LIVE
Sat, 03 November 2012
Mamata stops release of film on Park Street rape

Timeline  Refresh

image
23:05   Mamata stops release of film on Park Street rape
A correspondent from Kolkata reports: The West Bengal government, headed by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, on Saturday barred the release of Tin Kanya, a film by director Agnidev Chatterjee, as it reportedly depicted the Park Street rape case.

Banerjee had drawn flak from all quarters when she had tried to downplay the rape incident near a pub in the upscale area of Park Street.
image
23:01   Clarify on loan issue: Ramdev to Sonia, Rahul
Yoga guru Ramdev today asked Congress president Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul to clear the air over charges that the party lent Rs 90 crore to a company that published the now-defunct National Herald newspaper.        

"They (Sonia and Rahul) should come out in the open and clear the air over the issue instead of clarifying through party spokespersons," he said while addressing a yoga camp.        

"Political parties should not be run like private limited companies," he said,  referring to Janata Party president Subramanian Swamy's charges against Sonia and Rahul Gandhi over acquisition of Associated Journals that published the newspaper to which Congress gave a loan of over Rs 90 crore.
image
23:00   Hillary Clinton calls up Khurshid
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton today called up Salman Khurshid and congratulated him on assuming the charge of the external affairs ministry.     

Official sources said the telephonic conversation between Khurshid and Clinton lasted for about 15 minutes.     

She emphasised the importance of Indo-US relations and the need to carry them forward.
image
21:53   Kalam praises Gandhi's leadership
Lauding Mahatma Gandhi's leadership qualities on his first-ever visit to China, former president AP J Abul Kalam today exhorted the Chinese students to follow his suit and also cultivate an art of questioning in pursuit of excellence.       
Speaking to students of Peking University on the Dimensions of Creative Leadership on the last leg of his high-profile visit, Kalam narrated how Mahatma Gandhi preferred to remain in Kolkata to console the victims of social disharmony on Aug 15, 1947, when the entire nation celebrated its first independence for which Gandhiji fought.       

"On the great occasion of freedom celebrations, he was not in the midst of the pomp and show healing the wounded", he said, praising the move as great leadership quality.
image
21:52   Heavy rains throw life out of gear in Andhra
Heavy rains caused by cyclonic storm Nilam have left a trail of destruction and thrown life out of gear in coastal districts of Andhra Pradesh.    

The state government announced that nine people have been killed in rain-related incidents in different districts in the wake of the cyclonic storm and standing crop in 1.79 lakh hectares was damaged, as per preliminary estimates.     

Government machinery has been put on high alert in coastal districts of Srikakulam, east and west Godavari, Krishna, Guntur, Prakasam and SPS Nellore as moderate to isolated heavy rain has been forecast in coastal Andhra in the next 48 hours, officials said.
image
21:17   RPI chief enquires about Bal Thackeray's health
RPI leader Ramdas Athawale today enquired about ailing Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray's health after visiting his residence in Mumbai.

"Athawale met Sena executive president Uddhav Thackeray. Both the leaders discussed senior Thackeray's health for about an hour," sources in the RPI said, adding that no political issues were discussed during the meeting.        

Athawale could not meet the Sena patriarch as doctors have advised him not to meet anybody, they said.
image
21:15   Arranging jobs for youth a serious challenge: Akhilesh
Admitting that arranging jobs for youth was a serious challenge before the Uttar Pradesh government, Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav today said efforts are being made to woo industrialists to invest in the state.        

Addressing the convocation of a private university, Akhilesh said, "To arrange jobs for the youth is a serious challenge before the government and it is making efforts accordingly."        

He said that efforts were being made by the government so that industrialists set up units in the state so that the youth get new employment opportunities.
image
21:13   Stressed ITBP jawan shoots self
A jawan of the Indo-Tibet Border Police allegedly committed suicide by shooting himself with his service rifle in Sirmaur district, Himachal Pradesh early today morning.        

"Anil Kumar, 30, was on election duty and had arrived here last week. He was deputed at polling station Number 1 in Satuan village," said Rameshwar Singh Thakur, superintendent of police.       

