Month: June 2015

In a landmark judgement, the US Supreme Court ruled on Friday that gays can marry nationwide and states cannot ban same-sex marriage – an issue that divides America and India.

The 5-4 ruling giving LGBT rights activists their biggest victory came after decades of litigation and fast-changing public opinion that saw President Barack Obama to come out in support of same sex marriage three years ago.

His administration supported the challengers to the gay marriage bans in the apex court.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday expressed his delight on receiving former president APJ Abdul Kalam’s book ‘Transcendence: My Spiritual Encounters with Pramukh Swamiji’.

The Prime Minister took to twitter to share his thoughts.

“Delighted to receive Dr. @APJAbdulKalam’s book ‘Transcendence: My Spiritual Encounters with Pramukh Swamiji’ from Brahmvihari Swami ji,” he wrote.

“The book is a highly personal account of interactions between two very respected personalities. @APJAbdulKalam,” he added. (ANI)

Chief Minister Nitish Kumar asserted on Friday that “jungle raj” will never return in Bihar as long as he is at the helm.

Nitish Kumar also asserted that his government would never shield any law-breaker nor implicate anyone in any false case.

“Till the time I am at the helm of affairs, the rule of law will prevail in the state,” he said.

“As I see it, the law is equal for everybody and is no one is above the law,” he added. “‘Jungle raj’ will not return (in Bihar) till power is in my hands.”

Charging the Mamata Banerjee-led government in West Bengal with being “dictatorial”, the BJP on Friday said there was “undeclared emergency” in the state under the Trinamool Congress rule.

Addressing a rally here to mark the 40th anniversary of the Emergency, union minister and senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader Prakash Javadekar warned the Trinamool that if it continues to walk the way of stifling democracy then it will be disposed off by the people.

Home Minister Nayani Narsimha Reddy has praised the city police for successfully protecting law and order in Hyderabad City.

The Home Minister inaugurated new Police Station buildings under Cyberabad Police Commissionerate limits, build at an estimated cost of Rs 45 crore, including additional buildings worth Rs 10 crore at Cyberabad Commissionate and Municipal Complex worth Rs 3 crore at Gachibowli. The Home Minister also inaugurated a Traffic Police Station in Madhapur and another Police Station at Jagadgirigutta.

The Office of Priyanka Gandhi on Friday refuted reports of meeting former IPL chairman Lalit Modi in London.

Earlier, Modi took to Twitter to claim that he met Priyanka Gandhi and her husband Robert Vadra in London last year.

“Happy to meet the Gandhi Family in London. I had run into Robert and Priyanka separately in a restaurant – they were with Timmy Sarna. He has my no. They can call me. Will tell them what I feel about them exactly,” the former IPL chief tweeted. (ANI)

Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader K Jana Reddy has charged Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao with hoodwinking people with assurances, which cannot be implemented.

Speaking at Bhupalapally constituency-level party workers’ meeting on Friday, Jana Reddy said no government in the last 150 years announced that it would give three acre land to the poor. He also slammed the Chief Minister saying he was deceiving the people with assurances which cannot be fulfilled.

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shah reached Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s official 7, Race Course Road residence for a meeting with the latter.

Detailed story to follow. (ANI)

Greenway, a Mumbai-based startup enterprise, announced the launch of Greenway Stoves, range of modern, healthy and eco-friendly stoves that form ideal replacement for traditional mud stoves.

At least 25 people were killed and at least 202 others wounded on Friday in a suicide bomb attack on a Shia mosque which the Islamic State (IS) militant group claimed responsibility for, media reports said.

The blast rocked the Imam Al-Sadeq Mosque, located in the busy neighbourhood of al-Sawabir of the capital city, Xinhua reported citing the official Kuwait News Agency.

Kuwait’s interior ministry said that 25 people were killed and at least 202 others were injured in the blast, which occurred when a large number of Muslims were offering Friday prayers inside the Mosque.

About 66.23% candidates in the first year, and 42.77% candidates of second year have passed the intermediate supplementary exams whose results were declared by Deputy Chief Minister Kadiyam Srihari here on Friday.

The Deputy CM informed that as many as 973,237 students applied for the Intermediate exams. of them, 466,448 students were of first year while the rest 5,06,789 were of senior Intermediate. While 150,685 had appeared for improvement, 49,568 appeared for Non-Improvement. He informed that the revaluation and recounting dates have been extended till July 4.

A 10 member delegation from the University of the Thai Chamber of Commerce (UTCC), headed by Verasak Supprasert, Director of International Industrial Economics, Ministry of Industry, visited Sri City on Friday. The purpose of their visit was to have a detailed study about the infrastructure and the policies.

About 50 activists of National Students Union of India (NSUI) were taken into custody when they tried to barge into the office of Telangana State Board of Intermediate Education at Nampally on Friday.

The Hyderabad High Court will deliver its verdict on June 30 on the bail petition of TDP MLA A Revanth Reddy in the ‘Cash for Vote’ case.

