MASS ANTI-CORRUPTION RALLIES HIT RUSSIA
Moscow court has found opposition figure Alexei Navalny guilty of organizing an unauthorized rally in the center of the Russian capital at the weekend and fined him 20,000 rubles ($350), a TASS correspondent reports from the courtroom.
According to the police, about 500 people were detained in an unauthorized rally in the center of Moscow on March 26.
During the court hearing, Navalny blamed the Moscow government for detentions as it had not allowed the rally and had failed to offer an alternative venue within the timeframe established by law.
The rally’s organizers earlier rejected a proposal by the city’s authorities to hold the protest in Sokolniki Park in northeast Moscow or in the area of Maryino in the southeast of the Russian capital. As a result, opposition organizations held their action in the center of Moscow. The action was not agreed with the city’s authorities.
Navalny said in the court he was the organizer of the rally but called it lawful and consistent with a decision by Russia’s Constitutional Court.
“We turned to the Moscow government for the action’s approval. Under law, they were required to agree it within three days or offer an alternative place but this was not done. That is why, pursuant to a decision by the Constitutional Court, we had the right to hold the rally in the place we initially requested,” the opposition figure said.
Navalny’s lawyer Olga Mikhailova blamed the Moscow government for detaining the rally’s participants. “The Moscow authorities were required to agree within three days the place proposed by us or offer an alternative but we were denied the approval while they failed to offer a new place within three days,” Mikhailova said.
As the lawyer noted, the Moscow authorities proposed alternative places immediately before the action. “But it was already late,” she said, asking the court to drop administrative charges against Navalny.
Navalny was charged with an administrative offence under part 1, article 20.2.2. of Russia’s Code of Administrative Offenses (“Organizing Mass Simultaneous Presence and (or) Movement of Citizens in Public Places That Caused Violation of Public Order”). This article carries a maximum punishment in the form of an administrative arrest for 15 days. Under law, upon the presence of two decisions on administrative offences, law-enforcement bodies may ask a court to replace Navalny’s suspended sentence in the Yves Rocher embezzlement case with a real prison term.
TASS Inputs
ITALY WANTS US TO DO MORE TO FOSTER STABILITY IN LIBYA
G7 HOST ITALY WANTS US TO DO MORE TO FOSTER STABILITY IN LIBYA
Italy will push for greater US involvement in fostering stability in Libya when President Donald Trump and other world leaders meet in May, Italy’s deputy foreign minister said on Monday. Italy hosts the annual meeting of seven of the world’s biggest industrialized economies (G7) in the town of Taormina in Sicily on May 26-27. It will be Trump’s first scheduled trip to Europe. Deputy Foreign Minister Mario Giro said one of Italy’s foreign policy priorities was to build international support to unify Libya. “We hope – and at the G7 we will say it – that this issue interests also the US,” Giro said. Libya split into a patchwork of rival fiefdoms after a NATO-backed uprising led to the overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.
INDENTURE INDIAN LABOUR AT NMML
End of the Indenture.System
INDIA BEAT AUSTRALIA CLINCH SERIES
India beat Australia by 8 wickets in the Dharamsala Cricket Test and clinched the four Test series 2-1. India achieved the target of 106 runs for the loss of two wickets in their second innings on the fourth day of the 4th and final Test . This series between two titans of world cricket was probably the most competitive series that India played at home in recent years with excellent performance from both the sides and by the visitors performing at their best.
Lokesh Rahul was the highest scorer with 51 not out while Ajinkya Rahane remained unbeaten at 38. Earlier, India resumed their second innings’ play at the overnight score of 19 for no loss. With this victory, the hosts also regained the Border Gavaskar Trophy.
After securing a vital first innings lead of 32, India took a firm grip on the match by skittling out the visitors for a paltry 137 in their second innings. For the hosts, paceman Umesh Yadav, spinners R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja took three wickets each, while Bhuvneswar kumar claimed one wicket.
Talented players has this to say after the game,Smith lauded India for their dominance despite Australia’s resolute show. “(It was a) magnificent series. One of the best I have been a part of. Credit to India, they are a fantastic cricket side, particularly in their backyard. If you give them a sniff, they will take that,” the Australian skipper said.
Smith too praised the hillside HPCA Stadium in Dharamsala, which was hosting a Test match for the first time.
