Just In ( Page 55 of 86 )

Relief for Sonia, Rahul in National Herald case! July 12, 2016 17:28

The Delhi High Court verdict in the National Herald Case has provided a big relief to Congress president Sonia Gandhi and party vice-president Rahul Gandhi. The court set aside trial court's order summoning documents from the ministries of finance and corporate Affairs and other agencies and balance sheet of the party for 2010-2011. Justice PS Teji set aside the trial court's January 11 and March 11orders saying they were "passed in a casual manner", "without application of mind" and were "non-speaking" which makes the two decisions "ineffective, redundant and not sustainable in the eye of law and liable to be set aside". "The facts and circumstances mentioned above, non- issuance of notice to opposite side and impugned orders being non-speaking and without due application of mind as per the law laid down by the apex court, culminates into the impugned orders as ineffective, redundant and not sustainable in eye of law and liable to be set aside,"the court said. It further said, "In view of the above discussion and law laid down, as referred above, this court is of the considered opinion that while the passing order under section 91 of CrPC for summoning the documents, if the other party has already joined the proceedings, it is entitled to be heard. "Consequently, the orders dated January 11, 2016, and March 11, 2016, are hereby set aside along with proceedings consequent thereto." Also Read: Supreme Court: Only transgenders are third gender, not gays, lesbians or bisexuals Nandini

Zakir Naik cancels return to Mumbai! July 11, 2016 16:28

The controversial Islamic preacher Zakir Naik, who was expected to return back to the country from Saudi Arabia on Monday morning, has cancelled his return. He may issue a clarification through video conferencing, police said. The Muslim preacher Naik has come under the scanner of the Indian government following reports alleged that two among a group of terrorists, who killed 22 foreigners in a Dhaka café last week, were inspired by his speeches. According to a senior IPS officer, his name first cropped in 2002-2003 amid a series of blasts in Mumbai. It led Mumbai crime branch to Islamic Research Foundation (IRF) that is founded and serves by Naik as its president. He was questioned extensively by the Mumbai Police, but could not gather any evidence that linked him to any act of terrorism. “But since then Naik has been under continuous surveillance of the intelligence units and agencies,” a senior IPS officer who questioned Naik, said. “There is little possibility that Naik would try to influence youths using a public platform like Peace TV. What is of question is, if Naik met any of the youth, who joined ISIS or any other terrorist organization, behind closed doors.” Also Read: Bangladesh bans controversial Zakir Naik’s Peace TV! Nandini

Bangladesh bans controversial Zakir Naik’s Peace TV! July 11, 2016 15:34

The broadcast of Peace TV, a channel run by controversial Indian preacher Dr. Zakir Naik has been banned by the government of Bangladesh in the country. The officials alleges that it incited terrorism. The decision was taken at a special meeting by the Cabinet Committee on law and order, chaired by Industries Minister Amir Hossain Amu. The committee halted all unauthorized TV channels, he said. Earlier, the Information Minister Hasanul Haq Inu, said that, “ Many Islamic scholars have also complained about Dr. Zakir Naik”, adding “We will examine those allegations and take a decision soon.” "He is on our security scanner,” said Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal. "There are millions of fans of mine throughout the world. More than 50 per cent Bangladeshis are my fans but to say that I inspired him (the gunman) to kill innocent human beings is devilish," Dr. Naik said in a video response. The controversial preacher is already banned from entering the Canada and United Kingdom. Also Read: Government launches Probe into Zakir Naik’s speeches! Nandini

Amarnath yatra suspended, Kashmir tense over Burhan Wani's killing July 09, 2016 15:28

The Amarnath Yatra has been suspended by the authorities to avoid any possible tensions in Kashmir Valley after the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani by security forces. The authorities imposed the Curfew in parts of Kashmir, including Srinagar city. The Srinagar-Jammu national highway was closed off to traffic, and trains connecting Baramulla in Kashmir region to Banihal town in Jammu were suspended. Jammu deputy commissioner, Simrandeep Singh, who is also the nodal officer of the Yatra in Jammu, said that, “As a precautionary measure, we did not allow any batch from Bhagwati Nagar base camp this morning. Around 1,700 pilgrims are in the base camp.” "Restrictions have been imposed on movement of people in six police station areas of Srinagar city, most parts of Pulwama district and Anantnag town in south Kashmir as a precautionary measure to maintain law and order," a senior government official said. "A group of youths also started pelting stones towards the camps of security forces who have not retaliated to the provocation so far," he said. Also Read: Amarnath Yatra, 2016 Nandini

