Month: November 2012

BJP chief Nitin Gadkari today inaugurated the celebrations for 12th foundation day of Chhattisgarh in the new capital Naya Raipur.

Amidst heavy rainfall, Gadkari congratulated the people of the state, saying it had made progress in several fields in the last 12 years.

Naya Raipur became the state’s official capital today.

The BJP chief expressed hope that the state would soon be counted amongst the progressive states in the country and said Naya Raipur would be the “most beautiful” capital in India.

Indian American record-setting NASA astronaut Sunita Williams along with another cosmonaut today troubleshot an ammonia leak in the International Space Station’s cooling system, accomplishing the chief objective of their marathon six-hour excursion outside the orbiting lab.

Williams and Japanese space flyer Akihiko Hoshide ventured yesterday outside the space station at 1229 GMT (1759 IST) and just a little more than five hours later, they had reconfigured some coolant lines and deployed a spare radiator, isolating the leak.

Nearly a month after the city police filed chargesheet against him in the air hostess Geetika Sharma suicide case, former Haryana Minister Gopal Kanda on Thursday moved Delhi High Court against the trial court’s order dismissing his bail plea.

The plea is likely to be listed for hearing tomorrow before the court of Justice P K Bhasin.

On September 20, the trial court had denied bail to Kanda, who has been in jail since August 18, saying further probe was needed in view of a police report that the victim was pregnant in March this year.

He is glad that Indo-Pak bilateral cricket is finally set for revival come December, but former Pakistan captain Zaheer Abbas is not particularly pleased with the short duration of the series.

While welcoming the BCCI announcement that it had got clearance to host Pakistan for a short one-day series from December 25, Zaheer said he hoped for a full series.

“While it is a very good thing that finally bilateral cricket matches are being revived after nearly five years but the duration of the series has disappointed me given the importance of Indo-Pak cricket contests,” he said in an

A Delhi court will pronounce its order on Friday on a plea filed by BJP chief Nitin Gadkari seeking initiation of proceedings against Congress leader Digvijay Singh for alleged defamation.

Metropolitan Magistrate Sudesh Kumar Oct 16 reserved the order for Nov 2 on the issue of summoning Digvijay Singh over the defamation complaint by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief.

Gadkari Oct 1 filed a defamation complaint against the Congress leader for dragging his name into alleged irregularities in the allocation of coal blocks.

A suspicious man carrying ammunition and “strange writings” was briefly detained outside an Oak Creek gurdwara in the US state of Wisconsin, where a white supremacist had gunned down six Sikhs in August.

“This happened last Sunday. The man was detained due to his suspicious activity outside the gurdwara. The police questioned him. Later it was determined that he was not a threat (to gurdwara). So he was released,” Oak Creek Mayor Steve Scaffidi told PTI.

Big Boss season 6 is a dull affair and till now no firework is taking place majority of contestants have formed groups.
On saturday model actress Mink Brar will enter the Bigg Boss house as this season’s first wild card contestant and she’s in a right mind to dispel the dullness she says has enveloped the show.

Now that Rahul Gandhi has made a crucial decision to continue his work in the Congress party and not join the government, he should consider the millions of Indians who have been waiting to be benefitted by the country’s economic reforms as his own “constituency”. He can use their “angry impatience” to create a “forceful impetus” to push their cause within the Congress.

China’s state forestry administration (SFA) has pledged to improve wild animal protection following reports of migratory birds being killed during their visit into the country.

Speaking recently about the rampant illegal hunting of migratory birds, Yin Hong, deputy head of the SFA, said the state forestry administration would pool and coordinate efforts to strengthen wild animal protection and management, Xinhua reported.

With an announcement of 10-year strategy, South Australia has become the latest Australian state to focus on increasing commercial engagement with India. South Australia plans to focus primarily on the energy, education and environmental services as a part of the ambitious plan.

“States need to more effectively engage with this emerging economic powerhouse and this strategy sets out how we will do that,” Premier Jay Weatherill said while unveiling the South Australia – India Engagement strategy at Adelaide University’s Centre for Asian Studies Wednesday.

Karam Chand and his wife Katari, who have eight children and 28 grandchildren, have been married for 87 years, making them the world’s longest married couple.

The pair say that the key to success is looking after each other in every way possible: “My trick is to make Katari laugh. I like to tell jokes and make her smile. Being funny is my way of being romantic,” says 107-year-old Karam.

In an attempt to facilitate travel of bonafide passengers and reduce misuse of ticketing system, the railways Thursday decided to extend the condition of carrying original proof of identity during travel on reserved tickets for all classes in a train.

The change will come into effect from Dec 1, said a statement from the ministry.

At present, only passengers travelling on e-tickets, Tatkal tickets and in air-conditioned class have to produce original proof of identity during the journey.

The West Bengal government has decided to provide identity cards to Indian forest officials and members of the special task force controlling elephant movement through the country’s borders with Nepal here, Forest Minister Hiten Burman said here Thursday.

The task force was formed sometime back in view of the deaths of elephants in firing as also the damage done by the pachyderms crossing over from India to Nepal or vice versa.

