Month: October 2012

Rayalasseema leaders strongly pleaded for Rs.One lakh crore package for the overall development of the region before the UPA government takes any call for bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh.

Former Minister P. Shankar Rao on Thursday petitioned the High Court to take stringent action against the DGP and Commissioner of Police for allegedly trespassing into the Osmania University campus during the Telangana March on September 30.

The maverick Congress legislator, who is known for knocking the doors of the High Court at very given an opportunity on various issues, now addressed a letter to the Chief Justice of A.P. High Court complaining against the police action on the students in OU campus.

An Iraqi court has sentenced an American citizen to life in prison on charges of assisting al-Qaida and financing terrorist activities in Iraq, according to a government statement released today.

The Interior Ministry said Omar Rashad Khalil, 53, was recruited by al-Qaida in Iraq in 2005. Khalil, an
architectural engineer, is of Palestinian descent and entered the country in 2001, the ministry statement said.

An affiliation ceremony of two of the newest Indian Navy frigates, INS Shivalik and INS Satpura, with two of the oldest regiments, the Scinde Horse and the 7th Cavalry will be held at the Eastern Naval Command here on Friday.

Lieutenant General A K Singh, General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Southern Army Command, Colonel of the
Regiment and Vice Admiral Anil Chopra, Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Eastern Naval Command will attend the
event hosted by Rear Admiral Ajit Kumar P, Flag Officer Commanding Eastern Fleet.

Ruling Congress party has taken a strong exception to the meeting called by NCP leader Ajit Pawar ahead of the Maharashtra Cabinet meeting today.

Pawar, who resigned from the Maharashtra Cabinet last week over corruption allegations, held a meeting of NCP
ministers last night.

NCP has said that he was within his rights to call the meeting as the leader of party’s legislature wing, as
ministers are legislators too.

The party has denied that agenda of the today’s cabinet meeting was discussed at the meeting called by Pawar.

Two women and a two-year-old girl were found murdered in their house here tonight, police said.

The victims, of Mashlekar family staying in `Pancharatna’ society in Ghorpadi area of the city, were found to be
stabbed inside their flat, as per the initial reports.

The two women were 50 years and 25 years old respectively.

Prima facie it looked like a robbery, police said. Probe is on.

——————–PTI

Calling internet as the greatest invention of mankind after the printing press, Reliance
Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani said today that Mahatma Gandhi’s dream of self-reliance can be attained by making use of internet and technology.

Speaking at a function where columnist Sudheendra Kulkarni’s book titled “Music of the Spinning Wheel: Mahatma
Gandhi’s Manifesto for the Internet Age” was released, Ambani said that Gandhi’s dream of self-reliance can be attained through the use of internet and technology.

Four government officials were penalised for using red beacons in their private vehicles here, police said today.

The challans were issued against a Secretary-level officer of an adjoining state, a Deputy Commissioner of a
district in Haryana and a DIG of CBI from Uttar Pradesh among others yesterday and today.

A politician was also penalized for illegally using red beacons in his car.

The beacons were removed and the challan was issued against them, police said.

——————————–PTI

Whipping its chord, the Enforcement Directorate has attached some properties valued at Rs 51 crores of YSR Congress Party chief and Kadapa MP Y S Jaganmohan Reddy in connection with his Disproportionate Assets Case.

According to the Attachment Order of the ED, Jagan’s properties attached are: 35 acres of land allotted to the Hetero Drugs company, Fixed Deposits worth Rs 3 crores in DA case, 13 acres of land given to Janani Infrastructure and Fixed Deposits worth Rs 14.5 crores in the name of Jagati Publications.

Telangana Political JAC Chairman Prof. Kodandaram has said that TRS president K Chandrasekhara Rao went to New Delhi to ask the Centre to stand by its assurance on formation of separate Telangana State.

Prof. Kodandaram on Thursday visited the BJP State office to thank the BJP leaders for making Telangana March a success.

Speaking on the occasion, Prof. Kodandaram demanded that the Centre make a statement in Parliament on Telangana statehood. There was progress in the talks held by KCR with leaders in New Delhi.

–Agencies

Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee on Thursday described as ‘immoral and unethical’ the decision by the ‘minority’ government at the Centre on hike in FDI in insurance and pension sectors, and called on all UPA partners to quit the government in protest.

“On Thursday, yet another set of anti-people decisions of the Central government have crossed the Laxman Rekha. These important decisions, which have direct bearing on the livelihood of millions of Indians, taken by a minority government, are immoral and unethical,” Banerjee wrote on her Facebook page.

Women’s Reservation Bill which calls for reserving 33 percent of seats for women in parliament and state assemblies continues to remain on the agenda and efforts are on to introduce it in the lower house, said Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar Thursday.

