Month: June 2015

Arunachal Pradesh-based Manik Paul, known for his stunning aerial acts, was on Saturday announced the winner of the reality TV show “India’s Got Talent”.

Along with the trophy, Manik walked away with Rs.5,000,000 and a Maruti Suzuki Celerio car after he looped his way to victory in the finale of the popular TV show’s sixth season, which was full of entertainment with dance, drama, rapping and shadow art.

An animated Manik couldn’t contain his emotions as tears rolled down his face. His mother too got emotional.

Amid vociferous demands for her resignation over her help to former IPL chief Lalit Modi, Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje on Saturday attended a NITI Aayog meeting in the capital but returned to Jaipur without getting an audience with either Prime Minister Narendra Modi or BJP chief Amit Shah.

The Congress continued to mount pressure for Raje’s resignation and asked the prime minister to follow “raj dharma” and not “Raje dharma”.

Lalit Modi, who had on Friday tweeted the names of some Congress personalities he had “met”, on Saturday praised the prime minister.

National flag carrier Air India will operate its international flight from Biju Patnaik Airport here by July, it was announced on Saturday.

Air India will operate a flight from Bhubaneswar to Abu Dhabi in the UAE via Hyderabad.

“…it has been decided to start operation of international flights from Biju Patnaik Airport. Air India will commence international operations before July 10,” said Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.

Meanwhile, the Odisha government decided to double tourist footfalls to about 2 crore which are at present about 1 crore per annum.

Indian-origin US envoy Richard Verma on Saturday expressed gratitude to the values of education and service that his India-educated parents instilled in him, including once of his parents spending days reviewing why their son got an ‘A minus’ in his report card when the other five were As.

Addressing the convocation at Ashoka University here, Verma said: “For me, I am extremely humbled that my path has led me from a modest upbringing in Western Pennsylvania to become ambassador — the first Indian American ambassador — to the country my parents called home.”

President Pranab Mukherjee on Saturday condoled the deaths in a road accident in Maharashtra’s Jalgaon district.

“I am saddened to learn about the accident yesterday in which a container truck rammed into a passenger bus near Chalisgaon, Jalgaon district. I understand a number of persons lost their lives and some were critically injured,” the president said in a message to Maharashtra Governor C.V. Rao, according to a Rashtrapati Bhavan statement.

Chandigarh-based Prince Narula was on Saturday announced as the winner of stunt reality show “MTV Roadies X2”, after testing the physical and mental strength of 21 contestants at various locations in India and Nepal.

The popular youth reality show, which started its journey with auditions in December last year, witnessed various changes starting from the new concept to gang leaders and groups.

For the first time, it was shot without Raghu Ram and Rajiv Lakshman, who were judges and mentors in the past editions.

Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi on Saturday said frequent visits of union ministers to Assam will not benefit the state unless the central government gives adequate fund for its development.

Gogoi said the regular visits of union ministers were a new trait never witnessed since independence and the state was not benefited from their visits as they were “paying only lip service”.

A man and his daughter were killed while two other family members injured in a grenade blast at a warehouse in a hospital campus in Nagaland’s commercial hub Dimapur on Saturday evening, police said.

The deceased were identified as 40-year-old Prakash Vishwakarma and his daughter Ruth Gurung, while the two injured were Prakash’s son-in-law Deepak Gurung and grandson Robin, who is only four years old.

Police said Prakash, who worked at the hospital, was using a part of the warehouse as his residence.

“Masaan” starring Sanjay Mishra and Richa Chadha is ready to release in India on July 24. Director Neeraj Ghaywan, however, says an India release would have been difficult had the film not won awards at the prestigious Cannes film festival.

“We didn’t go to Cannes just to gain some appreciation and come back. We received tremendous buzz due to our Cannes victory and without this, perhaps we couldn’t have released the film,” Neeraj told the media at the trailer launch of the film.

Karun Chandok, only Indian racing in Formula E, finished 12th at the London ePrix round one here on Saturday.

Driving for the Mahindra racing team Chandok clocked 48 minutes 30.379 seconds competing in the second-last Formula E race of the season.

His team-mate Brazilian Bruno Senna had to settle for the 16th spot as it took him 48 minutes 43.207 seconds to complete the 29 laps of the circuit.

It was 26-year-old Sebastian Buemi of Switzerland who clinched the race in a thriller against Jerome D’Ambrosio staying ahead only by 0.939 seconds.

A massive fire at a recreational park in Taiwan’s Taipei city injured at least 228 people on Saturday, a media report said.

Xinhua said the fire — suspected to be the result of an explosion of an unknown flammable powder — broke out at the main stage in the Formosa Water Park in Bali district around 8.30 p.m.

Suffering various degrees of burns, the injured, including 96 seriously wounded, were rushed to hospitals in New Taipei city, and Taipei and Taoyuan, according to the local fire department.

(IANS)

Eurogroup president Jeroen Dijsselbloem on Saturday said 18 Eurogroup financial ministers rejected Greece’s request for an extension so that it could put the creditors’ proposals to a popular vote on July 5.

