A “minor explosion” outside the hotel where President Pranab Mukherjee was staying caused a flutter among the visiting Indian delegation but police dismissed it as only a firecracker aimed to enforce the strike as Bangladesh continued to be rocked by days of a mass upsurge and killings as Islamist fundamentalists faced off with secularists to claim the nation’s soul and political space.
The Delhi government Monday approved a proposal for new technology to screen donated blood in the government hospitals’ blood blanks to curb risk of transmitting infection.
The decision was taken in a cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit.
“To minimise the risk of transmission of infections due to transfusion of donated blood, the cabinet has decided to introduce nucleic acid amplification testing of donated blood in blood banks in government’s major hospitals,” Dikshit told reporters.
The Supreme Court Monday issued notice to the central government on a plea saying that the issue of the beheading of two Indian soldiers near the Line of Control by the Pakistani army be raised in the International Criminal Court.
The apex court bench of Justices P. Sathasivam and J.S. Khehar issued notice as a public interest litigation by lawyer Sarwa Mitter contended that the brutal and inhuman beheading of Indian soldiers by the Pakistani army was contrary to the Geneva Convention.
The petition sought direction to the government to ask Pakistan to return the head of soldier Hemraj.
There were 93 ceasefire violations by Pakistan along the LoC in Jammu and Kashmir in 2012, taking the total number since 2010 to 188, parliament was told Monday.
In a written reply in Lok Sabha, Defence Minister A.K. Antony said the government has consistently taken up the issue of ceasefire violations with Pakistan.
He asid Pakistan violated the ceasefire agreement with India on 44 occasions in 2010. The corresponding number was 51 in 2011.
Two Army personnel were killed during these violations in 2010 and one was killed in 2012.
The Indian government is aware of infrastructure development by China and Pakistan along the borders and reviews the threat perception regularly, parliament was told Monday.
Defence Minister A. K. Antony told Lok Sabha that the government has identified strategically important border roads and railway lines for development for improving the operational capabilities of the forces in phased manner.
Development of these roads will enhance connectivity to border areas.
A 10-year-old girl died and two policemen were injured herein two separate road incidents, police said Monday.
The 10-year-old girl was killed when a speeding three-wheeler hit the scooter she was going on with her grandfather on Desh Bandhu Gupta road in central Delhi Sunday evening.Police said that the deceased was identified as Jiah.
The three-wheeler driver, Sanjeev Kumar, 31, was arrested after passers-by caught hold of him while he was trying to escape from the spot, police said.
India’s three defence services have reported shortage of officers and other ranks with the army facing crunch of 10,100 officers as on July 1, 2012, ,parliament was told Monday
Defence Minister A. K. Antony told Lok Sabha said in a written reply that army faced shortage of 26,433 PBORs (personnel below officer rank) as on Oct 1, 2012.
He said the navy faced shortage of 2,054 officers and 14,512 sailors as on Dec 31, 2012, while the air Force faced a shortage of 667 officers as on Feb 1, 2013 and 7,000 airmen as on Dec 1, 2012.
Dubai-based international airline Emirates has launched its third daily flight from Dubai to Perth.
The new schedule sees Emirates’ flights to Perth rise from 19 to 21 per week, offering an extra 1,440 seat capacity between Dubai and Emirates’ global network and Western Australia.
Three political activists were detained on Moscow’s Red Square for attempting to hold an unauthorised protest against President Vladimir Putin, police said.
The three people were detained “for disturbing the peace”, and “administrative action” would be taken against them, the police press service said.
Russia will deliver attack helicopters and air-defence systems to Iraq before the summer, Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said.
Delivery of the Russian arms will start as soon as financial matters are dealt with, he added.
“I believe the first arms deliveries from Russia to Iraq will start before the beginning of the summer at the latest,” he said in an interview with Golos Rossii Radio.
Concerning Iraq’s plans to buy Lochkeed Martin F-16 fighters from the US, Zebari said Iraq “has no problems with the Americans on this deal”.
“Deliveries are due to begin in 2014,” he said.
A teacher who worked for an Islamic school in the southwestern Russian region of Dagestan was found shot dead, investigators said.
Unknown assailants fired eight shots from a handgun at madrasah teacher Magomed Beyarslanov in Gyubden village in Karabudakhkent district, a spokesman for the regional investigative department said.
The teacher died of wounds at the site, he said.
An Islamist insurgency, once confined largely to Chechnya, has spread across the North Caucasus in recent years.
A local court has allowed CBI to arrest suspended Gujarat ACP Narendra Amin, facing trial in the alleged fake encounter of Sohrabuddin Sheikh, in the 2004 Ishrat Jahan fake encounter case.
The special court in Gujarat had last week issued a production warrant against Amin. We submitted the production
warrant in the Mumbai CBI court, which is trying Sohrabuddin Sheikh fake encounter case, and it gave us permission to present him (Amin) before the Gujarat court”, special CBI prosecutor Ejaz Khan said today.
Police today arrested two persons and seized 98 counterfeit currency notes of Rs 1,000 denomination from them.
