faheem New Delhi, July 07: Government today came under a blistering attack from main opposition BJP which said Railway turnaround in the last five years was nothing but a financial “jugglery” similar to Satyam scam, a charge denied by former Railway Minister Lalu Prasad.
Both in the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha, the BJP was in an offensive, seeking to corner the UPA government which presented its sixth Railway Budget on Friday last.
New Delhi, July 07: The Supreme Court today pulled up the Mayawati government in Uttar Pradesh for seeking transfer to the apex court a batch of writ petitions pending in the Allahabad High Court relating to construction of memorials for B R Ambedkar and late BSP chief Kanshiram.
“The high court can pass any order. If you have any grievance you can come to us in an appeal but you cannot seek transfer of the case,” a bench of Justices B N Aggrawal and G S Singhvi observed.
The apex court said no motives can be attributed to the high court.
Mumbai, July 07: After doing half-a-dozen films with her including super hits like Namastey London, Welcome and Singh Is Kinng, Akshay Kumar knows everything there is to know about Katrina Kaif.
Especially that she has delicate health and if kept under water for a few hours, she is bound to fall ill.
The duo are currently singing in the rain at a Mumbai studio for Priyadarshan’s De Dana Dan. Akshay, dressed in a thin kurta, and Katrina wrapped in a sexy chiffon sari with a strappy blouse.
New Jersy, July 07: Former skating champ Nicole Bobek has been charged. She has been busted on drug charges. Nicole Bobek is 31 years old and she made her first appearance in court on Monday regarding the drug bust.
Basically, Nicole is from Jersey but last week she was arrested from Florida. In Hudson County. she was trying to sell the drugs. We have often saw cases, in which athletes used drugs to enhance their performance level but now athletes are sell drugs for recreational purposes as well.
New Delhi, July 07: The deemed universities have been allowed to remove ‘deemed’ from their name and identify themselves as universities, the government said today.
The University Grants Commission (UGC) has approved the use of the word ‘university’ by such institutions, Minister of State for Higher Education D Purandeswari told the Rajya Sabha in a written reply.
The decision was taken following a recommendation in this regard by a committee comprising heads of UGC and All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE) and a former Secretary of Higher Education.
New Delhi, July 07: Yoga guru Baba Ramdev will be approaching the Supreme Court tomorrow challenging the Delhi High Court judgement legalising gay sex among the consenting adults.
The petition is likely to be filed tomorrow, lawyers associated with Ramdev said.
–PTI
Chennai, July 07: A minor fire broke out in the MLAs hostel here today, but was put out immediately by alert staff.
The fire, caused by an electrical short circuit, occurred in the ground floor of the G Block of the hostel. Staff of the hostel immediately swung into action, cut off the power supply and put out the fire with the help of fire extinguishers, police said.
Most of the MLAs were present in the assembly for the budget session when the fire broke out.
Mumbai, July 07: Terming the rape charge against him by his maid servant as “concocted”, incarcerated actor Shiney Ahuja pleaded for bail but the police opposed it saying the accused might intimidate her if he is released.
The prosecution as well as defence concluded their arguments and a sessions court is likely to give an order tomorrow.
“The victim’s story of the alleged rape seems highly doubtful and concocted…If she had resisted, then the actor would have had more injuries on his body. But Ahuja has only two scratches on his hand,” his lawyer Shrikant Shivade said.
New Delhi, July 07: Government today rejected BJP Hindutva poster boy Varun Gandhi’s plea for more security and also dismissed his mother, Maneka Gandhi’s allegation in a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh that the Home Ministry had adopted a “lackadaisical” approach to threats to his life.
Sources in Union Home Ministry said that the 29-year-old Varun Gandhi was special Y category protectee (three PSO’s round the clock, one escort and pilot vehicle) and after various reviews, the arrangement was found adequate.
Mumbai, July 07: She has been hogging the limelight for her dare to bare act in “Short Kut: The Con Is On” that releases on Friday. But Amrita Rao says she believes in hardwork and not taking shortcuts to achieve success in life.
“My entry in filmdom was not a freak accident, it was my participation in ad films that got me due recognition with famous directors and producers. I guess that’s the only shortcut I have taken in my life and it paid off. Otherwise, I don’t believe in shortcuts at all, I believe in the fact that slow and steady wins the race,” she said.
New Delhi, July 07: The government is probing the “spurt” in permissions granted for setting up deemed universities and examining whether they are following the norms laid down for them, Human Resource Development (HRD) Minister Kapil Sibal said today.
“We have set up a committee. We want to make sure the deemed universities are following the norms. We are carrying out a review,” Sibal said during question hour in the Rajya Sabha.
