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NDA Fields Jaswant Singh as Vice Presidential Candidate

The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) has chosen BJP senior leader Jaswant Singh as its for the vice Presidential elections to be held on 7 August, 2012. Hamid Ansari, who is currently the Vice President of India, is the UPA candidate. Announcing the candidature of Jaswant Singh, the NDA said it had reservations over the re-nomination of Ansari, particularly the manner in which he conducted the Rajya Sabha when the Lokpal Bill was discussed and the Women's Reservation Bill was passed. "We have decided not to give them (Congress-led UPA) a walkover... We have unanimously decided that Jaswant Singh will be the NDA candidate in the Vice Presidential poll," L K Advani, NDA Working President, announced after an NDA meeting. Advani said JD(U) chief Sharad Yadav had also raised concerns over Ansari's conduct in the passage of the Women's Reservation Bill in the Rajya Sabha where marshals were used to oust those opposed to the legislation. He said the same concerns were shared with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh when he had called him on Saturday to seek support for Ansari's candidature. Reacting to his nomination, 74-year-old Jaswant Singh said, "It is a matter of great respect that the NDA has unanimously chosen me as their candidate for the post of Vice President. It is a big responsibility and also a challenge".

Over 1cr Stolen From Axis Bank ATMs in Allahabad

An employee assigned the task of replenishing the cash at several ATMs of Axis Bank in Allahabad stole Rs 1.16 crore sometime over the past week. The theft was discovered during a routine check at the ATMs and yesterday a police complaint was lodged in this connection. Bank officials suspect that the employee named Bhupesh made away with the money which he had withdrawn for filling cash in the ATMs. A search is on for the accused who was last seen on Jul 13.    

TDP Dharna Against Power Cuts in Warangal

The district Telugu Desam Party (TDP) will organise a dharna at all electricity sub-stations across the district, protesting the power cuts, on July 16, 17 and 18.   TDP senior leader Kadiam Srihari, MLC B. Venkateswarlu and MP G. Sudha Rani said that the government should own the responsibility for the present crisis in the power sector. As the government had failed miserably in protecting the power sector, hundreds of small units were forced to close down, rendering lakhs of people unemployed. Srihari said that the government lacked vision and a result, of the total 1,259 MW power supposed to be generated; a mere 5,585 MW is being generated at present. To extend solidarity to the farmers and give them the much needed confidence, the TDP will undertake a series of demonstrations at all mandal headquarters in the district. “We will expose the failure of the government in tackling the power crisis,” he said. Srihari found fault with Union Minister S. Jayapal Reddy and State Panchayat Minister K. Jana Reddy as they were not doing anything to hel the State or the region.

Guwahati Molestation Case: 2 More Arrested

Two more persons involved in the molestation of a girl has been arrested and a police official suspended for dereliction of duty amid ongoing raids in Assam and neighbouring states to nab the remaining culprits.   "The total number of arrested persons in Monday's molestation incident is now six," Senior Superintendent of Police, Guwahati city, Apurba Jabon Barua told PTI but did not divulge from where they were apprehended. The two arrested persons are Diganta Basumatary and Navajyoti Deka. Sub-inspector Subhan Baruah of Dispur police station has been suspended, the SSP said. Prime accused Amarjyoti Kalita, however, is still at large, he said. The action came after Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi gave direction to the police yesterday to arrest the culprits within 48 hours. Police has come under sever criticism from various quarters with allegations being made that cops reached the spot around 45 minutes after the molestation of the girl in the city's busy Christianbasti area on GS Road.

Kingfisher Pilots on Strike, 30 Flights Cancelled

A section of debt-ridden Kingfisher Airlines' pilots Saturday went on strike over non-payment of salaries and other dues for the past five months, leading to the cancellation of 30 flights across its network, an airline official said.   Twelve flights from New Delhi, six from Mumbai and three flights from Bangalore have been cancelled apart from many other flights from Chennai, Chandigarh, Dehradun and Dharamshala among others. "A certain section of employees have decided to stay away from duty due to salary payments not being credited to the bank accounts of all employees. Kingfisher wishes to state that more than 75 percent of employees have actually received their promised salaries Friday," a Kingfisher official said. "We have further promised that the balance of our employees will receive their salaries by Monday," the official added.The passengers booked on these flights have either been re-booked or given refunds, an airport official said. This is the third time in the last 12 days that the pilots went on strike.

