CURRENT AFFAIRS: 07/26/11

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Man stabs wife 100 times after reading killing manual

London: A Briton stabbed his wife at least 100 times, after researching on internet sites like "How to kill someone" and "Top 10 tips on how to commit the perfect crime", a court has heard.

Alfredo Merigo, 43, stabbed his wife with a steak knife as their two-year-old son sat near them in a chair. He later left his 40-year-old wife Linda dead on the driveway, the Sheffield Crown Court was told.

Merigo also studied what kind of sentences were handed down for murder or manslaughter and looked at websites to see what prison life was like, the Daily Mail reported.

Hyderabad: The railways have cancelled 31 Express and 116 passenger trains in the Telangana region of Andhra Pradesh on Thursday in view of the rail blockade called by the Telangana Joint Action Committee (JAC) pressing for a separate state.

The South Central Railway (SCR) has also partially cancelled 20 Express and 14 passenger trains, rescheduled 23 and diverted 23 Express trains.

Hyderabad: The Hyderabad Police are in the process of putting up more CCTV cameras on city roads, in addition to the current 225 units.

"The police department is planning to hire CCTV cameras in a big way. We have requested the government in this regard and we may get more cameras in a phased manner," Hyderabad Police Commissioner A K Khan said.

Hyderabad: Police on Wednesday night went on high alert in Hyderabad, Tirupati, Visakhapatnam and other major towns in Andhra Pradesh following the serial blasts in Mumbai.

Police tightened security at railway and bus stations, markets, historical, religious and public places and started checking vehicles at various points in the twin cities of Hyderabad and Secunderabad.

Policemen were seen patrolling the streets and keeping a tight vigil at the historic Charminar, assembly and other vital installations.

Hyderabad: Cash, gold and silver continue to tumble out of cupboards in the late Sathya Sai Baba's residential quarters in Puttaparthi town of Andhra Pradesh, with valuables worth nearly Rs 59 crore being found so far in three rounds of counting.

In the latest round of inventory taken up on Monday at Yajur Mandir in Prashanti Nilayam, Anantpur district officials found ornaments, cash and other valuables.
The inventory, the third in a month, yielded 34.5 kg of gold, 340 kg of silver and Rs.1.90 crore of cash till Monday night. The counting resumed Tuesday morning in the presence of Sathya Sai Central Trust officials.

Hyderabad: Andhra Bank has become Telangana Bank, the Andhra Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation (APTDC) has been rewritten as Telangana Tourism Development Corporation (TGTDC). Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (APSRTC) is now Telangana State Road Transport Corporation (TGSRTC). Andhra Bhavan hotel has become Telangana Bhavan hotel. From eateries to government offices, even number-plates on vehicles are proudly showing off the 'AP' cut-out and replacing it with a TG.

Fake cops loot man during frisking in Bangalore

Bangalore: Taking advantage of the mild chaos resulting from the city police stepping up security measures after terrorists struck in Mumbai, opportunists are having a heyday and looting unsuspecting victims.

Two men, posing as cops, robbed a hotel employee of Rs. 22,500 on the pretext of frisking him, while he was enroute to the bank to deposit the cash. Sadashiva Shetty, who works in Safina Hotel on Commercial Street, was told that they were police officers from Delhi and they even showed him their ID cards.

Mumbai: The mushrooming of cellular antennae in residential areas, and the potential health risks they pose by emitting radiation incessantly, have come under the scanner again, this time from a hospital in Santacruz.

The BCJ Hospital and Asha Parekh Research Centre, contiguous with the Ratna Deep Cooperative Housing Society (CHS), has sent a notice to it, asking for the cell towers on its rooftop to be removed.

Pune: Ashraf Ansari, a media professional hailing from Mumbai, is running from pillar to post with a single motive. He is seeking justice for his deceased cousin, who he alleges was murdered by her in-laws. To add to his sorrow, the Hinjewadi police allegedly intentionally ignored the several injury marks all over his cousin's body and arrested her in-laws for domestic violence, abetment of suicide and criminal conspiracy, but did not charge them with murder under IPC 302.

Singur case: Judge recuses himself

Kolkata: The Calcutta High Court judge hearing the Tata Motors' challenge of the Singur Land Rehabilitation and Development Act today recused himself from the case.

Justice Saumitra Pal recused from the case on personal grounds. The judge said he has found from records that few people involved in this matter were personally known to him.

Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala on Tuesday created a new post of the rank of a superintendent of police to specifically protect the treasure estimated at Rs.1 lakh crore found in the Sri Padmanabhaswamy Temple in Thiruvananthapuram.

"We are looking into various measures on the state-of-the-art security arrangements that should be put up in the temple premises," Chief Minister Oommen Chandy said after the weekly cabinet meeting in Thiruvananthapuram.

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Kolkata: Mamata Banerjee's nephew Abhishek Banerjee is the latest star entrant in the long tradition of dynastic politics.

Mr Banerjee is to take charge of the newly launched Trinamool Yuva, which was launched on 21 July - the day of Trinamool's victory rally; its anthem was sung by Bangla rock music icon Rupam Islam.

It has officially launched its constitution and its membership drive.

New Delhi: When 34-year-old Hina Rabbani Khar, Pakistan's youngest and first woman Foreign Minister, holds talks with her Indian counterpart SM Krishna, 45 years her senior, the world will be watching to see how she handles her first major diplomatic outing and navigates the troubled waters of the India-Pakistan relationship.

Ms Khar touched down in Delhi on special flight on Tuesday amid intense interest. Her trip to India comes just a week after her appointment was formalized.

Bangalore: Former Supreme Court judge, Justice Shivaraj V Patil was today appointed the new Lokayukta of Karnataka. He will take over from N Santosh Hegde, who welcomed Mr Patil's appointment as a "very good choice".

After the 2G telecom scam crowbarred its way into the country's headlines, Mr Patil served as a one-man committee appointed to study the processes and procedures followed by the Department of Telecommunications in distributing licences and spectrum between 2001 and 2009.

Allahabad: The Allahabad High Court hearing several petitions of farmers in Noida Extension and Greater Noida today slammed the Uttar Pradesh government for behaving in an irresponsible manner.

The bench asked why the government had not asked for objections from the farmers while acquiring their land, and assured farmers that 'nobody will be spared'.

Chennai: Senior police officers and bureaucrats in Chennai were today raided by officials in charge of tackling corruption.

The raids were carried out in connection with sale and misappropriation of plots allotted under the government discretionary quota.

Washington: Kashmiri separatist leader Ghulam Nabi Fai is to be produced before a US court on Tuesday, with the federal prosecutors intending to bring before the judge the information obtained by electronic surveillance and physical search as evidence.

The FBI, which arrested Fai last week on charges of being an ISI agent who lobbied for Pakistan on the Kashmir issue in the US, had carried extensive search of his home in Fairfax, Virginia - a suburb of Washington - and the office of Kashmir American Council (KAC) in Washington, a few blocks away from the White House.

London: A 1925 Rolls-Royce car customised with mounted guns and searchlights and used by an Indian maharaja to hunt tigers will be put up for auction in the United States next month, Bonhams auction house said.

The New Phantom was commissioned by Sahib Bahadur, officially known as Umed Singh II, the maharaja of Kota, from the British motor manufacturers.

New Delhi: A Raja continued to whip up a storm today, claiming, "I did not seek to implicate the Prime Minister and the then Finance Minister in the 2G case." He also blamed the media for "putting words in my mouth."

Mr Raja has begun defending himself in court - he is accused of engineering India's largest scam by giving away telecom licenses for low prices to companies he favoured. Mr Raja was Telecom Minister till November when he resigned over charges of corruption and the 2G scam. He was arrested in February and has been in Tihar Jail since.

Drass (Kashmir): A wreath laying ceremony was held on Tuesday at the Drass War Memorial in Jammu and Kashmir to mark the 12th anniversary of Army's victory in 1999 Kargil War.

Senior Army officers and the relatives of those killed in the two-month-long war presented the floral tributes to the martyrs.

General Officer Commanding (GOC) of Leh-based 14 Corps Lt Gen R P Dastana, GOC of 8 Mountain Division, Lt Gen R J Noronha and GOC of 3 Mountain Division Lt Gen K M Balsara laid the wreath at the memorial.

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New Delhi: The Foreign Ministers of India and Pakistan will meet in New Delhi on Wednesday. High on the agenda is a discussion on terror.

India has repeatedly warned that Pakistan must stop cross-border terrorism. The latest evidence accessed by NDTV shows how Pakistan continues to support groups like the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and the Jaish-e-Mohammed, and how terrorist attacks that play out in Kashmir are directed carefully from across the Line of Control (LoC).

