LIVE
Fri, 29 June 2012
China blocks Bloomberg site after report on leader
Timeline Refresh
22:27 China blocks Bloomberg site after report on leader
IBN reports: China blocked access to Bloomberg's website on the mainland after the business and financial news agency published a report Friday detailing the multimillion-dollar assets of relatives of the man set to become the country's next president.
Read the full story here
20:40 Karnataka crisis: CM to meet governor tomorrow
Vicky Nanjappa reports from Bengaluru: Karnataka Chief Minister Sadananda Gowda has said that he would be meeting Governor H R Bharadwaj tomorrow at 9.30 am.
Although rumour mills are abuzz that he may quit tomorrow, the CM said that he is meeting with the Governor to appraise him of the situation.
A crisis broke out in the Karnataka BJP when nine Yeddyurappa loyalists quit the cabinet stating that they have lost faith in the chief minister.
20:16 No regret for not becoming PM: Pranab
Congress veteran Pranab Mukherjee on Friday said he has no regrets for not becoming the Prime Minister and said Manmohan Singh is one of the 'finest persons' and a worthy one to occupy that position.
"I don't regret that...no regret at all," Mukherjee said. "I'm repeating that Manmohan Singh is one of the finest persons and worthy person to be the prime minister.
After Nehruji and Indiraji, he will be the next man to complete second term. So, no regret at all," he said.
19:37 Ashwini Kumar to be made MoS-finance
Our Delhi correspondent reports: Sources say that Minister of State-Planning, Ashwini Kumar may be made minister of State-Finance, in the next reshuffle of the union council.
Kumar is said to be a trusted lieutenant of Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh.
19:14 West Bengal teacher strips girl in class
A girl student was allegedly stripped in a class by a lady teacher in West Bengal after she ignored the teacher's diktat regarding dress code, police officials said on Thursday.
A Class 7 student of the Beri Gopalpur Adarsha Uccha Vidyalaya in Gaighata area of North 24-Parganas district faced the humiliation after she ignored orders about wearing specific uniforms on Thursdays.
Read the full story here
18:44 10 BSY loyalists threaten to quit K'taka cabinet
IBN reports: In a fresh trouble for the Bharatiya Janata Party government in Karnataka, as many as 10 ministers loyal to former chief minister B S Yeddyurappa have threatened to resign from the state Cabinet by Friday evening.
Read the full story here
18:26 Abu Jundal taken for medical checkup
'Key operative' of the Lashkar-e-Tayiba, Abu Jundal has been taken for medical checkup to a hospital in Delhi.
18:05 BJP appoints 2 leaders to support Sangma in poll mgmt
BJP has designated party general secretary Ananth Kumar and senior leader S S Ahluwalia to assist P A Sangma in the Presidential election management.
President Nitin Gadkari issued a statement to this effect today. Sangma, a tribal leader, has been supported as a candidate in the Presidential election by BJP along with AIADMK and BJD against UPA's nominee Pranab Mukherjee.
While one of BJP's ally Shiromani Akali Dal has supported the candidature of Sangma, its other allies JD-U and Shiv Sena have rallied behind Mukherjee.
18:00 Militants attempt hijacking with broken crutch, bid foiled
Uighur militants today made a brazen but futile bid to hijack a passenger plane using a broken crutch in China's restive Xinjiang region, creating a mid-air drama which climaxed with alert passengers and crew overpowering the six hijackers.
The incident that left 10 people injured occurred in the restive Xinjiang province of western China, where Uighur Muslim militants are fighting against Chinese rule. The Tianjin Airlines' Flight GS 7554 flight carrying 100 people took off from Hotan airport and was headed to the Xinjiang capital of Urumqi, 1400 km away, but just 10 minutes into air six hijackers tried to take over the aircraft, state run Xinhua news agency quoted regional public security bureau as saying.
17:32 Naxalism is a wake up call for democracy: G K Pillai
Naxalism is a wake up call for the country, former Union home secretary G K Pillai said here, while blaming poor governance for the rise in the problem. "Maoism or Naxalism is a wake up call for India's democracy.
I think today the major political parties in India have still not realised the magnitude of the problem. "They have not woken up to the fact that this is a very serious problem which has to be tackled not just by security, not just by development, but also by very serious political management of the situation," Pillai said.
He was speaking at a round table discussion on 'State's Response to Hostage Situations' organised by the India Foundation yesterday. Blaming the rise of Naxalism on poor governance, he said that the ratio of government services to the population is extremely poor.
17:22 Two suffer radioactive exposure at nuclear plant
Two workers at the Rawatbhata Atomic Power Station in Rajasthan have suffered exposure to high doses of radioactive tritium and are under observation. The incident took place on June 23 at Unit 5 of the plant during routine maintenance work.
"There was no abnormal release of radioactivity to the environment," Nalinish Nagaich, Executive Director, Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited told PTI from Mumbai. He said there was localised increase in tritium concentration in the building of Reactor-5 due to the opening of the moderator cover gas line where the welding jobs were to be performed.
