World

Minister hails Iran’s free trade agreement with EAEU

admin 0

In an exclusive interview with IRNA on Friday, he said that the EAEU members need Iran’s different industrial and economic capabilities.

“We are presently importing agricultural items, including corn and wheat, from these countries,” the minister said, adding that the FTA will give a boost to relations between the two sides.

Referring to the tough sanctions on Iran, he said that the FTA is a good chance for the country’s presence in the global markets.

Iran and the EAEU signed an FTA in St. Petersburg, Russia, on Monday.

Under the terms of the agreement, Iran and the five-member bloc will lift tariffs on 87% of the items being exchanged between them.

The rest 13% includes items that each of the six parties consider as sensitive items whose free imports may damage their domestic industry or agriculture. 

IRN/

India

IND vs SA: Where Did Rohit Sharma And Co Lose 1st Test vs Proteas

admin 0

India lost the first Test to South Africa by an innings and 32 runs.© AFP

After being bowled out for just 131 runs, India suffered a massive defeat by innings and 32 runs against South Africa on Day 3 of the first Test at the SuperSport Park in Centurion on Thursday. The result marked India’s worst defeat in a Test match on South African soil, surpassing their previous low in December 2010 when they faced an innings and 25-run loss at the same venue. Trailing by 163 runs, India were bowled out for 131 in their second innings on Day Three to go one down in the first of the two-match Test series. Only Virat Kohli managed a score of 76, as nine Indian batters failed to reach double figures. Meanwhile, Shubman Gill fought briefly before departing for 26.

The seeds of India’s defeat were sown on the first day itself. Put into bat, the visitors struggled to adapt and seemed ill-prepared to counter the challenging deliveries from the Proteas bowling attack. South African pacers Kagiso Rabada and Nandre Burger exploited the conditions well and made the ball swing and move to trouble the Indian batters on a demanding pitch.

India’s batting line-up was bundled out for 245 courtesy of KL Rahul’s resilient 137-ball 101 knock. Although Virat Kohli and Shreyas Iyer weathered the early storm, their contributions fell short. The team’s inability to handle swing and bounce in the first innings was a primary factor leading to their embarrassing defeat.

Blame does not lie solely with the batters; the Indian bowling attack failed to capitalise on the conditions, allowing the hosts to seize momentum on the second day. While Mohammed Siraj secured an early breakthrough by dismissing Aiden Markram, a tactical error from captain Rohit Sharma in deploying Prasidh Krishna and Shardul Thakur proved costly. The duo were unable to make the most of the bouncy pitch as the South African batters played them with ease. If Rohit Sharma had entrusted the ball to his premier pacers, Jasprit Bumrah (4/69) and Mohammed Siraj (2/91), the narrative could have taken a different turn. Later, Bumrah was brought into the attack and he sent Tony de Zorzi and Keegan Petersen back to the pavilion in the space of two overs. However, the damage was already done.

Eventually, South Africa reached 408 in their first innings, with Dean Elgar’s 185 and David Bedingham’s 56 steering them to a commanding position.

As Team India prepares for the second Test at Newlands Cricket Ground in Cape Town from January 3 to 7, lessons from the strategic lapses and the batting vulnerability must be addressed to mount a comeback in the series.

Topics mentioned in this article

Top News

PM Modi To Be Welcomed In Ayodhya By Over 1,400 Artistes

admin 0

PM Modi To Be Welcomed In Ayodhya By Over 1,400 Artistes

Prime Minister Modi will inaugurate the Ayodhya railway station and a new airport on Saturday (File)

Ayodhya:

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be welcomed by various groups of artistes from across the country as he arrives to inaugurate the redeveloped Ayodhya railway station and a new airport before the consecration ceremony at the Ram temple on January 22.

In a statement, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s office said more than 1,400 performers will present folk art and cultural programmes in a total of 40 stages set up along the route from the airport to the railway station, Ram Path.

According to the statement, Vaibhav Mishra from Ayodhya will welcome the prime minister on the land of Ramlala by blowing conches while Mohit Mishra from Kashi will beat a Damru.

Many artistes will present art forms of Awadhi and Vantangiya. While Ragini Mitra of Noida and Brajesh Pandey of Sultanpur will present Awadhi folk dance, Sahaj Singh Shekhawat of Gorakhpur will perform Vantangiya dance.

Prime Minister Modi will inaugurate the Ayodhya railway station around 11.15 am and the newly constructed Ayodhya airport around 12.15 pm.

