Malaysian opposition defends proposed budget

Malaysian opposition defends proposed budget PETALING JAYA: Malaysia's opposition on Friday defended its proposed budget, saying that the ruling party UMNO was resorting to scare tactics to win back votes. This was in response to remarks made by Prime Minister Najib Razak on Thursday. Mr Najib had said the opposition was unable to rule the country and warned Malaysians not to experiment by voting in the opposition and gamble away their future. Deputy president of Keadilan, or PKR, Azmin Ali accused the prime minister of spreading lies and trying to scare voters away from the opposition. He said this at a news conference at the party's headquarters on Friday. "He is lying about the figures, about the economic programmes we offer under the buku jingga, our budget," he said. Mr Azmin denied that the prime minister's charge that the opposition's proposed budget will bankrupt the country in no time. The opposition in their alternative budget proposed scrapping toll charges, lowering petrol prices and writing off student loans. Mr Azmin also insisted that Keadilan leader Anwar Ibrahim was capable of running the country and its economy, citing Anwar's track record in running the economy when he was the country's finance minister in the 90s. The country's annual growth hovered between 9 per cent and 10 per cent when Anwar was finance minister. Malaysia's gross domestic product hardly breaches 5 per cent now, while its national debt level has soared over five times. Kalasahan Abdul Halim, deputy women chief of UMNO's Semporna Division, also announced at the new conference that she had joined the opposition, citing loss of confidence with the ruling party UMNO. "I don't like UMNO because of all the scandals, it's shameful for women," she said. UMNO delegates, who are in the midst of their annual congress, have brushed off attacks from the opposition. The opposition had promised more defections, especially from the eastern state of Sabah in the coming weeks. - CNA/jc

Malaysian opposition defends proposed budget

Malaysian opposition defends proposed budget PETALING JAYA: Malaysia's opposition on Friday defended its proposed budget, saying that the ruling party UMNO was resorting to scare tactics to win back votes. This was in response to remarks made by Prime Minister Najib Razak on Thursday. Mr Najib had said the opposition was unable to rule the country and warned Malaysians not to experiment by voting in the opposition and gamble away their future. Deputy president of Keadilan, or PKR, Azmin Ali accused the prime minister of spreading lies and trying to scare voters away from the opposition. He said this at a news conference at the party's headquarters on Friday. "He is lying about the figures, about the economic programmes we offer under the buku jingga, our budget," he said. Mr Azmin denied that the prime minister's charge that the opposition's proposed budget will bankrupt the country in no time. The opposition in their alternative budget proposed scrapping toll charges, lowering petrol prices and writing off student loans. Mr Azmin also insisted that Keadilan leader Anwar Ibrahim was capable of running the country and its economy, citing Anwar's track record in running the economy when he was the country's finance minister in the 90s. The country's annual growth hovered between 9 per cent and 10 per cent when Anwar was finance minister. Malaysia's gross domestic product hardly breaches 5 per cent now, while its national debt level has soared over five times. Kalasahan Abdul Halim, deputy women chief of UMNO's Semporna Division, also announced at the new conference that she had joined the opposition, citing loss of confidence with the ruling party UMNO. "I don't like UMNO because of all the scandals, it's shameful for women," she said. UMNO delegates, who are in the midst of their annual congress, have brushed off attacks from the opposition. The opposition had promised more defections, especially from the eastern state of Sabah in the coming weeks. - CNA/jc

