azra The BJP plans to hold 99 public meetings in West Bengal in January and a rally addressed by its prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi in Kolkata in February, state unit president Rahul Sinha said here Friday.
Modi’s rally would be held at the sprawling Brigade Parade ground Feb 5, Sinha said in a statement.
The Gujarat chief minister is expected to attend one more grand rally in north Bengal before the coming general elections.
A man who committed suicide in China opted to kill his neighbour first so that he could have him as a partner to play chess in heaven!
The 54-year-old, named only as Liao, killed his 57-year-old neighbour before committing suicide Tuesday night in order to have a chess partner after death, Shanghai Daily reported Liao as informing in his suicide note.
The neighbour’s body was found by his landlady in Zhejiang province when she visited his room to collect the rent.
For all the James Bonds out there, it’s time to breathe a bit easy.
They may no longer have to go too far to find a clue as researchers have now discovered that recovering reflections from the eyes of victims could help identify the perpetrators without much difficulty.
All thanks to high-end digital photography.
It means in the victim’s eyes lie hidden the image of the perpetrator, albeit in a very small form, according to the new findings.
Andhra Pradesh assembly Speaker Nadendla Manohar Friday met his Bihar counterpart in Patna as part of his tour to other states to study the process adopted for conducting debate on bifurcation bills.
Facing a tricky situation over the bill sent to Andhra Pradesh assembly by President Pranab Mukherjee for formation of separate Telangana state, the speaker is on a study tour to Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.
Meeting a friend in his avatar as a member of the Aam Aadmi Party (Common Man’s Party) required cultural adjustment. Where should we meet?
Delhi experienced a chilly Friday as light rains overnight and nippy winds forced the maximum temperature to drop four notches below the season’s average at 17.1 degrees Celsius. The Met office has forecast a cloudy Saturday but no rain.
According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD), the city received 0.2 mm of rainfall till 8.30 a.m. Friday and “traces” of rain which are “non measurable” till 5.30 p.m.
“The chill will continue tomorrow (Saturday) but there will be no rain. So, light fog is expected in the morning. The afternoon will be cloudy,” said an IMD official.
Male celebrities like Will Smith and Justin Timberlake experimented with pop colours and slipped into chic suits during 2013.
Huffingtonpost.com lists male stars who grabbed eyeballs for their fashion sense:
– Will Smith: Even at the age of 45, Smith looked good in simple silhouettes, pops of colour and even some sneakers.
– Justin Timberlake: The singer once known for curly locks, straightened his hair. The pop icon also chose suit and tie for most events.
With Delhi’s chief minister-designate Arvind Kejriwal repeatedly refusing security for himself, police in Delhi and Uttar Pradesh are wringing their hands in despair.
Kejriwal is set to take the oath of office at the head of an Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government here Saturday, but he remains adamant on his stated decision not to accept police security. Special Commissioner of Delhi Police in charge of security J.K. Sharma said they were in touch with Kejriwal, trying to persuade him to change his mind.
A Chinese city is offering a visa-free visit for nationals from 51 countries. The travellers, however, must hold a valid passport, third country visas and have plane tickets leaving for a third country or region within 72 hours.
Southwest China’s Chongqing municipality will start offering the 72-hour visa-free stays from 51 countries Dec 30, the China Daily reported Friday.
Travellers, however, would be fined up to 10,000 yuan (about $1,650) or detained for up to 15 days for illegal residence in case they overstayed the stipulated 72 hours or visit places other than Chongqing.
Breast cancer cells, when exposed to low oxygen conditions, trigger the production of two proteins that make the cancer cells spread fast — making the patient’s condition worse, a new paper has contended.
Researchers at The Johns Hopkins University reached the conclusion that low oxygen conditions, frequently present in breast cancers, facilitates the production of RhoA and ROCK1 proteins that, in turn, endow the cancer cells with the ability to move.
If 2013 was about box office records, it will also be remembered for superlative performances by a host of actors like Irrfan, Rajkummar Rao and Sushant Singh in highly acclaimed films such as “The Lunchbox”, “Shahid” and “Kai Po Che” respectively.
These films might not have been gold diggers at the box office, but they struck the right chord with the audiences for the power-packed performances by the talented, who were noticed amidst the glitter of big stars.
IANS lists best actors on the basis of their acting skills and not box office records:
Sanitation workers of the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) Friday called off their indefinite strike following an assurance by the authorities to look into their demands.
Road sweeping and garbage collection in the city had come to a halt as over 20,000 employees had gone on the strike from Thursday midnight.
Following talks with GHMC Commissioner Somesh Kumar, the contract employees decided to call off their strike. The employees’ union claimed that the commissioner responded positively to their demands.
Pakistan Friday was cautious in reaction to the Japanese prime minister’s controversial visit to the World War II related Yasukuni shrine, which drew strong opposition from neighbouring countries, a foreign ministry statement showed.
