As per complaints were received by Real news of India, by local residents a sting operation with the help of Social Service branch and with the initiative of Real News of India was executed at 1pm on 16^th December. In the operation three pimps and three prostitutes were arrested. These pimps operate all over Mumbai with their clients from upper middle class and the rich. This racket has been going on for the past 12 years and location is Hill Road, in very close proximity to Bandra West Police station.

Real News of India received a lot of complaints from local residents about the illegal activities going around Hill Road. The police did not take any action towards this matter. It is now to be seen as to how Bandra West Police station takes up this issue.

Three girls have been arrested along with 3 pimps. They are at present under the custody of Bandra West Police Station. These girls hail from Kolkata and Delhi. There are many more prostitutes operating under this racket. The deal is done on a moving car. The rate is fixed by the pimp and then the girl is now transferred to the next car of the client. The ongoing rate per girl ranges from R4,000-Rs 25,000. Most of the girls come to Mumbai through the network of these pimps.

SS branch is active in these kinds of raids which are mostly prostitution, betting and CD piracy. They then hand over the case to the respective Police Station. However SS branch are very much in shortage of staff. Most of these illegal activities are happening in very close proximity of any given police station. It is a matter of concern and curiosity as to how the police do not know about these activities.

Five students from Sikkim and studying AT the Degree College of Physical Education (DCPE) Maharashtra (Amravati) run by famous Hanuman Vyayam Prasarak Mandal (HVPM) were severely injured in a clash over a minor dispute, police said.

The injured have been identified as Pempa, Lako, Prayaz Chhetri, Subhalal, Shishir Chhetri (all from Sikkim) and Mayur Kumar (from Delhi). They have been admitted to hospital.

Police said Pempa is in a critical condition.

According to police, a heated exchange of words between two students from Sikkim and Delhi in the afternoon, in which the Delhi student gave Ama ko galee to the student from Sikkim turned into a full-blown fight at the entrance of the college.

Police said Pempa, a basketball player, was attacked with stones by a group of 15-20 students from Delhi.

“Pempa ran for his life towards Gandhi Chowk and took shelter in a cracker shop belonging to one Thakur. His attackers chased him there and asked Thakur to hand him over to them. As Thakur refused, the group pelted his shop with stones,” said DCP Moreshwar Gharge.

The students also allegedly attacked some passersby and damaged private vehicles parked in the area.

Police have arrested one Bhajanlal Kishanchand Sharma in this connection, while other students are at large.

Gharge said that police are yet to register a case in this regard.

Nothing has been done to assist the students from Sikkim, while the arrested culprit is being given full facility.

NEW DELHI: Replacing old systems, adopting new technology, updating signaling system and educating staff are some of the steps Indian Railways have taken to increase safety and prevent accidents, the Lok Sabha was told today.

Minister of State for Railways Manoj Sinha said Railways is taking all possible steps to prevent accidents and enhance safety.

He said timely replacement of over-aged assets, adoption of suitable technologies, regular monitoring and educating staff about the issue of safety are some of the various measures adopted.

In response to a supplementary question, he said the gross expenditure on specific safety related activities has increased over the years.

In 2013-14, Rs 39,090 crore were spent on safety related activities. The budgetary estimates for 2014-15 for safety are Rs 43,443 crore, he said.
As on April 1, there were 2,25,863 vacancies in the 16 railway zones relating to posts under various categories, including safety.

Ranbir Kapoor might have missed the thunder with no releases in 2014, but with the onset of New Year and even prior to that, the Kapoor boy is surely making headlines. Some for his alleged love affair with Katrina Kaif and some for his upcoming films. The first look of his upcoming thriller Roy was revealed recently.

Black and white and very vintage, the Roy first look was revealed, sans the leading lady Jacqueline Fernandez. The first look captures a grungy, bearded Arjun Rampal sitting with a pensive Ranbir Kapoor. Despite the Kapoor Junior’s presence, Arjun’s rugged avatar seems to overshadow Ranbir’s in the picture. There’s a certain old world charm attached to the picture, giving it a very ’50s touch and B&W just adds on to the mood.

Though Jacqueline is missing from the first look, we hope to see her in the posters along with the two B-town hunks. But as for now, Arjun has certainly stolen all the thunder from Ranbir. But given Ranbir’s powerful acting prowess, there’s more to look out for in Roy, we believe

Downing Street says UK intelligence asked for redactions to be made in Senate report on the grounds of national security

References to Britain’s intelligence agencies were deleted at their request from the damning US report on the CIA’s use of torture after 9/11, it has emerged.

A spokesman for David Cameron acknowledged the UK had been granted deletions in advance of the publication, contrasting with earlier assertions by No 10. Downing Street said any redactions were only requested on “national security” grounds and contained nothing to suggest UK agencies had participated in torture or rendition.

