NEWS OF THE DAY

News - Courtesy D.D. News
Today Headlines:

TOP HEADLINES (Friday, 11th September, 2009)

Five girls were killed and 27 other students injured in a stampede triggered by rumours about a short circuit in a government-run school in North East Delhi on Thursday, The government on Thursday announced a five per cent increase in the dearness allowance for the central govt employees and pensioners entailing an outgo of about Rs 2,904 crore this fiscal, India on Thursday put on Pakistan the onus of unveiling the conspiracy behind the Mumbai attacks and ruled out meaningful dialogue till concrete action is taken against those responsible, Opener Gautam Gambhir picked up a groin injury and has been advised ten days of rest while Delhi batsman Virat Kolhi replaces him in the team for the ongoing cricket tri-sries in Sri Lanka, On a three-day visit to Tamil Nadu to strengthen Youth Congress, Rahul Gandhi has raised the hackles of DMK cadre by not not meeting their patriarch M Karunanidhi but he downplayed the issue saying he is an "admirer" of the Tamil Nadu chief minister, Seven astronauts aboard the U.S. shuttle Discovery undocked from the International Space Station on Tuesday and set their sights on a Thursday landing in Florida.

(10/09/09) - Alleviating fears prevalent in drought hit areas of the country, Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh expressed satisfaction with the overall performance of government schemes like NREGA and self-employment programmes, Olympic bronze medallist Vijender Singh continued his great run at the World Boxing Championship when the top seed, in the 75 kg category, cruised into the quarter-finals after out-punching Steve Rolls of Canada 4-2 in Milan, Italy, Army foiled an infiltration bid in Mendhar sector of the Poonch district in Jammu and Kashmir, killing three militants, however Major Akash Singh of the 5 Maratha Light Infantry lost his life in this in the operation, The Jet Airways and its agitating pilots were trying to find a way to end the stir that led to cancellation of over 200 flights as more than 400 cockpit crew failed to turn up for work for the second day on Wednesday, Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi inched closer to a showdown in the men's doubles final after both made the semis with their respective partners, while Yuki Bhambri advanced to boys' singles third round on a good day for the Indians in the US Open in New York.

(09/09/09) - The government on Tuesday launched the Sakshar Bharat Mission with the objective to reduce illeteracy especially among the women to mark the International Literacy Day, Stung by more than half of its pilots taking mass sick leave that forced cancellation of about 190 flights by 1400 hrs, Jet Airways on Tuesday termed the agitation as illegal and secured a restrain order from Bombay High Court against any strike, President Pratibha Patil has felicitated the people of Tajikistan on the occasion on their National Day, speaking on the occasion in Tajikistan's capital Dushanbe, she said that Indo-Tajik relations have got a boost in recent times, India's crashed hopes with the ouster of Sania Mirza in the US Open has been rejuvenated by Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi who cruised into the semi-finals of the mixed and men's double event of the US Open with their respective partners, Dinesh Kumar (81kg) became the first Indian pugilist to make the quarterfinals after he out-punched Romanian Costantin Bejenaru in his third round bout but it was curtains for Jai Bhagwan (60kg) at the World Boxing Championships in Milan, Italy.

(08/09/2009) - Expressing shock over less than 30 pc conviction rate for cases of atrocities against SCs and STs, PM Manmohan Singh asked states to give more attention to the issue and said court cases related to such matters should be taken up on a priority basis, West Bengal government on Monday scrapped its ambitious IT township project where top companies including Infosys and Wipro were supposed to set up shop following allegations of irregularities in land acquisition, India has asked countries in the region to take "urgent, proactive measures" to cooperate and eliminate terrorism in all its forms and manifestations to ensure that these forces do not derail the processes of progress and prosperity, The Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex on Monday closed over the 16,000-point level for the first time this year as buying in realty, metal and banking segments powered over 320-point rally on strong global cues, Indian ace Pankaj Advani beat defending champion Mark Russel to win the World Professional Billiards Championship-2009, he beat the defending champion 2030-1253, Tamil filmmaker Priyadarshan's "Kanchivaram" has bagged the National award for Best film for 2007 while Tamil actor Prakash Raaj pipped Bollywood hearthrobs Aamir and Shahrukh to win the Best actor award for his performance in "Kanchivaram", sources said on Monday.

