Month: April 2014

Secunderabad: Cong MP in straight fight with BJP veteran

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Growing public anger over poor civic amenities will reflect on the outcome of the Lok Sabha election in Secunderabad constituency where sitting MP M Anjan Kumar Yadav of Congress is locked in a straight fight with former Union Minister Bandaru Dattatreya of the BJP.

Secunderabad, with 18.93 lakh voters, is one of the two parliamentary constituencies in Telangana region where a highest of 30 candidates are in the fray and where the statehood “sentiment” does not work.

Google celebrates Ustad Alla Rakha’s 95th birthday

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Internet search engine Google commemorated the 95th birthday of tabla maestro Ustad Alla Rakha Tuesday by honouring him with a colourful doodle.

The doodle depicted a smiling Alla Rakha, wearing a white kurta with orange embroidery, playing tabla.

The Padma Shri recipient was born in Phagwal village of Jammu. He was a frequent accompanist of sitar player Pandit Ravi Shankar. The duo had created many magical jugalbandis.

He was conferred the Sangeet Natak Akademi award in 1982.

He died in 2000, following a heart attack.

–IANS

Plane lands safely in Australia after engine fire

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A passenger plane carrying 93 people landed safely at Perth Airport today despite an engine fire that erupted shortly after take-off, officials said.

No one was hurt during the midair scare on the Cobham Aviation jet bound from Perth for Barrow Island in Western Australia.

“Shortly after departure there was a fire in the number two engine. The pilot shut it down, the flames were extinguished and the plane returned to Perth,” a spokewoman for Air Services Australia told AFP.

“It landed safely and was able to taxi to its gate. The fire services provided an escort on the ground.”

Modi says “Ye dil maange more” at Mandi rally

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Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi on Tuesday asked people of Himachal Pradesh to make his party win by 300 seats, repeating the famous catchphrase also used by Kargil Martyr Vikram Batra “Ye dil maange more.”

“Today, I ask you to make the lotus win with 300 seats because “Ye dil mange more” just like

Vikram Batra’s, who gave his life for the country in the Kargil war using the same line,” said Modi, while addressing a rally in Mandi.

Watchdog: Syria targets civilians with crude bombs

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An international rights organisation says the Syrian government is indiscriminately targeting civilians and civilian infrastructure with crude bombs in rebel-held districts of the northern city of Aleppo.

Human Rights Watch says its activists have documented 85 locations in Aleppo’s opposition-held districts that government aircraft shelled with barrel bombs makeshift, shrapnel-packed explosive devices rolled out of helicopters.

The New York-based group says in a report today that the attacks occurred between February 22 and April 2.

Israel okayed nearly 14,000 settler homes during talks: NGO

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Israel approved plans for nearly 14,000 new settler homes during the nine months of peace talks with the Palestinians, an Israeli settlement watchdog said today as the negotiation period formally ended.

Figures quoted by Peace Now showed that during the talks, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government approved at least 13,851 new housing through the advancement of plans and the publication of tenders.

“This is an unprecedented number representing an average of 50 housing units per day or 1,540 per month,” it said.

‘Arab Spring’ more complicated, nuanced than commonly believed

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‘Arab Spring’, the popular term used to describe the uprisings in the Middle East in recent years, is more complicated and nuanced than commonly believed, according to a new study.

Qatar-based Northwestern University’s professor of journalism Ibrahim Abusharif explored the range of perspectives around the phrase in Parsing Arab Spring, a paper that is part of a series contributing analysis to a debate – recently published by the university.

The uprisings in the Middle East since the winter of 2010-11 was referred as the ‘Arab Spring’.

Modi’s behaviour childish: Priyanka

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Battling on Rahul Gandhi’s behalf, Priyanka Gandhi today took on Narendra Modi over his ‘shehzada’, “namuna” and other barbs at her brother, saying the BJP leader is aspiring to be Prime Minister but indulging in “childish” behaviour and that he should maintain decorum.

