Beyonce bags three Grammy Awards

________ A to Z kerala .......... [kvk] [www.atozkerala.in , www.atozkerala.blogspot.com]

LOS ANGELES: Singer Beyonce Knowles dominated the R&B categories by winning Best R&B Performance and Best R&B Song for "Drunk in love" at the 57th Grammy Awards ceremony held at the Staples Center here Sunday night.   On winning the Grammy for Best R&B Performance, Beyonce said it was an "incredible year" and she thanked her husband Jay Z and their daughter.   Her self-titled album also won the Best Surround Sound Album.   Beyonce was also one of the performers.   Hosted by rapper LL Cool J, the ceremony has been attended by stars like Taylor Swift, Enrique Iglesias, Lady Gaga, Nicole Kidman and Paul McCartney.

National Games: Kerala wins 19th gold

________ A to Z kerala .......... [kvk] [www.atozkerala.in , www.atozkerala.blogspot.com]

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: In the National Games, Kerala got the 19th gold when in athletics, O P Jaisha came first in the 5000 metre race. Her victory is a National Games record.

Eight arrested in Rohtak murder-cum-rape case

________ A to Z kerala .......... [kvk] [www.atozkerala.in , www.atozkerala.blogspot.com]

ROHTAK: Under attack over handling of the rape-cum-murder case of a mentally challenged woman from Nepal, Haryana police Monday arrested eight youths here and promised action in case of any lapse by its personnel. The opposition Congress latched on to the incident, which came to light on February 4, to target the BJP government in the state on the law and order situation, saying it was “yet to wake up from the slumber”, and demanded reconstitution of SIT under an IG level officer to go into the horrific incident. DGP Yashpal Singhal, who visited the crime spot, said that the arrested accused are in their twenties and appear to be criminals. “The case has been cracked and eight youths out of total nine have been arrested from Gaddikhera village, some 9 km from Rohtak,” he said. In a grim reminder of the December 16 gang-rape in Delhi, a 28-year-old mentally-challenged woman from Nepal was brutally raped and murdered and her body dumped in a field at a village on the Rohtak-Hisar Highway. The woman had been brutally assaulted as the post-mortem report mentions several injuries on her private parts. Stones and blades were found in her stomach. The victim had been residing with her sister for the past three months and was undergoing treatment at the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences (PGIMS) in Rohtak. The victim’s sister had lodged a complaint with police on February 1 and on February 4, the woman’s body was found from the fields in Akbarpur village with several injury marks on it, Rohtak Superintendent of Police Shashank Anand had said. On the issue of alleged police apathy, the DGP said they swung into action the moment the complaint was lodged and a DSP rank officer is himself working on it. “If, however, any lapse on the part of police officials is found, action will be taken as per law against them,” the DGP said. After the details of the crime surfaced, opposition Congress, including former chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, CLP leader Kiran Choudhary and AICC spokesman Randeep Singh Surjewala had strongly deplored the incident and accused the Manohar Lal Khattar dispensation of lawlessness in the state. The Congress also demanded a special investigation team (SIT) under an IG-level officer to probe the case. Describing the Rohtak incident as eerily similar to the December 16, 2012 Delhi gang-rape case, Congress spokesperson Surjewala hit out at the BJP government in Haryana saying that it was “yet to wake up from its slumber”. Surjewala alleged that while Haryana BJP government had spent lakhs of rupees on ‘Beti Bachao Yojana’, Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar and his ministers had not found time to even visit the victim’s family so far.

