Month: December 2014

Norwegian pension fund sells stakes in 4 Indian cos, 23 others

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Norwegian pension fund KLP has sold entire stake in at least four Indian companies — NTPC, Coal India, Tata Power and Reliance Power — as well as 23 others worldwide as it looks to embrace more climate-friendly firms.

The move is part of the fund’s strategy to pull out of companies that derive a substantial proportion of their revenues from coal.

“KLP’s first evaluation of coal holdings resulted in divestment of equities and bonds in 27 companies for a total amount of 386 million Norwegian kroner (NOK),” the fund said in a statement today.

Independent probe demanded in Chhattisgarh sterilisation deaths

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A fact-finding team working on public health Monday called for an independent inquiry commission to probe into the Bilaspur sterilisation camp disaster and ascertain facts regarding the deaths of women.

Along with the inquiry, the team also urged the state government to immediately make public the post-mortem examination reports and the laboratory reports on drug analysis.

Goldman Sachs top employers on Day 1 of placement IIT Madras

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Investment banking giant Goldman Sachs was the top employer recruiting 13 candidates on the first day of placement season that began at the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, today.

Samsung Research and Development Institute, Bangalore, employed eight, while Visa Inc, Microsoft employed seven each.

Shell India Markets gave offer letters to six, while ITC Ltd recruited five, an IIT-M release said.

The top salary offered was USD 1.29 lakh per year, made by a foreign company.

Gauahar Khan ‘slap’ controversy: Alia Bhatt joins the league of supporters

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After Farhan Akhtar and Madhur Bhandarkar, Alia Bhatt has come out in support of Gauahar Khan , who was slapped for wearing a short dress while hosting a reality show, by a person seated among the audience.

Alia tweeted:

What happened with @GAUAHAR_KHAN is APPALLING !!!!!Lots of love and power to her for being the strong woman that she is!!!! Disgusted….

Madhur Bhandarkar, who is known for making woman-centric cinema too condemned the incident.

Rahul Gandhi’s campaign made victory easy for BJP: Amit Shah

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Criticising Congress and JMM for the prevailing state of affairs in Jharkhand, BJP President Amit Shah said Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has made BJP’s victory easy wherever he went for campaigning.

“It had become easy for BJP to win the seats wherever Rahul had campaigned in the last parliamentary polls. This is also happening in the Assembly elections in Jharkhand,” Shah said while addressing an election rally in favour of party candidate Madhav Lal Singh, a sitting MLA at Gomia in Bokaro district today.

HC grants interim stay to District Collector’s order

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The Madras High Court bench here today gave an interim stay on Virudhunagar District Collector’s order denying No Objection Certificate for manufacturing fireworks/explosives in the geographical boundaries of Sivakasi, Satur and Virudhunagar Taluks.

Admitting a petition filed by K K C Balaganesh, a cracker manufacturer, Justice M Venugopal granted interim stay on the Collector’s order and issued a notice returnable on December 12.

Haven’t become CM to sit on files: Maharashtra Chief Minister

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Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said here today that he did not become a chief minister to “sit” on files.

“I have not become a Chief Minister to sit on files, like the previous ones, but to clear genuine files quickly,” Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said at a function here tonight, inaugurating the ‘Agri Mahotsav’ at Dombivili.

“The previous government has left a lot of work for me which I am expected to clear,” Fadnavis said.

He said that on a day he gets 300 files on an average and 2,000 memoranda from citizens.

Youth gets life term in murder case

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A local court today sentenced a youth to life imprisonment for his killing a student five years ago.

Nine accused in this case had already been sentenced to life term by the court.

According to the prosecution, the accused Aman was absconding since the murder of Amrender. He was recently arrested by the police and produced in the court today which sentenced him to life imprisonment

On November 6, 2009 Amrender was brutally murder by the 10 accused at DAV College campus in Ambala city.