“The current financial assistance arrangement with Greece would expire on June 30,” said an official statement released by the Eurogroup after an emergency financial ministers’ meeting in Brussels.

Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh today expressed confidence in winning the forthcoming Bihar Assembly elections with a majority, stating that the fight will “not be on caste lines”.

The upcoming election in Bihar will not be contested in the name of cast or religion. BJP will win the elections on the basis of the global image of our Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he told reporters. Singh was paying a visit to Rajya Sabha MP KC Tyagi’s residence, to condole the death of his younger brother.

Congress leader and former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Ghulam Nabi Azad on Saturday criticised the security forces over the alleged incident of firing of tear gas shells inside a mosque in Srinagar during a protest.

“I am pained to read that teargas shells have been directly fired inside the grand mosque (Jamia Masjid) of Kashmir,” he said.

A leopard was captured by forest department officials on Saturday after it entered into a residential area of Uttar Pradesh’s Pilibhit district.

According to locals, this leopard has been coming to the residential area since the past 6-7 days.

“This leopard has been eating our dogs and hens. We are not able to sleep at night,” said a local.

A forest official stated that the leopard has got minor injuries, which will heal soon.(ANI)

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will launch the Digital India Week on July 1 here aiming to encourage involvement and creating awareness about the field, Communications and IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said on Saturday.

“Many dignitaries will join us on that with their investment plans for the sector. We expect investments of billions of dollars from them. These investments will also result in employment to several lakhs of people,” the minister said at a press meet.

With BJP under attack over Lalit Modi row, RSS mouthpiece “Organiser” on Saturday said the controversy over the former IPL boss’ links with various politicians was not “sudden” and insisted that it demands more explanations from UPA government rather than the current dispensation.

“Lalit Modi scandal and his relations with various politicians resurrected in last few days. It was not sudden,” it said in an editorial, noting that he had declared in 2013 after he was banned from any official position in Indian cricket that he was “going to go after them”.

A 25-year-old woman was arrested for killing her husband with the help of her lover, police said on Saturday.

Gulistan and her lover Rizwan Saifi, in his late 20s, were arrested for strangling Salim on Thursday night inside his house in east Delhi’s New Ashok Nagar area.

Salim, 35, stayed with his wife Gulistan and two children. Saifi, who is a distant relative, also lived with them.

In a shocking incident, a 35-year- old elected representative of Gangrar Panchayat Samiti allegedly married a 6-year-old girl earlier this week, officials of Chittorgarh district said on Saturday.

District Collector Ved Prakash and SP Chittorgarh Prasanna Kumar Khamesara said the administration came to know about the incident, which prima facie appears to be a case of child marriage, when a picture of the wedding began circulating on WhatsApp yesterday.

The food authorities in Telangana on Saturday ordered re-testing of Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) food products, after the results of a test showed the presence of bacteria linked to food poisoning in a sample of its fried chicken.

Director of Institute of Preventive Medicine ( IPM), K Amrendra Reddy, said that samples have been sent for examination.

The framing of charges against self-styled godman Asaram in a rape case could not be taken up on Saturday as the judge was on leave.

This is the third time the charge-framing has been postponed in the case before the Gandhinagar court.

The proceedings were adjourned to July 10 as the Additional District judge RA Ghoghari was on leave, said the Special Public Prosecutor RC Kodekar.

In view of the ‘Godavari Pushkarams’, Andhra Pradesh police on Saturday said they have made elaborate security arrangements in all Pushkaram areas including an aerial surveillance through drones.

The 12-day-long ‘Godavari Pushkarams’ will be held along the banks of river Godavari from July 14 to July 25.

During this period, 3 to 4 crore pilgrims from across the country are expected to visit ‘Godavari Pushakarams’ mainly at Rajahmundry, Kovvur, Devipatnam and Kunavaram in East and West Godavari districts.

One of the high-class areas in the city, Film Nagar, immediately brings to mind luxurious buildings owned by Tollywood stars, good restaurants and of course, the omnipresent high-end vehicles. But the ‘Dream Nagar’ when viewed closely gives a different picture.

A visit to the government primary school located in Film Nagar’s slum area tells its nightmare.

According to a teacher at school, when it rains, drainage water floods the school and even reaches up to the stairs compelling children to paddle through the dirty water to enter classrooms.

US Secretary of State John Kerry joined the Iranian nuclear talks with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius here on Saturday as the June 30 deadline approached.

The talks were the latest efforts in a bid to reach a long-term deal to end Tehran’s disputed nuclear programme, Xinhua reported.

The sides made some progress on April 2 in Switzerland but significant gaps remain over the sequencing of sanctions relief and the clarification of Iran’s controversial nuclear activities.

At least 24 people were killed and 24 wounded on Saturday in Iraqi airstrikes and clashes with Islamic State (IS) militants across Iraq, security sources said.

In Anbar province, at least 12 IS militants were killed when an Iraqi aircraft carried out an airstrike on an IS position in the town of Qaim, near the Iraqi-Syrian border, a provincial security source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

Separately, an army helicopter gunship pounded the city of Fallujah, some 50 km west of Baghdad, leaving four people dead and seven injured, the source said.