Campaigning for Rahul here, she said BJP leaders used to make fun of her father and former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi when he introduced computers in the country and they are now “mocking” her brother.

Congress retaliate Modi by linking him to hawala operator

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Congress hit back at Narendra Modi on Monday by linking him to an alleged hawala operator a day after the BJP released a video targeting Robert Vadra.

In a tit-for-tat, the Congress, at its regular media conference, released a number of photographs of a man called Afroz Fatta and the Gujarat chief minister together at social and official functions.

Police officer accused of sending lewd SMS

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A senior police officer of a police station in Odisha’s Kendrapara district has been accused of sending lewd SMS to a woman staff.

“A special cell formed to look into such complaints is investigating the matter to ascertain the veracity of the charge,” Sub-Divisional Police Officer Nrusingha Charan Swain said.

This is the first case in Kendrapara that is being probed under the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013. Since the act came in force last year, no complaint has been lodged, sources said.

Israeli PM associates Holocaust to Iran’s ambitious nuclear deals

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Israeli Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has linked the Holocaust to suspected ambitious nuclear deals of Iran.

The comments from Netanyahu came as he inaugurated the country’s annual Memorial Day for the 6 million Jews killed in Holocaust and has issued warning to the world to prevent another Holocaust.

In his speech, Netanyahu linked the Nazi genocide to Iran’s suspected nuclear deals attempts and its repeated attempts to disregard the Holocaust.

Chidambaram says poll results will be a product of missed opportunities

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Finance Minister P. Chidambaram has said that the result of this year’s general elections will be an outcome of missed opportunities during the critical years of 2010-11.

Interacting during the launch of a book authored by Indian Express editor-in-chief Shekhar Gupta, titled-‘Anticipating India-The Best of National Interest’, Chidambaram said crucial mistakes were made in 2010 and 2011.

No betting on Rahul Gandhi: Bookies

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Since May 16 nears, top bookies in Ahmedabad, Rajkot and Indore and have stopped offering bets on Rahul Gandhi as the next prime minister of India, signifying that the Congress VP does not stand much of a chance to move into 7 Race Course Road subsequent to the Lok Sabha poll results are out in mid-May.

Even a month ago, some bookies were offering odds of about Rs 6-7 for Gandhi to be the PM, whereas the rate for Arvind Kejriwal, the founder of Aam Aadmi Party, was about Rs 500-525.

Local BJP leader gang-raped in Ranchi

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A local BJP leader was allegedly gang-raped by a group of unidentified people at Masmano village in Ranchi district, police said on Tuesday.

The men barged into her residence and gang-raped her on Sunday.

They also beat up her husband and abused their 13-year-old daughter before decamping with cash and jewellery, police said.

Efforts are on to nab the accused, they said.

—-PTI

Australian plane catches fire mid-air, lands safely

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A plane caught fire soon after taking off from Perth airport in Western Australia Tuesday, but has landed safely.

An investigation is underway, ABC News reported.

The Cobham Aviation flight was scheduled to depart at 10.45 a.m. for Barrow Island.

“When the fire was detected, the engine was shut down and the fire extinguished,” a statement from Cobham said.

South Korean president apologises for ferry disaster

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South Korean President Park Geun-hye made an official apology for the ferry sinking disaster Tuesday.

The apology came 13 days after the passenger ship Sewol capsized off the country’s southwestern coast April 16, killing over 180 people, most of them high school students who were on a field trip. More than 110 others still missing. Xinhua reported.

Park said during a cabinet meeting that she was “sorry to the people and heavy hearted that many precious lives were lost”.

Supporters of AAP and BJP from Assam are routing to Varanasi

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As the elections in the northeastern states over, volunteers of Aam Admi Party and Bharatiya Janata Party are heading for the high-profile constituencies of Amethi and Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh.

More than 100 AAP supporters from Assam have reached the Varanasi where their party leader Arvind Kejriwal is challenging BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi. Hundreds of BJP supporters from Assam are also on their way to the holy city.