AAP heads for landslide victory in Delhi

________ A to Z kerala .......... [kvk] [www.atozkerala.in , www.atozkerala.blogspot.com]

NEW DELHI: Halting the Narendra Modi juggernaut, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) was Tuesday headed for a landslide victory in the Delhi Assembly elections in a sweep that pulverised the BJP and decimated the Congress. The AAP was leading in a staggering 66 seats in the 70-member assembly with its nearest rival BJP far behind at a paltry three seats. Congress, which ruled the national capital for 15 years till December 2013, may not even open its account while the INLD was ahead in one seat. In an election that was billed as a referendum on Prime Minister Narendra Modi but rejected by BJP as such, the AAP wave spearheaded by its chief Arvind Kejriwal knocked the two major parties and their veterans from their citadels. In all the assembly elections that followed the spectacular victory in the May Lok Sabha polls, the BJP formed governments in Maharastra, Haryana, Jharkhand and emerged the second largest party in Jammu and Kashmir with highest vote share. AAP chief Kejriwal was leading in the prestigious New Delhi constituency while BJP's Chief Ministerial nominee Kiran Bedi was leading by 800 votes in Krishna Nagar seat, considered a traditional stronghold of the party. Congress' Chief Ministerial candidate Ajay Maken was trailing in Sadar Bazar seat. As the voting trends trickled in showing a massive landslide for AAP, Modi called Kejriwal over phone to congratulate him on the victory. He assured Kejriwal of Centre's complete support in the development of Delhi. Bedi also congratulated Kejriwal saying "full marks to Arvind." Maken, whose party has been decimated in the elections, resigned as Congress General Secretary taking full responsibility for the debacle. In 2013 polls, AAP had got 28 seats, BJP 31 and Congress in eight seats. Kejriwal had formed a short-lived government with Congress support and resigned after 49 days on the issue of Lokpal Bill. The defeat for BJP was all the more bitter because it had won all the seven Lok Sabha seats in the last year's general elections. The party's gamble of making Bedi its Chief Ministerial candidate back fired. Kejriwal thanked Modi for his greetings and said he would like to meet him soon to discuss issues related to Delhi. He told the Prime Minister that he will need the Centre's help. Expressing happiness over the party's performance, AAP leader Yogendra Yadav said, "it was not just under class, but the middle class also voted for AAP. The (Narendra Modi) juggernaut seems to have halted at least for now." Reacting to the election trends, BJP said the polls were a referendum on Kejriwal and it should not be linked to the performance of Narendra Modi government. "I do not see in this way," BJP spokesperson GVL Narsimha Rao said when asked whether the elections were a referendum on Modi's performance. "In this election it was a referendum on Arvind Kejriwal. That's how people of Delhi saw it. I think people have certainly voted for Kejriwal. It was a referdum of AAP's 49 days in office and its performance. People felt they should be given a chance," he said. Hailing AAP's performance, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Baneerjee called the election result a turning point in the country's political situation. "Delhi election is a turning point of the present political situation. Shows political vendetta has no place in a democracy. Country needed this change," she said in a tweet. "This is a victory for the people and a big defeat for the arrogant and those who are doing political vendetta & spreading hate among people," Banerjee said in another tweet. As trends showed AAP's thumping victory, Bedi said she will take responsibility if BJP was defeated in the polls. Bedi was trailing after two rounds round of counting in the Krishna Nagar constituency. AAP candidate and former Minister Rakhi Birla was leading in Mangolpuri constituency in North West Delhi against her Congress rival Raj Kumar Chouhan. Another former AAP Minister Somnath Bharti was ahead in Malviya Nagar constituency in South Delhi over his Congress opponent Yoganand Shastri. AAP leader and former Minister Manish Sisodia was leading in Patparganj seat in East Delhi against ex-AAP MLA and BJP candidate Vinod Kumar Binny. BJP's Jagdish Mukhi was ahead in Janakpuri. Former AAP Minister Sourav Bhardwaj was leading from Greater Kailash where Congress' had fielded President Pranab Mukherjee's daughter Sharmistha Mukherjee. AAP's Sharad Chauhan was leading in Narela. AAP was also leading in Mehrauli, Kasturba Nagar and Jangpur. With early leads giving the party a considerable lead, hundreds of AAP supporters broke into celebrations and raised slogans 'paanch saal Kejriwal' (5 years for Kejriwal). Every lead projected on the massive LCD screen set up at AAP's East Patel Nagar office was being cheered by supporters. Kejriwal reached the office early in the morning and is expected to address supporters after the final results are declared. Senior party leaders Sisodia, Kumar Vishwas, Yogendra Yadav and Sanjay Singh were also present at the three-storey office and monitoring the results from there.

Nuns, priests in govt service have to pay income tax: Kerala HC

________ A to Z kerala .......... [kvk] [www.atozkerala.in , www.atozkerala.blogspot.com]

KOCHI: Kerala high court on Thursday held that nuns and priests employed in government service are liable to pay income tax.

The court passed the order dismissing 49 petitions by nuns and members of congregations, who are employed in aided educational institutions in the state.

Justice AK Jayshankar Nambiar upheld the stand of income tax authorities that tax was required to be deducted at source from payments by way of salaries, pensions from persons, who are members of religious congregations.

The court held that right to receive payments by way of salary or pension accrues to them as individuals and not to the congregations.

The petitioners contended that they have to handover their salaries to congregations and hence, it cannot be considered as their own income.

The court held that remuneration in the nature of salary and pension has to be treated as income.

Singer Shreya Ghoshal ties knot with Shiladitya

________ A to Z kerala .......... [kvk] [www.atozkerala.in , www.atozkerala.blogspot.com]

Mumbai: Singer Shreya Ghoshal got married to Shiladitya Mukhopadhyaya at a private function held on Thursday night. The marriage was held as per Bengali tradition, revealed Shreya on her Facebook and Twitter. Only relatives of the couple and close friends attended the marriage.

'Married the love of my life yesterday night (5th feb) in a beautiful bengali traditional wedding in presence of our families and closest friends. Shiladitya and I both seek your good wishes in this exciting new phase of our lives,' Shreya posted on her Facebook page.

Mukhopadhyaya is anentrepreneur, as per his Twitter handle.
 

Acts of religious intolerance in India would have shocked Gandhi: Obama

________ A to Z kerala .......... [kvk] [www.atozkerala.in , www.atozkerala.blogspot.com]

Washington: US President Barack Obama on Thursday invoked India's example to make a plea for religious freedom and how faith leads people to do good and what's right but that faith also can be twisted to be used as a weapon.