Wipro Ltd posted a net profit of Rs.1,611 crore (Rs.16 billion) for the second quarter (July-September) of this fiscal (2012-13), registering 24 percent increase year-on-year (YoY) over the same period last fiscal (2011-12).

In a regulatory filing Friday, the IT bellwether said total revenue rose 17 percent YoY to Rs.10,657 crore (Rs.106.57 billion) for the quarter (Q2) under review, according to the Indian accounting standard.

Under the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), the net income is $304 million and the total revenue is $2 billion.

As President Barack Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney returned to the campaign in the wake of Hurricane sandy, new polls suggested a very close race though Obama appeared to have a very slight edge.

Buoyed by praise for his handling of the ‘Frankenstorm’, Obama Thursday ended a three-state swing with a rally in the battle ground state of Colorado where a CNN/ORC International Poll showed Obama with a 50 to 48 percent edge over Romney, well within the survey’s sampling error.

Senior players Sachin Tendulkar and Zaheer Khan will look to regain their lost form ahead of the high-profile four-Test series between India and England when they star in Mumbai’s campaign against Railways in the Ranji Trophy on Friday.

While Tendulkar will represent his home association for the first time since the final against UP at Hyderabad in 2009, Zaheer had played a few away games last season to test his match fitness ahead of getting back into the international arena after an injury lay-off.

Rahul Gandhi tonight threatened to pursue “all legal actions” against Janata Party chief Subramanian Swamy, who targeted him and Sonia Gandhi raising questions over acquisition of a company that published the now-defunct National Herald newspaper to which Congress gave a loan of over Rs 90 crore.

“Our attention has been drawn to your purported press conference of the afternoon of November 1. The allegations made by you are utterly false, entirely baseless and defamatory,” Rahul Gandhi’s office said in a communication to Swamy.

A youth, claiming to be biological son of N D Tiwari, today moved the Delhi High Court for launch of contempt proceedings against the veteran Congress leader for allegedly not paying him Rs 25,000 as fine and expenses incurred by him on Tiwari’s DNA test as per the court’s order.

Maintaining his strong opposition to the tour by the Pakistani cricket team to India, Shiv Sena on Thursday said it was a matter of “national shame”.

“The Pakistan team will be playing matches at Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai and Bengaluru. At one point or the other, Pak terrorists have attacked these cities,” Thackeray said.

The feet of Pakistani players wont be touching Maharashtra but their tour of these cities is a matter of national shame, he said, in an editorial in party mouthpiece “Saamana” here.

Alleging widespread corruption in Gujarat under Chief Minister Narendra Modi, Opposition Congress today vowed to appoint a Lokayukta within three days if voted to power.

Promising a “fearless and corruption-free society” in the state, the Gujarat unit of Congress said its government will give autonomy to the State Vigilance Commission and its recommendations made binding to establish an efficient and speedy corruption prevention mechanism.

Pakistani teenage rights activist Malala Yousufzai, who is recovering at a hospital here after being shot in the head by the Taliban for advocating girls’ education, has received numerous requests for interviews and publishing deals.

In a statement, the University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust today said it has and continues to receive numerous requests for interviews, documentary opportunities and publishing deals with 15-year-old Malala and her family.

A man in the US has been sentenced to 17 years in prison after he confessed to have planned crashing explosive-laden model airplanes into federal buildings, Xinhua reported.

Rezwan Ferdaus, 26, planned to use rigged cellphones to detonate the improvised devices to bomb the Pentagon and the US Capitol. His plea bargain with prosecutors helped him to avoid a much longer sentence.

Ferdaus, a man of Moroccan descent, grew up in the US state of Massachusetts. He was arrested back in February near the US Capitol in Washington, D.C., as part of an anti-terrorism investigation by the FBI.

Bollywood actress Aishwarya Rai was Thursday conferred upon a civilian award by the French government for her contribution to the arts on the occasion of her birthday.

Francois Richier, ambassador of France to India, conferred the honour of prestigious ‘Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters’ on her at a hotel here.

On receiving the award, Aishwarya said: “I want to thank the French government for honouring me with the award. It’s truly overwhelming. I thank you in all humility.”

She thanked her family for their support and expressed her gratitude towards her colleagues.

Telugu Desam Party’s senior leader and former central minister K. Yerran Naidu died in a road accident in Andhra Pradesh’s Srikakulam district early Friday. He was 55.

The mishap took place when a car, in which he was travelling, hit an oil tanker from behind near Ranasthalam in Srikakulam district in north coastal Andhra, about 700 km from Hyderabad, around 2 a.m.

Naidu, a politburo member of TDP, was returning to Srikakulam from Visakhapatnam, after attending a marriage when the accident occurred.

Andhra Pradesh Formation Day was observed with gay abandon all over the state though amidst tense situation and tight security in the Telangana region where the separatists declared it as a “betrayal day” and organized black flag demonstrations.

The State government, keeping in view the decision of the Telangana ministers to stay away from the official functions, has permitted the Collectors to hoist the national flags in their respective districts. Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy presided over the official function held at NTR Stadium and hoisted the national flag.