Month: March 2014

Delhi sees warm Monday, Tuesday to be warmer

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The national capital experienced a warm Monday with the maximum temperature recorded at 30.8 degree Celsius, one notch below the season’s average. Tuesday is likely to be warmer, the met office said.

“Mist will be recorded in the morning while the skies will remain clear throughout the day,” said an official of the India Meteorological Department (IMD).

The maximum and minimum temperatures are likely to hover around 32 degrees and 17 degrees Celsius respectively.

The minimum temperature recorded Monday was 17 degree Celsius, a notch below the season’s average.

Thailand to extradite arms dealer to India

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A court here Monday approved the extradition of a Thai businessman wanted in India for his alleged involvement in illegal arms trading.

Wuthikorn Naruanartwanich, 57, was wanted by Interpol on charges of acting as middleman for an international arms trading gang in India, the Bangkok Post reported.

The court ruled in support of extradition as the evidence provided by India’s home ministry and embassy was found legally correct.

Indian authorities have accused him of stockpiling illegal arms and conspiring to bring weapons into India to wage war against the government.

Japan to provide Rs.1,604-crore loan for Haryana project

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Japan Monday signed a loan agreement with India to provide 26,800 million Yen (Rs.1,604 crore) for upgrading power distribution in Haryana, a spokesman said.

The agreement was signed in the capital by Shinya Ejima, Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) chief representative in India, and Rajesh Khullar of the union finance ministry.

Youth who killed mother arrested

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A 19-year-old youth who strangled his mother here and dumped her body in the box of a bed has been arrested, police said Monday.

Sumitra, 50, was found dead Sunday afternoon at the first floor of her house in Vikaspuri in west Delhi.

Sumitra’s elder son, who resided on the ground floor, found her body. As the victim’s younger son Rohit who was residing with her was missing, police went after him.

Rohit was arrested Sunday night from Subhash Nagar in west Delhi. He confessed strangling his mother to death apparently to avenge the frequent beatings he was subjected to.
(IANS)

AAP fields actor Javed Jaaferi against Rajnath

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The AAP Monday announced it was fielding Bollywood actor Jaaved Jaaferi against BJP president Rajnath Singh from Lucknow Lok Sabha constituency as it released a list of 22 candidates.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has put up Thamil Arima against union Finance Minister P.Chidambaram’s son Karti P. Chidambaram, who is contesting in place of his father from Tamil Nadu’s Sivganga constituency.

Sanjeet Dhanka has been fielded from Rajasthan’s Dausa, presently represented by union minister Namo Narain Meena.

Flash mob, dance moves kickstart Indian cultural festival

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A flash mob and dance moves from a Bollywood musical right at the Cairo International Airport kickstarted the second edition of the annual Indian cultural festival ‘India by the Nile’ in Egypt.

For the first time in the history of Cairo airport, several dance sequences from the musical ‘Bollywood: A Love Story’ were performed by the members of the cast within the premises of Terminal 3 of the airport Sunday, a press statement issued Monday by the Indian ministry for external affairs here said.

Would have been a huge shame had Royals not played IPL: Watson

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Rajasthan Royals has had a controversial tenure in their six seasons in the Indian Premier League but their new captain Shane Watson feels it would have been a “shame” if the champions of the inaugural year were barred from playing in the seventh edition of the cash-rich tournament.

“Personally for me, it would be a huge shame if Rajasthan wasn’t playing this IPL because I certainly love every moment I’ve spent there since it started,” said Watson during a pre-match media interaction of Australia’s ‘dead-rubber’ against minnows Bangladesh.

Will not let BJP succeed in making Modi PM: Mulayam

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Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav today said his party would not let BJP succeed in its agenda of making Narendra Modi the Prime Minister.

“SP will not let BJP succeeded in Lok Sabha polls and make Narendra Modi the next PM. If they (BJP) get defeated in Uttar Pradesh, Modi will never become PM,” Yadav said here.

Asking Muslims to remain alert, he said BJP and BSP had close relationship and Congress’ role was also suspicious as far as providing facilities to Muslim community was concerned.