"All persons involved in the maintenance work were monitored and two were found to have four to five times higher uptake of tritium," Nagaich said. The exposure of other persons is below the annual exposure limit specified, he said.
17:10 PC tells IPS officers to submit property returns
Taking a serious note in delay in submission of mandatory annual immovable property returns (IPRs) by 550 Indian Police Service officers, Home Minister P Chidambaram today advised them to submit the documents immediately.
"The IPS cadre has a strength of 3,325 officers. Of these, property returns for the year 2011 of 550 officers have not yet been received by Ministry of Home Affairs, although the due date of January 31, 2012 is long over," Chidambaram told reporters during his monthly press conference.
He said the state governments concerned had been requested to secure the property returns of these officers. "In some cases, the officer concerned has informed the MHA that he or she had already submitted his or her return to the state government and it is the state government which had apparently failed to forward the returns to the central government.
17:00 HC dismisses plea against Mukherjee's candidature
The Delhi High Court today dismissed a petition challenging the candidature of UPA's presidential nominee Pranab Mukherjee accusing him of abusing his office as Finance Minister and securing "pecuniary favour" in the form of votes from various political parties in the upcoming Presidential election.
The petition, filed by an advocate, had sought registration of a case against the ex-finance minister under the Prevention of Corruption Act for allegedly misusing his official position by approaching various MPs or MLAs for securing their votes for his candidature in the Presidential election to be held on July 19.
A vacation bench of justices V K Jain and Pratibha Rani, however, "dismissed the petition as withdrawn" and said that asking for vote does not amount to asking for pecuniary advantage.
16:48 Govt determined to contain fiscal deficit: Rangarajan
The Centre is determined to contain fiscal deficit to spur economic growth and will take action in this regard, the chairman of the Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council, C Rangarajan, today said.
"There is a debate between austerity and growth and we have made up our mind to contain fiscal deficit," Rangarajan told reporters on the sidelines of a function on Statistics Day at the Indian Statistical Institute here. He said the government would not go in for providing stimulus across the board and that only specific sectors would be considered for the measure.
"A fresh stimulus package is difficult like in 2009 due to high fiscal deficit, but only selected sector-specific stimulus could be considered," he said. Rangarajan said there is need and scope for cutting subsidies on LPG, fertiliser and diesel to contain fiscal deficit which is targeted at 5.1 per cent of the GDP for this fiscal from 5.7 per cent in 2011-12.
16:47 PoK refugees to court arrest on Jun 30
In the purview of the revised Rehabilitation package submitted to the Central government by the J-K government, refugees of Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK) will court arrest here tomorrow to press for their demands under the Rs 1700 crore package.
"The refugees of PoK of 1947, 1965 and 1971 Indo-Pak wars will assemble at the historical erstwhile Dogra power-centre of Mubarak Mandi Complex in Jammu city and court arrest in support of their demand for grant of revised package of rehabilitation of refugees", PoK Refugees Front (POKRF) General Secretary Rachhpal Singh Chib told the media here.
16:29 Pro-Yeddy ministers step up pressure for change of guard
Stepping up pressure over their demand for change in the leadership in Karnataka, seven Ministers today met former Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa and discussed the political situation amid reports that they planned to quit the Ministry.
The ministers met at the residence of Rural Development Minister Jagadish Shettar, whom Yeddyurappa has been propping up as successor to his loyalist-turned foe D V Sadananda Gowda, and held parleys for an hour, party sources said. They later met Yeddyurappa, who has been sulking after being forced to quit last year in the wake of Lokayukta report on illegal mining indicting him and asked by the party to come clean in the corruption cases for his reinstatement.
The sources said eight ministers loyal to the dissident leader have been contemplating to resign from the ministry, seen as a pressure tactic to force the party central leadership to meet their demand.
15:49 20 Taliban militants killed in clashes in Afghanistan
At least 20 Taliban militants were killed during a massive clash with security forces in eastern Afghan province of Nuristan on Friday, the provincial governor said.
"An estimated 60 to 80 Taliban militants launched a massive attack on Afghan National Police checkposts in Kamdesh district at around 3 a.m. local time Friday and the clashes lasted for several hours, leaving more than 20 militants dead ," governor Tamim Nuristani told Xinhua.
The militants used small arm fire and RPGs or rocket-propelled grenade in the attack in the district bordering Pakistan, the governor said, without saying if there were any casualties on the side of security forces.
Citing initial information from the police, the governor added that at least three civilian women were also killed and several civilians were injured in the clashes in surrounding areas of the district in the province, 180 km east of capital Kabul.
15:37 Abu Jundal found safe haven in Pak: Chidambaram
Home Minister P Chidambaram at a press conference said that the arrested terrorist Abu Jundal had found a very safe haven in Pakistan.
Speaking about the Mumbai 26/11 attacks, Chidambaram said that LeT founder Hafiz Saeed was in the control room in Pakistan with Abu Jundal during the carnage.
The home minister also told reporters that the government is keen to take an early decision on Telangana.
