Month: March 2014

Masood’s anti-Modi speech not Congress’ language, says Rahul

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Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi Saturday condemned the language used by party’s Saharanpur nominee, Imran Masood, against BJP prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi, saying it does not reflect the Congress’ thinking.

He also compared the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) election campaign to a series of films which kept failing, and said voters will reject the BJP, “which plays dirty tricks to mislead the people”, in these general elections like in the past.

Two Morsi supporters get death sentence in Egypt

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An Egyptian criminal court sentenced two supporters of ousted president Mohamed Morsi to death Saturday over killing of youths during last year protests, state media reported.

The two Islamists were accused of throwing young men from the roof of a building in the coastal city of Alexandria during violent acts that erupted over Morsi’s disposal, Xinhua reported.

The court has, however, referred the verdict to the grand mufti, the government’s official interpreter of Islamic law, for review. The mufti’s opinion is consultative.

Russia starts oil production in Iraq

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Russian oil company Lukoil started its first pumping of crude oil from Iraq’s giant West Qurna-2 oil field Saturday, as Baghdad is working to boost its oil exports to a higher-level.

The field’s daily production started with 120,000 barrels and is expected to increase to 400,000 barrels by 2014, Xinhua quoted Iraqi Minister of Oil Abdul Kareem Luaybi as saying during the inauguration ceremony in oil-hub city of Basra, some 550 km from Baghdad.

$500 mn UN support for Pakistan’s education plan

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To help 6.7 million out-of-school Pakistani children get education, UN’s Special Envoy for Global Education Gordon Brown Saturday announced a financial programme, Xinhua reported.

The $500 million boost for education will bring the total global investment in Pakistan’s education sector to more than $1 billion over the next three years.

British PM hails same-sex marriages in country

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British Prime Minister David Cameron Saturday welcomed the introduction of same-sex marriages in Britain, as same-sex couples were allowed to be legally married in the country from this weekend.

“For the first time, the couples getting married won’t just include men and women, but men and men, and women and women…in Britain it will no longer matter whether you are straight or gay, the State will recognise your relationship as equal,” Xinhua quoted Cameron stating in an article for a homosexual news service in Britain.

AP congress list in first week: Anam

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Former minister Anam Ramanarayana Reddy today said a list of party candidates will be announced in the first week of April. He said the APCC was eliciting opinion from DCCs from 13 districts to finalise the names of candidates for general elections. “We will sum up their reports on March 31 and in turn submit a report to the party high command on April 1”, he added.

Carve out 20 districts in AP & confer special status to palanadu: Dokka

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Former minister Dokka Manikya Varaprasada Rao today urged the Centre to carve out at least 20 districts in the residuary Andhra Pradesh if not 25.
Speaking to media at Indira Bhavan here on Saturday, Dokka urged the government to declare Palanadu town in Guntur district as a special district and develop it. The residuary State of Andhra Pradesh must be reorganized into 20 districts, he said. He also demanded that the APCC to incorporate these two demands in its manifesto committee and take up campaigning likewise.

EC permits IR payment to RTC crew

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Election Commission today permitted the State government to pay Interim Relief to RTC employees.
With this, the RTC employees can avail the benefit of IR for February and March into their accounts by April 10. The APSRTC has taken a decision to this extent, according to information. (NSS)

CELT to conduct English Communication Course

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The Centre for English Language Training (CELT), University College of Engineering, OU, is offering a course in “English Communication Skills and Personality Development” from April 9.
According to CELT director, the fee for the course is Rs 4000 payable through a DD in favour of Principal, CELT, UCE, OU, Hyderabad. While the duration of the course is two months, classes will be held from 6 am to 8 am or 6 pm to 8 pm. Special sessions will be conducted for this course by Yandamoori Veerendranath, Dr B V Pattabhiram, Dr V. Ganesh, Y. Mallikarjuna Rao.

Kiran Launches JSP Website

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Jai Samaikyandhra Party chief and former chief minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy today asserted that two former ministers — Pithani Satyanaryana and S. Sailajanath — are with him.
Launching a website of his party here, Kiran Kumar Reddy said the two leaders did not switch their loyalties to other parties. He said he does not know about the much publicized alliance between the Congress and TRS.

Abdul Khader died due to Police tortured: Family Members

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A 24 year-old-student, Mohd Abdul Khader S/o Mohd Abdul Rahman R/o Bagh e jahanara of Yakutpura died allegedly due to police torture in a private hospital on Friday night.

