Month: January 2015

Brahmos integration with Sukhoi by March

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India will integrate the air version of Brahmos supersonic cruise missile with Sukhoi fighters of the Indian Air Force (IAF) by March, an official said Wednesday.

“Integration of Brahmos with Sukhois of the IAF is on and will be completed by March, as two of them are being integrated at our Nashik complex,” state-run Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd’s (HAL) outgoing chairman R.K. Tyagi told reporters here.

BrahMos Aerospace, an India-Russia joint venture, developed and test-fired the cruise missile July 8, 2014 from the integrated test range at Chandipur in Balasore district of Odisha.

TS Govt releases Rs 18 Cr for Khazipet wagon manufacturing unit

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:The Telangana Government on Wednesday released Rs 18 crore towards the land acquisition process for the establishment of a wagon manufacturing unit at Khazipet in Warangal District.

Although the administrative sanction was accorded for an amount of Rs18 crores by the previous government on November 7, 2013. However, the amount was not released. Following a request made by Warangal District Collector on November 24, 2014, the Telangana Government has issued orders for release of the funds. (INN)

Japan pins its hopes on Jordan against IS ultimatum

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Japan continued to live through a period of national tension Wednesday as the clock ticked towards the new 24-hour deadline given by the Islamic State (IS) terrorist group before carrying out their threat of executing a Japanese reporter if an extremist detained in Jordan was not freed by the ultimatum’s expiry.

Japan put all its hopes on the negotiating ability of Jordan, from whom the IS has sought the release of their Iraqi fighter Sayida al-Rishawi in exchange for the lives of Kenji Goto and Jordanian pilot Muaz Kasasbeh.

Eureka Forbes forays into cookware segment

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Consumer health and hygiene brand Eureka Forbes Wednesday forayed into cookware and introduced a health-friendly product in its range.

“Our decision to foray into a new category was a very conscious one. We are in the clean home business and are present in many kitchens. So, a natural extension for us was food… while choosing healthy foods and recipes is an important part of eating right, cooking them in a healthy manner is equally important,” the company’s CEO of direct sales Marzin Shroff said.

Bengal should pay attention to Sunderbans’ requirements: Expert

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A top environmental expert from the World Bank Wednesday urged West Bengal to ensure that the requirement of the fragile Sunderbans mangrove forests is “adequately reflected” in the needs of the state as a whole and said it should implement the projects on cyclone mitigation and hydrology to create a database.

Tapas Paul, senior environmental specialist for the World Bank in India, said Bengal has been recently included in the subsequent phase of the National Cyclone Risk Mitigation Project and National Hydrology Project.

Syrian lawmaker defends Hezbollah attack on Israeli convoy

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A Syrian lawmaker Wednesday defended Hezbollah’s targeting of an Israeli military convoy earlier in the day, saying the response was a normal retaliation to the latest Israeli attack that killed six Hezbollah fighters in Syria.

“The response by Hezbollah against the Israeli aggression is normal because it’s the right of Hezbollah to respond against any aggression or escalation from the Israeli side,” Sharif Shehadeh, a prominent legislator, told Xinhua news agency Wednesday.

36 killed in clashes with IS in Iraq

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A total of 36 people were killed in attacks and clashes with the Islamic State (IS) militants in Iraq’s eastern province of Diyala Wednesday, security sources said.

Heavy clashes erupted when Iraqi security forces and Shia militias attacked IS militants hiding in Himreen mountainous area in northeast of Baquba, Diyala’s provincial capital, some 65 km northeast of Baghdad, leaving at least 20 IS militants dead, provincial police chief Jamil al-Shimary told Xinhua news agency.

After Obama’s religious remarks, parties target Modi

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi today came under sharp attack from various parties which used the handle provided by US President Barack Obama’s comments on religious tolerance and questioned whether he will rein in “lumpen elements” in the Sangh Parivar for course correction.

Congress, BSP and RJD were among the parties which came down heavily on Modi, saying the US leader had to make such
comments because of the “communal and divisive politics” of the BJP-led NDA government.

