Somali militants call famine tag propaganda, says banned groups not welcome

MOGADISHU, Somalia — A spokesman for Somalia’s most dangerous militant group says it won’t allow banned aid workers into the areas it controls. Sheik Ali Mohamud Rage is calling the U.N.’s declaration of famine in parts of Somalia politically motivated and pure propaganda.Tens of thousands of hungry Somalis have fled on foot to neighboring Kenya. A prolonged drought turned into famine in part because neither the Somali government or aid agencies can fully operate in areas of southern Somalia controlled by the group al-Shabab.The U.S. agreed to allow emergency aid to be spent in areas controlled by al-Shabab so long as the militants didn’t disrupt distribution efforts. But the al-Shabab spokesman...

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Google Plus steadily gaining ground in social networking space

Google's latest offering ' Google Plus' is steadily gaining ground in the social networking space, so far dominated by Facebook , with the internet giant's social network attracting about 20 million visitors in the initial three weeks and nearly half of these visitors hailing from US and India . According to estimates by research firm ComScore, Google Plus had 19.93 million unique visitors between June 29 and July 19 period. The top two countries in this estimate are the US and India. Of the 19.93 million visitors, 5.31 million were from the US and 2.85 million from India. Another 0.87 million users came from the UK, 0.71 million from Germany and 0.50 million from France."I have never seen...

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TRS to approach NHRC against AP govt in youth suicide case

Claiming that the Andhra Pradesh government insulted the youth from Telangana who allegedly committed suicide in Delhi over the separate statehood cause, TRS on Friday said it will complain about the matter to the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC). “The martyr Yadi Reddy was insulted as his 'antima yatra' (last journey) was not allowed to be conducted in Hyderabad. Media persons and common people were arrested (when the body arrived at the airport). The behaviour of officials of Andhra Bhavan in Delhi also amounted to insulting him. We will complain to the National Human Rights Commission over this,” TRS MLA and party president K Chandrasekhar Rao's son K T Rama Rao told reporters.Expressing...

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SC dismisses plea, won't stay probe into Jagan's assets

In a setback to former Congress leader Jagan Mohan Reddy, the Supreme Court on Friday refused to stay an Andhra Pradesh High Court order for a preliminary CBI enquiry to ascertain if he owns assets disproportionate to his income. A bench of justices Dalveer Bhandari and Deepak Verma dismissed Reddy's plea refusing to interfere with the high court's order. The bench said "at this stage" no interference is required into the high court order as it is only a preliminary enquiry and the high court can refuse to proceed against him if nothing substantial comes out against him in the probe. The bench, however, asked the high court to give a copy of the CBI probe report to Jagan if it decides to proceed...

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CPI(M) seeks Yeddyurappa’s resignation

Seeking the resignation of Karnataka Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) on Friday asked the Bharatiya Janata Party to take “full responsibility” for installing a government backed by the mining mafia. “The BJP leadership cannot prevaricate in this matter any more. It must own up full responsibility for instituting a government in Karnataka which is riddled with the mining mafia and those patronising them,” the party Polit Bureau said in a statement in New Delhi.The statement said Karnataka Lokayukta Justice Santosh Hegde has named the Chief Minister as being involved in wrongdoing and this had been confirmed by him even though the report has not yet been...

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Indian MP Amar Singh questioned over 'vote buying'

Indian police are questioning an MP in connection with the alleged buying of votes during a 2008 vote of confidence. Amar Singh is accused of offering to bribe opposition MPs to abstain from the vote. He denies the allegation. India's Congress party-led government survived the vote over a controversial civilian nuclear deal with the US. If the vote had been lost, India would have faced early elections. The government has been beset by corruption scandals in recent months. Earlier this week, Delhi police arrested two people in connection with what has come to be knows as the "cash-for-votes" scandal. Mr Singh's former aide Sanjeev Saxena was arrested on Sunday, while Sohail Hindustani, a political...

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I-T raids offices, homes of Malayalam film stars

CHENNAI: Income tax sleuths have raided the houses, offices and hotels of Malayalam film stars Mammootty and Mohanlal.The searches started at 6.30am on Friday morning. The taxmen have reportedly seized several documents. Officia l sources report that the team has also found an elephant tusk from Mohanlal's Kochi residence.Sources said that the raid is still on at 18 different places including the houses of Mammooty and Mohanlal in Chennai, Kochi and Trivandrum besides the hotels and offices owned by them in Banglore. Residence of Mohanlal's close aid Antony Perumbavoor is also being raided, said the official. Mohanlal is reportedly in Madurai for the shooting of his new movie....