Preliminary inquiry revealed that Kumar had been under stress for past some time.
image
21:12   Nepal Maoists threaten stir against Indian project
The youth wing of Nepal Maoists' breakaway faction today threatened to launch an agitation if a treaty for a joint hydro-power project with India was not scrapped.        

The Rastriya Yuva Janaswyamsebak, the newly-formed youth wing of the hardline Mohan Vaidya-led Maoist faction, warned the Baburam Bhattarai government that if the project was not scrapped they may "take up arms against it".        

Chairman of RYJS Udaya Bahadur Chalaune, claimed his group had conducted field visits to various districts in southern Nepal including Sunsari, Dhunkuta, Udayapur and Bhojpur and estimated that the Saptakoshi High Dam Project will displace more than 300,000 people if constructed.
image
19:20   Pakistani man kills Indian doctor in UAE
In a gruesome incident, a Pakistani man armed with a big knife stormed a private hospital in Abu Dhabi and killed an Indian urologist after the death of his relative at the hospital, a media report said.        

Sources at Al Ahli Hospital in the capital said the man went straight into the urology clinic and stabbed the 58-year-old doctor before forcing him on his knees and slitting his throat. Other doctors and staff members rushed into the clinic but it was too late.
image
19:19   Coming soon: List of corrupt BJP MLAs in Karnataka
The Karnataka BJP Elders' Forum, an informal group of party veterans, today said it would release a list of tainted ruling party MLAs and ministers and threatened to field "honest candidates" if tainted ones were given tickets to contest in the next assembly elections.   

"We will release a list of 20 to 30 tainted MLAs and ministers in one or two months," the forum's president B B Shivappa, former president of the party's state unit, told reporters.   

"If opportunity is given for them to contest, fitting reply will be given by fielding honest candidates", added Shivappa, also a former MLA.
image
17:33   6-year-old stabbed to death for being noisy
In a shocking incident in Jharkhand, a six-year-old school student was stabbed to death and another girl student was injured critically, when a man, allegedly annoyed by the chaos made by the students, entered their school and attacked them, reports NDTV.

The incident took place in a government school in Chakradharpur in the Chaibasa district.

The injured student has been admitted to the Jamshedpur Hospital. According to the doctors her condition is critical.

The accused, who tried to flee the classroom, was chased by villagers, who beat him up and later handed him over to the police.  
image
16:23   Did CWC approve loan revive National Herald?
The buzz in the New Delhi political circles is whether the minutes of the All India Congress Committee session in Burai or the two meetings of the Congress Working Committee mentioned the loan of Rs 90 crore given to revive National Herald. The question remains whether the loan was discussed and approved by the CWC, reports our correspondent in New Delhi.   

Janata Party President Subramanian Swamy meanwhile filed a petition before the Election Commission to derecognise the Congress "based on the confession of the loan crime". In his letter to the EC, he asked why this fact was suppressed from the 21 CWC members. Why was the Rs 90-crore loan was not mentioned in the web site of the AICC.
image
15:59   Mamata plays censor again, stops screening of film
The West Bengal government has reportedly banned the screening of a movie at the state-owned Star Theatre hall in Kolkata, allegedly because the film in question refers to the Park Street rape case, reports CNN-IBN.

According to sources, the movie -- 3 Kanya -- portrays the state government in a bad light and hence, drew extreme reaction from the government, despite the fact that it was cleared by the censor board.
image
15:26   Indian Ocean Rim Association to focus on fighting piracy
Ministers of member states of the Indian Ocean Rim Association for Regional Cooperation, met at Gurgaon for the 12th Meeting of the Council of Ministers yesterday.

Several useful regional and multilateral initiatives to deliberate on various relevant aspects of the fight against piracy have been taken in the Indian Ocean region.

The IORARC seminar on maritime security is scheduled for 2013 and is expected tp consider concrete proposals of cooperation in this broad area, including institutionalisation of a regional mechanism for continuing exchange of views and monitoring of the situation.

Read the communiqu here
image
15:16   Americans are human, we are all human: Hafeez Saeed
The Jamaat-ud-Dawa chief Hafeez Saeed, the 2008 Mumbai attacks mastermind, and for whom the US has offered a bounty of $10 million, spoke to CNN about his aid offer to victims of Sandstorm Sandy.

"We have differences with the American government's policies, but the American people are only human; we are all human. It's not their fault," Saeed told CNN.

