Month: March 2014

Cong targets Modi after its youth wing sweeps Gujarat univ

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Rejoicing over the victory of its youth wing in Gujarat University elections, Congress today targeted Narendra Modi saying a person, who has not been able to keep his own house in order is going across the country claiming a wave for him in Lok Sabha polls.

Congress students’ wing, the National Students’ Union of India (NSUI) won six out of eight seats in Gujarat University polls, while the BJP’s student wing Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) managed to win two seats.

Saudi calls on all foreign fighters to leave Syria

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Saudi Arabia’s Cabinet has called for the withdrawal of all foreign fighters from Syria and is demanding they face international justice if they committed war crimes there.

Riyadh is concerned that Saudi militants in Syria could turn their weapons on the kingdom.

Minister of Information and Culture Abdelaziz Khoja said in a statement today on behalf of the Cabinet that the kingdom “renews its firm position condemning terrorism in all its forms.”

Technology, consulting make maximum offers at ISB

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Technology and consulting continue to be the largest recruiters at the Indian School of Business (ISB), which Monday announced progress of its placement season for the class of 2014 at its campuses in Hyderabad and Mohali.

A total of 831 offers were made as on Feb 28 for students of Post Graduate Programme in Management (PGP). This is against 697 offers made in the corresponding period last year.

Will not allow any activity inimical to India: Myanmar

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Myanmar today assured India that it will not allow its soil to be used for any activity inimical to Indian interests.

This assurance was given to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh by Myanmar President U Thein Sein during a bilateral meeting on the eve of the 3rd BIMSTEC Summit here.

President Thein Sein assured Prime Minister Singh that their soil would be allowed to be used for any activity inimical to India’s interests, External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid told reporters.

Young woman lawyer among the 11 killed in Pak

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“Why her? What did she do?” asked an emotional father of 23-year-old woman lawyer who was among 11 people killed in a brazen attack on a local court in Pakistani capital here.

It was Fiza Malik’s third day at work and she was in the Court room right next to the entrance from where the attackers stormed the premises.

She was probably one of the first to be killed by the unidentified attackers.

“What can I say? The people who did it are also children of some parents,” Malik’s father said holding back his tears.

Her mother said she first thought her daughter had been injured.

Kolkata’s sex workers get RTI centre

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With a view to providing information to sex workers, a Right to Information (RTI) centre was set up Monday at a red-light area here on the occasion of International Sex Workers Day.

The RTI centre was set up by the Durbar Mahila Samanway Committee (DMSC), a sex workers’ collective which also took out a rally in the city.

“The idea behind the RTI centre is to boost up confidence of sex workers in accessing information regarding government schemes as well as about their rights,” said DMSC chief adviser Smarajit Jana.

Bahrain blast wounds three police: official

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An explosion wounded three Bahraini policemen today during a confrontation between security forces and “rioters” in a Shiite village near the capital, the interior ministry said.

Clashes frequently erupt on the outskirts of Manama between security forces and protesters from Bahrain’s Shiite majority demanding the ruling Sunni Khalifa family surrender its grip on all key cabinet posts in favour of an elected government.

Tiwari accepts Rohit as his biological son, youth remains sceptical

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Seeking to end a long-drawn legal case, N D Tiwari today accepted Rohit Shekhar, who had dragged him to court in a paternity suit, as his biological son but the young man remained sceptical.

At a dramatic press conference in which his son Rohit Shekhar, who a DNA test had established long back was Tiwari’s son, wept and questioned his sincerity, Tiwari said “there should be no doubt now that Rohit is my son. I don’t think any controversy is left now,”.

Mukesh Ambani richest Indian as Bill Gates returns to top

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Mukesh Ambani again emerged as the richest among ten Indians in the Forbes annual list of a record 1,645 billionaires with an aggregate net worth of $6.41 trillion, up from $5.4 trillion last year.

Ambani, with a net worth of $18.6 billion was ranked 40th as Microsoft founder Bill Gates was back on top as the world’s richest person on Forbes’ 28th annual ranking of the world’s billionaires after a four-year hiatus. His younger brother Anil Ambani was valued with a net worth of $5 billion.

Sri Lanka in Asia Cup final after big win over Afghanistan

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Sri Lanka moved into the final of the Asia Cup cricket tournament with a massive 129-run win over debutants Afghanistan at the Sher-e-Bangla-National Stadium here Monday.

Sri Lanka’s massive win further diminished India’s hopes of entering the final. India, who have suffered two losses in three matches, have to win with a bonus point against Afghanistan and hope that Bangladesh register an upset victory over Pakistan in their last respective league matches.

Chasing a target of 254, Afghanistan were bowled out for 124 in 38.4 overs.

Morari Bapu offers to allow Muslims to do Namaz at Ram Mandir

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Religious leaders and communities tend to come together to mark occasions calling for unity, but they rarely find concord and oneness, decried Morari Bapu, a renowned Ram Katha exponent and spiritual leader.

Speaking at the 4th International Seminar on ‘Peaceful Co-existence with Focus on Religious Symbols in Islam and Indian Religions’ organised by the Indian branch of Al Mustafa University in association with Jamia Hamdard, Bapu said that while there are a lot of people who are Hum Safar (co-travellers), we need to become Hamdard, meaning we need understand each other’s pain.

