In an indirect attack on RJD President Lalu Prasad, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Wednesday said some people were trying to inject the “virus of impatience” in the state.
“People coming from outside after a long time are trying to spread virus of impatience in Bihar like dengue that entered the state from Delhi,” Kumar said at the anniversary of Sardar Bhallabh Bhai Patel.
He, however, did not name Prasad.
A five-judge Constitution bench of the Supreme Court will begin hearing from Thursday former Lok Sabha Speaker PA Sangma’s petition against the election of Pranab Mukherjee as President.
A bench of Chief Justice Altamas Kabir and justices P Sathasivam, SS Nijjar, J Chelameswar and Ranjan Gogoi will hear Sangma’s petition in which he had said that the veteran Congress leader was not eligible for the post as he was holding offices of profit on the date of filing nomination for the President’s election.
Pakistan’s cabinet on Wednesday ratified four recent agreements with India, including a landmark visa pact aimed at easing restrictions on several categories of travellers, including senior citizens and businessmen.
The three other agreements ratified by the cabinet during a meeting chaired on Wednesday afternoon by Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf are aimed at boosting trade between the two countries.
The visa agreement was signed by then Indian External Affairs Minister SM Krishna and Interior Minister Rehman Malik in Islamabad on September 8.
Cyclone ‘Nilam’ on Wednesday intensified into a severe storm with extremely heavy rainfall expected over north coastal Tamil Nadu and Puducherry even as the weather department warned of extensive damage to huts, standing crops and power lines.
The cyclone is expected to cross between Puducherry and Nellore in Andhra Pradesh close to Chennai on Wednesday evening.
Sachin Tendulkar will be honoured for completing his 100th international century while Virat Kohli will get the Polly Umrigar Award for being India’s top international cricketer of 2011-12 at the BCCI Annual Awards ceremony to be held on November 21 in Mumbai.
Kohli, who was honoured with the ICC’s ODI Cricketer of the Year earlier, will be awarded a trophy and a cheque of Rs 5 lakhs, the BCCI said in a release.
Tendulkar (2006-07 and 2009-10), Virender Sehwag (2007-08), Gautam Gambhir (2008-09) and Rahul Dravid (2010-11) were the earlier recipients of the award.
A man was allegedly kidnapped and murdered by his domestic help in Sector 15 in the district, police said on Wednesday.
According to complaint lodged by the victim’s wife, Uday Pratap left home on intervening night of October 26 and 27 with Rs 1.5 lakh to make payment for some work along with Sadakat and Bilal who worked as domestic help, police said.
Pratap did not return home, and Sadakat and Bilal also went missing, after which a case of kidnapping was lodged on the basis of wife’s complaint, they said.
Berating Narendra Modi for his remarks against her, Sunanda Pushkar, wife of Union Minister Shashi Tharoor, on Wednesday asked him to show women respect and not to “stoop” to low levels.
Ms. Pushkar said she was not expecting an apology from the Gujarat Chief Minister, who had over the last 10 years chosen not to express regret for the 2002 post-Godhra riots.
In a veiled attack on Congress, Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday said it was most unfortunate that Sardar Patel was given the Bharat Ratna 41 years after his death.
“Ironically, Sardar saheb has not got his dues from the same party to which he devoted his entire life,” he said, paying tributes to the late leader of the freedom struggle — who hailed from Gujarat — on his 137th birth anniversary.
“What could be more unfortunate than the fact that Sardar Patel was honoured with Bharat Ratna in 1991, a full 41 years after his demise?”
US President Barack Obama Wednesday promised quick and continued federal help for Americans affected by Hurricane Sandy, as he toured New Jersey state to inspect the damage caused by the superstorm, Xinhua reported.
With just one week to go before the 2012 presidential election, Obama has suspended his re-election campaign to respond to the superstorm.
Speaking on a marina in New Jersey’s island city of Brigantine, Obama told the storm victims: “We are here for you. We will not forget. We will make sure you get all the help you need to rebuild.”
Two Iranian warships Wednesday left Sudan after their three-day visit “in support of political and diplomatic ties between the two countries”, the Sudanese defence ministry said.
The vessels docked in the Port of Sudan on the Red Sea Monday, days after Sudan accused Israel of an air raid on the Yarmouk arms factory in the south of Khartoum, which killed at least two people.
The warships were opened for public access for a day during the visit, the ministry said.
British Prime Minister David Cameron suffered a major defeat in a parliamentary vote Wednesday, after rebels in his Conservative Party ganged up with the opposition Labour Party to press for a cut in the EU budget.
The motion was passed with 307 votes for and 294 votes against, and signalled the biggest setback since the Conservative-Liberal coalition government came to power in May 2010, Xinhua reported.
Some 53 Conservative MPs backed a motion demanding Cameron to request a cut in the EU’s 2014-20 budget when the EU leaders meet in Brussels next month.
