L A T E S T      N E W S

Crucial 2G verdicts out 

New Delhi: In a major setback for the government, the Supreme Court on Thursday quashed all 122 spectrum licences granted after January 2008. The apex court left it open for the trial court to decide whether home minister P Chidambaram needs to probed in the 2G scam. 

The SC said that there was no need for SIT to monitor the 2G scam probe. The SC verdicts came on Janata Party president Subramanian Swamy's petition seeking a CBI probe into the alleged role of home minister P Chidambaram in the spectrum scam, and on two pleas by lawyer Prashant Bhushan seeking cancellation of 2G licences and setting up of an SIT to monitor probe into the scam. 

Swamy has demanded a CBI probe into the role of Chidambaram with regard to the 2G scam. The Janata Party chief, who is the petitioner in the 2G case, has alleged that Chidambaram, then the finance minister, could have prevented jailed former telecom minister A Raja from giving away spectrum at throwaway prices to select companies, but chose not to do so.

Over 70 killed in soccer clashes in Egypt 

Cairo: At least 74 people were killed and hundreds injured when rival fans clashed Wednesday after a football match in the Egyptian city of Port Said, in what FIFA called a "black day for football." In one of the deadliest incidents in the sport's history, violence erupted as soon as the referee blew the final whistle in a match which saw home team Al-Masri beat Cairo's Al-Ahly 3-1. Al-Masri fans flooded the pitch, throwing rocks, bottles and fireworks at Al-Ahly supporters, sparking chaos and panic as Al-Ahly players and fans ran in all directions trying to flee, witnesses said.

Photos of bleeding players circulated on the Internet. Gunfire was also reported on the main road leading to Port Said from Cairo, and troops were deployed to prevent further clashes."The death toll has now reached 74, including one policeman, in the unrest after the match between Al-Ahly and Al-Masri," the health ministry said in a statement. 

"Most of the people were killed in the crush," Interior Minister Mohammed Ibrahim added, while medics said some of the deaths were the result of stab wounds.State television said around 1,000 people were injured in the violence but the interior ministry put the number at 248.

Rs 125cr found in liquor baron Ponty Chadha's Noida mall

New Delhi: Income Tax (IT) officials on Wednesday recovered more than Rs 125 crore in cash in the basement of the Centrestage Mall in Noida owned by the UP liquor baron, Gurdeep Singh Chadha, better known as Ponty. Earlier, on suspicion of alleged tax evasion by Chadha and the group of companies he runs, the I-T department scoured his 25 offices and residences across Delhi, Noida, Lucknow and Moradabad. Premises of his associates Lalit Kapoor and Gurjeet Kochhar were also searched. 

What’s more, IT officials are working on leads that funds from West Asia may have flowed through the hawala route into Chadha’s businesses that have now been consolidated under an umbrella entity, Wave Inc.
The rise of Chadha’s business empire, whose interests spread across liquor, sugar mills, multiplexes and malls, distribution rights of Bollywood movies and construction, has been significant during the last three years.