Month: June 2015

A bus carrying British school children went off a highway and overturned near the Belgian coast on today morning, killing one driver and injuring another as well as some of the children, officials said.

The vehicle apparently went out of control, struck a bridge pillar on the E40 highway, then shot off the road, Belgian highway authorities said. The bus was carrying around 40 passengers, including 34 British children from 11 to 13 years old, authorities said.

Vice President Joe Biden worshipped and spoke at the today service of the historic African-American church where nine people were gunned down during Bible study earlier this month.

The vice president’s surprise appearance came on the second Sunday the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church held regular services following the June 17 shooting. Police contend the attack was racially motived and have charged a 21-year-old white man with the killings.

Biden said he’d visited Emanuel before and knew the Rev. Clementa Pinckney, the pastor of the church who was among those killed.

The world’s Jewish population has grown to be nearly as large as it was before the Holocaust, an Israeli think tank said in its annual report today.

The Jewish People Policy Institute said there are currently 14.2 million Jews in the world. When factoring in individuals with one Jewish parent and others who identify as partially Jewish, the figure approaches 16.5 million the Jewish population on the eve of World War II. The Nazis and their collaborators murdered about 6 million Jews in the Holocaust.

The army of officers searching for a surviving escaped killer continued their work under steady rainfall today, keeping their focus on the dense and boggy woods of upstate New York where his fellow fugitive was fatally shot two days earlier.

The US military has repatriated two Tunisian men who were brutally interrogated in a secret CIA prison and held in Afghanistan for more than a decade, the Pentagon said today.

Ridha Ahmad al-Najjar and Lutfi al-Arabi al-Gharisi were flown home on June 15, officials said.

Both men had been incarcerated by the Afghan regime since December, when the United States handed over control of prison operations in Afghanistan under a bilateral security treaty.

The FTII authorities here have received a communication from the Information and Broadcasting Ministry, giving an appointment this week to the striking students to discuss their demand for removal of TV actor Gajendra Chauhan from the post of chairman.

Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) Director D J Narain told PTI today that the tentative date suggested for a dialogue with the agitating students is July 3, which has been conveyed to the the FTII Students’ Association, spearheading the strike, which has entered the 17th day.

Jharkhand Chief Minister Raghubar Das today announced to give away 20,000 e-rickshaws in the state.

Announcing the state government’s decision to give e-rickshaws to rickshaw pullers in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Das said the state was on the path of progress and Jharkhand would be a prosperous state in the next five years.

A mild tremor shook Nepal today in continuing aftershocks following the devastating earthquake two months ago.

The 4.3 magnitude tremor was recorded at Sindhupalchok district, 50 kms east of Kathmandu, according to the National Seismological Centre.

With this, a total of 333 aftershocks of 4 or above magnitude were recorded after the earthquake of April 25 that ravaged the country killing nearly 9,000 people.

Earlier in the morning, a tremor was also felt in eastern Nepal at about 7 AM local time.

Police today busted a prostitution racket and arrested seven persons on the charge of running brothels in different parts of the city.

According to police, M Veerababu and R Ramesh are allegedly organisers of brothel houses which they have been running in different areas of Hyderabad and Secunderabad since the last eight years.

They were also involved in similar cases and wanted in four cases, a release from City Police stated.

Claiming that there was resentment among the minority Muslim community over the central government breaking the age-old tradition of holding iftar parties during the month of Ramadan, West Bengal state Congress chief Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury on Saturday urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to continue the ritual.

“Ever since independence, all governments had extended iftar party to the people belonging to a community to express love, affection and (sense of) brotherhood,” Chowdhury said in a letter to Modi.

Two more accused in the high-profile Madhya Pradesh Professional Examination Board (MPPEB) scam died in the past 24 hours at Gwalior and Indore, adding another murky dimension to the massive scandal in which several politicians and bureaucrats are allegedly involved.

While the death of 40-year-old Dr Rajendra Arya at Birla Hospital in Gwalior this morning was reported to be due to some disease, that of Narendra Singh Tomar (29) in Indore jail was under mysterious circumstances.

India hockey coach Paul van Ass said inability to handle fast-paced attack resulted in his side’s capitulation against World champions Australia in the FIH World League Semifinals, here today.

“Frayed nerves and inability to cope with the high rhythm set by the Australians hurt us very badly at the start of the match,” said van Ass after India were hammered 6-2 by Australia in the last preliminary match.

The gruesome “selfie” taken by the man suspected of beheading his boss during an attack on a gas factory in France was sent to Syria, sources close to the investigation said today.

The macabre picture of Yassin Salhi and the severed head was sent via the WhatsApp messaging service to a number in Canada but authorities had said yesterday that the number could be a relay for a recipient elsewhere.

Authorities were convinced that the final recipient would be in Iraq or Syria, where hundreds of people from France have gone to wage jihad.

Police personnel in presence of district officials have removed a religious idol which was installed on a plot here which had led to tension between two communities, police said today.

The idol was removed late last night by police personnel in presence of district officials, police said.

Most of the people who were sitting there had already left for their homes before the idol was removed and rest were peacefully sent too, they said.