15:23 Clinton, Lavrov set for Syria showdown
US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov were heading for a face-to-face showdown over Syria on Friday as major powers prepared for a weekend conference to hash out a political transition plan for the country.
On the eve of Friday's conference aimed at ending 16 months of brutal violence in Syria, Clinton and Lavrov were to meet in St Petersburg in a bid to iron out deep differences over the transition plan being pushed by UN envoy Kofi Annan that calls for the formation of a national unity government that would oversee the drafting of a new constitution and elections.
US officials are adamant that the plan will not allow Syrian President Bashar Assad to remain in power at the top of the transitional government, but Russia insists that outsiders cannot dictate the ultimate solution or the composition of the interim administration.
15:21 Sensex soars over 400 points
The BSE benchmark Sensex soared by over 410 points to more than two-month high of 17,496.96 in pre-close trade on Friday on foreign fund inflows buoyed by the government's moves to revive the economy.
Besides, the Finance Ministry's proposing a monetary limit for invoking the controversial General Anti-Tax Avoidance Rules (GAAR) in its draft guidelines issued late Thursday night lifted the trading sentiment, brokers said.
After a firm start, the Sensex advanced further by 410.20 points to 17,496.96 at 1445 hrs, a level last seen on May 2, led by a rally in stocks of finance, auto and capital goods sectors.
The broad-based National Stock Exchange index Nifty spurted by 120.35 points to 5,269.50 on buying by foreign as well as domestic funds.
Buying activity gathered momentum after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who took additional charge of finance portfolio signalled speedy revival of slowing economic growth.
The finance ministry's proposal that GAAR provisions would be invoked only in cases where FIIs choose to take the benefit of double tax avoidance treaties, providing some relief to funds, also supported the sentiment.
14:58 BlackBerry makers to cut 5000 jobs after dismal Q1
BlackBerry-maker Research in Motion has said it will cut around 5,000 jobs as part of a restructuring plan and also announced delay of the launch of its new phone operating system -- BlackBerry 10, until the first quarter of 2013.
The company which posted results for the latest quarter said restructuring efforts are underway that will include a workforce reduction of around 5,000 employees.
This is part of its efforts to realise over $1 billion in cost savings and is expected to be completed by the end of fiscal 2013, it said.
The Blackberry 10 smartphone was being deemed critical by experts for the struggling company's survival.
In a statement late last night, RIM said the integration of key features and the associated large volume of code into the platform has proven to be more time consuming than anticipated.
14:36 PM to go on 2-day visit to Pondicherry on Friday
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will undertake a two-day visit of Puducherry from Friday evening.
Dr Singh will inaugurate the UNESCO Madanjeet Singh Institute for South Asian Regional Co-operation for peace at the Pondicherry University.
He will also deliver the convocation address at Jawaharlal Nehru Institute of Post Graduate Medical Education and Research on June 30, and inaugurate a women and children hospital with 426 beds, academic block and the newly built hostel complex built at a cost of Rs 342 crore.
Security has been tightened across Puducherry in anticipation of Dr Singhs visit
14:33 Man booked for threatening Uma Bharti
Police have registered an FIR against a person for allegedly making threatening phone calls to senior BJP leader and former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Uma Bharti.
The caller was identified as Anuj Shrivastava from Chakghat in Rewa district, who made at least six calls on Uma's cellphone during the last three days, police said on Friday.
The caller threatened saying "I will kill her in two days," and dared Uma's security personnel to save her, police said.
He also used abusive language while speaking to Bharti's security staff who attended the calls.
Efforts were on to nab the culprit, they said.
14:08 Taj Mumbai named one of worlds best hotels
Leading online travel agency Expedia has placed Taj Lands End at Mumbai on its list of world's best-reviewed hotels.
Taj is the only entry from the Asian continent in the top 10 list.
Marrol's Boutique Hotel in Bratislava (Slovakia) was adjudged as the best hotel in the world in Expedia's annual "Insiders' Select" ranking, that was published on Wednesday, the New York Daily News reported.
Expedia's insiders drew up their list from 500,000 assessments provided by the website's users, which have been verified and analyzed. European and American hotels fill up the top of the list, but there are two outliers in the top 10.
The top spot goes to the Slovakian boutique hotel, followed by Al Codega in Venice, Italy, and the Central American Hotel Royal Corin in Fortuna, Costa Rica, which holds the highest spot of any hotel outside of the US or Europe.
The list includes 650 hotels around the world, with the website only including only the best-rated hotels in its listing, after assessing more than 150,000 hotels and resorts worldwide.
