Headlines

Power situation in state likely to worsen

Posted by Unknown | Sunday, June 29, 2014 | Posted in


Thiruvananthapuram: The state's power scenario will worsen if the monsoon does not gain momentum.
If the power lines to bring power from outside the state are not ready by next month, the power situation is likely to further deteriorate.
In June, there was 20 per cent deficient rainfall so far and the dams including Idukki, Sabari and Idamalayar have only have only half the level of water stored in the same period last year.
Apart from Vaikom and some nearby places, there were no rains on Saturday. If the low pressure build-up in Lakshwadeep strengthens, the rainfall is likely to gain momentum in two days.
The Idukki reservoir is 18 per cent full, down from 35 per cent the same day the previous year.
This is sufficient to generate 39.7 crore units of power.
The Pampa dam has only 15 per cent water, down from 39.46 per cent the same day the previous year.

Apart from the depleting water flow to the dams, the hot climate is also triggering more electricity consumption.
The state consumed 6.328 crore units of power on Friday.

Brazil Fan Dies of Heart Failure After Chile Match

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Belo Horizonte, Brazil: A 69-year-old Brazilian fan died of heart failure while watching his country's World Cup penalty shootout win over Chile, media reported Saturday.

The man was watching the tense encounter, which Brazil won on spotkicks after the sides were locked 1-1 after extra-time, in a nearby bar when he complained of feeling unwell.
The fan, who was diabetic, died shortly after being taken to hospital, web news portal G1 and the website of Estado de Minas newspaper reported. 
The paper added local health officials had to treat some 100 people during the game, including a 50-year-old woman for a heart problem during the penalties and a young man whose nose was fractured in a fight.

India Writes to Switzerland Seeking Information on Secret Bank Accounts

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New Delhi: India has made a fresh request to Switzerland seeking bank details and names of Indians having unaccounted money in Swiss banks, as the government expands its efforts to combat the menace of black money.

The latest request has been made by the Finance Ministry after a Swiss government official recently said that Switzerland was ready to cooperate proactively with India to share details on a 'spontaneous' basis about persons and entities suspected to have untaxed assets in Swiss banks.
"We have written to the Swiss authorities seeking details in this regard. Finance Minister Arun Jaitely had promised that such a step will be taken," a senior Finance Ministry official told PTI.
The official said that the request letter has cited the existing bilateral treaties and global protocols applicable to the two countries for getting information about bank and other details of Indians holding untaxed funds or hidden wealth.
A spokesperson for Switzerland's Secretariat for International Financial Matters (SIF) later said that Swiss authorities were in touch with Indian and "Switzerland looks forward to working together with the new government of the Republic of India in its fight against tax evasion."
The Swiss government has been reluctant to share details about the Indians named in a so-called 'HSBC list', which was reportedly stolen by a bank employee and later found its way to tax authorities in various countries including India.
Despite repeated requests from India, including through at least four letters written by former Finance Minister P Chidambaram, Switzerland has maintained that its local laws prohibit administrative assistance in matters where information has been sourced illegally, including through stolen lists.

Unbelievable Leakage Video Footage From Iran.

Posted by Unknown | Saturday, June 28, 2014 | Posted in

Only Hard minded persons can watch this heartbreaking video from Iran.
(Heart Patients please avoid to wattch this)





3 VCs in State not eligible as per UGC norms: Minister

Posted by Unknown | Friday, June 27, 2014 | Posted in




Thiruvananthapuram: Vice-Chancellors of three universities in Kerala do not have the eligibility prescribed the UGC to be in the post, Education Minister P.K Abdu Rabb today informed the state Assembly.

They are Kannur University vice-chancellor Dr. M.K. Abdul Khadar, Kalady Sree Sankaracharya University of Sanskrit vice-chancellor Dr. M.C Dileep and Thunchath Ezhuthachan Malayalam University vice-chancellor K.Jayakumar.

As per the UGC norms, a person needs to have 10 years of experience as a Professor or researcher to be appointed VC, the minister said.

