Australian Greenpeace activist Colin Russell, the last of the 30 Arctic detainees, was granted bail Thursday by a court in Russia’s St. Petersburg, the group said in a statement here.
Among 30 activists on board Greenpeace’s Arctic Sunrise ship, he was detained in September by the Russian authorities after attempting to stage a protest against oil drilling in the sea.
Russell spent 71 days in detention in Russia.
A court here on Saturday directed Delhi Police to file a detailed action taken report on a plea for lodging FIR against Anna Hazare and his former team members for allegedly cheating over four crore people by selling them ‘Anna SMS cards’, whose service was discontinued before the promised one year time, which earned them Rs 100 crore.
Metropolitan Magistrate Akash Jain was not satisfied with the one-page action taken report (ATR) filed today by police in which it sought some more time for conducting enquiry on the plea.
Congress leader Shakeel Ahmed on Saturday mocked Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi, and said his rallies are like stand up comedy shows.
“We are also less educated as he is. When a less educated person tries to show himself as an intellect, then he talks like Modi. The speeches he delivers in his rallies are just like a standup comedy,” he said.
Accused by a young woman law intern of sexually harassing her, former judge of the Supreme Court Justice A K Ganguly today declined to say whether he would resign as WBHRC chief.
“I am not saying anything on this now,” he said in reply to a question whether he would quit the post, a demand made by Trinamool Congress leaders in the wake of the girl naming him as her tormentor.
India has ruled out the death penalty for two Italian marines facing trial for murdering two Indian fishermen, Italian Foreign Minister Emma Bonino has said amid reports that the Indian investigators have sought capital punishment for the duo.
Citing a statement by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), Bonino said the Indian government has made it clear that Italian marines — Massimiliano Latorre and Salvatore Girone — will not face the death penalty over the killings.
A Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company engineer was arrested for allegedly demanding and accepting bribe of Rs. 10,000 from a power consumer, ACB sources said tonight.
The agency also arrested MSEDC watchman in this connection.
DYSP Thane Unit ACB Vilas Chowgule told PTI that Junior Engineer Kishore Sawarkar from Thane east had demanded
the bribe money from an estate agent, also from Thane east, for not registering an offence against the latter for alleged power theft through defective metre.
Pakistan Ambassador to India Salman Bashir today said it was upon the DGMOs of India and Pakistan to meet if they wished to do so and they are best qualified to deal with matters pertaining to their domain.
We have left it to the headquarters of the Director generals of Military Operations (DGMO) that they meet, if they
wish so. The idea basically was that the two DGMOs will themselves decide the date and venue for the meeting.
China will launch its first ever moon rover mission on Monday, state media said, as Beijing embarks on the latest stage in its ambitious space programme.
A rocket carrying the vehicle, named “Jade Rabbit” in a nod to Chinese folklore, will blast off at 1:30 am local time (Sunday 1730 GMT).
“The Chang’e 3 is set to be launched for its moon mission from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center on Dec. 2,” state broadcaster CCTV said on its verified Twitter account on Saturday.
Official news agency Xinhua also confirmed the launch date, citing officials at the satellite launch centre.
Three escort policemen were shot dead and two injured by armed Maoists in a running train near Jamalpur Railway station in Bihar’s Munger district this evening.
A group of 8 to 10 Maoists, which was travelling in Sahebganj-Patna Inter-City Express, opened fire in a ladies
compartment as the train was between a railway tunnel and the the bridge at Ashikpur barely 900 yards away from Jamalpur railway station at around 1745 hours, Railway Superintendent of Police Amitabh Kumar Das said.
Mumbai Cricket Association, which honoured Sachin Tendulkar by naming its Kandivli facility for him earlier this month, is going to felicitate him again next week at a function at its Bandra-Kurla Complex ground here.
We are going to honour Sachin Tendulkar at our BKC complex on December 3 and the function would be presided over
by Union Agriculture Minister and former president of ICC and BCCI, Mr Sharad Pawar. We will be presenting Sachin with a painting which was not given earlier,” said MCA’s vice president Ravi Savant today.
Unidentified persons injured a couple grievously, tied an elderly person and robbed their house of cash and gold jewellery in the wee hours here today.
The incident came to light when their maid visited the house for cleaning purposes in the morning, police said.
The assailants entered the house in sector 43 at around 4 am after breaking the iron grills, they said.
They first tied legs and hands of 75-year-old Mohan Chandra Tiwari and then injured his son Kapil and his wife
Kavita criticallly when they offered resistance.
Two of the three missing weapons of the bodyguards of Jharkhand Excise Minister Jaiprakash Bhai Patel were recovered here today, police said.
The two AK-47 rifles and cartridges of Jharkhand Armed Police Havildars, Kishan Rai and Indra Kumar Chhetri, were
found hidden in the hedges behind a school near the Inspection Bungalow (from where they disappeared),” SP Manoj Kaushik told a news conference.
The police recovered the two sophisticated weapons following a tip-off, he said.
A leader of Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha, the youth wing of BJP, was arrested from Mhow town today by the National Investigation Agency in connection with the murder of former RSS pracharak Sunil Joshi.
Jitendra Sharma, Vice-President of BJYM Indore district rural Unit, was taken into custody from Mhow this morning by
NIA team and after a lengthy interrogation till evening he was arrested,” a police officer said here today.