The 10 best hotels in the world, according to Expedia's 2012 Insiders' Select list:
1. Marrol's Boutique Hotel - Bratislava (Slovakia)
2. Hotel Al Codega - Venice (Italy)
3. Hotel Royal Corin - Fortuna (Costa Rica)
4. Hilton Garden Inn Aberdeen - Aberdeen (Scotland)
5. Four Seasons Miami - Miami, Florida (USA)
6. Madison Hotel Hamburg - Hamburg (Germany)
7. Element Omaha Midtown Crossing - Omaha, Nebraska (USA)
8. Sonnenalp Resort of Vail - Vail, Colorado (USA)
9. Taj Lands End - Mumbai (India)
10. Mr C Beverly Hills - Los Angeles, California (USA)
13:52 We are not talking peace because Pak told us to: Taliban
The Taliban, rejecting a statement of the Pakistani Envoy in Kabul, wherein he had said the Taliban were allowed to go to Qatar for peace talks, said the peace talks were not started on the directions of Pakistan.
"We have said earlier that Taliban representatives never proceeded to Qatar because Pakistan told them to do so, as the ambassador in an interview with Reuters had said," the Daily Times quoted Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid, as saying.
"Afghanistan started peace talks in its national interest and on the wishes of the leadership of Taliban, and then suspended the talks when the leadership wished so," he said, adding that the Pakistani ambassador, Muhammad Sadiq, must have lacked knowledge in that connection.
In the fresh message, the Taliban reiterated that the talks were held for forwarding the confidence-building measures that had to be followed by peace talks. However, he did not rule out the possibility of resumption of the talks.
13:37 Power crisis first, action on graft later: Pak PM
Newly elected Pakistan premier Raja Pervez Ashraf has downplayed queries regarding writing to Swiss authorities to re-open graft cases against President Asif Ali Zardari, which is due on July 12, and has chosen instead to focus on his 'top priority' -- the energy crisis.
"The prevailing energy crisis is my prime focus instead of anything else... it is high time to address the biggest problem we are facing," The Express Tribune quoted Ashraf as saying.
He said his government would remain focused on the power sector, as it is a major challenge faced by the nation.
Citing his past experience as the minister for water and power, Ashraf said he understood the challenges in the energy sector.
While he insisted that there had already been an improvement in load shedding, he was quick to add that he did not want to make any tall claims
13:33 Govt reconstitutes NAC; drops 3 major names
The government has reconstituted the National Advisory Council chaired by Sonia Gandhi by dropping three members and inducting two new faces.
Planning Commission member Mihir Shah and Ashis Mondal, founder of the Bhopal-based NGO Action for Social Advancement, have been inducted in the advisory panel for a period of one year.
Noted agriculture scientist M S Swaminathan, bureaucrat-turned-activist Harsh Mander and academician Madhav Gadgil have been denied re-nomination.
The tenure of the NAC had expired on May 31.
Other members of the panel who have been re-nominated are N C Saxena, Narendra Jadhav, Pramod Tandon, Aruna Roy, A K Shiva Kumar, Deep Joshi, Anu Aga, Farah Naqvi and Mirai Chatterjee. The tenure of the members of the reconstituted panel is till May 31, 2013.
Jean Dreze, who was appointed member of the NAC in 2009, had quit after the panel had sent its recommendations to the government on the Food Security Bill.
Ram Dayal Munda, a prominent tribal leader and NAC member since 2009, passed away in September last year.
13:16 I refuse to be chased off Twitter: Omar
Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Friday said he would not be chased off the social networking site Twitter by online "trolls".
"Sometimes I ask myself what I'm doing here (on Twitter), I guess I refuse to be chased off by trolls," Omar wrote on Twitter.
Omar is one of the several high-profile politicians in the country who share their views on the micro-blogging site.
The chief minister has to often face hostilities on Twitter where users continuously taunt and abuse him.
In the Internet slang, 'trolls' are those users who post on an online group with the sole purpose of disrupting the discussion.
In 2008, Omar had to shut his blog after facing "heaps of personal abuse" by users.
The chief minister had on Thursday faced an online 'taunt' that "in Kashmir CM stands for Curfew Minister"
13:10 Flood situation in Arunachal remains grim
The flood situation in Arunachal Pradesh remained grim on Friday, though the water level of most of the major rivers are showing a receding trend as over a hundred villages across the state lay submerged by the flood waters.
An Indian Air Force chopper rescued 185 marooned villagers from Bijoypur I and III villages in Changlang district on Thursday, official sources said.
The worst-affected districts are Changlang, Lohit, Dibang Valley and East Siang.
The sources said that Changlang district deputy commissioner Opak Gao was monitoring the relief and rescue operation in Bordumsa and Bijoypur areas.
Assistant deputy commissioner K Riba said that the Noa Dehing river had started to recede gradually.
"A medical team has been positioned round the clock in the relief camp to look after the sick with sufficient medicines", he said.
12:41 Esha Deol weds businessman Bharat Takhtani
In a typical "band baaja baraat" style, veteran actors Hema Malini and Dharmendra's daughter Esha tied the knot with businessman Bharat Takhtani on Friday in a traditional Hindu wedding ceremony.
The Bandra-based groom came to the venue on a white horse before the couple took the marriage vows around a sacred fire.
Wearing a Kanjeevaram saree, Hema and her husband Dharmendra, looking dapper in a suit, welcomed the groom at the temple.
