Month: July 2014

Slovenia Tuesday said it disapproves the Russian policy towards Ukraine and seeks a peaceful solution of the prevailing crisis in that country.

Slovenia does not approve Russian policy towards Ukraine, Xinhua quoted the presidential office as saying in a statement, as high-ranking officials of Russia and the US are visiting the country.

Though Slovenia considers Russia a friend, President Borut Pahor expressed disapproval of its policy, which amounts to tense relations between Russia and the EU, the statement said.

British government Tuesday appealed for de-escalation of violence in southern Israel and Gaza, urging all sides to show restraint.

I am deeply concerned by the recent escalation of violence in Gaza and southern Israel. I condemn the firing of rockets into Israel by Gaza-based militants,” Xinhua quoted Foreign Secretary William Hague as saying.

“The UK calls on Hamas and other militant groups to stop these attacks. The people of Israel have the right to live without constant fear for their security; the people of Gaza also have the right to live in peace.”

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas Tuesday night accused Israel of rejecting a truce with the Palestinians to end the tension in the Gaza Strip.

“I contacted the Palestinian factions in Gaza and they want to reach calm, but Israel rejects reaching calm,” Xinhua quoted Abbas in a televised speech.

Earlier Tuesday morning, Israel launched “Operation Protective Edge” in the Hamas-controlled Gaza to quell incessant rockets, projectiles and mortars fired from there into Israel.

US President Barack Obama and NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen discussed situation in Ukraine and Afghanistan Tuesday at the White House.

Rasmussen’s visit “underscores the vital importance the United States places on NATO as the cornerstone of our alliance with Europe and the importance of Rasmussen’s leadership at this critical time”, Xinhua quoted White House spokesperson Josh Earnest telling a press briefing.

Iranian government said Tuesday that Tehran will never strike a deal with the six world powers which ignores or undermines Iran’s rights.

“We do not accept to reach a solution at all costs as we insist on our rights,” Xinhua quoted Foreign Minister Mohammad- Javad Zarif as saying. “We are trying to find an acceptable, logical and long-term solution.”

“I hope the other side will be ready to see the realities, take our word seriously and accept that the Iranian nation has never withdrawn under pressure.”

If Alia Bhatt wants her filmmaker father Mahesh Bhatt to direct her one day, she is equally keen to team up with her mother Soni Razdan for a serious film.

The actress of films like ‘Saaransh’, Soni went behind the camera in 2005 for Pakistani actress Meera and Ashmit Patel starrer ‘Nazar’.

“My mom has already directed a film. And now she is going to direct a film in which I don`t have any scope, so I will not be part of it,” said the 21-year-old.

A BJP MLA from Rajasthan was allegedly beaten up with sticks by a group of armed men who robbed him of Rs 12,000 and other valuables here, police said.

Bacchu Singh Bansiwal, BJP MLA from Rajasthan’s Bayana, was allegedly assaulted by over half-a-dozen car-borne youths last evening at Goverdhan crossing which falls under Chhatta police station area here, SSP Mathura Nitin Tewari said.

The MLA said the assailants robbed him of Rs 12,000 cash, his mobile phone and the keys of his Scorpio car before fleeing from the spot, SSP Tiwari added.

The issuing of provisional regularisation certificates to nearly 900 unauthorised colonies in the national capital by Sheila Dikshit Government was a “political fraud,” North Delhi Mayor Yogender Chandolia has alleged.

In a statement issued by North Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC) today, Chandolia and NDMC’s Standing Committee Chairman Mohan Bhardwaj criticised the former Dikshit government for issuing provisional certificates to unauthorised colonies “in a haste without providing basic amenities as submitted by the CAG.”

US President Barack Obama has called one of the Afghan presidential candidates, Dr Abdullah Abdullah, urging him to maintain calm and not to resort to violence or any extra constitutional measure.

The call from Obama came after supporters of Dr Abdullah announced that he has won the presidential election and called for a cabinet formation.

The preliminary results of the presidential elections declared by the Independent Election Commission (IEC) of Afghanistan showed Dr Abdullah trailing by a million votes against his rival Ashraf Ghani.

Four persons were on Tuesday arrested and Rs 1.14 crore cash, 600 US dollars, gold and silver jewellery and six luxury watches that were stolen from BJP MP Giriraj Singh’s flat recovered, police said.

The four accused including the Nawada MP’s bodyguard, domestic servant, apartment security guard and another accomplice entered his flat yesterday when he was away in Delhi, they said.

Congress on Tuesday latched on to the rail budget to claim there was a “capitalist” tilt to the functioning of the Narendra Modi government and that it was bent upon privatising the railways.

Looking to put the NDA dispensation in the dock over rail budget 2014-15, Congress not only protested inside Parliament but also held an agitation outside the residence of Railway Minister Sadananda Gowda.

In a new twist to the the gang-rape and killing of two girls in Uttar Pradesh’s Badaun district last month, a report on Tuesday said the victims’ bodies will be exhumed.

The report added that the post-mortem report of the victims was botched-up.

On Monday, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) carried out lie-detector test on the fathers of the two cousin sisters.

CBI sources said the fathers of the rape victims, a family member and a witness were brought to undergo polygraph test at Central Forensic Science Laboratory in CGO complex in New Delhi.

The Bombay High Court on Tuesday framed issues regarding the will of late Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray with his estranged son Jaidev contending that his father was not of sound mind when he signed it.

Justice R D Dhanuka framed the issues after hearing advocates Rajesh Shah and Seema Sarnaik, the lawyers of Thackeray’s sons Uddhav (the current Sena president) and Jaidev, respectively.

