Pretoria: South African President Jacob Zuma was not involved in a wedding scandal in which a private plane of the affluent and well-connected Indian Gupta family landed at a sensitive military airbase, an investigation revealed on Sunday, reported Xinhua.
"In any event, the president is not involved in authorizing the landing or not landing of aircraft at airports," Justice and Constitutional Development Minister Jeff Radebe told reporters in Pretoria.
There had been speculation that the Gupta family which allegedly maintains good relations with Zuma and the ruling African National Congress might have got permission from Zuma to land its plane at the Waterkloof military airbase near Pretoria on April 30.
The Gupta family landed a chartered plane at the airbase, carrying about 200 family members and friends while on way to Sun City, the North West Province to attend a wedding of Vega Gupta, a niece of the powerful Gupta businessmen who own several companies including Sahara Computers and the pro-government New Age newspaper....
more
04:16 AM, May 20, 2013
Dhaka: Bangladesh on Sunday slapped a ban on political rallies for a month to maintain law and order in the wake of deadly protests by Islamists that left at least 28 people dead earlier in May 2013. "Some political parties have caused a law and order problem in the name of holding their programmes. Hence, no one would be allowed to hold any kind of rally for the next one...
02:40 AM, May 20, 2013
Hyderabad: The two Congress Cabinet ministers, accused in Jagan Reddy disproportionate assets case, submitted their resignations to Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy on Sunday night. Dharmana Prasad Rao and Andhra Pradesh Home Minister Sabitha Indra Reddy met Kiran Kumar on Sunday night, who briefed them about his meet with Sonia Gandhi and other leaders regarding the opposition's demand for their resignations. Both the ministers, who had served in the...
11:59 PM, May 19, 2013
London: One person was killed and two others were critically injured on Sunday after a light aircraft crashed at Caernarfon Airport in Gwynedd in Wales, police said. A man in his 60s suffered "serious multiple lower limb injuries" and a boy had head and abdomen injuries following the incident, the ambulance service said. Fire crews cut another man from the wreckage, pronounced dead at the scene, the BBC reported. Police...
11:06 PM, May 19, 2013
Islamabad: Unidentified armed men gunned down a Hindu man in Quetta city of southwest Pakistan on Sunday, police said. No group claimed responsibility for the murder. Madan Lal was standing near his house at Munir Ahmad Khan Road when the gunmen riding a motorcycle shot him and fled. Lal died on the spot. The body was handed over to his family after an autopsy. The motive for the killing could...
10:35 PM, May 19, 2013
On Overdrive this week, Mercedes Benz India MD and CEO Eberhard Kern talks about the company's fight back plan in India and Maruti Swift Dzire takes on its rival Honda Amaze. ...
08:33 PM, May 19, 2013
Agartala: Three staff members of a newspaper in Tripura, Dainik Ganadoot, were killed on Sunday after armed men attacked the paper's office. The three non-journalist staff members were stabbed by the unknown assailants. According to police, the motorcycle-borne assailants barged into the office of 'Dainik Ganadoot' at the Palace Compound at about 3 pm and stabbed a proof reader and a driver on the ground floor before proceeding to the...
08:19 PM, May 19, 2013
Indore: A post-graduate program student of Indian Institute of Management Indore has received a job offer with salary package of Rs 34 lakh per annum. Without disclosing the names of the employer-firm and the student, an IIM spokesman said the job was offered in India, to a student of the PGP 2011-13 batch. A total of 432 students and 142 companies took part in the placement process and the average...
08:08 PM, May 19, 2013
Pune: Before their home fans - who turned out in good numbers at the Subrata Roy Sahara Stadium on Sunday afternoon - Pune Warriors prevailed in the battle of the basement-dwellers, leaving Delhi Daredevils to hold the IPL 6 wooden spoon. In a match of no real significance, Pune pipped their visitors by 38 runs but the win will overall ring hollow because as in 2011 and 2012, the team...