Guwahati Girl Molestation: CM Sets 48 hour Deadline For Police

Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi on Saturday set a 48 hour deadline for the state police to nab the culprits in the horrific public molestation of a minor at a busy road in Guwahati on Monday night for full 30 minutes by a mob of around 20 men.   Nearly 13 of the 20 men have been identified from the footage of the incident, which was shot by a News Live cameraperson. Out of 13, only four have been arrested five days after the incident. The case has sent shock waves across the country with people, politicians and the press demanding justice. Chief Minister Gogoi on Friday evening appointed a Special Task Force to look into the matter. Meanwhile, the National Commission for Women formed a three-member team which is in Guwahati to conduct a probe. Meanwhile, posters have been put up across the city with the faces of the 13 accused to help the police nab the men.

Girl raped in Gujarat, Filmed by Neighbour

Crime against women is constantly on the rise in the country and this was evident once again after a college girl was reported to have been raped by a youth in Gujarat’s Dahod area. What was more painful for the victim is that the shameful act was recorded by the youth who along with his friend uploaded the video on the Internet. And if this was not enough, they even made CDs of the act and circulated them.   According to reports, the youth is said to be a neighbour of the victim and had repeatedly expressed his love for her in the past. The girl has alleged that the youth came to her place when she was alone and served her a drink laced with sedatives, following which she fell unconscious. The youth then raped and filmed the act. The parents have registered a complaint against the youth.       VIdeo source IBN

Fire Accident in New Jersey: Telugu People Lose Everything

Woodbridge, NJ: Due to a massive fire accident in Avenel, NJ, Colonial Gardens Apartment building was burnt to ashes on Wednesday. More than 90% of the affected 52 families are of Telugu origin. Damage was very extensive and cause of the fire is unknown and still being investigated. Fortunately, everybody living in the apartment building complex has been evacuated safely. Unfortunately, they have lost all of their belongings including furniture, gold, clothes and documents like passports, visas, vehicle registration certificates etc. TANA President Prasad Thotakura expressed his deepest condolences to the effected people and assured that TANA Team Square volunteers would do their best in contacting concerned officials to help the victims. Prasad contacted and updated Honorable NJ Assemblyman Upendra Chivukula regarding the incident, who in turn visited the scene, met with the affected families and extended all his help to ease the situation. Chinna Vasudeva Reddy, Joint Secretary of TANA, Laxmi Devineni, Chairman of TANA Legal Services and Honorable Assemblyman Upendra Chivukula have visited the affected families and extended their help in bringing the situation to normalcy as fast as possible. They made sure all the families are safe and have food and shelter. Apart from TANA, many other Telugu associations in US are coming forward to help the fire victims. As per the latest reports, the Telugu organizations are making arrangements for rehabilitation of 52 families who lost everything in fire. TANA has assured the victims that it will take care of their immigration and see that all of them are issued with fresh passports. For more information, please visit www.tana.org.        Video Source:tv9telugu  

Minor Girl Molested by 20 men in Guwahati

A teenaged girl was pulled by her hair, lifted up, thrown down, beaten up, thrashed, molested, groped, slapped and stripped in full public view for 30 minutes on Monday night at a busy road near the Christian Basti area in Guwahati by a mob of around 20 men. The girl was returning home after a party at a city bar. While the Assam Police has identified twelve men from the video footage that has gone viral on the Internet, it has only managed to arrest four so far.   The Assam DGP, Jayanto N Chaudhary, however, has promised action against the accused. He said, "The girl had gone to celebrate a friend's birthday... There (at the bar) they had a fight and the management asked them to leave as they were creating a ruckus over there... they came out and some hooligans saw her and tried to take advantage of her... She was assaulted but is not hospitalised... Whatever is there in the law books, we will do accordingly thanks to the coverage of media... They have been a great help." The girl allegedly had an altercation with a young man at the bar who had passed an obscene remark at her. The video of the incident shows around 20 men brutally assaulting the minor, pulling her hair, beating her up and trying to strip her. One of the accused, who used to work with a private company, has reportedly been sacked and the company has filed an FIR.  

Pinky Pramanik Male or Female?

The controversial case of Pinky Pramanik is getting more curious day by day with her gender-test reports received so far failed to confirm whether the star athlete is a male or a female. Asian Games gold medalist runner Pinky Pramanik was arrested on 14 June after it was alleged she was a male and had tried to rape a woman and was let off on bail a couple of days ago. The rape allegation by Pramanik's female partner led to medical tests to determine her gender. Initial private tests claimed to show her to be male. Pramanik disagreed with these results and police ordered a separate government-led test as part of the trial. The doctors who tested her for more than three hours couldn't confirm her gender, though they classified it as a rare 'Hermaphrodite' case. The doctors told that it is possible that a person can be born with both male and female re-productive organs and is called a 'Hermaphrodite'. It happens in 3% of births all over the world. If the anomaly is detected at infantile stage, it can be corrected by suppressing the weaker gender by hormones treatment so that he/she can lead normal life thereafter. In Pramanik's case, the matter came into light very late. Still doctors are not able to tell correctly whether Pinky Pramanik is a hermaphrodite or in laymen's terminology, a 'Shemale'. For this, the doctors said, chromosome-mapping is the only solution to confirm her gender correctly. The chromosome mapping takes at least three weeks time and one has to wait another one month to know whether Pinky Pramanik is a male or a female.  

