Month: August 2014

After days of speculation, Bollywood star Abhishek Bachchan was finally unveiled as the team owner of the Chennai franchise of the Indian Super League (ISL) during the official launch of the glamorous football league here Thursday.

The Chennai franchise will be run in association with Play on Skills, which has a technical collaboration with Italian Serie A giants Inter Milan.

Abhishek, who also owns the Jaipur franchise of the Pro Kabaddi League, said his football venture was driven by passion.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi formally launched the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana here today, stating that the scheme will be the first step for many towards being a part of the economy.

The Prime Minister said, “I believe that whenever someone opens a bank account, it is their first step towards being a part of economy.”

Amid reports of Indians fighting alongside ISIS, Arif Ejaz Majeed, one of the four young men from Kalyan who had gone missing during a pilgrimage to Iraq, is said to have been killed in a bomb blast.

Although Maharashtra ATS and Thane police have no official confirmation of his death, Arif’s family performed ‘Janaza-e-gayabana’ (prayers for the departed soul in absence of the body) yesterday, a family friend Ateek Khan told PTI.

Crisis-stricken Malaysia Airlines said today its second-quarter loss nearly doubled as the loss of flight MH370 spurred a decline in bookings, warning the red ink would accelerate as the year wears on.

The flag carrier said it posted a 305.7 million ringgit (USD 97.2 million) loss in the April-June quarter, which followed the March 8 disappearance of flight MH370 with 239 passengers and crew aboard.

That compared to a 175 million ringgit loss in the same period of last year.

A final year engineering student of IIIT- Nuzvid, who was partially handicapped, committed suicide by jumping from the top floor of the college building in Nuzvid town of Krishna district today.

Police sub-inspector B Adi Prasad said that Y Srikanth Prasanna Kumar (20) committed suicide in the early hours.

He hailed from Ungaturu in West Godavari district.

However, his father Y Srihari Babu expressed suspicion of foul play. His son, who was partially disabled, could not have walked up to the top floor on his own, he told reporters.

Further probe is on.

Telangana Budget session is all set to get postponed by five days and may probably be held from September 15, if the sources are to be believed.

The number of people infected with the Ebola virus in Western Africa could reach 20,000, six times more than the current estimates, the World Health Organisation (WHO) warned Thursday.

This is one of the main conclusions the WHO presented Thursday in its assessment of the epidemic, in which suggestions and guidelines to contain the virus are included.

To date, WHO has recorded 3,069 cases of Ebola virus disease and 1,552 deaths in West Africa (Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone and, to a lesser extent, Nigeria).

A 16-year-old girl was gang-raped by five people at knife point, police said Thursday. Three of the accused, including two juveniles, have been nabbed.

The victim was lured by two of the accused, who were known to her, near the railway track in Madhu Vihar area in east Delhi late Wednesday. The other three men were already present at the place.

They took turns to rape her at knife point and threatened her with dire consequences if she disclosed the incident to anyone.

On reaching home, the girl told her parents who informed the police.

To attract industrial investment in Himachal Pradesh, the state government Thursday relaxed land rules which will enable prospective investors to buy plots offered by the state industrial department without following a lengthy procedure.

The cabinet, presided over by Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh, decided that in case industrial plots were allotted by the industries department, the permission under the Himachal Pradesh Tenancy and Land Reforms Act of 1972 might be deemed to have been granted.

Telangana Working Journalists’ Federation (TWJF), Andhra Pradesh Working Journalists Federation (APWJF) and Hyderabad Union of Journalists (HUJ) would jointly organize a Round Table meeting on “Print Media — Job Security.

A mountaineering expedition team of girls from the National Cadet Corps (NCC), going to the high peaks of Himalayas, was flagged off Thursday from Delhi.

This is the 73th mountaineering expedition being conducted by the NCC. The team will go to Mt. Rudugaira peak near the Gangotri glacier.

The team will be first visit the Garhwal Hills near Gangotri and will be trained at Uttarkashi before taking ice-craft training and move towards the high altitude regions and later to the peak.

War-torn South Sudan faces possible famine early next year, the UN chief in the country warned today, as aid workers said the shooting down of a UN helicopter threatened efforts to save lives.

“We all are working very hard to prevent a famine… But I am very worried that we will not be able to prevent it,” UN aid chief in South Sudan, Toby Lanzer, told reporters.

Thousands of people have been killed and more than 1.8 million have fled a civil war sparked by a power struggle between President Salva Kiir and his sacked deputy Riek Machar.

The Supreme Court judgment that coal blocks allocated since 1993 onwards were illegal may disrupt restoration of investors’ trust in the country, Sidharth Birla, president, Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Ficci) said Thursday.