School bus attacked in Muzaffarnagar

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A school bus was attacked here by three persons after an alleged rustication of a student, police said on Tuesday.

The incident took place yesterday when the three attacked a bus of Adarsh Inter School in Harinagar locality while it was returning after dropping the children.

Police said that the attack was a result of an alleged rustication of a student. Window panes of the bus were damaged, they said.

Police has registered a case, however, no arrest has been made so far.

—PTI

World’s fattest woman at 56.4st wants to walk up aisle with toyboy fiance

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Despite weighing in at 56.4 stone, world’s fattest housebound woman is planning to walk up the aisle with her lover who is almost half her age.

Charity Pierce, 38, said that she is determined not to have to get married to her 22-year-old fiance Tony Saur at home, Metro.co.uk reported.

Pierce, from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, also revealed that she feared having a heart attack or a stroke and dying in her sleep, but she doesn’t want much from life, but just a life.

Scent of male experimenters stress out mice and rats in labs

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In an attempt to find out why some scientists are unable to replicate research findings on rodents, a new study has concluded that it’s all got to do with the gender of the experimenters.

An international team of pain researchers led by scientists at McGill University in Montreal found that the presence of male experimenters produced a stress response in mice and rats equivalent to that caused by restraining the rodents for 15 minutes in a tube or forcing them to swim for three minutes.

‘Sweet 17’ Lydia Ko turns emotional after first LPGA win as pro at Swinging Skirts Classic

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Teenaged South Korea-born New Zealand golfer Lydia Ko had reportedly broken down into tears after she won her first Ladies PGA title as a professional and will climb to No.2 in world rankings at the Swinging Skirts Classic in San Francisco.

Three days after her 17th birthday, Ko departed Lake Merced Golf Club with her biggest career payday of 315,000 dollars in her second victory as a professional, after pocketing 181,000 dollars in Taiwan in December.

In order to woo Hyderabad voters, YSR Congress Chief speaks in Hindi

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On the last day of the Telangana campaign, YSR Congress Chief Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy took the city by storm by surprising the various minority-dominated areas with his Hindi speaking skills.

He makes a start of his speech in Khairatabad constituency in Telugu by thanking people for waiting for him in the scorching heat. On the suggestion of Khairatabad YSRC candidate Vijaya Reddy, he so therefore switched to Hindi.
He told voters, “I am sure of coming to power in Seemandhra, and in Telangana as well we will come to power if not in this election, in the next one.”

MIM Chief sees ‘Hitler’ in Narendra Modi

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On Monday, All India Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul Muslimeen party President Asaduddin Owaisi appealed to the voters to keep Hyderabad “safe from the communal forces.”

He targeted BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi while addressing a public meeting at the Khilwath Grounds in old city.

As said by Mr Owaisi that Modi was responsible for the genocide of Muslims and fake encounter killings in Gujarat. Modi’s defeat will at least act as a source of consolation to the victims’ families, he added.

Modi’s pleased RSS by making Anti B’deshi rant

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Narendra Modi was trying to please the RSS by asking ‘Bangladeshi immigrants’ to be ready to leave India after May 16, at a rally in West Bengal’s Serampore on Sunday.

By doing so he not only polarising voters on religious lines but at the same time pleasing the RSS.
Modi, who has been shifting his tone and tenor to suit the political landscape, donned his Hindutva poster-boy avatar in West Bengal. He tore into Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee, indicting her of vote bank politics and “rolling out the red carpet for the Bangladeshis.”

Sarees were distributed by BJP to woo voters: AAP

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The AAP in a complaint with the Election Commission (EC) against Narendra Modi alleged for“bribing” voters.

AAP alleged in a press release, that sarees were distributed in Modi’s constituency Varanasi. Images of saree gift packs with ‘Shree Tortoise Sarees’ written on them, carrying Modi’s photo and address of the supplier in Surat is submitted to the EC, added the party.

The party demanded an FIR be registered against Modi for allegedly trying to bribe voters. The party said that it had attached all relevant documents, photos and videos along with its complaint.