Month: March 2015

Rahul will also visit when he returns: Sonia Gandhi to Amethi

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Congress president Sonia Gandhi faced unnerving questions regarding her son and party vice president Rahul Gandhi’s absence when she visited his Lok Sabha constituency – Amethi, on Saturday.

During her visit to her constituency – Rae Bareli and Rahul Gandhi’s seat – Amethi, questions regarding the Congress party scion’s whereabouts were posed before her, and she responded, saying, “When Rahul will come back he will also visit Amethi.”

Saina Nehwal thrilled, says ‘I am getting whatever I dreamt of, feel motivated’

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Expressing delight over being the first Indian woman shuttler to attain the world number one ranking, Saina Nehwal on Saturday said that she has achieved whatever she had ever dreamt of.

“It is special to be world number one. It is a big achievement to play finals. I have never thought would become world number one and I am very happy, but since I have the finals tomorrow so have to prepare for that as well. These only motivate me to give better performance,” Nehwal told ANI.

Mamata congratulates Saina

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West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Saturday congratulated shuttler Saina Nehwal for assuring herself of the world number one position, the first Indian woman badminton player to achieve the mark.

“Wonderful. Congratulations to @NSaina for becoming first Indian woman badminton player to be ranked World No1,” Banerjee said in a tweet.

Come Thursday when the Badminton World Federation (BWF) rankings are revised, Saina Nehwal will become the first Indian woman to be ranked No.1 in singles.

–IANS

Tendulkar congratulates Saina

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Indian batting legend Sachin Tendulkar on Saturday congratulated India’s top women’s shuttler Saina Nehwal after the 25-year-old was assured of becoming the World No.1.

Saina on Saturday reached her maiden women’s singles final of the $275,000 India Open Superseries by defeating unseeded Japanese Yui Hashimoto 21-15, 21-11 in only 44 minutes at the Siri Fort Sports Complex here.

The win, and the loss of Spain’s Carolina Marin in the semi-final, assured the Hyderabadi of the No.1 spot when the Badminton World Federation (BWF) releases its revised rankings on Thursday.

Not making land ordinance prestige issue, says Jaitley

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The central government is not making the land acquisition ordinance a prestige issue and is willing to discuss it with opposition parties to iron out differences, union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said here on Saturday.

“It is not a prestige issue for us. We need to change the law of 2013 for the development of the country,” Jaitley told reporters here.

His comments came a day after Congress president Sonia Gandhi accused the government of favouring industrialists in the ordinance, which she said was an “unabashed display of half truths”.

‘Kejriwal offered to quit as party chief’

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AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal’s announcement to resign from the post of national convener and his emotional speech were the “turning point” in the crucial party meet which expelled dissident leaders Prashant Bhushan and Yogendra Yadav, a party source said on Saturday.

A party leader who attended the national council meeting told IANS that Kejriwal narrated some incidents of “betrayal” by eminent lawyer Prashant Bhushan which turned the tables in a “divided house”.

AAP face-off: Yogendra Yadav, Prashant Bhushan expelled

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The month-long face-off in AAP climaxed today with the expulsion of dissident leaders Prashant Bhushan and Yogendra Yadav from its National Executive, in a possible precursor for their final ouster from the party.

Amid chaos and high drama, a resolution to remove the two dissidents from the powerful panel was passed immediately after party Chief Arvind Kejriwal left the National Council following his hour-long speech in which he asked over 300 members present to choose him or the duo. The resolution was introduced by Kejriwal loyalist Manish Sisodia.

Cheating case against actress Shruti Haasan

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A case of cheating was registered against actress Shruti Haasan for allegedly reneging on the contractual obligations and pulling out of an upcoming bilingual film, police said today.

The case seeking criminal investigations against the actress was filed by the Picture House Media Ltd which alleged in its petition that the actress missed her shooting schedules for the untitled multi-starrer being directed by Vamsi Paidipalli.

CPI urges people to be vigilant against RSS

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Expressing anguish over “naked” attempts of Narendra Modi government to saffronise political system, CPI today asserted that it would continue its struggle to defend democratic ethos of the country and urged people to be vigilant against the “dangerous” moves of RSS.

The resolution on ‘Saffronisation of various political and democratic institutions’ taken up by the party at its ongoing 22nd Congress at Puducherry, said attempts are also being made to “mix” science and mythology and history and mythology to spread “obscurantist” ideas.

Saina scales a new high, 1st Indian woman to World No.1

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Saina Nehwal today scripted history by becoming the first Indian woman shuttler to attain the number one spot in world rankings, reaffirming her status as the country’s most consistent performer in the international circuit.

The 25-year-old zoomed to the top after her closest challenger for the position, Spain’s Carolina Marin, lost in the India Open Super Series semifinal here.

Saina takes over the reins from China’s Li Xuerui, thereby ending the Chinese stranglehold over the world rankings for many years.

JD-U, RJD merger on right track: Nitish Kumar

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Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Saturday said that the merger process between his party JD-U and the Lalu Prasad Yadav-led RJD was on the right track and would take place ahead of the state assembly polls later this year.

“Process for the merger of JD-U and RJD is on the right track now,” Nitish Kumar told media a day after he returned from his two-day visit to Delhi where he met RJD chief Lalu Prasad.

For the first time since Kumar became the chief minister again last month, he made it clear that the JD-U and RJD merger was still on the cards.

President, PM congratulate Saina

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President Pranab Mukherjee and Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated India’s top women’s shuttler Saina Nehwal on Saturday after the 25-year-old was assured of becoming the World No.1.

Saina on Saturday reached her maiden women’s singles final of the $275,000 India Open Superseries by defeating unseeded Japanese Yui Hashimoto 21-15, 21-11 in only 44 minutes at the Siri Fort Sports Complex here.