Cleaning: HC orders issue of notices to govt, Corporation

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The Madras High Court today ordered issue of notices to Tamil Nadu government and Chennai Corporation on a PIL seeking a ban on deploymen of men to enter into manholes and clean sewer and stormwater lines.

The First Bench Comprising Chief Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice R Mahadevan posted the matter for further hearing to January 19, 2015 on a PIL filed by Change India, an NGO, seeking to ban deployment of persons to enter manholes.

Christmas biscuit sugar sparks German terror alert

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Vanilla sugar for Christmas biscuits trickling from an envelope sparked a bioterrorism scare at a German mail distribution centre today, local police said.

Police, paramedics and a fire brigade team in full protective suits swarmed the facility after staff spotted the white powder and an employee complained of itching, apparently fearing it was a dangerous chemical or biological agent.

Testing quickly determined that the material was not dangerous, said police after the incident in the town of Pinneberg near the northern city of Hamburg.

Sensex trades flat; auto stocks plunge

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A benchmark index of Indian equities markets Tuesday was trading flat at 38 points or 0.13 percent down as auto stocks plunged.

Selling pressure was seen in auto, banking and IT sectors, while marginal good buying was observed in healthcare sector.

The 30-scrip Sensitive Index (Sensex) of the S&P Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened at 28,522.46 points, was trading at 28,521.62 points (at 09.17 a.m.) in the early session, down 38.00 points or 0.13 percent from the previous day’s close at 28,559.62 points.

Veena Malik denies blasphemy charges

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Controversial Pakistani actress Veena Malik has denied blasphemy charges after being sentenced to 26 years in jail for participating in a TV show, which allegedly hurt the religious sentiments of people belonging to her community.

On November 25, an anti-terrorism court in Gilgit-Baltistan had sentenced Veena, her husband Asad Bashir Khan Khattak, Geo TV owner Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman and TV host Shaista Lodhi over a controversial morning show, which was aired on May 14.

Blankets and pillows put babies at sudden death risk

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Soft objects and loose bedding – such as thick blankets, quilts and pillows – can obstruct an infant’s airway and pose a risk of suffocation, according to a research.

Nearly 55 percent of US infants are placed to sleep with bedding that increases the risk of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), reveal the findings from a research campaign called “Safe to Sleep”, which was conducted by the US National Institutes of Health, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and other institutions.

Hacker group targets company financial info

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A hacker group has tapped into email accounts of executives in more than 100 companies that could give them lucrative access to market-moving information, a US security firm said today.

San Francisco-based FireEye said the mysterious group, dubbed FIN4, showed deep familiarity with the way businesses work and appeared to target the accounts of officials with knowledge of merger and acquisitions and other valuable corporate secrets.

Navy keen on developing Tuticorin port

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Indian Navy is planning to further develop the port capabilities of Tuticorin in Tamil Nadu to be able to make it as one of its forward operating base, a senior naval official said here today.

“There is a proposal with the Navy to develop Tuticorin (port) further to augment its capability in terms of capacity. The Navy is looking to expand its use for naval operations,” Commodore Amar K Mahadevan, Naval Officer In-charge (Tamil Nadu and Puducherry) told reporters here.

Sonam Kapoor to sell her personal wardrobe for a cause

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Bollywood’s very own fashionista Sonam Kapoor has collaborated with Pernia Qureshi’s Pop-Up Shop to retail garments from her personal wardrobe on the website.

All proceeds from the sale will go towards Smile Foundation, an NGO that focuses on helping underprivileged children and youth across twenty five states in the country, said a statement.

Three arrested for selling illicit arrack

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Three persons were arrested for selling illicit arrack and seized from them eight litres of Arrack at two different places in this district today.

On a tip off about the sale of arrack police conducted raids at these places and arrested Malairajan(77) and his wife Valli (68) who were selling the arrack at a market at Thiruvadanai. They seized four litres of arrack from them, police said.

Sethuramu (55) when he was selling arrack in the Karukathi tank area and seized from him four litres of arrack.

