Month: December 2014

President Mukherjee condoles passing away of former Maharashtra CM Antulay

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President Pranab Mukherjee on Tuesday condoled the passing away of former Maharashtra chief minister A. R. Antulay.

“It was with profound sorrow that I learnt of the sad demise of A. R. Antulay. An esteemed colleague and a dear friend, Antulay served the nation in various capacities such as union minister, chief minister, parliamentarian and legislator,” President Mukherjee said, in his condolence message to Antulay’s wife Nargis.

First Muslim CM of Maharashtra A R Antulay passes away

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Congress veteran A R Antulay, the first Muslim Chief Minister of Maharashtra who had to resign in the wake of ‘Cement scandal’, died here today after a prolonged illness.

He was 85.

Antulay was the state’s Chief Minister from June 1980 to January 1982 and was Minority Affairs Minister in the Manmohan Singh-led UPA-I government.

The Congress veteran, who was suffering from kidney ailment, passed away at a private hospital here this morning, family sources said. The funeral will be held in his native village in Raigad district of coastal Konkan tomorrow.

Man who returned from Nigeria to undergo Ebola test

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Health authorities here have sent for testing the samples of a 52-year-old man from Hyderabad, who returned from Nigeria, as a measure of caution against Ebola.

The man was suffering from fever and took treatment at a corporate hospital here, but was referred to the state-run Gandhi Hospital.

“As per the definition of WHO, he is not a suspect also. Nigeria is already declared as Ebola free by WHO on October 19,” said Dr K Subhakar, the nodal officer for infectious diseases like Ebola.

Scholarship scheme has benefited minority students: Govt

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An impact assessment by an independent agency on the performance of a scholarship scheme for students of minority community has confirmed that the programme has benefited students, the government said in the Rajya Sabha today.

It said all states and Union Territories participating in the merit-cum-means based scholarship scheme for students belonging to the notified minority communities pursuing professional and technical courses, have “fully availed” their share of earmarked scholarship.

Sonia Gandhi condoles Antulay’s death

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Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Tuesday condoled the death of party veteran AR Antulay, saying he will be remembered for his commitment to the party in its trying times.

The entire Congress party stands with the Antulay family in this hour of grief, she said in a message.

“Antulay was one of the most significant leaders from Maharashtra who had a long public innings,” she said of the former Maharashtra chief minister.

“Antulay was a brilliant legal mind and a committed member of the Congress party.

Gold prices soar by Rs 840 in biggest single-day gain this year

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Posting this year’s biggest single-day rise of Rs 840, gold on Tuesday regained the Rs 27,000 per ten gram level after a gap of over one month in the national capital, tracking rebounds in global markets.

In addition, pick-up in domestic demand from jewellers and retailers for the wedding season also buoyed sentiment.

After losing Rs 730 in last six sessions after the RBI eased imports curbs by scrapping 80:20 scheme, gold staged a strong comeback by rising Rs 840 to close at Rs 27,040 per ten grams, a level last seen on October 30.

It’s official that carbon-emissions do result in global warming

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A new research has confirmed how global warming links to carbon emissions.

Researchers from the University of Liverpool have derived the first theoretical equation to demonstrate that global warming is a direct result of the build-up of carbon emissions since the late 1800s when man-made carbon emissions began.

The theoretical equation revealed the complex relationship between carbon dioxide levels and the ocean system.

OCTL may shift Nalgonda plant to AP

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Oil Country Tubular Limited (OCTL), manufacturer of the drilling pipes used in oil and gas exploration, may move its manufacturing plant in Nalgonda district of Telangana to Andhra Pradesh owing to labour disputes, the company said today.

OCTL is flagship company of city-based Kamineni Group.

The company is actively considering three locations in AP and may zero on Krishnapatnam, Kamineni Group Managing Director Sashidhar Kamineni said today.

‘Big’ Merv Hughes supports ‘use of bouncers’ despite Hughes tragedy

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Former Australian fast bowler Merv Hughes has supported the use of bouncers in cricket as he believes that the tragic demise of Australian cricketer Phillip Hughes was an isolated case.

Hughes said demands to change the bouncer laws would have made sense if such incidents were happening at regular intervals. However, it is completely different when it is an isolated case, he added.

Earlier, ICC chief David Richardson said it was unlikely that cricket would change law, in view of tragic demise of cricketer Phillip Hughes, News.com.au reported.

Dhoni, Bhuvi slip a place in ICC rankings

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Virat Kohli remains second in the latest ICC ODI batsmen rankings while captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni has slipped a place to be ninth as India maintain second spot in the team standings.

Medium pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar has dropped a place to be eighth in the bowlers’ rankings while left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja is still sitting on ninth.

Dhoni, meanwhile, has been out of action for a while and missed the five-match series against Sri Lanka.

Vaiko condemns NDA govt stand against declassifying Bose files

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Firing yet another salvo against the Narendra Modi government, NDA partner MDMK today condemned it for declining to make public classified files on Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose’s mysterious disappearance and said his party would hold a protest pressing for unravelling the truth.

“It is condemnable that the government is focusing only on maintaining its relationship with other countries, hurting the sentiments of crores of Indians”, he said referring to the Centre’s stand that disclosure of the files would affect ties with foreign nations.

Over 1.7 Syrian refugees suffer as UN suspends food aid due to lack of funds

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A funding crisis has forced the UN to suspend its World Food Programme, affecting more than 1.7 million Syrian refugees in Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey, Iraq and Egypt , who are thriving on food vouchers provided to them by the organisation.

