Month: November 2012

More than 30 persons, including 10 security personnel, were injured when police and teachers of government aided schools agitating over mode of payment, clashed in front of the Assembly today. Teachers of about 1500 schools in the state had assembled in front of the Assembly from different parts of the state demanding abolition of block grant mode of payment and implementation of the grant-in-aid for them, the Director General of Police (DGP) Prakash Mishra said.

TRS leaders and activists today held fasts at several places in Telangana region to commemorate the hunger strike of party president K Chandrasekhar Rao three years ago. The fast by the TRS president in 2009 led to the Centre announcing that it would take steps for formation of separate Telangana though it had subsequently said it needed to hold further consultations on the contentious issue. The TRS leaders and workers observed the day as ‘deeksha diwas’ in Hyderabad and other places.

The confusion among people on the Maharashtra side of the Andhra Pradesh border, over the proposed Dr B R Ambedkar Pranahita Chevella Sujala Sravanti (APCSS) irrigation project at Tummadi Hetti has finally been cleared by officials from Andhra Pradesh. Andhra Pradesh Irrigation Department’s Executive Engineer G Kanakesh said that there is no cause for concern for any village in Maharashtra, as no land will be submerged due to the APCSS project. The project has been taken up after mutual consent between the two states, he said.

ACB sleuths trapped four government officials including an Assistant Director of Agriculture department, from four districts of Andhra Pradesh on charges of taking bribes. Kaja Mohimuddin, Assistant Director Agriculture in Bhanswada mandal of Nizamabad district was held when he demanded and accepted bribe of Rs 5,000 from the complainant for renewal of licence of his fertiliser shop, according to a ACB release here today.

Yesteryear style icon and actress Zeenat Aman shimmered on the sands in Goa today in a layered skirt and a loose structured jacket at the ongoing India Resort Fashion Week (IRFW) 2012. The 61-year-old veteran actress was the show stopper for Riyaz and Reshma Gangji’s collection ‘Libas’ in which the duo created a design fit for bride groom’s mother or aunt. Zeenat sizzled at the show wearing a red and pink skirt with the shimmery golden jacket. “I like clothes that they make even if it is jacket or Indian wear, they take into account that it is comfortable and not inappropriate.

Actress Geneila D’Souza, who got married to long-time beau Riteish Deshmukh earlier this year, turned into a “bride” again for designer Neeta Lulla at the ongoing India Resort Fashion Week (IRFW).

The four-day fashion extravaganza started here Wednesday.

This was Geneila’s first ramp show dressed as a bride after getting married to Riteish Feb 3.

She looked as vivacious as ever in a pastel colour lehanga-choli and minimal make-up.

“Actually this is my second ramp show after marriage but yet it’s first time in bridal wear,” the 25-year-old actress told IANS.

Accusing the Uttar Pradesh government of misleading the Muslims, the Congress today alleged that the Samajwadi Party had made unreal promises to the community before the Assembly polls, which it is now finding difficult to fulfil. Party’s state spokesperson Maroof Khan said that during campaigning, SP had made promises like taking steps to get “innocent” Muslim people facing terror charges out of jail, besides a quota of 18 per cent for the community. The promises, however, remain far from reality and the government is now finding it impossible to fulfil them, Khan claimed.

A Pakistani parliamentary panel today called for a ban on advertisements featuring Indian models and suggested that it should be mandatory for female anchors on news channels to cover their heads with a dupatta. The suggestion was made by the Standing Committee for Information and Broadcasting of the National Assembly or lower house of parliament during a meeting attended by Information Minister Qamar Zaman Kaira. Reacting to the panel’s call to ban advertisements featuring Indian models, Kaira said the issue was in court and it would be better to wait for the judiciary’s decision.

The Karnataka cabinet has in-principle decided to regularise more than 14,000 daily wage workers, state minister Vishweshwar Hegde Kageri said today. “The cabinet has in-principle taken a very important decision to regularise more than 14,000 daily wage workers in government and quasi-government departments,” Kageri told reporters after a cabinet meeting. The decision was taken based on the recommendations of the Cabinet subcommittee for regularisation of services of the daily wagers, Kageri said.

Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi today alleged the state’s opposition Congress was resorting to lies and negativeness out of electoral frustration. “They are showing advertisement with photograph of a Sri Lankan child. They have stooped so low in telling lies that they do not bother to think if they are defaming Gujarat,” Modi said. Congress had recently issued an advertisement on malnutrition in the state but it featured a picture of a flood victim child in Sri Lanka, causing embarrassment to the party.

The Income Tax department today carried out surveys at residences of Tollywood comedian Brahmanandam and some Telugu TV personalities. The sleuths reached residences of the actor and other TV personalities including Suma, Udayabhanu and Jhansi here. They checked their documents and other financial transactions in connection with their tax returns, a senior Income Tax officer said tonight. Meanwhile, Cyberabad Police Commissioner Dwarka Tirumala Rao said that the police was fully prepared to give security to the people and IT offices located in the Cyberabad area here. PTI

Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi offered Kazakhstan “billions” in the early 1990s to retain its nuclear arsenal as the Muslim world’s “first atomic weapons”, a former Kazakh foreign minister and high-ranking UN official said Thursday.

Kazakhstan, a Central Asian, Muslim majority state, broke away from the Soviet Union in 1991 and gave up its nuclear arsenal of 1,410 nuclear warheads shortly after.

