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Fri, 06 February 2015
Madras HC bans beauty contests in Tamil Nadu schools, colleges

Timeline  Refresh

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23:49   Pakistani hackers target Gujarat govt website
A group of hackers from Pakistan hacked a website of the Gujarat Education Department today and posted derogatory remarks about the Prime Minister Narendra Modi on its homepage, a senior official said. 

The IT department of Industrial Extension Bureau (iNDEXTb), which hosts and runs the website 'vidyasahayakgujarat.org', noticed it and relaunched the website within hours, said general manager of the department, Harshil Darji.

"Website belongs to the Director, Primary Education under state Education Department, which uses it to invite applications for 'vidyasahayaks' (teachers). It was hacked by a Pakistan-based hacker group early today morning," said Darji.

"As soon as we learned about it, engineers started maintenance and removed the material within two hours. We have re-launched the website," said Darji, who added that the hackers were found to have simultaneously hacked at least 21 other websites, including two websites of Hyderabad-based companies, across India.
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23:11   Madras HC bans beauty contests in Tamil Nadu schools, colleges
The Madras High Court banned beauty contests and peagents in schools and colleges across Tamil Nadu on Friday.

Following the orders, students across Tamil Nadu will no longer be allowed to walk the ramp or flaunt their beauty and fashion sense.

An interim order said a circular must be issued to ban or not to conduct any such beauty shows.

The court passed the orders on petition filed by the mother of an engineering student who had won such a contest in an engineering college, but was allegedly not paid the assured prize.

While the court held that a final order cannot be passed without the university's affidavit. It criticised holding of a beauty contest during a cultural event at the government run college.

The court said, "How will walking the ramp benefit an engineering student."
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22:53   PM needs to break 'deafening silence' on religious intolerance: NYT
Prime Minister Narendra Modi needs to break his "deafening silence" on religious intolerance, The New York Times said in an editorial today. 

A day after President Barack Obama had said that religious "intolerance" in India would have shocked Mahatma Gandhi, the newspaper's Editorial Board asked in an editorial titled 'Modi's Dangerous Silence', "What will it take for Prime Minister Narendra Modi to speak out about the mounting violence against India's religious minorities?" 

"Mr Modi needs to break his deafening silence on religious intolerance," it said.

The attacks at Christian places of worship have prompted "no response" from the man elected to represent and to protect all of India's citizens, the editorial observed, adding that nor has the Prime Minister addressed the "conversion" to Hinduism of Christians and Muslims. 

"Mr Modi's continued silence before such troubling intolerance increasingly gives the impression that he either cannot or does not wish to control the fringe elements of the Hindu nationalist right," it added. 
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22:15   Pranab to visit model polling booth in President Estate
President Pranab Mukherjee will visit a model polling booth in a school inside the President's Estate before voting starts in the Delhi Assembly elections tomorrow. The booth set up at Rajendra Prasad Sarvodaya Vidyalaya will also have some additional facilities.
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21:09   Thousands rally in Jordan urging punishment of IS
Thousands marched in Jordan's capital today demanding retribution for the burning alive of a fighter pilot by the Islamic State group, as Amman intensified its fight against the jihadists. 

Jordan said dozens of its jet fighters struck IS yesterday, and had widened their campaign from Syria to include targets in neighbouring Iraq.
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21:08   Yemen's Houthis dissolve parliament, take over power: Reports
Yemen's dominant Houthi movement today dissolved parliament and said a new interim assembly would be formed.

The new assembly will elect a five-member interim presidential council to manage the country's affairs, according to a televised statement.

Yemen has been in political limbo since President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi and the government of Prime Minister Khaled Bahah resigned after the Houthis seized the presidential palace and confined the head of state to his residence in a struggle to tighten control.
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20:39   AI pilots question govt move to cut salary for flight delay
Air India pilots have questioned the government's move to penalise airline's employees for any flight delay by way of cutting salary and said it will create an "unsafe" environment in the carrier. 

"This futile exercise is going to be detrimental to flight safety as employees directly involved with the departure of a flight will try to cut corners in the safety practices in order to avoid delays," said Indian Commercial Pilots Association in a letter to the management.
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20:31   Catholic bishop detained in China for past 14 years has died
A secretly appointed Roman Catholic bishop detained by China for the past 14 years due to its feud over authority with the Vatican has died at age 94, a Roman Catholic website said today. 

Chinese officials informed the family of Bishop Cosmas Shi Enxiang on January 30 that he had died, but did not say when or provide his relatives a cause of death, ucanews.com reported.
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19:42   Fight against IS not just Jordan's war but of every Muslim: Queen Rania
Thousands of people are marching in Jordan's capital, Amman, in support of their government's fight against Islamic State militants.

Jordan says its warplanes carried out dozens of air strikes on IS targets in Syria on Thursday in response to the killing of a Jordanian fighter pilot.