(07/09/2009) - Pakistan Premier Yousuf Raza Gilani has said that attack on Sri Lankan cricket team in Lahore in March this year was funded by elements in Lankan island itself, Afghan President Hamid Karzai has moved into a clear lead in the controversial race for the presidency, with 48.6 per cent of the vote, according to partial results, Ministers of the erstwhile Cabinet of Y S Rajasekhara Reddy, including all the loyalists of the late chief minister have been sworn in afresh as required under the Constitution, India has slammed Pakistan accusing it of deliberately "stifling" probe into the Mumbai attacks and made it clear that action against the perpetrators of the strikes was a condition for resumption of dialogue, Astronauts from the US space shuttle Discovery ventured out of the International Space Station (ISS) on Sunday for a third spacewalk that will be the last of their mission.

(06/09/2009) - Accusing Pakistan of not being serious in punishing perpetrators of the Mumbai terror attacks, External Affairs Minister S M Krishna has said India has provided enough evidence for their prosecution, India on Saturday slammed Pakistan accusing it of deliberately "stifling" probe into the Mumbai attacks and made it clear that action against the perpetrators of the strikes was a condition for resumption of dialogue, Power PSU NTPC has moved the Supreme Court challenging Bombay High Court's decision that allowed Mukesh Ambani group firm RIL to amend its petition on the gas dispute citing govt's pricing policy, India's stand that protectionism remains a real threat to the global economy and emerging economies need to guard against tendencies in some developed nations to extend it beyond trade to financial markets and investment has been endorsed by Russia, China and Brazil, The 'Black Box of the ill-fated Bell 430-helicopter which crashed on 2nd September on the Pavurala Gutta of Nallama hill range in the Rudracodur forest area, killing Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Rajashekhara Reddy and all the four other occupants, had been found by the police, The country is celebrating Teacher's Day on the 5th of September commemorating the birthday of former President and eminent scholar Dr S Radhakhrishnan.

(05/09/2009) - "Happy Teachers Day" Lakhs of people on Friday bid a tearful farewell to Y S Rajasekhara Reddy, who was killed in a helicopter crash as his body entered in his family estate in Kadapa, after a state funeral, An engine of a Riyadh-bound Air India plane with 229 people on board caught fire today while taxiing at the Mumbai airport, forcing it to abort take-off and evacuation of passengers through emergency exit chutes, Army Chief Deepak Kapoor said the number of ceasefire violations by Pakistan Army has increased to enable militants to infiltrate into India before the onset of winter to "disrupt" the peaceful environment in Jammu and Kashmir, The Civil Aviation Ministry on Thursday night set up a four-member committee to probe the cause of Andhra Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy's helicopter crash in which he was killed, NATO launched an airstrike on two fuel tankers hijacked by Taliban militants in northern Afghanistan, sparking a huge blast that killed up to 90 people, including 40 civilians, Afghan officials said, Call it a ripple effect - not only Jaswant Singh's Jinnah chronicle is enjoying a "very good sale" in the ongoing Delhi Book Fair but other publications on the Pakistan founder and Partition are on high demand too.

(04/09/2009) - K Rosaiah, who has been sworn-in as the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh is the senior most Congress leader in successive Congress governments since 1979, The body of late Dr. Rajashekhar Reddy has reached Hyderabad for the last rites on Friday as his body will be kept in Lal Bahadur Shastri Stadium where people will pay their homage to the departed leader, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress chief Sonia Gandhi will go to Andhra Pradesh on Friday following the death of Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy, President Pratibha Patil has described Indians in Russia as the "building blocks" in the bilateral strategic partnership as she met members of the community in Moscow on Wednesday, The two-day meeting of 35 trade ministers of the WTO-member countries began in New Delhi on Thursday with India underscoring the need to strengthen the multilateral regime to boost global trade.

