Cracking the whip against negligent Air India employees, Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju Saturday suspended ground handling and security officers for lapses in detecting a stun grenade in one of the airline’s planes that was to operate from Jeddah to Mumbai.
According to a civil aviation ministry spokesperson, staff that were involved in clearing the aircraft for operations were suspended, including officials from the security branch.
Slamming the government for live telecast by Doordarshan of RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat’s address in Nagpur, Delhi Congress today said it will gherao the state broadcaster tomorrow to protest against the “misdeeds”.
Chief spokesperson of Delhi Congress Mukesh Sharma said RSS was a controversial religious and political organisation and showing Bhagwat’s address live on Doordarshan was not at all acceptable.
Facing flak from the UN over its alleged human rights abuses during the civil war against the LLTE, Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapaksa has said that a section of the international community is plotting against his regime to set up a puppet government in the country.
He was addressing a group of Sri Lankan expatriates in Rome, presidential media unit said.
Rajapakse also thanked the Sri Lankan expats for holding pro-Sri Lanka demonstrations in Geneva, the seat of United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC).
Jammu and Kashmir’s health department Saturday dismissed as “rumours” the spread of any epidemic in the flood-affected Jammu region and said they are continuously monitoring the situation.
“There is no epidemic of diarrhoeal diseases in Jammu province after the recent floods in the state,” said director, helth services, Baljeet Singh Pathania.
He said the department is vigilant and monitoring the situation on day to day basis.
A total of 1,215 new dengue fever cases were found in China’s Guangdong province Friday, authorities said Saturday.
The total number of dengue fever cases in Guangdong has climbed to 18,866, including four deaths — three in the provincial capital Guangzhou and one in the neighbouring Foshan City, Xinhua quoted provincial health and family planning commission as saying in a press release.
The disease has so far been detected in 19 out of 21 prefecture-level cities in Guangdong, it added.
Promoting the ‘Swachh Bharat Abhiyan’ launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Health Minister Dr. Harsh Vardhan on Saturday called for a healthier nation and stressed on joining forces to fight diseases across the country.
Dr. Vardhan said that a healthier nation can only be built if each one of us takes the initiative and pledges to combat water-borne diseases.
“All the vector borne, water borne diseases and diseases occurring due to ill-sanitation conditions in the society, all these health problems will vanish as a result of the cleanliness,” Dr. Vardhan said.
South Korean Prime Minister Chung Hong-won met a high-level North Korean delegation Saturday twice before the visiting officials returned home after the Incheon Asian Games’ closing ceremony.
Chung met the North Koreans before the closing ceremony started. They met again after the 16-day regional sports extravaganza ended, officials said in Seoul. However, no detail of the discussions were revealed, Yonhap news agency reported.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “extremely successful” US visit, especially his meeting with top business leaders there, has seen a US-India business body committing to $42 billion investment in India with many lauding the “Gujarat model” of development.
In a survey following Modi’s five-day visit, the US-India Business Council (USIBC), in a survey, found that $42 billion was willing to be committed over the next two-three years for investment by just 20 percent of the members surveyed, said government sources Saturday.
Former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda today suggested that AIADMK supremo Jayalalithaa, lodged at Parappana Agrahara prison here after being convicted in an illegal assets case, be shifted to Tamil Nadu as it was a burden for the state to manage the large number of protestors and also maintain law and order.
“I only appeal to the state government… Let the former chief minister (Jayalalithaa) be transferred to Tamil Nadu,” he told reporters.
Unheralded left-arm spinner Pawan Negi’s bowled brilliantly for his maiden five-for as Chennai Super Kings restricted Kolkata Knight Riders to 180 for six with skipper Gautam Gambhir smashing a 51-ball-80 in the Oppo Champions League T20, here tonight.
The diminutive 21-year-old Delhi boy, who is not even a regular in his state squad having played only two first-class games in three years, grabbed five for 22 in four overs as he put spanner in KKR’s plans of getting a 200-plus score.
Several workers of Hindu outfit Vishwa Hindu Parishad today staged a protest at District Headquarters here for allegedly not adopting stringent measures to stop cow slaughter.
Later they submitted a memorandum to the District Magistrate in this regard, an official said.
VHP’s ‘Gau-Raksha’ wing’s district president Aakash Katiyar, in his memorandum, has alleged that all efforts of District Administration to stop ‘cow slaughter’ are not bearing any positive results.
A minor girl was raped and her mother was subsequently robbed by two men at Ramakkapet village in Medak district yesterday, police said.
According to the victim, who is 17 years old, she was waylaid by the two men –identified as Karunakar and Naresh — when she was returning home alone last night at about 10.30 pm. They gave her some sedative which made her unconscious and raped her, said inspector Ramakrishna Reddy of Dubbak police station.
“Gross failure of the administration..No lessons seem to have been learnt at all,” Sinha, Lok Sabha member from Patna, said after visiting Patna Medical College and Hospital.
