Month: July 2014

A committee appointed by the Centre to identify a location to set up AIIMS in Andhra Pradesh would visit the state soon, Andhra Pradesh Minister for Health and Family Welfare Kamineni Srinivas on Friday said.

Talking to reporters here after a review meeting with all districts medical and health officers from the state and other officials of his ministry, he said that of the Rs 1,000 crore meant for the project, the union government has already sanctioned Rs 120 crore for preliminary work.

A man has been arrested for allegedly raping his minor daughter repeatedly over the last one year, police said on Friday.

The arrest was made from Outer Delhi’s Sultanpuri area yesterday night, they said.

The victim is a student of Class 7 and her father was sexually assaulting her for over a year now.

Medical examination of the victim has confirmed rape. An NGO has been called in to counsel the girl, they said.

A case has been registered against the victim’s father at Sultanpuri police station.

In a fresh trouble for Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi, a Bhiwandi court in Maharashtra on Friday summoned him for his remarks against the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) while addressing an election rally in the state, blaming the outfit for assassination of Mahatma Gandhi.

According to reports, the court has asked Rahul to be present during the hearing of the case on October 07.

“RSS people killed Gandhiji and today their people (BJP) talk of him…They opposed Sardar Patel and Gandhiji,” Rahul had said while addressing a public rally in Thane district on March 06.

Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray, who was all praises for Narendra Modi before elections, was now heard poking fun at the Prime Minister.

During a student meet organised by his party, Thackeray narrated a joke, which he said was circulating on social media.

Thackeray said when a husband promised her wife to “bring saree, jewellery, take her to a world tour, the wife replied don’t make tall promises like Modi.”

In response to this, Maharashtra BJP leader Ashish Sellar said that today in India, people cannot do their politics without dragging Modi into it.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan Friday expressed doubts whether a US presidential style of campaigning adopted by the BJP in the last Lok Sabha elections would be replicated in the upcoming state assembly elections.

“Narendra Modi was branded like a product, a soap or a toothpaste, which apparently clicked with the voters… This type of campaign was new to the Congress,” Chavan said, addressing media-persons, a day after the party decided not to replace him before the state assembly elections.

Overnight joint leader Raksha Phadke from Pune played stunning golf on her maiden appearance in the Hero Women’s Professional Golf Tour 2014 to finish at the top in the Rs 5 Lakh event at the KGA Golf course, here Friday.

In strong winds, Raksha showcased maturity beyond her years and played consistent golf on a day when none from the field of 16 could card a sub-par score.

The Rally of Coimbatore, the second round of FMSCI Indian National Rally Championship, was off to a flier at a local mall where the 36 vehicles, led by championship leader Gaurav Gill and his navigator Musa Sherif of Team Mahindra Adventure, were given a ceremonial flag-off here Friday.

The vehicles head to the Kari Motor Speedway racing circuit to take the start Saturday for the Special Stages that will be run about 30 Kms from the city.

Two children were drowned Friday when a car in which they were travelling in rolled into Hindon canal here, police said.

The deceased were identified as Kartik, 5, and Preetam, 4.

Police said the children along with their parents Raj Kumar and Vineeta and uncle Vineet Kumar were returning to their home in Khoda Colony from Meerut.

Vineet, who was driving the car, lost control over it after being hit by another vehicle from back, a police officer said.

Raj Kumar, Vineet and Vinita were rescued from the canal, he said, adding that they were investigating the accident.
(IANS)

Widespread misconception, resistance, denial and occasional hostility in some communities were considerably complicating the humanitarian response to contain the deadly Ebola outbreak in West Africa, Unicef said Friday.

As the Ebola-related toll rises above 500 in West Africa, the UN agency and its partners were expanding their activities across the region to halt the spread of the disease by combating rumours, fears and misconceptions, Xinhua reported.

Mahanadi Coalfields Ltd. (MCL), a unit of the state-run Coal India, Friday shut operations and transportation at three coal mines in Odisha over protests by locals, an official said.

The Bhubaneswari, Ananta and Jagannath mines in Angul district’s Talcher area, about 170 km from here, halted operations. These mines have a combined daily production of about one lakh tonnes – a third of MCL’s daily output.

The Supreme Court Friday did not take up for hearing a letter by the BCCI’s interim president incharge for IPL-7 Sunil Gavaskar as Justice Rohinton Fali Nariman recused himself from hearing the matter.

As the matter was called for hearing before a bench of Chief Justice R.M. Lodha, Justice Pinaki Chandra Ghose and Justice Nariman, the latter recused himself from hearing the matter since as a senior counsel, he had earlier appeared for BCCI’s N. Srinivasan.

Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray Friday rubbished reports that his son would join politics with the party’s student wing serving as a launch-pad, saying his son was “not a rocket to be launched”.

“My son Amit is not a rocket which can be launched! He will enter politics when the time is right,” he said.

Thackeray, accompanied by Amit, attended a meeting of the MNS youth wing Friday afternoon where he appealed the gathering to believe him and not media reports.

An Indian woman was arrested in the US when she arrived at the Dallas-Fort Worth airport eight years after she apparently forcibly took her son away to India and brought him back again.