In Kerala, there are no special norms prescribed for appointment as VC. The UGC norms are suggestions and the state is not bound to comply with that. The Universities can go by their own laws as they are autonomous institutions, the minister said in reply to a query by P.Sriramakrishnan.

CM flays opposition over headmistress' transfer

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Thiruvananthapuram: Chief Minister Oommen Chandy Thursday flayed the Left opposition for criticising his government over the transfer of a school headmistress who is a Dalit.

"You have been unnecessarily raking up the issue of a headmistress' transfer by frequently referring that she is a Dalit. Please don't try to rake up this issue as a communal one," an angry Chandy told the opposition in the house.

The transfer of headmistress Urmila Devi of Cotton Hill Girls School here early this week has for the past two days created a ruckus both inside and outside the assembly.

The Left opposition walked out of the house in protest Thursday.

The row began when the headmistress is understood to have mentioned state Education Minister P.K. Abdu Rabb's delay in reaching a school function during her speech at the same event June 16.

A day later, a section of the media reported how the minister was treated poorly. Consequently, a probe was ordered by the state government and it recommended strong disciplinary action against the headmistress.

"You should please understand it was after the headmistress assumed office, the results of the school were excellent. She is a cancer patient and you should have shown a humanitarian attitude towards her," said Achuthanandan.

"... You took vindictive action by transferring her," he added.

In response, Chandy said when the Left was in office 2006-11, they took the extreme step of suspending a college principal and the head of department just because they spoke indifferently to a legislator.

"Please understand the probe that was ordered against the headmistress said she should be suspended, but we just transferred her to another school. She can go in appeal against this with the appropriate authority," Chandy said.

Meanwhile, the headmistress approached the State Administrative Tribunal and requested for an order to suspend her transfer, which was refused.

The state government informed the tribunal that all the steps taken were as per law.

The media has been having a free run on this issue with editorials and numerous debates on nearly dozen TV channels.

Alappuzha to host 27th Kerala Science Congress

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Thiruvananthapuram: The 27th edition of the annual Kerala Science Congress organised by Kerala State Council for Science, Technology and Environment (KSCSTE) will be held in Alappuzha from January 28 to 31 in 2015.

Dr Tessy Thomas, project Director, Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), will be the chairperson of the event, organised in association with National Transportation Planning and Research Centre (NATPAC).

KSCSTE Executive Vice President Prof V N Rajasekharan Pillai, who is also the Ex-officio Principal Secretary to the Department of Science and Technology of the state government will be the president of the Congress.

‘Traditional industries’ has been chosen as the focal theme of the Science Congress in the backdrop of traditional industrial base of Alappuzha. Being a coastal district of Kerala, it is historically known as the ‘Venice of East’ and is famous for its coir industry.

Nearly 2,000 delegates comprising scientists and young researchers are expected to take part in the Congress. The four-day event will have sessions including lectures, focal theme deliberations and the Children’s Science Congress.

Deliberation on several hundreds of research papers from various fields of science and technology will set a major platform for resourceful interaction among scientists, researchers and students from all over the state.

14 killed, 7 injured in GAIL pipeline fire

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Hyderabad: At least 14 people were killed and seven others injured in a fire following a blast in a gas pipeline belonging to GAIL in Andhra Pradesh's East Godavari district today, a senior state minister said.

"As per initial reports we have received, 14 deaths have been reported and some more are critically injured and undergoing treatment," Andhra Pradesh Finance Minister Yanamala Ramakrishnudu told reporters here.

According to an official of the East Godavari district, the administration has recovered 13 bodies from the accident site while another death was reported from the hospital where the injured are being treated.

East Godavari District Collector Neetu Kumari Prasad told PTI that the incident took place in the early hours.

"As of now the fire has been brought under control. Fire engines were rushed to the spot and rescue operations are underway," Prasad said.

The accident occurred at Nagaram village in Amalapuram Mandal, she said, adding that three persons are critically injured.

All the injured have been rushed to a nearby hospital, the collector said.

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu expressed shock over the loss of lives in the incident.

Naidu, who is now on a visit to Delhi, reviewed the situation with the collector and senior officials.