After this, the prime minister will participate in a public event where several development projects worth more than Rs 15,700 crore will be inaugurated.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Hyderabad

Businessman held for tax evasion in Hyderabad

admin 0

Tax officials said the company was involved in availing input tax credit (ITC) without actual receipt of goods and also passing it to others without actual supply of goods which is illegal.

Published Date – 10:08 PM, Fri – 29 December 23


Businessman held for tax evasion in Hyderabad

Representational Image

Hyderabad: Telangana Commercial Taxes Department officials from Abid Road zone arrested one of the directors of Bengal Cold Rollers Private Limited for allegedly defrauding government revenue (GST evasion) to the tune of Rs 5 crore as revealed on primary inquiry on Thursday.

Tax officials said the company was involved in availing input tax credit (ITC) without actual receipt of goods and also passing it to others without actual supply of goods which is illegal.

A house search of the directors of the company by the tax officials recently found incriminating material like slips, hand written books and documents. Further investigation is under process to detect any other frauds committed by him.

Commissioner of State Tax, T.K.Sreedevi warned tax payers who are indulging in tax evasion of strict action against them.

Middle East

Israel intensifies Gaza strikes as Hamas in Cairo for ceasefire talks

admin 0

Israeli forces have killed at least 187 people in the south and central Gaza Strip in the past 24 hours as a team of senior Hamas leaders reached Cairo for negotiations to end Israel’s 12-week-long air and ground assault on the blockaded coastal territory.

The regime’s warplanes pounded crowded areas in the southernmost end of Gaza on Friday, bringing the total death toll in the populated enclave to at least 21,507 people, most of them children, the Gaza Health Ministry said Friday.

The number of people wounded in Gaza has also neared 56,000, according to the ministry figures.

The regime’s military said on Friday that its forces “are extending operation in Khan Yunis” in the Gaza Strip’s south.

The Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) said on Thursday that Israel’s shelling near the southern town has killed 41 people over the past two days.

The casualties in repeated Israeli strikes near the facility include “displaced persons seeking shelter,” it said.

At least 35 people have also been killed in Israeli bombings in Nuseirat and Maghazi refugee camps in central Gaza. An airstrike hit a residential building near the Kuwaiti hospital in southern Gaza, killing at least 20 people on Friday.

The regime’s forces have fired at an aid convoy as it returned from northern Gaza along a route designated “safe” by Tel Aviv, according to Thomas White, director of UNRWA affairs in Gaza.

In recent days, tens of thousands of people have fled Israel’s bombardment of the center of the strip to take shelter in Israeli-designated “safe areas” in the southernmost end of the besieged strip, where the military has nevertheless also kept bombing.

The regime’s brutal onslaught on the Palestinian territory has so far displaced some 85% of the Gaza Strip’s 2.3 million residents and sparked a humanitarian crisis that has left a quarter of Gaza’s population starving.

“People are using any empty space to build shacks,” said Juliette Touma, director of communications at UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees. “Some are sleeping in their cars, and others are sleeping in the open.”

The UN agency said 308 people seeking shelter in UN facilities have so far been killed while a total of 1,095 have been wounded while taking refuge at UN sites.

Hamas delegation in Egypt for ceasefire talks

On Friday a Hamas delegation arrived in Egypt to discuss Cairo’s proposal for a ceasefire in Gaza.

Egypt has reportedly put forward a three-stage plan that would entail an initial cessation of hostilities for at least a week and the release of all remaining Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.

Hamas has previously rejected the Egyptian plan, but an official with the group said the resistance movement would seek “guarantees for a complete Israeli military withdrawal” from Gaza.

Israel launched its brutal onslaught on Gaza after it was caught off by Hamas Operation Al-Aqsa Storm on October 7. Despite international calls for a ceasefire, the regime’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tel Aviv will continue the war on Gaza until it achieves “all the objectives we’ve set ourselves.”

Hamas, however, said on Thursday that its operation against the regime has put Israel “on the path of extinction.”

Ramming in West Bank

Israeli forces shot dead a Palestinian in the occupied West Bank on Friday, medics said after military officials alleged he carried out a car ramming. 

The military alleged that the driver rammed the car into people near a military post south of the city of Hebron.

The Magen David Adom paramedic service said that it treated one person in moderate condition and three others who were lightly wounded.

Violence has surged in the territory since October 7, with Israeli forces and settlers killing at least 314 Palestinians.

Top News

Wrestling Body Office Moved Out Of BJP MP Brij Bhushan's Residence

admin 0

Wrestling Body Office Moved Out Of BJP MP Brij Bhushan's Residence

New Delhi:

The Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) on Friday moved its office out of the residence of its former president and BJP MP Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, after the sports ministry had recently raised serious objections to it.