The country's foreign minister said it was "upping the ante" against IS.Until now, Arab states have only been involved in a fraction of the US-led air campaign against the militants.
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19:27   HC declines to stay ban on Togadia's entry into Bengaluru
Karnataka High Court today rejected VHP's plea for a stay on city police commissioner's order banning its leader Praveen Togadia's entry into the city on grounds of law and order. 

 Justice Abdul Nazir turned down the interim prayer by Karnataka VHP Organising Secretary Keshav Hegde for staying the police commissioner's order banning Togadia's entry into the city from February 5 to 11.
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18:55   Security beefed up in Delhi for Assembly elections
Ahead of tomorrow's Delhi Assembly elections, security has been beefed up in the national capital to avoid any untoward incident during polling and to check misuse of money and liquor to influence voters.

As the number of critical polling booths has increased by 107 since the last Delhi Assembly elections, the number of security personnel has also gone up in the national capital.

In 2013 Assembly polls, there were 634 such critical premises, but this time around, 741 premises have been identified as critical.

Of these numbers, poll panel has identified 191 polling stations as highly critical. While 64,000 police personnel had been deployed on poll duty during last elections, poll panel has not disclosed the exact number this time.
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18:27  
Bedi: I will survey the metro unannounced, we used to do that before. Crime on the move needs to be monitored. 
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18:25   Bedi does a Kejri
BJP's CM candidate Kiran Bedi travels on the Delhi metro from Patel Chowk to Nirman Vihar.

Is Bedi doing a Kerjiwal? AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal, who is bitterly against the ubiquitous "VIP culture", had taken the Delhi Metro to reach the Ramlila Maidan to take oath as Delhi's chief minister in 2013.

Campaigning, incidentally, may have ended for the Delhi polls yesterday, but this is a good way to draw attention.
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18:17  
Aam Aadmi Party sought support, claims Shahi Imam Syed Ahmed Bukhari's aide.  
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17:58   BJP's jibe at Shatrughan: Actors don't understand politics
In an apparent jibe at partyman Shatrughan Sinha for praising AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal, Madhya Pradesh BJP chief today said that actors lack political acumen and they often speak in "filmy" language.

"Film actors don't have political understanding. They talk in a filmy way and do not have an ear to the ground," state BJP chief, Nand Kumar Singh Chauhan, said in reply to a question.

"Kejriwal's image has been good.. he too is a decent and good person," Sinha had said yesterday, at a time when his party is going hammer and tongs at the AAP leader.
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17:41   In numbers: Delhi polls
Delhi Assembly polls will not only see youngsters flaunting inked fingers after casting their votes but over 300 voters above the age of 100 years will also be exercising their franchise.

Also, over 800 voters belonging to the third gender are registered in the electoral rolls for the polling scheduled tomorrow.

"There are 311 electors over the age of 100 years in the national capital. These persons are eligible to cast their votes in the Assembly elections," Delhi Chief Electoral Office Chandra Bhushan Kumar said.

Over 1.33 crore electorate will decide the fate of 673 candidates in the fray for the Delhi Assembly elections.

"There are also 862 such voters who belong to the third gender in the city," Bhushan said.

According to the Election Commission, the number of total electorate in Delhi stands at 1,33,09,078 -- 73,89,089 males; 59,19,127 females.

There are 2,27,316 voters in the age group of 18 to 19 years while 36,93,975 electors are in the age group of 20 to 29 years.

According to the EC, polling will take place at 12,177 polling stations, of which 714 have been identified as "critical". Of these, 191 are "highly critical".

For the first time, indelible ink will be applied with brush instead of wooden stick.
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17:34   'If I have to compete, I might as well compete with God'
Shreyas Talpade is one nervous actor. His Marathi film Baji releases alongside Amitabh Bachchan's Shamitabh today.

"When I am asked how I feel about competing with Bachchan sahab, I tell them he is God. I cannot compete against God,' says the actor. He will be seen in a Marathi film after an eight-year gap.  Shreyas and the cast of Baji were at the Rediff office for the film's promotion recently, when he found time to speak about a range of subjects related to the film.

Read the interview with Prasanna D Zore/ Rediff.com
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17:20   'AAP rejects communal politics of Bukhari'
AAP holds a presser to condemn Syed Ahmed Bukhari's support for the party. Senior leader Ashutosh says, "We want to make it clear that our party has nothing got to do with Syed Ahmed Bukhari. We have nothing to do with him. We know the imam's politics. His politics is regressive. He reject his support. We condemn Bukhari for not inviting PM Modi. We fight against communal politics of hue and colour."

Journalist Ashish Khetan also at the presser says the party rejects the "dangerous politics of Bukhari."
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16:55   AAP rejects Imam Bukhari's support for Delhi polls
AAP has rejected Shahi Imam Syed Ahmed Bukhari's support for the Delhi polls. AAP says, "We don't agree with his ideology, people of all religions support us."

The Shahi Imam of the Jama Masjid, Syed Ahmed Bukhari has "appealed to all Muslims to support AAP candidates and help form a secular government in Delhi."