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Another MP names Amar Singh in cash for votes scam

Another MP on Tuesday (July 19) implicated Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh in the cash for votes scam.Speaking to TIMES NOW today, Former BJP MP Ashok Argal said, "I have no problem if i am questioned by Delhi police in the cash for vote case. Even if I have to go to jail, I shall happily go in the pursuit of truth. In fact no police officer ever came to investigate this case in the last 3 years." When asked whether Sanjeev Saxena, who was once considered close to Amar Singh knew the SP leader Argal said, "Sanjeev Saxena and Amar Singh are known to each other. I met both of them at Amar Singh's residence. Sanjeev Saxena has also said that the amount given to us was brought from Amar Singh's...

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Mumbai blasts figure high in India-U.S. talks

The July 13 bomb blasts in Mumbai figured very high in the India-U.S. strategic dialogue in New Delhi on Tuesday between visiting U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and her counterpart External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna. Mr. Krishna mentioned the terror attack, in which 19 people have been killed, in his opening remarks at the delegation-level talks and said India appreciated the solidarity shown by her and the U.S. government. The dialogue is aimed at providing an opportunity to take stock of the progress in bilateral relations and cooperation and to hold consultations on global and regional issues of interest, besides charting out a short to medium-term road map of cooperation in...

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SC pulls up Delhi Police for Ramdev crackdown

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court has pulled up Delhi Police for the midnight crackdown on Baba Ramdev and his supporters at the Ramlila ground here last month. The apex court has asked Delhi Police to explain what provoked it to use teargas and baton-charge in the closed enclosure on people who were sleeping.The apex court has asked Delhi Police to furnish the footage of June 4 crackdown. Baba Ramdev's counsel Ram Jethmalani requested the court to issue notice to home minister P Chidambaram. The court will take up this plea during the next hearing on July 25. According to agencies, the apex court also pulled up the police for not registering FIR against its officials on complaint of Ramdev's followers.  The...

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SRK becomes a millionaire

370)this.width=370" src="http://im.rediff.com/movies/2011/jul/11tweet1.jpg" width="150">Soon after Priyanka Chopra, it is Shah Rukh Khan's turn to touch the one million followers mark on twitter. The actor thanked his fans and celebrated it by watching Bambi with his daughter. 'Celebrating the million mark by watching Bambi with my daughter. Feeling the warmth...thanx all. Love u,' he tweeted.Shah Rukh Khan is the second Bollywood celebrity to achieve one million mark and the fourth Indian after actress Priyanka Chopra, politician Shashi Tharoor and cricketer Sachin Tendulkar.Meanwhile, SRK is enjoying his holiday in Denhag, Holland. 'too much fun in denhag. lovely people. i just want to kow..do...

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India lose points, but hang on to number one spot

India maintained their number one status in the latest International Cricket Council Test Rankings but lost a couple of rating points after drawing two matches in their 1-0 series triumph over a lower-ranked West Indies. India now have 126 points while the seventh-placed West Indies (88) have gained two rating points despite losing the three-match series which concluded on Sunday. South Africa (117) is the second-placed team, followed by England (116). Among the players, Harbhajan Singh has moved one place to seventh. The offie took 11 wickets and interestingly replaced teammate and Man-of-the series Ishant Sharma , who had an impressive tally of 22 wickets in three matches. The off-spinner...

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Sonia meets PM, no word on Cabinet reshuffle

 NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi held consultations on Monday giving further grist to the speculation mill over a possible reshuffle of the Union Cabinet. However, the much-awaited cabinet reshuffle will not be undertaken today as expected. There has been no official word on when exactly the Prime Minister would carry out changes in his Cabinet. Meanwhile, this is the fourth meeting of the two leaders in recent days amid indications are that the reshuffle would take place any time this week. The talk in party circles is that if the exercise was 'more fundamental', then there would be several changes in the Cabinet at the middle level....

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We respect the sentiments of Telangana people: Jagan

Facing the heat over statehood demand, YSR Congress president Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy on Saturday said his outfit “respects the sentiment” of Telangana people and demanded that the Centre immediately take a “right decision” on the contentious issue. “We respect the sentiments of Telangana people but we are neither in a position to grant statehood or block it. “It is for the central government to take a right decision that will not harm the interests of the people of different regions (of Andhra Pradesh),” Mr. Jagan said, delivering the valedictory address at the two-day plenary of his new party at Rajiv Knowledge Valley this afternoon. By spelling out his stand, though in a rather ambiguous...

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