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Sharjah: 125 families left homeless after a spectacular wall of flames ravaged a 25-storey residential high-rise on Wednesday morning.

According to the sources, fire broke out at Al Baker 4 in Al Taawun about 2am when most of the occupants were asleep.

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The blaze started on the first floor and moved up the tower. More than 50 flats in the 25-storey building, which is home to at least 500 people, were gutted by the blaze.

Mangalore, January 26: With effect from February, passengers travelling in First AC, AC 2-tier, AC 3-tier, AC Chair Car and executive classes in trains will be required to produce the proof of their identity in original during travel.

According to railways, if the passenger fails to produce the ID proof, they will be treated as travelling without ticket and charged accordingly.

London, January 26: The number of house-husbands and women turning the main breadwinner of families is on the rise in Britain, a new study says.

It says that the number of house-husbands in Britain has tripled over the last 15 years. Last year, 62,000 men whose partners went out to work were classed as “economically inactive” compared to just 21,000 in 1996, the Daily Mail reported.

This follows on from a recent survey which also found that there are 1.4 million men across Britain whose main role is of being the primary carer for their children.

Hyderabad, Jan 26 (INN): Cine actor and Telugu Desam supporter Murali Mohan on Thursday called upon the cine fans associations not to create any differences between actor Nandamuri Balakrishna and Tirupati MLA K Chiranjeevi.

Talking to media persons while participating in a programme at Shamshabad Airport, Murali Mohan stated that both Chiranjeevi and Balakrishna were good friends in the film industry. He said the fans associations were unnecessarily dragging their names and creating controversy on their statements.

Kolkata, Jan 26 (IANS) Novelist Vikram Seth Thursday accused the government of “knuckling under” an “enforced disgrace because of power and politics” and “misusing” religion ahead of assembly polls over author Salman Rushdie being forced to cancel his visit to the Jaipur Literature Festival.

Iterating that the Indian republic would not be allowed to be hijacked by fear, Seth said: “God and his prophets do not need bullies to defend themselves.”

Hyderabad, Jan 26 (INN): Secondary Education Minister K Parthasarathy on Thursday stated that the results of Teachers Eligibility Test would be announced on February 29 or March 1.

Talking to media persons, Parthasarathy said that the results might be delayed by one or two days as against the original schedule of Feb 28. He attributed the reason for delay to a few questions that appeared from out of the syllabus.

Hyderabad, Jan.26: Tirupati MLA Chiranjeevi has said everyone should strive to spread the nation’s image across the world.

Speaking to the media after hoisting the national flag on the occasion of the 63rd Republic Day celebrations at his Blood Bank here on Thursday, Chiranjeevi said that he was moving forward with the aim that development was only possible through social justice.

Hyderabad, Jan.26 (NSS): Telangana Rashtra Samiti senior leader Naiani Narasimha Reddy has come down heavily on the Maoist leaders, who were criticizing the TRS leaders’ role in the Telangana agitation.

Hoisting tricolor National Flag at the Telangana Bhavan here on Thursday, NarasimhaReddy challenged the Maoist leaders to come out into the open and fight for Telangana cause, instead of issuing statements. He has demanded Maoist leader Jagan to immediately withdraw his recent remarks on the TRS party.

Hyderabad, Jan.26 (NSS): Tension prevailed for some time here on Thursday, when the Telangana Jagruti president Kalvakunta Kavita and activists of her organization tried to take out a rally from Ambedkar Statue at Tankbund to the Legislative Assembly protesting against demolition of Ambedkar’s statues across the State.

A 39-year-old vice-chairperson of a local women’s self-help group was allegedly taken out of her home in Aakash Nagar, Kirugampakkam in Mangadu on early hours of Tuesday by two men in khaki uniform and murdered.

Ambika, the mother of two teenaged boys, was the wife of Ravi, the manager of a vegetarian restaurant in George Town.

Bhopal, January 25: A Madhya Pradesh Waqf Board member Wednesday accused the Minority Welfare Minister Ajay Vishnoi of seeking sexual favours to cancel his transfer. The minister has denied the charges.

S.M.H. Zaidi, secretary of the board, said that he has moved the Jabalpur bench of the Madhya Pradesh High Court against the minister.

Zaidi, a veterinary doctor, alleged that when he contacted Vishnoi to get his “unfair” transfer order reversed, his aide Shaukat Khan asked him to bring his wife to the minister’s bungalow.

Cairom, January 25: As Jan 25 marked the first anniversary of Egypt’s civilian uprising that led to president Hosni Mubarak stepping down after nearly 30 years in power, many people questioned if it had actually proved successful.

Following 18 days of protests at Cairo’s Tahrir Square, Mubarak was replaced by a Supreme Council of Armed Forces (SCAF) which ordered severe clampdowns on street demonstrations and political dissent.