The US government rejected the offer and dismissed it as hollow.

Saeed softened his stance on Sharia law when speaking to CNN, saying he did not want to impose the strict laws by force but encourage it by raising awareness instead. It was a departure from past radical positions.

Watch the full interview here


image
14:28   Cyclone Nilam: Ship not seaworthy?
As the bodies of two sailors of MT Pratibha Cauvery, which was grounded by cyclone Nilam, were found today, questions are being raised over the role of the ship's captain in the tragedy.

Coast Guard sources have told NDTV that the vessel was not sea-worthy since October 2. It had been berthed at the Chennai Port since a month. Even as the threat of the cyclone intensified, the Captain, sources say, defied instructions to move to safe waters.

Read the full story here
image
13:13   Mumbai lit fest row: Anil Dharkar defends Naipaul
At the ongoing Mumbai lit fest, playwright Girish Karnad launched an unexpected and scathing attack on Nobel laureate V S Naipaul, who was awarded the festival's Lifetime Achievement Award. Karnad accused Naipaul of mis-characterising Indian history, Islam, and the riots sparked in Mumbai after the Babri Masjid demolition.

Festival director Anil Dharkar came in Naipaul's defence. He told Mumbai Mirrior that although controversies were an acceptable part of a literary festival, he was taken aback by Karnad's attack.

"I told him it was unfair to say this about someone who wasn't present, and who was bestowed a Lifetime Achievement award by us after considering his whole body of work. But when Girish criticised even the Nobel Prize that Naipaul received, I couldn't argue much. I just felt when we gave him a platform to talk on a particular subject, to criticise Naipaul was out of place."
image
11:56   Cyclone Nilam: Bodies of all five sailors recovered
Bodies of all five sailors, who went missing after an oil tanker ran aground off the Chennai beach hours before Cyclone Nilam made landfall on November 1, have been recovered.

While four bodies were recovered on Friday, one more was found washed ashore near Minjur coastal area early on Saturday morning, police said.

The five went missing after their lifeboat capsized in choppy waters while 16 were rescued by local fishermen and one drowned on Wednesday. Fifteen sailors were rescued on Thursday from the ship, which had a crew of 37 on board.
image
11:47   India to showcase Aakash tablet at UN
India, which assumed this month's rotating Presidency of the Security Council, will showcase its low-cost Aakash tablet at the United Nations, highlighting the country's innovation involved in the "most competitively priced" tablet computer.

India's Permanent Representative to the UN Hardeep Singh Puri said a presentation on the tablet will be held on November 28 at the world body's headquarters here to which UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon will be invited.

Suneet Singh Tuli, CEO of Canada-based Datawind, which had won the Indian government's tender for making and supplying the tablets, will also be present on the occasion.

Aakash has been "described as the most competitively priced tablet computer by an Indian-origin entrepreneur," Puri said at a news conference yesterday to outline the Council's monthly agenda under India's presidency. He said while the tablet would be called "frugal innovation" in UN terminology, it is a "competitively priced innovation."
image
10:40   Swamy to move EC to de-recognise Congress
Janata Party chief Subramanian Swamy has said that he will file a petition before the Election Commission on Saturday seeking de-recognition of the Congress.

He tweeted, "After the Congress confession of the loan crime (on Friday), I am filing a petition today before the ECI seeking de-recognition of Congress party."

Breaking its silence, the Congress on Friday rejected allegations levelled by Swamy and maintained that its support to National Herald newspaper was interest free loans yielding no commercial profit to the party.
image
09:43   Drugs worth Rs 3 cr seized at Hyderabad airport
The customs department has seized 10 kg of Mandrix drug worth Rs 3 crore at the Hyderabad airport, reports NDTV.

Two people have been taken into custody. The drugs were being taken from Hyderabad to Malaysia.

More details are awaited. 
image
03:28   How Victorias Secret Saved National Guard From Sandy
On Monday night, Hurricane Sandy hit the armory of the New York Army National Guards 69th Infantry Regiment, leaving the soldiers without power, hot water, or anything but the most rudimentary means of communicating with the outside world.

So the next morning, the Regiments officers made an emergency plea -- to the producers of the Victorias Secret fashion show.