Esha and Bharat got married in a south Indian style at the Iskcon temple in Juhu in Mumbai.
Esha was clad in a red and gold Kanjeevaram saree, sourced from Chennai for the wedding day by her mother, to which designer Neeta Lulla had made some changes.
The couple had been dating for quite some time and had exchanged rings on February 12 this year.
The wedding was the climax of the three-day festivities that included a 'sangeet' (music), 'haldi' and 'mehndi' ceremony.
12:27 Officer, magistrate must while searching drug abuse suspects: SC
The Supreme Court has ruled that suspects in drug and narcotics smuggling cases have the right to insist on the presence of a gazetted officer or nearest magistrate when they are searched for drugs to ensure transparency in investigation.
Interpreting Section 50 of the Narcotics and Psychotropic Substances Act (NDPS), Justices Aftab Alam and Ranjana Prakash Desai said failure to follow the procedure would cause a definite prejudice to the accused.
Justice Desai, who wrote the judgement, said that a suspect might insist on the presence of a gazetted officer, or a magistrate to introduce transparency in the search.
The ruling was given while acquitting three persons convicted and sentenced to six months rigorous imprisonment by a sessions court in Andhra Pradesh for sale of ganja.
A police team who claimed that they had seized ganja from the possession arrested them. The Andhra Pradesh high court had upheld their conviction, following which one of the convicts had come and appealed to the apex court, contending that the authorities did not follow the Section 50 of the NDPS Act and their conviction was illegal.
12:11 Iran's fatwa against Rushdie turned into video game
Indian-origin British author Salman Rushdie has now become the subject of an Iranian computer game, which aims to educate the younger generation about the 'sin' committed by him.
The bizarre game, named 'Stressful Life of Salman Rushdie and Implementation of his Verdict', is being developed by the Islamic Association of Students, a government-sponsored organization.
The organisation has announced this week that it had completed the initial phases of production.
Three years ago, the student association and Iran''s National Foundation of Computer Games asked students across the country to submit scripts for the game and the top three were handed over to video developers, The Guardian reports.
Rushdie, who was slammed for writing The Satanic Verses, was the target of a notorious Fatwa issued by Ayatollah Khomeini, the founder of the Islamic republic of Iran, 23 years ago.
According to the paper, little has been revealed about the game, but its title suggests players will be asked to implement Khomeini's call for assassinating Rushdie.
11:58 PMO distances itself from GAATR draft
Within 24 hours of finance ministry issuing the draft guidelines on controversial General Anti-Avoidance Tax Rules, the Prime Minister's Office appears to have distanced itself from the proposal saying that were not seen by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and would be finalised only after his approval.
"These (draft guidelines) have not been seen by the prime minister and will be finalised with the approval of the prime minister, who holds the finance portfolio, only after considering the feedback received," PMO said in a release.
The finance ministry had on Thursday evening had issued draft guidelines on GAAR -- a budgetary proposal to check tax evasion
-- to seek feedback of the stake holders.
The draft guidelines seek to address the concerns of the investors over misuse of the tax proposal. Besides other things, it said that there would be a threshold limit for invocation of GAAR and it would apply on income accruing after April 1, 2013.
11:44 Rupee up 25 paise against dollar; trading at 56.55
The rupee appreciated by 25 paise to 56.55 against the U.S. dollar in early trade on Friday at the Interbank Foreign Exchange market on hopes that the government will take steps to check the currencys slide.
Besides, dollar selling by banks and exporters amid euro strengthening the American currency overseas after the European Union reaffirmed its commitment to use its bailout funds flexibility also supported the rupee.
The rupee closed at 56.80 in Thursdays trade, a rise of 35 paise, or 0.61 per cent, its biggest percentage gain in two weeks.
11:41 LeT teaching paragliding to cadre in PoK: Jundal
Lashkar-e-Tayiba terrorist Abu Jundal has admitted in Delhi Police custody that the terror outfit is imparting paragliding training to its recruits at its camp in Muzaffarabad in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, reports said on Friday.
Jundal also confessed using social networking site Facebook to hunt for recruits for his terror mission Saudi Arabia and India using nine accounts and email ids.
He had reportedly opened one of the Facebook accounts in his real name, Zabiuddin Ansari, which caught the eye of investigating agencies. All people listed as friends in his accounts on the social networking site are now under surveillance, reports say.
11:36 Why sanctions on Iran will hit Pakistan the most
Pakistan's financial bodies are set to bear the brunt of the strict US law on Iran sanctions which came into force today, as the country was not granted the necessary waiver extended so far to India and 19 others.
Pakistan along with Afghanistan is not among the 20 countries which, according to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, have significantly reduced their import of oil from Iran.
The list of the 20 countries which were given the waive, was announced in three phases, the last two of them being China and Singapore.
In addition to China and Singapore, Belgium, Britain, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Greece, India, Malaysia, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Poland, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sri Lanka, Taiwan and Turkey have been exempted so far.