Barcelona star sentenced to jail July 06, 2016 18:12

Lionel Messi, has been sentenced to 21 months of jail after a court in Barcelona found him guilty of three counts of tax fraud. The court has sentenced the Argentine player’s father, Jorge also to 21 months of imprisonment for the same three crimes. They can go for appeal of the sentence through the Spanish supreme court. Associated Press reported that according to the Spanish law, a prison sentence less than two years can be served under probation, which means that Messi and his father won’t have to go to jail. The court ordered Messi to pay a fine of 2 million euros ($2.21 million) and his father to pay 1.5 million euros for the crimes. The Argentina and Barcelona star and his father Jorge were convicted for using companies in Belize and Uruguay to avoid taxes of 4.16 million Euros of Messi’s income, earned from his image rights from 2007- 2009. The income related to Messi’s image rights was hidden including endorsement deals with Banco Sabadell, Danone, Adidas, Pepsi-Cola, Procter & Gamble and the Kuwait Food Company. By Prakriti Neogi

Paralympic gold medalist: Pistorius sentenced six years of jail July 06, 2016 17:47

Oscar Pistorius, famous as South African Paralympic gold medalist, has been sentenced for six years in the charge of murdering his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp in 2013. Thokozile Masipa, the judge stated in his ruling in the High Court of Pretoria, "The sentence that I impose on the accused... is six years imprisonment. Public opinion may be loud and persistent, but it can play no role in the decision of this court." Pistorius was taken to prison after the verdict. Pistorius was convicted of murdering Steenkamp by an appeals court in last December. He had received a five year sentence initially, in a manslaughter conviction in 2014. The athlete had his lower part of the legs amputated, in his childhood and his lawyers have pleaded that his disability and mental stress should be considered to reduce his sentence. The state had also decided not to reduce the prescribed, minimum 15 year sentence for murder. Pistorius was freed from prison in last October to serve out the remainder of his term under house arrest at his uncle's house in a wealthy suburb of the capital. Some rights groups have said Pistorius, has received privilege compared to others without his status or wealth. In the other hand , a group of people held up placards outside the court, backing the athlete. Oneof them read, "Give Oscar his freedom back please". Steenkamp's parents were present in the court and said that Pistorius must pay for his crime. Members of the Women's League of the ruling African National Congress, have attended the trial in support of the killed Steenkamp, dressed in their green and black uniform they were awaiting the ruling. Johannesburg lawyer Ulrich Roux, said Masipa should maintain a balance between any mitigating circumstances and seriousness of his crime. By Prakriti Neogi

PM Modi set for four-nation Africa tour! July 02, 2016 11:41

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) announced that, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is planning his first visit to the “African mainland” to strengthen India-Africa ties. The visit, that will cover four countries, is scheduled to be happened between July 7 and 11. Vikas Swarup, MEA spokesperson, announced that, “The Prime Minister’s visit reflects India’s desire to further strengthen and reinvigorate bilateral ties with our African partners which were renewed at the successful IAFS-III in October last year. The visit will provide opportunities to build on close contacts at the highest political level.” PM Modi has visited Mauritius and Seychelles that are members of the African Union. Modi is expected to leave on July 7 for Mozambique, where he will hold bilateral talks with President Felipe Nyusi. Mr Modi is also expected to address two major meetings with members of Indian diaspora in Johannesburg and Nairobi on July 8 and 10. Nandini

Amarnath Yatra, 2016 July 01, 2016 18:21

Amarnath yatra began on Friday in the fear of the recent terror attacks in the state, with Deputy Chief Minister Nirmal Singh flagging off the first batch of 1,282 pilgrims for the cave shrine in South Kashmir Himalayas. Drones are used for aerial security of the base camp at Bhagwati Nagar area of Jammu city for the first time and at least 20,000 security personnel have been deployed along the two routes. The pilgrims, who reached the Bhagwati Nagar base camp from various parts of the country, have left for their onward journey to Pahalgam and Baltal base camps, chanting ‘Bam Bam Bholay’ and singing bhajans. From there they will proceed to the cave shrine, located at a height of 3,888 metre, where they will reach on Saturday. The state is living under increased terror of attacks on security forces in the Kashmir Valley. It posed a huge challenge to the security apparatus in ensuring a peaceful and incident—free Amarnath yatra. As many as 12,500 central paramilitary personnel and 8,000 state policemen will be deployed along the two routes in South Kashmir’s Pahalgam and Northeast Sonamarg. Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh will be arriving on a two-day visit to review the situation and take stock of security measures for the Amarnath yatra, in Kashmir and is likely to be a part of “Pratham Darshan” of ‘ice lingam’ at the shrine. The Deputy Chief Minister said that adequate security forces have been sent by the central government to ensure an incident-free yatra. By Prakriti Neogi

