Mumbai, October 22: Maharashtra’s ruling Congress-led alliance was ahead in the race to control the 288-member assembly Thursday as counting of votes polled in the Oct 13 elections progressed.
Counting trends from 120 of the 288 constituencies showed the Congress and its ally Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) ahead in 58 places. The Shiv Sena and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) were forging ahead in 43 constituencies.
Washington, October 22: An expert group that included India has suggested a number of steps to reform the World Bank Group’s governance while commending the Bank for expanding initiatives during the financial crisis and supporting strengthening its financial capacity.
Chandigarh, October 22: The ruling Congress in Haryana made early gains Thursday as thousands of votes cast in the assembly elections were counted across the state.
More than one hour after the vote count began, the Congress led in over half of the 40 seats where early trends were available.
But the main opposition Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) was faring better than expected, officials said.
Counting of votes began Thursday morning to pick a new 90-member Haryana assembly.
United Nations, October 22: After the success of its first Chandrayaan moon mission, India is now looking at exploration of outer space using planetary missions including a human space flight programme, a UN panel was told.
“Having achieved self-reliance in end-to-end space programme, the Indian space programme is entering into space exploration phase mainly to explore inner solar system and build such capabilities for exploring outer solar system,” a member of the Indian parliament said Wednesday.
New York, October 21: A tanker ship collided with a supply vessel offshore Texas early Wednesday, spilling 18,000 gallons (68,140 liters) of fuel oil into the Gulf of Mexico, the U.S. Coast Guard said.
“The leak has been secured and there were no injuries reported on either vessel,” the Coast Guard said in a release.
An 820-foot (250-meter) tanker, the Liberian-flagged Krymsk, collided with a 166-foot offshore supply vessel, AET Endeavor, damaging one of the Krymsk’s two fuel tanks and spilling oil.
Boston, October 21: U.S. federal prosecutors have charged a Massachusetts man with conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists, alleging he and co-conspirators traveled to the Middle East seeking training, discussed attacking a shopping center, and distributed videos promoting holy war.
Tarek Mehanna, 27, from Sudbury, Massachusetts, was arrested at his home on Wednesday morning, officials said.
London, October 21: Lockerbie bomber Abdel Basset al-Megrahi is still alive, a Libyan official and Megrahi’s Scottish lawyer said on Wednesday, dismissing a report that he had died.
“Megrahi’s condition is stable. He’s alive,” the Libyan official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters.
“It’s absolutely untrue,” lawyer Tony Kelly told Reuters when asked if he could confirm a Sky News report that his client had died. “He’s definitely not dead.”
“I’m not saying anything about his health condition other than the fact he is alive and breathing,” Kelly said.
Vienna, October 21: The U.N. nuclear watchdog on Wednesday presented a draft deal to Iran and three world powers for approval within two days to reduce Tehran’s stockpile of enriched uranium, seen by the West as a nuclear weapons risk.
Iran declined to say if it would endorse the plan, which Western diplomats said would require Tehran to send 1.2 tonnes of its known 1.5-tonne reserve of low-enriched uranium (LEU) to Russia and France by the end of the year for conversion into fuel for a nuclear medicine facility in Tehran.
New Delhi, October 21: The Supreme Court has held that though THE government has got the power to amend a rule with retrospective effect, the same cannot take away the existing rights and benefits conferred on the employees.
Article 309 of the Constitution empowers the government to frame rules for regulating service conditions of employees.
Washington, October 21: The United States will never have normal, sanctions-free ties with a nuclear-armed North Korea, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Wednesday, rebuffing Pyongyang’s hopes to be accepted as a nuclear state.
While repeating the U.S. readiness for bilateral talks with North Korea, Clinton said in a speech the United States would not relax its sanctions on Pyongyang until it takes verifiable, irreversible steps toward complete denuclearization.
Warsaw, October 21: Poland stands ready to take part in a revamped missile defense system unveiled by Washington last month, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said after meeting U.S. Vice President Joe Biden Wednesday.
Poland and the Czech Republic are still smarting from President Barack Obama’s decision to scrap Bush-era plans under which they would have hosted elements of an ambitious missile shield to protect against possible long-range attack from Iran.
Russia strongly opposed the plans, fearing they would neutralize its own nuclear arsenal.
New Delhi, October 21: The 11th edition of the annual Osian’s-Cinefan Film Festival of Asian and Arab Cinema will confer legendary lyricist Gulzar with the 2009 Lifetime Achievement Award for cinematic contribution.
The award will be given to the Oscar-winning lyricist-writer-director at the opening ceremony on Saturday in the presence of Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit.
The award focuses on the 73-year-old’s creativity and contribution to entertainment that goes beyond cultural, linguistic and other boundaries, said a press statement released here Tuesday.
New Delhi, October 21: Minister of State for Tourism Sultan Ahmed has requested Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to withdraw the Rs 4000 hike in airfare of Haj pilgrims.
In a letter to the PM, he said that pilgrims had booked their tickets in advance and the increase in airfare would cause a financial hardships to the Hajis.
Several pilgrims hail from poor financial background and the hike caused severe resentment among the Muslim community in general and Hajis in particular, he said in the letter.