Sherlyn Chopra: First Indian Girl to Adorn Playboy Cover

Desi nymphet Sherlyn Chopra became the first Indian girl to feature on the cover of famous Playboy Magazine. The young model and Bollywood starlet, who appeared in several movies, has now got a new identity as the 'Playboy Girl'. On Thursday Sherlyn disclosed to the media that she has just finished a five-day shoot for the magazine. She said, "I finished the five-day cover shoot today and feeling proud to be the first Indian to be going to grace the cover of Playboy." She even changed her Twitter bio as 'Playboty Girl' since then. A few days ago, Hefner, who hosted Chopra at his LA mansion, tweeted, "Playmate Ashley Hobbs won tonight's domino game with Crystal, Trisha, Chelsea, Cristal Camden, Sherlyn Chopra from India & me. A fun night." Chopra posted a picture of hers with Hefner, thanking him for the game. "Thx Mr.Hefner for introducing me to 'Dominos'. I hope I got the spelling right (sic)," she wrote, calling him "the most compassionate man on planet Earth". "It has been a true pleasure to be staying as Hef's guest, to be playing indoor games and watching movies with him and most importantly to be doing the coveted cover shoot," she said.  

History of Guntur Psycho alias Psycho Samba

For the past three years, a psycho has been creating terror in six districts of Andhra Pradesh - mainly concentrating in Guntur, Prakasam and Nellore districts. Finally, police have caught this dreaded criminal on Wednesday in Mangalagiri. The psycho has a dreaded criminal track record for the past three years. An elderly couple from Tenali, a ladies hostel in Mangalagiri and college girls in Nellore are the first victims of this psycho killer. Later he continued tracing lone-women and attacking them with knives and boulders. He also used to assault them sexually and rob their jewellery. Finally, police have trapped him quite dramatically in an apartment in Guntur. Earlier they have found who exactly this person is when he is caught on a CC camera installed in an apartment cellar. He is identified as Rachakonda Sambasiva Rao from Prakasam district. After a day's grilling by Guntur police, Sambasiva Rao escaped from police custody while he was being taken to Kondapalli Quilla near Vijayawada for recovery of stolen property on Thursday afternoon. Kondapalli quilla is on a hilltop surrounded by thick forest. The search for psycho Samba is going on in the area for the past 20 hrs. Police in large numbers have formed into several teams and are combing the area meticulously. They are confident of tracing the psycho by this afternoon.            

Brett Lee Retires From International Cricket

Australia's veteran paceman Brett Lee has announced his retirement from all forms of international cricket. "It's official, I have retired from international cricket! Thanks for all your love and support. It's been an amazing 13 years," Lee said in his twitter account on Friday.   ‘It has been a dream career, I guess, 13 years at the top. I couldn’t ask for much more,’’ Lee said to Channel Nine news earlier in the day. "Thirteen years, Friday the 13th, it's appropriate for me to go," Lee said. ‘‘I woke up this morning after not much sleep and it’s the right time to go. It just came to me this morning and I just felt it’s the right time to leave the game. It’s been in the back of my mind for a few months," he added. Though the Cricket Australia (CA) was keen for the 35-year-old speedster to continue until the upcoming World Twenty20 in Sri Lanka, Lee decided to leave the game he was not physically and mentally fit to take the challenge. "I thought I would go over there and try and play the Twenty20 World Cup in Sri Lanka in September, but being mentally and physically challenged, it would just not be worth it," Lee said. "In a team environment you have to have 100 per cent commitment, mentally and physically. And looking at the next few months I just didn't have that desire any more. It wouldn't be fair on me or the team. You get to a point in life when enough's enough." Lee, however, will continue to play in the Big Bash League and Indian Premier League.

