Beijing,  A Chinese university had reportedly cancelled Bollywood’s actor Aamir Khan’s fan meet, citing the organiser’s failure to seek permission to use the campus.

Khan is currently in China to promote his latest movie “Thugs of Hindustan”. 

The event, which was to take plac eon Monday, in Guangdong University of Finance and Economics (GUFE) in Guangzhou was for the promotion of the movie which is slated to release in China next week.

According to the Chinese media, the school did not know about the promotional event until Monday.

“The message was spread only among a small group of students through social media. The school only knew about it when students talked about the event hours before it was about to take place,” the Global Times quoted an employee of the varsity as saying.

However, the Weibo account that promotes Khan’s films announced the school had cancelled the event “unilaterally” as the “the students were overly enthusiastic”.

The post angered many students, who said the university did not know about the event at all before Monday.

Many students said they waited outside the event site for over an hour.

“It is obviously the organiser’s fault for not applying to the school to use an on-campus building,” net user Swim Xinzhu, a student from GUFE, said.

“We have held similar events before and there would be no issue if the organiser had reported in advance,” an employee of the varsity said.

The organiser’s deputy manager, a Beijing-based film-promoting company, reposted the Weibo post by Khan’s film account, saying they were contacting the film crew and the school to figure out what caused the poor communication.

The fan meet was soon relocated to a Four Seasons hotel not far from the campus and ended at around 11 p.m. on Monday night.

Kolkata, Legendary classical singer Pandit Arun Bhaduri, known for his deep and sonorous voice, passed away at a city hospital on Monday following age-related ailments and respiratory distress, family sources said.

Bhaduri, 75, is survived by wife, son, daughter-in-law and grandson.

Born in West Bengal’s Murshidabad on October 7, 1943, Bhaduri received his initial lessons in Indian music from Mohammed Abu Daud, before fine-tuning his knowledge on the nuances and embellishments of the Hindustani Classical Music from Mohammed Sagiruddin Khan.

Later, he was also taught by the late Ustad Ishtiaq Hussain Khan of the Rampur-Sahaswan gharana, and Pandit Jnan Prakash Ghosh.

Greatly influenced by Ustad Ameer Khan, Bhaduri imbibed his aesthetic qualities, and successfully created a style of his own by fusing the various styles he learnt from the stalwarts.

He joined the ITC Sangeet Research Academy as a musician scholar and rose to become one of its most venerated Gurus.

A top grade radio and television artiste, Bhaduri received invitations from music festivals in the UK, the USA, Canada, Japan, South Korea, Indonesia, Thailand, Hong Kong, the Philippines and Bangladesh.

Bhaduri is also known for his excellent rendering of Bengali songs and bhajans.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee expressed grief at Bhaduri’s demise.

Recalling that the state government had conferred on him the state’s highest civilian award, Banga Bibhusan, in 2014 for his outstanding contribution to music, Banerjee said his passing away would “create a big void in the world of music and culture”.

Shimla, Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur on Saturday spoke with Union External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj over phone regarding bringing back 14 Indians stranded in Saudi Arabia due to visa problems.

According to reports, 12 persons belonged to Himachal Pradesh and two were from Punjab. They are currently lodged in a police station in Riyadh.

Thakur urged the Union Minister to personally take up the matter with the authorities for their release as they had gone to Saudi Arabia for earning their livelihood, an official statement said.

The Chief Minister said he has also written a letter to Swaraj, requesting her to ensure their safe passage to India at the earliest.

Thakur assured the families of the stranded persons that the state government would make all-out efforts for bringing them back home at the earliest.

He said the Union Minister has assured him that the Central government would extend all possible help for their early evacuation.

Two travel agents were booked by Himachal Pradesh Police for allegedly defrauding 14 youths from Mandi district.

The agents had allegedly charged Rs 90,000 from each youth, promising a job on a tourist visa.

Raipur,  (IANS) Within hours of being sworn-in as Chhattisgarh Chief Minister, Bhupesh Baghel on Monday announced to waive off farm loans amounting to Rs 6,100 crore. The new government has also decided to raise minimum support price of paddy to Rs 2,500 per quintal.

The Chief Minister presided over a cabinet meeting and decided to waive off farm loans which would benefit 16.65 lakh farmers reeling under debt.

The farm loan waiver was a major promise of the Congress during the Assembly election campaign that helped the party bag 68 seats in a 90-member House.

The farm loan waiver announcement has been widely hailed by farmers’ representative bodies.

Addressing the maiden press conference as Chief Minister, Baghel briefed media persons about the cabinet decisions and said he decided to form an SIT to unravel conspiracy behind Jheeram valley massacre in May 2013 in Bastar in which several Congress leaders were killed by Maoists including then state Congress chief Nandkumar Patel, veteran leader V.C. Shukla and tribal leader Mahendra Karma.

Mumbai, (IANS) At least six persons were killed and 147 others, mostly patients and staffers, injured in a major fire that engulfed the state government-run Employees State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) Hospital at Andheri East here on Monday, officials said.