AAP to protest against land acquisition bill

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The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) will protest here against the land acquisition bill on April 22, a party spokesperson said on Saturday.

“The party will hold an agitation and ‘gherao’ parliament on April 22 against land acquisition bill,” party spokesperson Sanjay Singh said.

The central government introduced a new bill to replace an ordinance which was promulgated in December last year.

The bill is awaiting clearance in the Rajya Sabha, where the government lacks numbers.

–IANS

Rubat row: Haj pilgrims may suffer for the third consecutive year

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Haji pilgrims are hoping to find accommodation at the Nizam’s Rubaat will suffer for the third consecutive year on account of a tussle between the HEH Nizam Auqaaf Committee (HEHNAC) and nazir Hussain Shareef.

While the HEHNAC, which operates from the city, stakes claim over the rubaat, whereas the manager, Hussain Shareef says he is the rightful custodian.

Dhoni gets Rs.1, 000 for losing in Sydney

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As the whole nation mourns for Team India’s loss to Australia by 95 runs, there is one person in Uttar Pradesh who sees a silver lining in this gloomy, dark cloud.

Cadre IPS Amitabh Thakur of 1992 batch on Friday sent a cheque of Rs 1,000 to cricketer MS Dhoni to his Ranchi address and expressed thanks for ‘saving one man-day of the Nation’.

Thakur spoke from his own experiences that, “On the day the semi-final was played, almost every government official, senior or junior, was glued to the TV set, neglecting official work and even misbehaving with the occasional visitor

Rahul will be back among people ‘very soon’: Sonia

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Rahul Gandhi will be back among people “very soon”, Congress President Sonia Gandhi said here today about her son who has been on a mysterious “leave” for over a month now.

“Both Rahul and Priyanka will be among you all very soon,” Sonia Gandhi said while replying to questions on whereabouts of the party Vice President. She, however, did not specify the exact timing of his return.

Party sources have earlier said that Rahul, who went on the sabbatical on February 22, is likely to return in April after which the issue of leadership is expected to gain momentum.

Disappointed with India for voting against gay rights: US

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Addressing the gathering at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, US Ambassador to India Richard Verma talked about Strategic Plus Partnership between India and the US but maintained that it was not always that the two countries need to agree with each other.

“We were disappointed, for example, by India’s support this week for the attempt to strip benefits from UN staff in same-sex relationships. We will continue to support the rights of LGBT individuals in India, in international institutions, and around the world,” he said.

Airstrikes to continue until Yemen is settled: Saudi king

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Saudi Arabia’s King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud said on Saturday that the Saudi-led military airstrikes against the Houthi rebels in Yemen will continue until security is restored in the country.

“The Decisive Storm Operation will continue until the Yemeni people enjoy security and stability,” the Saudi king told the 26th session of the Arab Summit presided over by Egypt’s President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi and attended by 20 Arab leaders, including fleeing Yemeni President Abd-Rabbo Mansour Hadi.

PM congratulates Saina Nehwal

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi today congratulated Saina Nehwal for becoming World Number 1 in badminton and making India proud.

“The phenomenal accomplishments of @NSaina make us very proud. I congratulate her on being the World Number 1,” he tweeted.

Saina scripted history by becoming the first Indian woman shuttler to attain the number one spot in world rankings, reaffirming her status as the country’s most consistent performer in the international circuit.

RBI to cap bank’s exposure in corporate house to 25% of its capital

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With an aim to reduce risk in the banking sector, RBI has proposed to limit exposure of a bank to a business group to 25% of its capital, down from the existing level of 55%.

“The sum of all the exposure values of a bank to a single counterpart or to a group of connected counter-parties must not be higher than 25% of the bank’s available eligible capital base at all times,” a draft paper released by RBI said.

The proposed ‘Large Exposure’ (LE) framework will be fully applicable from January 1, 2019, the paper said, while seeking stakeholders’ views on it till April 30.

3 glasses of booze per day may cause liver cancer

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If you are a regular drinker, you might want to put that gas down, as new study has revealed that consuming 3 glasses of alcohol per day can cause liver cancer.

According to World Cancer Research Fund, the analysis of 34 previous studies covering 8.2 million people pinpoints level of drinking implicated in liver cancer, the Guardian reported.

High school seniors increasingly getting hooked onto ‘Hookahs’

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Though there may be a decline in cigarette smoking, a new study had claimed that now hookah has become a popular trend amongst high school seniors.

The study by University of Waterloo found that almost one in four high school seniors try smoking hookah, and as per the estimates, over 78,200 youth are current water pipe users.

Leia Minaker, who conducted the study, said that while we can celebrate a continued slow decline in cigarette use across the country, water pipes are bucking the trend.

National Gallery of Australia to host first ever nude tour exhibition

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The National Gallery of Australia has taken a different route altogether for their first nude art tour wherein people will walk-in and leave exhibition all naked.

The Australian Exhibition’s tickets have already been sold and there are around 150 art fans who will tour ‘James Turrell: A Retrospective’ exhibition nude at Canberra, ABC News reported.

Turell is an American artist whose work addresses light and perception and is known for what’s referred to as his ‘life’s work’.

‘Strangers Have the Best Candy’ wins Diagram Prize for year’s oddest book title

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A travelogue, titled ‘Strangers Have the Best Candy,’ has won the Diagram Prize for the oddest book title of the year.

The self-published work by Margaret Meps Schulte beat finalists including ‘Advanced Pavement Research,’ ‘Nature’s Nether Regions’ and ‘Where do Camels Belong?,’ the BBC reported.

The Diagram Prize, an online vote run by the Bookseller magazine, does not award cash, though the person who nominates the winning entry receives a passable bottle of claret.