He asked state Deputy Chief Minister N Chinarajappa and the collector to rush to the spot to monitor the relief operation.

Flipkart Digiflip Pro XT 712 Voice-Calling Tablet Launched at Rs. 9,999

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After much anticipation, Flipkart has finally launched its first tablet, the Digiflip Pro XT 712. The first tablet from Flipkart has now gone on sale priced at Rs. 9,999, and is listed to be delivered in two to three business days. The move mirrors global competitor Amazon's strategy of tying-in content and shopping privileges to its Kindle Fire tablets.

Notably, the online marketplace giant is offering a number of offers to the consumers to make theDigiflip Pro XT 712 tablet a sweet deal. Some of the offers listed by Flipkart include free shopping worth Rs. 5,300 on Flipkart via mobile app; try and buy offer for limited period; free one-month subscription of Flipkart First; flat 50 percent off on book case worth Rs. 799 for Digiflip Pro tablet; free Plantronics ML2 Bluetooth headset worth Rs. 1,199, and free eBooks on Flipkart worth Rs. 2,300.

The Digiflip Pro XT 712 comes with dual-SIM and dual standby support (GSM+GSM), and offers the voice-calling feature. It runs the now-dated Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean out-of-the-box, and sports a 7-inch (1280x800 pixels) IPS HD display. The tablet is powered by a 1.3GHz quad-core MediaTek (MT8382) processor with 1GB of RAM and Mali -400 GPU. It comes with 16GB of inbuilt storage, which is further expandable via microSD card (up to 32GB).

It sports a 5-megapixel autofocus rear camera with LED flash, while there is a secondary 2-megapixel front-facing camera also onboard. On the connectivity front, the Digiflip Pro XT 712 includes 3G, Wi-Fi, Micro-USB, A-GPS, GPRS/ EDGE, and Bluetooth options. The tablet packs a 3000mAh battery, which is rated to deliver up to 8 hours of talk time and up to 168 hours of standby time. The Digiflip Pro XT 712 will be available in Black and White colour variants.

The Black colour variant of the Digiflip Pro XT 712 has already gone on sale via Flipkart, while the White model is expected to be available soon.

Commenting on the launch of first tablet, Michael Adnani, CP- Retail & Head - Brand Alliances, Flipkart said, "We are the first e-commerce marketplace in India to launch our own device through Digiflip Pro. With this, we have taken another step in our goal towards building an entire e-commerce ecosystem in India. With one of the largest user-bases in the country, we have access to unparalleled data that allows us to predict what kind of products and services will work well in the market. And this has helped us come out with a tablet like Digiflip Pro XT712 that offers high-end specifications at unheard of price-point in India thus delivering great value to our customers."

Iraq crisis: ISIS militants tell families to hand over daughters for sex

Posted by Unknown | Thursday, June 26, 2014 | Posted in


PHOTO: Iraqi Shiite women hold their weapons as they gather to show their willingness to join Iraqi security forces in the fight against Jihadist militants. PIC/AFP.
London: ISIS fighters have told families in Iraq to hand over their daughters for sex, saying that the women must sleep with militants in order to cleanse themselves.

According to the Mirror, leaflets in the captured cities of Mosul and Tikrit claim the women - virgins or not - must join jihad, or Holy war, and cleanse themselves by sleeping with militants.

Last year, a Saudi-based cleric issued a fatwa allowing jihadists to rape women in Syria.



The practice is now happening in Iraq.

It is claimed that the militants have warned that those who refused to abide by the fatwa were violating God''s will, and would be beaten and killed.

Meanwhile, ISIS fighters yesterday seized key towns near Baghdad and took control of three out of four border crossings to Syria this weekend, the report said.

Rajasthan Chief Minister Stops to Help Accident Victims

Posted by Unknown | | Posted in


Jaipur: Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje today stopped her motorcade and attended to three motorcycle riders injured in an accident while she was passing by the spot at Lalgarh-Jatan, 13 kms from Sriganganagar.


Two of the injured, however, later died in hospital. The three bikers were critically injured when they were hit by a van of a private news channel.

