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Fri, 18 April 2014
Superseded navy commander seeks justice or retirement

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20:15   Superseded navy commander seeks justice or retirement
Upset over being superseded for the post of Navy Chief, Western Naval Commander Vice Admiral Shekhar Sinha has filed a complaint with the defence ministry and said that if "justice" is not done to him, he would take voluntary retirement.

In his letter to the Ministry, he has complained against being overlooked for the appointment to the top post, sources said.

Sinha has also told the government that if "justice"cannot be done to him, he should be given voluntary retirement, sources said here.

Admiral Robin Dhowan, vice chief of naval staff, was appointed as the navy chief yesterday superseding Sinha, who was the senior-most vice admiral.
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19:29   Malaysia, Australia to ink deal over handling of debris:report
Malaysia and Australia will sign a deal over who handles the wreckage of the crashed Malaysian jet -- including the black box and any human remains - to avoid "legal pitfalls" in future.

The agreement aims at "safeguarding both parties from any legal pitfalls" and covers every aspect of the ongoing Australia-led recovery process of the Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 in the southern Indian Ocean.

The MoU will also address specific areas, including which parties will handle the wreckage or any parts of the plane, including the black box, once found. Another critical area concerns the handling of human remains, the New Straits Times reported.

The report said Canberra is studying the MoU, that Kuala Lumpur hopes will be concluded soon and endorsed by the cabinet at its next meeting.
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19:13   Pak Taliban warns of attacks on govt targets
On the eve of a fresh round of peace talks with the government, the Pakistani Taliban has warned that they could attack state installations as the ceasefire was no longer in place.

In a statement, Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan spokesman Shahidullah Shahid said his group had no link with attacks on public places, "however, they could attack government places in our defence," Geo TV reported. The banned group said "some elements" could launch attacks after it refused to extend the ceasefire.

As in the past, Taliban's doors were open for dialogue, he said and that if the government was serious, TTP could carry on talks. The statement came a day after Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan said the government and the Taliban negotiating committees will meet on Saturday.
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19:03   Bomb-like device found on road which Mamata was to take
The police today recovered a bomb-like device from under a culvert on the Suri-Bolpur road barely half an hour before Trinamool Congress chief Mamata was to pass through it to address a rally here.

Coming a day after her hotel room in Malda caught fire, the device was fitted under a culvert and its wires were partly visible, the Birbhum police superintendent RM Khan said.

The chief minister, however, reached Suri from Nalhati by helicopter. The SP said that during security check, a police team found the device, including two gelatin sticks, two detonators, 12 batteries and a charger. "We have detained five persons from adjacent areas for interrogation," he said.
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18:44   EC notice to Mulayam Singh for allegedly threatening govt teachers
The Election Commission has issued a show cause notice to Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh for for allegedly threatening contractual government teachers to vote for his party.

More details are awaited
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18:27   Library named after Osama bin Laden in Islamabad
The library of a seminary for women run by a controversial hardline cleric in the Pakistani capital has been named after slain al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden. The seminary is run by Maulana Abdul Aziz, the imam of the Lal Masjid that was once the target of a military operation during Pervez Musharraf's regime.

"He (Osama) might be a terrorist for others but we do not consider him as a terrorist. For us he was a hero of Islam. He is a martyr," Aziz was quoted as saying by Geo TV.

The name plate outside the library read 'Maktbah Usama bin Ladon Sheeed'. Bin Laden was killed in a US special forces raid in Abbottabad in May 2011. The cleric's brother Rasheed was killed during the Lal Masjid operation in 2007.
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17:50   Azam threatens to move SC, slams EC's relief to Shah
Hitting out at Election Commission for lifting the ban on BJP leader Amit Shah, UP Minister Azam Khan today said he will move the Supreme Court against the poll panel's order barring him from campaigning in the state.

"Can any commission be above the Supreme Court. The Election Commission has a misunderstanding that its arbitrary powers can't be challenged in any court," the Samajwadi Party leader, who was banned along with Shah on April 11 from campaigning in the state for allegedly making provocative speeches, said at a press conference here.

The EC, however, yesterday allowed Shah to campaign in Uttar Pradesh after he assured the poll body that he would not disturb the public tranquility and law and order.

Asking why he was not given similar relief, Azam told reporters, "A criminal, an assailant and a murderer of humanity, whose entry into Gujarat has been banned by Supreme Court, availed freedom to campaign whereas the voice of a person whose entire community is a victim and who has a spotless character has been crushed".
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17:17   VVIP chopper deal: CBI Director meets Indian envoy in Italy
CBI Director Ranjeet Sinha has met Indian envoy in Italy in connection with its probe into alleged irregularities in Rs 3,600 AgustaWestland helicopter deal.