The imam catapults himself in the news during each election by offering support to parties which have so-called secular credentials.

During the Lok Sabha polls, AICC president Sonia Gandhi met Bukhari, triggering a political row. The religious leader then announced his support to the Congress, the Trinamool Congress in West Bengal and the Rashtriya Janata Dal in Bihar.
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16:39   Tendulkar all set to return to World Cup 2015
The fight for the World Cup 2015 is getting bigger and better. And gearing for the same are news channels Aaj Tak and Headlines Today that have roped in cricketing legend Sachin Tendulkar for their World Cup 2015 coverage.  

India Today Group chairperson and editor in chief Aroon Purie said, "He is the master who redefined the sport for the world's most passionate cricketing nation. A World Cup without him is nothing but unimaginable. His presence on the shows will help fill the void in cricket since his last match. It is an honour for the group to have the legend himself on our channels.'

Read more
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16:23   China denounces interference after Obama welcomes Dalai
China today cautioned foreign countries against hosting the Dalai Lama and interfering in its domestic affairs on the vexed Tibet issue, a day after US President Barack Obama and the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader appeared together in public for the first time.

"We are against foreign countries interfering in China's domestic affairs under the pretext of Tibet-related issues," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei told reporters.

"The Dalai Lama is seeking support from foreign counties to realise his political end, but he cannot succeed," Hong said. "The Dalai Lama is a political exile who has long been engaged in anti-China separatist activities under the pretext of religion," he said. Obama yesterday welcomed the Dalai Lama at a prayer breakfast in Washington, but did not meet him directly.
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16:15   Jaitley: Aberrations don't alter India's history of tolerance
"Aberrations don't alter India's history of tolerance. Any society must be a tolerant society is a fact that each one has to accept, its good to be tolerant," Arun Jaitley says on Obama's speech. Read what Obama said here.
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15:52   Govt reacts to Obama: Religious tolerance inherent to India
Home minister Rajnath Singh on Barack Obama's statement that the "acts of intolerance" experienced by religious faiths of all types in India in the past few years would have shocked Mahatma Gandhi.

Rajnath responds saying religious tolerance is inherent in Indian culture. "Sects of all Muslims/Parsi/Christians are found in India. In our nation we do not discriminate on the basis of caste/creed/religion," he said.
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15:37   Obama to ask Congress to authorize military force against ISIS
In other news, President Obama is expected to formally ask Congress to authorize the use of military force against the Islamic State terror group in the coming days, even as lawmakers said crafting and passing such a measure would be a challenge.

The US has been carrying out airstrikes against the terrorists, most commonly known as ISIS, in Iraq and Syria since August and September, respectively.

In doing so, Obama has been relying on congressional authorizations that President George W. Bush used to justify military action after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

Critics have called the White House's use of post-9/11 congressional authorizations a legal stretch, though Obama has previously argued that a new authorization isn't legally necessary.
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15:26   Timeline to the Katara murder

Feb 16-17, 2002: Vikas and Vishal Yadav allegedly abduct Nitish Katara from a wedding of his classmate Shivani Gaur in Ghaziabad on the night of February 16, 2002. They allegedly kill Nitish for his intimacy with Bharti Yadav.

Feb 20: The burnt body of Nitish Katara is found near Hapur crossing in a village Khurja in Bulandshahar, Uttar Pradesh. The Police find Vikas and Vishal as immediate suspect. Bharti leaves for the United Kingdom.

Mar 11: The Tata Safari, which was used in the murder, is recovered from G T Road, Karnal.

Mar 31: The UP Police files a four page charge sheet in the murder case.

Apr 23: The police arrest both the accused Vikas and Vishal from Madhya Pradesh.

Aug 23: The Supreme Court directs transfer of Nitish Katara murder case from a Ghaziabad sessions court to a competent court of the same jurisdiction in Delhi when mother of the victim, Neelam Katara, appealed that she feared miscarriage of justice in Ghaziabad.

Nov 23: Court frames charges against the accused in the murder case. A separate trial starts against the third accused in the case, Sukhdev Pehalwan, who was arrested in 2005.

Apr 7, 2003: First summon issued for Bharti by court requiring her presence for recording her statement.

Nov 25, 2006: After three years of notice and summons, the prime witness in the murder case Bharti Yadav returns to India when the court threatens to declare her a proclaimed offender.

Dec 2007: Prosecution wraps up their final arguments in the case and claims Bhartis alleged proximity to Nitish is the cause for the murder of Nitish by Vikas and Vishal.

Apr 2, 2008: Trial court begins hearing the murder case on a day-to-day basis.

Apr 23: Trial concludes in the case.

May 27: Court fixes May 28 for pronouncement of verdict.

May 28: Trial court finds both Vikas and Vishal guilty in Nitish Katara murder case.

May 30: Court sentences both the convicts to life term.

July 1: Nitishs mother Neelam Katara approaches Delhi High Court seeking death penalty for Vikas and Vishal.

