Main Page                                                                 Archives

Indian police bust sex racket in Capital Delhi

          New Delhi: The Delhi Police claimed to busted a sex racket here Wednesday with the arrest of four call girls and two pimps. They said that one Arun Kumar Sharma was running a prostitution racket in the guise of a massage parlour in a posh locality in South Delhi. A decoy customer was sent to strike the deal before the police raided Sharma's premises. "All these girls are educated and belong to middle class families of Delhi. They were employed as beauticians in a parlour but were slowly motivated into prostitution," said DCP Tejendra Luthra, while giving details. He said all the arrested girls were in the age group of 19-25.

Tarun Gogoi downsizes ministry (Go To Top)

          Guwahati: Bringing an end to speculations for more than a month, Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi finally announced the list of his new downsized ministry. Addressing to a press conference here, Gogoi clearly expressed that downsizing was the decision of Congress high command not his own decision. And he dropped them under compulsion. "It was a High Command decision, not my decision. On selection of minister, and at the same time I who dropped them, and it was under compulsion," said Gogoi. "It was a very unpleasant task, and I feel sorry that I have to drop them they were my colleauges, besides this is not a reshuffle, which I'm going to do later," said Gogoi. On the other hand some dropped ministers were totally taken aback at the attitude of the Chief Minister. "The downsizing has came as a great surprise to us and sort of humiliation is inflicted upon us by our own Chief Minister. He should have made clear to us what formula he has taken to downsize the ministers," said Ardhendu Kumar Dey, a dropped Minister. No new face has been included in the ministry, while several senior ministers, including Public Works Department Minister Sarat Barkataki, Power Minister Devenanda Konwar, Agriculture Minister Ardhendu Kumar Dey and Industries Minister Bhubaneswar Kalita have been dropped.All the ministers had submitted their resignations to the chief minister to enable him to downsize the Ministry. The portfolios of the Ministers retained in the new Ministry have not been changed and it is believed that the Chief Minister would not do so till the completion of the budget session of the State Assembly. However, a few senior Ministers may get additional portfolios soon.

Punjab cabinet cut down to size from 25 to 18 (Go To Top)

          Chandigarh: At least three cabinet ministers and two junior ministers were sworn into the Punjab government here Wednesday after the state government cut down the size of its cabinet from 25 to 18. Punjab Governor O.P Verma administered the oath of office and secrecy to Jasjit Singh Randhawa, Amarjit Singh Samra and Surinder Singla as cabinet ministers. Two ministers of state: Gurkanwal Kaur and Hansraj Josan were also sworn in. Punjab CM Amarinder Singh said that the choice and dismissal of ministers was based on their performance and not leanings towards the Bhattal or Amrinder camps. The move was in conformity to the Supreme Court directive to restrict the number of ministers to 15% of the strength of the assembly. "Nobody looked at the Bhattal camp or the Amrinder camp. one looked at the winners, one looked at the requirement of Punjab. We have looked after the caste and regional representation. We paid attention the number of women candidates. One went by this basis. Like we said earlier that the main basis was the performance in the Lok Sabha elections and that's what we have done. If somebody else has been inducted then its due to the lack of representation," the Chief Minister said. "This is Gurukanwal's first time. All first timers have come as Ministers of State,"

Pak, India identify six issues for August FM talks (Go To Top)

          Islamabad: Pakistan and India have reportedly identified six issues that will be discussed by their respective foreign ministers when they meet towards the end of next month. Sources told The News that Foreign Ministers Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri and K. Natwar Singh would discuss Sir Creek; Wullar Barrage; eradication of terrorism and drug trafficking; promotion of financial and economic cooperation; friendly exchanges between the two countries and the Siachen Glacier at their meeting on August 24 and 25. Both countries would host talks on three subjects each in Islamabad and New Delhi. The final dates and venues are being worked out through diplomatic channels and the talks would be concluded before the end of next month, the sources added.

          Meanwhile, the Indian government has appointed Ajai Vikram Singh as its defence secretary four weeks ahead of talks with Pakistan over Siachen issue. Singh replaces AK Bhatnagar who has been assigned a less important responsibility with an organisation that works with India's defence ministry. Talks on Siachen are resuming after lapse of six years. Pakistan's Defence Secretary Lt.General Hamid Nawaz Khan will lead his country in the talks.

Pak Scouts didn't dance with Indian beauties (Go To Top)

          Islamabad: Pakistan's Ministry of Education and senior representatives of the Pakistan Boy Scouts Association (PBSA) has rejected allegations that some of its boy scouts were recently caught dancing with Indian women in Srinagar. Federal Education Minister Zubaida Jalal and Syed Sarfaraz Ahmad, the Deputy Chief Commissioner of the PBSA, were quoted by Online News and the Pakistan Tribune as saying that this sort of incident could simply not have taken place, As scouts from 70 countries, including Pakistan were taking part in an international jamboree. Any such event would have affected Pakistan's prestige, they further claimed.

Agarkar, Gavaskar out of Asia Cup squad; Parthiv retained (Go To Top)

          Chennai: Wicket-keeper batsman Parthiv Patel was retained in the Indian team for the forthcoming Asia Cup in Sri Lanka, even though the BCCI made clear that vice-captain Rahul Dravid will continue to keep the stumps. The tournament begins July 16. Harbhajan, who had to undergo an arm surgery after the Australia tour, made a come back into the 14-man squad. Team coach John Wright said: "Harbhajan is a world-class bowler and it is great to have him back." The "Turbanator" will team up with veteran Anil Kumble to bolster the spin attack in the six-nation tournament against defending champions Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Hong Kong and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The Team India is as follows: Sourav Ganguly (capt), Virender Sehwag, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Venkatsai Laxman, Yuvraj Singh, Mohammad Kaif, Parthiv Patel, Anil Kumble, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra, Irfan Pathan, Laxmipathy Balaji. The Asia Cup, the symbol of limited-overs supremacy in the continent, is being revived after four years following the resumption of bilateral cricketing ties between India and Pakistan. India have been placed in Group B of the preliminary league with hosts Sri Lanka and the UAE. Pakistan, Bangladesh and Hong Kong are in Group A. Two teams from each group will qualify for the round-robin second stage, with the top two advancing to the final at the Premadasa stadium in Colombo on August 1.