Washington, October 21: An American scientist credited with helping find water on the Moon on India’s Chandrayaan mission has been ordered to remain in jail on a charge of spying for the Israeli government for a payment of $11,000.
US Magistrate Judge Deborah A. Robinson Tuesday ordered Stewart D. Nozette, 52, arrested Monday afternoon after a Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) sting operation, detained until a preliminary hearing Oct 29.
Bangalore, October 21: A man, alleged to have raped and killed at least 18 women in the past five years, was arrested in Karnataka’s Mangalore town, police said Wednesday.
“Accused Mohan Kumar alias Anand (46) has been arrested under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) 302 and 376 for his alleged involvement in rape and murder of 18 or more women in the last five years,” Mangalore Superintendent of Police A.S. Rao told IANS by phone.
Vijayawada, October 21: Five persons were killed when a car carrying them was hit by an oil tanker in Krishna district this evening, police said.
The incident occurred near Kanchkacharla village when the car, which was coming from Hyderabad was hit by an oil tanker coming from the opposite direction, they said.
All the five persons occupying the car died on the spot, police said adding that their bodies have been sent to a nearby government hospital
–Agencies
New Delhi, October 21: Tamil film “Kanchivaram” won the best feature film award at the 55th National Film Awards 2007, while Adoor Gopalakrishnan got the best director award for Malayalam film “Naalu Pennungal” at a glittering ceremony here Wednesday evening.
Prakash Raj got the best actor for his performance in “Kanchivaram” and Uma Shri was given best actress award for her role in “Gulabi Talkies” in Kannada.
Jalandhar, October 21: A male foetus was today recovered from a toilet of the Civil Hospital here.
The foetus was spotted in the toilet outside the laboratory by a sweeper when he went there to clean the toilet in the morning, hospital authorities said.
Medical Superintendent Ashok Nayar said the age of the foetus would be ascertained only after post-mortem and the matter had been reported the police.
–Agencies
New Delhi, October 21: Multilingual filmmaker Priyadarshan, whose off beat “Kanchivaram” Wednesday was adjudged the best film at the 55th National Film Awards, says he is happy to prove that mainstream filmmakers can make realistic movie.
“Basically, it was important to break the belief that commercial filmmakers can’t make realistic movies. I broke it,” Priyadarshan told IANS in an interview here.
“Kanchivaram”, set in the pre-independence era, is about a father who sacrifices his ideologies for his daughter.
Ahmedabad, October 21: Gujarat police would be seeking custody of the two SIMI men arrested by Madhya Pradesh ATS as they are accused in the 2008 serial blasts case, a top senior police official said today.
The accused, Mohammed Shafiq (31), Mohammed Yunus (31), Sheikh Shazid (34), Arshad Khan (22), and Feroz Khan (21), arrested today by the Madhya Pradesh Anti-Terrorist Squad, were trained at terror camps organised by the banned outfit in Waghamon and Halol, a senior police official said.
Bhubaneswar, October 21: A farmer weighed down by debt today committed suicide taking the toll of distressed farmers resorting to such an act to five in the past 15 days in Orissa.
The latest victim was identified as Sunil Sutar from Murtum-6 village under Umarkote police station area of Nawrangpur district. His body was recovered from a paddy field which was seriously affected by drought and pest attack.
“He has incurred a loan of Rs 40,000 from a bank, Rs 20,000 from two Self-Help groups and Rs 5,000 from a money lender”, Nirmal Sutar, elder brother of the deceased, said.
Jalandhar, October 21: Police today claimed to have busted a GPF (General Provident Fund) scam worth Rs 1.5 crores in Primary Health Centre of Muzaffarpur police station with the arrest of three persons.
The three arrested include a Senior Medical Officer, a pharmacist cum accountant who was kingpin of the scam and a health worker, while two former SMOs of the centre are on the run after a Sessions court rejected their bails.
Jaipur, October 2: The Income-Tax department today said it had seized Rs 1.52 crore in unaccounted assets, including Rs 1.26 crore in cash, in raids conducted at a sweet shop chain here.
IT (Investigation) Prasenjeet Singh told PTI that the raids were conducted immediately after Diwali at eight places, including the chain of shops in the city.
–Agencies
New Delhi, October 21: After five years’ break, veteran filmmaker Yash Chopra says he is all set to wield the megaphone once again for a romance saga.
“I am going to direct a film in December or January. It will be a romantic film. I haven’t decided about the cast or any other detail as of now. But I will surely announce the project next month,” Chopra told IANS here.
Chopra is known for making hit movies like “Dil To Pagal Hai”, “Chandni”, “Silsila”, “Trishul” and “Deewar”.
Jaipur, October 21: Hotelier Parbat Singh, a convict in the British woman rape case who was at large after obtaining bail, was arrested in Bapi town near the Gujarat-Maharashtra border, a top police officer said.
Singh, arrested last night, was brought to Udaipur and produced in a court which remanded him to judicial custody, SP (Udaipur) Sanjaib Kumar Narzary told PTI here by telephone.
Early this year, the Supreme Court directed the Rajasthan Police to arrest Parbat who was on bail.