Both the brothers will now give their versions through the documents and reply to the issues framed by the court.

An embarrassed Maharashtra government Tuesday ordered a probe into reports that said the services of a godman were solicited to probe the killing of rationalist Narendra Dabholkar.

Police in Pune have been grappling to solve the killing of Dabholkar and nab his killers for the past 11 months.

“This is a serious matter. Though I am aware that media reports quoted (former Pune police commissioner) Gulabrao Pol denying the allegations, I have nevertheless ordered a probe,” state Home Minister R.R. Patil informed media persons here.

Militants of the Al Shabab outfit Tuesday attacked the heavily-fortified presidential palace here in the Somalia capital, a media report said.

Heavy gunfire and explosions ensued between the militants and security men. An Al Shabab spokesman said fighting was still going on, BBC reported.

The report said Somalia’s President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud was not at the palace at the time of the attack.

The Al Qaeda-inspired Al Shabab group lost control of Mogadishu in 2011, but has been active in recent days.

The group has vowed to step up attacks during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.

Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik Tuesday opposed the linking of the railway fare with fuel price saying that it will affect the common man.

“As regard the proposal for linking railway fare with fuel price, I apprehend that this will affect the common man and expose them to vagaries of fluctuations in fuel price,” he said in his reaction to the railway budget presented by Railway Minister D.V.Sadananda Gowda Tuesday.

On the allocation made for Odisha, Patnaik said his state had requested projects worth Rs.3,160 crore but only projects worth Rs.1,420 crore has been proposed.

Two soldiers, home on leave in their village in Jammu district of Jammu and Kashmir, were beaten up by local residents after they allegedly killed a fellow villager, police said. Both have been taken into custody.

An agitated mob stopped a vehicle in which two soldiers, identified as Manjit Singh and Deepak Singh, were allegedly fleeing after shooting Vinod Sharma with a shotgun in Shatraiyan village in R.S. Pura sector of the district.

Countering West Bengal’s ruling Trinamol Congress’ allegation that the state has been “deprived” in the railway budget, BJP MP Babul Supriyo Tuesday said it ranks among the first three states in the money allocated in the 2014-15 budget.

Supriyo said Railway Minister D.V. Sadananda Gowda, in fact, allocated more money for Bengal than even his own Karnataka.

BJP leader Satish Upadhyay was Tuesday appointed chief of the party’s Delhi unit, a party statement said.

The appointment was made by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Rajnath Singh.

“BJP president Rajnath Singh has appointed Satish Upadhyay as Delhi BJP state president,” the party said in a statement.

Upadhyay was the chairman of the South Delhi Municipal Corporation’s standing committee and replaces Harsh Vardhan, who was made the union health minister after the BJP came to power in the general elections.

At least 290 people have been killed this month in clashes between the Yemeni army and Shiite rebels in the country’s northern provinces of Amran and al-Jouf, an interior ministry official said Tuesday.

About 50 soldiers and 240 rebels were killed and dozens of others wounded in the clashes in Amran and al-Jouf since July 4 following the collapse of the latest truce, Xinhua reported citing an official as saying on condition of anonymity.

Military reinforcements were seen arriving Tuesday at the main entrance of Amran, 50 km north of the Yemeni capital Sanaa.

Eight workers, including five women and a child, were killed and a number of others injured as the roofs of two fire-cracker manufacturing units collapsed in the district this afternoon.

Some more workers are feared to be trapped under the debris.

Police sources said lightning struck the Welcome and Paris cracker factories at Terkheda village in Washi tehsil during a thundershower, causing first a blast, and then collapse of slabs.

It was difficult for rescue teams to reach the spot as Terna river was flooded, police said.

British Foreign Secretary William Hague and Chancellor of Exchequer George Osborne called on the Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday. They conveyed British Prime Minister David Cameron`s felicitations to the Prime Minister and extended his invitation to Modi for a visit to UK. They noted that Prime Minister’s election had generated a strong hope and excitement in UK about India`s all round development and expressed British Government`s keen desire to work with the new Government in New Delhi to further deepen and expand the traditionally strong India-UK ties.

The 81-year-old widow of a former journalist with a reputed news agency was found burnt to death inside her flat here in the capital, police said Tuesday. The victim’s servant has been arrested for the suspected murder.

Rekha Duggal’s body was recovered around 9.30 p.m. Monday from the second-floor flat of her four-storey building in south Delhi’s posh Greater Kailash area.

Duggal’s younger sister and son-in-law along with the accused servant Neeraj, in his 20s, found her body.

A medium-intensity tremor measuring 4.9 on the Richter scale rocked Jammu and Kashmir Tuesday evening but no damage was reported from anywhere, officials said.

“A medium intensity earthquake was recorded in Jammu and Kashmir at 9.06 p.m. The earthquake measured 4.9 on the Richter scale. The epicentre of the earthquake was in Gilgit region,” a Met department official told IANS.

People in many residential areas of Srinagar came out of their homes in panic when the tremor occurred.

West Bengal, as well as the entire eastern region of India, has been “ignored” in the railway budget, CPI-M leader Surjya Kanta Mishra said Tuesday, and announced that the Left parties would lead protests across the country against the measures outlined in it.

“Not only West Bengal, the entire eastern region has been ignored. A number of proposals are pending for long years like those about new trains, but nothing has been done on those proposals,” Mishra, also the leader of opposition in the the assembly, told media persons on the sidelines of a programme here.