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Luxury phone-maker Vertu is shutting up shop

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vertu

London: Britain-based luxury phone-maker Vertu, which rolled out smartphones carrying hefty price tags, is closing down, the media reported.

The company recently faced financial difficulties and will be liquidated after a plan to save it failed, BBC reported.

Nearly 200 jobs will be lost as a result of the company’s liquidation.

“Well it’s gone into liquidation and I’m not being paid by them any more,” a spokesman for the firm was quoted as saying.

The company apparently struggled to find a customer base for its $46,600 polished 18-carat red gold phones, Mashable.com reported on Friday.

The past few years for the makers of the jewel-encrusted cellphones have been tumultuous, and all the $1,200 Vertu Grape Lizard Slip Cases in the world were not enough to save the company from its financial troubles, the report said.

Vertu was founded by Nokia in 1998, but it was sold in 2012. The following year, Vertu switched from using Nokia’s Symbian operating system to Google’s Android.

(IANS)

Nagpur: BJP worker thrashed by gau rakshaks arrested for carrying beef

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Salim Shaha

Nagpur: The Nagpur Rural Police have arrested Salim Shaha, a BJP worker who was allegedly beaten up by cow vigilantes earlier this week, under the Maharashtra Animal Preservation (Amendment) Act for possession of beef.

Shaha was beaten up by some people on July 12 on the suspicion that he was carrying beef. Police had said on Sunday that as per the forensic laboratory report, the meat which he was carrying that day was beef.

Superintendent of police (Nagpur Rural) Shailesh Balkawde told PTI today that Shaha was arrested last night, and produced before Narkhed magistrate’s court in the district today which sent him in police custody for one day.

Police will ask for extension of his custody tomorrow, the SP said, adding that a case has been registered at Jalalkheda Police Station. Shaha (34), a resident of Katol town in Nagpur district, was returning home on his motorcycle when a group of five or six men accosted him at a bus stop in the Bharsingi village on July 12. They allegedly assaulted him on the suspicion that he was carrying beef.

Shaha’s family, however, said he may not have known what he was carrying. The family was initially reluctant to talk about the forensic report, stating that it was already “in trouble”.

But “Salim may not have been aware of what he was carrying,” a relative said. The Nagpur (rural) unit president of the BJP, Rajiv Potdar, had said Shaha would be dismissed from the party.

After Shaha was beaten up and taken to a hospital, four men–Ashwin Uike (35), Rameshwar Taywade (42), Moreshwar Tandurkar (36) and Jagdish Chaudhari (25)–were arrested and booked under charge of voluntarily causing grievous hurt.

(PTI)

Venkaiah Naidu emerges as NDA’s front-runner for Vice President

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Venkaiah Naidu

New Delhi: Information and Broadcasting Minister M. Venkaiah Naidu on Monday emerged as a front-runner for vice presidential candidate of the ruling NDA, sources said.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Parliamentary Board will meet on Monday evening to pick its vice presidential candidate. The meeting will be attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

According to informed party sources, Naidu’s name has almost been finalised as candidate for the Vice President’s post.

Maharashtra Governor C. Vidyasagar Rao’s name is also being considered for the post.

The Vice President’s election will be held on August 5.

The last date for filing nomination papers for the vice-presidential election is July 18, Tuesday.

The term of Vice President Hamid Ansari, who is also ex-officio Chairman of the Rajya Sabha, ends on August 10.

(IANS)

Karnataka DIG of Prisons D Roopa, who exposed VVIP perks to Sasikala in Bengaluru jail, transferred

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DIG-D-Roopa-Moudgil

Bengaluru: The Karnataka government transferred DIG (Prisons) D Roopa on Monday, days after the top cop exposed special treatment extended to AIADMK leader VK Sasikala at a Bengaluru prison.

“I haven’t received a copy of the notice. I will react after receiving the copy,” Roopa, who has been transferred to the traffic wing, told CNN-News18.

The senior IPS officer had submitted a report to her seniors last week in which she had alleged that Sasikala, convicted in a corruption case, was receiving VIP treatment, including a special kitchen counter.

Her report had led Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah to order a high-level inquiry. While her boss, DGP (Prisons) HSN Rao denied receiving such a report, Roopa had stood her ground.

