Month: September 2014

At least 50 militants of Sunni extremist group Islamic State (IS) were killed Saturday in Syrian airstrikes on a training camp, media reports said.

The Syrian air force targeted a training camp used by IS fighters in Tabanni in the eastern province of Deir al-Zour, Xinhua reported citing al-Mayadeen TV.

The air force also carried out several airstrikes against IS positions in the northern province of al-Raqqa, which has largely fallen to the IS fighters during the long-running conflict in Syria.

Aaditya Thackeray, son of Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray, today said that exit of “certain elements” from the party had changed its image.

Scions of three political families in Maharashtra today came together at a TV debate organised by India Today group.

Asked if he saw threat to Shiv Sena from his uncle and MNS chief Raj Thackeray, Aaditya said, “My job is to focus on Shiv Sena.”

“You must have noticed that after 2004, Shiv Sena’s image underwent a change after some elements left the party,” he added, in an apparent reference to exits of Narayan Rane and Raj Thackeray.

Echoing the views of a BJP MLA from Madhya Pradesh, firebrand VHP leader Pravin Togadia today said Muslims must not be allowed inside the Garba events and insisted identity cards of each and every person be checked for participants in and visitors to such events.

“We must be alert so that not a single Muslim person can enter in our Garba festival. Identity cards of each and every person must be checked at every Garba event,” Togadia said in Amreli town in Saurashtra.

Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan Saturday said additional consignments of emergency medicines will be despatched to flood-ravaged Jammu and Kashmir.

Harsh Vardhan who reviewed the situation in the region during a day-long tour, said various kinds of antibiotics, oral rehydration solution sachets, anti-diarrhoeal drugs, chlorine tablets, bleaching powder, medicines for eye and skin infections, IV fluids and other essential drugs will be sent within the next few days.

As many as 100 centres of skilling excellence will be established for skill development in one year, an official statement said here Saturday.

“A 100 centres of skilling excellence, called Knowledge Acquisition and Upgradation of Skilled Human Abilities and Livelihood (KAUSHAL) centres will be established for skill development in one year. These centres will coordinate the entire skill development efforts of higher educational institutions. Enhanced funding shall be provided by the UGC,” a statement from the ministry of human resource development (HRD) said.

Human Resource Development (HRD) Minister Smriti Irani Saturday “exhorted” all vice chancellors (VCs) of central universities to ensure prevention of sexual harassment.

Irani said this at a two-day retreat of vice chancellors of central universities in Chandigarh Sep 12-13.

“The minister exhorted all VCs to ensure prevention of sexual harassment of students and staff at all costs,” a ministry statement said in New Delhi.

“All central universities should ensure proper facilities and infrastructure for disabled students,” the statement said.

The landmark Andhra Pradesh Bhavan in New Delhi is likely to give way for a new modern building with the state government initiating preliminary discussions in this regard.

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu today held talks with officials of National Buildings Construction Corporation (NBCC) to explore possibilities of reconstructing the Bhavan here.

Bollywood actor-producer Aamir Khan Saturday said corruption is an evil that every human being needs to weed out of his or her system to have a larger impact on the country’s progress.

He spoke during a session at Aaj Tak’s programme ‘Panchayat Aaj Tak’ here.

“How many people pay taxes honestly,” he asked the audience in response to a question, and added: “Those who do not pay taxes to the government are traitors to the country. Corruption is not prevalent in just Members of Parliament, but it is there in every human being.

A seven-year-old girl was allegedly raped and murdered in Bikapur Kotwali police station area of Faizabad district, police said today.

The girl had gone missing on Thursday evening after she went to attend a birthday party in her neighbourhood, they said.

Her body was found the next day in a pond, they said.

“The postmortem report has confirmed that the girl was raped and then strangulated,” Faizabad Additional SP P R Shrivastava said.

A case has been registered in this regard, he added.

The girl was a student of Class 2.

Amid allegations by the BJP and the CPI-M of attacks by Trinamool Congress goons, byelections in two assembly seats of West Bengal went off peacefully with comparatively low turnout Saturday.

“Polling in the two seats was overall peaceful, but the turnout comparatively was low. While Basirhat South recorded 79.59 percent, in Chowringhee only 47.13 percent of polling was recorded. In 2011, the polling percentage was 86.98 and 54.34, respectively,” Chief Electoral Officer Sunil Gupta said.

The family of an Indian expatriate, who died of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) corona virus in Saudi Arabia, has refused to receive his body in India, amid fears of contracting the deadly disease, a media report said Saturday.

MERS is a serious viral respiratory illness caused by the corona virus and can be transmitted by air to humans.

Dasharati Sattaih, who worked in a maintenance company in Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Province that had contracts with several hospitals, contracted the viral disease while on the job and later died June 20, Arab News reported.

Seven senior members of the Muslim Brotherhood, the group from which ousted Egyptian president Mohammed Morsi hails, have been asked to leave Qatar, media reported Saturday.

“Some members of the Muslim Brotherhood and its political wing, the Freedom and Justice Party (FJP), who have been asked by the authorities to leave Qatar, have now welcomed that request,” Xinhua cited the official Ahram on-line website as quoting senior Brotherhood figure Amr Darrag.

