Governor E S L Narasimhan at Raj Bhavan appealing him to direct the government to give permission for Telangana March.

The delegation assured the Governor that the March would be held peacefully if the government permits it. TRS Floor leader Etela Rajender said that the March would be organized in a Gandhian way. He also said that the delegation made efforts to remove misconceptions on the March prevailed among a section of leaders including the DGP V Dinesh Reddy and City police commissioner Anurag Sharma.

–Agencies

A delegation of TRS, BJP and JAC members on Thursday called on Home Minister P Sabitha Indra Reddy and appealed to her to give permission for the upcoming Telangana March held on September 30.

According to reports, the Home Minister assured the delegation that she would take a decision on the March after meeting Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy. Talking to media persons later, Telangana Nagara Samithi president Dr Nagam Janardhan Reddy said that the March would be held peacefully if the government gives permission for the same.

After making an announcement of giving 100 seats for the candidates of Backward Classes, Telugu Desam Party president N Chandrababu Naidu on Thursday made a similar attempt to attract Muslim voters.

Ranbir Kapoor’s deaf and mute character in “Barfi!” seems to be giving cousin Kareena Kapoor’s glamorous avatar in “Heroine” a run for her money!

The sweet and simple love story of a mute and deaf boy in “Barfi!” seems to have touched the heartstrings of viewers who are still flocking theatres to savour the unconventional romantic flavour. On the other hand, “Heroine”, with an an overdose of glitz, doesn’t seem to have the same effect on the moviegoers.

Vijayawada MP Lagadapati Rajagopal on Thursday wrote an open letter slamming the Telugu Desam Party president N Chandrababu Naidu for writing a letter to Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh seeking an all-party meeting to resolve the Telangana state issue.

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Fed up with frequent spats with her husband, a woman administered poison to her two children before consuming it herself at Sithaiyankottai village in Dindigul district of Tamil Nadu, today. Police said while N.Kuppammal (32) and her younger sibling N.Bala Murugan (6) died, another girl child N.Archana (8) was left battling for life in the government hospital.

The government today accorded approval to the Jammu and Kashmir Skill Development Policy for the 12th Five Year Plan. Decision to this effect was taken at a meeting of cabinet chaired by Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, an official spokesman said here. The state has more than six lakh unemployed youths. To draw out an integrated strategy for enhancing the employability of the youth in the state and to address the growing skill gaps among youth, the state government with its Skill Jammu and Kashmir Business Plan-2012-17 envisages upskilling 9.1 lakh youth over the plan period.

At a time when talk of formation of a Federal Front is gaining ground, Congress on Thursday suggested that the idea was a flop, saying history has shown that such groupings formed for the sake of grabbing power never last.

“While political parties can form any front including the Third Front, history tells us that it has never been a success. Same thing applies to a Federal Front.”

The CBI on Thursday started probe against 24 companies and public officials in connection with alleged irregularities in coal blocks allocation between 1993 and 2004, including during the NDA regime.

Agency sources said a preliminary inquiry has been registered after Central Vigilance Commission referred the complaints from Coal Minister Shri Prakash Jaiswal and seven Congress Members of Parliament seeking CBI probe in allocation of coal blocks during NDA rule as well.

Chairman of National Commission for Schedule Castes (NCSC) PL Punia on Thursday slammed the BJP for its opposition to coal blocks allocation, saying it was done during NDA rule.

“Most of the allotments which have been cancelled had been cleared when NDA government was in power at the Centre,” Punia told reporters here.

The Congress MP said his party would aggressively respond to the “false allegations” levelled by the opposition.

The decision to introduce FDI in retail and hike in diesel price is the outcome of global circumstances and economic challenges, he said.

BJP Thursday said it will take its fight against FDI in multi-brand retail to Parliament in the Winter session as the party feels the policy will hurt small traders and is being brought under foreign pressure.

BJP President Nitin Gadkari said, “It is being said that BJP is not spelling out its stand clearly on FDI in retail issue. We want to say FDI in retail will hurt the livelihood of the small trader.We will not allow FDI in multi-brand retail to come to India.”