Month: June 2015

While the eighth edition of the Indian Premier League was largely controversy-free, a news of Rajasthan Royals’ player getting approached to fix games created a stir.

Although the player informed Board of Control for Cricket in India about the approach, his name did not come out then. However, as per the report in ‘Hindustan Times’, it was Rajasthan Royals’ leg-spinner Pravin Tambe who was approached by a Mumbai-based cricketer to change the outcome of the matches.

Commonwealth Games silver medallist pair of Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa emerged as the lone Indian survivors at the Canada Open after reaching the semifinals of the USD 50,000 Grand Prix badminton tournament here.

The 2011 World Championship bronze medallists notched up a 21-19 21-13 win over Hong Kong combo of Chan Kaka Tsz Ka Yuen Sin Ying in women’s doubles competition at the Markin MacPhail Centre.

A mentally unstable man has been arrested for allegedly killing his mother and wife in Bahbhni area, police said here today.

Santosh Kumar Dubey assaulted his mother Pranmati (60) and wife Sangita with a stick in Sawara village yesterday, it said.

While Pranmati died on the spot, Sangita succumbed to injuries at a hospital, police said.

Acting on the complaint of Santosh’s elder brother Azad, police lodged an FIR and arrested the accused.

Prime Minister Manuel Valls warned today that France faced more attacks to come after a grisly killing in which a suspected Islamist pinned the severed head of his boss to the gates of a gas factory.

The alleged assailant, identified as 35-year-old married father-of-three Yassin Salhi, also caused an explosion by smashing his vehicle into the Air Products factory near France’s second city of Lyon.

Embattled Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje arrived here today to attend a NITI Aayog meeting and is also likely to meet the BJP top brass amidst mounting opposition pressure for her resignation in connection with the Lalit Modi controversy.

Raje has travelled to the national capital a day after Rajasthan BJP refuted all the allegations being levelled at her, saying yesterday that the document which she signed in support of Modi’s immigration application to the UK government was never produced in court as she had backed out of it later.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni may have faced lot of flak for his team’s embarrassing ODI series defeat against Bangladesh but Pakistan T20 captain Shahid Afridi is “not happy” in the manner the Indian ODI skipper was being targeted.

Afridi termed this as “sub-continental trend” where the cricketing heroes are pilloried after one odd series defeat.

Also read: ‘Why should Dhoni quit?’

The Congress party on Thursday claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi cancelled Lal Krishna Advani’s invitation to an event marking the 40th anniversary of the declaration of Emergency after hearing the Bharatiya Janata Party veteran’s views on emergency powers.

“I was told that initially, Modi ji wanted to invite Advani ji for this [event]. But I understand that after hearing Advani ji’s opinion about the existence of emergency powers, the Prime Minister did a review thinking on this [the invitation],” Congress leader Tom Vadakkan told ANI.

Indian mobile phones-maker Celkon on Friday launched its first state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in Medchal, Telangana, a company statement said. The manufacturing unit is 30,000 square feet in area and is ready to start production from day one.

The unit will start with four production lines which will deliver a production capacity of 200,000 units per month. The production lines will be increased to 12 and the production is expected to touch 500,000 units per month within the next quarter.

Embattled Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje arrived here today to attend a NITI Aayog meeting and is also likely to meet the BJP top brass amidst mounting opposition pressure for her resignation in connection with the Lalit Modi controversy.

Raje has travelled to the national capital a day after Rajasthan BJP refuted all the allegations being levelled at her, saying yesterday that the document which she signed in support of Modi’s immigration application to the UK government was never produced in court as she had backed out of it later.

If you are a diabetic and you are finding it difficult to develop diabetes game plan, then don’t worry as here is how to get started.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention lists seven behaviors, healthy eating, physical activity, monitoring blood sugar, taking medications as prescribed, good problem-solving skills, healthy coping skills and risk-reduction behaviors, which result in good blood sugar control, reduce complications and improve quality of life, U.S. News reported.

The Government of Tunisia has said that it will shut down about 80 mosques, which have been charged with inciting violence.

The BBC quoted Tunisian Prime Minister Habib Essid, as saying that following Friday’s attack on a hotel located at a beach resort Sousse that left 38 people dead, there is a feeling within the government that these mosques which are operating outside state control, are spreading “venom”.

With three terror attacks rocking France, Tunisia and Kuwait on so-called ‘Black Friday,’ security has been beefed up in London as two major events take place in the city.

While London’s Armed Forces Day will take place between 11am and 6pm at Woolwich Barracks, this year’s Pride Festival will start from Baker Street to Whitehall at about 1 pm. Last year’s event was attended by almost 750,000 people, reported International Business Times.

The White House is illuminated in rainbow colors after today`s historic Supreme Court ruling legalizing gay marriage in Washington June 26, 2015. Reuters

The White House is lit up in rainbow colors in commemoration of the Supreme Court’s ruling to legalise same-sex marriage.

Gay and lesbian couples in Washington and across the nation are celebrating yesterday’s ruling, which will put an end to same-sex marriage bans in the 14 states that still maintain them.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Government filed an interim application on Saturday in the Delhi High Court against the appointment of Joint Commissioner of Police Mukesh Kumar Meena as Anti Corruption Branch (ACB) chief.

