New Delhi, October 18: The government Monday is expected to take a decision on releasing inflation data on a monthly basis instead of week-wise as is done currently, a senior commerce ministry official said.
If approved, the new month-wise inflation data could come in effect December. The changes in the inflation data pattern are being brought on lines with global practices.
New Delhi, October 18: National Security Adviser M K Narayanan on Sunday began a three-day visit to Japan during which he will meet the new Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama and other leaders.
Narayanan’s visit is mainly aimed at establishing contact with the new government of Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) which came to power on September 16 after getting a landslide victory in the August 30 elections.
Jammu, October 18: The Jammu State Morcha today demanded division of Jammu and Kashmir into four separate units to address all stake-holders in the state.
“We reject (Chief Minister) Omar Abdullah’s formula of greater autonomy and PDP’s self-rule as solutions for J&K. We want division of the state into four separate political entities to address the aspirations of all the stake-holders,” its president Virender Gupta told reporters here.
London, October 18: Controversial India-born author Salman Rushdie has been accused by his latest lover US actress Pia Glenn that he is “cowardly, dysfunctional and immature” who dumped her by email after their brief love affair.
In an interview published in the Mail, 32-year-old Glenn, who is best known for starring as a pole-dancing Condoleezza Rice in a Broadway satire, said, “Whatever he wanted from me, he certainly wasn’t honest about it. Salman is dysfunctional and immature.”
Hyderabad, October 18 : The Agriculture Officer of Devarkadra Mandal in Mahaboobngar District, who had attempted suicide after being unable to bear the harassement allegedly by the public representatives, succumbed to her burn injuries while udnergoing treatment in a Corporate Hospital here early today.
Rajeswari attempted suicide at her residence Dhanyawada by pouring kerosene and setting herself afire on October 14.
Her parents alleged that TDP legislator Sita Dayakar Reddy, MPP and ZPTC of the mandal were responsibe for her daughter’s death.
Ahmedabad, October 18: A 22-year-old woman died of swine flu in Surat today taking the number of fatalities due to the disease to 39 in the state.
Ragini Arun Singh, who was tested positive for swine flu earlier, died at a municipal-run hospital in Surat, officials of the Health Department said.
A total 252 confirmed cases of H1N1 infection have been reported from the state so far, the officials said.
Of the 39 deaths, over 20 were reported from Surat alone.
–Agencies
Panaji/Mumbai, October 18: The Goa police Sunday formed a special investigation team (SIT) to probe the low-intensity blast in Margao, in south Goa, Friday night.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) called the blast a “dastardly act” and accused the home minister of settling political scores by interfering with investigations in the blast case.
The blast on the Diwali eve near Grace Church in Margao, a major town in South Goa, killed the two bomb carriers, identified as Sanatan Sanstha activists.
Malda (WB), October 18: A class 11 student who was abducted by a dacoit near the border with Bihar in Malda district of West Bengal has still not been traced, police said today.
Payel Khatun was returning from her private tuition at Pukuria village, some distance from her home, after school on Thursday when she was waylaid by some persons and taken away, police said.
Late at night a ransom of Rs three lakh was demanded over phone from her father Sheikh Rafiql who has landed property worth lakhs, they said.
New Delhi, October 18: Passengers onboard the ‘Royal Rajasthan on Wheels’ can now be connected with the rest of the world while on the move as the luxury train has been equipped with wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi) system and satellite television.
Announcing this, Rajasthan Tourism Development Corporation CMD Manjeet Singh told reporters here that the train, which was flagged off from Safdarjung railway station today for its first commercial trip of this year, includes several other new attractions for passengers like cultural programmes, and food served at five star hotels.
Hyderabad, October 18 : Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister K Rosaiah said that the state government was making efforts to step up power generation in the wake of increasing demand by expediting works on the ongoing power projects and taking up new projects simultaneously.
Mr Rosaiah said the Singareni Collieries would soon take up large scale power generation by setting up a 600 MW coal-based power plant at Jaipur mandal in Adilabad district at a cost of Rs 2,700 crore.
Bangalore, October 18: Police today said it was still awaiting the forensic science laboratory results on the bag seized from a cricketer at the Chinnaswamy stadium on the suspicion that it may have contained residue of explosive materials.
“We are still awaiting the results,” a top official said.
The police detained 21-year-old Parvez Rasool, a 21-year-old cricketer from Jammu and Kashmir yesterday after a metal detector found traces of some explosives in his bag.
However, a search of the bag yielded nothing.
Mohali, October 18:A 42-year-old resident of Chandigarh was shot dead Sunday allegedly by his cousins in Kurali town of Punjab over a property dispute, police said.
“Raj Kumar is a resident of Maloya village in Chandigarh. He had some old dispute over a piece of land with his cousins. His cousins shot him dead after a brief altercation,” Manjit Singh, a police official told IANS.
Raj Kumar had gone to Kurali to visit a gurdwara. The attackers were identified as Gurpreet Singh and Makhan Singh.
