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Antony reviews Sindhurakshak salvage operation
No arrests yet for vandalising of Pak artists’ paintings
Ishrat case: IPS officer Pandey remanded in CBI custody
Sixth body found; autopsy confirms burning, asphyxiation |
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Be aggressive yet politically correct, BJP leaders
tell party members
Gujarat CM Narendra Modi with the BJP national president Rajnath Singh in New Delhi on Saturday.
Tribune photo: Mukesh Aggarwal
Sadhu Yadav slams Cong
Name Modi as PM nominee: Bihar BJP
India being considered for Security Council permanent membership: Khurshid
Union External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid with Uttarakhand CM Vijay Bahuguna in Dehradun on Saturday. — PTI
Setback for GJM as constituent walks out
Wholesale onion prices soften amid threat of import
Tanker’s detention a technical issue: Iran
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Antony reviews Sindhurakshak salvage operation
New Delhi, August 17 Naval divers have pried open the rear access hatch that was submerged and fused due to high temperatures. Working in zero-visibility conditions, the divers are progressing inch-by-inch searching for their ill-fated colleagues, the Navy said. A decision to seek assistance of professional salvage companies to recover the kilo-class submarine has been taken. Sources say the Russians have offered assistance but the first priority will be to bring up the submerged submarine after search for the bodies is complete. Salvage experts from various countries are in Mumbai to carry out inspection after which bids will be submitted for processing. The Russians seek to send an engineering team to investigate the reason behind the blast and sinking of the diesel-electric submarine. The 2,300-tonne vessel underwent extensive refit there earlier this year. Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin was quoted by news agency Ria-Novosti as
saying that he had instructed the United Shipbuilding Corporation to send specialists in agreement with India to join the investigation. The sinking of INS Sindhurakshak adds to the woes of the Indian Navy that now has 13 submarines in its fleet, including nine kilo-class. The delivery of French Scorpene being built at Mazagaon docks, Mumbai, is running behind its
2012-17 schedule with the first vessel expected to be ready towards the end of 2016. Plans to have six more vessels with stealth features await financial clearance. Four of these are to be built here in collaboration with Indian private manufacturers, while two will be built at the yard of the foreign collaborator.
Professional help sought
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No arrests yet for vandalising of Pak artists’ paintings
Ahmedabad, August 17 The exhibition organised by the International Creative Art Centre was vandalised by a group of Vishwa Hindu Parishad and Bajrang Dal activists on Friday in protest against the killing of five Indian soldiers and continuous violation of the international border by the Pakistani army. The week-long exhibition in Ahmedabad, the second in the series of joint display of works by Indian and Pakistani artists, started on August 14 and was to continue till tomorrow, but had to be suspended after the VHP and Dal activists attacked the Gufa and damaged and destroyed several of the art works by Pakistani artists on display. The exhibition carried paintings by 11 Pakistani artists and six from India and a spokesman of the organisers claimed that some works by Indian artists were also damaged in the melee. While the parishad state unit secretary Ranchhod Bharwad said he was not aware if any VHP workers were involved in the attack, he said the parishad was in principle opposed to displaying the works of the Pakistani artists when the army of that country was brazenly attacking India. The police had no knowledge of the incident though some local media channels were tipped off by the Dal about the move and were able to capture the attack on camera. The curator of the ICAC, Ravindra Maradia, who claimed that the paintings damaged in the attack were worth over Rs 10 lakh, after some initial reluctance, lodged a police complaint later in the night against “some 15 unknown persons” for vandalising the art works by Pakistani artists. The police said no arrest could be made till the identities of those involved in the attack were established as the complainant had not given any name. The photographers present were being requested to provide it footage to help identify the attackers, the police said.