Responding to a query about Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe’s visit to Yasukuni, the Pakistan foreign ministry stated that countries should refrain from actions that hurt the sentiments of other countries in the region and evoke reactions that could jeopardize regional harmony, reported Xinhua.
Bollywood is a man’s world, they say. But female screen scorchers like Deepika Padukone and Sonakshi Sinha surprised the audiences and critics with their performances this year, while others like Nimrat Kaur and Huma Qureshi impressed with their finesse in non-commercial outings.
IANS takes a look (in alphabetical order of name) at the women who impressed with their choice of roles in tinsel town in 2013:
Economic slowdown, inflationary pressures, volatility in foreign exchange and stock markets, together with liquidity crunch and costly debt, took a toll on India’s real estate sector in 2013, with investor sentiment taking a severe beating despite a number of reform initiatives undertaken by the government.
Quote by: Sumeet Walia- Head of Global Enterprise Business for Tata Communications
“The year 2013 witnessed the growth of advanced technology solutions such as cloud computing, smart devices and collaboration tools within enterprises. In 2014, these trends will continue and the year could see an encouraging adoption of advanced technologies to meet the changing demands of enterprises.
Delhi’s Chief Minister-designate Arvind Kejriwal said Friday that he will try to get the CNG price hike rolled back, and hinted at a hike in auto rickshaw fare if the rollback was not possible.
“Give me two days, we will see if the CNG price hike can be rolled back. We will talk to the central government. If it is necessary to raise the prices and it cannot be rolled back, auto fares will have to be revised,” Kejriwal told reporters Friday.
Five people were killed and four were injured when a car hit a stationary truck on the Outer Ring Road on the outskirts of Hyderabad Friday morning, police said.
The dead include four women. The injured were shifted to Osmania Hospital and their condition is stated to be critical.
The accident took place at Tukkuguda in Ranga Reddy district when the car collided with a truck parked on the Outer Ring Road. According to police, the victims were from Maharashtra. The bodies have not have been identified.
Police suspect that dense fog in the area might have led to the collision.
Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyyah
RAZA (HOPE) IN ALLAH:
Hope: it is the peaceful state of the heart which awaits what is dear to it. If the means – by which what the heart hopes for may come – are not present, then stupidity and foolishness would be a more accurate name for such a state. Similarly, if there is no doubt that what is being hoped for will definitely occur, then likewise, this state cannot be referred to as hope. For example, it would not be correct to say: I hope that the sun rises today. However, it would be correct to say: I hope that it rains today.
Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) chief minister-designate Arvind Kejriwal Wednesday said his party would pass its Jan Lokpal bill within 15 days of forming the government in Delhi.
Speaking at his Kaushambi residence in Ghaziabad town, Uttar Pradesh, Kejriwal said there were so many hurdles in the process, but AAP would tackle all issues and pass the bill.
As per the constitution of India, the Delhi assembly can make laws on any issue except the state list that may infringe any norm of the constitution.
The AAP will “completely overhaul” the system and changes will be visible within 60 days, Somnath Bharti, set to become one of Delhi’s six ministers, said Wednesday.
Slashing the power tariff by half — one of the key promises made by the Aam Aadmi Party — will remain on top of the agenda, he said.
“We will completely overhaul the system, and changes will be visible within two months of our coming to power,” the lawyer-turned-legislator elected from Malviya Nagar in south Delhi told IANS.
“Fulfilling the promises made by our party is on top of every leader’s agenda.
Pakistani actress Veena Malik has tied the knot with businessman Asad Bashir Khan Khattak in Dubai Wednesday, a media report said.
“I’m more than happy today, I think I’m the happiest girl in the world,” Geo News quoted the actress as saying.
Veena, who became a known name in India post her stint on the fourth season of reality show “Bigg Boss”, said it was an arranged marriage.
“Destiny just plays its part, we were destined to be there on this particular day,” Veena said.
Much like US-India relations, US President Barack Obama had a roller coaster ride in the year gone by, as he scored a couple of successes abroad, but fumbled with the ball in the rollout of his signature healthcare law.
Obama wouldn’t admit that 2013 was the worst year of his presidency as he left for his annual Hawaii holiday with nothing ticked on his “to do list” from immigration reform to jobs to tax reform to gun control in the wake of the “massacre of innocents” in a Newtown school.
The Samajwadi Party state unit has criticised the recent patch-up between Bollywood mega-star Amitabh Bachchan and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray here Wednesday.
“Is this Amitabh Bachchan’s friendship with Raj Thackeray or treachery with North Indians?” screamed a banner put up by SP.
Samajwadi Party’s state chief and legislator Abu Asim Azmi said it was surprising that Bachchan again befriends Raj Thackeray, who through his MNS has made north Indians’ life miserable in the state.