As they had done for the last three years running, the lingerie company was holding its annual television event at the Regiments historic armory, located at 25th street and Lexington Avenue in Manhattan. For the show, the producers had hauled in eight massive 500 kilowatt generators. Of course, the producers said, wed be happy to help. Hours later, the lights flashed back on.

Read more HERE
image
03:24   Virginia man owes $1.5 million for sharing 10 porn films
A Virginia man has been ordered to pay $1.5 million to porn publisher Flava Works for uploading 10 of its copyrighted films to peer-to-peer networks. 

The default judgment, entered after defendant Kywan Fisher failed to show up in court, was the maximum penalty the judge could have imposed.

Flava Works is an avid copyright litigator. In August, the firm suffered an appeals court setback in its legal battle against a "video bookmarking" site. The firm has also been suing customers like Fisher who leak copies of its videos to peer-to-peer networks.

Flava Works says it knows Fisher was responsible for illicit uploads of 10 videos because the company "has proprietary software that assigns a unique encrypted code to each member of plaintiffs paid websites. In this case, every time the defendant downloaded a copy of a copyrighted video from plaintiffs website, it inserts an encrypted code that is only assigned to defendant."

Read more HERE
image
02:15   UFO sightings in Ladakh spook Army, ITBP
Units of the Indian Army and the Indo-Tibetan Border Police Force have reported Unidentified Flying Objects in the Ladakh region of Jammu and Kashmir. 

An ITBP unit based in Thakung, close to the Pangong Tso Lake, reported over 100 sightings of luminous objects between August 1 and October 15 this year. 

In reports sent to their Delhi headquarters in September, and to the Prime Minister's Office, they described sighting "Unidentified Luminous Objects" at day and by night.

image
02:13   J&K grapples with LPG crisis, Omar enjoys multiple connections
Amid a massive crisis of LPG cylinders in the Kashmir Valley, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, who should lead by an example, enjoys multiple gas connections. 

It is ironic that when people have to wait for hours and sometime pay a hefty amount as bribe to get their LPG connections verified, the Chief Minister has three active gas connections under his name, all of them in Srinagar.

Jammu and Kashmir is currently struggling with a massive LPG shortage and has seen many protests through out the state over past couple of months. 

Locals allege that a nexus between gas dealers and agents operating in the market are taking consumers for a ride by asking them to pay more than Rs 1,500 for transfer or verification of documents.

image
01:46   China likes US 'leadership transition' better than its own
Unlike the US election, which has unexpectedly turned into a down-to-the-wire contest pitting Mitt Romney's 'momentum' against Barack Obama's machine, the outcome in China has never really been in doubt, at least not since October 18, 2010. That was the day the Party's Central Committee formally named Vice-president Xi Jinping as vice-chairman of the powerful Central Military Commission. 

For Chinese, the only thing left to game out is the list of people who will round out Xi's leadership team. And that decision, like the vice-presidents appointment, won't be made by China's 1.3 billion citizens. 

Neither will it be made by the 2270 delegates to the Party Congress, despite all the elaborate trappings being put in place for the conclave. Rather, the decision on who runs China will have already been made by a tiny clique of old Communists stalwarts, including the current Politburo members and a handful of of septuagenarian and octogenarian Party Grandees.

image
01:42   Leonardo DiCaprio, Erin Heatherton part ways
Leonardo DiCaprio and supermodel Erin Heatherton have split after dating for nearly a year, entertainment website Page Six has revealed.

The actor and the beautiful blonde Victoria's Secret Angel split last week, Page Six said quoting sources. 

They had been dating since December 2011
image
01:40   Pakistani Taliban threaten to target MQM
Pakistani Taliban has threatened to launch attacks on the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), the largest political party in Karachi, to "free the oppressed people of the city from the hold of the tyrants". 

The MQM has been a vocal critic of the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and had organised a huge rally last month to condemn the Taliban attack on a 15-year-girl Malala Yousafzai in Swat valley.

MQM leaders also claimed that Taliban have sneaked into Karachi, its stronghold, and involved in terrorist and criminal acts.

"We have decided to deal with the brutal, apostate MQM, which has occupied Karachi. We will show no mercy on the group," Taliban spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan said in a statement.

