Month: April 2015

Turkey arrests 9 British nationals seeking to cross to Syria:

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Turkey has arrested nine British nationals on the Syrian border as they sought to illegally cross over from Turkey, the army said on today.

“Nine people of British nationality were arrested on the border trying to enter Syria from Turkey,” the army said in a statement on its website, adding that the arrests took place in the Hatay region of southern Turkey.

The army gave no further details on the identities and intentions of those arrested.

19 dead in Yemen’s Aden clashes as coalition pounds south

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At least 19 people were killed today in fighting in Yemen’s flashpoint city of Aden, medics and security officials said, as Saudi-led operations focused on the country’s south.

Rebel forces advanced onto a key district in the main southern city of Aden, where President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi had sought refuge before he fled Yemen, local government officials and witnesses said.

Their advance on Khor Maksar sparked deadly clashes with local militia and residents, witnesses said.

Most sanitation workers have resumed work: EDMC Commissioner

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Most of the sanitation workers of the East Delhi Municipal Corporation today resumed work after having gone on nearly a week-long strike in protest against delay in payment of their salaries, the civic body said.

The safai karamcharis of the cash-strapped EDMC had gone on strike on Friday on the call of Delhi Safai Karmachari Union.

“Most of the sanitation workers today resumed work after going on a strike in protest against delay in payment of their salaries,” East Delhi Municipal Commissioner Amit Yadav said.

“They were also on duty today”, he added.

Cement peels off pillar of underconstruction building

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Authorities went into a tizzy and workers ran out after cement plastering on a pillar of a multi-storied residential apartment, now under construction here, came off today.

Residents in the vicinity noticed the cement plastering on one of the pillars in the car parking zone of the building peeling off, virtually weakening the pillar, and informed police and planning authority officials.

The workers engaged in the construction work also rushed out of the structure coming up close to the ECR in Puducherry.

Female elephant calf dies

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A five-year-old elephant calf, which was rescued after it was found trapped in marshes near a reservoir in the Sathaymangalam Tiger Reserver, died today, forest officals said.

The female calf was part of a herd which visited Perumapallam reservoir situated in the Kadambur forest area to quench its thirst, yesterday.

The calf was caught in the marsh and could not come out. The other elephants failed in their attempts to lift it and left the place, officials said.

White House says Iran nuclear talks still ‘productive’

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The White House today said progress was still being made in crunch nuclear talks with Iran, but warned the United States would walk away if negotiations stall.

“The sense that we have is that, yes, the talks continue to be productive and that progress is being made,” said White House spokesman Josh Earnest.

“As long as we are in a position of convening serious talks that are making progress,” Earnest said the United States “would not arbitrarily or abruptly end them.”

Pune-educated Indian-American professor wins teaching award

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An Indian-American professor who uses a game called “Baffa Baffa” to teach culture’s role in business and how it can affect transactions and relationships has won the prestigious Peltier Award for innovation in teaching.

Pune University graduate Rajani Ganesh-Pillai, assistant professor of marketing at the North Dakota State University (NDSU), will be recognized during the annual Celebration of Faculty Excellence scheduled for May 6 with three other faculty members.

Operation Raahat: Over 350 Indian nationals return from strife-torn Yemen on two IAF flights

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Over 358 Indians evacuated from the Yemen were brought home by two Indian Air Force (IAF) planes on Thursday morning, in the government’s first major mission to rescue Indians stranded in the strife-torn nation.

The first plane carrying 168 people, mostly nurses from Kerala, landed at Kochi airport at 2:00 am, while the second plane carrying 190 Indian nationals landed in Mumbai at 3:25 am.

Defence sources said that the flight to Mumbai could not take off on time from Djibouti due to the pending paper work of the evacuees.

Students protest against UPPCS paper leak in Allahabad

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The Uttar Pradesh government has transferred Allahabad district police chief Deepak Kumar after violent protests by the students agitating against the paper leak of the UPPCS exams last week.

Violent protests broke out in Allahabad on Wednesday with student bodies demanding sacking of UPPSC chairman Anil Yadav and cancellation of the exams.