Qatar has been a staunch ally of Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood and backed his government with about $7 billion in aid.

A top Somali security officer was shot dead in the country’s capital Mogadishu Saturday by gunmen in a drive-by shooting, witnesses and police said.

The officer, Mohamed Qanuni, was the deputy commander of the anti-terrorism unit of Somalia’s National Intelligence and Security Agency.

“The attackers shot the officer as he drove his car along the street and they escaped the scene,” police officer Muse Farah told Xinhua.

Witnesses said the assailants were travelling in an unmarked car and sped away after shooting at the vehicle.

All central universities were Saturday requested to complete their National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) accreditation as per UGC regulations.

Human Resource Development Minister Smriti Irani requested all central universities to complete their NAAC accreditation or re-accreditation (as the case may be) as per time frame given by the University Grants Commission (UGC) in its regulation.

She was speaking at a two-day retreat of vice chancellors of central universities in Chandigarh Sep 12-13.

An inter-ministerial meeting will discuss the suggestions made by states and union territories on developing smart cities, Union Urban Development Minister Venkaiah Naidu said Saturday.

The conclave of ministers of states and union territories on building 100 smart cities was held here Friday in which they gave their suggestions.

“Naidu directed the officials to examine in detail the suggestions of states and prepare a proposal for discussion at an inter-ministerial meeting,” said an official.

Ace Indian woman shooter Heena Sidhu produced a disappointing show as she failed to qualify for the final round of 10m air pistol event on day five of 51st ISSF World Championships here today.

World number five and gold medallist at the World Cup Finals, Heena finished 16th in qualification round with a score of 381.

Woman rifle shooter Lajja Goswami, competing in the 50m rifle 3 positions event, shot an aggregate of 583 to end up in identical 16th place at the end of her qualification round.

1. SURAH WAAQI’AH
The recital of Surah Waaqi’ah (Idha Waqa’atil Waaqi’ah. 27th Juz) keeps away starvation.
Sayyidina ‘Abdullah bin Mas’ud Radhiyallahu ‘Anhu says that Sayyidina Rasulullah Sallallahu Alayhi Wasallam said:
“The one who recites Surah Waaqi’ah every night will never encounter starvation.”
[Bayhaqi in Shu’abul Imaan; Jazaa-ul-Aa’maal, Page 32.]

Andhra Pradesh Government has postponed the e-auction of 4,160 tonne of red sander logs to October 10-17, a senior official said here today.

“The e-auction was originally scheduled to be held between September 19-26,” Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, AV Joseph said.

He said MSTC Limited, a public sector undertaking, has been authorised to conduct the online auction.

The newly-formed government of Andhra Pradesh has decided to take the e-route to auction several lots of the precious wood in a bid to generate additional revenues.

US Secretary of State John Kerry today said Egypt was on the “frontline of fighting terrorism” as he met Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi in his effort to build a broad coalition against Islamic State terrorists who have seized large chunks of land in Iraq and Syria.

Kerry, who arrived here as part of a regional tour, met Sisi after meeting Arab League chief Nabil el-Arabi, who said that Arab states have vowed to confront extremism in the region, politically, economically, militarily and culturally.

CBI Chief Ranjit Sinha has said that noted lawyer Prashant Bhushan cannot claim immunity from disclosing the name of a “whistle blower” who provided him the list of visitors to his official residence and demanded that he reveal his source.

Amid growing use of IT, the government today said it will step up cyber security measures under Digital India programme starting with a Rs 800 crore centre that will help people check and clean their computer system from viruses and other malwares.

Mobile services have been “somewhat” restored in flood-hit Jammu and Kashmir, except in Poonch, Union Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said here Saturday.

“The central government has worked a lot to restore communication in the valley. There are 12,306 base transceiver stations (BTS) in the region, out of which 6,811 got submerged under the flood water,” Prasad told reporters here.

“I am happy to say 1,208 BTS are restored,” the minister said.

Seeking to come down heavily on traffic offenders, government today proposed steep penalties of up to Rs 3 lakh along with a minimum 7-year imprisonment for death of a child in certain circumstances, besides huge fines for driving violations.

The new Road Safety and Transport Bill 2014 also proposes a fine of Rs 5 lakh per vehicle as well as imprisonment for faulty manufacturing design, besides cancellation of licences for rash and negligent driving.

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shah on Saturday offered his prayers at the Mahakal temple in Ujjain .

Shah offered his prayers here amidst chanting of holy hymns by the temple priests.

‘Mahakaleshwar Jyotirlinga’ is one of the most famous Hindu temples dedicated to Lord Shiva and is one of the twelve ‘Jyotirlingams’, which are supposed to be the most sacred abodes of Shiva.

This was Shah’s first visit to the Mahakal temple after taking over as the BJP chief. (ANI)

Controversial senior police officer Gautam Cheema was placed under suspension by the Punjab government Saturday.

Cheema, an inspector general (IG) of police, was suspended following a complaint filed by three women, Krispy Khera, Maninder Gulati and Amarpreet Verma, against him.

Khera is the wife of property dealer Devinder Singh Gill with whom Cheema and other police officers of Punjab and their relatives had invested crores of rupees in real estate.