The application is in the petition filed by the Delhi Government against the Ministry of Home Affairs notification.

Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia yesterday said that Meena was currently under the scanner for an alleged hawala racket.

Seven forest employees were arrested in Kadapa, Andhra Pradesh, for their alleged involvement in smuggling of red sanders, police said on Saturday.

The accused were arrested by Kadapa police in a joint operation with anti-red sanders task force from Tirupathi late last evening. About 14 red sander logs worth Rs 9.28 lakh were recovered from their possession, Ontimitta Circle Inspector Ulasaiah said.

Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje, who was under pressure to quit over her alleged involvement in Lalitgate but is believed to have received a clean chit from the top BJP leadership, arrived here on Saturday to attend a meeting of the NITI Aayog.

Raje, who flew from Rajasthan’s capital Jaipur to New Delhi in a chopper this morning, may call on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other senior BJP leaders amidst the raging controversy involving Lalit Modi.

Assuring the safety of the ‘Char Dham yatris’, Uttarakhand Chief Minister Harish Rawat on Saturday said the yatra will continue normally despite the incessant rains in the state.

“The situation is absolutely normal. I don’t think there is anything to fear for anyone. The Yatra will go on normally. There is no doubt, that there was heavy rainfall. This is climate change. We ensure the safety of the yatris. People on Chardham yatra need not worry, everything is under control,” he told ANI.

Rioters in a mock drill of Uttar Pradesh Police were allegedly seen using saffron flags in Allahabad, provoking a row with opposition BJP alleging that the police action was meant to “please” the government.

During the mock drill, policemen were learning ways to disperse the rioters who were carrying saffron flags in their hands.

Asked about incident, IG Public Grievances, AM Jain told reporters,”Props are used in mock drill of the police. I am not aware of this particular case. Senior officers were present there during mock drill, they will see to it.”

One more accused has been arrested by the Mumbai Crime Branch in connection with the Malwani hooch tragedy, taking the total number of arrests in the case to nine.

As per reports, the accused, identified as Kishore Patel, is a Gujarat-based supplier of Methanol.The National Human Rights Commission had earlier taken suo motu cognizance of the tragedy and issued notices to the Chief Secretary, Principal Secretary, Excise Department, Government of Maharashtra and Mumbai Police Commissioner calling for factual reports into the incident within two week.

Lalit Modi’s claim that he had “run into” Priyanka Gandhi and her husband Robert Vadra in London triggered fresh war of words between BJP and Congress on Friday in the escalating row over the help rendered to the tainted former IPL boss by two leaders of the saffron party. BJP alleged links between Lalit Modi and the Gandhi family while the Congress said it was a case of ‘chhota Modi’ helping ‘bada Modi’ (Narendra Modi) with lies”.

Lalit Modi had on Thursday night tweeted, “Happy to meet the Gandhi family… In London. I had run into Robert and Priyanka separately in a restaurant”.

CPI candidate G. Mahendran, who is contesting against Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa in the RK Nagar bypolls, on Saturday hailed the Election Commission’s (EC) arrangements for the ongoing polls.

“People are very eager to vote. That is a good sign. But the EC has also made very good arrangements everywhere. Every booth they fixed a CCTV camera and there is a micro observer in every booth. All these are welcome things,” said Mahendran.

The bypolls for Tamil Nadu’s RK Nagar constituency began this morning amid tight security across Chennai.

Priyanka Gandhi’s office on Friday said she has “not had a meeting, even socially” with former IPL chief Lalit Modi whose claim that he had “run into” her and her husband Robert Vadra in London triggered a political row.

“Priyanka ji has not had a meeting with Mr Lalit Modi, not even socially,” her office said.

The clarification came in the midst of a fresh war of words between BJP and Congress over Lalit Modi’s tweets in the escalating row over the help rendered to the tainted former IPL boss by two leaders of the saffron party.

Dubbing Emergency as “black spot” in the country’s history, Union Minister M Venkaiah Naidu today asked the Congress party to clear its stand on whether the imposition Emergency was right or wrong.

“Grave injustice was done by the Congress party with people during Emergency. Civil and fundamental rights of people were curbed. Congress party practically murdered democracy (at that time).

Intending to replace Soviet-origin T-72 tanks, the Army has invited proposals from domestic and foreign firms for designing ‘Future Ready Combat Vehicle’ (FRCV) tanks, significantly at a time when DRDO is already working on such a project.

The Army has issued a Request for Information (RFI) inviting responses from companies by July 31 to design tanks which could replace the T-72 tanks, official sources said. The RFI is open to both domestic and foreign firms.

The Indian Government has recalled its High Commissioner to New Zealand following allegations that his wife had assaulted a member of the mission staff.

High Commissioner Ravi Thapar was formally recalled and a vehicle was seen this morning at his Wellington address, media reports here said.

The NZ Radio website quoted said local police, as saying that the staff member had made the allegation of assault against Sharmila Thapar, and had returned to India in early May.