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Srinagar: A Hindu militant has been killed in an encounter with the security forces. The Army, which had earlier identified the militant killed in the encounter in Kishtwar on Tuesday morning as Rizwan, later clarified that the militant was actually Subhash.

According to sources, he was the lone Hindu militant of Hizbul Mujahideen in the South of Pir Panjal region of Jammu and Kashmir.

Virginia: Ghulam Nabi Fai, alleged to be an ISI agent and charged of trying to influence the policy of White House and Congress on Kashmir, raised his hand in jubilation after the judge announced that he would be released on bail.

He then stood there, for a tad longer than necessary, soaking up the moment and eventually had to be lead out of the room by the security officials. His wife did not even wait to step out of the courtroom before she broke out into a triumphant cheer.

Want to party in Pune? Well it may just have to be in the gaze of security cameras. As per a new directive, anybody partying in hotels, resorts, farmhouses and venues of student gatherings on campuses will have to take permission from the police.

The police measures go on to say anyone hosting such a party will also have to submit names, addresses and contact numbers of all invitees. Finally, and most bizarrely, the hosts of the party will have to install cameras so that the entire party can be videographed.

New Delhi: With all guns blazing, A Raja took clear aim today in court at the Prime Minister, P Chidambaram, Ratan Tata, and Attorney General GE Vahanvati. Mr Raja was defending the charges against him in the telecom scam, which he is accused of spawning when he was Telecom Minister.

First, Mr Raja sought to make good by stating, "I did not seek to implicate the Prime Minister and the then Finance Minister in the 2G case." He also blamed the media for "putting words in my mouth" and declared, "I am not after anybody." Through the course of the day, he again placed the PM squarely in his line of defense, and said that Mr Chidambaram should be made a witness in the trial. (Watch: Raja names PM, Chidambaram in court)

New Delhi: It's the season when academics take precedence, new chapters begin and lessons are learnt. But it seems some educational institutions have failed to do the latter. Because, with the onset of monsoons have arrived vector-borne diseases like malaria, dengue etc.

On Monday, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) found various educational institutions like Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), IIT Delhi and National Institute of Health and Family Welfare of having mosquito breeding grounds. According to the report prepared by the MCD health department, the civic agency has fined JNU as they found mosquito breeding in three different areas. Similarly, it has issued notices to Delhi University as well.

New Delhi: Arunima Sinha (23), the national- level football player who lost her left leg after being pushed from a running train by robbers, was discharged from All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) trauma centre on Tuesday. The incident took place near Bareilly, UP on April 11.

Arunima alias Sonu was first admitted to a Lucknow hospital where her leg was amputated, but it got infected. She was then shifted to the AIIMS trauma centre on April 18.

Bangalore: Karnataka Lokayukta Santosh Hegde's much-awaited report on illegal mining will be out today. Justice Hegde will submit his 11,000-page report to the state government by this afternoon.

"I have no hope that the report will be implemented by the government. But I hope the Supreme Court takes cognisance as they are already monitoring illegal mining," Mr Hegde said speaking to reporters in Bangalore.

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Udaipur: There are 15 posts to fill, 3,000 applications. That is common in populous India. Only, the posts here are those of peons at a Rajasthan university and many young men armed with even PhDs and MBA degrees have applied.

The applications flooding the Mohan Lal Sukhadia University in Udaipur are a grim reminder of unemployment in the country. But among those vying for these jobs are also people that are already employed in vocations more in keeping with their qualifications. Like Manmohan Singh Rathore, who has an MPhil degree in computer science, a journalism degree and is a teacher in a private school. But Mr Rathore aspires to join Mohan Lal Sukhadia university as a peon.

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New Delhi: The Foreign Ministers of India and Pakistan have begun their talks in Delhi.

Thirty-four-year-old Hina Rabbani Khar and SM Krishna, 45 years older than her, made brief statements before starting their discussions. Both struck a conciliatory note, but government sources say that Mr Krishna will, early in his private dialogue with Ms Khar, raise India's extreme displeasure over her meeting yesterday with Kashmiri separatists in Delhi. The fact that she held these meetings before her official interaction with the government began is seen as a poor diplomatic move.