She had received a notice from the state government for going to the media over her controversial report. As the report erupted into a major controversy, a red-faced government had asked her to explain her conduct, with Siddaramaiah saying it was “absolutely against the rule book”.

Denying that the move is a ‘punishment’ transfer, Karnataka Power Minister DK Shivakumar told CNN-News18, “We have some rules. An investigation is on. No officer is allowed to go to the media. A fair investigation will be conducted.”

In the report submitted, Roopa had alleged that there was “talk” that Rs 2 crore had exchanged hands to provide preferential treatment to Sasikala and even said there were allegations against HSN Rao as well. Rao, however, has rubbished Roopa’s charge against him, terming it “absolutely false, baseless and wild”.

In her four-page report after visiting the central prison on July 10, Roopa had said a special kitchen was functioning in the jail here for Sasikala, a convict in a corruption case, in violation of the rules.

Sasikala has been lodged at the Parappana Agrahara central jail since her conviction in February in a disproportionate assets case along with her two relatives, VN Sudhakaran and Elavarasi, all serving a four-year jail term.

In the report, Roopa has also mentioned about the “preferential” treatment being provided to fake stamp paper scam kingpin Abdul Karim Telgi in the prison.

Undertrials in his cell are allegedly being used to do his personal work like massaging his shoulders, arms and legs.

Noting that six months ago there was a court direction to provide Telgi with assistants as he was using a wheelchair, the DIG in her report said though now he was not dependent on it and was walking properly, three to four undertrials are still allowed in his cell to do his work.

(Agencies)

Presidential polls 2017: Voting ends, decision on Thursday

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Modi

New Delhi: Lawmakers across the country began casting their vote on Monday for the election of the 14th President of India.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP President Amit Shah exercised their franchise at Parliament House a little after 10:00 a.m. when the voting began, Scores of NDA members had queued up outside Room No. 62, where a polling booth has been set up for Parliamentarians and five MLAs who have opted to cast their votes here.

NDA candidate Ramnath Kovind is in direct contest with the joint opposition nominee Meira Kumar. Both Kovind and Kumar are from the Dalit community and have canvassed hard by visiting states to seek support of legislators.

Kovind, a former Bihar Governor, has a clear edge in the election with support from 63% voters in the electoral college that has a vote valure of 10.98 lakh.

The candidature of Kumar, a former Lok Sabha Speaker, has been supported by 16 opposition parties including the Congress, the Trinamool Congress, CPI(M), SP, BSP, DMK, JD(S) among others.

Congress President Sonia Gandhi had on Sunday called for a conscience vote terming in the presidential election, which she termed was as a “clash of ideas” and “conflict of disparate values”.

“Ramnath Kovindji will win with a comfortable and respectable margin,” Union Minister M Venkaiah Naidu told reporters.

(Agencies)

Tensions mount as Al-Aqsa remains closed

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Palestinians have denounced the closure, which follows a deadly shooting attack, as a violation of religious freedoms.

Following the attack, Friday prayers at Al-Aqsa were cancelled for the first time in decades [Ammar Awad/Reuters]

Following the attack, Friday prayers at Al-Aqsa were cancelled for the first time in decades [Ammar Awad/Reuters]

by Al Jazeera

Ramallah, occupied West Bank – Palestinian religious and political figures have denounced the ongoing closure of Al-Aqsa mosque compound, calling it a violation of their religious freedoms.

Al-Aqsa remained closed on Saturday, a day after a deadly shooting attack outside an entrance to the holy site in occupied East Jerusalem.

“There is no excuse for the closure of Al-Aqsa mosque, and we oppose this decision,” said Sheikh Yusuf Idis, the Palestinian Authority’s minister of religious affairs. “The freedom to worship is a right guaranteed in law and any violation of that right is rejected.”

The compound has been shuttered by Israeli police since three Palestinian assailants shot and killed two Israeli policemen in Jerusalem’s Old City on Friday morning. The attackers were subsequently shot dead by Israeli forces inside the compound.

It was the first time that Friday prayers at Al-Aqsa had been cancelled in decades, and Israeli authorities later extended the closure until Sunday at the earliest, citing security concerns.

Hundreds of additional Israeli forces were deployed in parts of the Old City and at checkpoints throughout. Many worshippers who had planned to pray at Al-Aqsa ended up praying in the streets of Jerusalem instead.

