National News

Ludhiana, Nov 20 (PTI) A city court today dismissed the application filed by police seeking permission to further investigate the case relating to stripping and assaulting a block official in his office here by activists of the Akali Dal's youth wing.

Gurgaon, Nov 20 (PTI) Gurgaon Deputy Commissioner Rajender Kataria has got threatening phone calls and SMS demanding money from an unidentified caller but the police are yet to take act on his complaint lodged more than a month ago.

Ghaziabad, Nov 20 (IANS) The Hindon river can literally breathe easy now. Civic authorities here Friday launched a huge 'prayer chamber' along the river banks especially designed to immerse puja ritual materials like flowers and ash - in a move to clean up the river and reduce pollution.

New Delhi, Nov 20 (PTI) A Delhi University hockey player, who is also the son of a former UP MLA, was critically injured he after was badly beaten up by a group of youngsters on his college premises this evening following an argument, police said.

New Delhi, Nov 20 (PTI) As NCP demanded arrest of a Shiv Sena MP, NCP chief Sharad Pawar tonight condemned the attack by suspected Sainiks on Marathi news channel IBN-Lokmat and expressed hope that the Maharashtra government will take action against the perpetrators.

Kolkata, Nov 20 (IANS) Noted Bengali singer Kabir Suman, a Trinamool Congress MP, Friday said all issues with the party following his criticism had been resolved and described himself as a 'party slave'.

New Delhi, Nov 20 (IANS) The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has strongly condemned Friday's attack by Shiv Sena activists on the offices of IBN-Lokmat network channel in Mumbai and Pune.

New Delhi, Nov 20 (IANS) Narmada Bachao Andolan leader Medha Patkar met Railway Minister and Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee here Friday to convey her opposition to certain provisions of the land acquisition bill that is to be introduced in the winter session of parliament.

Dhanbad (Jharkhand), Nov 20 (ANI): Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Friday said that non-violence was the only way to solve all the problems in Jharkhand.

New Delhi, Nov 20 (IANS) The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Friday said that the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), its ideological fountainhead, was not interfering in choosing the next party president.

"Pirates of the Caribbean" star Johnny Depp was named People magazine's "Sexiest Man Alive" on Wednesday, reclaiming a title he first won in 2003.

The wildlife population of Indian Kashmir has registered a "manifold" increase as a two-decade-old separatist rebellion has scared away poachers and hunters from the region, a wildlife official said on Tuesday.

Chinese writer Su Tong has won Asia's top literary prize with a bleak novel about a disgraced Communist Party official's attempts to rebuild his life, trumping a clutch of Indian writers on the shortlist.

Sumana Ramanan, Senior Editor Many readers appreciate HT?s series on schools, but some find the rankings problematic.

Watchtowers and close-circuit televisions will help secure the Taj Mahal, one of the world's most visited monuments, as the busy tourist season begins in India, a senior police officer said.

Mumbai, Nov. 20 -- A mouse click would soon land a smuggler trying to take the air route behind bars. The Customs department is developing a software system that would alert it with the travel information of suspected passengers who are either flying to or coming in from sensitive smuggling destinations.

Taking exception to the way parole was granted to Jessica Lall murder case convict Manu Sharma, the Delhi High Court on Friday pulled up the city government for giving preferential treatment to convicts having high connections.

After actress Kangna Ranaut, it is actress Aarti Chhabria's turn to wash her hands off any links with terror-accused David Coleman Headley.

New Delhi, Nov. 19 -- They gave a new meaning to social networking. A gang of high-profile bootleggers delivered high-end duty free liquor labels to customers created through social networking sites - Facebook and Orkut. Police said the gang's kingpin, a resident of Sainik Farms, is absconding. Raids were on to arrest him, the police said.

It is all about a science teacher taking lessons in Maoism and subsequently turning into a major arms supplier to Naxal outfits operating in Bihar and Jharkhand.