“The WFI will operate from a new address in New Delhi after vacating Brij Bhushan’s premises,” a source told PTI on condition of anonymity.

The new WFI office is located in the Hari Nagar area of New Delhi.

The ministry, while suspending the newly-formed WFI panel under president Sanjay Singh on December 24, three days after he was elected its head, had cited the office running from Brij Bhushan’s residence as one of the reasons for taking the stringent action.

“The business of the federation is being run from the premises controlled by former office bearers (Brij Bhushan) — which is also the alleged premises wherein sexual harassment of the players have been alleged and present(ly) the court is hearing the matter,” the ministry had said in its letter.

The ministry also said the new body was working under the “complete control of former (WFI) office-bearers”, which was not in conformity with the National Sports Code.

Several top wrestlers, including Olympic medallists Bajrang Punia and Sakshi Malik and World Championship medallist Vinesh Phogat have levelled allegations of sexual harassment against Brij Bhushan and the case is being heard in the Delhi High Court.

After Sanjay Singh, a close aide of Brij Bhushan, was elected WFI chief on December 21, Sakshi decided to retire from wrestling, while Bajrang returned his Padma Shri and Vinesh decided to give her Khel Ratna and Arjuna Award back, alleging they did not want any close associate of the BJP MP to run the federation.

The Indian Olympic Association (IOA) has once again instituted a three-member ad-hoc committee under the chairmanship of Wushu Association of India chief Bhupender Singh Bajwa to run the affairs of the sport. 
 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Hyderabad

Adilabad sees a spurt in crimes in 2023

admin 0

Superintendent of Police D Uday Kumar Reddy said that 4,050 crimes were reported in this year as against 3,306 crimes last year, indicating a rise by 22.50 percent.

Published Date – 09:56 PM, Fri – 29 December 23


Adilabad sees a spurt in crimes in 2023

SP Uday Kumar Reddy addresses pressmen in Adilabad on Friday

Adilabad: Annual crime rate has drastically gone up in the district in 2023 when compared to that of 2022. Superintendent of Police D Uday Kumar Reddy briefed newsmen about crimes reported in this year on Friday.

Reddy said that 4,050 crimes were reported in this year as against 3,306 crimes last year, indicating a rise by 22.50 percent. The district, known for peace and tranquility, recorded 11 murders in 2023 compared to one in 2022. Offences relating to property have gone up from 188 in 2022 to 264 in 2023, suggesting an increase by 40 percent.

The superintendent of police further said that the district registered 6,714 drunken drive cases in this year and 5,494 cases in corresponding period, reflecting a rise by 22 percent. It saw 29 cases with regard to Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances ((NDPS) Act as against 18 cases in 2022, posting a spurt by 66 percent.

However, the district witnessed a dip in crimes against women. It witnessed 309 offences against women reported in the current year when compared to 329 in the last year, reflecting a decline by 6 percent. Gambling and crimes against Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes dropped significantly in 2023. A total of 90 cases of gambling were reported in this year as against 118 cases in 2022.

Meanwhile, the annual conviction rate of the district has gone up thanks to sustained efforts made by the investigating officials. As many as 777 cases were convicted in 2023 when compared to 726 convictions secured in 2022, suggesting a rise by 7 percent. Two accused persons were sentenced to life imprisonment, while four persons were jailed for 10 years and above.

World

Iran says E3, US had better stop pressure on its nuke program

admin 0

Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kan’ani made the statement on Friday in reaction to a joint statement issued by the three European parties to the 2015 nuclear agreement – Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) and the United States on Thursday.

The Western statement has condemned what is claimed to be an increase by Iran in the production rate of highly enriched uranium of up to 60% purity.

As always, the Iranian official underscored the peaceful nature of Iran’s nuclear program. He said Tehran still believes diplomacy is the best approach toward the removal of unreal concerns about the peaceful Iranian nuclear activities.

“Now the ball is in the court of the US and the three European countries. They should take the necessary political decisions by abandoning the policy of issuing statements and fruitless pressure,” Kan’ani stated.

The US and the European troika – also known as the E3 – have left the negotiating table, the Iranian diplomat reminded. They are, therefore, in no position to make any comment about Iran’s nuclear program, he added.

“Enrichment at 60% level in Iran’s enrichment centers has always been and will continue to be in accordance with the peaceful needs of the country and fully under the supervision of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).”

Instead of pursuing a blame-game policy and taking politically-motivated positions, the US and the E3 had better review their performance regarding the sanctions removal talks in the past two years and observe the outcome of their unconstructive policies, Kan’ani said.

The spokesman reiterated Iran’s position in continuing cooperation with the IAEA.