Drew Dees, now 10, was reunited Wednesday with his father, Dean James Drees, at the airport in the state of Texas eight years after he left the US with his mother, McKinney Courier-Gazette reported Thursday.

“Laut Aao Trisha”, to be aired on Life OK, promises to entertain viewers with a new style of storytelling. An adaptation of Spanish finite TV series “Donde esta Elisa”, it will focus on the ugly side of a family and its ties.

Going on air July 21, the finite series with an impressive star cast that includes Bhagyashree, Jai Kalra and Rajeshwari Badola, will revolve around the high profile Swaika family and their missing 18-year-old daughter Trisha.

The union budget 2014-2015 was high on growth and infrastructure but more could have been done to ensure higher energy security, noted environmentalist R.K. Pachauri said here Friday.

Pachauri, director general of The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), said India’s dependence on oil imports is 80 percent of its total consumption and current policies of the government will only accentuate this problem.

The wife of a senior Delhi government official was Friday robbed by two motorbike riders near the state assembly here, police said.

The 55-year-old woman was walking on a street around 8 a.m. when two people on a motorbike snatched her gold chain and sped away, a police officer said.

She informed her husband D.M. Spolia, who is posted as a secretary in the Delhi government. Later, Spolia alerted police about the incident.
(IANS)

India pacers put on a fine display of seam bowling to leave England struggling at 205 for seven in the first innings at tea on the third day of the first cricket Test at the Trent Bridge here Friday.

England enjoyed a good first session with Sam Robson (59) and Gary Ballance (71). But the trio of Indian pacers Ishant Sharma, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Mohammad Shami bowled exceptionally well as the hosts lost six wickets in the post-lunch session and were reduced to 205 for seven at tea, trailing India by 252 runs.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has accepted President Barack Obama’s invitation to visit the US in September and said he looked forward to a “result-oriented visit” with concrete outcomes that impart new momentum to the strategic partnership between the two countries.

Obama’s formal invitation was conveyed by US Deputy Secretary of State William Burns who met Modi Friday and delivered a letter from the US president.

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Ravi Shankar Prasad on Friday said that the Congress has not been doing enough homework after losing the elections and was therefore calling the General Budget for fiscal 2014-15 uninspiring.

“The politics of Congress has been concerned with how bread is to be distributed rather than how the number of breads can grow. It seems that Congress has forgotten to do its homework after losing the elections ,” said Prasad.

Singapore’s Health Promotion Board Friday said it has launched a chart named “My Healthy Plate” to replace the well-known food pyramid for a healthy diet.

The new chart features a plate half filled with vegetables and fruit, a quarter filled with brown rice and wholemeal bread, and the other quarter filled with meat and others such as fish and tofu, Xinhua reported.

Surrounding the lower half circle of the healthy plate are words that call for people to choose water, use healthier oils and be active.

It was a muggy, sunny Friday in the national capital with the maximum temperature recorded seven notches above the season’s average at 42 degrees Celsius and the humidity as high as 74 percent. The Met office has forecast a cloudy Saturday.

“Saturday will be partly cloudy with thundery conditions in some parts of the city,” said an India Meteorological Department (IMD) official.

The maximum and minimum temperatures are likely to hover around 41 and 30 degrees Celsius respectively.

Delhi Jal Board (DJB) Friday unveiled online bill payment facilities for its consumers.

Consumers can pay bills by just logging onto www.djb.gov.in and can also avail other online services. The consumers can log into the portal and register using their mobile or e-mail ID to avail online services.

“The Delhi Jal Board has prepped-up its Revenue Management System (RMS) in order to provide cutting-edge bill payment facilities to its consumers,” said a statement.

The following is the scoreboard at tea on Day 3 of the first Test between India and England being played at Trent Bridge here Friday:

India (first innings) 457

England (first innings, Overnight 43/1)

Alastair Cook b Shami 5
Sam Robson lbw Sharma 59
Gary Ballance lbw Sharma 71
Ian Bell c Dhoni b Sharma 25
Joe Root batting 13
Moeen Ali c Dhawan b Shami 14
Matt Prior c Dhoni b Kumar 5
Ben Stokes c Dhoni b Kumar 0
Stuart Broad batting 1
Extras (lb 3, w 1, nb 8) 12
Total (for seven wickets in 73 overs) 205

The Supreme court Friday dismissed a petition challenging the constitutional validity of Article 370 that gives special status to Jammu and Kashmir.

A bench of Chief Justice R.M.Lodha, Justice Pinaki Chandra Ghose and Justice Rohinton Fali Nariman dismissed the plea by Kumari Vijayalakshmi Jha, who contended that Article 370 was a temporary provision that lapsed with the dissolution of the state’s constituent assembly in 1957.

Repatriation of Indian fishermen arrested by Sri Lanka and ways to speed up trade dominated discussions between External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Sri Lankan Foreign Minister G.L. Peiris who called on her Friday.

External affairs ministry spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin told reporters here that Sushma Swaraj thanked Peiris for Sri Lanka’s “fast track approach” for release of Indian fishermen.

He said 249 Indian fishermen have been released by Sri Lanka – “the highest in the last five years – since the National Democratic Alliance government assumed office”.