Assorted

Kolkata, Sept 2: Intellectuals, artists and writers Sunday denounced the house arrest of five human rights activists in connection with a probe into a case of caste violence in Maharashtra, and described it as an "act of fascism" by the BJP government. Calling for a platform of "artists, writers and conscious citizens", writer-columnist Debesh Roy said there should be protests everywhere against...

Coimbatore, Sept 2: A newly married British couple chartered an entire train to travel from Mettupalayam to Udhagamandalam to spend their honeymoon in the Nilgiri hills. The couple paid Rs. 3 lakh to charter the special train, introduced by Southern Railway, for a one-way trip, becoming the first people to do so. Graham William Lynn (30) and Silviya Plasic (27) got married recently. To make their...

Hyderabad, Sep 1: A super-speciality hospital near here has suspended four staff members who allegedly took a selfie with the body of actor-politician Harikrishna, who died in a major road accident on August 29. A complaint has also been lodged with police against the four people for allegedly infringing on the privacy of the patient, a hospital official said on Saturday. Police said a complaint...

New Delhi, Aug 31: The merger of Idea Cellular and Vodafone India has been completed, creating India’s biggest telecom service provider with over 408 million subscribers, the two companies said on Friday. A new board has been constituted for the merged entity "Vodafone Idea Ltd' with 12 directors (including six independent directors) and Kumar Mangalam Birla as its Chairman. The board has...

Kasaragod, Aug 31: After unseating the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) from the Karadka grama panchayat through a UDF-LDF supported no-confidence motion recently, an LDF-backed Independent was on Thursday elected new president of the 15-member local body. Anasuya Rai got elected garnering eight votes — LDF (5) and UDF (3) — against BJP nominee and ousted president G. Swapna, thus ending the 18-month...

Bengaluru, Aug 30: The JD(S)-Congress coalition government in Karnataka has "taken off" smoothly and will complete the full term without hiccups, Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy said here today on completion of 100 days in office. The coalition government is "secure" and there are no differences between the ruling allies, he asserted, and strongly criticised the BJP for "creating confusion" among...

New Delhi, Aug 30: Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy on Thursday met Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh in New Delhi and submitted a memorandum seeking relief funds for flood-hit areas in the state. Kumaraswamy was also accompanied by Deputy Chief Minister G. Parameswara along with ministers R.V. Deshpande and B. Kashempur. Earlier today, Kumaraswamy met Minister of State for Prime Minister's...

Madurai, Aug 30: Sending out a signal that he was prepared to bury the hatchet, M K Alagiri today said he was ready to accept the leadership of his younger brother and DMK chief M K Stalin if he was readmitted into the party fold. The estranged elder brother of Stalin said neither he nor his son Durai Dayanidhi yearned for any position in the party. "When we desire to be inducted into the party...

New Delhi, Aug 30: The Supreme Court on Thursday held that a member of a Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe community cannot claim the benefit of reservation in government employment in other states if his or her caste is not notified there. A five-judge Constitution bench headed by Justice Ranjan Gogoi unanimously held that a person belonging to Scheduled Caste in one state cannot be deemed to...

New Delhi, Aug 30: The price of a large yellow diamond alternately shrank and spiked by about a million dollars as it moved across the globe. The three-carat gem was shipped at least four times between shadowy companies allegedly controlled by fugitive diamantaire Nirav Modi over about five weeks in 2011, according to a report by a US bankruptcy examiner. The practice of round-tripping--trading a...