Former Noida SP Mahesh Kumar Mishra told the special CBI court, hearing the double murder case of teenage girl Aarushi and domestic aide Hemraj, that he found the behaviour of Rajesh and Nupur Talwar “suspicious” when he reached their residence on the day of the crime.
Mishra, who appeared before the Special CBI Judge S Lal yesterday, said, “When I reached the Talwars’ residence on May 16, 2008, I found their behaviour suspicious.”
An explosion at the headquarters of Mexico’s state oil company, Pemex on Thursday has left 14 people dead and 80 injured.
The blast occurred in the basement of an administrative building next to the 52-storey tower of Petroleos Mexicanos. The exact reason for the blast is yet to be ascertained.
The police have cordoned off the area and rescue operations are in full swing to take out survivors people from debris.
It was a reality check for Rahul Gandhi on the state of affairs in the Congress in his first formal interaction with party leaders as vice president which saw lot of fireworks, blame game and complaints of oneupmanship.
The three-hour-long meeting witnessed senior leaders targeting either their colleagues or Chief Ministers accusing them of hijacking the state organisations.
Lyricist Javed Akhtar Thursday backed sociologist Ashish Nandi, saying his comments on corruption in the weaker sections of the society ahs been “misinterpreted” and “misrepresented”.
“It was misinterpreted. It was misrepresented. He has fought for the downtrodden. Suddenly why would he take a U-turn?” Aktar told media persons at the Kolkata Literary Meet.
“He was saying that in the corrupt society when powerful or privileged people commit corruption, then it is acceptable. Whereas when the weaker section commits corruption, it looks very corrupt.”
Filmmaker Tigmanshu Dhulia says that his upcoming film, “Saheb Biwi Aur Gangster Returns” has the right amount of sensuality, stressing it is very important for a film to have the right amount of sex and passion for it to remain effective.
“There is sensuality but in little measure. I feel that it is effective only like that. It should have the right amount of sex and passion,” he said at the first look and trailer launch of the film held Thursday evening.
Directed by Dhulia, the film stars Jimmy Shergill, Mahie Gill, Irrfan Khan and Soha Ali Khan.
A 15-year-old American girl who performed at President Barack Obama”s inauguration last week has been shot dead in Chicago by a gunman.
According to the police, the gunman opened fire on a group of kids hanging out in a Chicago park.
Chicago police said Hadiya Pendleton, who performed in a marching band at this month”s inauguration, was in a park about a 2km from Obama”s home in a South Side neighborhood when she was killed by the gunman who apparently was not even aiming at her.
US President Barack Obama’s popularity has hit 60 percent, the highest level since he first took office four years ago, a poll has said.
The survey by ABC television and The Washington Post, also found that his popularity is slightly less than that enjoyed by two other re-elected presidents, Bill Clinton and Ronald Reagan, at the start of their second terms.
Obama”s favourability rating at the start of this second term is higher, however, than that of his predecessor George W Bush at the same point during his tenure, the poll, covering 1 022 adults, showed.
The New York Times has revealed that over the last four months, it has been repeatedly attacked by Chinese hackers, trying to infiltrate its computer systems and get passwords for its reporters and other employees.
The timing of the attacks coincided with the reporting for a Times investigation, published online on October 25, that found that the relatives of Wen Jiabao, China’s prime minister, had accumulated a fortune worth several billion dollars through business dealings.
US President Barack Obama sees bringing a diverse set of staffers into his administration as a key part of his legacy. Obama was quoted, as saying that one of his highest priorities as an administration is to make sure that they are identifying talent from every walk of life, from every ethnic group, reports Politico. Obama said his administration would redouble their efforts to recruit talented and gifted Latinos that come from every walk of life. The President refuted claims that his recent nominations and appointments haven”t been sufficiently diverse, and offered a wait-and-see defense.
President Pranab Mukherjee inaugurated the Hindu Centre for Politics and Public Policy at the Rashtrapati Bhavan Auditorium here on Thursday.
Addressing an elite gathering of political leaders, ministers, journalists, scholars and diplomats, President Mukherjee said that the Hindu has been a participant in India”s struggle for independence.
Saying that the government wanted to advance the panchayat poll in West Bengal, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee today explained that the CPI-M and the Congress objected to it and now the election would be held when it was due. “We wanted panchayat poll to be held in February. We wanted to hold it during winter. But the CPI-M and Congress have objected to it. They have lodged complaint (with state election commission),” she told reporters here. “What can I do? The (panchayat) election will be held when it is due,” Banerjee said. PTI
Police arrested 22-year-old Konisetti Krishna today, who allegedly made a futile attempt to rob two ATM counters of State Bank of Hyderabad (SBH) and Canara Bank in the city, a few days ago. The accused, Konisetti Krishna, a native of Yarramsettivanipalem, which comes under the Narsapuram police station in West Godavari district, used to be an operator at Akash Dredging Marine Services. He came to the city on January 19 and stayed at the railway station and NAD Junction areas in the city, police commissioner B Shivadhar Reddy told reporters.
