Month: June 2015

Former Rajasthan chief minister and Congress leader Ashok Gehlot on Monday said incumbent Vasundhara Raje must step down on moral grounds so that the investigation can take its own course.

“It is very unfortunate. Advani gave clear indication, even Govindacharya said it clearly and now everyone in all the political parties is saying the same thing that at least for once resignation must be given on moral grounds. After that, the investigation can take its own course and if the charges are proven false then no one can stop her from becoming the CM again,” Gehlot told ANI.

The suspected Islamist who attempted to blow up a French chemical plant on Friday has admitted killing his manager beforehand, a source close to the investigation said on Sunday, as police linked the suspect to a militant now in Syria.

Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa clinched the 2015 Canada Open badminton title after beating top pair Eefje Muskens and Selena Piek in their women’s doubles event in Calgary.

The Commonwealth Games silver medalist pair overcame the Dutch duo 21-19, 21-16 in a thrilling final showdown that lasted over 35 minutes.

Although the Indian pair had to face stiff competition from their opponents to secure the first set, the second game began on a promising note as they were 15-6 at one stage.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is holding a protest march here on Monday demanding the resignations of External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje, Union HRD Minister Smriti Irani and Maharashtra Women and Child Welfare Minister Pankaja Munde.

“This is happening since the last few weeks but they are silent. There is not a single FIR against corruption in the last one month. In this way, the government cannot bring a corrupt-free nation,” said AAP leader Alka Lamba.

The protest march is taking place from Jantar Mantar to the Parliament.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has reportedly flown back to Tehran on Sunday night to discuss a final bargaining position on his country’s nuclear programme as the June 30 deadline to hammer out a final deal looked set to be postponed.

Congress leader Digvijay Singh on Monday said the only option left to get to the bottom of the Vyapam scam case is to approach the Supreme Court.

“It’s a very serious issue that one after another, people connected to the Vyapam Scam are dying under mysterious circumstances. We have already lost faith in the Madhya Pradesh High Court. The only option left is to approach the Supreme Court,” said Singh.

On Sunday, the Congress leader had alleged that Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan was still trying to cover up the Vyapam scam.

Following a spate of bombings in Afghanistan, Interior Minister Noorul Haq Ulomi has reportedly postponed his Pakistan visit, citing ‘serious security issues’ at home, the ministry has said.

The ministry added that the visit will place at a ‘suitable time’, reported The Express Tribune.

An Afghan diplomat in Islamabad said that new dates will be worked out in consultation with Pakistani officials.

Pakistan’s Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif will visit Karachi today to preside over a high-level meeting on the chronic law and order situation in the city, a spokesperson for the PM Office said.

Sharif will be presented with a report on why Karachi suffered power outages when it was provided 650MW from the national grid and K-Electric also generated electricity on its own, reported the Dawn.

K-Electric has been at the centre of a controversy over frequent outages in extreme weather conditions.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Monday accused the Congress of being ‘communal’ and added that twisting Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s comments on Raksha Bandhan during his recent Mann ki Baat betrays the grand old party’s credentials.

Justin Gatlin continued his blistering pace of the season as he became the fifth-fastest 200m sprinter in history by winning the final at the American Athletics Championships.

The American clocked 19.57 seconds to finish ahead of Isiah Young and Wallace Spearmon and consequently sets up a thrilling showdown with Usain Bolt in both 100m and 200m at the World Championships in Beijing in late August, the BBC reported.

The 33-year-old, who has served two doping bans, had earlier opted to skip the 100m heat in view of automatic bye into World Championships.

Top seeds Novak Djokovic and Serena Williams are all geared up to stir conversations in southwest London as they will take on their respective challengers in the opening round of Wimbledon, which starts today.

While defending champion Novak Djokovic will face Germany’s Phillip Kohlschreiber on Centre Court, Williams plays Russia’s Margarita Gasparyan on Court One.

Reigning world champions Australia continued their imperious form to secure a first place finish in Pool A after they thrashed India 6-2 in their last preliminary clash of the Hockey World League Semi-Finals in Antwerp.

Australian strikers exposed defensive frailties of the Sardar Singh-led team as they took an unassailable 4-0 lead in the 33rd minute. Chris Ciriello grabbed the limelight of the day for scoring a hat-trick of penalty corners.

Two Maoists surrendered before the police in Malkangiri area of Odisha on Sunday.

Inspector General, Naxal Operation Odisha, Jaswant Singh, said that the two Maoists of Koraput- Malkangiri division, Adma Kawasi and Rama Madangi, surrendered after their top leader was killed last week.

At least eight Asiatic lions were found dead after flash floods struck in Gujarat Amreli’s district.

A local resident said that he found eight carcasses.