Sept 5: Vikas and Vishal files appeal in high court challenging the trial court verdict.

Jul 6, 2011: Trial court convicts Sukhdev Pehalwan in the case.

Jul 10: Court awards life imprisonment to Sukhdev.

Apr 16, 2013: High court reserves its judgement on appeals filed by Neelam, three convicts and prosecution.

Apr 2, 2014: High court upholds conviction of Vikas, Vishal and Sukhdev, says it was a case of honour killing. High Court fixes Apr 25 to hear arguments on quantum of punishment.

Feb 6, 2015: HC strikes down death penalty plea, slaps a 25-year life term for the Yadavs.


Pic: Neelam Katara, the victim's mother, who has fought a long, hard battle to get justice.

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15:20   Break-up of jail term for the Yadavs
The Yadavs have actually been awarded a 30-year jail term. This is the break-up: Vikas Yadav and his cousin Vishal get a life sentence without remission for 25 years and an additional 5 year-jail term to all three
convicts for destruction of evidence in the case. 
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15:16   Neelam Katara will move SC for death penalty
Nitish Katara's mother, Neelam, says she will move the Supreme Court for a death plea. Neelam has been fighting for an enhanced punishment in the  case. She has said the offence could be termed as rarest of the rare and therefore deserves the death penalty.

The Yadavs also have to pay a fine of Rs 50 lakh each.

It may be recalled that in October last year, BJP chief Amit Shah had shared the stage with mafia don-turned-poltician DP Yadav (Vikas Yadav's father) at a rally in Haryana.

Yadav called the BJP president Amit Shah his "friend" and said that he might "definitely" join the party as he toured with Shah in Haryana which was then poll-bound.

DP Yadav was inducted into the BJP on February 20, 2004, but his membership was terminated after only four days following a hue and cry over his criminal antecedents.

"If people like DP Yadav have ache din ahead of him, then I wonder what is in store for the rest of us," Neelam Katara had said, adding, "Anyone who cares for his mother will stand by me."

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15:03  
Meanwhile, Shahi Imam of Jama Masjid, Syed Ahmed Bukhari "appeals to all Muslims to support AAP candidates and help form a secular government in Delhi." 
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14:54  
A correction: The HC has awarded life imprisonment to Sukhdev Pehelwan, the third convict in the Katara murder case, without remission for 20 years.

The Yadavs, however get a 25-year jail term, without remission.
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14:53  
The court has also said that the Yadavs will not be freed till they complete their jail term, which is 25 years.
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14:51   Nitish Katara murder: 25-yr jail term, not death sentence, for Yadav brothers
The Delhi High Court has rejected the death sentence plea for Uttar Pradesh politician DP Yadav's son Vikas Yadav and his cousin Vishal Yadav and one Sukhdev Pehelwan in the Nitish Katara murder case.

The court has instead slapped a 25-year-jail term, a rigorous imprisonment "without any hope of remission" for the Yadavs.

All the three men are serving a life term for abducting and killing Katara, a business executive and the son of an IAS officer, on the night of February 16-17, 2002, as they opposed the victim's affair with Bharti, the Yadav's sister.
 
A special bench of justices Gita Mittal and and JR Midha delivered the verdict in the 13-year-old case after concluding hearing arguments on sentence against the convicts on December 8 last year.
 
The court has been hearing arguments on the punishment to be awarded to the three convicts since April 2014.
 
The convicts have sought leniency in sentencing as well as exemption from death sentence saying their act was not so brutal or gruesome that it deserved capital punishment and they can reform.
 
On the other hand, the victim's mother, Neelam Katara, and the Delhi Police have demanded death for the trio, terming their offence to be the rarest of rare. If not capital punishment, the convicts be handed down an enhanced life sentence, they have contended.
 
The High Court had on April 2, 2014, upheld the verdict of the lower court in the case by describing the offence as "honour killing" stemming from a "deeply-entrenched belief" in caste system.

Katara was abducted and killed by Vikas, Vishal and Sukhdev as they did not approve of the victim's affair with Bharti because they belonged to different castes, the court had said.
 
The High Court had dismissed the appeals of the convicts and kept pending two separate pleas of the state and Neelam Katara seeking death penalty for them.
 

Pic: A file pic of Bharti Yadav and Nitish Katara.
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14:42   Will Delhi election outcome change market mood?
Markets remain on a weak footing due to expensive valuations, following a sharp run-up, and a loss for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the Delhi Assembly elections might lead to a correction, say market players.  Read
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14:37   Why evolution is true
"And while we're on books, a new book on Mother Teresa shows that she and the Vatican were even worse than we thought.

First Christopher Hitchens took her down, then we learned that her faith wasn't as strong as we thought, and now a new study from the Universit de Montral is poised to completely destroy what shreds are left of Mother Teresa's reputation. She was the winner of the 1979 Nobel Peace Prize, was beatified and is well on her way to becoming a saint, and she's universally admired." Read
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14:21   Chetan Bhagat tweets Aatish Taseer: Foreigners read my books
Writer, columnist Aatish Taseer seems to have upset Chetan Bhagat. Bhagat tweets: So @aatishtaseer says foreigners don't read CB (so he's bad). btw, my intl translations pic."