In a 25-minute address to the National Prayer Breakfast, Obama who last month visited India with First Lady Michelle called it 'an incredible, beautiful country, full of magnificent diversity'.

But it was also 'a place where, in past years, religious faiths of all types have, on occasion, been targeted by other peoples of faith, simply due to their heritage and their beliefs', he said.

These, Obama said, were 'acts of intolerance that would have shocked Gandhiji, the person who helped to liberate that nation,' he said.

'So this is not unique to one group or one religion. There is a tendency in us, a sinful tendency that can pervert and distort our faith,' he told the meeting, attended by several international leaders including the Dalai Lama.

'We see faith driving us to do right. But we also see faith being twisted and distorted, used as a wedge - or, worse, sometimes used as a weapon,' Obama said.

'From a school in Pakistan to the streets of Paris, we have seen violence and terror perpetrated by those who profess to stand up for faith, their faith, professed to stand up for Islam, but, in fact, are betraying it,' he said.

Earlier this week, a senior aide of Obama had said that Obama's last speech in New Delhi referring to the need for religious tolerance in India had been misconstrued by some commentators as a kind of a parting shot.

'I think that's been somewhat misconstrued, if you look at the context of the entire speech, it's really about inclusivity. It's about the power of diversity,' Phil Reiner, White House's senior director for South Asian Affairs, told foreign media.

As he began speaking, Obama called the Dalai Lama a 'good friend' and 'a powerful example of what it means to practice compassion and who inspires us to speak up for the freedom and dignity of all human beings'.

Earlier as he arrived, Obama nodded and smiled at the Dalai Lama, waving after clasping his hands together in a bow-like gesture toward Tibet's exiled spiritual leader.

The two did not meet directly, but senior Obama adviser Valerie Jarrett was seated with the Dalai Lama at a table in the front row across from the president.

Despite Beijing's objections, Obama has met the Dalai Lama previously three times, most recently in February 2014.

As he arrived at the Washington Hilton Hotel for the meeting, two groups of supporters of the Dalai Lama chanted to drum beats and waved banners and Tibetan flags on the street outside the hotel.

IANS

Students locked in room for not paying fees; principal in custody

________ A to Z kerala .......... [kvk] [www.atozkerala.in , www.atozkerala.blogspot.com]
Kozhikode: Causing psychological and mental trauma to the children of Hill Top Public School in Kozhikode, school authorities locked the children in a room for failing to pay the school fees. Police have taken the principal of the school into custody. Many children suffered uneasiness because of the heat.

The last day for paying school fees was December 10 and many students had defaulted on payment. They were asked to remain in a locked room. The school principal said that the children were only asked to remain in a separate room and it was not locked. However, children and their parents protested over this and the police took the principal into custody.

AAA Lalism: Will return the full amount to govt, says Mohanlal

________ A to Z kerala .......... [kvk] [www.atozkerala.in , www.atozkerala.blogspot.com]

Thiruvananthapuram: Cine Actor Mohanlal, who owns musical band Lalism, on Monday said he would return the whole amount he received for the show at the inaugural of he 35th National Games.

The band had received Rs 1,63,77,600 for the event. It will be remitted in the same account, he said in an e-mail sent to governement.

Mohanlal said he took the decision in the wake of the event receiving widespread criticism. He added that the allegations hurt him deeply.

Earlier in the day, Sports Minister Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan had said that Mohanlal would come up with reply to the criticism over Lalism.

'It is obvious that those opposing Mohanlal would attempt to spread negative opinion about his programme. Mohanlal has the capability to give them a fitting reply. We considered many, including A R Rahman, for the ceremony. Given the low expense and star value, Lalism was chosen,' he had said.

The minister further said that he is not talented enough to analyse the show critically.

'However, the controversies should not overshadow the grandeur of the inaugural ceremony,' he said.

Petrol price slashed by Rs.2.42 per litre, diesel Rs.2.25

________ A to Z kerala .......... [kvk] [www.atozkerala.in , www.atozkerala.blogspot.com]

New Delhi, Feb 3 (IANS) With international crude oil prices continuing to rule below $50 per barrel, the three state-run oil marketing companies (OMCs) Tuesday decided to reduce petrol and diesel prices.

Taking into account the effect of state levies, the petrol price in Delhi will be cut by Rs.2.42 per litre, while diesel cost will come down by Rs.2.25 per litre from midnight Tuesday.

As a result of the latest price revision, consumers would have to shell out Rs.56.49 per litre for petrol and Rs.46.01 per litre for diesel at the fuel stations in the national capital (subject to state levies).

Currently, petrol is priced at Rs.58.91 per litre and diesel cost per litre is pegged at Rs.48.26.

According to Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), the latest revision was done keeping in account the deceleration of prices globally and the appreciation in rupee-dollar exchange rate.

'The combined impact of both these factors warrant a decrease in retail selling prices of both petrol and diesel,' IOC said.

On Jan 16, the three state-run OMCs had cut petrol price by Rs.2.42 a litre and that of diesel by Rs.2.25 per litre.

This is the third time since the beginning of 2015, that the prices of both the transportation fuels have been reduced.

IANS