As many as 70 employees of a mental health centre in Israel have been arrested for alleged physical and sexual abuse of patients.
The Neve Ya’akov facility, located in Petach Tikva city, 10 km from Tel Aviv, is home to 160 patients, Xinhua reported Wednesday.
According to Israeli Army Radio, the medical workers were held following a year-long investigation when about 150 policemen suddenly descended on the facility, hauling in doctors, nurses and other workers.
Iran has said it will back Syria against any “foreign plots”, Xinhua reported Thursday.
During a meeting with the visiting Syrian Oil and Mineral Resources Minister, Said Hneidi, Iran’s Supreme National Security Council secretary Saeed Jalili said that the Islamic republic will back Syria against any “foreign plots”, reported Press TV.
Jalili also said that a national dialogue held by different groups of people was the best and most effective solution to the Syrian crisis, as foreign intervention would only fuel the flames of war in the Arab nation.
India Against Corruption Wednesday turned its fire on Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani by alleging that S. Jaipal Reddy was axed as petroleum minister for refusing a RIL’s proposal to hike gas charges and accused the government of promoting “crony capitalism.”
IAC’s Arvind Kejriwal and Prashant Bhushan demanded that the Krishna-Godavari (KG) basin allotted to Reliance Industries be scrapped and accused the UPA government of favouring the RIL by giving contract on gas exploration in KG Basin and concessions at a huge cost to the exchequer.
Russia has said removal of President Bashar al-Assad from power will do nothing to end the 19-month old civil war in Syria but it will only escalate the violence
“It is like daydreaming to speculate on the subject, to the effect that if the [Syrian] government is overthrown everything will fall into place,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Wednesday after meeting his French counterpart Laurent Fabius.
“If this is a priority for somebody, bloodshed will continue, and for quite a while, too…Assad’s fate should be decided by the Syrian people,” he added.
Television sets without set top boxes (STBs) in hundreds of households across Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata went blank as the deadline for switch over to cable TV digitisation ended on October 31 midnight.
People watching various programmes faced a TV blackout when the clock struck 12. However, in some areas of Kolkata, the television sets without STBs were found to be working.
In Mumbai, nearly 20 per cent of the households have not installed STBs.
TDP women’s wing chief Shobha Hymavati has described the PCC Chief Botsa Satyanarayana as a comedian and the YSR Congress leader Sharmila as a political amateur.
TDP senior leader Dadi Veerabhadra Rao has strongly criticized the Chief Minister Kran Kumar Reddy for questioning why the TDP chief Chandra Babu Naidu should make promises to the people as he was not in power to fulfill them.
The Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy paid floral tributes to Late Indira Gandhi today. The Chief Minister garlanded the statue of Gandhi at Sangareddy Town on the occasion of her death anniversary. Several ministers, legislators, hundreds of Youth Congress workers also paid tributes.
Is the “imminent change of guard” in the State shocking news to Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy and PCC Chief Botcha Satyanarayana?
According to an informed senior Congress leader, it is true. He said the party high command has already set a stage for change of guards in the State. According to him, AICC chief Sonia Gandhi has finalized names for the two top posts of Chief Minister and PCC Chief and the changes may take place any moment in November.
Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy on Wednesday said that Indiramma Baata was conceived to ensure that the results of welfare programs reach all sections of the people in the State.
The State government here on Wednesday accorded permission to Information Technology Minister Ponnala Lakshmaiah to visit UAE and the UK from November 3 to 7 on official purpose.
According to a GO issued today, the IT and C Department proposed a foreign tour by a delegation led by Minister for Information Technology & Communications Ponnala Lakshmaiah to UAE and the UK from November 3 to 7 on official purpose to study the Global Best Practices and to Replicate the same for setting up Animation Gaming Park in Hyderabad.
Telugu Desam Party has strongly condemned the Chief Minister Kran Kumar Reddy for charging the party Chief Minister Chandra Babu Naidu of showing false love towards the backward communities.
In a statement here on Wednesday, party BC cell president Reddy Subramaniam and general
secretary Simhadri Kanakachari have challenged the Chief Minister to come for an open debate
on which had party had done the most for the BCs. They said that N T Rama Rao was has launched
the TDP basically to do justice to the neglected sections like the BCs. They said if thousands
Sangareddy MLA and Government Whip Thoorpu Jayaprakash Reddy on Wednesday alleged that TDP Chief N Chandrababu Naidu and YSRCP president Jaganmohan Reddy’s sister Sharmila launched padayatras for power.
The AP NGOs’ Society Welfare Association has demanded that the State government immediately release Rs two crores towards clearance of pending bills to various NGOs worked under Residential Special Training Centre (RSTC) program under Rajiv Vidya Mission project, Right To Education Act 2009 in the State.