Unilateral demands and unwillingness to correct the wrong measures taken by Western countries will not help settle the nuclear issue, the Iranian official said.

In May 2019, a year after the US unilaterally withdrew from the JCPOA, Iran started to take “remedial measures” by reducing its commitments under the deal after the European troika failed to fulfill theirs.

Tehran began to gradually remove a cap set in the JCPOA on its nuclear activities at bi-monthly intervals. At the time, Iran also maintained that if the Iranian economy was shielded from sanctions, it would reverse its nuclear decision.

In September, President Ebrahim Raeisi said Iran’s uranium enrichment to the purity level of 60% was in response to the lack of commitment by the three European parties to the JCPOA.

RHM/Press TV

Top News

Telangana govt to order judicial probe into Kaleshwaram

admin 0

The Government has nothing personal against any officials or anyone else involved in the construction of the barrages as part of KLIS, says Uttam Kumar Reddy.

Published Date – 09:46 PM, Fri – 29 December 23


Telangana govt to order judicial probe into Kaleshwaram

Ministers D Sridhar Babu, Komatreddy Venkat Reddy, Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy and Ponnnam Prabhakar visited Medigadda Barrage as part of a stock- taking mission on Friday.

Hyderabad: Irrigation Minister N Uttamkumar Reddy declared that the State Government would order a judicial probe into the irregularities into the implementation of the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Scheme (KLIS).

The Government has nothing personal against any officials or anyone else involved in the construction of the barrages as part of KLIS. But the concerns being raised by people have to be addressed and the responsibility should be fixed for quality lapses, he said while speaking to media persons at Medigadda on Friday.

Dismissing the bomb blast theory sought to be attributed for the sagging of piers, the Minister said it sounded improper. “The probe will be entrusted to a sitting judge. The inquiry, investigation and repair works will happen and this will make the project non-operational or less operational for a period of time,” Uttam Kumar Reddy said, adding due to the damage of the Medigadda and Annaram barrages, the SRSP Phase II ayacut would be reduced in this crop.

As on date, the total cost of the project is Rs.1.27 lakh crore and there was no clarity on how much more expenditure would have to be incurred. The financial burden on Telangana government due to Kaleshwaram project would be Rs.15,000 crore a year. About Rs.10,000 crore bills were still pending with the irrigation department, the Minister said.

“Our suspicions regarding Kaleshwaram project’s design, quality, and sustainability have come true. We had raised those doubts in the Assembly and in the Parliament. But the then BRS government stressed that the project as the world’s largest project,” Uttam Kumar Reddy reminded. He further said that the representatives of the L&T and other agencies were asked to participate during the power point presentation so that they can present their point of view.

Former Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao did not utter a word over the Meddigadda accident. Irrigation officials were barred access to the area and closed the barrage on both sides. All those, who were responsible for the damage would be held accountable, the Minister said.

Industries Minister D Sridhar Babu said that the areas that should have been covered under the Pranahita-Chevella project were left high and dry. “The KLIS has failed to quench their thirst” he said.

Roads and Buildings Minister Komatreddy Venkat Reddy said the KLIS was not in consonance with standard procedures. Revenue Minister Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy wanted steps to fix the responsibility for the lapses. Transport Minister Ponnnam Prabhakar also expressed his disappointment over the sinking of Medigadda piers.

Hyderabad

TSRTC expanding fleet with 80 modern buses for free women’s travel scheme

admin 0

In response to the surge in passenger numbers following the implementation of the Maha Lakshmi Women Free Bus Travel Scheme, the Telangana State Road Transport Corporation (TSRTC) plans to integrate 80 state-of-the-art buses, equipped with modern amenities, into its existing fleet.

Published Date – 09:15 PM, Fri – 29 December 23


TSRTC expanding fleet with 80 modern buses for free women’s travel scheme


Hyderabad: To accommodate the increase in the passenger traffic due to the Maha Lakshmi Women Free Bus Travel Scheme, the Telangana State Road Transport Corporation (TSRTC) will introduce 80 new buses with modern features into its vehicle fleet.

These vehicles, which include Express, Rajdhani, Lahari Sleeper cum Seater (Non-AC) buses will be flagged-off by Transport Minister Ponnam Prabhakar in the presence of TSRTC MD VC Sajjanar from Dr.B.R.Ambedkar statue on NTR Marg on Saturday.

The TSRTC has decided to purchase 1050 new advanced diesel buses at a cost of Rs 400 crore. In addition to these, it is bringing into use 540 environmental friendly electric vehicles in Hyderabad and 500 buses to other parts of the State. The corporation is planning to make these buses available to passengers by March 2024 in phases.