Month: October 2012

Describing as ill-conceived a petition challenging his election as president, Pranab Mukherjee has told the Supreme Court that at the time of filing his nomination papers he held no office of profit.

In his recent preliminary objections filed against a petition by his opponent in the presidential election P.A. Sangma, Mukherjee said that he gave up the honorary position as chairman of the Kolkota-based Indian Statistical Institute June 20.

He sought the dismissal of Sangma’s petition, describing it ill-conceived and baseless.

Two footballers from two famous city-based clubs have been arrested for allegedly gang raping a 14-year-old girl in West Bengal?s North 24 Parganas district, police said Wednesday.

?Following a complaint of gang rape of a minor in which four people have been accused, we have arrested two people who play for two different football clubs,? an official of DumDum police station said.

The minor was allegedly lured by the accused to their accommodation Monday afternoon, raped and dumped outside.

(IANS) Slamming into New York and New Jersey overnight, Hurricane Sandy Tuesday left a vast trail of destruction killing at least 33 people and leaving about 7.5 million people without power on the US East Coast.

Even as it was downgraded to a storm, Sandy knocked power out of a large swath of Manhattan in the financial district of New York, a city that never sleeps, according to various media reports.

Indian Muslims have realised their political power as they have gradually understood the value of tactical voting, Jamia Milia Islama Vice Chancellor Najeeb Jung said Tuesday. He also praised the opposition by the Darul Uloom seminary at Deoband to British rule in India

Superstorm Sandy, one of the biggest ever to hit the US, pounded the heavily populated East Coast today with fierce winds and heavy rains, killing at least 17 people, plunging millions of homes into darkness and leaving the New York Stock Exchange shut for two straight days for the first time since 1888.

The trail of destruction left by the monster storm prompted President Barack Obama to declare it a ‘major disaster’ in New York and New Jersey.

Anyone who dares Salman Khan does that at great professional peril, but the celebrity hairstylist Sapna Bhavnani seems to have decided to take the bull by its horns.

The hairstylist no longer takes lying down from the show’s host Salman Khan and seems to have decided to give back tit-for-tat, consequences be damned. The latest we hear is that Sapna wasn’t pleased with Salman’s potshot at a Bigg Boss episode when the superstar contended Sapna’s assertion that she’s not in the show for money.

Answer the following questions and post your answers in comments section with your email ID.

1) The battle of Mutah which Prophet (s.a.w.) led was against the ..…

A) Romans

B) Persians

C) Russians

D) Indians

In a bizarre claim, a Columbian mother has said that her one-month old son is ‘the devil’ who breathes fire and has already started walking. Ana Feria Santos, 28, gave birth to her son last month in the town of Lorica, near the Caribbean coast, but says her joy quickly turned to fear when she noticed that he had ‘several abnormalities’ – leading to fears in her community that he is the ‘devil in disguise’, the Daily Mail reported.

The mother-of-five claimed that the boy can already stand up and walk – quite a feat for a child of just four weeks.

As superstorm Sandy hit the US East Coast affecting millions of people, an international Sikh forum on Tuesday announced that Gurdwaras in the country have been turned into shelter homes for the affected.

American Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (AGPC) said that arrangements have been made in Gurdwaras for providing food, water and shelter to those affected by the storm.

Indian IT companies TCS, Infosys, Wipro and HCL Technologies have issued advisories to their employees working in US, whose East Coast is battered by a superstorm.

The domestic IT companies, which get over 60 per cent of their revenues from the US, however, said they do not expect their business to be adversely affected.

“All our associates have been advised to stay safe and stay indoors. Owing to our strong business continuity plan, customer processes are not expected to be disrupted,” a TCS spokesperson said in an emailed statement.

A “malicious spam” has hit the internet-based audio-video communicator ‘Skype’ in the Indian cyberspace and anti-hacking sleuths have asked users to remain alert and cautious.

“A malicious spam campaign is on the rise targeting Skype users by sending instant message which appears to come from friends in the Skype contact list,” a government advisory to ‘Skype’ users in the country said.

Cyber security experts found the malware content has been lurking in the vicinity of cyber networks of Indian users who use this popular Voice-over Internet Protocol (VoIP) service.

Veteran actress Shabana Azmi feels that Indian filmmakers are yet to fully exploit the medium of cinema. She also says that in the pursuit of appealing to the international market, they have become confused about the kind of films that must be made.

The actress spoke during a panel discussion on ‘A century in retrospect: 100 years of India cinema’. She was accompanied by filmmakers Shekhar Kapur and Shyam Benegal

JuD chief Hafiz Mohammad Saeed, the 2008 Mumbai attacks mastermind and for whom the US has offered a bounty of USD 10 million, today said his organisation was ready to help Americans affected by the superstorm Sandy.

“We are ready to send food items, medicines and doctors to the US for the people affected by the storm,” Saeed said.

He said though the US had put a bounty on his head, it was the duty of Muslims to help fellow human beings, irrespective of their faith, during a natural catastrophe.

Supporting the demands of anti-corruption activists, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday said fresh general elections were needed in the country since the government was in “minority”.

