Month: October 2012

Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard, whose bold move overturned a longstanding ban on uranium sale to India, comes here Oct 15 on a three-day visit that could see India and Australia sign a landmark civil nuclear pact.

Gillard’s visit takes place months after a reversal of Canberra’s long-standing policy by the ruling Labour Party on supply of uranium to India, paving the way for the sealing of a civil nuclear deal that could have a force-multiplier effect on broader ties both bilaterally and regionally.

Sania Mirza and her partner Nuria Llagostera Vives progressed to the China Open semifinals after coming from behind to pip Julia Goerges and Barbora Zahlavova Strycova, here today.

The fifth seed Indo-Spanish pair overcame the fighting German-Czech pair 4-6 6-4 16-14 in one hour and 34 minutes in the quarter-finals.

Sania and Nuria were profligate as they squandered as many as eight breakpoints in the first set before conceding lead.

A human-trafficking bid was foiled in Chhattisgarh with 35 workers, majority of them minors, rescued from a Odisha-bound private bus, a police official said Thursday.

“Police rescued about three dozen labourers from the clutches of agents from an Odisha-bound bus Wednesday. Four people have been arrested in this connection,” Bastar Superintendent of Police Badri Narayan Meena told IANS.

India’s Tata Power is looking to acquire coal assets in the US, Colombia and Africa, and set up power plants in Myanmar and Vietnam, Managing Director Anil Sardana said Thursday.

“We are continuously looking at the other geographies and today the options are the US, Colombia and Africa,” Sardana told mediapersons here at the “Clean Coal India 2012” conference, which is part-sponsored by the company.

Sardana also said Tata Power is looking to import 50 million tonnes of coal by 2020. The company has plans to import 10 million tonnes in the current fiscal.

President Pranab Mukherjee Thursday called on the Indian chemical industry to promote sustainable development by investing in green technologies.

Speaking in Mumbai, after inaugurating the India Chem 2012, Mukherjee said the industry must ensure increased adherence to safety and international health and environmental standards.

“Indian chemical industry would need to set targets and standards and take up research and collaborations without delay,” the president said.

Vivek Oberoi and Mallika Sherawat-starrer “Kismet Love Paisa Dilli” (KLPD) seeks inspiration from yesteryear actor Manoj Kumar’s film’s “Roti Kapada Aur Makaan”.

“The title of a film is the closest interpretation of the story. If Steven Soderbergh can keep abstract name like ‘Sex Lies and Video Tapes’, Dibanker Banerjee as ‘Love Sex Aur Dhoka’ or Manoj Kumar as ‘Roti Kapda Aur Makaan’ then why not ‘Kismet Love Paisa Dilli,” said director Sanjay Khanduri.

Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi said Thursday that his party would do everything possible to address the problems of people in the Ladakh region of Jammu and Kashmir.

Addressing a public meeting at the Polo Grounds in Leh town that drew a large crowd, Gandhi said work on the tunnel across the Zojilla Pass would commence Thursday.

Once the tunnel was completed, the Ladakh region would enjoy round-the-year road connectivity. The region is otherwise cut off, under a thick layer of snow, for almost half the year.

A determined Australian outfit will be aiming to eliminate the ‘Chris Gayle factor’ when they meet a rejuvenated West Indies in the semi-final of the ICC World Twenty20 here tomorrow.

For Australia, it will be a chance to get into the final for the second time in succession after the 2010 edition and once again stamp their class as world’s premier cricketing outfit.

Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi Thursday launched a blistering attack on Congress president Sonia Gandhi and claimed the BJP would win a thumping majority in the coming elections.

Speaking to TimesNow, Modi criticised Gandhi for comparing Gujarat’s development with other states and accused her of making false claims about cooking gas availability in the state.

“Our track record is one of development, our track record is one of irrigation, our track record is one of peace, unity and brotherhood,” the chief minister said.

Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy has directed HMDA to expedite the Hussain sagar cleaning project and complete it on war footing. He also stressed the need to preserve all the lakes in and around Hyderabad and Ranga Reddy. He told that the radial road works and the new projects should be completed on priority basis.

Chief Minister reviewed all the projects taken up and proposed to be taken up by the HMDAalong with minister Municipal administration and other officials. The HMDA is proposing to take up eight new projects in the coming year at a cost of Rs 3,300 crores.

Siasat news

A farmers’ body spearheading the stir against release of Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu began a relay hunger strike here in protest against Karnataka’s action and warned that people would stop paying taxes if government did not heed their demand to stop the flow by this evening.

“We have set a deadline to the government… If the water release is not stopped by this evening, people will resort to a civil disobedience movement by not paying taxes,” Cauvery Hitarakshana Samithi President G Madegowda told reporters.

State commissioner of technical education Mr. Ajay Jain rebuffed the reports telecast on some TV channels regarding the suspension of inspections of engineering colleges and clarified that the college administrations had sought break of two weeks and the inspection will be carried out as soon as the time given elapses.

In a hush-hush joint operation of counter intelligence and Bangalore police, one more youth has been arrested from Barkas. It is said that 32 years old Tayyab Jaberi son of Abdullah Jaberi resident of Barkas has been arrested in connection with Bangalore terror module.

According to reliable sources Tayyab Jaberi was associated with a local channel belonging to old city of Hyderabad. He was the friend of Obaidur Rahman resident of Gulshan Iqbal Colony, arrested by Bangalore police.