According to a CMO official, Ms Raje alighted from her vehicle and, after taking stock of the situation, directed officials accompanying her to rush the injured to a nearby hospital.

The Chief Minister also called up state Medical and Health Minister Rajendra Rathore and asked him to make quick arrangement for the injured.

Union Minister of State for Chemical and Fertiliser Nihalchand and Sadulshahar MLA Gurjant Singh accompanied the victims to the hospital on the direction of the Chief Minister.

Later, two of the injured - Abdul Haneef (52) and Lala (20) succumbed to their injuries at the government hospital, police said, adding that the third person, Papu, was undergoing treatment.

The accident occurred around 12 pm when the bikers were moving from Lalgarh to Sriganganagar and were hit by the van in front of Gate No. 4 of military cantonment area near Sriganganagar, police said.

Amma Medicines, Anyone? Jayalalithaa's 'Balm' For the Poor

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Chennai: Tamil Nadu's brand "Amma", dedicated to its Chief Minister Jayalalithaa, today expanded its repertory with Amma medicine stores - after Amma Canteens, Amma Mineral Water and Amma Salt.


10 outlets of "Amma Pharmacies" opened today in Chennai. The plan is to have 200 shops that will sell medicines 10 per cent cheaper, at just four per cent profit - compared to the usual 14 per cent.

Ms Jayalalithaa, 66, is reverentially called 'Amma' by her followers in the state. While trying to market her image as a pro-poor leader, the chief minister last year launched the Amma brand, with a 'no-profit-no-loss' theme.

"Chief Minister Amma wants to provide all kinds of medicines, from routine to life saving drugs at affordable costs to the common man," Minister of Cooperation Mr Sellur Raju told NDTV. 

The state government has allocated Rs. 20 crore to the state cooperative society to finance the Amma medicine stores, which means a spending of Rs. 20 lakh on every air-conditioned outlet. 

Amma Canteens were first off the mark, selling food items at subsidized rates. This was followed by Amma packaged water. Last month, she unveiled three varieties of low-cost salt: double fortified, low sodium and refined free-flow iodized.

The Amma Canteens, seen as a big vote catcher, run at a cost to the Chennai Corporation, which loses five lakh each day on the business.

Ms Jayalalithaa's AIADMK swept the national election in Tamil Nadu, bagging 37 of the 39 constituencies. The Opposition DMK, which is led by former chief minister M Karunanidhi, drew a blank.

The Amma pharmacies show Jayalalithaa's resolve to stay on top as the state faces assembly polls in 2016. The AIADMK had dislodged the Karunanidhi government in 2011 by wresting 150 seats in an assembly with a total strength of 234. The DMK was reduced to just 23 seats.

State to lift load shedding today

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Thiruvananthapuram: Load shedding to be lifted from today onwards in state. The maintenance work in various power stations including Neriamangalam Hydroelectric Power Plant and Peringalkuthu power plant was completed, and the state has restarted power production.

Hydro electric power production gets increased due to the availability of requisite water on some days owing to good rains. Sabarigiri hydroelectric power plant that had stopped production earlier has restarted 350 MW production Wednesday afternoon. A full-fledged production of power will be on from today.

Minister for Electricity and Transport, Aryadan Muhammad on Monday announced at the assembly that the 45-minute load shedding imposed across the state will be lifted from 27 June. He had informed that electricity will be obtained from Kayamkulam thermal power plant in case of emergency.

No load-shedding from Friday: Aryadan

Posted by Unknown | Monday, June 23, 2014 | Posted in




Thiruvananthapuram: Electricity Minister Aryadan Muhammed on Monday informed the Assembly that the load-shedding would be withdrawn from Friday.

“The load-shedding will be withdrawn from Friday. As part of it, the KSEB will procure additional powerfrom the Kayamkulam station of National Thermal Power Corporation,” Mr. Aryadan told reporters here.

“Spells of rain that improved the inflow of water into dams have also helped us in doing away with load-shedding,” he said.

A cyclical 45-minute load-shedding is in force in the State from late May after the monsoon got delayed and reservoir levels at the generating stations plumped to new lows.

