Month: June 2015

Around 30 people, including three policemen, were injured as Hindu and Muslim mobs clashed here in Ghaziabad over the use of loudspeakers, police said on Monday.

Several vehicles were set on fire and shops looted and gutted in the Sunday night frenzy at Farid Nagar.

According to police officials, the trouble erupted when the two communities quarrelled over the use of loudspeakers in two adjacent places of worship.

As some youths from one community forcibly tried to shut down the loudspeaker of the other community, the quarrel led to widespread clashes.

As the Modi government faces the accusation of saffronising education, an RSS-backed body has pitched for including Ayurveda, Siddha and other indigenous medical systems in an “integrated syllabus” for medicine.

Former Pakistani captain Zaheer Abbas, who has recently assumed the role of International Cricket Council (ICC) president, has said that he would make strenuous efforts for the revival of bilateral cricketing ties between India and Pakistan despite being in a ceremonial post.

“Being in a ceremonial post does not mean I can’t do anything. I love this game and in the next one year I want to contribute something to world cricket”, the Dawn quoted Abbas as saying.

Prime Minister David Cameron on Monday promised a “full spectrum response” to Islamist extremism, after British tourists were killed in attack on “Bloody Friday” on a Tunisian beach resort.

The killings were “absolutely horrific”, but the terror threat would be beaten. “This is, I think, going to be the struggle of our generation and we have to fight it with everything we can,” Cameron told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

A total of 38 people were killed on a beach near Sousse by a gunman with links to IS extremists.

RJD chief Lalu Prasad on Monday warned the BJP-led NDA not to target Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.

“Hosh mein rahein,” thundered Lalu Prasad after Arun Kumar, an MP from BJP ally RLSP, used harsh language against Janata Dal-United leader Nitish Kumar.

Arun Kumar is state president of the Rashtriya Lok Samta Party (RLSP), whose national president Upendra Kushwaha is a minister in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government.

Arun Kumar on Saturday hit out at Nitish Kumar, accusing him of targeting an upper caste community.

Middle order batsman Ajinkya Rahane was on Monday named captain of the 15-member Indian cricket team that will tour Zimbabwe in July as Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Virat Kohli, among other seniors, were rested.

Batsmen Shikhar Dhawan, Suresh Raina, Ravichandran Ashwin, Rohit Sharma and Umesh Yadav were also rested by the Board of Control for Cricket in India’s (BCCI) All-India Senior Selection Committee which met here. India will play three One-Day Internationals (ODI) and two Twenty20 Internationals from July 10 to 19 in Harare.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has promised continued military, political and economic support for Syria, a Syrian minister said on Monday.

“I have obtained a promise from President Putin on a Russian military, economic and political support to Syria,” Xinhua quoted Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem as saying in Moscow at a joint press conference with his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov.

Al-Moallem said the Russian leader stressed the need to found a regional alliance to fight terrorism.

India’s most successful women’s doubles shuttlers Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa were crowned champions in the $50,000 Canada Open Grand Prix following their 21-19, 21-16 victory over Dutch pair Eefje Muskens and Selena Piekof in the final here.

The 2011 World Championships bronze medal-winning pair took only 35 minutes on Sunday to get the better of Erfje-Selena at the Markin MacPhail Centre.

The Indian third seeds, who matched their career-best ranking at No.13 on Thursday, caught a very good start as they took a 6-2 lead even though Erfje-Selena fought back and equalised at 7-7.

The Indian cricket board on Monday gave “clean chit” to the three international cricketers whom former Indian Premier League (IPL) commissioner Lalit Modi accused of accepting bribes, in cash and kind, from an Indian businessman.

“Since the three named are international players, they fall under the purview of the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) jurisdiction. Thee ICC’s Anti-Corruption and Security Unit (ACSU) has investigated the matter and it is up to them to answer on what came out,” Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) secretary Anurag Thakur said here.

Five teenage girl students from Bengaluru won the Technovation challenge at a global pitch event at San Francisco city in the US.

Sanjana Vasanth, N. Anupama, Mahima Mehendale, Swasthi P. Rao and B. Navyashree, all aged 14, won the award for their app Sellixo which provides an online marketplace to buy and sell dry waste.

The girls said they were inspired by the prime minister’s Swachh Bharat Mission, Digital India and Save the Girl Child initiative and embarked on “a challenge like this”.

Technology major Lenovo on Monday said it has appointed Rahul Agarwal as the Managing Director of its India operations with immediate effect.

Agarwal succeeds Amar Babu, who will now take on a regional mandate as Chief Operating Officer, Asia Pacific and Chairman, Lenovo India.

“Rahul Agarwal takes charge at a time when Lenovo is gearing up for its next phase of growth, diversifying beyond PCs into the smart connected devices while maintaining a strong PC focus,” Lenovo said in a statement.

Marvel Studio President Kevin Feige has hinted that the upcoming Spider-Man movie may include all-new villains which fans have never seen before. Feige explained that the studio was making innovations with the antagonists in order to differentiate the upcoming movie with previous Spider-Man movies, reported AceShowbiz.

“Right now we’re interested in seeing villains we haven’t seen before,” Feige said of the upcoming reboot.

