Lok Janshakti Party chief Ramvilas Paswan on Sunday said his party would support United Progressive Alliance candidate for Presidency.
The bill defines electronic cigarettes ss electronic devices that heat a substance, which may contain nicotine and other chemicals, to create vapour for inhalation.
The plan for the creation of the ambitious National Counter Terrorism Centre has come under attack from non-Congress chief ministers, including the party's ally Trinamool Congress. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee joined Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik in opposing the setting up of the anti-terror body and wrote a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, asking him to "review and withdraw" the decision.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday said it may modify its July 24 order banning all tourism activities in the core areas of tiger reserves, but asked the Centre to notify within a week fresh guidelines for the conservation of the wild cat in the country.
First to back P A Sangma, a tribal and minority leader for the Presidential contest, the ruling Biju Janata Dal in Odisha on Thursday hoped for a miracle in his favour as polling for the top post ended at the state assembly.
A day after his release from Maoist captivity, Biju Janata Dal member of Legislative Assembly Jhina Hikaka on Friday did not rule out the possibility of resigning his membership of Odisha assembly and said he had twice written to Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on the issue.
According to media reports, abducted Biju Janata Dal Member of Legislative Assembly Jhina Hikaka will be released on Thursday in Koraput district of Odisha at 10 am. Reports say that the decision was taken at a Maoist 'people's court'. The Naxals have also asked Hikaka to 'resign'.
Maoists on Thursday produced abducted ruling Biju Janata Dal MLA Jhina Hikaka before a people's court to decide his fate, a day after the Odisha government said it would withdraw cases against 13 prisoners in exchange for freedom of the tribal legislator.
Dentist Nupur Talwar, who has been in jail for over four months in the twin murder case of her daughter Aarushi and domestic help Hemraj, was on Monday granted bail by the Supreme Court which directed her to be released by September 25.
The Odisha government on Saturday said it will release five of the six rebels the Maoists have demanded for release of the Italian hostage, while another Naxal group holding MLA Jhina Hikaka extended the deadline to April 10 and demanded that five more persons be freed.
The Supreme Court on Thursday set aside the Kerala high court's order acquitting 35 accused in the Suryanelli gangrape case of 1996 in which a 16-year-old girl was gang-raped for over 40 days.
Fresh talks were held on Friday between the Odisha government and the Maoist mediators, a day after the government named the 27 jailed people to be freed in return for the release of Biju Janata Dal member of Legislative Assembly Jhina Hikaka and Italian Paolo Bosusco taken hostage by two separate Naxal groups.
The Congress topped the list of pages with the highest spends for the week ended April 6.
Bowing to Maoists' demands, for securing the release of a Biju Janata Dal MLA and an Italian from the captivity of ultra-Left activists' captivity, Odisha government on Wednesday said it would facilitate the release of 27 persons, including 8 Naxals, from jails.
As many as 44 persons detained during the rave party at a plush hotel in Juhu last month have tested positive for drugs, the police said on Friday.
The Odisha government on Wednesday hoped Maoists would soon name their negotiators for talks for release of Biju Janata Dal MLA Jhina Hikaka, a day after it invited them for parleys, even as intervention of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik was sought by mediators in the Italian captive's case.
Odisha government, grappling with the hostage crisis, on Tuesday said some demands made by Maoists like halt to combing operations, have been conceded as prospects of the release of the lone Italian national seemed to have brightened.
The Odisha government is examining the demands made by abductors of ruling Biju Janata Dal MLA Jhina Hikakaka, which includes release of jailed ultras, amid indication that talks with Maoist mediators for release of the second Italian will soon yield positive results.
Ignoring advice from his party, Nationalist Congress Party leader PA Sangma on Friday said he continues to be in the fray for the presidential election as a tribal candidate
Though two days have passed since the Maoists abducted ruling Biju Janata Dal member of Legislative Jhina Hikaka, the Odisha government is yet to receive any information on the whereabouts of the young tribal legislator.
