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US lawmakers move bill to term Pak a terrorist state

  In a huge setback for the Pakistan government, US lawmakers have introduced legislation in the US Congress to designate Pakistan as a state sponsor of terrorism. This comes at a time just ahead of Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's speech before the UN General Assembly. The bill was moved by Congressman Ted Poe from Texas, who is the Chairman of the House Subcommittee on Terrorism, and Congressman Dana Rohrabacher of California, who is a strong votary of the Baloch cause. In a statement on Tuesday announcing the bill, Poe said, ''Not only is Pakistan an untrustworthy ally, Islamabad has also aided and abetted enemies of the United States for years. From harboring Osama bin Laden to its cozy relationship with the Haqqani network , there is more than enough evidence to determine whose side Pakistan is on in the War on Terror.   And it's not America's'', he also added, ''It is time we stop paying Pakistan for its betrayal and designate it for what it is: a state sponsor of terrorism".""Pakistan's reckless behavior in this regard is a serious security risk to its neighbors - and India unfortunately pays the price all too often. We condemn this tragic attack, as well as Pakistan's support for many criminals like the ones who carried it out, and stand firm in our commitment to our friends in India," Poe said. This is the first time in many years that there is talk of formally designating Pakistan a terrorist state. Such a measure was last discussed in 1993 after Pakistan engineered the Mumbai serial blast through Dawood Ibrahim, killing 259 people in a terrorist attack that was a precursor to many such attacks across the world, including in New York, London, and Madrid.

Amar Singh made SP National General Secretary

Samajwadi Party national president Mulayam Singh Yadav appointed Rajya Sabha member Amar Singh as party’s national general secretary, on Tuesday. The "outsider" Singh's re-induction into the party was opposed by Mulayam's son and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav. "You have been appointed general secretary of Samajwadi Party. I hope in the coming days you will strengthen the party in Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections," Mulayam said in a handwritten letter to Amar. The brief letter in Hindi signed by Mulayam on his Lok Sabha letter head was sent to media from state SP chief Shivpal Yadav's official e-mail id. Holding Singh responsible for the feud within the SP, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav had recently said that “outsiders” have been interfering in party affairs. Singh, however, denied that Akhilesh’s barb was directed at him, saying that the chief minister was like a son to him and SP supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav his brother. Singh was brought back into the party fold and was elevated to the Rajaya Sabha after spending six years in political wilderness. He had a falling out Mulayam Singh and was expelled from the party. Singh formed his own party and fielded candidates in all constituencies in the 2012 state assembly elections.

USDA’s FAS is set to organize a trade expo

  HYDERABAD: Adam Branson, a representative from US agriculture department said that, the country imported nearly $4.1 billion and exported $1.3 million worth food and agricultural products from and to India respectively during the year 2015. In order to boost the exports of the country in the current year, the Foreign Agricultural Service of USDA is planning to organize a Table Top Trade Exhibition on Wednesday at Hyderabad.  According to a press report released by USDA, customer oriented and high value food products like tree nuts, peanut-based snacks, peas and lentil, and barbeque sauces would be displayed at the event and the visitors would get to taste many of the products as well as delicacies made from these ingredients.

‘People are being misled by Congress’

  HYDERABAD: On Monday, T Harish Rao, the Irrigation Minister of Telangana government said that, for any losses suffered by the farmers who are being misled with regard to the land acquisition of the government, the opposition parties must be prepared to be held responsible. Mr. Harish also said that, the farmers were voluntarily coming forward to register their land in favor of the government for construction of Mallannasagar reservoir, adding that, the Congress party had approached the court only with the intention of misleading the farmers with the promises of better compensation.

UG must reconstitute KWMB committee: TG CM

  HYDERABAD: Union Government was asked by K Chandrasekhar Rao, the Chief Minister of Telangana, to reconstitute the Krishna Water Management Board committee that has been appointed to determine the share of water between TG and AP. On Monday, a letter has been reportedly written to the Union water resources minister Uma Bharti by the Chief Minister, in which he said that no prior consultation had been taken with the government of Telangana on the committee’s composition and instructed that the members of it should not be involved with the projects and activities of one of the member states.

Grant permission to B.Ed. colleges: HC

HYDERABAD: Telangana state government has been directed by the Hyderabad High Court to grant permission to the B.Ed. colleges, which have been set up by the claimants, under Section 20 Telangana Education Act, 1982. Justice MS Ramachandra Rao said that, the government of the state has no power to reject the prayer of an institution for grant of permission or overrule the decision of National Council for Teachers Education, adding that, once NCTE had granted permission, it was deemed and implied that the institution was recognized.

TG and AP must give clarity on MBBS seats

  HYDERABAD: On Tuesday, Hyderabad High Court must be informed by the states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana whether their governments would allot the MBBS seats in private colleges to the students from the other states or not. The students from both the states have filed cases complaining that MBBS the seats in B category were being allotted by the managements of the private colleges to those who were not from AP and TG. Justice V. Ramasubramanian and Justice Anis will be hearing the arguments of the cases that have been filed by the students in this regard on Tuesday. According to article 371 D of the constitution of India and Presidential order, all the seats must be allotted only to the students of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.