However, the admission will fuel suspicions that the report – while heavily critical of the CIA – was effectively sanitised to conceal the way in which close allies of the US became involved in the global kidnap and torture programme that was mounted after the al-Qaida attacks.

On Wednesday, the day the report was published, asked whether redactions had been sought, Cameron’s official spokesman told reporters there had been “none whatsoever, to my knowledge”.

However, on Thursday, the prime minister’s deputy official spokesman said: “My understanding is that no redactions were sought to remove any suggestion that there was UK involvement in any alleged torture or rendition. But I think there was a conversation with the agencies and their US counterparts on the executive summary. Any redactions sought there would have been on national security grounds in the way we might have done with any other report.”

The two main cases relevant to the involvement of Britain’s spying agencies related to Binyam Mohamed, a UK citizen tortured and secretly flown to Guantánamo Bay, and the abduction of Abdel Hakim Belhaj and Sami-al-Saadi, two prominent Libyan dissidents, and their families, who were flown to Tripoli in 2004 where they were tortured by Muammar Gaddafi’s secret police.

There is no reference at all in the Senate’s 500-page summary report to UK intelligence agencies or the British territory of Diego Garcia used by the US as a military base. But the executive summary contained heavy redactions throughout, prompting speculation that references to US allies has been erased.

In the wake of the Senate report, the UK government is coming under increasing pressure to order a more transparent inquiry into the actions of MI5 and MI6 amid claims of British complicity in the US torture programme.

Asked about the need for a full public inquiry, Nick Clegg, the deputy prime minister, conceded yesterday that he was open to the idea if an outstanding investigation by the parliamentary intelligence and security committee, which meets weekly in secret, leaves remaining questions unanswered. No 10 also suggested Cameron had not ruled this out if the ISC does not settle the torture issue.

The government had initially commissioned an inquiry by retired judge Sir Peter Gibson to look at the UK’s treatment of detainees after 9/11. However, he only managed a preliminary report raising 27 serious questions about the behaviour of the UK security services, before it was replaced by an investigation handled by the ISC in December last year.

The ISC’s report on the UK’s involvement in rendition after 9/11 will not, however, be completed before next year’s election, so it is unclear how many members of the nine-strong panel of MPs and peers will still be in parliament to complete the work.

The current chair, former foreign secretary Sir Malcolm Rifkind, said that the ISC’s previous examination of the UK’s involvement in rendition in 2007, which absolved the agencies, had “quite rightly been severely criticised, because the committee at the time wasn’t given by MI6 all the material in their files”.

Rifkind said he was confident that that would not happen again. Yet the current ISC investigation will not examine the two key cases of the Libyan dissidents being kidnapped and delivered to the Gaddafi regime because they are the subject of a police inquiry.

MPs from all three main parties said the UK agencies’ requests for deletions from the US underlined the need for a more transparent public inquiry than the one being conducted by the ISC, which hands its reports to Downing Street for pre-approval.

David Davis, the Tory MP and former shadow home secretary, said: “Downing Street’s U-turn on its previous denial that redactions had taken place tell us what we already know – that there was complicity, and that it wasn’t reflected in the Senate report. “We know from the behaviour of the previous government with respect to the Binyam Mohamed case, that the term national security includes national embarrassment.”

Sarah Teather, the Lib Dem former children’s minister, also added: “It’s not good enough to kick it into the future and hope a future government will pick it up. We’ve had all sorts of semi-inquiries. Watching what’s happened in the last couple of days, as comments flip around, that’s the experience of campaigners who’ve been trying to get justice on behalf of people who have accused the British intelligence services of acting in this way.”

Diane Abbott, the Labour MP, said that “as a first step we need to know what was removed from the reports” and secondly more must be revealed about what UK government ministers knew at the time.

The US is at least trying to be honest about what went on,” she said. “To their shame, the UK authorities are still trying to hide their complicity in torture. We need to know how much ministers knew. And if they didn’t know why not?”

Earlier Abbott, who ran for the Labour leadership against both Miliband brothers, said ex-foreign secretary David Miliband needed to be “completely transparent” about his involvement in the era.

But Ed Miliband came to his brother’s strong defence as he was asked yesterday whether the former cabinet minister had “questions to answer”.

“He’s talked about these things in the past,” the Labour leader said. “I know how seriously he took these things in government. I know he answered questions about this in the House of Commons while he was in government. He is never someone who would ever countenance the British state getting involved in this sort of activity.”

Pressed on whether Tony Blair had questions to answer, Ed Miliband said: “Anyone who has read this report will be deeply troubled. I’m not going to speak for that report.

