azra Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Wednesday described the passage of the Lokpal bill in parliament as a “historic and landmark step”.
“It is a historic and landmark step,” he told reporters after the Lok Sabha passed the anti-corruption legislation. The Rajya Sabha had passed it Tuesday.
Earlier, both the prime minister and Congress president Sonia Gandhi described it as a watershed legislation in the government’s fight against corruption.(IANS)
What is better for a healthy married life: to be right or to be happy?
To decode the effect of being right vs being happy on a couple’s quality of life, researchers at the University of Auckland in New Zealand involved a married couple living in their own home for their study.
The authors decided that the female participant would prefer to be right and the male participant would prefer to be happy.
Singer Shakira’s first single from her upcoming album will be released in January next year. The title of the track and the album are currently unknown.
The album, which is her first under Sony label RCA, is set for an early 2014 release, reports billboard.com.
The 36-year-old had earlier mentioned that the new recording, her first since 2010’s “Sale el Sol,” is dedicated to Spanish soccer player Gerard Piqué, her partner and the father of her son Milan.
An overjoyed social activist Anna Hazare hailed the passage of the Lokpal bill in parliament Wednesday and said “we will be able to do something for the society and country”.
“On behalf of the people of the country, the citizens of Ralegan-Siddhi and all others who took part in the agitation, I thank the authorities for passing the bill,” Hazare said, addressing a large crowd of supporters shortly after the Lok Sabha too passed the legislation cleared by the Rajya Sabha Tuesday.
Several thousand supporters of fasting social activist Anna Hazare lustily cheered here as the Lok Sabha passed the much-anticipated Lokpal bill Wednesday.
As soon as the news flashed on TV screens, there were screams of joy and merriment in the gathering and a frail Hazare gathered strength to stand up on the dias.
“Jai Hind, Vande Mataram, Bharat Mata ki Jai,” he cheered on the microphone, acknowledging the greetings and happiness of the people gathered there.
Andhra Pradesh state legislative assembly remains paralysed with legislators from Seemandhra Wednesday stalling the debate on the bill sent by the President for formation of separate Telangana state.
Speaker Nadendla Manohar had to adjourn the house twice as Seemandhra (Rayalaseema and coastal Andhra) legislators belonging to Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and YSR Congress did not allow him to take up debate on the bill.
Dense fog enveloped the national capital Wednesday morning, delaying trains, and flights. The traffic here crawled.
According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD), visibility dropped to less than 50 metres in some parts of the city at 8.30 a.m.
As a result, over three dozen incoming and outgoing trains were delayed or had to be rescheduled.
“There are 37 trains which are running late by two to 11 hours and one has been cancelled,” said Northern Railway official.
It is a duty upon every sane person to be prepared for his departure (from this world), for one does not know when he will be served by his Lord’s commands (to take away his soul) nor does he know how long it is going to be before he will be summoned (for the Day of Judgment).
I have seen so many people enchanted by their youth. They have forgotten that their peers no longer exist, yet they are preoccupied with prolonged hopes (to stay alive).
Clueless even almost a month after the brutal attack on a woman bank official at an unguarded ATM kiosk here, police on Monday increased from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 5 lakh cash reward for information leading to the arrest of the suspect.
Ever since the gory attack caught on CCTV footage sparked a nationwide outrage, police has formed different teams of 200 police officials to investigate the case and hunt the accused.
Dense fog Tuesday enveloped the national capital, delaying flights and trains.
“Trains arrival and departures were delayed as visibility was poor…,” A.S. Negi, a Northern Railway spokesperson told IANS.
Many trains have been rescheduled and the passengers have been informed via a sms.
“Passengers can contact (Delhi telephone number) 23747110, the new helpline number started by the Northern Railway,” he said.
Becomes the first Indian specialty retailer to open 1000 stores in seven varied formats
(1) Recognizing the bounties Allah has bestowed upon His slaves. These bounties [are so many that they] cannot be counted or enumerated.
Allah says:
“If you count the blessings of Allah, never will you be able to count them.”
(Al-Qur’an 14:34)
Hearts naturally have love for those who do good to them. Love for a blessing is from the general aspects of thanking the one who has bestowed a bounty. It is said that thanks is with the heart, tongue and limbs.
Delhiites woke to a nippy and foggy Monday morning with visibility dropping to around 400 metres. Dense fog led to diversion and delay of flights. Trains pulling into Delhi were also running behind schedule.
“Some flights were delayed and some diverted because visibility at the airport runway fell below 50 metres,” an airport official said.
According to an update from airport officials at 12 noon, nine flights with destinations to Jaipur, Ahmedabad and Lucknow were diverted.
Even a few trains coming to Delhi were running behind schedule, slowed down by dense fog.
