Month: July 2014

The undivided Andhra Pradesh had emerged as the “most-preferred” tourist destination for domestic travellers with about 20 per cent share in the total domestic tourist visits of over 103 crore across India in 2012, a study said today.

Clocking the compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of over 85 per cent, the undivided AP recorded a significant surge in domestic tourist arrivals in the state, which crossed 20 crore mark in 2012 from a level of 11 crore in 2006, according to the study titled ‘Indian Tourism Industry: The Way Forward’ conducted by Assocham.

India has been working in cooperation with 33 countries in the area of peaceful use of outer space, the government today said.

India is pursuing cooperation with other countries on peaceful uses of outer space. Currently, cooperative arrangements are signed with 33 countries including Russia, United Kingdom, United States of America, Egypt, France, Germany, Hungary, Indonesia, Israel, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, Mauritius, Mongolia, Myanmar, Republic of Korea and Saudi Arabia, said Jitendra Singh, Minister of State for Department of Space in a written response in Lok Sabha.

England were in firm control at lunch on day four of the third cricket Test after bowling out India for 330 runs and choosing not to apply the follow-on. The hosts then sped to 80 for two in their second outing to extend their lead over the visitors to 319 runs at The Rose Bowl here Wednesday.

James Anderson recorded his 16th five-wicket haul after taking India’s final two wickets in the morning session.

India managed to add just seven more runs to their overnight total before captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni (50) and Mohammed Shami (5) were sent packing without much fuss.

Pakistan Wednesday summoned Afghan envoy and lodged a strong protest over an attack launched by terrorists from across the border.

Pakistan’s foreign ministry said in a statement that between 70 and 80 terrorists were involved in the cross-border attack on Pakistan military posts in Upper Dir of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, bordering Afghanistan, late Tuesday, Xinhua reported.

At least seven terrorists were killed and nine injured as the attack was successfully repulsed by the Pakistan military, the statement said.

As many as 2,751 IAS, IPS and IFoS officials belonging to reserved categories — Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribe and Other Backward Class — are working across the country, the government said today.

Of these, 1,200 officials are from Indian Administrative Service (IAS), 880 of Indian Police Service (IPS) and 671 are from Indian Forest Service (IFoS), it said.

There are 447 IAS officials of SC category, 232 of ST and 521 belonging to OBC, Minister of State for Personnel Public Grievances and Pensions Jitendra Singh told Lok Sabha in a written reply.

Megastar Amitabh Bachchan, who made his TV fiction debut with show ‘Yudh’ recently, said he does not understand the business of small screen.

Bachchan’s ‘Yudh’ was one of the most awaited shows on the small screen and was launched amid much hype and fanfare. The show however, evoked a lukewarm response from the audiences.

“The work is over (on ‘Yudh’). I always feel an artiste is never satisfied with his work. I don’t know how the business of TV works and don’t understand TRPs at all,” Bachchan told reporters last night, on response of ‘Yudh’.

Saudi authorities have decided to impose temporary ban on import of pepper from India with effect from May 30, Parliament was informed today.

According to reports, presence of high levels of pesticides in the Indian consignment was the reason to put the import restriction.

“Saudi authorities have decided to impose temporary ban on the import of all types of pepper from India with effect from May 30,” Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha.

An Indian expatriate has been jailed for groping a woman at a metro station here, a media report said Wednesday.

The Indian, identified only as J.K., 26, was found guilty of molesting a 40-year-old Indian woman when he drew his body close to her on an escalator in a Dubai Metro station in March this year, Gulf News reported.

The Dubai Court of First Instance sentenced the man to a three-month jail term followed by deportation on completion of his imprisonment.

The Indian worker had entered a not guilty plea before the court in June.

The Indo-US nuclear deal has led to generation of 1840 MW nuclear power from imported fuel for the country’s reactors, the government today said.

Actress Zoe Saldana flaunted her “less toned” body for a magazine cover and said it is better to be happy than worrying about a perfect body.

“You’ll never be completely happy. So, at the end of the day, it’s like, ‘F*** it! Just be happy, regardless,” contactmusic.com quoted her as saying.

The pregnant “Avatar” star has bared all for the September cover of fitness and lifestyle magazine Women’s Health, but explains she doesn’t look her best because she hasn’t been exercising as much as she used to.

British actress Sally Farmiloe is dead following a battle with bone and liver cancer. She was 60.

The “Howard’s Way” actress passed away peacefully in her sleep Monday (July 28) afternoon surrounded by her family members, reports contactmusic.com.

Her agent said that Farmiloe took “a turn for the worse” about a month ago. “She just faded away. She was very weak and she just went to sleep. She was not in pain and she just slipped away.”

She was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 2012, and appeared to have won the battle after undergoing successful chemotherapy.

The following is the day four lunch scoreboard of the third cricket Test between India and England at The Rose Bowl here Wednesday:

England (first innings 569/7 declared)

India (first innings, overnight 323/8)

Murali Vijay b Broad 35
Shikhar Dhawan c Cook b Anderson 6
Cheteshwar Pujara c Buttler b Broad 24
Virat Kohli c Cook b Anderson 39
Ajinkya Rahane c sub (SP Terry) b Ali 54
Rohit Sharma c Broad b Ali 28
Mahendra Singh Dhoni c Buttler b Anderson 50
Ravindra Jadeja lbw b Anderson 31
Bhuvneshwar Kumar c Ballance b Broad 19
Mohammed Shami c Buttler b Anderson 5

North Korea fired four short-range projectiles Wednesday, media reported.

Two short-range projectiles were fired around 7.30 a.m. and 7.40 a.m. from Mount Myohyang of Pyongyang province in the easterly direction, Xinhua reported citing Yonhap news agency.