Putting the safety of around 160 passengers at risk, two SpiceJet pilots allegedly got into a verbal fight over who should land first, sources here said. The incident had occurred yesterday at around 7 pm when the Indore ATC cleared the Delhi-Indore flight of SpiceJet for landing. Around the same time, the airline’s flight SG 1053 Hyderabad-Indore was also on the approach but was to land after the Delhi flight. “However, the pilot of the flight from Delhi contacted the ATC, saying the Hyderabad flight pilot was arguing with him over landing.

A local court today acquitted Indian National Lok Dal MLA Saroj Mor from the charges of slapping a woman constable during poll duty in 2009. Additional District and Sessions Judge R K Yadav also acquitted ASI of Haryana Police Ved Pal and another Ajit Singh in the case. Judicial Magistrate of Hansi, Satish Jangra on September 29 last year awarded two years imprisonment to Saroj Mor, her relative ASI Ved Pal and one another Ajit Singh on the charge of slapping the woman constable during repoll of Assembly elections in Bass and Khanda Kheri village here.

The husband of Savita Halappanavar will proceed with an application to the European Court of Human Rights after Irish Health Minister did not agree for a public inquiry into the circumstances leading to her death. According to the Irish Times, Praveen Halappanavar’s solicitor Gerard O’Donnell said he was identifying a team of junior and senior counsel for the action because Health Minister James Reilly did not agree to a public inquiry into the circumstances of her death. “I expect to sit down with them and my client early next week to draw up papers to submit to the European court”.

Former MLA and Shankarsinh Vaghela loyalist Madhubhai Thakor today joined BJP with his supporters in the presence of party’s national vice-president Purshottam Rupala. Vaghela, who severed ties with BJP in 1995-96 and formed Rashtriya Janata Party (RJP), has now lost two of his confidantes, Girish Parmar and Madhubhai Thakor, to BJP. The RJP had later merged with the Congress. When asked about Congress leader Digvijay Singh’s indirect reference to Modi as “Ravan”, Rupala said, “This is the Congress culture. They call a leader monkey, rat and Ravan. We don’t want to answer such things.

Palestine overwhelmingly won a historical UN General Assembly vote which will upgrade its status to non-member observer state at the world body, despite intense opposition from the US and Israel. India was among the 138 nations in the 193-member body that voted in favour while nine countries opposed the resolution that sought upgrading the status of Palestinian Authority from ‘entity’ to ‘non-member observer state. Forty-one countries abstained from the voting which took place yesterday. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said “an important vote” has taken place in the General Assembly.

Designer Pria Kaataria Puri, who is making her foray into Bollywood with styling up actresses Priyanka Chopra and Mahie Gill for the remake of 1973 film “Zanjeer”, says she is doing the project just for director Apoorva Lakhia, who is “a very dear friend”.

Andhra Pradesh government is taking steps to bring 30 lakh acres of land under irrigation in the next two years by spending Rs 16,000 crore, Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy said here on Thursday.

Speaking after inaugurating the Jeedipalli reservoir of Handri Neeva Sujala Sravanti (HNSS) project in the district, Reddy said several irrigation projects, including Kinnerasani and Kalwakurthy, had been inaugurated since he became Chief Minister, and Rs 70,000 crore had been spent so far.

The Income Tax department today carried out surveys at residences of Tollywood comedian Brahmanandam and some Telugu TV personalities.

The sleuths reached residences of the actor and other TV personalities including Suma, Udayabhanu and Jhansi here.

They checked their documents and other financial transactions in connection with their tax returns, a senior Income Tax officer said tonight.

Meanwhile, Cyberabad Police Commissioner Dwarka Tirumala Rao said that the police was fully prepared to give security to the people and IT offices located in the Cyberabad area here.

–PTI

Quashing the ‘doomsday’ rumours, top NASA scientists have assured that the world won’t end on December 21, 2012.

“The world will not end in 2012. Our planet has been getting along just fine for more than 4 billion years, and credible scientists worldwide know of no threat associated with 2012,” NASA said on its website.

The ‘doomsday story’ started with claims that Nibiru, a supposed planet discovered by the Sumerians, is headed toward Earth, scientists said.

Congress senior leader and former Chairman of the State Mineral Development Corporation Vaddepalli Narasinga Rao joined the YSR Congress on Thursday. A big public meeting was organized in Kukatpalli on the occasion. YSR Congress honorary president Vijayamma attended the meeting and welcomed Narasinga Rao into the party.

PCC general secretary Abid Rasool Khan has submitted a representation to UPA chairperson and Congress president Sonia Gandhi, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy urging them to form a Sub Plan for Minorities in the State on the lines of Sub-Plan for SCs and STs.

Police today arrested the owner of a godown shed in connection with Sunday’s fire at a residential apartment near Manikonda on city outskirts.

The fire, which broke out at the shed and spread to the building, had claimed eight lives, including that of a 10-day-old boy.

Vijay Kumar, the shed owner against whom Narsingi police had registered a case, was arrested here and remanded in judicial custody, a senior police officer said.

A 40-year-old woman was allegedly sexually assaulted in police custody and admitted to hospital in a critical condition in Central Assam’s Morigaon district, police said on Thursday.

Morigaon Superintendent of Police Ainul Haque said the woman has filed a complaint that she was picked up by Mayong police station personnel on the night of November 26 for allegedly giving shelter to some poachers in her house.