A home department spokesperson said Deepak Kumar was being posted to the DGP headquarters with immediate effect and Virendra Pratap Srivastava has been appointed the new Allahabad SSP.

Youth Congress workers throw eggs, tomatoes at Giriraj Singh’s house

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Youth Congress workers on Wednesday staged a protest by throwing eggs and tomatoes at the residence of Union Minister Giriraj Singh for his controversial remarks on Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi.

A group of Youth Congress workers arrived at the residence of the Union Minister of State for MSME in Anandpuri area under the limits of Sri Krishnapuri police station here and threw eggs and tomatoes as part of their protest against his comments. The protesters also tore off hoardings and posters of the MoS at his residence.

PM Modi appreciates work done by Secretaries over last 10 months

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi appreciated the work done by Secretaries to the central government during the last ten months, during an informal interaction with them.

The interaction, which was followed by high tea, was held on the Panchvati lawns at 7, Race Course Road .

In the course of the interaction, the Prime Minister described the assembled officers, as one team, and appreciated the good work done by the team over the last ten months. In particular, the Prime Minister mentioned the success of coal block auctions, and the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana.

For six months, woman stays at Mussoorie academy masquerading as IAS officer

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In a major security breach, a woman masquerading as a trainee IAS officer stayed at the prestigious Lal Bahadur Shastri Administrative Academy in Mussoorie, a place among top targets of terrorists, for over six months without the knowledge of the authorities.

The civil service recruits training academy learnt about the woman and her prolonged stay at the institute when she had already left on March 27, said Dehradun SSP Pushpak Jyoti.

Cementing a deal: Holcim-Lafarge merger can go ahead, says CCI

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Fair trade watchdog CCI has given its green signal for the Holcim-Lafarge merger deal that would create the world’s largest cement group, while directing Lafarge to sell its two plants in India to address anti-competition concerns.

The $40 billion-deal, which a few weeks ago was on the verge of even falling apart, was also the second instance where the CCI sought public comments to assess the anti-competition nature of the transaction.

Pak to send plane tomorrow to evacuate nationals from Yemen

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Pakistan has delayed till tomorrow the sending of a special aircraft to bring back its nationals stranded in strife-torn Yemen, officials said.

It is the second plane being sent after an earlier flight brought back about 500 people on the weekend.

The aircraft was earlier scheduled to leave today for Djibouti where about 200 Pakistanis are to be taken from Aden through a Chinese ship.

Foreign Office FO spokesperson Tasnim Aslam said in a statement that departure of the special aircraft was linked to the departure of Chinese vessel that reached Aden this morning.

10 Ebola cases found during Sierra Leone’s shutdown

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Sierra Leone says it found 10 new Ebola cases during a three-day countrywide shutdown and an official says the West African nation is now at the “tail end” of the epidemic.

Alfred Palo Conteh, head of the country’s Ebola response, said today that hundreds of sick people were identified during the door-to-door operation that also aimed to remind people how to prevent Ebola. But only 10 of those people eventually tested positive for Ebola.

MLAs object to film festival in Goa during ‘Holy Week’

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Four legislators, including one from ruling BJP, today demanded postponement of the Goa State Film Festival which will start from tomorrow here.

BJP MLA Micheal Lobo, Congress MLA Reginaldo Lourenco and Independents Rohan Khaunte and Vijay Sardesai demanded that the festival be postponed because it clashes with the ‘Holy Week’ of Christians — Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and the Easter.

“The government has been acting anti-Catholics. It wanted to have Christmas as Good Governance Day earlier,” Sardesai said, addressing a press conference.

Fraudsters dupe people by promising job in Tata; FIR lodged

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An FIR has been registered by the Delhi police against unidentified fraudsters after a complaint from a premier company that several job seekers were duped on the pretext of getting them placed in it.

The alleged fraudsters got in touch with the gullible youths after accessing their resume from job search engines and promised them a job in Tata company.

