Month: September 2014

RLD leader and former Mathura MP Jayant Chaudhary today scotched speculation of alliance with the Samajwadi Party in UP and said the meeting between party leader Amar Singh and SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav was just a “coincidence”.

“A meeting of national leaders doesn’t mean that alliance talks are going on,” he said.

Chaudhary, the son of Rashtriya Lok Dal chief Ajit Singh, was here to inaugurate a table tennis tournament at Maha Maya Stadium. He told reporters that RLD’s alliance with UPA was intact.

Indian tennis star Sania Mirza today called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi after her victory in the US Open mixed doubles last week.

Sania met the Prime Minister in a courtesy visit. She was accompanied by her mother Naseema Mirza.

“Indian tennis player and winner of the 2014 US Open Mixed Doubles Event, Ms Sania Mirza, called on the Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, today,” a PIB release said.

Partnering with Bruno Soares of Brazil, Sania clinched her third mixed doubles Grand Slam title on Friday last.

Modi had also congratulated Sania just after her victory.

The TRS government in Telangana has weakened the brand image of Hyderabad during its first 100 days in office, former Union Minister S Jaipal Reddy alleged here today.

“After 100 days, Chief Minister KCR (K Chandrasekhar Rao) himself agrees that he could not do anything in 100 days. But the brand of Hyderabad seems to have weakened. Hyderabad has been a cosmopolitan brand since the times of Nizam.

The Lieutenant Governor has to take a call on the issue of government formation in Delhi and the Home Ministry has nothing to do with it, Union Minister Rajnath Singh said today.

“The LG will decide. The Home Ministry has nothing to do with it,” he said at a press conference here.

Asked what were the suggestions given to the LG by the Home Ministry, Singh said no suggestion has been given by him or his Ministry.

Atef Obeid, former Egyptian Prime Minister who served during ex-dictator Hosni Mubarak’s regime, died today at the age of 82.

Born in Tanta in Gharbiya governorate on 14 April 1932, Obeid was Egypt’s prime minister between October 5, 1999 and July 14, 2004.

Obeid oversaw a string of privatisation for public sector undertakings during his tenure. He was succeeded by Ahmed Nazif as the premier.

He was sentenced to ten years in prison for squandering public funds in 2012.

His assets were also frozen previously.

Over 100 persons including several women and children fell ill today after taking ‘prasad’ at a village in Bahadurpur Block of Darbhanga district.

Bahadurpur BDO Jitendra Kumar said, “The incident occurred at Haripatti panchayat where one person, Magan Lal, had organised ‘Satya Narayan Puja’. Several villagers ate the Prasad and started vomiting soon after. They also complained of stomach ache.”

Prima facie it seemed to be a case of food poisoning and the sick persons were taken to to Darbhanga Medical College and Hospital, he said.

It is evening time and the maulvi here just sounded the ‘azaan’, the call for prayer and devouts rush inside to offer ‘namaaz’. Shortly thereafter, scores of people assemble in the tented courtyard of the mosque to have
food.

This is Jama Masjid in Hyderpora area which has turned into a major relief centre for those affected by the
devastating floods in the Kashmir valley, housing hundreds of people, including women and children.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi today made an appeal to all Indians to donate generously to the PM’s National Relief Fund for the flood-affected people in Jammu and Kashmir.

In his appeal, Modi said, “My Fellow Citizens, You are all aware that unprecedented floods have caused havoc in the state of Jammu and Kashmir. A large number of persons have died or have been temporarily displaced.

Asking Maoists to shun the path of violence, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh today said Government was willing to talk to Naxals provided they give up arms and come to the negotiating table.

Singh was addressing a news conference here on completion of 100 days of his ministry during which he spoke on a wide range of issues including prospects of holding talks with Pakistan, border and internal security situation and visa regulation.

On the Naxal issue, the Home Minister categorically said that talks with Left Wing Extremists were possible if they shun the path of violence.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday stated that accelerated infrastructure development was his top priority, and stressed the need for creating world-class infrastructure in India

Prime Minister Modi, who reviewed the progress of eight major infrastructure sectors: Civil Aviation, Ports and Inland Waterways, Railways, Roads, Telecom, Power, Coal, and New and Renewable Energy, emphasized the importance for monitoring the progress of infrastructure development through efficiency parameters which have been identified for each of the sectors.

A 30 year-old man was burnt alive and his motorbike torched by unidentified assailants in Bihar’s Bhagalpur district, a police officer said today.

The incident took place late last night as the assailants set the victim Chandan Chaudhary (30) on fire near Titlidham temple after asking him to come over there for discussion over certain matters, Barari police station in-charge Vijay Kumar Sharma said.

The assailants also torched the bike on which the man had come to meet them, he said.

A pastor has been arrested at nearby Kothamangalam for allegedly molesting a nine-year-old school girl, police said.

Devadas (64) was a pastor of a church at Vadattupura, near Kothamangalam in Ernakulam District.

The pastor took the girl, who had come to the church compound to pluck flowers in July, to his living quarters and molested her, police said.

He also threatened the child that she would be killed if she revealed the incident and later molested her several times.

At a time when some BJP leaders are raking up the controversial ‘love jihad’ issue, Home Minister Rajnath Singh today said he had “no idea” about it.

What is love jihad? was his prompt reply with a smile when he was asked about his views on it.