Jurors to hear Steve Jobs testimony at Apple trial

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A billion-dollar class-action lawsuit over Apple’s iPod music players heads to trial tomorrow in a California federal court after nearly a decade in legal wrangling.

Attorneys for consumers and electronics retailers claim Apple Inc used software in its iTunes store that forced would-be song buyers to use iPods instead of cheaper music players made by rivals.

The software is no longer used, but the plaintiffs argue that it inflated the prices of millions of iPods sold between 2006 and 2009 to the tune of USD 350 million.

Maoists kill 14 CRPF personnel, 2 officers among dead

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Using human shields, Maoists today unleashed a major attack killing 14 CRPF personnel, including two officers, and injuring 12 others in the second ambush on the force in 10 days in the same area in Naxal-infested Sukma district of Chhattisgarh.

The Maoist strike on the CRPF when its personnel were returning to their camp was the biggest attack on the paramilitary force in Chattisgarh this year. On March 11, eleven CRPF men were among 15 people killed in a Maoist attack in Sukma district.

Govt to apprise Rajya Sabha on medical facilities for MPs: Naqvi

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The government would soon apprise the Rajya Sabha whether any curtailment has been done in medical facilities for Members of Parliament, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi on Monday said.

He was replying to a point of order raised by Naresh Agarwal (SP) who said that he had raised the issue of curtailment in facilities for MPs on Thursday in the House on which Health Minister J P Nadda, who was present, had given an assurance to come with a reply the next day.

Vote in large numbers: PM Narendra Modi

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi Tuesday “strongly” urged the voters in Jharkhand and Jammu and Kashmir to vote in large numbers in the second of the five-phase elections.

“As the phase 2 of Assembly polls in Jammu and Kashmir and Jharkhand commence, I strongly urge people voting in those areas to vote in large numbers,” the prime minister said in a tweet.

Balloting began in 18 Assembly constituencies in Jammu and Kashmir, and in 20 of the 81 Assembly seats in Jharkhand.

—IANS

Jayalalithaa, Sasikala pay Rs 2 crores fine for closure of 18-year-old IT cases

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All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) chief and former Tamil Nadu chief minister J. Jayalalithaa and her aide Sasikala have paid nearly Rs 2 crore as compounding fee to the income tax department to ensure closure of four cases filed against them 18 years ago for not filing returns.

These cases were pending before the Chennai Metropolitan Magistrate’s Court, and are now likely to be closed.

The income tax department is expected to pass a final order on the compounding applications.

Bangladesh arrests 3 Myanmar nationals; 500 kg explosives seized

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Three Myanmar nationals have been arrested here in connection with the Burdwan blast, as India and Bangladesh stepped up the hunt for the conspirators along their borders to nab over 100 militants of the outlawed JMB.

The three are members of Rohingya Solidarity Organisation (RSO) and other Myanmar-based outfits, said Krishna Pada Roy, deputy commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP), on Monday.

Five detonators, two gel-based bomb materials and 500 kg of explosives were seized from them, police said, adding that the arrest came in line with intelligence shared with India.

Over 500 people fall ill at wedding feast in Uttar Pradesh

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Over 500 people have reportedly fallen ill in Uttar Pradesh’s Baghpat District after consuming adulterated food at a wedding.

According to local media reports, the incident took place in Ladhwadi Village, which falls under the jurisdiction of the Kotwali Police Station.

The guests began vomiting and developed severe stomach pain and lose motions just after having lunch, the local reports said.

They have been admitted to the district hospital, and other health centers in Baruat and Baghpat, besides in hospitals in Meerut and Delhi.

Ex-British PM Gordon Brown to leave politics

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Rivals and allies are paying tribute to former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who plans to step down from Parliament at a national election in May.

Prime Minister David Cameron says Brown has “given a huge amount in terms of public service and his contribution in government and in Parliament.”

Brown is due to make a speech today in his home town of Kirkcaldy, Scotland. British media say he will announce he is leaving Parliament after 32 years.