Al-Aqsa is sacred to both Muslims and Jews, who refer to the site as the Temple Mount. The Jerusalem Mufti, Sheikh Mohammed Hussein, was briefly detained by police and released on bail on Friday after he attempted to gain access to the site and led open-air prayers close to the compound.

Analysts warned that the decision to prohibit entry to the sacred site – which was last closed to Muslim worshippers in 2014, following the shooting of Yehuda Glick, a prominent Temple Mount activist who is now a Knesset member – would likely exacerbate tensions in the city in the short-term.

“This is a decision that aims to deter further attacks and it will be interpreted by most Palestinians as collective punishment,” said Ofer Zalzberg, a senior analyst for Israel/Palestine at the International Crisis Group.

Late on Friday, Israeli police released security camera footage of the early stages of the attack, which appeared to show the armed assailants approach the officers from inside the compound.

Some Israeli right-wing Knesset members have subsequently called for dramatic changes to security and the uneasy status quo at the site, where non-Muslim worship has been prohibited since Israel captured East Jerusalem 50 years ago.

“Israel must bolster its rule and control over the [holy sites], and to ensure that all Jews can pray there at any time in safety,” said Eli Ben Dahan, Israel’s deputy defence minister and a member of the Jewish Home right-wing faction, in response to the attack.

Jewish Home MK Moti Yegev said the holy site “should be closed to Muslim [worshippers] for a long time”, while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the compound was shut for security reasons, noting that the status quo would be “preserved”.

Still, given the growing influence of the Israeli religious right in domestic politics, some Palestinians fear that any such incident could be used as an excuse for a broader policy shift that would lead to a change in the status quo.

Zalzberg said that for the time being, such a shift was unlikely.

“[Netanyahu] needs to do crisis management and he does not want to find himself losing relations with Jordan, when strategically they need each other so much in south Syria. He doesn’t want to ruin the emerging relations that he’s trying to build with the Gulf,” Zalzberg told Al Jazeera.

Friday’s violent attack shattered a period of relative calm around Al-Aqsa that had lasted since late 2015, when Netanyahu and King Abdullah of Jordan reaffirmed their commitments to the status quo.

However, in recent weeks, a number of incidents around Al-Aqsa have increased tensions. Late last month, Israeli police prevented Muslim worshippers under the age of 40 from accessing Al-Aqsa compound while a group of more than 100 Jews visited the site to mark the anniversary of the killing of Hallel Ariel.

Earlier in June, Israeli police forcefully entered the site and detained two Palestinians, while police have allowed Temple Mount activists to serve food and drinks next to the holy site on Jewish holidays.

Tensions could spike further in late July when a ban preventing members of the Israeli parliament from visiting the site is due to expire. Netanyahu has granted MKs access for a five-day trial period beginning on July 23, in order to assess the potential security issues of allowing them to visit the site for the first time since 2015.

BCCI invites applications for team manager

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bcci

Mumbai: Amid the ongoing confusion in the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) after the announcement of Ravi Shastri as the head coach along with Zaheer Khan and Rahul Dravid as overseas bowling and batting consultants respectively, the national board on Saturday invited applications for the Team Manager.

The candidates were asked to submit their applications before July 21.

“The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) would like to call upon interested candidates to apply for the position of the Team Manager for the senior India men’s cricket team,” the advertisement on the board’s website read.

“The appointment of a Team Manager shall be for a minimum period of one year.”

One of the main criterion the board has asked is the candidate should have played good level of cricket, preferably first class or at international level.

“The candidates who have (i) successfully managed a cricket team of any of the affiliated units of BCCI or the national teams, at the first class or at the International level, or (ii) have a minimum of ten years of work experience in public/private sector, will be preferred.”

The board also wanted a candidate below the age of 60 years with the ability to withstand the rigours of the international cricket schedule of the team.

(IANS)

Sasikala jail bribe charge: Top police officer served notice

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sasikala

Bengaluru: A top police officer, who came out with a controversial report on alleged special treatment in jail to AIADMK (Amma) leader V K Sasikala, has been served a notice by the state government asking her to explain why she reported the issue to the media.