A majority of those injured, who have been admitted to various hospitals in the suburbs, were patients and staffers. By late on Monday night, around a dozen were treated and discharged.

Informed official sources said the toll might increase as some of the injured were in a critical condition.

The fire was first noticed near the operation theatre of the five-storey hospital located at Marol MIDC, an industrial hub in Andheri East.

The blaze quickly spread horizontally and vertically, trapping around 155 people.

Panicking, some patients and staffers did not wait for help and jumped out of the fourth floor window. They suffered fractures, and at least one was killed.

The fire brigade team rushed to the spot with 12 fire tenders, 15 water tankers and other specialised equipment to battle the blaze.

The firemen also used ladders and ropes to bring down the wailing and screaming victims trapped on the third and fourth floors of the hospital.

Leaping flames, resulting in thick black cloud of smoke, besides a precautionary power cut, rendered the rescue operation difficult but the blaze was controlled in nearly four hours, said the BMC Disaster Control.

A majority of those rescued had suffered burn wounds or suffocation symptoms.

They were admitted to half-a-dozen government and private hospitals in Andheri, Vile Parle, Jogeshwari and Goregaon.

Nineteen were taken to Cooper Hospital, Juhu, 39 to Prabodhankar Thackeray Trauma Hospital, Jogeshwari East, 40 to Holi Spirit Hospital, Andheri East, 44 to Seven Hills Hospital, Andheri East, three to Hiranandani Hospital, Powai, and two to Sidhharth Hospital, Goregaon.

Preliminary reports suggested that the fire might have erupted due to a short-circuit in the hospital building with a glass facade.

State Health Minister Deepak Sawant and Mumbai Mayor Vishwanath Mahadeshwar, who visited the mishap site, along with senior officials, promised a detailed probe and strict action against those guilty of lapses.

Meanwhile, thick clouds of smoke emanating from the fire-hit hospital travelled quite a bit, reducing the visibility in the area and leading to peak-hour traffic jams.

Mumbai has witnessed over a dozen major fires in residential and commercial premises claiming over 50 lives and injuring many more besides damage to properties.

New Delhi, (IANS) The ruling BJP has declared a total income of over Rs 1,000 crore in 2017-18 spending over Rs 750 crore in the year. However, the income and expenditure of the Congress party was not known with the party yet to submit its audited reports to the Election Commission.

According to a report by election watchdog Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) released here on Monday, the Bharatiya Janata Party’s total income for 2017-18 stood at Rs 1,027.339 crore followed by the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) at Rs 104.847 crore. The Mayawati-led BSP declared a total income of Rs 51.694 crore in the year. 

The BJP’s income for the year came down by nearly Rs 7 crore as compared to Rs 1034.27 crore total income it had declared in 2016-17. 

On the expenditure front, the BJP spent Rs 758.47 crore in the year, followed by the CPI-M at Rs 83.482 crore and the BSP which spent Rs 14.78 crore. 

Incidentally, the Sharad Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) declared a total income Rs 8.15 crore but spent Rs 8.84 crore, an excess of Rs 69 lakh over what it earned during the year. 

The other national parties — Trinamool Congress declared a total income of Rs 5.167 crore while the Communist Party of India (CPI)’s total income was Rs. 1.55 crore. 

The Congress, which in 2016-17 earned Rs 225.36 crore, is yet to submit its copy of Income Tax returns for the year. The due date for submission of annual audited accounts for the parties was October 30, 2018.

Guwahati, (IANS) Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Monday accused the Congress of playing with the country’s security and said that the opposition party is shying away from a debate in Parliament on the AgustaWestland and other defence deals signed during the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) regime.

Addressing a press conference here, Yoga Adityanath held the Congress responsible for delaying the Rafale deal which was initiated in 2007. “Post Kargil war, the country’s security forces needed modernisation and induction of 4th and 5th generation fighter jets. However, the UPA regime kept the deal on hold from 2007 to 2014, jeopardising the country’s security,” he said.

The UP Chief Minister added that now that the Supreme Court has given a clean chit to the government over the deal, the Congress and its President Rahul Gandhi should apologise to the people of the country for dragging in the issue of the Rafale deal unnecessarily.

He also pointed out that while most of the defence deals signed during the UPA regime had middlemen or agents, the Rafale deal was a deal signed between two governments. 

“The Rafale deal is a transparent one signed between two governments. There was no Quattrocchi or Christian Michel involved in the Rafale deal and that was probably the reason why the UPA government kept it on hold till 2014,” Adityanath said.

“The BJP is ready for a debate on any issue in Parliament. However, the Congress is not interested to debate. In a democracy, there cannot be a better place than Parliament to debate on any issue. However, the Congress is shying away from debate as they want to escape from controversies like AgustaWestland and other defence deals signed during their tenure,” he said and demanded the resignation of Congress chief Rahul Gandhi for misleading the people of the country and unnecessarily dragging in the issue.

Asked about the SC judgement regarding the anti-Sikh riots in 1984, the UP Chief Minister said that the Congress has been dividing the country on religious lines since long. “The Congress had its hands stained during the anti-Sikh riots. The truth cannot be hidden,” he added.