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Ishrat case: IPS officer Pandey remanded in CBI custody
Ahmedabad, August 17 The court accepted Additional DGP's plea that he be questioned by the CBI in the presence of his
lawyer. Pandey had gone underground in April after his name surfaced in the encounter probe and was declared an absconder by the court. He resurfaced after the Supreme Court, and subsequently Gujarat High Court, temporarily gave him protection from arrest before again going
underground. Khutwad had reserved order on the CBI plea last Wednesday after defence and prosecution counsels completed arguments. CBI lawyer had argued that Pandey's interrogation was required to find out the real identity of two of the encounter victims, Amjad Ali Rana and Zeeshan
Johar. They were with Ishrat Jahan, a Mumbai girl, and her friend Javed Shaikh alias Pranesh
Pillai, the other two victims. After the Supreme Court rejected his anticipatory bail plea on Monday, Pandey surrendered before the CBI Court the next day and was sent to judicial custody till August 27.
— PTI
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Sixth body found; autopsy confirms burning, asphyxiation Mumbai, August 17 Navy rescuers extricated the body of one more victim from the submarine INS Sindhurakshak late this evening, taking the total number of bodies recovered so far to six. Doctor at the state-owned JJ Hospital have sent their
initial findings to the Naval authorities and the state government. Further details on the extent of the injuries suffered by the crew of the submarine will be known only when the results of the forensic tests conducted on their bodies are available in the next few days, said sources. Meanwhile, Naval divers opened a second access to the vessel late Friday night, according to a statement by the Indian Navy. "The divers have gained a second access to the submarine late last night when they successfully prised open the rear escape hatch which was submerged below and jammed due to high temperature," a Navy statement said. The divers were still struggling to open the forward escape hatch of the submarine which remained jammed following the explosion which melted metal and twisted it out of shape. Divers who entered the submarine to pull out the remains of the crew are still hampered by near-zero visibility and are exploring their way inside by touch.
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Be aggressive yet politically correct, BJP leaders tell party members
New Delhi, August 17 The closed-door media workshop for spokespersons, panelists and media cells from the Centre and states saw Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj and her Rajya Sabha counterpart Arun Jaitley elaborating on “dos and don’ts” while handling the media and attacking political opponents. The two senior leaders emphasised the need for all to speak in one voice and maintain decorum while firmly rubbishing arguments of the political adversaries. To target the UPA government, they asked the spokespersons to be updated on the state of the country’s economy’s subject on which the party may also hold a separate workshop soon. Chief of the campaign committee, Narendra Modi, is keen to woo new and young voters by using social media and sources say all speakers highlighted the point. Apparently, Jaitley expressed dissatisfaction at the manner in which the BJP spokespersons tackled Congress charges against Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi after his Independence Day speech. Sources said Jaitley asked the spokespersons to be better prepared and sound more convincing and take on the Congress in a more aggressive fashion in any attack against Modi. Sushma is understood to have told the party leaders to be cautious while hitting out at the Congress. Swaraj said the Congress should be targeted on issues like corruption, state of the economy and malgovernance but care should be taken in the choice of words. The BJP today accused Union Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad of making casteist remarks against Narendra Modi by referring to the backward community to which the Gujarat CM belongs and demanded an apology from him as well as the Congress. The party demanded that Azad take back his words immediately and tender an apology for allegedly insulting all backward castes and especially the members of this particular community. “Ghulam Nabi Azad not just insulted Modi by calling him Gangu Teli but also insulted the community to which he belongs,” BJP spokesperson Shahnawaz Hussain said.
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Sadhu Yadav slams Cong
New Delhi, August 17 Yadav also made it clear that he had been interacting with the Gujarat Chief Minister for quite some time and had gone to
meet him after the latter invited him for tea and claimed “no political issue was discussed”. His meeting with Modi in Ahmedabad yesterday had sparked speculation of his joining the BJP though the state unit of that party has made it clear that there is no question of inducting him. Remains unfazed
Sadhu Yadav says he had been interacting with the Gujarat CM for quite some time Had gone to meet him after the latter invited him for tea He is not bothered about any action against him by the party
Congress in Bihar sought to play down the
Yadav-Modi meeting, saying “Sadhu Yadav does not hold any party post. The PCC will take appropriate action if something serious comes out,” state Congress president Ashok Chaudhary said. Sources in the party said that Yadav is set to face disciplinary action. “Action against him, if any, will be taken at district or state level. What is so big about him,” said a party functionary speaking on the condition of
anonymity. AICC general secretary Shakeel Ahmed said, “I am not sure whether he (Yadav) is still in Congress or not. He had indeed contested the 2009 Lok Sabha election on Congress ticket and then assembly polls in October 2010. But after that we have not seen him active in party affairs.”