Phil Hughes

Sydney: Australia, on Tuesday, included four uncapped players in its squad for the three-Test tour of Sri Lanka next month, while batsman Phil Hughes was anointed as Shane Watson’s opening partner.

Offspinner Nathan Lyon, batsman Shaun Marsh, and young fast bowlers Trent Copeland and James Pattinson are in the 15-man squad, but there was no room for pace duo Doug Bollinger and Ben Hilfenhaus.

Trying my hardest: Zaheer

Nottingham: “I’m trying to be fit (for the second Test), I’m trying my hardest... That’s all that I can say,” India’s spearhead Zaheer Khan told The Telegraph.

Speaking at the Park Plaza on Tuesday afternoon, soon after arriving here from London, Zaheer added: “Not being able to bowl (after just 13.3 overs) at Lord’s was so frustrating... It’s a freak injury, this right hamstring strain.”

Even though Zaheer’s in doubt for the Test beginning Friday, there has been “no discussion at all” between the team management and the Board on, perhaps, a replacement.

Dhoni and Fletcher

Calcutta: Former England captain Nasser Hussain has slammed India’s performance in the Lord’s Test saying that Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s team didn’t value their No.1 Test status and that they played the match with “totally inadequate preparation”.

“I am so pleased that England won because they set the perfect template on how you should prepare for and then perform in a very important game of Test cricket.

Sergio Batista

Buenos Aires: Sergio Batista has agreed to step down as coach of Argentina after their quarter final exit at the Copa America. Hosts Argentina went out to champions Uruguay on penalties in the last eight.

Batista, 48, had been in charge for a year, initially on a caretaker basis, after Diego Maradona was dismissed following the 2010 World Cup.

An Argentine Football Association (AFA) spokesman said Batista had not been sacked, but it had been decided to “rescind” the coach’s contract. “He put his future as the head of the national team up for consideration by the executive committee,” added spokesman Ernesto Bialo.

New Delhi: After badminton star Saina Nehwal, it was boxing champion MC Mary Kom’s turn to say that dope-tainted athletes should partly be blamed for putting their careers in jeopardy.

The five-time world champion, named ‘magnificent Mary’ by the International Boxing Federation (IBF), said on Tuesday that athletes should not avoid taking the responsibility for the doping scandal, which saw top track and field stars facing bans.

Calcutta: Geoffrey Boycott has predicted that England will have an upper-hand over India all through the four-match series since they have a superior seam attack.

“England will have the beating of India every time they play them in this series because their seam attack is far superior, as they proved at Lord’s. And it is seam that does most of the damage in English Test matches,” Boycott wrote in his column for The Daily Telegraph.

Calcutta, July 26: Credit Information Bureau of India Limited (Cibil) plans to modify the format of credit information/worthiness report for individual borrowers.

Cibil managing director Arun Thukral today said the data format in use was developed seven to eight years ago on the basis of information banks were able to provide at that time. “In the new format, we aim to capture data on income of the borrower to prepare the report,” he said.

Jain: New role

Frankfurt, July 26 (Reuters): Deutsche Bank crowned India-born investment banking chief Anshu Jain and German banker Juergen Fitschen co-chief executives on Monday, ending a drawn-out succession process.

Jain, the 48-year-old head of investment banking, will take over from Josef Ackermann in May 2012, and will rule alongside Fitschen, the 62-year-old German chief who has been with the Frankfurt-based bank for the past 24 years.

New Delhi, July 26: Maruti Suzuki today reported an 18 per cent rise in net profit for the quarter ended June as higher other income offsets pressures from sluggish sales and higher input costs.

The company posted a net profit of Rs 549 crore against Rs 465 crore in the year-ago period. Sales rose 3.3 per cent to Rs 8,320 crore.

Mumbai, July 26: A steeper-than-expected rate hike by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Tuesday sent the Indian markets into a tailspin. The 30-share Bombay Stock Exchange ended 353 points, or 1.87 per cent, lower at 18518.22 points and about 450 points down from its early gains during the day.

The broader Nifty also plunged 1.86 per cent, or 105.45 points, lower to close at 5574.85 points. The Indian stock markets that were anticipating a 25 basis points hike in the repo and reverse repo rates were taken by surprise when the central bank upped the two key rates by 50 basis points to 8 and 7 per cent, respectively.