Jaitley a political mercenary, says Amarinder

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Terming his BJP rival Arun Jaitley in the Amritsar Lok Sabha seat a “political mercenary”, former Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh Monday questioned the former’s “sheepish silence” about the plight of Punjabi farmers in Gujarat who were being evicted from their land by the state government.

“In election time we often come across a number of political mercenaries. Their sole aim is to contest the elections, irrespective of their commitments whether these are towards the party they belong to or the region they claim to represent.

TTP meet to discuss extension of ceasefire

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The members of the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) shura are holding a meeting Monday ahead of the next round of peace talks with the Pakistan government.

The meeting is taking place at an undisclosed location in the North Waziristan province to discuss the extension of a month-long ceasefire it had announced which is scheduled to end Monday, Dawn online reported.

The Pakistan government committee and the TTP Saturday agreed to take measures to speed up the peace talks.

The first round of direct talks between the Pakistan government and the TTP leadership concluded March 26.

Javed Jafferi is AAP candidate from Lucknow

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The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Monday announced the candidature of actor-comedian Javed Jafferi from Lucknow to take on BJP president Rajnath Singh.

Leaders of the party said the decision was taken at the political affairs committee in New Delhi.

Earlier reports suggested that the party had zeroed in on Adarsh Shastri, grandson of late prime minister Lal Bahadur Shastri.

Rajnath Singh is contesting from Lucknow, a seat held by the Bharatiya Janata Party for over two decades.

Climate change beginning to affect world: IPCC report

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The effects of climate change are already visible across the world, specially among vulnerable population of countries like India, the new report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) said Monday.

“The effects of climate change are already occurring on all continents and across the oceans. The world, in many cases, is ill-prepared for a changing climate,” the report said.

46 apply for entering Ukraine presidential race

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A total of 46 people have sought to contest Ukraine’s presidential election scheduled for May 25, the Central Election Commission said Monday as it finished the application process.

So far, seven people have been registered and 12 others’ applications rejected, while the rest 27 will have to wait till April 4 to see if they are allowed to enter the race, Xinhua reported citing the commission.

Venkataswamy’s sons join Cong, Rayapati in TDP net

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Padapalli Lok Sabha member G Vivekananda and his brother and former minister G Vinod broke away from the TRS and returned to the Congress fold today even as the TDP posted a prize catch with Rayapati Sambasiva Rao embracing it.

The two sons of former Union Minister G Venkataswamy – who had joined the TRS in June last year – noted that the Congress fulfilled its promise of creating a separate state of Telangana.

Defending champion Ratchanok withdraws from India Open

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Reigning badminton World Champion Ratchanok Intanon of Thailand will not be defending her India Open Super Series women’s singles title as she has withdrawn her entry.

The current World No.4 shuttler cited medical reasons for skipping the $250,000 event which will be underway from Tuesday at the Siri Fort Sports Complex.

“She sent a mail saying that she will not be playing due to medical reasons,” tournament chief referee Isabelle Jobard of France told IANS here Monday.

Ratchanok, seeded fourth, is the only withdrawal from women’s singles.

Sonakshi tweets to campaign for father Shatrughan

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Actor-politician Shatrughan Sinha’s daughter actress Sonakshi has found a unique way to campaign for her father’s re-election to Patna Sahib Lok Sabha seat.

Though Shatrughan’s elder son Luv has been giving father company during his campaign, daughter Sonakshi is not finding time for it because of her shooting commitments and thus has taken up the social media for the purpose.

The ‘Dabaang’ heroine has been sending messages through her Twitter account, mother Poonam Sinha told PTI here today.

Defamation suit:Suniel Shetty to pay Rs 20K for non-appearance

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A Delhi court today slapped Rs 20,000 as costs on Bollywood actor Suniel Shetty for his failure to appear before it and warned him that it would issue a warrant against him if he did not mark his presence next week in a defamation suit filed against him by a stuntman.

Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (CMM) Savitri allowed the plea of 52-year-old Shetty for exemption from personal appearance and gave him a last opportunity to appear before her without any fail on next date of hearing.