“The government has previously announced an inquiry into these issues, and then held off on the inquiry because there are court cases going on. It’s right to let those court cases take their course here.”

Pioneering African American model and actress has brought the number of women who have put their name to allegations against Cosby to almost two dozen

Beverly Johnson, a supermodel and actress who was the first African American woman to be on the cover of Vogue magazine, has come forward alleging that she was drugged by Bill Cosby in the 1980s.

Johnson wrote a long piece for Vanity Fair about an encounter she had with the comedian in the mid-1980s, while she was going through a divorce.

She said that Cosby invited her to read for a part in The Cosby Show.

After several meetings with the comedian, he invited her to a reading at his house. He allegedly suggested to her that she act drunk – a feature shared in several other stories from other women who have made allegations against Cosby.

After dinner, Cosby insisted Johnson drink a cappuccino, which she said was “drugged – and drugged good”.

“My head became woozy, my speech became slurred, and the room began to spin non-stop,” the article continues. “Cosby mentioned for me to come over to him as though we were ready to act out the scene. He put his hands around my waist, and I managed to put my hand on his shoulder in order to steady myself.”

She said that her body went completely limp, and that her brain switched into “automatic survival mode.” She yelled at Cosby, calling him a “motherfucker” several times.

After that, the article continues, Cosby grabbed Johnson by the left arm and dragged her down “a bunch of stairs”. She said she was afraid her neck was going to break. When they reached the front door, she said, Cosby flagged down a taxi and shoved her inside.

She said that she called Cosby to confront him, but his wife, Camille, picked up the phone.

She said that at the time, she was worried that if she went public with the story, her career would suffer.

Johnson’s story brings the number of women who have put their name to allegations against the comedian to almost two dozen.

Martin Singer, the attorney representing Cosby, was not available for comment. Cosby has consistently denied all the allegations against him. In a statement on 22 November, Singer called the claims against the comedian “ridiculous” and “unsubstantiated, fantastical stories”

The residents of Bogada Chawl who have evicted by the BMC from their century old dilapidated building are yet to get alternative accommodation to be given by BMC.

Everyday a group of women and children sit on a protest at the entrance of the building which is of36,000 sq meterst at a prime location just next to Tata Memorial hospital.

The housing society of Bogada Chaw,l Baman Deo Cooperative Housing Society formed by Bogada Chawl tenants had passed a resolution to cancel the agreement with the present Builder Spee Relators which was duly informed and approved by BMC. According to documents provided by Baman Deo Cooperative housing Society the builder does not at all have the financial capacity to develop the building. They have paper evidence showing that the Spee Realtors who had taken a personal loan of a few lakhs of rupees has not been able to pay monthly installments to the bank. Such a builder who has taken such a small amount of loan and who cannot pay the interest by no means could build a structure of 36,000 sq meters says Chandra Shekhar secretary of Baman Deo Housing Society .

They want a builder who has a sound financial background be appointed their builder. They have in fact with the consent of the majority of the members selected Shayog Homes as their builder.

Therefore they have with majority of the housing society passed a resolution to terminate the agreement with Speed Realtors and Letter of Intent be revoked.

In spite of this request BMC went ahead and asked the developers Speed Realtors’ to provide them with alternative accommodation and using police force of about 250 -300 personnel’s made them vacate the building. The tenants demand for immediate proper alternate housing.

US-based news and blogging platform Huffington Post on Monday launched its Indian edition in association with Times of India Group.

HuffPost India combines Huffington Post’s news and blogging platform with the local expertise and reach of the Times of India Group, a statement said.

HuffPost will be the first major global entrant into a fast growing digital news space in India where a number of stand-alone players as also those which are part of traditional media groups have set shops.

Global media investment conglomerate GroupM has also come on board as a strategic partner for brand synergies and advertising in India for the Huffington Post, a news and blogging platform.

“The launch comes at a moment when India is facing huge and unique challenges, but also when India’s spiritual traditions have taken their place at the center of a global conversation about what it means to live a good life,” said President and Editor-in-Chief of The Huffington Post Media Group Arianna Huffington.

Owned by AOL, Huffington Post has 119 million multi-platform visitors per month in the US (comScore, October 2014) and has over 80,000 bloggers.

“We are very excited to launch Huffington Post India. Huffington Post is the first real digital-first news success story globally, and their impact is seen across the world. We look forward to bringing HuffPo’s conversational approach to news to a large section of Indian audience,” said Satyan Gajwani, CEO of Times Internet (TIL), the digital arm of The Times of India.

Huffington Post has editions in the UK, Canada, France, Spain, Italy, Japan, Maghreb, Germany, Brazil, South Korea and Greece.