Hearing on Zee editors' bail deferred, DCP to explain lapse NEW DELHI: The hearing on bail pleas of Zee group editors, accused of attempting to extort Rs 100 crore from a firm of Congress MP Naveen Jindal, was deferred on Saturday by a Delhi court to December 3 due to absence of the prosecutor and the investigating officer. Irked over the non-appearance of the two, Metropolitan Magistrate Gaurav Rao also asked a senior police officer to explain the lapse. “Why the IO and the PP are not available despite prior information from this court? Let, a written explanation be filed by the DCP concerned,” said Rao, adding the arguments on bail pleas of Zee News head Sudhir Chaudhary and Zee Business Editor Samir Ahluwalia would now be heard on December 3. The jailed editors, whose bail pleas have been dismissed once, filed fresh ones on Friday and the police was supposed to argue the case after filing their replies on Saturday. The court, however, deferred the hearing as the IO and the PP did not appear despite prior information. The two editors were on Friday remanded to 14 days’ judicial custody till December 14. Except the IO and the PP, defence counsel Rebecca John and advocate Ramesh Gupta, who represented complainant Jindal Steel and Power Ltd, were present. The journalists face charges of extortion and criminal conspiracy. Punishment for the first is a maximum imprisonment of three years or fine or both. For criminal conspiracy, it’s up to six months or fine or both. Jindal has alleged that Zee News tried to extort Rs 100 crore in exchange for not airing stories linking him and his group to the coal blocks allocation scam. He had released a video-recording of meetings with executives of Zee TV and claimed it to be the proof that they were trying to extort money from him. Jindal said the news channel told his firm’s executives that if they did not spend Rs 100 crore on advertising, the channel would run negative stories on allocation of coal fields to his firm.

Hearing on Zee editors' bail deferred, DCP to explain lapse NEW DELHI: The hearing on bail pleas of Zee group editors, accused of attempting to extort Rs 100 crore from a firm of Congress MP Naveen Jindal, was deferred on Saturday by a Delhi court to December 3 due to absence of the prosecutor and the investigating officer. Irked over the non-appearance of the two, Metropolitan Magistrate Gaurav Rao also asked a senior police officer to explain the lapse. “Why the IO and the PP are not available despite prior information from this court? Let, a written explanation be filed by the DCP concerned,” said Rao, adding the arguments on bail pleas of Zee News head Sudhir Chaudhary and Zee Business Editor Samir Ahluwalia would now be heard on December 3. The jailed editors, whose bail pleas have been dismissed once, filed fresh ones on Friday and the police was supposed to argue the case after filing their replies on Saturday. The court, however, deferred the hearing as the IO and the PP did not appear despite prior information. The two editors were on Friday remanded to 14 days’ judicial custody till December 14. Except the IO and the PP, defence counsel Rebecca John and advocate Ramesh Gupta, who represented complainant Jindal Steel and Power Ltd, were present. The journalists face charges of extortion and criminal conspiracy. Punishment for the first is a maximum imprisonment of three years or fine or both. For criminal conspiracy, it’s up to six months or fine or both. Jindal has alleged that Zee News tried to extort Rs 100 crore in exchange for not airing stories linking him and his group to the coal blocks allocation scam. He had released a video-recording of meetings with executives of Zee TV and claimed it to be the proof that they were trying to extort money from him. Jindal said the news channel told his firm’s executives that if they did not spend Rs 100 crore on advertising, the channel would run negative stories on allocation of coal fields to his firm.

Bus catches fire; five killed NAGPUR: Five persons, including two children, were charred to death when a private luxury bus caught fire in the wee hours today at Hinganghat, about 100 km from here, police said. The bus, carrying a marriage party was on its way back to Hinganghat, when the blaze broke out in the vehicle near Jam village, killing five passengers on the spot, they said. Six others were injured in the mishap. The cause of the fire is not yet known and further investigations are on. The deceased are yet to be identified

Bus catches fire; five killed NAGPUR: Five persons, including two children, were charred to death when a private luxury bus caught fire in the wee hours today at Hinganghat, about 100 km from here, police said. The bus, carrying a marriage party was on its way back to Hinganghat, when the blaze broke out in the vehicle near Jam village, killing five passengers on the spot, they said. Six others were injured in the mishap. The cause of the fire is not yet known and further investigations are on. The deceased are yet to be identified