His family members claimed that the police called him in September last year as part of investigation into a case and allegedly tortured him due to which Khader developed health complications and was bedridden for last four months.
Khader was an alleged accused in the murder of Shareef, a printing press owner, in July 2010. The police nabbed above 5 persons for the killing and the case is under trail at a city court.

Dew factor in mind, Pakistan practice with wet balls

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The Pakistan team that is presently participating in the ICC World T20 in Bangladesh, is well aware of the problems posed by the dew factor and their bowlers and fielders have started practicing with wet balls to prepare for any eventuality in their remaining two group matches against the hosts and West Indies.

Pakistan’s bowling coach, Mohammad Akram said it was becoming increasingly obvious that teams bowling second in the tournament were having problems with the wet balls.

Minor boy killed in road accident at Raidurgam

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A Four year old boy killed after being hit by a Lorry while playing in front of his house at Pochamma Basti of Raidurgam on Saturday.

The boy R Sushanth (4) S/o Raju Naik R/o Pochamma Basti of Raidurgam was playing on saturday morning hours in front of his house he came under the wheels of a lorry, the driver failed to notice the minor boy was playing, when he was reverse the lorry due to which the boy was received multiple injuries and died on the spot .

Cong leaders focus on Muslims during Rahul rally

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Congress leaders harped on the issues of minority communities while attacking sitting MP and BJP president Rajnath Singh at a rally here.

The leaders were speaking at the Rahul Gandhi’s rally at Ramlila Maidan here, which was attended by people mostly from Muslim-dominated areas like Loni, Dasna, Pasonda, Kella Bhatta, Sahid Nagar, Sadiq Nagar, Maharaj Pur and Muradnagar

Ramdev says Sonia behind every scam in country

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Yoga Guru Baba Ramdev on Saturday said Congress President Sonia Gandhi is the main source of corruption and scams in the country.

“Sonia Gandhi is a leader of political sins committed in the form of corruptions and scams,” said Ramdev.

He also alleged that Sonia Gandhi had held democracy and democratic institutions hostage.

“Sonia Gandhi is a blot on politics in the country because she has held democracy and democratic institutions hostage and this curtailed the rights of 1.25 billion people,” added Ramdev.

Jaitley says there is groundswell support for BJP ahead of LS polls

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Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Arun Jaitley on Saturday said there was groundswell of support for the party across the country.

Jaitley, who is contesting the Lok Sabha polls from Amritsar, said few opinion polls predicted that BJP was ahead of its opponents in some of the key states.

“This leads me to claim even in the areas, where we were weak, if our vote is on increase, so a groundswell is coming up,” he said.

Jaitley took dig at his challenger Captain (retired) Amarinder Singh for claiming senior BJP leader Lal Krishna Advani had backed raid of Sikh temple in 1984.

People like Naqvi have kept BJP disconnected from Muslims: Sabir Ali

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Former Janata Dal United (JD-U) leader Sabir Ali, whose membership in the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was cancelled, on Saturday said people like BJP leader Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi are keeping the party disconnected from the Muslims.

On the BJP cancelling his membership, Ali said, “It is their decision and I don’t want to comment on this.”

“But I would like to respond to the allegations made by Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi. First of all I will file a defamation case against him,” he added.

Modhvadia compares Modi with Aurangzeb

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Launching a personal attack on BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi, Gujarat Congress today likened him to the Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb.

“Modi’s behaviour is against the Indian culture. He behaves like sultans. Aurangzeb had imprisoned his father to capture power. In the same way, he behaves with his senior party leaders,” Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee president Arjun Modhvadia said here.

2014 year of the lotus and Modi, asserts Modi

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Claiming that 2014 will be the year of “Modi and lotus”, BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi Saturday said Congress cannot fight the ideology behind his party while calling the UPA government a burden and a threat for the country.

Addressing series of election rallies across Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, and Chandigarh as a part of his “Bharat Vijay” programme, Modi drew parallel between 2014 Lok Sabha election and 1857 revolt.

Heart attacks rise after clocks go forward: study

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Turning the clocks forward an hour in the spring for daylight saving time is followed by a spike in heart attacks on the Monday afterward, said a US study Saturday.

But when the clocks fall back and people gain an hour of sleep, there is a drop in heart attacks on Tuesday, said the research presented at the American College of Cardiology conference.

The findings showed no change in the total number of heart attacks during the entire week following any clock change, indicating that the spike seen on Monday is leveled out in the days that follow.