“It is absolutely against the rulebook,” Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said, expressing open displeasure over public comments by Deputy Inspector of General (Prisons) D Roopa on her report, which has also brought her superior and other prison officials under a cloud of bribery allegations.

Siddaramaiah said she could have approached any of her superiors about her charges against senior officials.
“It is inappropriate on her part to share details with media,” Siddaramaiah told reporters in Mysuru.

He said the allegations before the mainstream and social media has brought embarrassment to the police department.
Roopa has been asked to give a reply to the notice served on her, the chief minister said.

He also said a probe has been ordered into thecharges levelled by Roopa against DGP (Prisons) Sathyanarayana Rao.
A retired officer has been appointed to look into bribery allegations, he said.

In her report submitted to her superior Rao, Roopa had alleged that there was “talk” that a sum of Rs 2 crore had exchanged hands to provide preferential treatment to Sasikala and even said there were allegations against him as well.

Rao, however, has rubbished Roopa’s charge against him, terming it “absolutely false, baseless and wild”. He said he would take legal recourse against his junior.

He has said no special treatment was being given to Sasikala. In her four-page report after visiting the central prison on July 10, Roopa had said a special kitchen was functioning in the jail here for Sasikala, a convict in a corruption case, in violation of the rules.

Sasikala has been lodged at the Parappana Agrahara central jail here since her conviction in February in a disproportionate assets case along with her two relatives, V N Sudhakaran and Elavarasi, all serving a four-year jail term.

Taking “serious cognisance” of the allegations of irregularities in the central prison, Siddaramaiah yesterday ordered the probe and warned of “strict action” based on the inquiry report, if anyone was found involved in wrong-doing.

(Agencies)

‘Cattle smuggled from India harming economy of Bangladesh’

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cow

Shillong: Cattle smuggled from India is harming the economy of Bangladesh, a senior officer of Border Guards of Bangladesh said today and formally requested the Border Security Force (BSF) to stop it.

“Actually it (cattle smuggling is harming our economy. If it doesn’t come from India then our dairy farmers can go up and we can take care of ourselves,” BGB Region Commander Addl Director General Md Zahid Hasan told reporters here.

He said, “We have requested BSF to stop smuggling and a lot of other related issues can be resolved by that.”

The BGB officer who attended the four-day BSF-BGB Border Coordination Conference here also admitted that cattle smuggling was one of the agendas of the conference.

Stating that cattle all by itself cannot walk across the border, Hasan said, “We have requested that such kind of smuggling be stopped because these cattle are coming from deep inside from within India and from West of India.”

The BGB region commander and the Meghalaya frontier BSF IG P K Dubey also met Meghalaya’s Director General of Police S B Singh and discussed on the issue of cattle smuggling and cross border crimes.

“Action plan has been drawn on intelligence sharing on real time basis on criminal activities on either side of the border, both the forces will promptly act,” Hasan said.

The BGB commander has also raised the issue of firing by BSF personnel on Bangladesh nationals.

“There are few in our areas of concern which we have discussed. Some of the incidents categorically were brought before the discussion. We have discussed the issue and we have agreed on certain issues on that and hopefully that will come down to zero,” he said.

The Meghalaya Frontier BSF IG P K Dubey said border related issues were discussed in details and efforts have been taken to curb trans-border crimes.

“Our main concerns were killing of innocent Bangladeshi nationals and smuggling of drugs, and also to find out the modalities to build our relationships,” he said.

He also said, “We have expressed zero tolerance for smuggling of fire arms and explosives, human trafficking and drugs. We have agreed to enhance the confidence building measures between both the forces on the ground.”

The BSF-BGB conference takes place twice a year and the last one was held in Sylhet in November.

(PTI)

Another Catholic cross desecrated in Goa

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Crosses

Panaji: The ongoing desecrations in South Goa district continued on Friday with another Catholic cross being vandalised in Margao town, police said.

A police spokesperson said the desecration occurred in the early hours of Friday. Margao is 45 km away from Panaji.

The desecration of the cross occurred in Calconda area in Margao, the spokesperson said.

This is the seventh such instance of desecration of a religious icon in Goa over the last few weeks.

Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar has called the desecrations “an attempt to disturb the communal harmony in Goa”.

The Goa Church has already expressed “pain” over the incident, while also urging police to crack the series of mysterious desecrations.

(IANS)

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