The Indian embassy in Saudi Arabia has launched online visa services for people wanting to visit India on a tourist, business or visit visa.
Now, people will be able to access the application form and other details from the website https://indianvisaonline.gov.in/visa/indianVisaReg.jsp, the embassy said in a statement Sunday.
Finnish mobile phone handset-maker Nokia here Monday launched its Lumia 1520 model and Vipul Mehrotra, director and head of smart devices at Nokia India, Middle East and Africa, said the company will focus more on ‘experiences’.
“This is the 10th Lumia device that we have launched in India. Going forward, we will focus more on services or experiences like mapping, imaging, music and many more,” Mehrotra told reporters on the sidelines of the launch.
Stressing the need to rewrite text books so as to impart a deep knowledge of science, technology and society in the proper perspective, IIT-Kharagpur director Partha Pratim Chakrabarty Sunday said it was the only way to keep pace with the changing times.
“Our education system has not been able to keep pace with the double exponential growth of technology and rate of knowledge generation. Knowledge and education has become compartmentalised in most institutions.
Is there any in-built self-control device for people who don’t know when and where to stop while talking to a colleague or chatting with a friend on social media? Well, there is – in your brain.
Neuroscientists at the University of Texas Health Science Centre at Houston (UTHealth) and the University of California, San Diego, have successfully demonstrated a technique to enhance a form of self-control through a novel form of brain stimulation.
Tens of thousands of Bangladeshi volunteers Monday formed the world’s biggest national flag in a bid to breach Guinness World Record.
Organisers said 27,117 volunteers from the Bangladesh Army, educational institutions and the general public stood up with red and green placards to form the national flag at Dhaka’s National Parade Ground, Xinhua reported.
The placards, held above their heads, collectively depicted the Bangladeshi national flag.
The bill for bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh was Monday tabled in the assembly amid unprecedented acrimony, as legislators of Seemandhra and Telangana regions nearly came to blows outside.
The Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Bill, 2013, sent by President Pranab Mukherjee for formation of Telangana was moved in the assembly as well as the legislative council amid strong protests by lawmakers from Seemandhra (Rayalaseema and coastal Andhra).
Over one lakh Muslims Sunday took an oath against terrorism and to spread the message that Islam is a religion of peace and has always promoted harmony.
The ceremony,,organised by the Jamiat-e-Ulema-e-Hind, was held at the Ramlila ground here, and came after a two-day conference attended by clerics of Jamiat-e-Ulemas in the Maldives, Britain, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh and Myanmar at Deoband in Uttar Pradesh’s Saharanpur district, where it was decided to set up a forum to promote world peace.
An Indian man, accused of battering his co-worker’s head with an iron pipe pleaded not guilty in a court here.
The 29-year-old Indian electrician, who is identified by the initials of his name, JS, was charged with assaulting his countryman, YB, with a one-metre pipe five times on July 31, causing the victim a five percent permanent disability, Gulf News reported.
“I am not guilty. It is true that we had a fight… but it was his mistake. He (the victim) fell and hurt himself,” JS told the Dubai Court of First Instance Sunday.
Trials in fast-track courts are running at a snail’s pace compared to last year. Six fast-track courts in Delhi, designated for speedy disposal of sexual offences cases, have disposed of only around 400 cases till the end of November. At least 1,090 sexual offence cases are still pending.
Interestingly, regular courts last year decided over 500 such cases compared to fast-track courts, according to statistics from Delhi courts.
Now almost at the top of the pyramid in Bollywood, superstar Shah Rukh Khan has decided to try something different. The actor will be seen playing a fan in his next film “FAN”.
Attributing his success to the love of his fans, Shah Rukh took to Twitter to talk about his future plans.
“Most of the characters I do, are the ones I create…for the first time I am going to play what has created me…I will be in my next a ‘fan’,” Shah Rukh posted on the microblogging site Monday.
Oscar-winning actress Julia Roberts says she isn’t sure if she would want her nine-year-old twins Hazel and Phinnaeus and her six-year-old son Henry to follow her career footsteps. But she wouldn’t immediately reject the idea.
“You have to approach each child differently and each desire that they have different and it’s brought me an enormous amount of joy, my job, so I wouldn’t just dismiss it,” she told hellomagzine.
“But I think I would investigate it, especially if they were a child,” said Roberts, who has starred in Hollywood blockbusters for over 26 years.
At least three policemen were killed and two others injured when a bomb exploded near a bomb disposal unit’s vehicle in Pakistan’s northwest Peshawar city Monday morning.
Urdu TV channel Samaa said the vehicle with five policemen on board was on its way to the outskirts of the city when it came under attack in Budhber area of Peshawar, the capital city of the country’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, Xinhua reported.