The incident came to light after officials from Tata gave a complaint to Delhi Police commissioner B S Bassi that some people were duping people on the pretext of getting them job in the company.

At least 54 dead in trawler sinking off Russia’s Far East

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At least 54 sailors have died and 15 others are still missing after a trawler with 132 people on board sank last night in the Sea of Okhotsk in Russia’s Far East, Russian media said.

“We have recovered the bodies of 54 victims. Sixty-three crew members have been rescued alive,” Russian news agency Tass reported, saying that 15 sailors were still missing.

The Dalniy Vostok sank off the coast of Kamchatka, 250 kilometres south of Magadan, the main town in the sparsely populated region in Russia’s Far East.

Centre assures Haryana to help find solution to SYL, other

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Union Water Resources Minister Uma Bharati today assured Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar that the Centre will prepare a roadmap within 45 days for finding a solution to the Sutlej-Yamuna Link Canal (SYL) and other inter-state issues with Punjab.

According to a Haryana Government press release, which was issued after Manohar Lal met Bharati here said that a meeting of the two chief ministers would be organised for the purpose in Chandigarh.

Foreign Trade Policy: India to include yoga in services exports

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Taking a cue from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s love for yoga, the new Foreign Trade Policy envisages branding campaigns to promote yoga as a ‘services export’.
“Branding campaigns are being planned for promoting exports from sectors such as services, pharmaceuticals, plantations and engineering as well as of commodities and services in which India has traditional strengths, such as handicrafts and yoga,” Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said here.

Convicted Goa minister Pacheco files review petition in SC

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Goa’s Rural Development Agency minister Fransisco Miccky Pacheco, convicted for assaulting a government servant, today filed a review petition before the Supreme Court.

Pacheco’s conviction and sentence of six months was upheld by the apex court earlier this week.

The review petition claims that the magistrate’s court never examined eye witnesses. “There were several eye witnesses when I called the junior engineer (the complainant). The court has not examined even a single eye witness,” the minister told PTI speaking from Delhi.

Trishe Consortium files plea challenging scrapping of power

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A Chinese consortium today filed a petition in the High Court challenging scrapping of the Udangudi thermal power project tender and seeking a direction to state power utility TANGEDCO to award the tender to it, taking into account its bid which had earlier been evaluated as the lowest.

Justice S. Vaidhyanathan ordered issue of notice to TANGEDCO when the petition came up.

TANGEDCO had earlier rejected the bids of BHEL and CSEPDI-Trishe Consortium for the 2X660 MW Udangudi Supercritical Thermal Power Project due to some infirmities.

TN powerloom workers to go on strike on April 12

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Tamil Nadu powerloom workers will go on a statewide strike on April 12 to press their charter of demands including a hike in wages.

Powerloom workers union state secretary M.Chandran told reporters here that powerloom workers in Namakkal district were were working 12 hours a day but getting meagre daily wages.

Most of them are bonded workers, he claimed.

The union had raised the demands several times. The state government should intervene in the matter, he said, adding, they would go on strike on April 12 to press their demands.

Moderate earthquake jolts Uttarakhand

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An earthquake of magnitude of 5.1 on the Richter scale rocked several parts of Uttarakhand early Thursday, an official said.

The meteorological department official told IANS that the tremor triggered panic, but no loss of life was reported.

The epicentre of the earthquake, which was of moderate intensity, was in Chamoli district. The quake lasted for a few seconds.

–IANS

Reshuffle in police top brass in Jharhand

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In a reshuffle of senior police officials in Jharkhand, the 1988 batch IPS officer S N Pradhan has been made ADG (Operations).

Another IPS officer of 1985 batch B B Pradhan will take over as ADG (Rail), an official release said here.

Ajay Bhatnagar, a 1989 batch officer, will take over as ADG (Headquarters) while 1987 batch officer Rezi Dungdung will be ADG (CID).

ADG V. H. Deshmukh of 1986 batch will head Vigilance/Security of Jharkhand State Energy Development Corporation.

ADG Anil Palta, 1990 batch officer, will head the Training & Modernisation wing of Jharkhand police.