Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin said here on Wednesday that at this stage they have confirmations of 58 nurses who would like to return to India. “We are working to ensure that all of them leave their places of work because we don’t feel that circumstances warrant their continuance at this stage,” said Akbaruddin.
Congress General Secretary Shakeel Ahmad today demanded Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s clarification over the issue of bugging in Union Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari. “PM must give a clarification on this issue. I demand that a credible investigation should be carried out into this,” said Ahmad. Earlier today, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh had clarified that there is no truth in the reports which appeared in the media that bugging devices were found inside Gadkari’s house.
External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj Wednesday chaired a meeting after India’s mission in Tripoli asked Indians to leave Libya.
“Sushma Swaraj has deployed six officials to Libya to set in motion the process of bringing Indian nationals back,” MEA spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin told the media here.
A senior official of the rank of joint secretary has been sent to Libya to help facilitate the return of Indians, he added.
He added the first lot of Indians will be returning to India by this weekend.
US Secretary of State John Kerry arrived here Wednesday on a three-day official trip for the annual Indo-US Strategic dialogue and is also expected to lay the groundwork for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s much-awaited September visit to the US.
During his visit, Kerry and Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj will jointly chair the fifth annual India-US Strategic Dialogue at 3 p.m. on Thursday. This will be followed by delegation-level talks.
Congress president Sonia Gandhi and her son and party vice president Rahul Gandhi Wednesday moved the Delhi High Court against the summons issued to them for allegedly cheating and misappropriating funds of a company that used to publish the now defunct National Herald newspaper.
On June 26, the trial court had issued summons to the Gandhis and four others including party treasurer Moti Lal Vora, general secretary Oscar Fernandes and Young Indian Private Ltd (a firm in which the Gandhis have a stake) directors Suman Dubey and Sam Pitroda, asking them to appear before it Aug 7.
Sixty eight Malaysian police officers left Wednesday night for Kiev to secure the crash site of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 and help experts carry out their assessment.
“We will be assisting the 12-strong forensic personnel who are currently in Kharkiv identifying the victims,” Xinhua quoted Malaysia’s Inspector General of Police Khalid Abu Bakar as saying at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport.
He said the officers would be briefed on safety measures and would be equipped with ballistic helmets and bulletproof vests for their mission.
Lebanon has detained eight Syrians for entering the country illegally and having suspected terror links, an army statement said.
The Lebanese caught the eight Syrians in the eastern border town of Arsal, Xinhua reported.
The men, who were driving unregistered vehicles, are suspected of belonging to terrorist groups.
A state-run news agency later confirmed that the detained Syrians were suspected of having links to the Al Qaida affiliate “Al Nusra Front”, a group that has spearheaded the rebels’ fighting in Syria since 2012.
The Supreme Court Wednesday extended till Sep 30 the term of a three-member committee constituted to frame guidelines to regulate issuance of advertisements with an obvious political message put out by the government and its departments.
The bench of Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice S.A. Bobde extended the term of the committee after Solicitor General Ranjit Kumar, who is also a committee member, sought time till Sep 30 to complete the task.
President Pranab Mukherjee Wednesday condoled the loss of lives in a landslide triggered by heavy rain in Maharashtra’s Pune district.
In his message to Maharashtra Governor K. Sankaranarayanan, Mukherjee said: “I am deeply saddened to learn about the landslides triggered by heavy rains in Pune district, Maharashtra, in which a number of persons have lost their lives and many others are feared trapped under the debris.”
The president said he understands that rescue and relief operations were underway.
Indian shuttlers made merry at the Commonwealth Games Wednesday as all of them won their respective matches in straight games to enter the last 16 at the Emirates Arena here.
P.V. Sindhu and P.C. Thulasi in women’s singles and R.M.V. Gurusaidutt, Kidambi Srikanth and Parupalli Kashyap in men’s singles notched up wins in the Round of 32.
Men’s doubles pair of Akshay Dewalkar and Pranaav Jerry also started with a victory while women’s doubles defending champions Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa got a walkover.
Indian wrestler Sakshi Malik also had to settle for the silver medal after she lost her women’s freestyle 58 kg final to Nigeria’s Aminat Adeniyi in the 2014 Commonwealth Games at the SECC Hall here Wednesday.
Aminat completely dominated Sakshi and took a lead of 10-0 in two minutes 24 seconds when the match had to be stopped on grounds of technical superiority.
The bronze medals went to New Zealand’s Tayla Ford and Canada’s Braxton Rei Stone.
Sakshi’s medal was the third silver for India in the day from wrestling.
-IANS
AP Agriculture Minister Prattipati Pullarao today said there was no need for farmers to worry about availability of fertilizers or seed.
Speaking to media here on Wednesday, Pullarao said they stored fertilizers sufficient for two months. However, there was a shortage of 1.17 lakh metric ton fertilisers.
He said he would write to the Central seeking allocation of 2.5 lakh metric tons of fertilizers to meet the demands of the farmers. Pullarao said he would meet the Union Agriculture Minister and bring to his notice about the shortage of fertilizers.
Chief Minister K Chandrasekhara Rao today directed the agencies concerned to submit a detailed project report by conducting a survey pertaining to Palamur Lift Irrigation scheme and Jurala-Pakala project on war footing.