Hyd to celebrate its 425th anniversary

  Hyderabad has brought four artists together from different media for celebrating its 425th anniversary. Poushali Das through block painting, Amith Mehra with the help of his photography skills, Orjit Sen through his digital art and Prathap Modi with his prints, would show the citizens a new side of Hyderabad that they had never seen. Poushali Das, who is one amongst the four artists, says that, she will be doing block printing on silk for her art piece. Whereas another artist Prathap Modi says that, his idea is to create etchings with all the elements that make the city iconic. On the other hand, Orjit Sen from digital media says that, he will be using the solitary baniyan tree in Shalibanda, which has kites entangled on it, as a means to communicate on the way the old and new meet in the city. Whereas Amith Mehra, an artist from photography media says that, he will be finding the similarities between old and new as the city has the blend of both.

Cops arrest 6 in a counterfeit racket

  HYDERABAD: On Sunday, a fake currency racket has been busted and six individuals were arrested by Nalagonda police. Rs. 1.5 lakh worth counterfeit notes and fake certificates of the University of Kakatiya have been seized from the accused by the cops. K. Vijay, M. Varaprasad, T. Prabhakar, G. Ramakrishna and Narsimulu were accused of counterfeiting the notes and according to the DSP of Suryapet V. Sunita Mohan, Vijay, who is one amongst the accused, was moving suspiciously near the bus stand on Saturday evening and was apprehended by the police after finding fake Rs. 500 notes with him.

Supply piped drinking water to all: TG CM

  HYDERABAD: On Sunday, officials were directed by the Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao to supply piped drinking water under the Mission Bhagirath Scheme to all the households by December 2017.  A review meeting at CM’s camp office had been convened by KCR to review the ongoing work in this regard. According to a press release of the Chief Minster’s office, the progress in the work has been appreciated and the officials were asked by KCR to finish installing the overhead tanks and laying underground pipes at the earliest as the pipeline network for supply of water from rivers to villages was near completion.  

Only 153 colleges are accredited by NAAC

  HYDERABAD: National Assessment and Accreditation Council recently released the results of the institutions that have been approved by the 17th standing committee that has been constituted by the EC. According to the results, only 153 colleges and two universities have been accredited by NAAC out of 3000 colleges and 10 universities in the state of Telangana. Earlier an important obstacle for the universities of the state to be accredited was to employ the Vice Chancellors and now the major difficulty is to fill up the vacant posts of the teachers. Telangana state federation of the university teachers’ association’s president, Battu Satyanarayana with regard to the recent accreditation results said that, VCs had been appointed, but filling up the vacant teachers’ posts was turning out to be tricky with the government insisting on approvals.

BJP is disturbing peace in TG: TRS

  HYDERABAD: On Sunday, Bharatiya Janatha Party has been accused by Telangana Rashtra Samithi for disturbing communal peace in the state of Telangana. T Harish Rao, the Irrigation Minister said in a press conference that, TG was a peaceful state and was known for secular values and communal harmony. Harish Rao also accused that BJP wants to disturb peace and divide society on communal lines, adding that, it was trying to polarize the voters as it did elsewhere. “BJP is rapped on the knuckles by the Supreme Court for toppling elected governments in Arunachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand by poaching Congress MLAs”, the Minister added.

BCCI calls for open tender process for IPL broadcast rights

  The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has opened the tender process for the next cycle of IPL television and digital rights beginning in 2018, and will accept bids until October 25. The BCCI president, Anurag Thakur, is likely to make an announcement inviting fresh tenders for the next few years. Current rights holders Sony Pictures Network as well as Star India, who hold the rights for Indian cricket, and for the International Cricket Council (ICC) events until 2023, are the main contenders. "We are happy to announce the tender process for IPL Global Media Rights (TV and Digital)," BCCI President Anurag Thakur announced ina press conference. The move comes at the back of Lodha Committee's recommendation, which has to be adhered to as per the Supreme Court directive, for transparency in the system.   The designated rights period will be for a period of 10 years for television and five years for digital platform. The Rest Of The World (ROW) will also have five years period. Sony Network had the first right to make an offer to the Board but the BCCI has decided to go for an open tender. According to industry estimates and media reports, for the 2016 IPL edition, ad slots were sold to 12 sponsors at a 15-20 % premium over 2015. Sony had ad sales of around Rs 800 crore in 2015, according to industry estimates. To tap into fresh viewership and revenue streams, the telecast has been expanded with commentary in regional languages, Tamil, Bengali, Telugu and Hindi.