Joshi, himself a suspect in the Samjhauta Express blast case, was killed at Dewas in December 29, 2007.
With the arrest of eight persons, police today claimed to have busted a gang of robbers who used to rob loaded truck at night.
The eight accused Satyendra, Sanjay, Istraeel, Neem Singh, Ram Pratap, Pravesh, Jitender and Gulabi, were arrested
from Vijay Nagar area on a tip-off, police said.
A tempo and three knives and were seized from their possession, they said.
——————–PTI
In a double murder, a 74-year old retired Joint Director of Health and his wife were found dead with multiple stab injuries in their house in a busy locality in the district today.
Arul and his wife Jhansi Rani (64) were found dead in the dining hall of their house at Ambasamuthiram this afternoon,
police said.
Initial investigation revealed that the murders were not for gain. A special team had been formed to nab the culprits.
District SP Vijendra Bidari visited the spot.
————PTI
Congress today ridiculed Narendra Modi as a “poorly-educated” man who was “talking foolish” in his attempt to rival a highly educated Prime Minster Manmohan Singh.
AICC general secretary Shakeel Ahmed also claimed that Modi taking over the command of BJP’s campaign in Delhi shows
that the local leadership of that party has realised that they cannot defeat Sheila Dikshit on their own.
“Modi’s speeches are becoming like a stand up comedy circus show. It is becoming monotonous. However, even then the
China’s state-run media on Saturday reiterated the country’s claim on Arunachal Pradesh, contending that the area is under “illegal Indian occupation”.
Referring to President Pranab Mukherjee’s current visit to Arunachal Pradesh, state-run Xinhua news agency highlighted the Chinese Foreign Ministry’s statement urging India to refrain from moves that complicate boundary issues and restated Beijing’s claim to the territory.
Actress Kareena Kapoor`s career seems to be heading to an exciting new level with Dev Benegal`s film ‘Bombay Samurai’.
Post-marriage, she seemed to flounder in her choices with her half-hearted crusader`s role in Prakash Jha`s ‘Satyagraha’ and the totally inane social activist`s role in ‘Gori Tere Pyaar Mein’. With ‘Bombay Samurai’, Kareena finally seems to have got her post-marriage formula right.
The Congress on Saturday trashed BJP’s allegations that it was shielding Tarun Tejpal, accused of sexually assaulting a junior colleague, saying that law will take its course in the matter and the guilty will be punished. “BJP has run out of issues, this is why they are levelling such baseless allegations. Congress has nothing to do with Tarun Tejpal and if he is guilty, action will be taken against him as per law,” Congress leader and Union minister Shriprakash Jaiswal said here today.
Deepika Padukone`s fluid and energy-packed dance in the `Nagada sang dhol` song from `Goliyon Ki Raasleela Ram-Leela` has been widely appreciated but she doubts if she can recreate the grandeur of the number sans the film`s director Sanjay Leela Bhansali.
She says the song`s popularity was the “least expected of the lot”.
“There were other songs in the album which we thought would become popular… this was the underdog,” Deepika said.
Japan today described as “non political” the visit of its Emperor Akihito and his wife Empress Michiko here and said the six-day India trip, the first to any South Asian country by the royal couple, was not aimed at “countering” China.
The visit should not be interpreted as an effort to counter China. There is no intention whatsoever to counter
China through the visit political significance. The visit is non-political,” Sakutaro Tanino, Press Secretary to the
Emperor, said.
The Emperor and Empress arrived here today and were received by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his wife
Congress leader Suresh Kotadia, son of former Union minister late Manubhai Kotadia, today crossed over to BJP and slammed Congress for “ignoring” its party workers, and being “directionless”.
Gujarat is progressing well under the able leadership of Chief Minister Narendra Modi, and people of the country
also want to see him as the prime minister,” said Suresh Kotadia.
He joined the saffron party along with scores of his supporters at a function organised here in presence of a
number of BJP leaders.
A photographer with a leading Tamil daily was allegedly assaulted today by a policeman in Tirupur near here, after which he has admitted to hospital, police said.
Police said Raja, working for ‘Dinakaran’, was arguing with a two-wheeler driver for ramming into his bike when the
policeman came and reportedly hit Raja on his shoulder, asking him to move on.
In the melee, the photographer sustained bleeding injuries on his foot and also thumb.
India’s top seed shuttler P V Sindhu cruised into the women’s singles final of the USD 120,000 Macau Open Grand Prix Gold at the Macau Forum here today.
The world No.11 overcame a much lower ranked Qin Jinjing of China 21-13 18-21, 21-19 in their first-ever encounter.
Sindhu took an hour and eight minutes to win the match and will take on world No. 30 and seventh seed Li Michelle of
Canada in the title clash tomorrow.
Sindhu, who won the Malaysia Open Grand Prix Gold in May, has a great chance to bag another Tier-III title before the
season ends next month.
In an arch reaction to Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram’s statement that institutions such as the Comptroller and Auditor General were overstepping their jurisdiction, former CAG Vinod Rai today said the minister’s statements were “gospel”.
Rai, who clashed with UPA government on some occasions during his tenure, was interacting with students of Indian
Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIM-A) at a function here.
Whatever the Finance Minister says should be considered as Gospel. Governance is a zero sum game,” he said to a
question about Chidambaram’s remark.