Delhi officials told to gear up for LS polls

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Delhi’s Chief Electoral Officer Vijay Dev Monday asked government officials to be prepared to conduct the general elections which are expected to be announced anytime soon.

In a meeting with officials of the Delhi government and civic bodies, Dev asked them to check that political parties do not violate the model of conduct which will come into place right after the formal announcement of the national vote, an official said.

During the model code of conduct, no policy decision can be taken by the union government and states.

Woman hit with bottle for not giving phone number

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A 26-year-old woman was injured after being hit on the face with a glass bottle by three men after she refused to give them her phone number, police said Monday. One of the assailants has been arrested.

The incident happened at Mayur Vihar area in east Delhi Sunday evening, when the woman, who works as a computer teacher in a private school, had gone to the market to buy a recharge coupon for her mobile phone.

Municipal polls in Andhra Pradesh on March 30

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Ahead of the Lok Sabha and the Andhra Pradesh Assembly Elections, municipal elections would be held in the state on March 30.

The outcome of the elections to municipalities and municipal corporations, to be held on the party basis, could be a pointer to the public mood ahead of the General Election in the state that is set to be bifurcated, and has seen much turbulence in the recent months.

Andhra Pradesh Election Commissioner P Ramakant Reddy today announced the programme for elections to 10 municipal corporations and 146 municipalities in the state.

Elect good people, Kejriwal tells voters

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AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal Monday urged voters to uproot the corrupt system and elect people of integrity to the Lok Sabha.

Kejriwal was addressing a group of Aam Aadmi Party activists at the Guru ka Taal gurudwara here as part of a road show.

Bharatiya Janata Party workers waved black flags against Kejriwal at the Ram Bagh junction and Etmadpur.

The former Delhi chief minister has touched 15 districts in Uttar Pradesh in the past three days.

Groups of people waited for Kejriwal’s motorcade since afternoon.

Will not merge with BJP: Himachal Lokhit Party

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Himachal Lokhit Party (HLP), floated by BJP rebels during Assembly polls in 2012, today decided not to merge with BJP, setting at rest all speculations about party Supremo Maheshwar Singh contesting the Lok Sabha poll from Mandi constituency as a candidate of the saffron party.

MNS aligning with NDA? Athawale says he has no problem

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Republican Party of India chief Ramdas Athawale, who had so far opposed making MNS a partner of the Shiv Sena-BJP led alliance in Maharashtra, today said he would welcome the Raj Thackeray-led party.

The statement assumes significance, as it comes after BJP leader Nitin Gadkari met Raj Thackeray here today.

RPI is a member of the Shiv Sena-BJP led alliance of five opposition parties in the state, called ‘Maha-yuti’ (mega-alliance).

The other two members are Raju Shetti’s Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatana and Mahadeo Jankar’s RSP.

Won’t allow Rabia’s hate campaign against my son: Aditya Pancholi

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Late actress Jiah Khan’s mother Rabia’s latest allegations claiming that someone has informed her that Sooraj Pancholi is trying to kill her, has Aditya Pancholi fuming in fury.

“Although she is trying really hard to damage my family, I feel sorry for her. I think she needs psychiatric help, urgently,” said Aditya.

“Everyone realises she is raving and ranting against my son for no fault of his. I can empathize with her grief as a parent. But I can’t understand how any sane person can go to such ridiculous lengths just to get even with me and my family.”

Congress’s special status offer to Bihar just politics: Jaitley

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BJP leader Arun Jaitley Monday said the Congress’s assurance for the past two years to Bihar’s ruling JD-U for special category status to the state was “more political” than being linked to economic necessity.

“The Congress in the last two years has held an olive branch to the Janata Dal-United that it was willing to consider the grant of special category status to Bihar,” the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader said in a blog post.

BREAKING NEWS: TRS decides not to merge with Congress

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In a huge setback to the Congress, the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) Monday ruled out a merger with it.

After six-hour long meeting of its general body, the TRS chief K. Chandrasekhara Rao announced Monday night that the party has unanimously decided not to merge with Congress.

The party constituted a five-member committee to discuss electoral alliance, if other parties approach it. He said the panel would be open for an alliance with all parties including Congress.

FAPCCI expresses concern over power cuts

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FAPCCI senior vice-president Shivkumar Rungta and Vice-President V Anil Reddy expressed their serious concern about the power cuts and power holidays for industrial consumers in the State as announced by the DISCOMs.

“We were informed that industrial consumers will have to take one day power holiday per week in view of the shortfall in the availability of power,” they said.

Collector inaugurates Govt School built at a cost of Rs 60 lakhs

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A Government School building built for the Children of Penjerla Village, near Kothapet located in Hyderabad outskirts was inaugurated on Monday by Girija Shankar, District Collector of Mahaboobnagar District.

Speaking on the occasion Girija Shankar said it is so far the best constructed school in the district. He appealed to the students to make use of the facilities. Told them to study for 16 hours and achieve success in life.

Toddler drowned in water sump, dies

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In a freak incident at Bhavani nagar, an one and half-year-old-boy drowned in a water sump at an apartments cellar on Sunday.

According to Chaitanya puri police, deceased E Sai karthik S/o Venkataiah, from Vekatadri Nivas Apartments of Telephone colony went to play on Saturday morning in apartment cellar but did not come home. he went missing. On March 2 evening hours his family members found floating his body in the sump at an apartments cellar. police suspect while deceased was playing in cellar he was accidentally fallen on sump due to which he dies.