The High Court has heard the arguments of both the Anti-Corruption Bureau and Revanth Reddy’s lawyer and reserved its judgment for June 30. While senior advocate Siddharth Luthra represented Revanth Reddy, Advocate General Ramakrishna Reddy argued for the Telangana Government.

Telangana TDP leaders on Friday called on Legislative Assembly Speaker S Madhusudan Chary seeking action against five TDP MLAs who defected to the Telangana Rashtra Samithi.

Led by TDP Legislature Party leader Errabelli Dayakar Rao and State Unit president L Ramana, the TDP leaders met the Speaker at his residence and submitted a memorandum seeking action against rebel MLAs. They said that the MLAs who defected to the TRS should be disqualified as members of Legislative Assembly.

Former MP Undavalli Arun Kumar on Friday stated that Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao might lose his post if allegations of phone tapping are proved against him.

Speaking to media persons at Vijayawada, Undavalli alleged that KCR has been abusing the people of Andhra Pradesh for one or the other reason. He said AP people have nothing to do with the ‘Cash for Vote’ scam, therefore, it was wrong to link the scam with them.

Sania Mirza and Martina Hingis’s Wimbledon preparations were on Friday cut short when the Indo-Swiss tennis pair was ousted from the $731,000 Eastbourne International after losing their women’s doubles semifinal match in straight sets here.

French-Slovenian combine Caroline Garcia and Katarina Srebotnik bettered the top seeds winning 7-5, 6-4 in an hour and 22 minutes at the Devonshire Park Lawn Tennis Club. The fourth seeds exacted revenge for their only previous meeting when Sania and Martina won on the clay courts of Rome in May.

Pakistan’s Punjab assembly has reportedly passed a unanimous resolution urging the government to try Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) chief Altaf Hussain and his aides under Article 6 of the Islamic Republic’s Constitution, which deals with high treason.

The resolution was submitted by Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf’s ( PTI) Mian Aslam Iqbal just days after a BBC report accused the MQM of receiving funds from Indian authorities, reported the Dawn. It also urged the federal government to launch an investigation into the claims made against the party.

Union Health Minister J.P. Nadda was on Friday briefed about the readiness of states to tackle dengue and directed officers to work in coordination with the Swachh Bharat campaign to ensure a mosquito-free environment.

Nadda directed the concerned officials to continuously monitor the situation and to keep him apprised.

Nadda has given topmost priority to advance preparedness of states affected by dengue in order to effectively manage the viral disease. He has been personally monitoring the situation and the preparedness of states, said an official statement.

After having a successful run at the box office with films like “Ek villain”, “Aashiqui 2” and “Haider”, actress Shraddha Kapoor has once again managed to garner appreciation for her role in new dance film “ABCD 2”. She says such acknowledgement encourages her to work harder and prove her mettle in the industry.

“I cannot express how happy I am to receive this kind of love and appreciation from audiences. It only encourages me to work even harder and put my best foot forward each time,” Shraddha said in a statement.

In a by-election tipped to bring her back to the Tamil Nadu assembly, Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaaa faces a CPI candidate in the Radhakrishnan Nagar constituency here on Saturday.

Around 250,000 voters are eligible to take part in the electoral battle whose two main candidates are the AIADMK general secretary and C. Mahendran of the Communist Party of India.

There are also 26 other independents and candidates from small parties in the fray including social activist K.R. Ramaswamy, popularly known as “Traffic Ramaswamy”.

The polling will begin at 8 a.m. and close at 5 p.m.

At least 146 civilians were killed and more than 200 others wounded over the last 24 hours by the Islamic State (IS) terrorists in Syria’s predominantly-Kurdish city of Kobane, a monitor group reported on Friday.

Medical sources in Kobane in northern Syria said 146 civilians were gunned down by the IS terrorists since Thursday morning, the time when the IS group infiltrated into parts of the city and detonated three car bombs while engaging in battles against Kurdish fighters affiliated with the People’s Protection Units (YPG), according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Angelo Mathews and Kaushal Silva produced contrasting performances on Friday to help Sri Lanka take a stable 166-run lead at stumps on the second day of the second Test against Pakistan in Colombo.

Resuming at an overnight score of 70-1, Sri Lanka suffered early blows when Kumar Sangakkara and Lahiru Thirimanne were dismissed in a short span of time.

Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister M.Venkaiah Naidu on Friday said that there were no allegations of corruption against any ministers in the BJP Government, adding that the Centre has remained free of scams and scandals.

“There is no crisis at all. The government is functioning effectively. The government is focusing its attention on development and good governance. There is no allegation of any corruption against any ministers in Modi ji’s government. The government is doing an excellent job. There are no scams and no scandals,” Naidu said.

Former Delhi minister Somnath Bharti on Friday failed to keep his appointment with the DCW after the commission had served the Aam Aadmi Party ( AAP) leaderwith a notice in connection with a domestic violence charge.

“Somnath Bharti did not show up today. The next summons is for July 3. If he fails to come, we will file a report with the police,” DCW chief Barkha Shukla Singh said.