Month: October 2013

Scottish minister to visit India

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Scotland’s External Affairs Minister Humza Yousaf will visit India next week to strengthen education, business, tourism, cultural and diplomatic ties.

Yousaf will depart on October 10 as the Commonwealth Games Queen’s Baton Relay starts its 288-day journey around all 71 nations and territories of the Commonwealth.

The Baton’s first destination will be New Delhi.

The Minister will undertake several business, cultural and diplomatic engagements during his six-day visit to New Delhi and Mumbai.

Two Indian-origin men sentenced for fraud in New Zealand

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Two Indian-origin men have been sentenced by a New Zealand court for defrauding a city council in Aukland of more than USD 676,855 over a decade.

Hemant Kumar Maharaj and Suresh Din were sentenced after they appeared in the Auckland District Court yesterday for sentencing after being found guilty in June of charges including using a document with intent to defraud and dishonestly using a document.

Maharaj was also convicted of attempting to pervert the course of justice.

It’s the best time for me as an actor: Farhan Akhtar

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After the success of ‘Bhaag Milkha Bhaag’, filmmaker Farhan Akhtar feels it’s the best time for him as an actor as he is spoilt for choice with great roles coming his way.

“There are a lot of interesting scripts that are coming my way. And you are in a dilemma which one to start doing first. It is important to think what to do next. You want to work with good people and yet ensure to entertain the audience. It is the best time for me,” Farhan told PTI in an exclusive interview here.

Could Modi be grounded before take off?

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Recently, the “Indian Express” published two news items on the same page.

On the top, across five columns, was Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s appeal: “All Secular Forces Must Unite Against Modi”, the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate.

Six Seemandhra ministers quit over Telangana

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Six central ministers from Seemandhra region have resigned to protest the union cabinet’s decision to create a separate Telangana state.

Minister of Textiles K.S. Rao and Minister of Human Resource Development Pallam Raju, who were present at Thursday’s cabinet meeting, resigned later in the night. Ministers of State K. Chiranjeevi and Kotla Suryaprakash Reddy also announced their resignations.

India A 269/5, trail West Indies A by 137 runs at lunch

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Overnight batsmen Vasudevan Jagadeesh and Abhishek Nayar missed out on centuries as India A trailed West Indies A by 137 runs in their first innings at lunch on the third day of the second unofficial Test here today.

When umpires called for the end of the first session, India’s score read 269 for five with Mohammad Kaif and Uday Kaul batting on 24 and 13, respectively.

West Indies were bowled out for 406 in their first innings.

Pallam Raju to go ahead with resignation

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Brushing aside the Prime Minister’s advice, HRD Minister Pallam Raju today decided to resign from the Cabinet opposing the decision to split Andhra Pradesh.

“Yesterday, I met the Prime Minister and offered to resign. He told me not to take a hasty decision. I have thought over it last night. I have decided that I should resign from the Union Council of Ministers,” he told reporters.
He said he has sought an appointment with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

Muzaffarnagar riots: Minority panel submits report to Centre

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The National Commission for Minorities has submitted its report into the communal violence in Muzaffarnagar to the Union government.

“The Commission has submitted its report and recommendations to the Union government into the Muzaffarnagar riots while the reports into the Shamli riots would be submitted soon,” National Commission for Minorities Chairman Wajahat Habibullah told reporters last evening.

Habibullah said that the Commission had visited Lank, Bahawadi and Lisadh, the worst affected villages where rioters had burnt houses and damaged properties.

Jagan to go on indefinite fast from Saturday

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YSR Congress party president Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy will launch an indefinite fast here from Saturday to protest the decision to bifurcate Andhra Pradesh by carving out a Telangana state.

He told reporters Friday that he would fast in front of the YSR Congress office to demand that the central government should take back its decision.

Jagan, as the MP from Kadapa is popularly known, accused the Congress of dividing the state to earn votes in elections.

Need to improve meteorological observation and forecasting: Shinde

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Asserting that the need of the hour is to improve our early warning systems and ensure rigorous enforcement measures, Union Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde on Friday said while it may not be possible to completely eliminate natural disasters, latest technology must be adopted to see that the suffering and hardship due to such disasters is reduced.

Saudi court hands out jail and lashes sentence to ‘naked’ dancers

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A Saudi court has imprisoned four young men and has sentenced them to thousands of lashes after one of them was filmed dancing naked on a car, according to reports.

The reports said that the men were charged with dancing on a vehicle in public and violating public morals.

The incident happened in Borayda, the capital of al-Qasseem province, north-west of the capital Riyadh , and a video was posted online, the BBC reported.

According to the al-Sharq newspaper, the man who was accused of dancing naked got the severest sentence, 10 years in jail, 2,000 lashes and a 13,000-dollar- fine.

Proteas fans slam quota for black players in domestic cricket teams

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South African cricket fans have expressed outrage at a new quota system for black players proposed by Cricket South Africa for domestic franchise cricket.

According to Sport24, the new ruling would force franchise teams to field at least two black African players in their starting teams.

73 percent of fans in a poll said that they were against a system that does not pick players purely on merit.

However, one fan said that he welcomed the view because even the Australian team looked more diverse than the current South African team.

Pak reporter gets threatening letter for covering minorities

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A reporter in Pakistan has received a threatening letter for covering minorities.

The Express Tribune Chief Reporter Rana Tanveer received a one-page letter, with stamps of a Multan post office and Lahore Garden Town post office.

Tanveer was termed as ‘apostate’ by accusing him of favouring minorities, especially Ahmadis and Christians.

Princess Di’s ‘murder’ author gets death threats following plot revelation

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The royal expert, who had claimed that Princess Diana’s death was no accident but a murder, has revealed that he has been receiving chilling death threats via phone, owing to his recent revelation.