07:25 PM, May 19, 2013
Lahore: Pakistani judge Syed Mazahar Ali Akbar Naqvi probing the murder of Indian death row convict Sarabjit Singh may also visit India to complete the judicial inquiry. Justice Naqvi of the Lahore High Court is investigating the death of Sarabjit who died on May 2 following a brutal assault by prisoners on April 26 within Kot Lakhpat Jail in Lahore. The one-man inquiry tribunal has appealed to Indian nationals having...
07:23 PM, May 19, 2013
Guwahati: Ten persons were on Sunday arrested for allegedly impersonating as candidates appearing for the Assam Medical College Entrance examinations and writing answer scripts for them, the police said. The police picked them up acting on a tip-off that a group of people, mostly students from Bihar, have arrived in the state to write the entrance examination for some candidates appearing in the examination after taking money. Assam Health and...
07:12 PM, May 19, 2013
'The Reluctant Fundamentalist' tries to explore the plight of an educated Pakistani man working in Wall Street. ...
05:06 PM, May 19, 2013
New Delhi: University of Delhi teachers and students marched to Congress President Sonia Gandhi's residence on Sunday morning. They were protesting against the four-year undergraduate programme that is being introduced by the university. Around 150 members of various teacher and student organisations protested at 12 Janpath as police barricaded the route to Sonia's residence at 10 Janpath where they had earlier decided to stage the protest. The protesters, comprising of...
04:32 PM, May 19, 2013
Live updates from Game 71 between Pune Warriors India and Delhi Daredevils at Subrata Roy Sahara Stadium. Pune Warriors India host Delhi Daredevils in a match which will decide who takes the last spot in the sixth edition of the Indian Premier League. Both teams have a tournament to forget, each picking up just three wins in 15 matches and it's hard to say who is the favourite going into...
03:15 PM, May 19, 2013
New Delhi: Threats from terror groups like LeT and al-Qaeda, illicit financing and transnational crimes will be top on the agenda of the four-day India-US Homeland Security dialogue between Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde and his American counterpart beginning in Washington on Monday. Shinde, who left early this morning for the US, will hold talks with US Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano on challenges like cyber security, counterfeit currency,...
03:05 PM, May 19, 2013
New York: All 34 people aboard a US Airways plane escaped unhurt when the aircraft made a belly landing at Newark Liberty International Airport after experiencing landing gear problem. The US Express Flight 4560 was carrying 31 passengers and three crew members. US Airways spokesman Davien Anderson said no injuries were reported. The flight, operated by Piedmont Airlines, took off from Philadelphia on Friday night. The plane reported a landing...
02:45 PM, May 19, 2013
Hyderabad: The Chief Minister, who returned from New Delhi on Saturday after a four-day visit during which he discussed the issue with the leadership, has summoned Rao to the state capital from his native Srikakulam district. Reddy, who is from neighbouring Ranga Reddy district, is already in Hyderabad, party sources said. The Chief Minister reportedly defended the ministers in his meeting with the Congress leadership. Kiran Reddy, who called on...
01:20 PM, May 19, 2013
New Delhi: The recent 'unbundling' of some services such as seat preferences or meals on board might be helping airlines to earn a lot of ancillary revenue, but the government is considering whether it could limit the number of 'preferred seats' on sale on each flight. The government has been prompted to step in just days after it announced unbundling of these services following reports that some airlines were charging...
12:48 PM, May 19, 2013
Los Angeles: An obscure, extinct creature that had scissor-like claws is being named after Hollywood star Johnny Depp, who played Edward Scissorhands in the 1990 movie. The actor, known for taking on quirky characters in his movies, had the rare honour after a 505-million-year-old fossil was discovered by the scientists, the People magazine reported. The creature has been named Kooteninchela deppi because of its scissor-like claws, which reminded the scientist...
12:43 PM, May 19, 2013
New Delhi: Lingering row between CIL and power producers such as NTPC is casting a shadow over 10 per cent divestment plans in the coal major as its parent ministry has reservations about stake sale till issues, like Rs 9,000 crore dues owed by electricity utilities, are resolved. "Coal Ministry in a letter to the Department of Disinvestment (DoD) has said that going ahead with the stake sale process in...
12:11 PM, May 19, 2013
