Russian President Vladimir Putin Friday called US President Barack Obama to discuss a proposal for diplomatic resolution to the crisis in Ukraine, the White House said.
Obama suggested Russia put “a concrete response in writing” and the two leaders agreed that US Secretary of State John Kerry and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov would meet to discuss next steps, Xinhua quoted the White House as saying in a readout of the phone talk.
Anil Trivedi, tall, with an unkept grey beard, settles down over a cup of tea in my Indore hotel room, putting aside his AAP cap. His companion, Gaurav Chandak, a younger man, is an Indian Institute of Technology graduate and a committed social worker. He “had to vote” for the BJP in the December elections, he complains, because the Congress has not offered much of a contest in Indore in recent years.
Therefore when AAP erupted with the suddenness of revelation in Delhi, Gaurav began to inquire if there would be an AAP candidate from Indore for the parliamentary election.
Induction of expelled JD(U) leader Sabir Ali on Friday triggered angry protests within BJP, with senior leader Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi terming him as a “friend” of Indian Mujahideen chief Yasin Bhatkal.
He also mocked that Dawood Ibrahim could be the next entrant in the party.
Hours after Ali was inducted into the party with much fanfare as it was seen as a boost to the BJP’s attempts to attract Muslims, Naqvi tweeted: “Terrorist Bhatakal friend join BJP…soon accepting dawood.
Naqvi, a Muslim face and vice-president of the party, said he will convey his protest to the BJP leadership.
BJP veteran L K Advani’s daughter Pratibha kick started her father’s election campaign from the Gandhinagar Lok Sabha seat today.
“Like everytime, I will help my father in campaign this time as well,” Pratibha, who had also campaigned for her father for 2009 elections, told reporters.
She also claimed that Advani had never said no to fighting elections from the Gandhinagar seat.
Gujarat Congress today filed a complaint with Election Commission against noted actor and BJP candidate for Ahmedabad-East, Paresh Rawal, for using “abusive and unconstitutional language” against the party.
In their complaint, Congress claimed that Rawal used abusive language during his campaign on March 25.
Three Indians were among 17 people charged today for rioting during a live screening of a T-20 World Cup cricket match this week in Singapore.
The three were charged with affray for their alleged roles in the fight, The Straits Times reported.
The 14 Bangladeshis – aged between 25 and 28 – were charged with rioting at a workers’ dormitory.
Their cases will be mentioned again next month.
If convicted, the 14 accused could face up to seven years in jail each.
The three Indians face a jail term of a year or a fine of 5,000 dollars each.
The BJP has intensified its campaign in Seemandhra districts in the name of ‘Modi for PM’.
Former union minister D Purandeswari said that only the BJP and its leader Narendra Modi could protect Seemandhra’s interests which were totally damaged by the UPA after the Bifurcation bill was passed in parliament.
She said that it was BJP leader Venkaiah Naidu who raised the issues of Seemandhra in the Rajya Sabha and successfully convinced the Prime Minister to declare Polavaram irrigation project as a national project and also special package.
The Supreme Court Friday issued notice to the central government asking why NRIs who are registered voters should not get the opportunity to exercise their voting rights in the ongoing general election from wherever they are located.
A bench of Justice K.S.Radhakrishnan and Justice Vikramajit Sen issued notice even as Attorney General G.E.Vahanvati sought to present the logistic problem that the Election Commission would face in making arrangements for their voting.
The Supreme Court Friday asked the CVC to examine 20 cases where there is a dispute within the CBI between investigating officers and the senior officer whether closure report should be filed in them or not.
A bench of Justice R.M.Lodha, Justice Madan B. Lokur and Justice Kurian Joseph asked the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) to examine 20 cases after senior counsel Amarendra Saran told the court that there were differences between investigating officers and their seniors on the fate of 20 preliminary inquiries.
Saran appeared for the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
Bollywood actress Alia Bhatt today said she does not think her filmmaker father Mahesh Bhatt will have any objection to her doing intimate scenes on-screen.
Alia shares a few intimate scenes, including a lip-lock sequence, with Arjun Kapoor in their next film ‘2 States’.
When asked if her father is comfortable with the intimate scenes she does on screen, Alia says, “Have you seen my father’s films (as they are bold)? On screen I am not his daughter. I am an actor. I don’t think he will have any problem.”
BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi on Friday said people will “punish” Congress in the Lok Sabha polls.
“People will vote not only for bringing a change, but also to punish the Delhi government (UPA). They (UPA government) have ruined the country in the past decade. People are in a mood to punish Congress,” Modi told a huge rally of tribals at Kondagaon district headquarters in the insurgency-hit Bastar region of Chhattisgarh.
Former President of India Dr APJ Abdul Kalam today said that it was being increasingly felt that the students of medicine should also imbibe a sense of social accountability.
There was a growing public sentiment that doctors be held to account by the society, said Kalam, while inaugurating the three-day ‘Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists World Congress 2014’ here.
The quest for social responsibility and accountability upholds “the social contract between medicine and society”, he said.
A man, wanted in a series of crimes across north India in 1990s and was on the run for 21 years, has been arrested by Delhi Police after a brief encounter.