Sinha, who was in Rome last week to attend a conference on human trafficking organised by London's Metropolitan Police, held a meeting with Basant Kumar Gupta, Indian Ambassador to Italy, and discussed ways to fastrack the agency probe in the deal, official sources said today.

The CBI director pressed for early execution of the agency's judicial request (Letters Rogatory) to Italy seeking certain information on the accused and companies named in its FIR, they said. Both discussed ways and means for better coordination with the Italian authorities to secure crucial information sought by the agency in its judicial request, the sources said.
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17:05   UK's opposition Labour party hires Obama's poll guru
British opposition leader Ed Miliband has roped in US poll guru David Axelrod as his strategic adviser to fight a "tight" election next year.

Axelrod, a key architect behind US President Barack Obama's two presidential triumphs, will work alongside shadow foreign secretary, Douglas Alexander, who is to run Labour's general election strategy.

The party will pay Axelrod a six-figure sum and use his consulting firm AKVD in its bid to win power in the May 7, 2015 election, the BBC reported. Axelrod, 59, was a key architect of US President Obama's back-to-back presidential victories in 2008 and 2012.

Alexander said Axelrod had three great strengths: he had shown an ability to win the middle class over to a progressive cause; he knew how to build large majorities; and he was an expert in handling negative campaigning.
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16:16   Indian-origin doctor unfairly sacked, UK tribunal rules
An Indian-origin heart surgeon in the UK was unfairly sacked after he raised concerns about patient safety, an employment tribunal has ruled. Dr Raj Mattu was dismissed by University Hospital of Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust in 2010.

In 2001, he had exposed the cases of two patients who had died in crowded bays at Walsgrave Hospital in Coventry. Mattu, 51, said he was "absolutely relieved" at the ruling. The trust said it was disappointed and would examine the ruling for grounds to appeal. Mattu was first suspended over allegations he bullied a junior doctor.

He was allowed to return to work but only after re-training - which he never completed. In 2009, General Medical Council cleared Mattu of the bullying allegations yet he was sacked by the hospital trust. Employment Judge Pauline Hughes ruled the consultant "did not cause or contribute to his dismissal" and had been subject to "many detriments" by the trust for being a whistle-blower. His allegations had been "serious" and "attracted a great deal of media coverage and public interest", she said.

She also ruled that the surgeon had been treated "unfavourably" by the trust as a result of a disability. But she dismissed Mattu's claims of racial discrimination. Mattu told BBC Radio that the trust had made false allegations against him as a "plausible alternative" for his dismissal -- when the real reason had been his whistle blowing.

"Scores of false allegations, some of them quite heinous, were put forward," he said. "The saddest thing out of all of this for me is that the people who have lost out the most are the patients and the public because for 13 years the trust management have prevented me from looking after patients.
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15:52   BJP will realise Gandhiji's dreams: Rajnath
BJP president Rajnath Singh has said that his party would realise Mahatma Gandhi's dreams, something which Congress could not do.

Addressing a campaign rally at Kalyan in the district last night, Rajnath said Gandhiji had called for dissolution of Congress after the Independence, but Congress leaders did not heed his advice.

BJP would fulfil the dreams of the father of the nation, he said, promising a corruption-free regime and several reforms. "I have toured the entire country and have seen an overwhelming support for Narendra Modi as people want a change," he said.

In the next 10 years, India would become not only an economic power, but 'jagat-guru' of the world, Rajnath said. Referring to the memoirs of journalist Sanjaya Baru (former media adviser to the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh) which claim that the Prime Minster had to bow to the wishes of the Congress president on certain occasions, Singh sought a clarification from Sonia Gandhi.
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15:39   Vishwas files application alleging threat from a Cong worker
AAP candidate Kumar Vishwas today filed an application with police seeking registration of an FIR against Priyanka Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and some Congress workers in connection with an alleged threat by a party man.

"We have got an application from Vishwas for lodging an FIR against Rahul, Priyanka, Chandrakant Dubey, Vinod Mishra and other Congress workers. We will examine it and take appropriate action," Superintendent of Police Hiralal said.

The application filed at Gauriganj police station also names Rahul's representative Dubey. When asked about it, Vishwas said that on April 15 during Priyanka Gandhi's tour, a video of Congress worker Vinod Mishra had been "leaked" in which he allegedly said "Vishwas Rahul bhaiya ke khilaf bol raha hai mai usko goli maar dunga" (Vishwas is talking against Rahul, I will shoot him)."
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14:22   GDP has grown three times during UPA rule: PMO
The Prime Minister's Office today came out with data to highlight the progress made under Prime Minister Manmohan Singh over the last 10 years in an effort to counter the damaging claims made by his former Media Adviser Sanjaya Baru.