Speaking at the conclusion of the Seventh Meeting of Women Speakers of Parliament on “gender sensitive parliaments”, she said more women should come to parliament.

Brig (Retd) Israr Rahim Khan, who commanded the first battalion that entered the Golden Temple in Amritsar during Operation Bluestar says he has no intention of approaching the government, and would not beg for security.

Brig Khan was speaking in the wake of the attack on his former senior colleague in London. He said it was up to security agencies to maintain surveillance.

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India and Bangladesh Thursday expressed concern over the growing menace of synthetic drugs and pharmaceutical narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances being siphoned off for abuse, and trafficked across their borders.

The two countries vowed to make sustained efforts to curb contraband smuggling across their international borders.

At a bilateral meeting of the chiefs of their respective narcotics control agencies here, the two sides agreed to share intelligence on drug trafficking and adopt a coordinated strategy to prevent cross-border smuggling.

Guwahati police recovered the bullet-ridden body of the spouse of a top Assam police official from a vehicle near the famed Kamakhya temple in the city Thursday evening.

Police found the body of Nilotpal Lahon, husband of Additional Superintendent of Police Leena Doley, inside a Tata Sumo vehicle parked near Kamakhya.

Police said that locals spotted the vehicle with the deceased on the driving seat, holding a pistol in his hand and with blood oozing from his forehead.

India Inc Thursday lauded the cabinet’s decision to approve legislative changes that will allow up to 49 percent foreign equity in the pension sector and hike such limit in insurance to 49 percent from 26 percent, calling it “landmark” and “pathbreaking”.

The cabinet meeting, presided over by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, also approved other long-pending measures such as crucial changes in the Companies Act, and giving greater autonomy to the regulator to introduce more commodities and options for futures trading.

To arrest the alarming decline in the standards of spoken and written English among Indian diplomats, a separate entrance exam must be held for aspiring Indian Foreign Service (IFS) personnel to test language proficiency, says veteran diplomat Prem K. Budhwar.

Both the written test and the subsequent interview or personality test should be conducted in English alone for those desiring a spot in foreign service, Budhwar says in his new 174-page book.

This, he says, is necessary to check the slipping standards of English in the service.

Ayman al-Zawahiri, who succeeded Osama bin Laden as the new chief of Al Qaeda, may be in Pakistan, says a new book.

Zawahiri, an Egyptian cleric, became the new Al Qaeda chief after the killing of Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad town May 2 last year.

Imtiaz Gul, a Pakistani defence and security analyst, in his book “Pakistan: Before and After Osama” says: “Just as the search for bin Laden has been a pre-occupation for the past decade, the whereabouts of Zawahiri are now likely to engage the US and Pakistan intelligence.”

A top American university has slammed an amateur porn model for performing a solo sex act in a law school’s library and filming it. The video was later posted on a college message board to be viewed by thousands.

Ivy League Cornell Law School was dragged into the controversy after the blonde got raunchy on campus, The Sun reported Thursday. The 43-minute duration sex-tape, believed to be filmed on a phone, was recorded in broad daylight.

Though dogs have been known for being man’s best friend, for a woman in Britain it is her pot-bellied pig for whom she has even built a special bedroom!

Maria Cooper, 29, from Kent, is inseparable from her enormous pet — driving her around, taking her for walks on a lead and letting her come and go through a pig flap, The Sun reported.

A music teacher by profession, Cooper loves animals so much that she openly describes her pet pig as her best pal.

Sri Lanka managed 139 for four in 20 overs against Pakistan in the first semi-final of the World Twenty20 at the Premadasa Stadium here Thursday.

Skipper Mahela Jayawardene was the top scorer with 42 while Tillekaratne Dilshan made 35

Agreeing that not all foreign partners of domestic insurers will pump in capital when allowed to increase stakes to 49 percent, insurance sector experts said Thursday the union cabinet nod will rekindle investors’ animal spirits.

“More than rationality, it is sentiments that plays a major part in the market. The cabinet decision will turn the market sentiments positive and rekindle animal spirits,” P. Nandagopal, managing director and chief executive officer, IndiaFirst Life Insurance Company, told IANS.

The cabinet Thursday approved the Forward Contract Regulation Act (Amendment) Bill providing more autonomy to the commodities market regulator, the Forward Markets Commission (FMC).

The Bill also seeks to facilitate entry of institutional investors and pave the way for introduction of new category of products, like Options.

A benchmark index of Indian equities markets Thursday rallied to a 19,000-high for the first time in almost 15 months on the government’s fresh reforms push.

Good inflows of foreign capital also helped boost sentiment at Dalal Street. Banking, realty and capital goods stocks gained the most.

The 30-scrip sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened at 18,939.75 points, closed at 19,058.15 points, 188.46 points or 1 percent higher than its previous day’s close at 18,869.69 points.

It had risen over 200 points during afternoon trade.