Police force is still deployed at the spot to prevent any untoward situation, they said.

Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) ideologue K.N. Govindacharya on Monday said that instead of trying to give legal excuses, the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) must take a principled stand on its leaders.

“The politics of morality cannot be expected of the opposition. This new government must show morality. Instead of trying to show legal excuses the government must take principled stand. Otherwise what is difference between opposition and the government?,” K.N. Govindacharya told ANI.

Govt. of Telangana intends to connect all the 5232 Gram Panchayats through computers. While addressing a workshop, IT Minister, Mr. K.T. Rama Rao told that Gram Panchayats are being given an opportunity to function independently. They have been provided with computers. He informed that this year Gram Panchayat collected Rs. 264 crores as tax which is a record collection. He also informed that work has started to provide drinking water to every house in all the Gram Panchayats. He also said that 40 crore plants would be planted under Haritha Haram project.

Accusing Governor E S L Narasimhan of favouring Telangana, a lawyers’ body from Andhra Pradesh today demanded his resignation.

Andhra Pradesh Lawyers Joint Action Committee (JAC), which held a meeting here today, said Narasimhan, who is the common Governor of both the states, was giving more importance to Telangana and not following Section 8 of Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014.

The section deals with responsibility of Governor to protect the residents of the common capital of Hyderabad.

A 24-year-old youth drowned in a quarry filled with rain water in the Sanjay Gandhi National Park here today, police said.

The mishap occurred soon after Anil Singh ventured into the pit near the Tiku Ji Ni Wadi, along with his friends, said Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC) official Santosh Kadam.

He said Singh was working in Merchant Navy and was on a two-month vacation.

Kadam said Singh went deep into water whereas his friends, Yogesh Singh and Jagdish Das were swimming in shallow water.

His body is yet to be fished out of water.

A 28-year-old businessman was found murdered in Ranhola area of West Delhi this morning.

According to police, the businessman was identified as Shameen Kaifi, a resident of Ranhola area. He was involved in timer trade.

Police said that a call to the police control room was made by a passerby around 6 AM, informing that a man was lying unconscious under a roadside tree. Police rushed to the spot and found strangulation marks on his throat.

He was taken to a nearby hospital where he was declared dead on arrival.

Six people remained in “serious condition” in hospital today two days after a mass shooting at a beachside hotel in Tunisia that left 38 people dead, the hotel’s Spanish management said.

“The hotel management is in permanent contact with local hospitals checking on the condition of the wounded who are still hospitalised,” the RIU group, which runs the Riu Imperial Marhaba Hotel, said in a statement.

“On a positive note, the number of hospitalised has been decreasing but our thoughts are with the six injured who are still in a serious condition,” it added.

One student was today arrested for transmitting questions via Whatsapp during an UGC Net 2015 examination, police said.

Rimon Hassan of Natun Beliashampur of Bhagwabgola in Murshidabad district was caught allegedly while transmitting photographs of questions from the examination hall of a school in central Kolkata during third paper of the UGC Net, they said.

Principal Sraboni Samanta of Abhinav Bharati High School, which was the exam venue, lodged a complaint with the Shakespeare Sarani Police Station against Hassan, acting on which police arrested the youth, police added.

Kurukshetra and Yamuna Nagar districts of Haryana are to be included in Krishna Circuit, Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar said today.

Khattar stated this while addressing a public gathering after reviewing the Saraswati river revival project at Muglawali village of Yamuna Nagar district.

In next two-three years, with the support of central government, this district would become world popular for its religious, cultural, spiritual importance in tourism sector, the chief minister said.

RSS ideologue Govindacharya today said Sushma Swaraj and Vasundhara Raje should quit on moral grounds in the wake of the Lalit Modi controversy as from common man’s perception they are “guilty”.

“They should do it like Advani had done it, Lal Bahadur Shastri, Sharad Yadav. There are many such examples and it will benefit the party,” Govindacharya said when asked whether the External Affairs Minister and the Rajasthan Chief Minister should resign in the wake of the raging row over the former IPL ccommissioner.

A special team deputed by Punjab government for the evacuation of pilgrims stranded at Gobind Ghat and Gobind Dham due to heavy rains in Uttarakhand has started rescue operations.

The incharge of the team, A S Miglani, said the team was in touch with pilgrims at Gurdwara Sahib in Joshimath.

He said the bridge between the Gobind Ghat and Gobind Dham which had been washed away due to heavy rains has been repaired by the local army and the pilgrims have been brought back safely to Gobind Ghat.

Daniel Bell-Drummond’s sparkling hundred for Kent could not prevent Australia winning the opening match of their Ashes tour by 255 runs at Canterbury today.

Almost 40 years to the day since England great Colin Cowdrey made a match-winning 151 not out for Kent against Australia on the same St Lawrence ground, Bell-Drummond delighted a new generation of fans with an innings of 127.

However, the 21-year-old’s effort was in a losing cause with Kent, set an improbable 550 for victory, bowled out for 294 in their second innings shortly after tea on Sunday’s fourth and final day.