The officials said the launches seemed to fail as the projectiles flew for barely several seconds, the report said.

Pyongyang launched two more short-range projectiles, which flew around 210 km and 130 km each, at 5.50 p.m. and 6 p.m., respectively, from the same region in the easterly direction.

A benchmark index of Indian equities markets Wednesday closed trade 96.19 points or 0.37 percent up, even as capital goods stocks plunged, snapping two days of decline.

Selling pressure was observed in information technology (IT) scrips, while marginally good buying was observed in bank, healthcare and consumer durables stocks.

The 30-scrip Sensitive Index (Sensex) of the S&P Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened at 26,005.14 points, ended trade at 26,087.42 points (provisional), up 96.19 points or 0.37 percent from the previous day’s close at 25,991.23 points.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi Wednesday termed as “saddening” the loss of lives in a landslide in Pune, and said Home Minister Rajnath Singh would be visiting the spot to take stock of the situation.

“Loss of lives in landslide in Pune dist. is saddening. Spoke to Rajnath ji and he would be travelling to Pune to take stock of the situation,” Modi tweeted.

At least 10 people died and over 150 were feared trapped after a landslide hit a village in Pune district in Maharashtra Wednesday morning.

The Supreme Court Wednesday asked the Sahara group and Tihar jail authorities to work out concrete modalities for conferencing facilities that could be extended to company chairman Subrata Roy and two other directors for negotiating with buyers for the group’s three hotels in New York and London.

A bench of Justice T.S. Thakur, Justice Anil R. Dave and Justice A.K.Sikri asked both Roy and Tihar jail authorities to work out the details for a viable proposition to be considered by the court Friday.

England bowled out India for 330 and then were batting on 80/2 in their second innings at lunch on the fourth day of the third cricket Test at The Rose Bowl here Wednesday.

Resuming the day at 323/8, India could add only seven runs in the morning before captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni (50) and Mohammed Shami (5) lost their respective wickets.

Pacer James Anderson picked up both the wickets to clinch another five-wicket haul in his Test career.

Designers Kajal Bihani and Mitali Kalantry of the brand The Anouk have come up with a unique collection of rakhis and lumbas, which can also be worn as a fashion accessory.

The lumbas, which are the Punjabi styled rakhi, are given jewelled look by the designers and this makes them wearable round the year.

Also, the rakhi collection has some messages written on it, including “Mera Bhai Dabangg”, “One in a Million” and “Rockstar”. Traditional designs laid in “panch-dhatu” and Swarovski have a tinge of gold too, said a statement.

DMK today shot off a letter to the Vice-President and Supreme Court Chief Justice, seeking removal of Press Council Chairman Markandeya Katju saying a person with continuous outbursts and temperamental behaviour is not fit for holding office.

“DMK is submitting this representation to bring to your notice the various omissions and commissions of Markandeya Katju, which amounts to misconduct and proven misbehaviour and therefore seeking removal from said post”, the letter, which was also sent to the Union Ministers of Law and Justice and Information and Broadcasting, said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Nepal next month is expected to boost cooperation in hydropower and infrastructure sectors between India and the Himalayan nation, said observers here even as visiting Nepalese Commerce Minister Sunil Bahadur Thapa Wednesday expressed his country’s keenness to learn from Modi’s development model.

Actress Scarlett Johansson, who is pregnant, is in no hurry to marry her fiance Romain Dauriac, a French journalist.

“She is telling friends that she is not getting married until after the baby,” eonline.com quoted a source as saying.

The mom-to-be has been enjoying her pregnancy with Dauriac constantly by her side.

The news of Johansson’s pregnancy came just six months after “The Avengers” star got engaged to her beau.

They are both “very happy”.

“They haven’t chosen a date for the wedding,” said Johansson’s representative.
(IANS)

The Aam Aadmi Party will hold two rallies – one for auto rickshaw drivers Thursday and the other Aug 3 – here to test its support base.

The first rally at the Ramlila Maidan will be for the party’s crucial vote bank – autorickshaw drivers. The Aug 3 gathering at Jantar Mantar will press for dissolution of the Delhi assembly.

Party leader Manish Sisodia told IANS: “(Party chief) Arvind (Kejriwal) will listen to problems of auto drivers, but he will also tell them not to overcharge passengers.”

McDonald’s Japan will import chicken from Brazil after withdrawing all poultry products of Chinese origin following the Husi company rotten meat scandal in Shanghai, Japanese media reported Wednesday.

This is one of the measures the Japanese subsidiary of the American franchise said it would take to “recover the confidence of consumers”, after being one of the multinational fast food chains affected by the purchase of meat from Husi, which was closed down by Chinese authorities over accusations that it sold products past their expiry date.

Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti tried to put up a brave face after a 0-1 defeat to Italian side AS Roma that saw his side eliminated from the Guinness International Champions Cup in the US.

A Francesco Totti goal gave Roma a narrow win against the Champions League winners Tuesday night, reports Xinhua.

The defeat coupled with the penalty shoot-out loss to Inter Milan Saturday means that although Real Madrid are still to face Manchester United, they can no longer progress in the pre-season competition.

Ruling that corruption was a major roadblock in the country’s development, a court here sent a policeman to six years in jail and fined him Rs.8 lakh for criminal breach of trust and misconduct.

Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) special judge Gurvinder Pal Singh — in the order delivered Saturday and which was released to the media Wednesday — jailed 59-year-old Ajit Singh, assistant sub-inspector in the Anti Corruption Branch (ACB) for misappropriating Rs 6.2 lakh.