Bhagat refers to the Taseer's interview with Rediff.com where he says, and we quote, "In other countries when they are having kind of a moment in which they are writing about significant things, you see some great literature come out.

"Chetan Bhagat is not great literature.

"So maybe, like, the Indian moment is not such an exciting moment. I mean, he represents an extraordinary phenomenon where he's writing about things everyone wants to read about.

"The material is good, he writes in a language that everyone can read but no one wants to read them outside India."

Read Aatish Taseer's interview with Nishi Tiwari/Rediff.com here


Pic: The picture tweeted by Chetan Bhagat of his books translated into other languages.
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14:09   Rahul holds strategy meet with senior party leaders
So, here's what Rahul Gandhi has been doing today.

Rahul held a meeting with senior Congress leaders to discuss issues related to organisational election that is aimed at making the party fighting fit after a series of poll debacles including in the Lok Sabha.

The meeting was attended by party general secretaries and senior office bearers, besides Mullapalli Ramchandran, head of the Congress Central Election Authority, that has been given the responsibility of conducting the party polls.

Significantly, the meeting was convened just a day ahead of Assembly polls in Delhi.

As per the current schedule, the membership drive of the party is concluding by the end of this month following which the process for organisational elections will be set in motion.

The process will culminate with the election of a new party President by the year end.

Today's meeting could make some changes in the schedule. Organisational weakness has been cited one of the major reasons for the debacle of Congress starting from 2010 Assembly elections in Bihar and followed by Assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh in 2012.

It was one of the factors responsible for the abysmal show by the party in last year's Lok Sabha polls, apart from price rise and perception of corruption. Congress tally plummeted to a mere 44 from 206 the previous time.
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13:49  
Shobhaa De tweets her support: Sunitha Krishnan. We are with you! Not just to shame the rapists but to PUNISH them . Let's hope the Home Secretary responds asap.


Pic: Sunita Krishnan's car was stoned minutes after her interview with NDTV.
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13:47   Outlooks Amit Shah cover story should be a good read
Which way will the Delhi elections go? Depends on who you read. The opinion polls by the media many of which give AAP the advantage, or the rantings by BJP partisans against the mainstream media - even Prime Minister Narendra Modi used the term 'bazaaru', meaning 'sold out' on Wednesday - social media.

This ire against the media is only going to be heightened by the latest edition of Outlook magazine, with Amit Shah on the cover.

Not for his stellar helming of the BJP in various elections, or for the challenge he is facing from a newbie party in Delhi. Outlook's cover headline says 'The curious case of Amit Shah', which it goes on to explain thus: 'The summary discharge of the BJP president - Accused no. 16 in the Sohrabuddin Sheikh false encounter case - by a CBI special court raises disturbing questions about the carriage of justice.'

Coming at the time of the Delhi elections, should make for a good read.
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13:42  
Rahul Kanwal @ArvindKejriwal charging other parties with distributing liquor. So far biggest bust has been from godown of @AamAadmiParty candidate.
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13:40   Gang-rape video shared on WhatsApp. Help trace these men
Sunitha Krishnan, a women's rights and an anti-trafficking activist who runs an NGO in Hyderabad, received two separate videos recently.

The videos on WhatsApp show five smiling men gang-raping a women. They take turns to rape the women even as she begs them to let her go.

Krishnan told NDTV, "Ten seconds into the video, I was overcome. I had to stop as I needed to throw up," she told NDTV.

She said an acquaintance alerted her to the videos after receiving them on WhatsApp.     
Krishnan who is herself a gang-rape survivor said she is determined to find the men and get them arrested. She asked her husband, a filmmaker to edit the video to protect the woman's identity, but highlight the faces of the men who raped her.

The edited video was posted on YouTube yesterday to start a national campaign to shame the rapists.

This morning, minutes after she appeared on NDTV to announce the #ShameTheRapistCampaign, her car was stoned.

The video is believed to be at least six-months old, but if you have seen the men, Krishnan asks to be informed at sunitha_2002@yahoo.com.
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12:37   Kejriwal on intolerant India comment: PM will answer Obama, they are good friends
AAP convener Arvind Kejriwal's tart reply when asked about US President Barack Obama's comment during the National Prayer Breakfast, that "Gandhi would be shocked at the acts of religious intolerance in India."

Kejriwal says, "The PM will answer Obama, they are good friends."

During Obama's visit to Delhi over the Republic Day weekend Prime Minister Narendra Modi went beyond protocol when he, more than once referred to the US president, as Barack at the joint media appearance.

President Obama, for his part, either referred to his host as either Prime Minister Modi or Modi.