US officials did not provide any explanation for not giving the necessary exemption to Pakistan in this regard, in the absence of which Pakistani financial institutions would be majorly impacted by the tough American sanctions on Iran.
11:35 Beckham's shattered Olympics dream sparks a row
The soccer world has expressed dismay and anger over icon David Beckham's omission from the Team Great Britian for the London 2012 Olympics.
Manager's Stuart Pearce ended Beckham's Olympic dream by omitting him from his 18-man Team GB squad. Footballers and celebrities described the snub as the former England captain's darkest day of his illustrious career.
Former striker and now BBC presenter Gary Lineker said it was ''terrible'' Becks had been excluded ''having given so much'' to British football and London 2012.
He further claimed that Pearce had been stringing him all along. Gavin and Stacey star James Corden, a close friend of Becks, and Boyzone singer Ronan Keating, reportedly branded the snub ''disrespectful'' to ''one of the greatest ambassadors for the game''.
Twitter users have also posted messages of support using the hashtag #pickbecks. "Terrible shame for Beckham having given so much to the Olympic bid and football. Never thought for a second that David Beckham would be excluded from GB's team. What I don't understand is stringing him along by including him in a short list?" the Daily Mail quoted Lineker, as tweeting.
Manager's Stuart Pearce ended Beckham's Olympic dream by omitting him from his 18-man Team GB squad. Footballers and celebrities described the snub as the former England captain's darkest day of his illustrious career.
Former striker and now BBC presenter Gary Lineker said it was ''terrible'' Becks had been excluded ''having given so much'' to British football and London 2012.
He further claimed that Pearce had been stringing him all along. Gavin and Stacey star James Corden, a close friend of Becks, and Boyzone singer Ronan Keating, reportedly branded the snub ''disrespectful'' to ''one of the greatest ambassadors for the game''.
Twitter users have also posted messages of support using the hashtag #pickbecks. "Terrible shame for Beckham having given so much to the Olympic bid and football. Never thought for a second that David Beckham would be excluded from GB's team. What I don't understand is stringing him along by including him in a short list?" the Daily Mail quoted Lineker, as tweeting.
11:33 Focussed on playing sport not politics: Paes
Ending days of speculation, Indian tennis veteran Leander Paes has confirmed his participation in the London Olympics setting aside his initial fury at being paired with a lower-ranked Vishnu Vardhan in men's doubles.
"I am looking forward to representing my country with the teams that the All India Tennis Association have selected," Paes said after winning his Wimbledon first-round match in the men's doubles with regular Czech partner Radek Stepanek.
After days of maintaining a stoic silence on his Olympic participation, Paes said despite being left disheartened by the controversy, he is focussed on playing "sport and not politics".
The 39-year-old had threatened to withdraw from the Olympics despite being India's number one doubles player after being paired with Vardhan for the big event.
Paes' partners of choice -- Mahesh Bhupathi and Rohan Bopanna -- refused to combine with him and insisted on being sent as a team themselves. The All India Tennis Association ultimately bowed to their insistence, leaving Paes furious. If that was not enough, his mixed doubles partner for the Games -- Sania Mirza -- also took a potshot at Paes by claiming that she was used as a "bait" to pacify him.
11:24 Indian eves spank Singapore in Jr Asia hockey
Skipper Ritu Rani led form the front with a hat-trick as India spanked Singapore 9-0 for their second successive Group A win in the sixth Women's Junior Asia Cup Hockey Championship in Bangkok.
Vice-captain Poonam Rani also scored three goals as the team followed up its 15-0 win against Sri Lanka, on Thursday.
Vandana Katariya scored off a sixth-minute penalty corner to open the scoring.
Seven minutes later, fellow forward Anupa Barla increased the lead with a field goal. Poonam scored off a penalty corner in the 22nd minute while Lily Chanu Mayengam added a field goal just before the break to ensure that India held a 4-0 lead.
Poonam pumped in two field goals within 10 minutes of resumption while captain Ritu Rani scored a hat-trick off penalty corners in an 11-minute span from the 57th minute in a match in which India enjoyed 95 per cent ball possession.
Though Singapore packed their defence, India scored frequently, converting six of the 15 penalty corners they forced.
11:22 Goa to auction ore dumps from govt land
Goa government will auction the low grade ore piled up in its properties over last several decades causing environmental hazards, a senior official said on Friday.
The new Goa Minerals (Prevention of Illegal Mining Transportation and Storage) Rules, 2012 will amend the laws to empower state government to sell the iron ore dumps, which are usually of low grade, lying in the government-owned lands.
Principal Secretary (Mines) R K Verma confirmed that the policy would be framed by mid-July but refused to divulge the details.
He said the draft policy would be put up for public scrutiny before it takes final shape.
The new rules, which will be ready within three weeks, will repeal and replace the 2004 rules, sources said.
The heaps of ore are sometimes washed away during rains thereby polluting the nearby water bodies, a senior official said.
Goa has 750 million metric tonnes of ore in the form of rejects scattered across the state.
The ore, which had no buyers, has suddenly got the value after demand from China increased since 2005.