Constant threat of communal riots if Modi becomes PM: Mayawati

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Raking up the 2002 Gujarat riots issue, BSP supremo Mayawati today claimed the country would be under a constant threat of communal violence if Narendra Modi became the PM and spoke of forming her party government at the Centre.

Addressing a meet of West Bengal party workers, the former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister also criticised the Mamata Banerjee government, saying it had failed to live up to people’s expectations in the state.

Delhi gang rape: SC extends stay on death sentence of two convicts

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The Supreme Court Monday extended till April 7 the stay on the execution of the death sentence of Mukesh and Pawan Gupta, two of the four convicts in the Dec 16, 2012 gang rape, as it sought a copy of the trial court judgment.

The death sentence of the four convicts was upheld by the Delhi High Court March 13.

The apex court bench of Justice B.S. Chauhan and Justice J. Chelameswar at the outset of the hearing said they have gone through the judgment of the high court upholding their conviction and award of death sentence but would like to go though the judgment of the trial court.

Jharkhand food inspector arrested taking bribe

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Jharkhand vigilance sleuths arrested a food inspector, Sanjay Kumar, here Monday and seized Rs.3,000 from him, said an official.

“We arrested Sanjay Kumar who took a bribe of Rs.3,000 from a restaurant owner for giving him a licence. We were informed by the owner and today (Monday), we trapped him by asking the eating outlet proprietor to ‘fulfil’ his demand,” an official of the vigilance bureau told IANS.

World T20: Netherlands humiliate England, win by 45 runs

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The Netherlands pulled off a major upset beating England by 45 runs in a Group 1 encounter of the World Twenty20 at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium here Monday.

Put to bat first, the Dutch led by some dogged batting from Stephan Myburgh (39) and Wesley Barresi (48) reached 133 for five in 20 overs.

In reply, England batted abysmally and were bowled out for an embarassing 88 in 17.4 overs.

Barring opener Alex Hales (12), Ravi Bopara (18) and Chris Jordan (14), none of the other batsmen could even reach double figures.

Indian trucker arrested for negligent driving

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An Indian national has been arrested here for allegedly causing the death of a compatriot in a road accident last week.

The 33-year-old Indian tipper truck driver was arrested for allegedly causing the death of another 27-year-old Indian man by a negligent act, Today Online reported Monday.

The accident occurred at around 2.57 p.m. Saturday. The accused is currently assisting police investigations.

The victim was trapped under the front wheel of the truck and was pronounced dead by paramedics at the scene after his body was extricated.
(IANS)

BJP favoured Himachal cricket body: Virbhadra Singh

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Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh Monday said former chief minister Prem Kumar Dhumal and his son were involved in corruption in the name of promoting cricket.

“The previous BJP government went out of the way to give precious government land worth Rs.250 crore in various places to the HPCA at an annual lease of Re.1. We are inquiring into it,” Virbhadra Singh said at an election rally in Sarkhaghat in Mandi district.

He said the state government is not against promoting cricket or any other game but associating a special class of people with it (cricket) is wrong.

Congress, Chidambaram patrons of crony capitalism: BJP

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The BJP Monday accused the Congress and Finance Minister P. Chidambaram of being the “biggest patrons of crony capitalism”.

“Congress and Chidambaram are the biggest patrons of crony capitalism,” Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad said.

The BJP’s reaction came after Chidambaram Monday criticised the party’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi, saying his brand of liberalism was “crony capitalism” and aims to appease only a section of businesses.

Amid election heat, Sonia-Modi in war of words (Roundup)

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The Congress-BJP war of words escalated Monday, with Congress president Sonia Gandhi charging the BJP with indulging in “politics of hate” and BJP star Narendra Modi accusing the Congress of making “false promises”.

Without taking Modi’s name, Gandhi told an election rally in Nuh in Mewat district of Haryana that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was misleading the people to grab power.

“They (BJP) indulge in politics of hate and its leaders have their eyes set on the post of the prime minister,” she said.