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12:31   Harvard bans professors from having sex with undergraduates
Harvard University has instituted a total ban on professors having sex with undergraduate students, strengthening language it said didn't reflect its expectations on appropriate relationships between faculty members and students.

Harvard said in a statement released Thursday the change came as part of a formal review of its policy on Title IX, the federal civil rights law prohibiting sex discrimination in education.

The Faculty of Arts and Sciences Committee on Sexual Misconduct Policy and Procedures determined the university's language on "relationships of unequal status' was not strong enough.
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12:30  
Neelam Katara, Nitish's mother on the upcoming verdict: I will take an informed decision, not an emotional outburst. 
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12:29   Nitish Katara case: Court to pronounce quantum of sentence today
The Delhi High Court is likely to pronounce today its verdict on the sentence to be awarded to Uttar Pradesh politician DP Yadav's son Vikas Yadav and two others convicted in the Nitish Katara murder case.
 
Vikas, his cousin Vishal Yadav and Sukhdev Pehelwan are serving life term for abducting and killing Mr Katara, a business executive and the son of an IAS officer, on the night of February 16-17, 2002, as they opposed the victim's affair with Bharti, daughter of DP Yadav.
 
A special bench of justices Gita Mittal and and JR Midha will deliver the verdict in the 13-year-old case after concluding hearing arguments on sentence against the convicts on December 8 last year.
 
The court has been hearing arguments on the punishment to be awarded to the three convicts since April 2014.
 
The convicts have sought leniency in sentencing as well as exemption from death sentence saying their act was not so brutal or gruesome that it deserved capital punishment and they can reform.
 
On the other hand, the victim's mother, Neelam Katara, and the Delhi Police have demanded death for the trio, terming their offence to be the rarest of rare. If not capital punishment, the convicts be handed down an enhanced life sentence, they have contended.
 
The High Court had on April 2, 2014, upheld the verdict of the lower court in the case by describing the offence as "honour killing" stemming from a "deeply-entrenched belief" in caste system.

Katara was abducted and killed by Vikas, Vishal and Sukhdev as they did not approve of the victim's affair with Bharti because they belonged to different castes, the court had said.
 
The High Court had dismissed the appeals of the convicts and kept pending two separate pleas of the state and Neelam Katara seeking death penalty for them.
 
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12:08   AAP screams poll violation over BJP advt blitzkrieg
The Aam Aadmi Party today took on BJP for its front page advertisement in various newspapers listing the achievements of the Narendra Modi government and asking people to vote for it in the Assembly polls tomorrow, saying it is violation of the Model Code of Conduct.

"Today Delhi has seen that every paper has a front page advertisement given by BJP. In my opinion this is clear-cut violation of the EC guidelines and the Model Code of Conduct," AAP leader Ashutosh told reporters.

"My question is that if such ads are not allowed on TV after the campaigning process has ended, why should they be allowed in newspapers? The law should change. If widely circulated papers carry such ads then it will certainly influence minds of people," he said.

Ashutosh also took to Twitter to question BJP's source of funding behind these advertisements."From where BJP gets money to give front page AD in every newspaper. These ads are most expensive and costly," he said in a tweet.

"Every paper in Delhi is carrying front page BJP AD. What is the source of money ? AAP's fight is Ag money power," said Ashutosh in another tweet.

Responding to the allegations, BJP spokesperson GVL Narsimha said, "AAP's claim that the advertisement is violation of poll code, I believe is ignorance from their side. Either they do not know about the law or Model Code of Conduct or they are making such statements deliberately to remain in news."

"The ad just talks about the positive agenda of BJP which the party wants the public to know. There is no violation of any kind. Such ads can be given till the day of polling," he added.
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12:01   'It was my duty to shoot the enemy, and I don't regret it'
A veteran of anti-insurgency operations, Head Constable Sanjewan Singh was martyred with Colonel M N Rai in Kashmir last month. His WhatsApp message posted 48 days ago read: 'It was my duty to shoot the enemy, and I don't regret it. My regrets are for the people I could not save: Soldiers, buddies, innocents, etc.' He leaves behind a pregnant wife and a three-year-old son. Archana Masih/Rediff.com speaks to the family of this brave son of India. Read
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11:55  
Rahul Gandhi chairs crucial Congress general secretaries meet a day before the Delhi polls. MIA is Congress general secretary Janardan Dwivedi. 
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11:43  
Patrick French tweets on Obama's religious intolerance sermon: Why does Obama think intolerance would have shocked Gandhi? In the year before his death, more than a million people were murdered in India.
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11:38   Acts of religious intolerance in India would have shocked Gandhi: Obama
US President Barack Obama on Thursday invoked India's example to make a plea for religious freedom and how faith leads people to do good and what's right but that faith also can be twisted to be used as a weapon.

In a 25-minute address to the National Prayer Breakfast, Obama who last month visited India with First Lady Michelle called it "an incredible, beautiful country, full of magnificent diversity".