Rajesh Khanna's wife Dimple moves HC in domestic violence case

Rajesh Khanna's wife Dimple moves HC in domestic violence case MUMBAI: Rajesh Khanna's actress wife Dimple Kapadia has moved the Bombay High Court for quashing a case of domestic violence filed against her and family by a woman claiming to have been in a live-in relationship with the late superstar. Anita Advani, in her complaint against Kapadia and others, has claimed she was driven out of Khanna's Bandra bungalow 'Ashirwad' after his death and sought maintenance from the actor's estate. In her petition, Kapadia has contended that she was the legally wedded wife of Khanna and as such no other woman can claim share in the wealth left behind by her husband. Kapadia has also challenged the notices issued to her and family members by a Bandra Magistrate on Advani's complaint alleging domestic violence and seeking monthly maintenance from Khanna's estate. The Magistrate, Dimple argued, should not have entertained the complaint which has made "baseless" charges. She has contended that it was "unreasonable" for the Magistrate to even suggest that she and her family go in for a compromise with the complainant in which case he would refer the matter for mediation. The Magistrate while hearing Advani's complaint, had earlier this week issued summonses to Kapadia, her daughters Twinkle Kumar and Rinki Saran and actor son-in-law Akshay Kumar asking them to appear in person before the court to answer the allegations, which besides domestic violence includes forging Khanna's will. Along with Kapadia, Akshay Kumar too has filed a petition in the High Court supporting her contention that Advani had no right to claim any share from Khanna's properties which is said to be to the tune of Rs 500 crores. Khanna's daughters Twinkle Kumar, wife of Akshay Kumar and Rinki Saran, are in the process of filing the petition in the High Court, sources said. Kapadia and Kumar have sought a stay on the proceedings before the Bandra Magistrate till disposal of the matter by the High Court. The matter is likely to come up for hearing on December 3 before Justice K U Chandiwal.

Rajesh Khanna's wife Dimple moves HC in domestic violence case

Rajesh Khanna's wife Dimple moves HC in domestic violence case MUMBAI: Rajesh Khanna's actress wife Dimple Kapadia has moved the Bombay High Court for quashing a case of domestic violence filed against her and family by a woman claiming to have been in a live-in relationship with the late superstar. Anita Advani, in her complaint against Kapadia and others, has claimed she was driven out of Khanna's Bandra bungalow 'Ashirwad' after his death and sought maintenance from the actor's estate. In her petition, Kapadia has contended that she was the legally wedded wife of Khanna and as such no other woman can claim share in the wealth left behind by her husband. Kapadia has also challenged the notices issued to her and family members by a Bandra Magistrate on Advani's complaint alleging domestic violence and seeking monthly maintenance from Khanna's estate. The Magistrate, Dimple argued, should not have entertained the complaint which has made "baseless" charges. She has contended that it was "unreasonable" for the Magistrate to even suggest that she and her family go in for a compromise with the complainant in which case he would refer the matter for mediation. The Magistrate while hearing Advani's complaint, had earlier this week issued summonses to Kapadia, her daughters Twinkle Kumar and Rinki Saran and actor son-in-law Akshay Kumar asking them to appear in person before the court to answer the allegations, which besides domestic violence includes forging Khanna's will. Along with Kapadia, Akshay Kumar too has filed a petition in the High Court supporting her contention that Advani had no right to claim any share from Khanna's properties which is said to be to the tune of Rs 500 crores. Khanna's daughters Twinkle Kumar, wife of Akshay Kumar and Rinki Saran, are in the process of filing the petition in the High Court, sources said. Kapadia and Kumar have sought a stay on the proceedings before the Bandra Magistrate till disposal of the matter by the High Court. The matter is likely to come up for hearing on December 3 before Justice K U Chandiwal.

Engineering student found hanging

Engineering student found hanging ETAWAH: A second year B Tech student of Bhimrao Ambedkar Agriculture Engineering College here was found hanging in a hostel room under mysterious circumstances this morning. Police said Mannu Singh, aged 18 years, was found hanging with a towel in the hostel room. "We are looking into all the angles, including suicide, with regard to the student's death," a police officer said.

Engineering student found hanging

Engineering student found hanging ETAWAH: A second year B Tech student of Bhimrao Ambedkar Agriculture Engineering College here was found hanging in a hostel room under mysterious circumstances this morning. Police said Mannu Singh, aged 18 years, was found hanging with a towel in the hostel room. "We are looking into all the angles, including suicide, with regard to the student's death," a police officer said.