Shiv Sena today organised its annual Dussehra rally at Shivaji Park, but there were no fiery speeches by its leaders, for which the event is known, in view of the model code of conduct in force for the October 15 Assembly polls in Maharashtra.
The party leaders and workers took part in the traditional puja at the iconic ground in Central Mumbai, the venue for Sena’s Dussehra rally ever since it was founded by Bal Thackeray in 1966.
The Islamic State (IS) Sunni radical group Friday claimed responsibility of beheading British aid worker Alan Henning in an online video.
In the one-minute video clip titled “Another Message to America and its Allies”, roughly the same as those released after three previous murders, a masked IS militant also introduced another hostage it identified as a US aid worker Peter Kassig, Xinhua reported.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon Friday said he was shocked and outraged by an attack in Mali that killed nine peacekeepers from Niger.
In a statement issued by his spokesperson, Ban described the attack as the “deadliest” one committed against the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilisation Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) to date, and said that attacks on UN peacekeepers constituted a “serious violation of international law”.
A MINUSMA convoy was ambushed Friday morning by unidentified gunmen while travelling in the northeastern region of Mali, Xinhua reported.
The Islamic State (IS) Suunni radical group fired over 80 rocket shells on the predominantly Kurdish city of Kobane in northern Syria Friday, as part of the ongoing violent battles for control over the city, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported.
The heavy shelling was coupled with intense battles on the eastern, western and southern outskirts of the city, said the Observatory, adding that over 3,000 displaced Kurdish civilians were stuck at the Tal Shair hilltop, located between Kobane and the Turkish borders, according to Xinhua.
Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Friday evening expressed “shock and grief” over the deaths and injuries in a stampede in Patna.
“Dismayed at the unfortunate incident, Gandhi expressed the hope that the injured are being adequately attended to and conveyed her condolences to the families of those who passed away,” a Congress statement said here.
Thirty two people, most of them women and children, were killed and several injured in a stampede that broke out this evening at the Gandhi Maidan in the Bihar capital shortly after the Dussehra celebrations there.
Four months after he assumed charge, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu on Friday finally got an office to function from.
On the auspicious occasion of Vijaya Dasami, Naidu today formally stepped into his official chamber on the 8th floor of L Block in the AP Secretariat amid Vedic chants.
Only bureaucrats and a couple of advisors to the government accompanied the Chief Minister on the occasion.
British Prime Minister David Cameron made a surprise visit to Kabul, Afghanistan, on Friday to meet with new unity government’s leaders-President Ashraf Ghani and Chief Executive Officer Abdullah Abdullah.
He is the first major Western leader to visit post the bitterly contested presidential referendum.
Prime MInister Cameron’s visit came four days after President Ashraf Ghani was sworn into office.
A new video related to the Boko Haram shows a man claiming to be the Islamist group’s leader Abubakar Shekau.
According to News 24, screen grabs of the video show a figure in boots and combat fatigues who looks similar to the man claiming to be Shekau in previous videos.
In the video, the man says in the northern Hausa language that he will only die the day Allah takes his breath.
He says that nothing will kill him until his days are over.
In a heart rending incident, a three-year-old boy was suffocated to death after he accidentally got locked inside a car.
An 18-year-old girl committed suicide when her lover refused to marry her after impregnating her.
The incident happened in Peddakal of Talakondapally in Mahabubnagar district. The victim, B Mamata, had set herself ablaze on September 29. She was admitted to the Osmania General Hospital where she died on Thursday night. Investigation by the police revealed that Mamata was in love with her neighbour S Lingam alias Ramesh for the last two years. He exploited her on the promise of marriage. However, he refused to marry her although she was pregnant for five months.
The Golconda Police arrested two persons for selling liquor illegally.
According to police, the accused persons, Rajender Singh (38) and his attender Dhanraj Singh (44), were selling ID liquor packets and beer bottles to the needy persons on the day of Gandhi Jayanthi on Thursday. Rajender Singh was also allegedly manufacturing ID liquor with the help of his family members on the pent house of his residence in Outside Banjari Darwaza.
Police seized one cloth bag containing 8 knockout beer bottles, 47 ID liquor bottles and other material used for manufacturing ID liquor.
The Neredmet police on Friday retrieved the body of a 47-year-old man from Banda Cheruvu.
The deceased was later identified as K Raju, a resident of Bhagat Singh Nagar. He was a painter and was facing some financial problems for the last few months. He went out for work on Thursday and did not return home. Police suspect that Raju might have committed suicide due to financial problems. (INN)
17-year-old girl committed suicide after she was chided by her elder sister for showing family photographs to neighbours.