But it was also "a place where, in past years, religious faiths of all types have, on occasion, been targeted by other peoples of faith, simply due to their heritage and their beliefs", he said. These, Obama said, were "acts of intolerance that would have shocked Gandhiji, the person who helped to liberate that nation," he said.

"So this is not unique to one group or one religion. There is a tendency in us, a sinful tendency that can pervert and distort our faith," he told the meeting, attended by several international leaders including the Dalai Lama.

"We see faith driving us to do right. But we also see faith being twisted and distorted, used as a wedge - or, worse, sometimes used as a weapon," Obama said.

"From a school in Pakistan to the streets of Paris, we have seen violence and terror perpetrated by those who profess to stand up for faith, their faith, professed to stand up for Islam, but, in fact, are betraying it," he said.

Earlier this week, a senior aide of Obama had said that Obama's last speech in New Delhi referring to the need for religious tolerance in India had been misconstrued by some commentators as a kind of a parting shot.
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11:27   Kejriwal's principal publicity manager? The BJP itself!
Arvind Kejriwal's principal publicity manager has been the BJP itself. But part of the curiosity is also due to the two chief contenders for the chief ministership and to two very different approaches to governance.

The BJP could, and should, have called for early elections in Delhi to take advantage of the support demonstrated in the Lok Sabha elections, where it won all of Delhi's seven parliamentary seats, taking a clear lead in 60 of the city's 70 assembly segments.

Instead, the party dithered though nobody in the BJP could explain quite what it hoped to achieve. Did the BJP think that given time it could do better than winning 60 out of 70? Or was it hoping for defections from the Aam Aadmi Party and the Congress?

Read more on Rediff.com


Pic: With campaigning ending yesterday, Arvind Kejriwal limbers up at his home in Kaushambi, Delhi.
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11:20  
Read:Why Sholay is a cult classic. 
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11:20   40 years on, Sholay to be released in Pakistan
Forty years after it was first released in India in 1975, Ramesh Sippy's path- breaking film, Sholay, will be released in Pakistan.  The movie screened for 15 years at the landmark Maratha Mandir theatre in Mumbai, had the longest ever run in India at the time. It's no wonder that owner and managing director of Mandviwalla Entertainment, Nadeem Mandviwalla is now bringing the cult classic to Pakistani cinema screens, over 40 years after its release. Read more
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11:14  
See: Photographs from Max Pinckers's documentary series about romantic love in India.
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10:46   Manjhi defies party, calls for JD-U meet on February 20
Bihar Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi has called for a Janata Dal-United meet on Febraury 20, terming the one called by party chief Sharad Yadav as illegal. Yadav on Thursday had called for a meeting on February 7. Reports are circulating that Manjhi iss under pressure to quit and make way for his predecessor Nitish Kumar.
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10:36   Rahul Gandhi to meet leaders today to discuss future
A day after campaigning for Delhi polls came to an end on Thursday, Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi will on Friday meet senior party leaders and discuss ways to make the party fighting fit. He will meet party general secretaries and secretaries at a meeting of the Congress Central Election Authority. The Committee headed by Mullapalli Ramchandran has been given the responsibility of organisationals polls.
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09:58   Dealing firmly with transgressions
By giving the marching orders to Union Home Secretary Anil Goswami for trying to stall the arrest of a well-connected politician by speaking directly to Central Bureau of Investigation officers, the Narendra Modi government has sent out a strong signal to the bureaucracy that it will not tolerate such transgressions. 
And coming at a time when political functionaries and their associates are increasingly embroiled in criminal cases, it contains a message to high-profile suspects too, that the government will not brook any attempt to use power or influence to protect themselves from legal action.

Read more HERE
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09:49   Paris terror widow spotted in new Islamic State video
French authorities are examining suspicions that Hayat Boumeddiene, wife of terrorist Amedy Coulibaly, has been spotted in an Islamic State video called 'Blow up France 2'. Coulibaly was the terrorist that took people hostage in a supermarket on the outskirts of Paris. Boumeddiene seems to appear in the video wearing camouflage and holding arms together with other group fighters.

The video shows an IS fighter praising the January attacks in France which killed 17 people and three terrorists, in an attack on the Charlie Hebdo magazine and in a Paris kosher supermarket. In the video, the speaker calls for new attacks in France.
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09:12   PM Modi to preside over first NITI Aayog meeting today
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will today preside over the first meeting of the newly constituted National Institution for Transforming India Aayog. According to reports, it is expected that he will consult with experts on ways to give the economy a much needed boost as his government gets set to present its first full-fledged general budget at the end of the month.
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08:58   In a first, brush to mark voters
For the first time, voters on Saturday's Delhi assembly election will be inked by using a brush and not a stick. Delhi Chief Electoral Officer Chandra Bhushan Kumar said that ink applied with a brush dries much faster.
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08:44   In Japan, it soon may be against the law to not take a vacation
The Japanese government plans to submit legislation to the country's Parliament that would make it mandatory for workers to take at least five days of paid vacation a year. The move reflects the desire of the administration of Japan Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to curb the country's notorious work culture, where office workers are known to log long hours and often work overtime for no additional compensation.