According to The Guardian, the WFP has brought food to millions of Syrians inside the country, and has used the voucher programme – which allows refugees to buy food in local shops – to inject about 800m dollars (500m pounds) into the economies of those countries hosting them.

Pak is in illegal occupation of 78,000 sq kms of Indian land

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Pakistan is in illegal and forcible occupation of about 78,000 sq kms of Indian territory in Jammu and Kashmir since 1948, Lok Sabha was informed today.

Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju said that under the so-called China-Pakistan boundary agreement of 1963, Pakistan illegally ceded 5,180 sq kms of Indian territory in Pakistan occupied Kashmir to China.

Rijiju said as regards the Indo-China border, there is no commonly delineated Line of Actual Control (LAC) in the border areas between India and China.

Maoist attack on CRPF jawans a cowardly act: RSS

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A day after 14 CRPF jawans were killed in a gunfight with Maoists in Chhattisgarh, RSS today condemned the attack as a “cowardly” act.

“We strongly condemn the cowardly attack by Maoists in Chhattisgarh in which 14 of our brave hearts were martyred,” said RSS’s Akhil Bharatiya Prachar Pramukh, Manmohan Vaidya.

After dull start, polling picks up pace in J-K

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After a slow start to the second phase of the assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir, the polling has picked up pace, with 32.03 percent of the voters having taken part in the democratic process as of 12 noon.

Meanwhile, Jharkhand has, according to reports, seen 32.10 percent of its voters cast their ballot in the first four hours of polling.

Voting will continue up to 3 pm in 18 seats, while the Jamshedpur East and Jamshedpur West seats will have polling up to 5 pm.

—ANI

Chandrababu urges US to open consulate in Vijayawada

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Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu today urged the United States to open a consulate in Vijayawada.

“Most of the people flying to the US from the state hail from this region (Vijayawada). Hence, it would be beneficial if you set up an office there,” Naidu told members of a delegation from the US State Department who called on him at the Secretariat here.

Modi getting rock star treatment from investors

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With money managers pouring in a whopping USD 16.5 billion in Indian stocks, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is being treated like a rock star by investors around the world, a leading American financial daily has said.

“Investors around the world are giving Modi, and India, the rock star treatment. Money managers have poured USD 16.5 billion into Indian stocks this year, the most of any developing country tracked by the Institute of International Finance,” The Wall Street Journal has reported.

Agni – IV successfully test-fired off Odisha coast

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Agni IV, the 4,000kms range Nuclear Capable Ballistic Missile, was successfully test- fired from the Wheeler Island off the coast of Odisha on Tuesday.

The 20 meter-long indigenously developed missile was launched for the first time by the Army’s Strategic Forces Command at 10.20a.m. today.

The missile which carried one tonne war head splashed down near its pre-designated target point in the waters of Indian Ocean with high degree of accuracy as two naval ships located nearby recorded the terminal event.

Vajpayee’s birthday to be celebrated as ‘Good Governance Day’

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Former Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee’s birthday on December 25 would be observed as national ‘Good Governance Day’, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said today.

Modi was addressing party MPs at the meeting of the BJP Parliamentary Party, where BJP President Amit Shah was also present.

India, China can quickly resolve boundary dispute: Menon

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India and China can quickly resolve their vexed boundary dispute as they have governments with strong mandates to reach an agreement with most of the spadework already completed, former National Security Adviser Shivshankar Menon has said.

While the border remained largely peaceful in the last three decades without a gunshot fired, emotions run high in both countries with “scary stories”, Menon said in a lengthy interaction with students of the Peking University here after speaking on ‘India’s National Security Strategy and India-China Relations’ last night.

ICC announces match officials for World Cup 2015

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The International Cricket Council today named four World Cup winners in a 25-member match officials’ team for the Cricket World Cup 2015, to be co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand from February 14 to March 29.

The team includes five officials from the elite panel of ICC match referees, 12 umpires from the elite panel of ICC umpires and eight umpires from the international panel of ICC umpires.

The four match referees are David Boon, Chris Broad, Jeff Crowe, Ranjan Madugalle and Roshan Mahanama.

Excise duty on petrol, diesel raised; no impact on prices

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Government today raised excise duty on petrol and diesel by Rs 2.25 and Rs 1 a litre respectively, but consumers will be spared of price hike.

The move, which comes amid declining prices of crude oil in the international market, will boost government revenue and help it contain the fiscal deficit.

The revised excise duty on petrol and diesel came into affect from Tuesday, official sources said.

The move will have no impact on retail prices of petrol and diesel, they said.

Former Maha CM A R Antulay passes away

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Senior Congress leader A R Antulay passed away here today after a prolonged illness. He was 85.

Antulay, who was former Maharashtra Chief Minister and a minister in UPA-I government, was suffering from kidney ailment. He breathed his last at the Breach Candy hospital where he was admitted last month.

The veteran Congressman, who hailed from coastal Konkan region of Maharashtra, passed away at around 10 AM today, his son-in-law Mushtaq Antulay told PTI.

The funeral will take place at his native Ambet village in the state’s Raigad district tomorrow.

Gold prices soar by Rs 840 in biggest single-day gain this year

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Posting this year’s biggest single-day rise of Rs 840, gold today regained the Rs 27,000 per ten gram level after a gap of over one month in the national capital, tracking rebounds in global markets.

In addition, pick-up in domestic demand from jewellers and retailers for the wedding season also buoyed sentiment.

After losing Rs 730 in last six sessions after the RBI eased imports curbs by scrapping 80:20 scheme, gold staged a strong comeback by rising Rs 840 to close at Rs 27,040 per ten grams, a level last seen on October 30.