Angry protestors in Kolkata on Thursday burnt effigies of Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari, while torch rallies were held as a mark of respect to Indian prisoner Sarabjit Singh who died after a brutal assault in a Pakistan jail. In central Kolkata, Congress workers held a rally outside the Tea Board office, demanding the perpetrators of the barbaric attack on Sarabjit be brought to justice.
The NCP on Thursday said that Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar has no Prime Ministerial ambitions and won’t contest the next Lok Sabha elections.
Hitting out at Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray for his comments that Pawar nursed ambitions to become PM while his nephew Ajit Pawar wanted to be Chief Minister, NCP spokesman Nawab Malik said Uddhav has been away from mainstream politics and hence does not know that Pawar has decided not to contest the Lok Sabha elections.
In the Aarushi-Hemraj double murder case, defence counsel pleaded before a special court in Ghaziabad on Thursday to summon former CBI joint director Arun Kumar as witness. Defence counsel Manoj Shishodia said he submitted an application before Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Special Judge S Lal to summon 13 people, including Arun Kumar, for testimony.
The Pakistani prosecutor handling the 26/11 Mumbai attack case and the Benazir Bhutto assassination case has reportedly been shot dead in Islamabad.
According to reports, Zulfiqar, prosecutor of Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), was shot dead by some unidentified armed men when he was on a morning walk.
He was critically injured and was immediately taken to hospital when he succumbed to injuries.
The power supply situation in Andhra Pradesh may improve from October and efforts were on to face the situation effectively till then, officials said.
Andhra Pradesh Transmission Corp (APTRANSCO) Chairman and MD Hiralal Samariya told reporters here today that they succeeded in ensuring that the rabi crop, which has come to an end, did not suffer any damage.
However, the shortfall in supply is likely to continue during May and also subsequent months, and power is being purchased to meet the demand, he said.
BJP leader LK Advani on Thursday launched a diatribe against Manmohan Singh, again calling him the weakest prime minister who is running the most corrupt government.
In his blog, the veteran BJP leader, wrote: “I cannot forget that when in 2009, I had described Dr. Singh as the weakest Prime Minister the country has had, some of my own colleagues felt that I was being too severe. But I still hold that it is this attribute of his – weakness – that makes him so subservient to 10, Janpath, and thus unable to avail of the authority innate in this office of prime ministership.”
“You are at least fortunate that he at least came and spoke. In Delhi, the poor man is not allowed to speak anything”, Gujarat Chief Minister told a public rally here, taunting the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
“It’s very difficult for him to speak in Delhi. It is because he came out of Delhi that he was able to speak. He has to speak only what’s given to him in writing”, Modi said referring to two public meetings addressed earlier this week by Singh ahead of May 5 Assembly elections in Karnataka.
A former Indian spy, who had spent some time with Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari behind the bars in a Pakistani jail, feels Sarabjit Singh may have been killed in an attack planned by the ISI.
“I don’t have any doubt that the attack on Sarabjit was pre-planned and was the handiwork of ISI and jail officials though other people attacked him. Now, two prisoners are being made sacrificial goats,” said Mehbood Elahi, who was Zardari’s jailmate at the Karachi Central Jail for a few months between 1986-87 during the Mohammad Zia-ul-Haq regime.
Uttar Pradesh will be represented by Health Minister Ahmad Hasan at the 46th annual body meeting of the Asian Development Bank (ADB), currently underway at Greater Noida, officials said Friday.
Officials said Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav’s participation at the ADB meeting was “nowhere in the picture from day one”.
Sources, however, said a section of the bureaucracy was keen that the state be represented by its chief minister, as this was a high profile meeting, and Uttar Pradesh has bid for centre space on the investment map.
Ukraine has been designated the world’s top violator of intellectual property rights in a new report by US Trade Representative (USTR). India and Pakistan are also in the list.
Ukraine was labelled a “priority foreign country”, the top category for offenders on USTR’s watch list.
The country has no clear system for collecting royalties, its governmental agencies use pirated software, and no effective system to combat rampant online piracy is in place, the report said.
No “priority foreign country” has been designated since 2006.
Law enforcement personnel in Russia have killed 73 alleged Islamist insurgents in the North Caucasus region over the first three months of 2013, police said.
Eighty-seven alleged militants were slain over the same period of 2012, police said at the time.
Another 88 militants were detained in the first three months of 2013, and six others turned themselves in, a police spokesman said in the southern city of Pyatigorsk.
Last year, 133 suspected terrorists were arrested over the same period.
Criticizing on the disinterestedness of Govt. about the affairs of the Department of Minorities Welfare, Mr. Ibrahim Bin Abdullah Masqathi former MLC of TDP said that the Congress Govt. is cheating Minorities in the name of enhancement of Minorities budget. Reacting heavily for not appointing the Principal Secretary of the Department of Minorities Welfare for the past one month, Mr. Masqathi said that on the one hand, the Congress Govt. makes lofty claims about the development of Minorities and it enhance its budget.