“Within two years of the shameful and horrific Chhath puja tragedy in Patna that had left 18 killed, yet another tragedy of similar proportion has occurred,” he told reporters at PMCH.
Sinha came to Patna from Mumbai today to be with the victims of the stampede. He had gone to Mumbai only yesterday after launching the cleanness drive at several places on October 2.
Highlighting the misrule of Congress-NCP combine in Maharashtra for the last fifteen years, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday urged the people to vote for the BJP and said the upcoming election will decide the state’s fate.
“What is important is how will Maharashtra look like, you have to think who can change the fate of Maharashtra. I am your servant, but it is the crores of people of Maharashtra who will change the destiny of Maharashtra,” Prime Minister said while addressing a rally at Aurangabad .
Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said Saturday he would observe the forthcoming Eid festival without any gaiety and joy in view of the devastating floods in the state.
“Chief Minister Omar Abdullah will celebrate Eid with highest simplicity observing no gaiety and joy for the plight of lakhs of people affected by the devastating flood in Jammu and Kashmir that has claimed precious human lives and inflicted losses to the economy and damaged property of wide-ranging nature,” said an official statement.
State Sports Hostel team from the newly-formed state of Telangana defeated Saupin School Chandigarh 3-1 in Group F to enter the Under-17 Girls quarterfinals in the 55th Subroto Cup football tournament at the NWC ground here today.
Tripura Sports Hostel too made it to the quarterfinals after beating Defence College from Colombo 3-0 in Group H.
The other team that made it to the last eight stage was Charity School (Nagaland) which thrashed Fountainhead School from Gujarat 6-0.
India and the US are working further on their declaration on how to choke all financial and tactical support to underworld don and terror mastermind Dawood Ibrahim’s D-Company.
National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, who stayed back in the US from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s delegation, was tasked to discuss with his American counterpart and other senior Obama Administration officials a strategy to be adopted to implement the Indo-US commitment.
The Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) Ghaziabad unit Saturday lodged a complaint with the police here against a person who allegedly wrote derogatory remarks against party convenor Arvind Kejriwal’s daughter on a social networking site.
In its complaint with the Sihani Gate Police Station, AAP district unit leader Chetan Tyagi said B.K. Jagotia posted a derogatory remarks against Kejriwal’s daughter and party leader Alka Lamba on Facebook.
“We have requested police to register the complaint under the Information Technology Act and the Indian Penal Code,” said Tyagi.
–IANS
The Indian Air Force (IAF) chief, Air Marshal Arup Raha said Saturday it was “mysterious” how border incursions take place during high-profile visits.
“It is always mysterious… the way incursions get timed with visits,” Raha said responding to a question in the recent incursion by Chinese troops in Ladakh.
An 18-year-old youth today shot dead his homosexual partner here after the latter attacked his mother for opposing their relationship, police said.
“The youth shot his homosexual partner killing him on the spot when he tried to kill the accused’s mother following an arguement,” inspector P D Parmar said.
The incident took place at Chauhan’s house in Chunvalnagar slum in Bapu Nagar area.
More than 100 shops selling cosmetics and garments were gutted in a major fire in Lohar Gali in central Agra early Saturday.
Scores of fire tenders from Agra and neighbouring districts were busy fighting the fire. Water scarcity had hit the operations.
The loss due to the fire has been estimated to be around Rs. 100 crores.
Shopkeepers protested at the lack of official concern and delay in response by the agencies.
The fire might have been caused by short-circuit, said police.
Actor John Abraham, co-owner of Northeast United FC, is confident that the club would give a tough fight to other teams at the upcoming Indian Super League.
“I am confident that Northeast United will give a tough fight to other teams. We have a very good chance to win. We have chosen our players carefully and we have the best team possible,” John told reporters here.
“We have a great team, great coach and a great trainer. We are a very aspirational and new club”, he added.
Olympic Council of Asia President Sheik Ahmad al-Fahad al-Sabah hailed the Incheon Asian Games a success Saturday and said women’s basketball teams at future Asian Games could be allowed to wear hijabs.
“I can announce the success of the 17th Asian Games,” Sheikh Ahmad told a press conference hours before the closing ceremony, reports Xinhua. “With all the good memories with tears and smiles, this was the concert of the ideals of the Games.”
Bollywood superstar Hrithik Roshan inaugurated a branch of CritiCare Multispeciality Hospital and Research Center here Saturday in the presence of other Hindi film celebrities like Anil Kapoor, Boney Kapoor, Eesha Gupta, Huma Qureshi and Abbas-Mastan.
The new branch of the hospital is located in Andheri East.
Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today said he will request Prime Minister Narendra Modi to review the issue of Punjabis blacklisted from coming to India after they moved to foreign nations seeking asylum during the militancy in the state.
Badal, on being asked to comment on the issue of blacklisting of Indian nationals, many of whom were Punjabis, maintained by the Union government, said he has already urged Modi to direct the Home Ministry to evolve a mechanism for regular review of all such cases from time to time.