“Many lions live here. So far we have recovered the bodies of seven, eight lions. It’s difficult to ascertain the exact number of deaths,” said Mahendrasinh Khuman. (ANI)

Dubbing the Vyapam Scam as the ‘biggest cover up story’, senior advocate Vivek Tankha on Monday said that he would move the Supreme Court over death of the 42 accused and witnesses in the case.

“I have never heard of such a big scam anywhere in world. It is India’s biggest cover up story. We are going to move the Supreme Court over the matter now. We have trust in the Supreme Court; will place all the facts there. It is unprecedented that more than 40 people have died,” said Tankha.

As per reports, 42 people, including the accused and the witnesses in this case have died.

Union Railways Minister Suresh Prabhu on Monday confirmed that he has ordered an enquiry into the Churchgate mishap, after a local train rammed into the dead end at the railway station, leaving a woman seriously injured.

Prabhu took to twitter to share the information.

“Ordered enquiry into freak accident at Churchgate. All lapses of any kind responsibility will be fixed, action will be taken,” he posted.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) will hold a protest march in the national capital today, demanding the resignation of External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje and HRD Minister Smriti Irani.

The protest march will take place from Jantar Mantar to the Parliament.

The BJP, which has been defending Sushma Swaraj despite opposition demands that she be sacked for helping Lalit Modi, has been hit with another worry when the former IPL boss claimed that Raje secretly supported his immigration plea in Britain.

Bharatiya Janata Party ( BJP) leader Uma Shankar Gupta on Monday alleged that senior advocate Vivek Tankha is falling into the ‘trap’ of the Congress over the Vyapam scam death issue and added that a proper probe is going on in the case.

“It is extremely unfortunate that senior lawyers like Vivek Tankha are falling in the trap of the Congress. We would like to assure you that a proper probe is going on in the case,” said Gupta.

New study has found new markers for melanoma which may allow the disease to be accurately monitored via a routine blood test.

QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute’s Mitchell Stark said the new biomarkers could be ideally suited for monitoring tumour progression in patients diagnosed with early metastatic disease.

This panel of markers could be useful in tracking melanoma progression or recurrence in patients being monitored by their treating clinician, he added, noting that they are highly sensitive and specific and are significantly better than markers currently being used.

At least 23 militants, including foreigners, were killed today by Pakistani fighter jets in the country’s restive northwest tribal region near the Afghan border where a massive military operation is underway against the Taliban. The rebels were targeted in remote areas of Khyber and North Waziristan tribal districts

The army said in a statement that foreigners were among 23 terrorists killed in the air attacks and huge ammunition dump was blown up in the strikes in Khyber.

Dr.Abraham Kuruvilla, the professor of Neurology at Trivendrum’s Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology, has been awarded the fellowship award by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh (FRCP Edin).

The award ceremony was held on June 26 at the Queen Mother Conference Centre in the Royal College of Edinburgh, United Kingdom.

Professor Kuruvilla is an American Board certified Academic Neurologist in India holding subspecialty certification in Clinical Neurophysiology, Neuromuscular Medicine and Vascular Neurology (Stroke).

Even if symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease become apparent in old age, the biological processes that cause the mental decline may begin a couple of decades ago in the ‘middle age’, suggests a new study by an Indian-origin researcher.

Low scores on memory and thinking tests may signal Alzheimer’s up to 18 years before the disease can be diagnosed, the findings showed.

“The changes in thinking and memory that precede obvious symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease begin decades before,” said study author Kumar Bharat Rajan, assistant professor at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago.

Mumbai was shocked on Monday when a 42-feet-long blue whale was washed ashore and later died of its injuries. The blue whale is the largest extinct animal and among the heaviest existing species on the earth.

The marine mammal, weighing about 20 tonnes, was washed ashore following high tide at the Revdanda sea shore, about 20 kms from Alibaug in Maharashtra’s Raigad district, on Wednesday.

The locals who spotted the whale lying in an injured condition informed the Raigad collector office and the fisheries officials.

The 9th edition of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘Mann Ki Baat’ drew opposition ire on Monday after he avoided any reference to the political storm that has been generated by Lalit Modi issue for which Congress warned him that the issue will continue to “haunt” him.

CPI and AAP also attacked Modi for remaining silent on the controversy.

With External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj facing opposition onslaught over ‘Lalitgate’, her office has declined to provide information about the controversy surrounding restoration of former IPL boss Lalit Modi’s passport, drawing sharp criticism from Congress and the Left.

Responding to an RTI plea containing seven questions, the External Affairs Ministry said, while a part of the queries did not come under the purview of the transparency law, regarding others it pleaded lack of information.