The two abducted Italians are safe and unharmed, the Odisha government claimed on Tuesday, a day after the Maoists named three negotiators to hold talks with the authorities on the six-day-long hostage crisis.
In a setback to dentist Nupur Talwar, the Supreme Court on Thursday dismissed her review petition challenging the summons issued by the Special Central Bureau of Investigation Court, in the twin murder of her daughter Aarushi and domestic help Hemraj. "We have found no merit in the review petition and are not inclined to interfere with the order of the trial court," a bench of justices A K Patnaik and J S Khehar said while dismissing the review petition.
Extending the ban on tourism activities in the core areas of tiger reserves, the Supreme Court on Wednesday pulled up the Centre for the depleting population of the wild cats in the country.
Meanwhile, retail jewellery sales in India have declined by 50 per cent since gold price started its uptrend nearly two weeks. Buyers deferred their fresh purchase amid expectations of a correction in gold prices from the current high level.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday granted another two weeks to the West Bengal government to respond to its notice on a plea by a Park Street gangrape accused against denial of bail to him by the Calcutta high court.
Nationalist Congress Party leader and former Lok Sabha Speaker P A Sangma, who is being backed by the Biju Janata Dal and All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam for the President's post, on Tuesday sought to reach out to political parties, saying he hoped they will respond "to the call of conscience of the tribal people of the nation."
The mortal remains of Assamese litterateur Indira Raisom Goswami were consigned to flames in Guwahati on Wednesday with full state honours.
The violence-affected areas witnessed several rounds of stone-pelting from pro and anti-CAA protesters. At least 11 police personnel, including DCP Shahdara and ACP (Gokalpuri) were injured. 2 CRPF personnel were also injured. All private and government schools in Northeast Delhi district will remain closed on Tuesday.
Odisha Excise Minister A U Singhdeo on Thursday resigned on moral grounds following the hooch tragedy in Cuttack and Khurda districts which left 30 dead and 65 others battling for lives in hospitals.
Nupur, who has been in jail since her surrender before the Ghaziabad court on April 30, had moved the apex court challenging the Allahabad High Court's order which had on May 31 dismissed her plea for bail.
Dentist Nupur Talwar was on Friday directed by the Supreme Court to surrender on Monday before the trial court in Ghaziabad in the twin murder case of her 14-year-old daughter Aarushi and domestic help in Noida four years ago.
In a series of tweets on August 17, Rashid had alleged that the armed forces entered houses in Kashmir at night and "ransacked" them. She had also alleged that four men were called to an Army camp in Shopian and "interrogated (tortured)".
It's not been a great week for the prime minister. Manmohan Singh has been blamed for the UP debacle. The UPA government's third anniversary is coming up and it has barely any achievements to showcase. And the UPA has discovered why it can no longer depend on the Muslim vote. All this and more in this week's Dilli Gupshup.
Thanks to technological support provided by BlinkIN, a Bengaluru-based intelligent visual-assistance company, engineers in Wuhan were able to remotely install air ventilation systems in two hospitals in Wuhan, the epicentre of the coronavirus pandemic, reports Peerzada Abrar.
The Maoists holding ruling Biju Janata Dal Member of Legislative Assembly Jhina Hikaka hostage on Sunday extended the deadline for the fulfillment of their demands till April 18. In a message, a leader of Maoists' Andhra Odisha Border Special Zonal Committee set a new deadline of 5 pm on April 18 for the release of 29 rebels, said Nihar Ranjan Patnaik, a Koraput-based lawyer who fights cases for Maoists.
The high court had declined to entertain the petition after it was informed that the apex court had on November 18, 2011, refused to hear a PIL filed by an NGO on the same issue.
Decorated lights decked up buildings and earthen lamps dotted houses as people across the country celebrated Diwali.
Terming the severe floods in Orissa as man-made, Congress on Tuesday accused Biju Janata Dal government in the state of failing to provide relief to marooned people after exposing its inability in preventing the calamity.
Prashant Kishor's remarks have ruffled some feathers within his own party