New Delhi, October 18:After making headlines for communal disharmony for years, Orissa’s Kandhamal district is set to smile – Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) will provide vocational education and placement to youths from poor families of this tribal district, beginning January.
Chennai, October 18:Founder of Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) S. Ramadoss has fired the first salvo against farming Bt Brinjal, for which the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC) gave its nod for commercial cultivation last week.
“Only three months ago, Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh had said that there is no need for GM vegetables. But now an organisation under his ministry has accorded sanction for commercial cultivation of Bt Brinjal in a hurry,” Ramadoss said here in a statement.
Vijayawada, October 18 : Properties worth Rs 13 lakh were destroyed in two fire accidents in the city during the last 24 hours.
According sources, nine shops were gutted in the mango market in the city late last night when a fire cracker fell on a fruit shop and caused fire.
Three fire tenders were pressed into service. The flames could be brought to control after two hours.
The loss was estimated to be Rs three lakh, the sources added.
In another incident, properties worth Rs ten lakh were gutted into fire in an agro oil products mill unit in Gudivada Town in Krishna District.
Moscow, October 18: More than three years after its first release, “Borat” – the fictional film about a Kazakh TV journalist created by British comedian Sacha Baron Cohen – is still being censored in the central Asian republic, it was reported Sunday.
The movie, which depicted Kazakhstan as backward, inbred and anti-semitic, caused huge controversy on its original release, in 2006.
It even led to Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev officially complaining to then British prime minister Tony Blair.
New Delhi, October 18:At least 267 incidents of fire were reported in the national capital during Diwali, but there were no major cases among them, a fire service official said Sunday.
“We received 207 fire calls till Saturday midnight. We received 60 calls till 6 a.m. (Sunday). They were mainly Diwali-related. The number is more than double the number we receive on a normal day,” a fire service official told IANS.
He said on an average the fire service department gets 90 cases.
Kolkata, October 18:The West Bengal government will give a one-time grant of Rs.2000 each to bus, minibus, taxi and auto-rickshaw workers who have been rendered unemployed following the ban on commercial vehicles over 15 years old in Kolkata.
Making the announcement at a programme organised by the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) here, Labour Minister Anadi Sahu said 25,000-30,000 workers have been affected due to the court-imposed ban.
Hyderabad, October 18: A woman agriculture officer in Andhra Pradesh committed suicide alleging mental harassment by a legislator, a minister said Sunday.
B. Rajeswari Sunday died of burn injuries at a corporate hospital, where she was undergoing treatment after she set herself ablaze four days ago.
Minister for Small Industries D.K. Aruna said action would be taken as per law against those responsible for the woman’s death. She said Rajeswari named a legislator and two other people’s representatives in her statement.
Hyderabad, October 18: Telangana Rastra Samithi (TRS) President K Chandrsekhara Rao today reiterated his party would launch an agitation to exert pressure on the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) Government to scrap the Supreme Court Judgement, declaring Hyderabad as ‘free zone for police recruitment,’ by amending the Constitution.
Lahore, October 18: Younis Khan is likely to lead Pakistan in the upcoming back-to-back series against New Zealand and Australia.
”PCB Chairman Ijaz Butt will speak to Younis about the above mentioned assignments and a formal announcement about his nomination as skipper will be made in a couple of days,” sources told the Dawn.
Tehran, October 18:: About 98 traffic incidents on Iranian roads have claimed the lives of 15 and left 145 injured during the past 24 hours.
“Twenty seven of the accidents were due to careless driving, 13 accidents occurred for ignoring give-way signs, 16 accidents occurred because of failing to comply with double white lines and the rest as a result of excessive speeding,” head of the Traffic Control Department, Hossein Alishahi, said on Sunday.
“Of the 98 accidents, there were 30 cases where a vehicle overturned,” he added.
Srinagar, October 18: A day after two cricketers from Jammu and Kashmir were detained and questioned in Bangalore, Union Minister for New and Renewable Energy and president of the state cricket body Farooq Abdullah called for a probe in the matter.
Talking to mediapersons in Jammu Sunday afternoon, Abdullah, president of the Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association (JKCA), said: “The entire blame cannot be laid on the Karnataka Police, for they were fed with wrong information by some people from here.”
New Delhi, October 18: She had no release in 2008 and this year both her movies — “Karma, Confessions and Holi” and “Do Knot Disturb” — turned out to be duds. But former beauty queen-turned-actress Sushmita Sen claims she is a very busy person.
“I am basically a very busy person. I am just the sort of person who is constantly delving into different things and wetting my palms to see what all interests me and I have been mostly outside the country shooting for my films,” Sushmita told IANS.
New Delhi, October 18: Are you planning to go abroad for higher studies? Check the UNESCO website to know if the institute of your choice is a genuine one.
In a novel step to check mushrooming of fake educational institutions, the agency has decided to include in its website names of genuine and accredited institutes of all countries.
About 30 countries, mostly Europeans nations, have already provided the list of their accredited institutes to UNESCO which has displayed them in its website, a UNESCO official told PTI here.