11:17 Grand Mufti of Kashmir put under house arrest
Life across Kashmir Valley remained disrupted for the fifth day on Friday due to a strike called by Grand Mufti of the state over gutting of the 200-year-old Dastageer Sahib shrine even as restrictions continued on movement of people in the old city.
In view of the proposed march to the gutted shrine on Friday, the government has placed the Grand Mufti Bashiruddin Ahmad, his deputy Mufti nasir-ul Islam and the entire separatist leadership under house arrest.
"The Grand Mufti and other members of the state muslim Personal Law Board have been placed under house arrest. We condemn this action of the government," Islam, who is also a member of the board, told PTI.
Police sources said top separatist leaders, including chairmen of both factions of the Hurriyat Conference, have also been placed under house arrest as a precautionary measure to maintain law and order in the Valley.
The Grand Mufti had called for a march to the Dastageer Sahib Shrine, which was gutted in a fire incident on Monday. He had also called for a two-day strike, which will end on Friday.
Schools, colleges, offices, shops and other commercial establishments remained closed due to the strike.
10:53 Ex-IMF chief Strauss-Kahn, wife separate
Shamed former International Monetary Fund chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn and his wife Anne Sinclair have separated, according a report.
The reports emerge as Strauss-Kahn is facing a probe into his alleged involvement with a prostitution ring in France and legal battles over a New York sex assault case.
Weekly magazine Closer reported that Sinclair threw Strauss-Kahn out of their home in central Paris, and the two are living separately.
A source close to Strauss-Kahn confirmed the report of the separation, saying it had happened approximately a month ago, the New York Post reports.
The pair have been married for 20 years and Sinclair, a popular TV journalist for years, supported Strauss-Kahn when he was accused in May 2011 of trying to rape a New York hotel maid.
Closers report that the couple are now leading separate lives comes after weeks of media speculation that the relationship was under pressure, in part as Strauss-Kahn grew depressed at his lack of career options.
10:51 2 arrested in UK for plotting to attack Olympics venue
Two Muslim converts have been arrested by the UK police in East London, on suspicion of plotting an attack on the London Olympics canoeing venue.
Sources claimed the arrests were based on a tip-off after the two men were seen behaving suspiciously close to the venue in Waltham Abbey, Hertfordshire on Monday.
According to The Telegraph, the two men, aged 18 and 32, were arrested at separate residential addresses in east London, by officers from the Metropolitan Police Counter-Terrorism Command and were detained under the Terrorism Act 2000 on suspicion of the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism.
A friend of the arrested men named the 18-year-old as Jamal ud-Din and said the older man was someone he knew only as "Zakariya."
Mizanur Rahman, 29, said the arrests "might have had something to do with the fact that they recently went canoeing" on the River Lea, a branch of which runs through the Olympics site in east London.
10:41 Pathribal fake encounter: Army to court martial 5 officers
The Army has decided to try in General Court Martial its five officers allegedly involved in the Pathribal fake encounter killing of five innocent men in Anantnag district of Kashmir in March 2000.
The Army moved an application before the Chief Judicial Magistrate Srinagar, the designated CBI court, seeking transfer of the Pathribal fake encounter case to the General Court Martial, a court official said on Friday
He said the CJM has directed transferring the records including the charge-sheet and other material evidence to the General Court Martial through the Army's authorised officer.
The Army's decision came after the Supreme Court on May one gave eight weeks' time to it to decide whether the accused officers will be tried in the GCM or face a trial in the civilian court.
Brigadier Ajay Saxena, Lt Col Brajendra Pratap Singh, Major Sourabh Sharma, Major Amit Saxena and Subedar Idrees Khan were charge-sheeted by the CBI in 2006 for killing five civilians and later dubbing them as foreign militants.
As per the CBI investigation, the five civilians were killed and branded as militants days after 35 Sikhs were massacred in the nearby Chattisingpora village.
10:08 Sensex on the way up; gains 269 pts in early trade
Extending gains for the fourth day in a row, the BSE benchmark Sensex rose by hefty 269 points in early trade on Friday on sustained buying by funds and retailers on hopes that the government will announce economic reforms to revive the economy.
The finance ministry proposing a monetary limit for invoking the controversial General Anti-Tax Avoidance Rules (GAAR) in its draft guidelines issued late Thursday night too buoyed the trading sentiments, traders said.
The 30-share barometer, which had climbed by 108 points in the past three sessions, rose by another 269.49 points, or 1.58 per cent, to 17,260.25.
All sectoral indices, led by banking and capital goods, were trading in the positive zone with gains of up to 1.76 per cent.
The wide-based National Stock Exchange index Nifty also moved up by 78.20 points, or 1.57 per cent, to 5,227.35.
Brokers said expectations that capital inflow would pick up after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh who himself has taken over the finance portfolio will initiate steps to prop up the economy buoyed the trading sentiments.