Obama, before winding up his three-day India visit yesterday, made a strong pitch for religious tolerance and

US cat defies death, digs its way out of grave to home

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A cat, that was buried after being pronounced dead in a car accident in the US state of Florida, defied death and managed to dig its way out of the grave to return home.

Bart stunned its owner as it returned home five days after being hit by a car.

Bart’s owner had accepted the loss after it was declared dead by vets and buried it in his Tampa backyard, but it
appears the tough feline survived despite severe head trauma, a broken jaw and a dead eye, New York Daily News reported.

Obama dinner invite goof-up; Fadnavis orders probe

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Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, who missed a dinner date with US President Barack Obama, today said he will look into reasons behind the invite not reaching him in time, though it was received at Maharashtra Sadan in Delhi over a week before the event.

The invitation was received on January 17. The official concerned sent it to Mumbai by speed post,” Fadnavis
told reporters here.

The resident commissioner at Delhi has been asked to send a detailed report. Action will be taken as per rules,”
he said.

Uber rape case: Forensic expert confirms DNA profiles

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A forensic expert Wednesday told a court here that DNA profiles generated from various materials recovered from a taxi have matched with those of the woman who was raped allegedly by the driver of a Uber cab.

Testifying as a prosecution witness in the case, senior scientific officer in the Central Forensic Science Laboratory B.K. Mahapatra told Additional Sessions Judge Kaveri Baweja that DNA profiles matched with either the victim or accused Shiv Kumar Yadav.

Six killed in US drone strike in Pakistan

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At least six people were killed and four others injured Wednesday evening when a US drone launched a strike in Pakistan’s northwestern tribal region of North Waziristan, media reported.

The US pilotless plane fired two missiles at a house in the Shawal area of the restive tribal region bordering Afghanistan, Xinhua news agency reported.

The strike destroyed the compound completely and killed six people and left four others injured.

Ghosh files bail application in spectrum allocation case

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Former telecom secretary Shyamal Ghosh, accused in a case related to grant of additional spectrum to private operators, filed his bail application in a special court here Wednesday, which fixed Feb 3 for further hearing.

Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Special Judge O.P. Saini posted the matter for hearing bail application of Ghosh for Feb 3.

The CBI filed a charge sheet Dec 21, 2012, accusing Ghosh and three telecom firms, Bharti Cellular Ltd., Hutchison Max Telecom Pvt. Ltd. (Vodafone India Ltd.), and Sterling Cellular Ltd. (Vodafone Mobile Service Ltd.)

10 priests charged in Spain in child sex case reported to Pope

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A Spanish judge charged 10 Catholic priests with committing or abetting sexual abuse of a teenage altar boy, court papers showed today, in a case that has alarmed Pope Francis.

Judge Antonio Moreno in the southern city of Granada charged 10 priests and two lay persons, accusing them of
sexual abuse or complicity in abuse from 2004 to 2007 against the boy, who Pope Francis has said wrote to him about the
case.

—————-PTI

Odisha to crack down on diversion of fertilizers

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The Odisha government Wednesday decided to crack down on the diversion of subsidised fertilizer for industrial purposes and black marketing in the state.

Agriculture department additional secretary Purushottam Sahoo directed officials of the Directorate of Agriculture and Food Production to take the necessary steps.

Relief for Vodafone in Rs.32,000 crore tax case

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The government Wednesday decided not to appeal against a Bombay High Court ruling that telecom service provider Vodafone was not liable to pay tax demand of Rs.3,200 crore in a transfer pricing case, Communications and IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said here.

“The cabinet has decided not to move Supreme Court in this regard. This is an important decision,” he told reporters after a meeting here of the union cabinet presided over by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Lyon knew about WC squad exclusion before Test series

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Australian off-spinner Nathan Lyon Wednesday revealed he knew Cricket Australia’s decision of keeping him out of the World Cup squad even before the start of the Border-Gavaskar Test series against India.