(03/09/2009) - The fate of Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy remained uncertain tonight after a helicopter carrying him went missing over a dense forest area since Wednesday morning, prompting a continuing massive search operation, The search operations by helicopters for locating Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy has been called off because of light and weather conditions and will resume on Thursday morning, Home Minister P Chidambaram said in New Delhi on Wednesday, Ramping up the frantic search for missing helicopter of Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S R Reddy, the IAF on Wednesday deployed a Sukhoi fighter jet with on-board radar for high resolution ground mapping to locate it, President Pratibha Patil arrived in Moscow on Wednesday on her maiden visit to Russia, seeking to consolidate the relations between the "close friends and partners" in the changed global geo-political situation, Army on Wednesday foiled an infiltration bid from across the border by killing five heavily-armed militants in Gurez Sector of North Kashmir, Oscar-winning musician A R Rahman has pipped another great Ilayaraja to win the 'Grassroot Grammy' held in the US.

(02/09/2009) - Sounding upbeat about the economy, the planning commission said once the impact of the monsoon is over the economy is expected to go back to 8% growth levels and the Prime Minister advised not to be too pessimistic about the drought situation in the country, The government on Tuesday informed Supreme Court that it was not for declaring the Ambani family settlement "null and void" as prayed earlier and said that its policies on gas pricing were without prejudice to power utility NTPC's case against RIL, BJP central leadership on Tuesday sought to convey to Vasundhara Raje that she will have to quit as Leader of Opposition in the Rajasthan assembly with Venkaiah Naidu indicating that the decision was taken by the party and not by its President Rajnath Singh alone, Weak overseas cues continued to haunt the stock market for the second straight day on Tuesday, as the benchmark Sensex lost 115 points due to heavy selling in stocks from infrastructure-related sectors, Somdev Devvarman and Sania Mirza posted first-round victories on opening day of the US Open to become the first man and woman from India to reach the second round of the same grand slam event, Entertainment major Walt Disney Company will acquire Marvel Entertainment, the firm well known for comics of super heroes, for an estimated USD 4 billion in a cash and stock deal.

(01/09/2009) - Defending champions India beat Syria 5-4 in the penalty shootouts to lift their second successive Nehru Cup title at the Ambedkar Stadium on Monday, The Election Commission on Monday announced that three states as Maharashtra, Haryana and Arunachal Pradesh would go to polls on 13th October, India and Namibia have signed crucial agreements for strengthening cooperation in trade, investments and economy between the two nations, Government on Monday reviewed the drought like situation arising out of deficit rainfall and rising commodity prices, The country managed a reasonable economic growth of 6.1 pc during the first quarter of the current fiscal despite the global financial crisis impacting manufacturing and certain services like hotels, Space shuttle Discovery has arrived at the International Space Station (ISS).

(31/08/2009) - Seeking to rescue the BJP from its current leadership crisis, the RSS has held high-level confabulations when its chief Mohan Bhagwat met L K Advani for the second time in two days and declared that the party leadership has assured to resolve problems amicably while the party ruled out removal of Advani, India's maiden Rs 400 crore moon mission Chandrayaan-1 was terminated on Sunday, about one year before the odyssey's expected end, after ISRO failed to restore the snapped communication link with the unmanned spacecraft, Japan's Prime Minister Taro Aso has conceded defeat in elections on Sunday as media exit polls indicated the opposition had won by a landslide, sending the conservatives out of power after 54 years of nearly unbroken rule amid widespread economic anxiety and desire for change, Swine flu cases in the country continued to swell with 128 more people testing positive for the viral infection on Sunday, taking the total number of H1N1 cases to 3,881, an official release said, Violence buffeted Pakistan's restive northwest as a suicide bomber targetted a police station killing 15 policemen in the Swat valley on Sunday, while 20 militants and two policemen were killed in clashes elsewhere in the region, Space shuttle Discovery and seven astronauts blazed into orbit on aspectacular flight to the international space station, hauling up a treadmill named after a TV funnyman and thousands of kilos of more solemn supplies.