No Information on Black Money List from Switzerland: Finance Minister

Posted by Unknown | | Posted in


Delhi: The government has not received any communication from Switzerland about "black money" suspected to be stashed in Swiss banks, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said today.


"We are writing to Swiss authorities so that the details or whatever information they have can be expedited and the cooperation between Swiss authorities and the government can bring fruitful results," said Mr Jaitley, whose BJP had made bringing back black money a key campaign pitch before the recent national election.

The minister was reacting to reports that Switzerland is compiling a list of Indians suspected to have stashed untaxed wealth in its banks and the details are being shared with the government.

In a statement, the Swiss government said, "Since a high-level Swiss delegation met with its India counterparts in New Delhi in February, no further official meeting has taken place. There is no new development to be reported." 

The Press Trust of India had quoted a Swiss government official as saying that the country is trying to identify those suspected to hold untaxed money in Swiss banks "through structures like trusts, domiciliary companies and other legal entities."

He reportedly refused to name these account-holders or reveal the size of the funds they held in Swiss banks, citing a confidentiality clause in the bilateral information exchange treaty with India.

The Swiss government today said, "Switzerland is committed to resolving any open question with India and trusts that India shares its understanding that any solution can only be found within the established national and international legal frameworks."

After being voted to power, the Modi government set up an 11-member Special Investigation Team to help identify Indians stashing money in foreign accounts. The team is headed by Justice MB Shah, a former Supreme Court judge.

The Supreme Court had repeatedly censured the previous UPA government for failing to take strong steps to recover black money. The UPA had then argued that a mechanism was already in place to deal with tax evasion and black money.and a court-supervised investigation was not needed.

Hundreds of Kolkata Metro Passengers were Trapped in Tunnel

Posted by Unknown | | Posted in ,


Kolkata: Hundreds of passengers in a Kolkata metro train were trapped in a tunnel between Park Street and Maidan stations on Monday following a technical snag, sparking panic.


Passengers said several people suffered from breathlessness and fell sick but the metro authorities denied this.

The incident happened before noon when a metro train bound for Dum Dum developed a snag in the tunnel after leaving the Maidan station.

"We were stranded in the dark for over two hours. There was no current. As the fans didn't work, we felt suffocated. Some fell sick," said a passenger in the train which is not air-conditioned.

"It was a horrible experience. Physically we felt exhausted and breathless. There were no lights. And there were no timely announcements about how they planned to rescue us," said another passenger.

Later, Metro authorities brought out the passengers from the train to the Park Street station.

Television cameras showed a trapped passenger apparently suffering from suffocation being carried by other passengers to the station.

Jaya, BJP allies in TN oppose Centre's move on Hindi

Posted by Unknown | | Posted in




Chennai: The row over Centre's move to promote Hindi in social media and official work snowballed on Friday with Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalitha and two of BJP's allies opposing it strongly while a union minister said a 'wrong propaganda' was being made on the issue.

At the national level, CPI(M) leader Brinda Karat also opposed any move to impose Hindi while in Odisha Assembly a member's attempt to put a question in Hindi was disallowed by the Chair.

Shooting off a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Jayalalithaa described the Home Ministry's proposal as 'against the letter and spirit' of the Official Languages Act, 1963, and said the 'highly sensitive issue' caused 'disquiet' to the people of Tamil Nadu 'who are very proud of and passionate about their linguistic heritage'.

Social media by their very nature were not only accessible to all persons on the internet, but were meant to be a means of communication to persons living in all parts of India, including those in 'Region C', she said.

"People located in 'Region C' with whom the Government of India's communication needs to be in English, will not have access to such public information if it is not in English. This move would therefore be against the letter and spirit of the Official Languages Act, 1963," she said.

DMK President M. Karunanidhi, whose party had successfully led the anti-Hindi agitation in 1960s, had on Thursday dubbed the move as a beginning of 'imposition of Hindi' that would make non-Hindi speaking people second class citizens.

The Centre's move also found no favour with two of its Tamil Nadu allies also, with both PMK and MDMK opposing it.