“This latest judgment has once again brought to the fore concerns about the country’s policy regime and has the potential to disrupt restoration of investors’ trust,” he said in a statement.

Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao today directed the officials concerned to celebrate in grand manner the Centenary festival of noted Telangana literate Kaloji Narayana Rao across the state on Sept 9. He accused the previous governments of neglecting Warangal city which is noted for its history and culture. Now the TRS Government will develop it on par with Hyderabad and attract industries and companies to develop, KCR said. During a review meeting with members of Warangal Kaloji Foundation and officials, he discussed on Kaloji life history, textbooks, memories and works.

Exuding confidence in the welfare schemes being launched by the BJP-led NDA government, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh today claimed that the country will be an “economic superpower” in the world along with China and the US.

Rajnath said this while launching the ambitious ‘Jan Dhan’ scheme of Prime Minister Narendra Modi here.

“I think that the manner in which the schemes are being launched by the government, I am confident that India will be in top three economic powers in the world, along with China and US,” he said.

BJP today demanded a CBI probe into the alleged intimidation and sexual attacks on women by the notorious “Snake gang” members in the Old city here.

Protesting against the Snake Gang involvement in the sexual assaults on women, the BJP Mahila wing members today staged a dharna near Ambedkar statue on Tankbund demanding stern action against the criminals. The atrocities of the Snake Gang members like sexual attacks on women after stripping them and filming the heinous acts on their mobiles came to light recently.

Over 250 cars and bikes will be seen in action in the first two rounds of the JK Tyre-FMSCI Indian National Drag Racing Championship to be held at the Kari Motor Speedway near here this weekend.

The event is being conducted by Spitfire Motorsports in association with Speedway Motorsports (Hyderabad). The practice sessions will be on Thursday and Saturday for the first and second rounds, respectively, while the two rounds of the championship will be conducted Friday and Sunday.

Hyderabad is the city of two living cultures with mutual trust and affection. The basic reason for this conducive environment is the people here practice their own religion and culture.

Turkish Cargo has commenced its operations between Istanbul and Hyderabad with the first cargo flight landing at Rajiv Gandhi International Airport (RGIA) here Thursday.

Turkish Cargo will operate its Airbus A330-200F freighters twice a week from next month.

This will connect Hyderabad and its catchment area to 260 destinations in Europe, North and Latin America, Africa & CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States) countries through the airline’s global super hub located in Istanbul, said a statement by GMR Hyderabad International Airport Limited (GHIAL), which operates RGIA.

The Indian Super League (ISL), the first of its kind glamorous football league in India, was launched here Thursday by star team owners Sachin Tendulkar, John Abraham, Abhishek Bachchan, Ranbir Kapoor and brand ambassador Varun Dhawan who promised to popularise the game and invest in the grassroot development of the sport in the country.

The promoters of ISL, IMG-Reliance and Star India, unveiled all eight team owners, who signed a replica of a football in a symbolic gesture to promote the game. The league’s logo was also unveiled during the ceremony.

YSR Congress Party MLAs, led by Y S Jaganmohan Reddy today paid rich tributes to the martyrs, who lost their lives while protesting against the power tariff hike by then TDP Government.
They observed the 14th anniversary of the police firing at Basheerbagh. Three people died in police firing on August 28, 2000 when Chandrababu Naidu introduced power reforms for the first time in the county and hiked power tariff. (NSS)

Angry AP Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu today slammed the media for its “baseless and divergent” reports on the much-touted new capital of the State. He also directed his party leaders not to make contradictory statements on the proposed new capital for the State.

Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao today extended greetings to people on the occasion of Vinayaka Chaturthi festival beginning August 29.

In a message, KCR opined that the Ganesh festival assumes specialty as Telangana State is celebrating the festival for the first time after all obstacles were removed. In the coming days too, the 29th State will wade out of all the problems and obstacles and usher in a new era of continuous development and welfare.

Telangana BJP president G Kishan Reddy today said the Prime Minister’s “Jana Dhan Yojana” launched by the Centre on Thursday is a wonderful and most beneficial program.

Speaking to mediapersons at the State BJP office here, Kishan Reddy gave details of the program. He said those who open an account in a bank under this program could avail a loan of Rs 5,000 after six months.

A 12-year-old girl was allegedly gangraped by five persons in Bansdeeh area here, police said today.

The incident took place on the night of August 26 when the girl had gone attend a feast. Five persons allegedly took her to a secluded place and raped her, they said.

When the girl’s family members came to know about it, they registered an FIR in this connection at Bansdeeh police station against five persons, police said.

One of the accused Munna Yadav has been arrested, they said adding search for others is on.

PTI