“What an amazing ground. The wicket was a good one. Pace and bounce, that’s what we like. It suited spinners as well. If you are willing to bat time, you can get runs,” he said.
The scores so far:-
Australia – 300 and 137 all out.
India – 332 and 106 for 2.
India – 332 and 106 for 2.
SPORTS ENGAGEMENT PLATFORM ROOTER
Sports engagement platform Rooter raises seed round of funding from Intex Technologies
IT manufacturer emerges as strategic partner to help take the app to wider audiences
& bolster its tech backbone
& bolster its tech backbone
New Delhi, March 28, 2017: Rooter, the world’s first digital platform that connects, engages and helps sports audiences interact with each other on a real-time basis during sports events, has raised an undisclosed amount of funds from Intex, one of India’s fastest growing consumer electronic goods and accessories manufacturer. The sports social engagement app earlier successfully raised funds from Dhruv Chitgopekar and Prantik Dasgupta. It also holds the distinction of being the first venture that Bollywood star, Boman Irani, has invested in as an angel investor.
The freshly infused capital will be utilized to strengthen the tech team at Rooter, all the while maintaining a lean structure. It aims to also add more numbers to its Sales and Marketing team as well as to the content division to bolster the vernacular versions of the app. This round of funding will, in addition, help accelerate the platform’s expansion into South East Asian markets and catalyze partnerships with sports teams and leagues all around the world. Rooter’s ambition to carry out merchandizing activities and possibly fan-player interactions will also get a boost besides allowing it to leverage the superlative tech infrastructure of Intex.
Rooter has been identified as one of the most unique ideas to emerge out of the Indian start-up ecosystem, with no pre-existing business model to follow anywhere in the world. With its user engagement features such as live-match prediction, quizzes, and chat forums becoming extremely popular with users, Rooter’s audience base and the time spent by an average user on the app has increased significantly. With the approaching sports season, Rooter hopes to far exceed the 50000+ downloads it currently sits on, and aims to cross half a million downloads by the end of the IPL. Rooter will benefit from the state-of-the-art technological setup of Intex, access to which can help reduce Rooter’s R&D costs. The ready database of Intex will also be a goldmine for Rooter to find new users.
Commenting on the funding, Piyush, Founder & CEO, Rooter, said, “It gives us immense pleasure to receive funding from Intex, one of the most successful Indian IT devices and accessories manufacturers. Rooter is essentially a tech-based platform and we wanted to have an investor on board who could also be our strategic partner and help us evolve our product to fully realize it’s potential. Intex’s deep understanding of the smartphone world and its popularity in Tier-2 and 3 cities of India will help us to promote and develop Rooter’s unique idea further, optimizing it to perfectly fit the needs of smartphone users everywhere.”
Intex has had a thriving association with sports, and its director, Keshav Bansal, is the youngest franchise owner in the history of IPL. In January this year, Intex also owned the Gujarat Warriors in Super Fight League, foraying into the comparatively unknown world of MMA fighting in India.
Keshav Bansal, Spokesperson Intex, commented on the collaboration by saying, “Rooter has a great fundamental idea, and its recent numbers suggest that its popularity is zooming by the day. As sports are an extremely emotion-driven phenomenon and the sports fan engagement platform is a completely uncharted territory, Rooter has limitless scope for growth. We feel this collaboration will be a perfect synergistic match and will enable sports’ fans to enjoy their favourite games like never before.”
The average time spent by a user on Rooter has gone up from 2-3 minutes in September last year to 13-15 minutes currently. The number of daily active users is also growing at a brisk pace, with Rooter looking to engage more than 20,000 daily active users by the time IPL starts. This increased audience engagement, coupled with a growing list of different kinds of sports being incorporated into the app, has endeared Rooter to its target users and has boosted its attempt to revolutionize the sports viewing experience in India, and the rest of the world.
The deal was enabled by Kwan Entertainment & Marketing Solutions and Uday Ahlawat, Partner at Ahlawat and Associates, was the legal advisor for Rooter.