The incident happened in Balaji Nagar in Pahadishareef police limits. The deceased, T Manisha, took the extreme step by setting herself ablaze on September 27. She died at the Gandhi Hospital on Thursday night while undergoing treatment, police said. (INN)
A 30-year-old man succumbed to the injuries which he suffered after falling down from a running train.
According to Kachiguda Railway Police, the deceased, Shaik Amjed, was injured after falling down from a running train near Budwel Railway Station on October 1. He was admitted to the Osmania General Hospital where he died on Thursday night. He was a mechanic and residence of Moinbagh, Riyasat Nagar. (INN)
Financial problems drove a 25-year-old woman to suicide in Mailardevpally police limits.
The deceased, A Prameela, suffered grievous burn injuries after setting herself ablaze at her residence in Babulreddy Nagar of Katedhan on September 30. She was admitted to Osmania General Hospital where she succumbed to burn injuries on Thursday night, according to police. (INN)
A minor argument over some domestic issue claimed the life of a carpenter while his wife is battling for life in a hospital.
As a fasting Prime Minister Narendra Modi sipped warm water at a very “warm dinner” at the White House, US President Barack Obama wondered how his guest kept up a rigorous schedule on such a diet.
“It was a very warm dinner,” said US point person for South Asia Nisha Desai Biswal, who was also at Obama’s welcoming dinner for Modi.
“They joked about the fact that the rest were eating and the prime minister was fasting.
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Nara Chandrababu Naidu moved to his renovated office in the State Secretariat on Friday afternoon.
The Chief Minister entered the new office on 8th floor of L-Block at around 2.20 PM. Ministers Palle Raghunatha Reddy and Devineni Umamaheshwar Rao, Chief Secretary IYR Krishna Rao, DGP JV Ramudu, Secretariat Employees Union leader Murali Krishna were among those present on the occasion.
At least 13 students from various city colleges were taken into preventive detention for some time Friday for staging protests to show solidarity with Jadavpur University students who earlier subjected to an alleged police crackdown, police said.
The students had gathered around a Durga Puja marquee in Salt Lake area and were staging a street play and shouting slogans to extend support to Jadavpur students who have been demanding the removal of Vice Chancellor Abhijit Chakrabarty when they were taken into custody.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi Friday said India was committed to further strengthening its relations with Germany as he greeted it on its “Unification Day”.
“My greetings to the people of Germany on their Unification Day. We are committed to further strengthening our relations with Germany,” he said.
Unification Day denoted the day when the erstwhile German Democratic Republic or East Germany united with the Fedreal Republic of Germany or West Germany in 1990.
–IANS
Prime Minister Narendra Modi Friday condoled the death of the people who died in a stampede after the burning of the Ravana effigy in Patna.
“The stampede in Patna is deeply saddening. I spoke to the Bihar CM about the situation,” Modi tweeted.
“My condolences to the families of those who lost their lives and prayers with the injured,” he added.
(IANS)
US and India are lining up a “pretty ambitious agenda of engagement” to quickly move forward on things discussed during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s US visit, including the landmark India-US civil nuclear deal.
US officials briefing the media on the outcome of Modi’s summit meeting with President Barack Obama told reporters that the US was “excited to be moving forward with a reenergized strategic partnership”.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said Friday that he had signed a law on ratifying a treaty creating the Eurasian Economic Union.
“I have signed a federal law on ratification of the Eurasian Economic Union treaty,” the president said.
“This is a major milestone in our joint work on integration with our closest partners and allies,” he added.
“I remember how we started this work,” Putin stressed.
First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov, who also had worked on the project noted that Russia has completed its part of the ratification procedure.
At least 32 people, including women and children, died in a stampede Friday evening after the burning of the Ravana effigy at the Gandhi Maidan here, officials said.
“Thirty-two people including women and children died due to stampede after the ‘Ravan vadh’ and 18 people were seriously injured,” Bihar Director General of Police P.K. Thakur told media persons here.
Additional Director General of Police Gupteshwar Pandey said that the cause of the stampede is not yet known. “It is a matter of investigation,” Pandey told IANS over phone.
The US would not say whether India-US cooperation against Pakistan-based terrorist groups could involve coordination on drone strikes, but was open to talk with all its partners how they could help Washington’s own efforts.
“Those are not conversations that I’m going to get into here,” Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Nisha Desai Biswal told reporters Thursday when asked whether action against Pakistan-based groups would involve military cooperation.