09:41 17 Naxals killed in Dantewada encounter
16 Naxals have been killed in an encounter with the Central Rerserve Police Force in Chattisgarh's Dantewada area.
The encounter, which took place in the jungles of Silger, a "liberated" Maoist zone between the naxal hotbed of Jagargunda and Basaguda in Dantewada, was launched on Thursday night by the CRPF from three directions.
Two Maoists have also been arrested after the encounter.
The encounter is significant as this is the first time that the central force has recovered these many bodies of naxals. The arrested Maoists have been airlifted to the state capital Raipur.
Official sources said six CRPF men, including two CoBRA commandos, have sustained bullet injuries and they have been air-lifted for medical aid.
Preliminary reports suggest that the casualty figures of the naxalites could increase as information from deep inside the jungles is trickling in slowly.
09:40 Chinese cosmonauts return after 2 week mission
China's first woman cosmonaut and two of her colleagues returned to Earth on Friday after successfully accomplishing the country's first-ever manual space docking during a two-week mission, giving a boost to Beijing's efforts to build a space station by 2020.
The spacecraft Shenzhou-9 carrying the three astronauts landed at the designated spot at Inner Mongolia region.
The landing, which was shown live on the television was a bit bumpy as the module turned upside down as it hit the ground.
Ground stations declared that the landing was successful. The first Chinese woman astronaut Liu Yang, and her two male colleagues Mission commander Jing Haipeng and Liu Wang were safe.
The two-week space mission was a key step towards building a space station, which China aims to do by 2020.
The module aided by a huge parachute was seen landing almost at the designated site in the grass lands of inner Mongolia.
The module aided by a huge parachute was seen landing almost at the designated site in the grass lands of inner Mongolia.
The ground search and rescue team moved toward the landing site as soon as the capsule landed.
08:39 US House finds attorney general in contempt
In an unprecedented move, US lawmakers voted to hold Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt, paving the way for legal action over a probe into a botched gun-running scheme.
Several furious Democrats led by Nancy Pelosi, the party's top member in the House of Representatives, stormed out of the chamber at the start of the vote on Thursday.
They were protesting what they say is highly political and partisan action by Republicans to discredit Holder and President Barack Obama's administration ahead of the November elections.
But the resolution was adopted with a vote of 255-67 in the Republican-led House. Several dozen Democrats refused to participate, but several more also voted to find the nation's top justice official in contempt.
The resolution calls for the case to be referred to a US attorney tasked with bringing a possible indictment against Holder for blocking a 16-month investigation into Operation Fast and Furious.
The House was to vote on a second resolution on civil contempt, which would authorize a congressional panel to sue the Justice Department in federal court to compel officials to relinquish documents subpoenaed by Republican investigators.
The finding of contempt, the first-ever for a sitting attorney general, was immediately branded by the White House as a "transparently political stunt."
08:38 US Air Force faces growing sex scandal
The US Air Force has said at least 31 female cadets were victims of alleged sexual assault by military instructors in a widening scandal at the service's training command.
General Edward Rice, commander of Air Education and Training Command, said on Thursday that authorities are investigating 12 male training instructors for suspected sexual misconduct at Lackland Air Force Base near San Antonio, Texas.
He said nine of the 12 instructors were from the 331st Training Squadron, and that the problem appeared to be confined mostly to that unit.
The commander of the squadron was relieved of his duty earlier this month over the allegations, Rice told a news conference at the Pentagon.
It was unclear how long sexual misconduct had been going on at Lackland but the Air Force believed the abuses dated back to 2009, he said.
02:32 Assad sees 'indirect' Western hand in Syria uprising
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said in an interview on Iranian state television today that he believed Western and some regional countries were playing a role in supporting the uprising against his regime.
He acknowledged that "material proof does not exist" because "most of the time their support is hidden and indirect," but "their relations (with the armed opposition) are clear."
The interview was recorded a week ago in Assad's palace in Damascus, Iranian media said.
He acknowledged that "material proof does not exist" because "most of the time their support is hidden and indirect," but "their relations (with the armed opposition) are clear."
The interview was recorded a week ago in Assad's palace in Damascus, Iranian media said.
01:20 US defence firm pleads guilty to helping China
A US-based company and its Canadian subsidiary today pleaded guilty to the charges of helping China develop a new attack helicopter and agreed to pay a penalty of $75 million as part of the settlement.
At a federal court hearing in Bridgeport, Connecticut, United Technologies and its two subsidiaries, Pratt & Whitney Canada and Hamilton Sundstrand Corp, pleaded guilty to violating Arms Export Control Act and making false statements in connection with its export to China of US-origin military software used in China's first modern military attack helicopter the Z-10.
In addition, they all agreed to pay more than $75 million as part of a global settlement with the Justice Department and State Department.
00:43 Clinton arrives in Russia for Syria talks
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrived in Saint Petersburg today, for talks with her Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov that are expected to be dominated by the ongoing crisis in Syria.
The two top diplomats are to meet late on Friday, the eve of crunch talks in Geneva that will try to find a diplomatic solution to the conflict that has killed an estimated 15,000 people.
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