B'glr: 22 yr girl burnt 40 buses for biryani & Rs.100

In a shocker, it has now come to light that one of the people who set afire buses in Bangalore during the cauvery protest was a 22 year old girl. A 22-year-old woman suspected to have instigated the arson attack on 42 buses of a Tamil Nadu-based operator in Bengaluru last week was allegedly offered Rs 100 and a plate of biryani to join the protests over Cauvery water-sharing. She was a daily wager. Bhagya's mother Yellamma has told the media that her daughter was offered Rs 100 and a plate of mutton biryani by "friends" to join the protests. Bhagya stays with her parents in Girinagar, close to the KPN garage, and is a daily wager.   "Bhagya had just returned home around noon (on September 12) when some men known to her came over and asked her to join the protests.They promised to give her biryani and Rs 100 at the end of the day," Yellamma said. She is a native of Raichur and lost her father five years ago. She was living along with her mother close to the KPN bus parking yard and did odd jobs for living. “Investigations revealed that on Monday evening, a few youth who knew Bhagyashree went to her house and asked her to join them in the protest, where she would get biryani,” said a senior police officer, adding that she had confessed to setting one bus on fire. There were over 40 buses parked in the yard, and all of them were torched.

Sania Mirza calls Leander Paes a toxic person

  “The ONLY way to win with a toxic person, is not to play!!! #karmaiswatching #zenmode.” tweeted Sania Mirza raking up a storm of sorts in the tennis circles yet again. Who is the person called “toxic” by Sania?  It’s significant that this great tennis player is not liked by Sania and Rohan Bopanna, as he even retweeted Sania's tweet and also added, “At it again!! ...the usual ploy to stay in the news by slanging fellow players in media. #Patriotism.” he said. In all likelihood this could be about Leander Paes, and this is what he said about India’s mixed doubles team (Sania-Bopanna) at Rio Olympics: “I can very clearly say that in this Olympics and last Olympics we didn’t put the best team forward.   This Olympics the mixed doubles was a great opportunity.” “I’m someone who has a long-sight, we’ve got the Asian Games coming up in 18 months and the Olympics in four years, whether I’m around or not around, got to nurture these guys. Otherwise four years from now, it would again be a tussle for who is playing the Olympics and come back without anything,” he said. For mixed doubles, Paes was just coming off winning the French Open title with Martina Hingis. But Sania chose Bopanna over the veteran player. Paes suggested that he should have been Sania’s partner in the team, instead of Bopanna. “What more does a man need to do than win four Grand Slams in 14 months?” Paes said of his record prior to the Olympics. “There was no more tournaments to win, I could not create anymore tournaments. Sad.” 

Chennai techie murderer commits suicide in Jail

  P Ramkumar(26), the accused in the Chennai techie murder case allegedly committed suicide inside Puzhal central prison around 4.45pm on Sunday according to reports. Ram Kumar is said to have pulled out a live cable from a switch board in the dispensary block of the prison and bitten it to kill himself at around 4.30 pm., prison sources claimed. He was rushed to Royapettah Government Hospital where he was declared brought dead. Ram Kumar's lawyer SP Ramaraj, however, alleged foul play. "It's a murder in jail. Nowhere in a jail would there be a power supply strong enough to kill a person. We would ask for an open postmortem," said the lawyer claiming Ram Kumar did not show any suicidal tendency when he met him a day before in the jail.   A mechanical engineer by profession, Ramkumar hacked to death Infosys employee Swathi (24) at Nungambakkam railway station in the early morning hours of June 24. He alleged that she had ridiculed his looks in front of several people when he proposed his love to her more than once. He was arrested from his house in Meenakshipuram village in Tirunelveli district on July 1. At that time he allegedly attempted suicide by slitting his neck with a knife. However his advocate Ramraj claimed that it was the police who stabbed him. As per law, the prison officials will now have to file a complaint in the local police station on the death and the case will be referred to a judicial magistrate. The autopsy will be conducted in the presence of the judicial magistrate and is expected to take place on Monday.

TG must conduct HLD officially: Kodandaram

HYDERABAD: Targeting the government of the state, Prof M Kodandaram, the chairman of Telangana Joint Action alleged, “The reorganization of new districts is not being done as per the people’s wishes. Telangana should refer to the constitution while carving out the new districts”. On Saturday, Telangana Joint Action chairman participated in a program that has been conducted to celebrate the Liberation Day of Hyderabad. He requested the people not to give a religious angle to the date and adding that September 17 was a sensitive issue. He also stated that, the state government must provide clarity to the public and conduct Hyderabad Liberation Day officially.

Spicejet overshot the runway at Tirupati

On Saturday night, SpiceJet flight 1047, which was carrying 78 persons from Hyderabad to Tirupati including the ex-Minister Anam Ramnarayana Reddy and the crew, has overshot the runway of Tirupati airport.  Nobody got injured in the accident and all the passengers have been evacuated by the security and airport personnel safely.Anam, the TDP leader and the former Minister said that, they didn’t know that the plane overshot the runway. The aircraft came to a sudden halt with a thud and it was a miraculous escape as none of the passengers were injured, he said adding that, there were many women and children in the aircraft.

Report to work at Amaravati by Sep 19: AP

HYDERABAD: AP’s employees in Hyderabad were directed by its government to report to work at Amaravati, which is going to be the capital city of Andhra Pradesh, by 19th of September and complete the relocation by the end of the month. The government of the state would start functioning from the interim complex of the government, which is located at Velagapudi Village, from first of October.U Murali Krishna, the president of AP Secretariat Employees’ Association informed that, 50 percent of the employees had been shifted to Vijayawada as well as Guntur and the remaining staff would shift by the end of the month.