The fake currency notes were seized from Arfu Khan and Irshad Khan of Olamara village under Jaleswar police station area. Both the arrested persons were cattle traders. They had given the fake notes to a villager as advance for purchase of his cattle, police said.
The matter came to the light when the villager drew attention of the police suspecting authenticity of the notes.
The police seized the notes before arresting them, they said.
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Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur, a key accused in the 2008 Malegoan blast case, today filed an application before the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) court seeking temporary bail to perform last rites of her father.
The court has posted the application for hearing on March 6,” said Sadhvi’s counsel Ganesh Sovani.
Sadhvi’s father Chandra Pal Singh died on Saturday in Madhya Pradesh.
Sadhvi, along with twelve others, including Lt Col Prasad Purohit, is accused of triggering a blast in Malegaon on
Anil Ananthaswamy, a London based Indian origin writer, has won the inaugural Physics Journalism Prize sponsored by the Institute of Physics (IOP) and the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC).
The prize is designed to inspire the next generation of physicists by encouraging journalists to grapple with often complex topics and help spread excitement about the subject, according to an IOP release forwarded by the American Astronomical Society.
Looks like actor Saqib Saleem has learned the tricks of the trade — he has started travelling in a Maruti to promote his forthcoming film “Mere Dad Ki Maruti”.
Nowdays, the 24-year-old is seen driving a red Maruti and says he enjoys driving the small car.
“I prefer a small car over the swanky automobiles. In fact, I first learnt how to drive in this car itself. I am quite comfortable driving the car. Why buy another? Also, after shooting for the film, I have developed quite a comfort level with my car,” Saqib said in a statement.
The Justice M.B. Shah commission, which is probing illegal mining across the country, Monday said it was unlikely to meet the July 16 deadline for submitting the final report to the central government.
“It is very difficult to say that we would not be in a position to meet the deadline,” retired Supreme Court judge and head of the panel justice M.B. Shah told reporters after winding up his five-day hearing here.
“The reasons being repeated hearings as well as disputed facts,” he added.
Targetting $300 billion revenue from IT sector by 2020, the industry representative body Nasscom Monday announced expansion of its focus to include internet, mobile technology and cloud computing.
Currently revenue from software and services is around $100 billion.
The larger focus for Nasscom, from just software and services, has been suggested by a panel the industry body had set July last year under the chairmanship of Infosys co-founder N. R. Narayana Murthy.
Interacting with members of the Indian diaspora in Bangladesh, visiting Indian President Pranab Mukherjee Monday said Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) were the “most welcomed guests” all over the world.
Praising the Indian diaspora in Bangladesh, which numbers around 10,000, for their contribution to their adopted country and to India, Mukherjee said he was proud of the NRIs and to their commitment to the welfare of their adopted countries.
The meeting with the Indian diaspora was the first such initiative by a visiting Indian president in the country.
Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi Monday continued his feedback sessions with MPs from Tamil Nadu and Delhi as part of his efforts to strengthen the party for the 2014 Lok Sabha polls.
According to party sources, the Tamil Nadu MPs pointed to the vote coming up in the United Nations on the issue of human rights violations in Sri Lanka, an issue which is politically sensitive in the state.
The MPs also discussed ways to strengthen the party in the state where it was partner of the DMK, which lost to AIADMK in 2011 assembly polls.
Sydney, Mar 4 (ANI): Australia is facing the prospect of another big defeat against India after losing two quick wickets in the final session of day three of the third Test match in Hyderabad. Australia reached 2-74 in their second innings at stumps on Monday”s third day in the second Test, requiring another 192 runs to make the home side bat again in Hyderabad, News.com.au reports. Batsman Phil Hughes was out for a ninth-ball duck, his second scoreless knock in four innings in the series, and has made just 25 runs at an average of 6.25.
New Delhi, Mar. 4 (ANI): Defence Minister A.K. Antony on Monday informed that there have been 188 instances of ceasefire violations by Pakistan along the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir between 2010 to 2012.
In a written reply to the Lok Sabha today, Antony said that two army personnel were killed during these violations in 2010, and one army personnel was killed in 2012.
Antony said the Government of India has taken up the issue of cease-fire violations with Pakistan consistently.
New Delhi, Mar. 4 (ANI): Lashing out at the Sheila Dikshit-led Delhi Government for having nexus with power distributing companies, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Arvind Kejriwal on Monday announced that he would sit on a hunger strike against inflated power and water bills from March 23.
Kejriwal urged the residents of Delhi not to pay the inflated electricity bills.
New Delhi, Mar. 4 (ANI): Union Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh has said that Direct Benefit Transfer mainly with regard to pension schemes will cover all the states in the country by the end of this year.
Ranchi, Mar. 4 (ANI): One of the suspected accused of the twin bomb blasts that rocked Andhra Pradesh”s Hyderabad city on February 21 has been arrested by a team of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) and the Ranchi Police in Jharkhand.
The man arrested from Ranchi has been identified by the police as Manzar Imam.
“Manzar Imam has been arrested by Ranchi Police and a team from NIA. I cannot say about anything more now,” said Vipul Shukla, sub-inspector of police in Ranchi.