— PTI
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Name Modi as PM nominee: Bihar BJP
Gaya (Bihar), August 17 The state unit, which had to opt out of the coalition government after
JD(U) snapped ties with the BJP over the elevation of Modi as BJP's election campaign committee chief, adopted a resolution urging the BJP central parliamentary board to make the announcement on
Modi. Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s JD(U) had ended its 17-year-old alliance with the BJP in June over the Modi issue, resulting in the JD(U)-BJP coalition government in Bihar breaking up. Though Modi has been firmly pitching himself as the BJP prime ministerial candidate, the party has been non-committal on the issue, saying its parliamentary board will take a decision at the appropriate time. On Independence Day, Modi had triggered a war of words between BJP and the Congress after he launched a blistering attack on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on issues of national security and accused him of being soft on
Pakistan. BJP patriarch L K Advani had appeared to disapprove Modi’s tirade against the Prime Minister on Independence Day. At the end of two-day state executive committee meeting of BJP here, former Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi introduced the resolution demanding that Modi be named as its PM nominee without any loss of time, which was seconded by Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly, Nand Kishore Yadav.
— PTI
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India being considered for Security Council permanent membership: Khurshid
Dehradun, August 17 “We are able to tell the USA doesn’t hyphenate India and Pakistan. It is India as a responsible country which is being seen as candidate for the membership of the Security Council. People who get into brawls would not be seen as candidates for United Nations Security Council, despite Pakistan claiming nuclear levels,” said Salman Khurshid while delivering a lecture this morning as part of the public diplomacy initiative at the Doon University organised by Public Affairs division of the Ministry of External Affairs. Khurshid emphasised that when India talks with Pakistan and China, it is not out of weakness but strength. “We talk not because we are weak, but we talk at equal levels. No one can push us. When we talk to China, we know we have historical problems that cannot be solved overnight,” he added.
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Setback for GJM as constituent walks out
Darjeeling, Aug 17 The AIGL had raised three demands at the all party meeting yesterday at which the platform, Gorkhaland Joint Action Committee was formed, AIGL president Bharti Tamang told a press conference here today. Bharati Tamang took over the party following the murder of her husband and then president Madan Tamang in Darjeeling town on May 21, 2010.
— PTI
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Wholesale onion prices soften amid threat of import
Mumbai, August 17 Traders at the market said the arrival of onions had improved today, thereby bringing down prices. “Wholesale prices of top quality onion was Rs 3,300 per quintal this morning,” Shankar Bhide, an official at the Agriculture Produce Marketing Committee market at Lasalgaon market, said. He added that the number of trucks coming to the markets had increased over the past two days. Onion prices at the Lasalgaon markets had touched Rs 4,500 per quintal on Monday, causing prices in the retail markets to touch Rs 70 per kilogram. The softening of prices has brought cheer to customers in Mumbai and other cities. Prices in Mumbai’s retail markets fell to Rs 52 per kg at some places in Mumbai. On Friday, the government asked the Project Export Corporation to import onions.
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Tanker’s detention a technical issue: Iran
New Delhi, August 17 "The detention of the tanker took place only because of the warning issued by the Marine Emergency Mutual Aid Center (MEMAC) which is affiliated to the Regional Organisation for Protection of Maritime Environment (ROPME) in the Persian Gulf and the Sea of Oman," the Iranian Embassy in New Delhi said yesterday. The oil tanker, "MT Desh Shanti", carrying crude from Iraq, was stopped by an Iranian Navy ship and "coerced" into the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas late on August 14. This comes at a time when India has significantly reduced its oil imports from Iran.
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Jaipur Agra Alwar
New Delhi Jaunpur
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A
Special Court today remanded senior Gujarat IPS officer PP Pandey, a key accused
in the Ishrat Jahan encounter case, in CBI custody till August 21. The Central
agency sought 14-day remand of Pandey for interrogation, but Additional Chief
Judicial Magistrate (ACJM) HS Khutwad, presiding over the CBI Court here,
granted only four-day custody.
New
Delhi, August 17
Dehradun, August 17