“I saw on TV that people from Team Anna said the government had lost its credibility to remain in power and there is a need to go to polls. I fully agree with them,” Banerjee told a press conference here.

“This is a minority government and it is threatening others through CBI and vigilance and enforcement departments,” the Trinamool Congress chief said.

Senior BJP leader LK Advani on Tuesday blamed Chandrababu Naidu-led Telugu Desam Party (TDP) for developing cold feet on separate statehood issue.

“Had our partner TDP cooperated with us during NDA tenure, there would have been separate Telangana,” Advani said in his valedictory address at the Global Investors Meet here.

NDA government carved Uttarakhand, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand out of Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Bihar, respectively, during its rule, he said.

“But, TDP did not extend support for formation of Telangana,” the BJP veteran said.

Food, water and medical help are in short supply at overcrowded camps in violence-hit western Myanmar that are “stretched beyond capacity”, the UN refugee agency said today.

Buddhist-Muslim bloodshed in Rakhine state has caused more than 28,000 people to flee their homes this month, UNHCR
said in a statement.

It is clearly urgent that law and order be restored to prevent further violence and that access is facilitated so
that aid can be provided to those in need,” the agency said.

At least four persons were killed and 20 others injured when the lorry they were travelling in overturned in the posh Banjara Hills locality here in the early hours Tuesday.

The incident occurred at around 2.30 am when the driver of the vegetable-laden lorry lost control while taking a turn near GVK Mall resulting in the death of two persons on the spot.

Two among the injured succumbed to their injuries while undergoing treatment at a hospital, police said.

The remaining were undergoing treatment at different hospitals in the city.

The sixth phase of land distribution will begin from November 3.

Addressing a press conference at the State Secretariat here on Tuesday, Revenue Minister Dr N Raghuveera Reddy informed that Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy will launch the programme at Puttaparthy of Anantapur district. He said as many as 57,000 beneficiaries would be given 83,000 acres of land in the sixth phase. Besides possession and D-Form Patta, the Title Deed, FMB, Adangal Panchnama and security features would also be transferred to the beneficiaries.

An auto driver from Vasai in Thane district who was found guilty of burning a police head constable alive has been sentenced to life imprisonment by the Vasai Sessions Court.

Sessions Judge R M Joshi awarded life sentence to auto driver Mahendra Kevat after the prosecution built a strong
case.

Kevat (21) allegedly doused a head constable Anil Aitiwadekar (42) with petrol on October 27, 2010 and set him
ablaze near Navghar bus stop at Vasai, after the cop fined him for not possessing legal documents.

Seven socio-religious organisations today held demonstrations here against alleged forcible conversion of 26 persons of Buddhists community in Zanskar belt of the Jammu and Kashmir.

A joint protest by the members of civil society and some other organisations including VHP, Bhartiya Janta Youva Morcha and Panun Kashmir was held near Press Club Jammu.

The protesters demanded deployment of the Army as a confidence building measure for the minority Buddhists
community in the Zanskar belt of Kargil district.

Two people including a shopping centre watchman in Bhayander who were found guilty of murdering a man in 2010 were convicted today and sentenced to life imprisonment by Thane Principal Sessions and District Judge K K Sonawane.

The judge held Munnalal Shankarlal Sharma (35) and Harish Adaji Chowdhary (38) guilty of charges under Section
302 read with Section 34 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and jailed the duo.

Additional Public Prosecutor Hemlata Deshmukh told the court in her submission that the victim Zinak Tilakram Yadav
(38) was a resident of the township.

Four youths were arrested today for demanding money from their one time school teacher over phone at Hajarpara in Baksa district, police said.

Khagen Deka, teacher of a primary school in the locality,had been receiving phone calls from some unidentified youths
claiming to be members of the ULFA in the recent past.

The callers had asked Deka to pay Rs two lakh and warned him that he would be hurt if the money was not given.

The teacher had filed an FIR last week.

Police picked up the four youths, all erstwhile students of Deka, this morning and they allegedly confessed to the

Maoists beat up two employees of a contractor when he refused to pay them money at Saphi of Garhwa district, police said today.

About thirty Maoists badly thrashed the munshi and another staff of the contractor engaged in constructing a
school building,” Superintendent of Police Michael S Raj told reporters here.

The Maoists had demanded money from the contractor engaged in a Rs three crore project, he said.

———————–PTI

The uncle of a woman was among four persons arrested today from a village in Odisha for allegedly forcing her into prostitution in Uttar Pradesh, police said.

The 25-year-old woman of Kharamangi village in Jajpur district of Odisha was married to Prakash Kabir Das of
Chausath village in Uttar Pradesh on October 03, 2012.

Her uncle Gopal Khuntia and one Bhagabat Sahu negotiated the marriage.

Soon after the marriage, Prakash took the bride to his native village in UP along with the two negotiators.

The communal violence hit areas of the Old City remained peaceful on Tuesday with no fresh incidents being reported from any locality.

At least six people, including five policemen, were injured during the incidents of heavy stone pelting in Sabzi Mandi area on Monday night. More than 15 shops were also set ablaze by the miscreants. However, quick reaction by the police ensured that the violence do not spread to other areas.