"We have taken the decision to free the oppressed people of Karachi from the hold of the tyrants. We are with every oppressed people," he said.
image
01:38   6.4 quake hits off southern Philippines
A strong 6.4-magnitude earthquake struck off the southern Philippine island of Mindanao, US seismologists said, but there were no immediate reports of damage or casualties.

The US Geological Survey said the quake had a depth of 63 kilometres and hit at 1817 GMT Friday some 86 kilometres east of the city of Butuan. 

The Philippines is one of the most disaster-prone countries in the world, with an average of 20 typhoons battering the island nation every year. It also sits on the Pacific Ring of Fire -- a belt around the Pacific Ocean dotted by active volcanoes and unstable ocean trenches.

A 7.6-magnitude quake hit the country's east coast on August 31, triggering a tsunami alert that forced more than 130,000 to flee their homes and causing a landslide that killed one person.
image
01:21   Sandy swallows Jersey Shore town
New Jersey's Seaside Heights was the backdrop for Jersey Shore , the popular MTV reality television show that cast a group of mostly Italian-Americans as muscle-bound, fist-pumping 'guidos'. 

Packed with amusement park rides, beach bars and sprawling nightclubs, Seaside was a playground of debauchery and endless summer fun.

That was until this week, when Hurricane Sandy dumped six feet of water on its shores, packing forceful storm surges that pummelled its boardwalk, levelled businesses and sank a rollercoaster.

image
01:18   Sandy triggers climate blame game
The floodwaters whipped up by Hurricane Sandy have not yet receded but the temperature is rising on one of the toughest questions in modern science: whether we're getting more extreme weather because of global warming.

Radical film-maker Michael Moore put it with characteristic bluntness. In a Tweet, he wrote: "Stop w/ the disaster porn and tell the America people the bitter truth: We have f***** up the environment & we are now paying the price."

The governor of New York state, Andrew Cuomo, expressed it more politely: "Anyone who thinks there isn't a change in weather patterns is denying reality."
image
01:17   Sandy impact: Gas shortage fuels tempers
Pockets of frustration among cold and hungry residents festered Friday, in the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy, even as other areas sputtered back to life.

The biggest challenges in places like New Jersey and Staten Island -- where the majority of New York's storm-related deaths were recorded -- include food and electricity shortages.

Across 15 states and the District of Columbia, utilities reported that about 3.3 million customers remained without power.

And people shivered, their heads peeking out from bulky sweatshirts, waiting hours at stations to fill their gas cans.

Four days had passed since Sandy hit, and survivors pleaded for basic necessities.

At a Hess petrol station in the Gowanus section of Brooklyn, the line snaked at least 10 blocks through narrow and busy streets. That caused confusion among other drivers, some of whom accidentally found themselves in the petrol line. People got out of their cars to yell at them.
image
01:02   India to showcase Aakash tablet at UN
India will showcase its low-cost Aakash tablet at the UN, highlighting the country's innovation involved in creating the "most competitively priced" tablet computer.

India's Permanent Representative to the UN Hardeep Singh Puri said a presentation on the tablet will be held on November 28 at the world body's headquarters here to which UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon will be invited. 

Suneet Singh Tuli, CEO of Canada-based Datawind, which had won the Indian government's tender for making and supplying the tablets, will also be present on the occasion.

Aakash has been "described as the most competitively priced tablet computer by an Indian-origin entrepreneur," Puri said at a news conference today to outline the Council's monthly agenda under India's presidency.

He said while the tablet would be called "frugal innovation" in UN terminology, it is a "competitively priced innovation."
image
01:00   Pak, China meet ahead of Beijing's leadership change
China and Pakistan on Friday held their fifth round of strategic dialogue to review close cooperation in different areas ahead of the next week's change of Chinese leadership.

The talks were held here between Pakistan Foreign Secretary Jalil Abbas Jilani and Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Fu Ying.

The Dialogue would further strengthen the "all-weather Pakistan-China partnership", Pakistan's state-owned APP news agency reported. 

Fu said the complex international environment necessitated deeper cooperation between the two countries.

The dialogue was held ahead of November 8 Congress of the ruling Communist Party during which a new leadership would be selected to replace the 10-year stint in power by President Hu Jintao and other senior leaders. 

TOP STORIES