Digest of domestic news for the week

Twin blasts in Hyderabad, VVIP chopper deal and Air Asia-Tata budget airlines tie up dominated headlines last week

Saturday

New Delhi/ Milan: India's efforts to access information on the helicopter scam received a setback with an Italian court rejecting a request for documents related to the deal even as CBI and Defence Ministry teams prepared to travel to Rome to gather evidence.

New Delhi: Suspected Indian Mujahideen module Fasih Mahmood, who was deported from Saudi Arabia last year, was chargesheeted for terror acts in connection with the 2010 Jama Masjid attacks.

New Delhi: Sacked Uttarakhand minorities panel chief S S Namdhari and his personal security officer were charge sheeted in a Delhi court for the offence of murder in the November 17 shoot out case at a farmhouse in which liquor baron Ponty Chadha and his brother Hardeep were killed while 19 others were booked for other offences.

Sunday

New Delhi: Corporate rivalry in the Telecom sector is behind the recording of the audio tape which purportedly contained the voice of sacked CBI prosecutor A K Singh and Managing Director of Unitech Sanjay Chandra, an accused in the 2G case, official sources say.

Monday

New Delhi: With the Opposition preparing to rake up the chopper scam in Parliament, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said the government is ready to discuss the issue even as a team of CBI and Defence Ministry officials headed for Italy to collect evidence about alleged kickbacks.

New Delhi: Noted social worker Ela Ramesh Bhatt was conferred the Indira Gandhi Prize for Peace, Disarmament and Development by President Pranab Mukherjee.

New Delhi: Under attack from the opposition over the controversial VVIP chopper deal, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is ready to discuss the issue in Parliament during the Budget Session.

Tuesday

New Delhi: A smaller variant of the 290-km range BrahMos supersonic cruise missile is being developed for arming IAF's fighter aircraft.

New Delhi: Raising serious concerns over allegations of "unethical means" used in the Rs 3600 crore VVIP chopper deal involving Anglo-Italian firm AgustaWestland, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh secured assurance of full assistance from his British counterpart David Cameron in the matter.

Wednesday

New Delhi: The war over air fares intensified with all Indian airlines competing with each other to offer low ticket prices, as Air India also jumped into the fray.

Mumbai: Malaysian carrier AirAsia, Asia's biggest budget airline, says it has sought approval to start a venture in India with the Tata Group, a move that will mark return of the Indian conglomerate to aviation sector.

New Delhi: A union leader was killed in Haryana and factory units damaged in Delhi suburb Noida in sporadic violence as the start of a two-day nationwide strike called by trade unions evoked a mixed response with banking services paralysed and public transport disrupted.

Thursday

Hyderabad: Terror struck Hyderabad killing 12 people and injuring 84 others when two powerful near simultaneous blasts ripped through a crowded area close to a cluster of bus stands in Dilsukhnagar area.

New Delhi: A bill aimed at checking rampant encroachment of Wakf properties and to make them commercially viable by extending their lease period from merely three years to thirty years was cleared by the Union Cabinet.

New Delhi: With scams denting its image, Goverment pledged to usher in reforms for greater transparency, probity and accountability in governance and to enact a slew of legislations to tackle bribery by domestic and foreign public officials.

Friday

New Delhi: AgustaWestland, which is facing allegations of paying kickbacks to secure VVIP choppers deal, replied to the Indian show cause notice for cancelling the contract saying it has not indulged in any wrong practice.

Hyderabad: A blame game over intelligence inputs erupted after the twin bomb blasts as the role of banned militant outfit Indian Mujahideen was being increasingly suspected by probe agencies who got some "leads".