Manoj Kumar Shehrawat, alias Sanjay (46), who belongs to Bawana in Delhi but was now residing in Ahmedabad, was arrested following a tip-off on Monday from Najafgarh area of Delhi. One sophisticated pistol, 3 live and 2 fired cartridges and a SUV have been recovered from his possession.
India tonight became the first team to qualify for the semifinals of the ICC World Twenty20 after routing hosts Bangladesh by eight wickets in a thoroughly one-sided Group II match, here.
India restricted Bangladesh to 138 for seven, courtesy yet another dominating performance by their spinners and then the batsmen made short work of the target by crossing the line with nine balls to spare.
Leggie Amit Mishra (3/26) and off-spinner R Ashwin (2/15) shared five wickets between them to set up the win.
In a major development, the Supreme Court on Friday rejected the plea moved by the parents of the December 16 gang-rape victim seeking its order for trying the juvenile convict in the case in a criminal court.
According to reports, the apex court, while refusing the plea, also dismissed BJP leader Subramanian Swamy’s plea for giving fresh interpretation to the term ‘juvenile’ in the statute which fixes 18 year as the age of attaining majority.
The Supreme Court on Friday rejected the plea of the Delhi gang rape victim”s parents to try the teenager convicted in their daughter”s case in a criminal court instead of a juvenile court. The petitioner for the parents, Subramanian Swamy, had sought that the law be reinterpreted so that juvenile convicts accused of heinous crimes, do not get the benefit of being minors during trial.
Union Finance minister P. Chidambaram on Friday welcomed regional Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) party chief M. Karunanidhi to realign with the Congress led-United Progressive Alliance. Chidambaram rebutted anti-secularism allegations put against Congress party by Karunanidhi. “He (DMK chief) has said Congress party should come back to its secular tones, but I want to say Congress party is the centre of secularism. Congress party has always been secular, and it has never supported a political party which is anti-secular.
Induction of expelled JD(U) leader Sabir Ali today triggered angry protest within BJP, with senior leader Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi terming him as a “friend” of Indian Mujahideen chief Yasin Bhatkal and mocking that Dawood Ibrahim could be the next entrant.
“Terrorist Bhatkal friend joins BJP…Soon accepting Dawood…,” Naqvi tweeted, hours after Ali was inducted into the party with much fanfare as it was seen as a boost to the BJP’s attempts to attract muslims.
Naqvi, a muslim face and Vice President of the party, said he will convey his protest to the BJP leadership.
The US is working closely with India to accelerate its clean energy revolution and address the impacts of climate change, the White House said today.
“We are working closely with India to accelerate its clean energy revolution and address the impacts of climate change in vulnerable communities,” said a White House fact sheet said as it announced a new strategy to reduce methane emission.
BJP MP Navjot Singh Sidhu’s wife Dr. Navjot Kaur Sidhu on Friday clarified that her husband wouldn’t be coming to Amritsar to campaign for Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Arun Jailtey’s campaigns, given his strained relations with the Akalis.
While talking to ANI on Friday evening she said, “Sidhu will not arrive in Amritsar to campaign for SAD-BJP nominee Arun Jaitley”.
She instead questioned “Why would he come, Akalis had created problems for him and as long as the problem will remain he wouldn’t come”.
Talks between TDP and BJP over forging an electoral alliance in Andhra Pradesh remained inconclusive even as the former offered 35 Assembly and seven Lok Sabha seats to the latter in Telangana region and ten and three seats in Seemandhra.
For the first time, Telugu Desam Party supremo N Chandrababu Naidu himself discussed the seat-sharing with BJP national spokesman Prakash Javadekar and reportedly made the “final” offer during the talks held tonight.
TDP’s Telangana leaders, too, took part in the talks as seat-sharing in the region has become a stumbling block to the alliance.
Telangana BJP president G Kishan Reddy today urged Governor E S L Narasimhan to ensure proper arrangements at 10th class examination centers.
In a letter addressed to the Governor, Kishan Reddy said the students have been facing several problems at the examination centers due to lack of basic facilities. The concerned officers have announced that all facilities have been made at the examination centers. But the situation is quite different as they claimed, he added.
The Aam Admi Party (AAP) today announced its first list of candidates, including a former bureaucrat, for nine Lok Sabha constituencies in Andhra Pradesh.
The candidates are: Repelle Srinivas (Nizamabad), Chandana Chakravarti (Malkajgiri), Chinta Swamy (Warangal-SC), Chaya Ratan (Secunderabad), R Venkata Reddy (Chevella), KVB Veera Vara Prasad (Guntur), Jaidev Injarapu (Srikakulam), EDA Chennaiah (Bapatla-SC), CSN Raja Yadav (Ongole).
CPI State secretary Dr K. Narayana on Friday wrote a letter to Governor ESL Narasimhan urging him to direct authorities concerned to provide seven-hour uninterrupted power supply to farmers and protect withering crops.
TDP president N. Chandrababu Naidu today impressed upon the party cadre to strive to make Telugu Desam come to power for the betterment and welfare of the people.
Speaking at the party headquarters NTR Bhavan here on Friday, Naidu said only under the TDP regime the people’s welfare and betterment would be safe and secure and for his party has to come to power. To ensure the party’s victory in the elections, he said, it should be a one-sided affair in the polls. He also said there was no time for experiments as the need of the hour was well planned action program.