Telugu Desam Party (TDP) president N Chandra Babu Naidu resumed his yatra on Thursday evening from Paritala village in the Krishna district after a four-day break from his ‘Vastunna Mee Kosam’ (‘I am coming to you’) padayatra to recover from his knee pain. He is expected to walk seven kilometres on Thursday and rest after reaching Mulapadu village, also in Krishna district. Naidu will continue his yatra in Krishna district till February 4. He is expected to reach Guntur district on February 5. PTI
A key accused in 2007 Ajmer Dargah blast case who is in judicial custody in a jail here is on an indefinite hunger strike against Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde’s remarks on Hindu terrorism and has been admitted to hospital, prison officials and his family said. DIG Jail Sarwar said that Bharat Bhai Rateshwar informed the jail authorities on January 26 that he was on strike against the ministers remarks on Hindu terrorism. “He was admitted to SMS hospital on January 27 when his condition deteriorated, IV fluid was administered to him.
India and Bangladesh are committed to maintain a cordial relation and have resolved to accept a joint action against border crimes for the benefit of both sides, the BSF said today. “There is no serious problems between the two neighbouring countries and the relation between the two has improved,” BSF Director General Subhash Joshi told reporters here. The chief of the border guarding force, who accompanied Union Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde to Dhaka recently, said during their visit they had discussed a number of border-related issues.
A court in Tindivanam today convicted and sentenced former Puducherry Education Minister P M L Kalyanasundaram, MLA, to two years imprisonment for engaging a proxy to impersonate him in the 10th standard supplementary examination in 2011.
Andhra Pradesh will soon have a Sports University, the first of its kind in the country. Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy, a former cricketer, at a review meeting on development of sports infrastructure in the state today, directed the Sports Department to “go ahead” with the proposal for setting up the university. A press release from the Chief Minister’s Office said the university would have all sports disciplines and also sports medicine in its curricula.
Actress Jacqueline Fernandez is thrilled with the box office collections of her latest film “Race 2″.”It (the film) is my biggest opener and I am hoping it continues to do really well. Irrespective, it is a very successful film and it is being liked, so I am very happy,” Jacqueline said here.
Directed by Abbas-Mustan, the action thriller managed to earn Rs.51.35 crore in its opening weekend. Made at Rs.60 crore, the film released across 3,200 screens.
With the help of ‘Eklavya-V’, a software slated to be brought into operation from February 5, the city police will be able to easily get all the information about the vehicles seized by them. Using this software, police will be able to send messages about such vehicles to the Crime Branch, which will subsequently SMS the details to the concerned policeman.
UP Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav today alleged during the previous BSP regime the National Rural Health Mission was marred by corruption at all level. While launching ‘Ashirwad Child Health Guarantee Scheme’ under NRHM, Yadav said,”Everyone knows that corruption in the mission took place at what level and even schemes directly benefiting the people were stopped by the previous regime.” “Ayush doctors were terminated, but they were again given a chance to serve the people in the SP government,” the chief minister said.
The level of intolerance has increased in Indian society, National Award winning lyricist and Urdu poet Javed Akhtar said in Kolkata on Thursday.
“Somehow the liberal space has shrunk and intolerance has increased in the society today. But I am happy to see that there is a rise in intolerance to this intolerance,” said Akhtar at the second Kolkata Literary Meet.
Replying to media queries on author Salman Rushdie’s cancelled Kolkata trip following protests by Muslim groups, he said the main problem is that the political fraternities have a low opinion of people.
Barack Obama is looking to further strengthen Indo-American ties in his second term as the President of US, the White House said on Thursday.
“India is an incredibly important country in the world, not just the region. And the (US) President looks forward to continuing to enhance the depth of our relationship, to work together on common goals in the region and around the world,” White House Press Secretary Jay Carney told reporters.
The country deserves to know the truth on the Kargil “fiasco” that led to the deaths of hundreds of Pakistani soldiers and damaged ties with India, said a leading Pakistani daily.
An editorial in the Dawn on Wednesday said “…we have understood how Kargil came to be what it really was: a poorly planned and badly executed operation that put hundreds of our soldiers at risk, and not the mujahideen-led jihad initially sold to the nation”.
New revelations paint an even bleaker picture of this gamble that Gen Musharraf took as army chief.
Mumbai Police on Thursday filed chargesheet in connection with the alleged rape of 27-year-old Spanish musician in the city in November 2012.
“We have filed a charge sheet against Mohammed Badshah alias Mohammed Ismail Ansari in Bandra court,” said Prathap Dighavkar, Deputy Commissioner of Police in Mumbai.
However, he refused to divulge any further details. According to sources, Bandra Police have filed a 210-page chargesheet and have included statement of 33 witnesses in the case.
City-based public sector lender State Bank of Hyderabad today reported a jump of 6.80 per cent in net profit to Rs 321.72 crore for the third quarter ended December 2012. The company’s net profit stood at Rs 301.25 crore in the year-ago period. Total income for the quarter increased by 13.07 per cent to Rs 3,374.05 crore, SBH said in a statement. While the gross NPA at 3.38 per cent remained almost at the same level YoY (3.35 per cent in December 2011), the net NPA declined to 1.48 per cent from 1.99 per cent a year ago.