“I basically got told before the Test series started (he wouldn’t be in the World Cup squad). So I didn’t have to worry about it – I’d known for a while,” Lyon was quoted as saying by espncricinfo.

Tejas starts after overnight soak in extreme cold

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In another landmark for indigenous Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas, the aircraft was successfully started thrice after an overnight soak in the extreme cold of Ladakh, where the temperature dropped to minus 15 degrees Celsius.

“With three consecutive start-ups of its engine after overnight soak in extreme cold conditions of the Ladakh winter, that too without any external assistance, Tejas, the Indian LCA has achieved yet another and a rare distinction,” a defence ministry statement said here Wednesday.

Replace Mamata as Bengal CM: Saradha accused Kunal Ghosh

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Suspended Trinamool Congress MP Kunal Ghosh Wednesday said he will not get justice unless all those involved in the Saradha scam are arrested, and called for replacing Mamata Banerjee as the West Bengal chief minister.

Behind bars since November 2013 for his alleged complicity in the multi-crore-rupee chit fund scam, Ghosh, who has repeatedly alleged the involvement of his party leaders, called for their interrogation by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) which is probing the scandal.

Another swine flu death in Telangana, toll reaches 17

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One person died of swine flu in Telangana today, taking the toll of the disease-related deaths this month to 17.

Since December, a total of 26 people have died of swine flu in the state, said L Narendranath, director of the state-run Nizam’s Institute of Medical Sciences (NIMS) here.

He said 141 samples were tested for swine flu yesterday and 53 turned out to be positive, while 57 samples were tested today out of which 22 were positive.

I’m scared of technology: Swift reacts to hacking

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Singer Taylor Swift has blasted hackers after finding out that her Twitter and Instagram accounts were hacked.

“Cause the hackers gonna hack, hack, hack, hack, hack…,” the 25-year-old, whose account was hacked Tuesday, tweeted, making a reference to the lyrics of her hit single “Shake It Off”.

“PS any hackers saying they have ‘nudes’? Psssh you’d love that wouldn’t you! Have fun photoshopping cause you got NOTHING,” she added.

Swift thanked her friend and singer Hayley Williams for alerting her that there was something off on her social media, reports aceshowbiz.com.

Iran seeks ‘quick’ nuclear agreement: Official

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Iran is seeking a quick agreement with the world powers on the nuclear issue, the country’s foreign ministry spokeswoman, Marzieh Afkham, said Wednesday.

“As (Mohammad-Javad) Zarif has announced in his latest remarks, we want to reach an agreement as soon as possible,” Afkham said, adding, “but not at any cost”,

The Iranian nuclear negotiators were using every opportunity to narrow down differences with the P5+1 group — Britain, China, France, Russia, the US plus Germany — in the run up to a comprehensive nuclear deal, she said in her weekly press briefing.

Swaraj on four-day visit to China from Saturday

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External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj will travel to China on a four-day visit starting Saturday during which she will hold talks on “issues of concern” with her Chinese counterpart Wang Yi and attend Russia-India-China (RIC) meeting.

Whodunit? Investigation Into Why Obama Dinner Invite Did Not Reach Fadnavis

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Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, who missed a dinner date with US President Barack Obama, today said he will look into reasons behind the invite not reaching him in time, though it was received at Maharashtra Sadan in Delhi over a week before the event.

“The invitation was received on January 17. The official concerned sent it to Mumbai by speed post,” Mr Fadnavis told reporters in Mumbai.

“The resident commissioner at Delhi has been asked to send a detailed report. Action will be taken as per rules,” he said.

Indian luxury market to reach $18 billion by 2017: Study

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The Indian luxury market is expanding fast and would reach $18 billion mark by 2017 from its existing level of $14 billion, a joint study from an industry association and a private bank said Wednesday.

According to an Assocham and Yes Bank’s market study, increasing brand awareness among the Indian youth and rising purchasing power of the upper class in tier II and III cities would lead to consumer spending touching $4.2 trillion by 2017.

Fashion, fine dining and automobiles are the primary components which would register the highest growth in the luxury segment.