"The way India has progressed in the last 10 years it has never happened in any other democracy," PMO Communication Adviser Pankaj Pachauri told reporters.

He said this government has fought against poverty like no other government has done and the progress the road and job sectors has achieved has not been made in any other country.

On GDP growth, Pachauri said, "GDP has grown three times in the last 10 years. Minimum wages have also gone up three times. This shows the government is working continuously." However, he lamented that the information is not reflected in the media. "The information is not reaching the people because the media's priority is different," he said.
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13:27   Dust storm kills at least 27 in Uttar Pradesh
At least 27 persons were killed and more than 30 injured in a strong dust storm that lashed Uttar Pradesh, district officials said.

They said 10 persons were killed in Farukhabad, six including two children in Barabanki, three each in state capital Lucknow and Sitapur, two each in Hardoi and Jalaun and one in Faizabad yesterday evening.

The gutsy winds, which was followed by showers, uprooted trees, electricity poles and hutments, causing severe damage to public and private property. The meteorological department said that storm and rainfall were results of western disturbance over Rajasthan.
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12:42   7 killed in Mt Everest avalanche
At least seven Nepalese climbing guides were killed and several others injured today after an avalanche struck the Mount Everest, the world's highest peak.

The avalanche occurred at around 6:45 am at an altitude of about 5,800 metres in an area known as the "popcorn field" which lies on the route into the treacherous Khumbu icefall.

"Seven bodies have been recovered, while five others are buried in the snow at the area," Jeevan Ghimire, Managing Director of the Peace Nepal Treks, was quoted as saying by the Himalayan Times.

"Some Sherpas, ethnic group from the most mountainous region of Nepal, who went to fix ropes and ferry logistics for other climbers are still unaccounted for after the avalanche," he said.
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12:02   Muzaffarnagar riots: Bail plea of 3 murder accused rejected
A local court rejected the bail plea of three persons accused of killing two brothers during the riots last year.

District sessions judge Vijay Laxmi yesterday rejected bail plea of Sehdev, Ajit Singh and Amardeep, accused of killing brothers Shahid and Nawab on September 9 last year, during communal riots that hit the district, said district government council Dushyant Tyagi.

The duo had gone to fetch milk for their shop at Matheri village in the district where they were attacked by the rioters, Tyagi said. Deceased's father Akhtar Hasan had loged a complaint with police against six people. The Special Investigation Team probing into the riots had also confirmed their involvement in the crime.
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10:40   Sarpanch shot dead by suspected militants in Kashmir
Suspected militants killed asarpanch affiliated to opposition People's Democratic Party inPulwama district of Kashmir, police said today.       

Mohammad Anin Pandith was shot dead by gunmen outside hisresidence at Awantipora in Pulwama late last night, they said.

No militant outfit has claimed responsibility for thekilling so far.
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02:29   Chelsea Clinton announces she's pregnant

Chelsea Clinton announced Thursday that she is expecting her first child. The only daughter of former President Bill Clinton and former secretary of state Hillary Clinton made the announcement while sharing the stage with her mother at a women's event in New York.

 

Read more on CNN

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02:25   'A man possessed of a vivid imagination'

The vivid prose of Gabriel Garcia Marquez described a world as exotic as a Latin American carnival. His backdrop was the poverty-stricken, and often violent world of his Colombian home where democracy never really found roots. His stories wove imaginary magical elements into real life and were often set in a fictional village called Macondo.

 

A left-winger by conviction he was not slow to criticise the Colombian government and spent a great part of his life in exile. Continue reading the main story "Start Quote There is not a single line in all my work that does not have a basis in reality'

 

Gabriel Garcia Marquez Marquez was born in the town of Aracataca, Colombia on 6 March 1928 although his father, a pharmacist, always insisted it was 1927. His parents moved away shortly after he was born and the young Marquez was left in the care of his maternal grandparents.

 

Read BBC's obituary of Gabriel Garcia Marquez

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01:51   Nobel winning author Gabriel Garcia Marquez no more

Nobel prize-winning Colombian author Gabriel Garcia Marquez dies in Mexico aged 87, source close to family says, BBC reports.

 

This may come as a shock to the many readers who have loved One Hundred Years of Solitude, the masterpiece of magical realism and the book that won Gabriel Garcia Marquez the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1982.

 

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