Read more HERE
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08:34   Metro services to start at 4 am on polling day in Delhi
Delhi Metro said it will begin train services at 4 am on February 7 in view of the assembly election in the capital. Delhi Metro in a statement said, "Metro trains will start service at 4 am from all lines on February 7 at a frequency of 30 minutes till 5:30 am. Thereafter, trains on all lines will run as per normal schedule." 
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08:08   Taiwan pilot's body found still clutching crashed plane's joystick
The pilot of a doomed TransAsia plane, hailed as a hero for his actions in the final moments before a crash that killed 31 people, was still holding the joystick in the plane's cockpit when his body was found, media reported. The pilot, identified by TransAsia as 42-year-old Liao Chien-tsung, has been praised by Taipei's mayor for steering the plane between apartment blocks and commercial buildings before ditching the stalled aircraft in a river. 

TransAsia Flight GE235 was carrying 58 passengers and crew when it lurched nose-up between buildings, clipped an overpass and a taxi with one of its wings and then crashed upside down into a shallow river after taking off on Wednesday.
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03:54   Pope's confession: I don't know how to work a computer
Pope Francis has made a confession of sorts, telling a 16-year-old girl that he doesn't have a clue about how to work a computer.

The 78-year-old Francis made the confession today during a Google Hangout with several disabled kids from around the world. Francis responded to them from a Vatican audience hall during a conference of his Scholas initiative, which seeks to bring young people together via sports, art and technology. 

The children involved showed Francis how they make use of technology, including braille keypads, tablets and video cameras.

Alicia, from Spain, asked Francis if he liked taking photos with his computer.

Francis replied, "Do you want me to tell you the truth? I'm a disaster with machines. I don't know how to work a computer. What a shame!"
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02:22   The Pentagon's secret Putin diagnosis
Do you like watching Internet videos and then drawing broad, sweeping, pseudo-scientific conclusions about the people involved? If so, congratulations, you might be qualified to join the Pentagon's secret team investigating the nonverbal cues of powerful world leaders.

Yesterday, following Freedom of Information Act requests by a group of news organizations including Politico, the Pentagon released two studies analyzing Vladimir Putin's inner demons -- or at least those inner demons that you can observe from watching a ton of publicly available videos. 

The release has brought a harsh light to the Office of Net Assessment's "Body Leads" team and its conclusion diagnosing Putin, the Russian president who likes to take shirtless horseback rides, bunga bunga with his bestie Silvio Berlusconi and invade his neighbors, with autism.

Read more HERE

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02:01   Is the India nuclear agreement really the 'breakthrough' Obama promised?
President Barack Obama stood alongside Indian prime minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi just days ago and announced a breakthrough understanding that the two countries hoped would pave the way for US firms to sell nuclear reactors to India.

But analysts and experts familiar with the negotiations say that the legal issues remain so complex that private US companies may continue to shy away from new deals in India, despite the developing country's dire and fast-growing power needs.

Read more HERE

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01:58   Syria strikes kill 66 after rebel fire on Damascus: monitor
At least 66 people were killed today as Syria's regime pounded a rebel stronghold with air strikes after a barrage of opposition fire hit the capital Damascus, a monitor said.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 12 children were among those killed in the opposition-held Eastern Ghouta region outside Damascus, and an AFP photographer there described chaotic scenes.

In the capital, meanwhile, a barrage of at least 120 rockets and mortar rounds fired by rebel forces killed 10 people, among them a child.

The fire left usually busy streets of the city deserted and prompted Damascus University to close for the day, sending students home. 

The assault on the capital began early on Thursday and came two days after the leader of rebel group Jaysh al-Islam (Army of Islam) warned it would attack in response to repeated government strikes on rebel-held Douma in Eastern Ghouta. 
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01:57   Sony boss whose emails were leaked steps down
Amy Pascal, the Sony executive whose emails were leaked during the North Korean movie hacking saga, is stepping down, the Hollywood studio announced today. 

Pascal, co-chairman of Sony Pictures Entertainment, will launch a "major new production venture" at the studio, which was rocked by the hacking storm centred on the satirical film "The Interview." 

"I have spent almost my entire professional life at Sony Pictures and I am energised to be starting this new chapter based at the company I call home," she said in a company statement. 

Leaked emails by Pascal included at least one racially-insensitive one referring to President Barack Obama, while another called Angelina Jolie a "spoiled brat." 

"The Interview" was scheduled for a Christmas Day release before Sony became the target of the biggest cyberattack in US corporate history. 

Threats made by hackers prompted Sony to initially cancel its theatrical release. It was eventually screened in select art house cinemas, and released on the Internet and via cable TV providers.

Washington has blamed North Korea for the hack on Sony -- a claim Pyongyang has denied while still strongly condemning the film, which features a fictional plot to assassinate leader Kim Jong-un.

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