New Delhi, January 25: Salman Rushdie is a “poor” and “sub-standard writer” who would have remained largely unknown but for his controversial book Satanic Verses, according to Markandey Katju, till recently a judge of the Supreme Court.

Katju, who is now the Chairman of Press Council of India, criticised the admirers of India-born author based in Britain, saying they suffered from “colonial inferiority complex” that a writer living abroad has to be great.

New Delhi, January 25: In yet another setback to Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, the Supreme Court Wednesday directed a panel headed by former apex court judge M.B. Shah to probe 15 cases of alleged staged shootout killings in the state 2003-06.

An apex court bench of Justice Aftab Alam and Justice C.K. Prasad said that it was open to the monitoring authority headed by Justice (retd) Shah to constitute its own investigating team of police officers either from the existing special task force (STF) or other officers from within and outside the state.

New Delhi, January 25: Veteran actor Dharmendra’s youngest daughter Ahana Deol is delighted with the news that her father has been named to receive the prestigious Padma Bhushan this year. However, she says he deserved the award much earlier.

“The Padma Bhushan is a grand honour and our family is really excited after hearing the news because dad totally deserves it,” Ahana told over phone from Mumbai.

“However, I also want to say that it was a bit too late to remember him for the award as he is not only a nice actor, but also a great human being,” added the 26-year-old.

Hyderabad, January 25: A special court here Wednesday remanded Sunil Reddy, a relative of YSR Congress Party chief Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy, in judicial custody till Feb 1 in the Emaar township case.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which arrested Sunil Reddy Tuesday night, presented him before the special court dealing with the CBI cases Wednesday.

The investigating agency also moved a petition for his custody for 15 days but his lawyer sought time to file a counter. The court adjourned the hearing to Friday.

Mumbai January 25: Saif Ali Khan didn’t mince words when asked which of Bollywood’s many Khans does his girlfriend, actress Kareena Kapoor look best with.

Apart from Saif, Kareena has so far worked with Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan, Aamir Khan and will soon be seen with young Imran Khan in “Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu”. After working with Saif in “Tashan” and “Kurbaan”, she will be seen with him again in the upcoming “Agent Vinod”, set for release March 23.

Ralegaon Siddhi, January 25: In remarks that could stoke a fresh controversy, Gandhian Anna Hazare has said a person is left with no option but to slap when his power of tolerance of corruption runs out.

“When a man’s power of tolerance runs out, then whoever is in front of you, if a slap is given, then the brain is put back in place. That is the only road open now”, Hazare told reporters last night after watching the Hindi film ‘Gali Gali Chor Hai’ based on the common man’s fight against corruption.

Guntur, January 25: Kadapa MP YS Jaganmohan Reddy alleged today that Congress and TDP are indulging in dirty politics to target him, “Cruel politics is going on, that only two parties should exist – TDP and Congress. A third party should not be there and to make it happen (TDP chief) Chandrababu Naidu and Congress elders have a tacit understanding,” he said during his ongoing ‘odarpu yatra’ (tour for consoling) in Guntur district.

Mumbai, January 24:Boom, Katrina Kaif’s debut Bollywood film is one movie that she would not like to stick to her acting career since she is one of the most successful actress in Bollywood today. However, what she cannot disassociate herself from is the controversial kissing scene where Katrina Kaif smooches Gulshan Grover.

In a recent interview, Gulshan Grover revealed that the kissing scene in Kaizad’s directorial film Boom was the most difficult sequence that he had ever done in his career.

Jaipur, January 24: Furious over the cancellation of his video address to Jaipur Literature Festival, Salman Rushdie today slammed the central and Rajasthan governments, saying the buck stops with it for the “awful” situation and questioned the commitment of Congress over the issue.

The controversial India-born author also hit out at the Muslim groups opposed to him and wondered whether India was moving towards totalitarianism like China by allowing extremist groups to dictate terms.

New Delhi, january 24: Amid protests by Muslim groups against hosting Salman Rushdie in Jaipur, Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit today said that one may have differences with what he writes but the “very, very eminent” writer is welcome in the capital.

Dikshit’s remarks came when asked about the open invitation extended by artist-activist group ‘Sahmat’ to Rushdie yesterday to attend a function in Delhi following developments at the Jaipur Literature Festival.

Jaipur, January 24: Ending the suspense, Jaipur Literature Festival organisers today said the video session with the controversial author Salman Rushdie will take place as planned after Rajasthan government gave the go ahead.

“We have received information that there was no requirement of any permission,” Festival producer Sanjoy Roy told reporters. The five-day festival ends today.

Hyderabad, January 24: With the Telangana Rashtra Samiti keen to focus on the 2014 general elections and the other affiliates divided on the best possible way forward, sharp differences have surfaced between the constituents of the Telangana Joint Action Committee on how to keep up the pressure on the government to achieve Telangana statehood. TRS president K.