The author, Brian Watson, said that he was planning on making his theory public when he got a phone call telling him to drop the idea if he valued his family’s life, the Daily Star reported.

Eating citrus fruits helps prevent formation of kidney cysts

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A component of grapefruit and other citrus fruits like naringenin, blocks the formation of kidney cysts, a new study has revealed.

The team of scientists from Royal Holloway University, St George’s, University of London and Kingston University London used a simple, single-celled amoeba to identify that naringenin regulates the PKD2 protein responsible for polycystic kidney disease and as a result, blocks formation of cysts.

Woods’ girlfriend Lindsey Vonn pranks Tiger with squirrel on shoulder

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American golfer Tiger Woods’ girlfriend Lindsey Vonn put a squirrel on his shoulder during day one of the Presidents Cup, in the day’s most comical moment.

According to the Courier Mail, his girlfriend introduced Tiger to ‘Sammy’, a squirrel who met US assistant captain Davis Love at the second hole and rode around the course with him on a cart as a lucky charm.

After Woods was done and watching his teammates on the 18th green, Vonn playfully swiped the squirrel from Love and placed him on Woods’ right shoulder, the report said.

Make disaster risk reduction strategies an integral part of development process: PM

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The Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh, today said the disaster risk reduction strategies should be made an integral part of our development processes.

Addressing the ninth formation day function of National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) here, Dr. Singh said: “Our forecasting and early warning capabilities need to be strengthened and upgraded. Our communication systems need to be improved to ensure that disaster alerts and warnings reach the last person in the village without delay.”

Congress playing ‘opportunistic politics’: BJP on Telangana fallout

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The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Friday lashed out at the UPA Government for failing to bring everyone on board with regard to the formation of Telangana as the country’s 29th state, and said the opportunistic Congress is eyeing upon the elections with no commitment for the cause.

“Here, the Congress failed to take their own party into confidence. Their own Chief Minister is a rebel now. Their own Ministers are resigning. This shows utter opportunistic politics Congress does just with the eyes on elections and no commitment for the cause,” said BJP spokesperson Prakash Javadekar.

‘No Kargil like situation in Keran sector, terrorists will be flushed out soon’: Army Chief

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Asserting that there is no Kargil like situation in Jammu and Kashmir’s Keran sector, Army Chief General Bikram Singh on Friday said the terrorists will be flushed out soon.

“There is nothing like that. It was an infiltration attempt by about 30 to 40 terrorists; they attempted this infiltration at four or five places. We had information about it. They have been stopped, prevented, neutralized some of them and operations are on to flush them out,” said General Singh, when asked that there are media speculations about the present situation in Keran Sector being another Kargil.

Super Kings look to halt Royals’ streak at SMS

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There is little to separate the teams as Rajasthan Royals, who have turned the Sawai Mansingh Stadium into a fortress with a 12-match winning streak, lock horns with the ever-formidable Chennai Super Kings in the first semifinal of the Champions League Twenty20 here on Friday.

Royals breezed into the last-four stage of the tournament with an unbeaten four-match streak while the Super Kings, the first team to have advanced to the semifinals, stumbled in their final group game against Trinidad & Tobago on Wednesday.

Crime In Hyderabad (4.10.2013)

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Suspicious death sent shock waves
(Siasat News): The suspicious death of a man sent shock waves at auto Nagar in Kukatpally as people were panicked.

According to the police, the deceased Sri Salem. 19, was the native of Kalvakurthy and has been working as a lorry cleaner. Yesterday, the lorry had developed some technical defects, Salem along with the driver, had reached the lorry terminal at Kukatpally.

FIFA sources say Qatar faces no threat in right to host 2022 World Cup

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World’s football governing body, FIFA is expected to announce on Friday that Qatar faces no threat to its right to host the 2022 World Cup. According to the BBC, the Gulf state faces allegations about its treatment of migrant workers, while there are also fears that searing summer temperatures in Qatar of more than 40C could risk the health of players and supporters. However, it appears FIFA will stick by Qatar, which saw off competition from Australia, Japan, South Korea and the United States to host the event, the report said.

Pranab Da, not Rahul, saved the situation: Advani

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It was President Pranab Mukherjee and not Rahul Gandhi who saved the situation arising from the controversial ordinance, and the Congress vice president was only used for damage control by UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, veteran BJP leader L.K.Advani said Friday.

In his blog titled “It’s Pranab Da, not Rahul, who saved the situation,” Advani has written: “With the Cabinet deciding on Wednesday to withdraw the ordinance as well as the bill pending before Parliament in respect of convicted MPs and MLAs, yet another ugly chapter in the unflattering history of the UPA government has ended.”

Sensex trades flat during early session

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A benchmark index of Indian equities markets was trading flat at 22.57 points or 0.11 percent down in the morning trade Friday.

Good buying was observed in auto, IT and consumer durables sectors, while banking index (bankex), metal and capital goods sectors were seen to be under selling pressure.

The 30-scrip sensitive index (Sensex) of the S&P Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened at 19,870 points, was trading at 19,879.50 points in the early session, down 22.57 points or 0.11 percent from previous day’s close at 19,902.07 points.

Shutdown in Seemandhra over Telangana hits life

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Shops, businesses, transport and educational institutions were closed in all 13 districts of Seemandhra – as the Rayalaseema and coastal Andhra regions are jointly called – as a 48-hour shutdown began Friday morning to protest the union cabinet’s decision to carve a separate Telangana state.

Opposing the state’s division, protestors took to the streets forcing closure of hotels and shops and burning tyres on main roads. They erected road blocks on the state and national highways, bringing all traffic to a complete halt.