Suspended TDP leader Kalpana Meets YS Jagan

TDP former Politburo member Uppuleti Kalpana has met the YSR Congress honorary president Y S Vijayamma at her residence here on Thursday afternoon. She has earlier gone to the Chanchalguda jail and met Y S Jaganmohan Reddy there. Speaking to the media after meeting Vijayamma briefly, she said she would be joining the YSR Congress soon. She would go back to her constituency, talk to the party workers and well wishers and announce the date of her joining the party, she added. Stating that she had close relations with the YSR Congress MP Mekapati Rajamohan Reddy, she said TDP had hastily announced her suspension when she went to console him after his mother died. Strongly condemning the action, she said she had taken decision to be with Jagan only after she was sent out of the TDP which she has served for a long time. She has alleged that Dalits and weaker sections do not have a place in the TDP. Stating that in fact her supporters have been bringing pressure on her to join the YSR Congress since almost a year, she said the time has now come for her to act according to their wishes.

Jagan to Support Pranab in Presidential Polls

The YSR Congress seems to have decided to vote for UPA presidential candidate Pranab Mukherjee. Stating that a formal announcement was exp-ected within a few days, YSR Congress sources said that party president Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy had decided to support Mr Mukherjee over the BJP-sponsored candidate P.A. Sangma.   Sources said that the Kadapa MP decided to support the UPA candidate keeping in mind the large number of Muslims who had voted for the YSR Congress in the recent bypolls. They added that Mr Jagan Mohan Reddy wanted to continue with the secular tag of the party. The Kadapa MP had made it clear more than once that he would support either the UPA or a Third Front in the 2014 elections and had clarified that he would never extend support to the BJP-led NDA. The other reason for the YSRC to support Mr Mukherjee is that the latter will most probably become President with or without the par-ty’s support. And since the post is non-political in nature, supporting him will send the right signal about the party’s secular credentials.

Telangana is a National Issue: CM Kiran

Condemning the statements of separatists that Telangana will be formed soon, Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy made it clear that the decision on statehood will take some more time as there are similar demands in other states in the country and decision on T will have an impact on them too.   Calling the division of state as a National issue, CM Kiran opined that bifurcation is a bigger one than Telangana. When asked if the 2014 polls will be held in a bifurcated state, he replied,"wait and watch". He also claimed to have asked the party leadership to take a decision on Telangana soon, but refused to reveal his stand on this burning issue. Chief Minister's comments gained prominence in the wake of statements given by TRS chief KCR and other Congress leaders in the region stating that High Command will announce Telangana after the completion of Presidential polls.

Diesel Price Hike Likely After Presidential Polls

Government is likely to raise diesel prices after Presidential polls on July 19, an oil ministry source said on Thursday, as the government attempts to cut the amount of money it pays out to keep prices lower.   "This has been the thinking for quite some time," that a price rise could come after Presidential polls, the source said, requesting anonymity. "It is inevitable. By how much I can't say," he added.Government heavily subsidises diesel prices as the fuel powers much of the economy, especially in farming and transportation. The source added that gasoline prices - ostensibly already freed from government controls - were currently not causing any losses for India. "It is under control, there is volatility both on the rupee front and oil prices (global) at the moment we are not incurring any loss," the source said.  

Jagadish Shettar Sworn in as Karnataka CM

Admidst the spectre of a severe drought in the state, the ruling BJP in Karnataka installed its third chief minister in four years with hardcore RSS man Jagadish Shettar being sworn-in at Raj Bhavan here on Thursday.   Shettar took charge with a 33-member cabinet including two deputy chief ministers — K S Eshwarappa and R Ashoka. Shettar replaces D V Sadananda Gowda, who stepped down after a 11-month following dissidence led by his predecessor B S Yeddyurappa. Karnataka legislative assembly elections are due in May 2013. Governor H R Bhardwaj administered the oath of office and secrecy to Shettar even as roads leading to Raj Bhavan were cordoned off with thousands of BJP workers descending in Bangalore from the new CM's hometown Hubli and other parts of north Karnataka in all modes of transport. The 57 year-old Shettar is Karnataka's 21st CM. Shettar has retained all the ministers from Gowda's cabinet and added 11 new faces

Actor Dara Singh Died

Dara Singh Dead: Wrestler-turned-actor Dara Singh, who was battling for his life in a Mumbai hospital since the last four days, passed away on Thursday. He was 84. Singh was shifted back home on Wednesday night after doctors said he has "less chance of recovery" due to significant damage to his brain.   "He is already home. Please don't follow us. When he breathes his last, I'll let you know. There is no hope," his son Vindu Dara Singh told reporters. He was admitted to Kokilaben Hospital in an emergency condition on July 7. He had suffered a cardiac arrest and since then he has been in the ICU. The Commonwealth wrestling champion entered film industry in the fifties and is known for his roles in King Kong and Faulad. He was last seen in Imtiaz Ali's Jab We Met (2007) playing Kareena Kapoor's grandfather. The veteran actor had played the character of Hanuman in Ramanand Sagar's epic television series Ramayan.