London, July 26: Mitch Winehouse paid a final tribute to his daughter Amy Winehouse at her funeral today, telling her: “Goodnight my angel, sleep tight, mummy and daddy love you ever so much.”

In his moving speech, the 60-year old paid tribute to Amy’s sense of humour and “fantastic recovery”, telling stories from her childhood.

78 killed in Morocco military plane crash

Rabat (Morocco), July 26 (Reuters): At least 78 people were killed today when a Moroccan military transport plane crashed into a mountain in the south of the country during bad weather, the military said in a statement carried by the state news agency.

The military said there were three injured survivors so far from the crash, which happened when a C-130 Hercules aircraft was trying to land in Guelmim, having flown north from the disputed Western Sahara territory.

‘Answer is N-O’

July 26: Michelle Obama has she insisted that she will not follow her husband’s footsteps into politics despite always getting high ratings from the US public.

The First Lady also admitted that she has struggled to cope with her public role and “sharing my husband with the world”. When asked whether she would consider entering front line politics herself, Michelle Obama said: “The answer is N-. Period. Dot.”

Putin: ‘Resolute leader’

Moscow, July 26: A Russian youth group and Prime Minister Vladimir V. Putin strove today to distance themselves from positive references to them in the manifesto written by Anders Behring Breivik, the avowed anti-immigrant extremist who is the lone suspect in the mass killings in Norway.

Putin and the youth group Nashi, a pro-Kremlin organisation that has expanded quickly here over the past five years, were mentioned briefly in the 1,500 page document. It also quoted extensively from American bloggers and referenced a wide range of current and historical political figures in arguing that Europeans should reject multiculturalism and immigrants from the Islamic world.

Oslo, July 26 (Reuters): Anders Behring Breivik is in all likelihood insane, his lawyer said today after the anti-Islam radical admitted to a bombing and a shooting spree in Norway that killed 76 people.

“This whole case indicated that he is insane,” Geir Lippestad told reporters. It was too early to say if his Norwegian client would plead insanity, he said. Trying to explain his client’s mindset, Lippestad said: “He says he is sorry he had to do this but it is necessary.

Syed Sallauddin Pasha feels that India needs an Anna Hazare to fight for disability rights. The art therapist-cum-classical dance trainer would know what an uphill task it is for persons with disabilities to make their mark. He has trained about 150 dancers with disabilities in his Delhi-based organisation, Ability Unlimited Foundation, known for its exquisite “Bharatanatyam on wheels” performed by dancers on wheelchairs.

There is no gainsaying that corruption breeds cynicism which undermines the democratic foundations of our polity. There is no gainsaying, too, that corruption results in a net shift of resources away from the poor. There can therefore be no two opinions about the need for controlling corruption through an appropriate lok pal bill. But the impression is unavoidable that the current hullabaloo about ‘corruption’ constitutes a case of mistaken identity: what is being attributed to ‘corruption’ should really be laid at the door of something else.

Death after study tiff

Tamluk, July 26: A 16-year-old who apparently got married on the sly threw herself before a train and was run over along with her husband as he tried to save her, just after the couple quarrelled over her plan to continue studies.

Arghya Dey, 20, and Mita, both Tamluk residents, had got married at a local temple two months ago despite opposition from their families.

Mita, a Class IX student, wanted to continue with her studies. But her husband and in-laws objected to her going to school, Mita’s mother Rina Das said. They had several arguments on the matter, she added.

A pair of four-year-old twins suffocated to death after the 10ftx10ft room in their Tiljala home in which their mother had locked them up before stepping out caught fire on Tuesday afternoon.

Razia Ali, who had gone out to fetch her daughter from school, returned half an hour later to find the room filled with smoke. Youths from the locality broke open the door to find the boys still breathing.

They rushed Rahman and Rahim Ali Mollah to Calcutta National Medical College and Hospital, about 2km away, where they died after being admitted.

A 25-year-old help at industrialist Shishir Bajoria’s Alipore home stole jewellery worth Rs 26 lakh over months and invested some of it in a taxi even as his employers continued to trust him with all the cupboard keys.

Chetan Swain, employed by the Bajorias for 10 years, was the last person the family would suspect of wrongdoing despite pieces of jewellery and other valuables going missing over the past few months.

So when police arrested Chetan last Sunday, the Bajorias had as much reason to be disillusioned at harbouring a traitor as to be relieved at the culprit being caught.

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

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