Govt. of AP has agreed to enhance the fees of the Corporate Hospitals which are providing Healthcare under Arogyashree scheme. The representatives of the Managements of these hospitals met the CM of AP and apprised him of there difficulties and demanded for the enhancement of the fees.
Govt. of AP issued GO No. 33 in which guidelines for the transfer of teachers have been clearly mentioned. Ms. Usha Rani, Commissioner and Director of School Education instructed the District Educational Officers to maintain transparency in the transfers of the teachers.
Chasing unidentified persons and the fear of attack resulted in injuries caused to a youth by the police which has beaten him brutally. This incident took place within the jurisdiction of Rajendarnagar Police Station.
Staunch supporter of Telangana and Congress MLC, Mr. K.R. Amose rejecting the claim of CM that Central Govt. won’t take any decision on Telangana before 2014. He said Congress High Command will soon take a decision on Telangana issue.
CM of AP Mr. N. Kiran Kumar Reddy has nominated Dr. J. Geetha Reddy, Minister for Heavy Industries represent the state in the meeting of Asian Development Bank to be held from 2nd May to 5th May in NOIDA. In addition to this she will also attend a seminar on 3rd May in New Delhi on the topic of India’s Development. Five Chief Ministers belonging to UP, MP, Maharashtra, Bihar and AP have been invited for this seminar.
—–Siasat News
Panic prevailed on the campus of Osmania University while a Ph.D Scholar by name Mohammed Mohiuddin (33 years) of the Dept. of Arabic in English & Foreign Languages University committed suicide.
The police informed that it has procured a suicide note from him. He belongs to Madurai. He was carrying out research in the department of Arabic of EFLU. The suicide note indicates that he was vexed up with the circumstances and he thought that there is no objective of his living. Police investigating the case.
——Siasat News
Pakistani authorities on Thursday ordered a judicial inquiry into the murder of Indian death row convict Sarabjit Singh, who died after being comatose for nearly a week following an assault by other inmates of Kot Lakhpat Jail. Najam Sethi, the caretaker chief minister of Punjab province, ordered the judicial inquiry. He directed officials to ensure that the probe was completed in 15 days.
Saif al-Islam, the jailed son of slain Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, briefly appeared in a court in Libya Thursday to face criminal charges.
Saif, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) on war crimes charges, has been held in Zintan town since his capture in November 2011.
Libya wants to try him itself, while The Hague insists that he should be tried by the international court.
Separate from the war-related charges, Saif has been accused of giving sensitive information to an ICC lawyer last year that could endanger national security and insulting the national flag.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon Thursday met senior diplomats from the five permanent members of the Security Council, also known as the P5, to discuss the latest situation in Syria.
“The secretary-general invited the five permanent members of the Security Council to an informal meeting, for discussions on Syria,” Xinhua quoted UN spokesman Martin Nesirky as saying at a daily news briefing.
“They discussed possible diplomatic moves to end the crisis.”
A total of 712 people were killed in violence across Iraq in April, bringing the country’s death toll from violence to its highest level since June 2008, said a UN statement.
According to latest figures released by the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI), another 1,633 others were wounded in acts of terrorism and violence throughout Iraq, Xinhua reported.
“The month of April was the deadliest since June 2008,” the statement said.
A total of 595 killed and 1,438 injured were civilians, whereas 117 members of the Iraqi security forces were killed and 195 were injured.
A Parliamentary panel today “deplored” the non-expenditure of huge funds allocated to the Minority Affairs Ministry, saying it could result in entire range of minority schemes becoming “exercises in futility”. In its 37th report on the Ministry, the Standing Committee on Social Justice and Empowerment — headed by Congress MP Hemanand Biswal — also noted that despite marked improvement in the development indices of Muslims, the community lags behind the national average.
In a significant ruling, Bombay High Court has held that a woman can file a complaint of cruelty under the Domestic Violence Act against female family members too, and not just the male relatives. “The DV Act is a beneficial legislation. It is meant for protection of violated women,” said Justice Roshan Dalvi in her recent order. Section 2(q) of DV Act does not specify a male relative, so female relatives cannot be exempted, the judge said. The section defines ‘respondent’ against whom a complaint may be filed.
The Allahabad High Court today issued notice to an MLA of the ruling Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh on a petition seeking probe by an independent agency into his alleged role in the murder of his security guard. A division bench comprising Justices Ravindra Singh and Anil Kumar Agrawal issued the notice to Sayeed Ahmed, who represents Phulpur Assembly seat in Allahabad district, on the petition of one Mohd Alam.