A construction worker has fallen to his death at the site of a 2018 World Cup stadium, Russia’s Investigative Committee said.

The 43,000-capacity Spartak Moscow arena was one of 12 stadiums awarded matches in an announcement by FIFA and Russian organisers Saturday.

“A pre-investigation check is under way into the death of a worker who fell from a height at the Spartak stadium building site in Tushino,” the Investigative Committee said Friday.

The man was a 48-year-old steel worker from Russia’s central Saratov region, the statement said, adding that he died at the scene.

Actor Vivek Oberoi, who is paired with Mallika Sherawat in Sanjay Khaduri’s “Kismat Love Paisa Dilli” (KLPD), has tried to challenge his acting skills in the film and says that he is ready to bear the consequences.

“Some of my films are challenges, and some are safe bets. With KLPD, I wanted to step out of my comfort zone. I knew it might not work and people might laugh at me, but I was ready for it,” the 36-year-old told IANS.

In ‘KLPD’, releasing Friday, Vivek plays a Delhi guy and says that it was not easy.

Two brothers were shot dead over a water dispute Thursday in the ancestral village of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, police said.

The incident came hours before Akhilesh Yadav and his father and Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav were to reach Saifai village to give away cheques on unemployment allowance and Kanya Vidya Dhan.

The killings took place when the brothers were in their field. The assailants have been identified, police said.

—IANS

“Vicky Donor”, a film made with an unique concept, was a runaway success and its lead actor Ayushmann Khurrana says even though the film was not sent for the jury’s consideration for the Oscar shortlist, he is glad the movie was talked about.

Shortly after Anurag Basu’s “Barfi!” was announced as India’s official entry for the Oscar’s best foreign film category this year, “Vicky Donor” director Shoojit Sircar had loudly expressed his displeasure at its producers not sending it for the jury’s consideration.

Pakistani police have filed a case against nine government officials on charges of sexually assaulting some 40 homeless children at a shelter in Punjab province, officials said on Thursday.

The children were living in a shelter run by the Child Protection Bureau, a government care facility, in Faisalabad district, 100 km from Lahore.

Employees of the Bureau had allegedly subjected them to physical abuse for some time, the officials said.

Taking cognisance of the matter, authorities shifted the children to another government facility in Lahore to keep them in a “safe residence.”

Is former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Kalyan Singh set to return to the BJP?

Both the Bharatiya Janata Party and the saffron face of the Ram temple movement of the 1990s are quiet about his comeback. But close aides say it is near certain that “Babuji”, as Kalyan Singh is known, will be in the BJP again.

A leader privy to the confabulations told IANS that the only thing to be decided was the timing and the role for the octogenarian leader.

Kalyan Singh has reportedly had fruitful meetings with the BJP brass in New Delhi, including party president Nitin Gadkari.

With a surprisingly strong showing, Republican challenger Mitt Romney today shook the race to the White House by worsting incumbent Barack Obama in the first high-stake US presidential debate by calling into question his track record on the economy, health care, jobs and fiscal deficit.

Using the first of the three debates, 65-year-old Romney regained momentum by aggressively standing up to 51-year-old Obama and accused him of failure to lead the country out of the deepest economic downturn since the great depression.

Key 26/11 suspect Abu Jundal was Thursday sent to Tihar Jail by a Delhi court here.

Sending Jundal to judicial custody, Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (CMM) Vidya Parkash directed jail authorities to present him in two different courts on Oct 8 and Oct 12.

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) told the court that Jundal was required to be present in a special NIA court Oct 8.

The CMM’s court had Sep 28 issued a fresh warrant for Jundal for Oct 12.

School children might have to go without mid-day meals, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said Thursday, a day after the hike in the price of non-subsidised cooking gas cylinders.

“Now the real impact of restriction of subsidised LPG cylinder is unfolding,” she said.

“Common people have been burdened with additional Rs.127 per cylinder. The price is likely to go up further in the coming months,” Banerjee posted on Facebook.

A portion of AP General and Chest Hospital at Erragadda building collapsed injuring one Padma a Sweeper at the hospital. It was declared unfit for use by the AP Health, Medical Housing and Infrastructure Development Corporation, roads and buildings department as well as the GHMC.

However it was still being used due to space crunch despite weak walls and massive leakages in the roof.

The roof of one half portion on the first floor had collapsed earlier.

New bride commits suicide
(Siasat News): The suspicious death of a newly wed bride sent shock waves in Sanathnagar. 20-year-old Roja was married just about two months back but she was found dead in a sump of the house.

According to police sources, Roja and Venuchari, resident of Borabanda, got married on August 12, 2012.

At the time of the marriage, Roja’s parents had promised the dowry worth Rs. 7.5 lakh. Out of that Rs. 7 lakh was already given. The dispute was for remaining amount. Roja’s in-laws were harassing her for the money.

As many as 18 students were buried Thursday in a landslide that slammed into a primary school in southwest China’s Yunnan province, authorities said.

The incident happened around 8 a.m. in the village of Zhenhe, located in Yiliang county, reported Xinhua.

The landslide engulfed a primary school building, trapping 18 students, said authorities.

Two houses near the school were also hit by the landslide, with one villager being buried. A family of three managed to escape.