Many BJP leaders including Lakshmikant Bajpayee and Yogi Adityanath have raised the issue ahead of the Assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh.

“Arey yeh hai kya. Hume nahi maloom (What is this. I don’t know),” was Singh’s reply when reporters drew his

Having hit the headlines in the recent past for his beliefs in Vaasthu, Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao is now drawing media attention for his love for white colour.

Calling white colour as a symbol of peace, the Chief Minister got all cars in his convoys painted from black to white. Sources say that KCR has been advised by some astrologers that white cars would be more auspicious for him. Following their advise, he ordered the change in colour for all the cars in his convoy to white.

US combat aircraft will soon start flying out of a base in the Kurdish region of northern Iraq as part of an expanded air campaign against Islamic State jihadists, the Pentagon said today.

Press secretary Rear Admiral John Kirby confirmed “armed and manned” US aircraft would fly from Arbil, capital of Iraq’s autonomous Kurdish region, but declined to provide more details.

American fighter jets and other warplanes bombing IS militants in Iraq previously have been flying out of bases and from aircraft carriers in the region outside Iraq.

Princess Esra Birgin, the wife of VIII Nizam Prince Mukarram Jah, called on Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao at his camp office here on Friday.

Princess Esra enquired about various developmental measures being taken by the Chief Minister for the welfare of people of Telangana region. She also requested KCR to take steps to strengthen the image of Brand Hyderabad. She hoped that Telangana State would touch new peaks under the leadership of KCR.

KCR’s daughter and Nizamabad MP K Kavitha and Advisor to Government Papa Rao were also present on the occasion. (INN)

A tempo driver was arrested for allegedly raping and beating a 17-year-old girl here, police said today.

According to the complaint filed by the girl yesterday, she was lured on some pretext by tempo driver Manoj M Kanojia (24) and a woman, identified as Anita Kadam, earlier this year, assistant police inspector at Uttan Priyatama Muthe said.

Later, the youth raped the girl several times between February 20 and April 4 at an isolated location, she said.

The US can accomplish its goal of degrading and destroying the Islamic State without sending troops on the ground in Iraq and Syria, the White House has said.

This includes a combination of measures like air strikes, supporting local troops of the ground, building an international coalition, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest told reporters yesterday.

“The ISIL forces wreaking havoc in this already volatile region of the world is not in our best interest. We have, therefore, an interest in acting with the international community to try to stabilise the situation.

Pregnant women who drink three or more servings of milk per day might put their babies at risk of being iron deficient during an important phase of their development, a new research has warned.

Iron is essential for healthy brain development, and a lack of the nutrient in babies and toddlers, when the brain is developing rapidly, is associated with subsequent small but important differences in brain function and in child behaviour and learning.

Shah Rukh Khan’s eight pack abs are the big reveal from ‘Happy New Year’ and director Farah Khan says they kept it under wraps for a long time while SRK worked on his body.

The actor’s new look was unveiled recently. Shah Rukh, 48, who had undergone a similar transformation for Farah’s ‘Om Shanti Om’, had jokingly tweeted, “And this one is by @DabbooRatnani. Thanx my friend. And thanx @avigowariker. Now Farah don’t exploit me anymore!!!.”

Farah said she made SRK work hard on his body because she loved presenting him in a ‘macho’ avatar.

Bollywood star Hrithik Roshan has joined hands with an NGO to help raise funds for the victims of floods in Jammu and Kashmir.

The 40-year-old ‘Krrish 3’ star has taken to crowd-funding site Ketto foundation to raise funds for 200 survival kits.

The proceeds will go to Care India who will be utilising the same to disperse amenities to the affected families and individuals in J&K.

The kits would include basic amenities for survival such as tarpaulin, mats, hygiene kit (Soap, toothbrush, toothpaste, sanitary napkins & disinfectants soaps) and blankets.

Indian-Americans from across the US would be attending the public reception in honour of Prime Minister Narendra Modi here on September 28, organisers of the event said today.

The recently-formed Indian-American Community Foundation (IACF), with support of more than 400 community organisations, is hosting the event at the Madison Square Garden in New York, which is expected to be attended by nearly 20,000 people.

“The phenomenal response to this event suggests that this is an important moment for the Indian diaspora,” Anand Shah, IACF spokesperson, told PTI.

The chief Dutch prosecutor overseeing the criminal investigation into the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 says that the plane being shot down from the ground is the “most likely” scenario being probed by dozens of investigators.

Fred Westerbeke of the Dutch National Prosecutors Office told reporters today that the shooting-down scenario “is the one getting the most attention now” in the international criminal investigation into the July 17 downing of the Boeing 777 over eastern Ukraine.

After repeated adjournments and admonition by the court over missing statements of witnesses, the trial in the hit-and-run case against actor Salman Khan is set to resume from September 24 following production of the documents before a sessions court today.

The prosecution informed the court trying the case that all but one of the 63 original statements of witnesses and case diaries that had gone missing from the custody of police have been found and placed them before judge D W Deshpande. The court was told the lone missing statement will also be traced soon.

A breathing-based meditation practice called Sudarshan Kriya Yoga can be an effective treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), according to a new study.

Individuals with PTSD suffer from intrusive memories, heightened anxiety, and personality changes.

The hallmark of the disorder is hyperarousal, which can be defined as overreacting to innocuous stimuli, and is often described as feeling “jumpy,” or easily startled and constantly on guard.