PMK founder S. Ramadoss said the BJP in its election 2014 manifesto, had promised to develop all languages with rich history and culture. He also called for declaring all 22 languages in the VIII schedule of the Constitution, including Tamil, as official language and "thus put an end to the Hindi imposition controversy."

Attempts to 'impose' Hindi in the past have been successfully resisted with, though attempts were later made to do the same, he said while terming the latest move as a "softer version" of the imposition of Hindi.

MDMK chief Vaiko cited Modi's preference of the social media platform and said that the Centre's advisory on Hindi was a 'matter of concern'.

He demanded that all Indian languages be made official languages in the interest of the country's 'unity and integrity' and till such time English should continue as the official language.

"Tamil Nadu will never accept imposition of Hindi," he said in a statement, while recalling the earlier anti-Hindi agitation. The state unit of CPI also opposed the move.

The controversy was sparked by two Home Ministry circulars. The official language department had issued a circular on May 27 asking all Ministries and Departments, public sector undertakings and banks to give prominence to Hindi on official accounts in social media.

"...all officers and employees who operate official accounts on Twitter, Facebook, Blogs, Google, YouTube should use Hindi and English languages. Prominence should be given to Hindi," Director, official language, Avadesh Kumar Mishra wrote in the directive.

Another circular announced prize money of Rs 2,000 to two employees who do their official work mostly in Hindi. Rs 1,200 and Rs 600 will be given to the second and third position holders respectively.

Union Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju had on Thursday said he will promote use of Hindi in all official work and public life while his senior Rajnath Singh sought to down play the controversy by saying the Centre will promote all languages of the country.

As the controversy raged, Union Urban Development Minister M. Venkaiah Naidu said in Bangalore Hindi was not being forced on anyone and a 'wrong propaganda' was on that it was being imposed.

"This is again a wrong propaganda going on; nobody is forcing Hindi on anybody...," Naidu, also the Parliamentary Affairs Minister, told reporters here.

"I'm for popularising more and more regional languages, giving them importance- that is the policy of this government. There is no question of forcing any language. Let there be no apprehensions in this regard," he added.

Party spokesman Shahnawaz Hussain the government was not imposing Hindi as it respects all the languages.

Reacting to the development, CPI(M) leader Brinda Karat said the problem is the government order saying 'only Hindi' will be used in social media communication. The problem is with the word 'only Hindi' which is dangerous to national unity and against linguistic equality.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav said his Samajwadi Party has always favoured Hindi and Urdu.

However, his counterpart in Jammu and Kashmir Omar Abdullah said in a big country like India any attempt to impose one religion, one language will not work.

Shiv Sena found there was nothing wrong in promoting Hindi. Sena spokesman Sanjay Raut there will be state languages but Hindi should be promoted as social language.

In the Odisha Assembly, four days ago Kengam Surya Rao, MLA from Parlakhemundi, where Telugu is widely spoken, raised a question in Hindi.

Speaker Niranjan Pujari disallowed him saying the member can ask a question either in Odiya or English. But today he allowed the Congress MLA to speak in Hindi.

Swiss Government Prepares List of Indians With Suspected Black Money

Posted by Unknown | | Posted in ,


Zurich: In a major boost to India's fight against black money, Switzerland has prepared a list of Indians suspected to have stashed un-taxed wealth in its banks and the details are being shared with Indian government.


The names of these Indian individuals and entities have come under scanner of the Swiss authorities during an ongoing exercise to identify real beneficiary owners of funds held in various banks operating in Switzerland, a senior Swiss government official said.

"These individuals and entities are suspected to have held un-taxed money in Swiss banks through structures like trusts, domiciliary companies and other legal entities based out of countries other than India," the official said.

He refused to divulge the identity of these persons and entities, as also the quantum of funds held by them in Swiss banks, citing confidentiality clause of the bilateral information exchange treaty between the two countries.

The official further said that Swiss authorities were very keen to work with the new government in India and they would also provide all necessary support to the newly set up Special Investigation Team (SIT) on black money.