Supreme Court: Only transgenders are third gender, not gays, lesbians or bisexuals June 30, 2016 16:10

The term 'third gender' only includes transgenders, not lesbians, gays and bisexuals, the Supreme Court of India clarified while refusing a petition regarding modification of its 2014 verdict. The Supreme Court upheld the OBC reservation for the transgenders community. "There is no confusion. The judgment had clearly stated that lesbians, gays and bisexuals do not fall under the category of the third gender. Only transgenders fall under the category as per the Supreme Court order," the Supreme Court said. Earlier, in 2014, the Supreme Court had asked to government to have a third gender category in all its forms and extend the benefits of OBC quota to them. However, the government claimed confusion regarding whether third gender also included lesbians, gays and bisexuals. Also Read: LGBT celebrities move Supreme Court to decriminalize Homosexuality! Nandini

Indian Woman pointed to racist vitriol, Australia June 29, 2016 18:44

A woman Sikh candidate participated in Federal election in Australia and was targeted with vitriolic and racist propaganda in Melbourne. Alexandra Kaur Bhathal is the Greens party candidate for the House of Representatives from the seat of Batman in Victoria. Residents in her constituency in the North Melbourne received flyers, terming Sikhism as violent and racist and also homophobic. These anonymous printed materials which claimed that Bhattal supports for “Khalistan terrorist movement" to create a "racist" nation in Punjab. "Male Sikhs carry daggers (the ce), using (them) for beheadings & genital mutilation. The flyers are, of course, referring to the kirpan, a small knife, which baptised Sikhs carry as one of five articles of faith. It is symbolic of grace and compassion along with honour rather than killing." written in the flyers. Bhatta’s father migrated to Australia in 1952. The flyers had a picture of her speaking at a Sikh congregation in Melbourne commemorating the `Sikh Genocide Remembrance Day' on the 1984 anti-Sikh riots anniversary last year where elected MPs of other parties were also present. "A militant Sikh extremist who falsely claims Indians did `genocide' against Sikhs, and infiltrated the Greens to promote her hidden race agenda and the militant Sikh separatists against India." according to the flyers. By Prakriti Neogi

Anantnag bypolls: Mehbooba Mufti wins June 25, 2016 16:22

Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti has won the Anantnag Assembly seat by almost 12,000 votes. She defeated her rival from the Congress Hilal Shah. The PDP candidate Ms. Mufti has secured 17,701 votes in overall 28,500 polled votes, while Hilal Shah earned 5,616. National Conference (NC) Iftikhar Misger stood a distant third with 2,811 votes. "They are losing out at places where they had good support. So, this is expected from them," PDP legislator Abdul Raheem Rather said. “An Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) was not properly sealed and should not be counted at all,” alleged Mr. Shah. Nandini

IIT Professor awarded with 25th G D Birla Award June 24, 2016 18:00

48 years old IIT, Kanpur professor Sanjay Mittal was awarded the G D Birla award for scientific research, for 2016. He is a professor of the Department of Aerospace Engineering in IIT, Kanpur. The K K Birla Foundation said in a statement that Prof. Sanjay Mittal was chosen for his contribution in the areas of mechanics. Mittal has made a brilliant contribution to the development of finite element algorithms for high-performance computing (HPS). Most importantly he has worked in the significant topic of Bluff Body Flows (flows past blunt bodies associated with large unsteady separation and leading to large fluid forces). He is among a very few people in India who have worked on and used Finite Element Analysis for fluid flows. He used instruments to establish HPC facility, primarily founded by DST, at IIT, Kanpur. He completed B.Tech from this institute in 1988 after which he got enrolled at The University of Minnesota for MS Program. There he received his Ph.D. and worked as a research associate under Prof Tayfun E Tezduyar. After working for two years at Army High-Performance Computing Centre, he returned to India and joined IIT-Kanpur in 1994 as an Assistant Professor. Mittal has also been awarded the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology. G D Birla Award for Scientific Research, instituted in 1991, seeks to recognise Indian scientists aged below 50 living and working in India for their outstanding contribution to any branch of science and technology. It carries a cash prize of Rs 2.5 lakh. By Prakriti Neogi