Banks and ATM machines were shut throughout Greece on Monday, the first day of capital controls announced by the government in a dramatic twist in the country’s five-year financial saga.

Despite the closures, pensioners lined up just after dawn at bank branches hoping they would be able to receive their pensions, which were due to be paid today. The finance ministry said the manner in which pensions would be disbursed would be announced later in the afternoon.

Departing from the past practice, the Home Ministry is now insisting that journalists accredited with the Press Information Bureau (PIB) will have to get their police verification done every year for renewal, a move that may make it difficult for the scribes to have easy access to central ministries and departments.

The Home Ministry has asked PIB to ensure that all government accredited journalists, numbering over 2,500, must have police verification at the time of yearly renewal of their official card, which gives them uninterrupted access to various ministries and departments.

A United Arab Emirates court sentenced an Emirati woman to death today after convicting her of the jihadist-inspired murder of an American teacher, according to a media report.

Alaa Bader al-Hashemi, 30, was found guilty of stabbing to death school teacher Ibolya Ryan, 47, in a shopping mall toilet, Abu Dhabi newspaper The National reported.

She was also convicted of “creating a handmade bomb” she placed in front of an Egyptian-American doctor’s home, it added.

The attacks took place within hours of each other in the UAE capital on December 1.

Shares of Sun TV Network on Monday fell by 3.5%, extending downfall for the sixth straight session, after the Union Home Ministry clarified last week that it will not give security clearance to the Kalanithi Maran-owned company.

The stock ended at Rs 280.05 , down 3.45% from its previous close at the BSE. During the day, it fell by 5.51% to Rs 274.05.

At the NSE, shares of the company went down by 3.24% to Rs 280.

The company’s market value fell by Rs 393.66 crore to Rs 11,036.34 crore.

In six trading sessions, the stock has fallen by 16%.

A Bangladesh Air Force fighter jet crashed in the Bay of Bengal today minutes after it took off from a military base in the south-eastern port city of Chittagong with its lone pilot missing.

“An F-7 fighter aircraft of Bangladesh Air Force (BAF) has crashed into the sea after taking off from the BAF Base Zahurul Haque,” a defence ministry spokesman told PTI.

The authorities have launched a search operation to trace the missing pilot identified as Flight Lieutenant Tahmid.

Hyundai Motor Co said on Monday it believes hydrogen fuel cell vehicles are the future for eco-friendly cars despite challenges of limited infrastructure and slow sales.

South Korea’s largest automaker has sold or leased 273 Tucson fuel cell SUVs since beginning production in 2013, lower than its 1,000 target, mostly in Europe and California.

Congress on Monday demanded a Supreme Court-monitored probe into the high-profile MPPEB scam in Madhya Pradesh, claiming as many as 43 accused and witnesses have died under mysterious circumstances.

Party spokesman Tom Vadakkan also said the investigation should be conducted by a Special Investigation Team. MPPEB scam, also known as Vyapam scam, Vadakkan said, was one of the biggest scandals in independent India that needed to be probed by an independent SIT under the direct supervision of the apex court.

In a bid to keep markets calm, the European Central Bank made a tough choice when it opted to keep open the financial lifeline to Greek banks at the weekend, analysts said on Monday.

But it faces an even tougher decision later this week, when it convenes again to discuss whether to continue to provide liquidity after the official expiry of Greece’s bailout programme tomorrow, analysts said.

More than 60 students of a government primary school in Madhubani district of Bihar fell ill on Monday after eating mid-day meal, a police official said.

The incident happened at Bhavnathpur Primary School under Bhairav Sthan police station in the district.

The students were taken to a primary health centre (PHC) at Jhanjharpur from where 30 of them were released after preliminary treatment, the official said.

Social networking giant Facebook has added 13 million users in six months to take its userbase to 125 million in India, its second-biggest market globally.

The US-based firm, which had 112 million users in India as of December last year, also launched a 2G-friendly mobile app ‘Facebook Lite’ here to cater users with slow internet connectivity.

Globally, it has 1.44 billion monthly active users as of March 31, 2015 with the US as its biggest market.

Delhi Home Minister Satyendra Jain on Monday said a magisterial inquiry has been ordered into the Tihar jailbreak incident, where two under trials dug a tunnel to escape the prison.
“A magisterial inquiry has been ordered. Some officials have been transferred immediately,” said Jain.

Samsung is planning to double the battery life of your smartphone without increasing the size.

According to the engadget.com, Samsung’s scientists have developed lithium-ion battery technology that promises much longer-lasting power packs. They use a silicon anode, but grow layers of graphene on top to improve the density and longevity that would otherwise suffer.

The upgrade might not be showing up in the gadgets for a while.

This is still a research project and it could take years before Samsung translates its breakthrough into real-world products.

Dismissing senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh’s charges against Vasundhara Raje, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Monday challenged the former to prove his “baseless” allegations against the Rajasthan Chief Minister.

“Jairam Ramesh, who considers himself among the senior most Congress leaders, has made baseless and ignorant allegations against the Chief Minister and her family,” the party said at a media briefing here, which witnessed an argument between the media and state BJP chief Ashok Parnami.