In a high-level review meeting along with Irrigation Minister T Harish Rao, Irrigation Advisor Vidyasagar Rao and Irrigation Secretary Aravind Reddy at the Secretariat here, KCR asked the officials to take measures in an expeditious manner to complete these two important projects.
Student organizations have intensified their agitation against regularization of contract employees in telangana state. they met congress legislature party leader k jana reddy today and urged his support against the proposal of regularization of contract employees by the telangana government. jana reddy assured them of apprising their demands and feelings to the government notice.
Jana reddy told them that he will write a letter to chief minister k chandarshekhar rao in this regard.
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To provide room for its MLAs, Telangana State Government today asked 15 MLAs of Andhra Pradesh State residing in Hyderguda MLA quarters to vacate them in seven days.
MLA Quarters Allotment Committee Chairman Ramalinga Reddy today said he would be compelled to cut power and water supply if they failed to vacate the quarters in a week.
He also alleged that AP MLAs are failing to occupy the quarters allocated to them. Besides they are provoking Telangana MLAs in this regard, he said. It was also decided to stop power and water supply to the quarter of CK Babu of AP.
AP Minister Ravela Kishore Babu today said the GO issued by Telangana government on nativity is against the Constitution.
Speaking to the media here on Wednesday, the AP minister said there should be no discrimination till 10 years as per the bifurcation bill. But the TRS government’s decision is unconstitutional, he said, adding Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu wanted to resolve the issues by consultations and even invited Telangana CM for talks. But KCR ignored the invitation.
The High Court here on Wednesday directed the Telangana State government not to collect transport tax from the vehicles coming from the Seemandhra region.
Delivering an order in response to a petition filed by the Tirumala Cabs Association challenging a circular issued by the Telangana government, the High Court said no tax should be collected from the vehicles plying in the two States till March next year.
Telangana BJP president G. Kishan Reddy today demanded that the TRS government take measures to implement VSK Koumadi report to improve service conditions of Homeguards, who are discharging their duties on par with constables.
In a letter to Chief Minister K Chandrasekhara Rao on Wednesday, Kishan Reddy said services of homeguards were being utilised for the society for the last 50 years, but no measures were taken to improve their service standards.
Finally Telangana State Government has constituted a five-member committee to prepare modalities pertaining to FAST scheme.
It has announced that Revenue department will issue Nativity Certificates to the eligible students, whose forefathers must be native of Telangana region before 1956, according to a GO issued.
The scheme will be implemented to all those students of the TS from this academic year itself. The committee comprises principal secretaries of welfare, higher education, Panchayat Raj, Rural Development, GAD and Law departments.
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Six people, including two Afghan nationals, were arrested in the capital and 36 kg of heroin valued at Rs.125 crore in the international market seized from them, police said Wednesday.
Mohammad Zamir, 46, Baba Fakruddin Sheikh, 40, Mohammad Saleem Khan, 52, Afghan national Mohammad, 48, Chandbasa, 36, and a 33-year-old Afghan woman, Sakiba, were arrested July 26-27 from various locations in Delhi and Jaipur in Rajasthan.
A joint executive MBA programme announced by the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay and the Washington University in St. Louis (WUSTL) will be offered in 2015, the parliament was informed Wednesday.
“The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Bombay and the Washington University in St. Louis (WUSTL) have launched a Joint Executive Master of Business Administration (MBA) programme on June 30, 2014, to be offered in 2015,” Human Resource Development Minister Smriti Irani said in the Lok Sabha.
England declared their second innings at 205 for four at tea and set a target of 445 runs for India on the fourth day of the third cricket Test at The Rose Bowl here Wednesday.
Alastair Cook was the top scorer with an unbeaten 70 while Joe Root made a quickfire 56 in 41 balls.
Earlier, India were all out for 330 in their first innings in reply to England’s first innings tally of 569 for seven declared.
(IANS)
Sonia Gandhi declined to become Prime Minister in 2004 because of strong opposition from her son Rahul Gandhi who was afraid she would be killed like his father and grand mother if she accepted the post, former External Affairs Minister K Natwar Singh claimed today.
Singh(83), an estranged Gandhi family friend who quit the Congress in 2008 after he had to resign from the UPA-I Government in 2005 in the wake of the Iraqi food-for-oil scam, claimed that it was not Sonia’s “inner voice” that prevented her, as she had stated at the time, to take up the PM’s post
Rio is at the back of his mind but for Sushil Kumar, one of India’s greatest Olympians, the immediate aim is to win a gold medal in the upcoming Asian Games, a stage where the decorated wrestler, surprisingly, is yet to taste success.
The 31-year-old grappler is India’s only two-time individual Olympic medallist, clinched a gold medal in World Championships and the latest in his rich collection is a yellow metal that he has just won in the 20th Commonwealth Games here yesterday.
External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj today chaired a high-level meeting on the situation in Libya during it was decided to send a Joint Secretary-level officer to facilitate the return of Indians from the strife-torn country.
The Minister also asked for funds to be transferred from the Indian Community Welfare Fund from the UAE for use by Indian nationals in difficult circumstances in Libya, the MEA spokesperson told reporters here.