He, however, dismissed claims that black money stashed in Swiss banks by Indians could be trillions of dollars, as the latest Swiss National Bank data pegs the total foreign client money across 283 banks in Switzerland at US $1.6 trillion.

When asked about rise in Indian exposure to Swiss banks at 2.03 billion Swiss francs (Rs. 14,000 crore), he said these are the funds held by clients who have declared themselves as Indian and therefore were unlikely to be ill-gotten wealth.

While declining to be named, as he is not authorised to speak to media, the senior official further said the details are being shared with India on a 'spontaneous' basis and are different from the information sought earlier by the Indian authorities on the basis of 'leaked' or 'stolen' lists of certain banks, including the so-called 'HSBC list'.

Son held for raping Mother

Posted by Unknown | Sunday, June 22, 2014 | Posted in




Palai: A 25-year-old man has been arrested on charges of raping his mother.

"This was happening for some time and there used to be ruckus in their home over this. The neighbours were unhappy over this and filed a complaint and we arrested the man," said a police official at the Pala police station near here.

The head of the family works as a casual labourer and is reported to be an alcoholic.

"The accused - who at times used to work in a hotel at Pala - has confessed to the crime," he said.

AirAsia CEO: Some Airlines Scared of Us

Posted by Trueline Radio | Tuesday, June 3, 2014 | Posted in




After triggering off an airline fare war, AirAsia has now made some strong comments against rivals. Ahead of AirAsia India's maiden flight on June 12, the budget carrier's group CEO Tony Fernandes in a recent tweet said, "Some airlines scared of us. We must be doing something write (sic). Help us people of India. Don't let cartels win and not let ordinary man fly."

His tweet comes in the backdrop of other domestic airlines represented by Federation of Indian Airlines urging the government to advise the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) not to allow the new no-frill airline to launch its operations. Federation of Indian Airlines claimed that approvals granted to AirAsia India were "illegal".

FIA's letter sent by associate director Ujjwal Dey said: "It is obvious that the actions taken by the last government and more particularly by the DGCA have been to preempt a review of this matter by the new government and to proceed with indecent haste ... While foreign investment needs to be encouraged, the same cannot be at the cost of the domestic industry, which is rightly the position of this government as in the case of FDI in retail."

AirAsia India had won flying permit from Indian regulator, the DGCA, last month. Tata Group and Delhi-based investment firm Telestra Tradeplace are AirAsia's partners in the Indian venture.

Even before AirAsia's takeoff into Indian skies, it has triggered a fare war.


Budget carriers IndiGo and SpiceJet have launched special offers on routes AirAsia India is set to begin operations. AirAsia India is set to begin its India operations from June 12 on the Bangalore-Goa route. AirAsia flights from Bangalore to Chennai commence on June 19, 2014.

Mallika Sherawat's Dirty Politics in Flag Controversy, Director Won't Change Poster

Posted by Trueline Radio | | Posted in ,


The release of the first poster of Dirty Politics, showing protagonist Mallika Sherawat wrapped in the tricolour and sitting atop a car with a beacon, has kicked up a row, but director K C Bokadia is unperturbed. He says that he will not buckle under pressure and change it.


"Some political party from Rajasthan is planning to file a case against me and I got to know about it yesterday when my lawyer briefed me about it," Bokadia, knwon for producing hits like Pyaar Jhukta Nahin and Janta Ki Adalat, told IANS.

"Our poster has nothing to do with any party and if someone forcibly wants to link his party with our film, then it's not acceptable. The party is claiming that the Congress flag is similar to the one in the poster. In the Congress flag, there is a hand in it and in our flag there is nothing as such. If at all the colour looks similar, it was not intentional at all," he added. 

Helmed by Bokadia, the film is based on the Bhanwari Devi sex scandal, and the cast features some of the best actors from Hindi films - Om Puri, Naseeruddin Shah, Anupam Kher, Jackie Shroff, Ashutosh Rana and Rajpal Yadav. 

"People are targeting our film because they don't want us to release the film. There should be a valid reason to change the poster. I am not going to change the poster of my film under any pressure. There should be a solid convincing reason to change it," said Bokadia.