हिन्दू नव वर्ष विक्रम संवत 2074
प्रैस निमंत्रण
सेवा में,
संपादक महोदय/मुख्य संवाददाता/छायाकार
महोदय,
हिन्दू नव वर्ष विक्रम संवत 2074 आपके व आपके परिवार के लिए मंगलमय हो।
हिन्दू नव वर्ष विक्रम संवत 2074 (28 मार्च 2017)के पावन अवसर पर आज श्री बरसाना धाम फाऊण्डेशन(रजि.)की ओर से भजन संध्या ‘एक शाम श्री राधाकृष्ण जी के नाम’ का भव्य आयोजन सायं 6 बजे से किया जा रहा है। इस मौका पर अनेक साधु-महात्मा, धर्माचार्य, बुद्धिजीवी एवं अन्य गणमान्य व्यक्ति उपस्थित रहेंगे। कृपया निर्धारित कार्यानुसार पधारकर कृतार्थ करें
-: कार्यक्रम विवरण:-
दिनांकः 28 मार्च 2017 मंगलवार
कार्यक्रम आरंभ समय: सायं 6 बजे
भोजन प्रसाद: सायं 8 बजे
स्थान:: प्लाॅट न0 54, प्रिंस अपार्टमेंट, आई.पी. एक्सटेंशन, पटपड़गंज दिल्ली-92
अतः आपसे अनुरोध है कि कार्यक्रम स्थल पर अपना एक प्रतिनिधि/छायाकार भेजने की कृपा करें तथा इस कार्यक्रम को अपने दैनिक कार्यक्रमों में उचित स्थान देवें।
सादर।
भवदीय
जय भगवान गोयल
चेयरमैन, श्री बरसाना धाम फाऊण्डेशन
अध्यक्ष, राष्ट्रवादी शिवसेना
वरिष्ठ नेता, भारतीय जनता पार्टी
राष्ट्रीय महासचिव, यूनाईटेड हिन्दू फ्रंट
सम्पर्क सूत्र: 9810047536
SOCIO-CULTURAL REALITIES OF SANITATION PRACTICE IN INDIAN CITIES
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MERKEL’S CONSERVATIVES WIN SAARLAND STATE VOTE
Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservatives won a regional election in the western state of Saarland on Sunday, dealing a setback to their Social Democrat rivals and boosting her prospects of winning a fourth term in Germany’s Sept. 24 national election. Merkel’s Christian Democrats (CDU) strengthened their position as the largest party in the state despite expectations ahead of the vote that the Social Democrats (SPD) would be boosted by their new national leader, Martin Schulz. The CDU won 40.1 percent of the vote, up from 35.2 percent in the last election in Saarland in 2012, an exit poll for broadcaster ARD showed. The SPD slipped to 30.1 percent, down from 30.6 percent.
BULGARIA :GERB HAS AN EARLY LEAD
PRO-EUROPEAN PARTY TAKES LEAD IN BULGARIAN SNAP ELECTIONS
The pro-European GERB (Citizens for the European Development of Bulgaria) has taken an early lead in the snap parliamentary elections in Bulgaria, gaining 33.18 percent of the vote with less than 17 percent of the ballots counted, Bulgaria’s electoral commission said Sunday. In second place, with 27.45 percent, came the Bulgarian Socialist Party. Its leader, Kornelia Ninova, has already conceded defeat to GERB, promising that her party will not be a part of a coalition. However, Ninova added she is ready to form a government if GERB, led by former Prime Minister Boyko Borisov, fails to do so. Apart from two main parties, another three political entities managed to meet 4 percent threshold required to enter parliament, including the nationalist alliance United Patriots and the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF), which represents Bulgaria’s Turkish minority. An official tally of the votes is expected to be released on Thursday.
CHINA HIT QUAKE OF 5.1 MAGNITUDE
China an earthquake of 5.1 magnitude today hit Yangbi County in southwest Yunnan Province. China Earthquake Networks Centre said that quake struck at 7:55 am local time.
State-run Xinhua news agency reported that the epicentre of the quake was at a depth of about 12 kilometres.
HITACHI LOSS IN NUCLEAR BUSINESS
Hitachi may opt out of Nuclear business weighing the loss it has incurred.
Electronics firm Hitachi has announced that the group’s subsidiary in the nuclear fuel business will post a loss of about 590 million dollars for the fiscal year ending in March.
Hitachi and GE jointly created the firm to develop new technologies for uranium enrichment for nuclear power plants.Officials say after reviewing the value of the business, they were unable to forecast growth in the future.
Hitachi entered the business in 2007 expecting an increase in the construction of new nuclear plants.But the accident at Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant in 2011 has seen the nuclear power industry fall into a slump.