Mumbai, July 07: Bollywood filmmaker Kabir Khan, who is currently basking in the success of his recently released film “New York”, is busy taking care of his kids while his wife, popular host Mini Mathur, is shooting for a new TV show in Malaysia.
Mini is shooting in the jungles of Malaysia for Sony TV’s soon-to-begin adventure reality show “Iss Jungle Se Mujhe Bachao”. And Khan is taking care of their five-year-old son and less than a-year-old daughter.
New Delhi, July 07: Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee today said the national budget was not the document to spell out micro policy details and the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government remained committed to divestment in state-run firms without diluting their public sector character.
“I have made it very clear that we intend to include the public in disinvestment programmes,” Mukherjee told an interactive meeting with India Inc, a day after presenting the national budget for the current fiscal.
Hyderabad, July 07: The Andhra Pradesh government Tuesday said it has cancelled the Hyderabad Metro rail project contract awarded to Maytas Infra, run by the family of former Satyam chairman of B. Ramalinga Raju.
Urban Development Minister Anam Ramnarayana Reddy said the state government decided to cancel the project as the company failed to achieve financial closure by the March deadline.
Maytas bagged the Rs.12,000-crore project by offering to give about Rs.30,000 crore to the government over 30 years.
New Delhi, July 07: A 30-year-old gynecologist has been arrested for killing her twin daughters and attempting suicide here, police said Tuesday.
Rupa Kopari had injected her twin daughters – Tanya and Twinkle – and herself with a poisonous substance after a tiff with her surgeon husband July 1. The two girls died while Kopari was rushed to the hospital in a critical condition.
Police arrested her Monday evening after she was discharged from the hospital.
‘A case of murder and attempt to suicide was registered against the woman. We are interrogating her,’ a police officer said.
Chennai, July 07: Madras High Court Advocates Association today condemned the alleged attempt by the chairman of Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry Bar Council to influence a Judge by using the name of a Union minister to get anticipatory bails for his clients in a criminal case.
New Delhi, July 07: BJP today said in the Lok Sabha that party MP Varun Gandhi’s life was under threat from an underworld outfit and demanded upgrading of his security.
BJP’s Deputy Leader Sushma Swaraj referred to the arrest of seven alleged associates of underworld don Chhota Shakeel who had apparently come to Delhi to kill an advocate who had taken up Varun’s case in the hate-speech incident.
Patna, July 07: Noisy scenes were witnessed in Bihar Assembly today over an alleged attempt by a business firm to usurp properties of a church in the state capital.
Raising the issue during the zero-hour, Opposition Congress leader Ashok Kumar said despite a Delhi High Court order prohibiting sale of properties, including land, of institutions owned by minority Christians across the country, a local business firm allegedly manipulated registration of the land in Lodipur where the Angus Educational Institute had opened a school.
Galle, July 07: As if the shock 50-run loss to Sri Lanka was not enough, Pakistan were today fined for maintaining a slow over-rate in the first Test here.
ICC match referee Alan Hurst imposed the fines after Younis Khan’s side was ruled to be one over short of its target at the end of Sri Lanka innings when time allowances were taken into consideration.
Younis was fined 10 per cent of his match fee while his team-mates received five per cent fines for violating Section J of the ICC Code of Conduct.
Moscow, July 07: “The pursuit of power is no longer a zero-sum game,” Obama said, speaking in the Russian capital to graduates of the New Economic School but also hoping to reach the whole nation. “Progress must be shared.”
Obama used his speech to further define his view of the United States’ place in the world and, specifically, to argue that his country shares compelling interests with Russia.
–Agencies
Washington, July 07: The stage is set for Michael Jackson’s final act – as Los Angeles was braced for what could be the biggest, most spectacular celebrity send-off of all time.
Ecstatic fans – many of them Britons who won the lottery for seats at the memorial service – received their tickets and spangly wristbands which will get them into the 20,000-seat Staples Centre.
The Jackson family announced the participants will include Stevie Wonder, Mariah Carey, Usher, Lionel Richie, Kobe Bryant, Jennifer Hudson, John Mayer and Martin Luther King III.
Baghdad, July 07: Allegations that British soldiers murdered and mutilated 20 Iraqis are to be fully investigated after it emerged that ministers had attempted to warn Tony Blair about damaging evidence of the ill-treatment of battlefield prisoners five years ago.
The startling revelation in the High Court yesterday led to the Government withdrawing its objection to a judicial inquiry into the alleged massacre after the battle of “Danny Boy” involving British forces near Basra in May 2004.
London, July 07: Airline pilots are being temporarily blinded during take-off and landing because of a “dramatic increase” in the number of incidents of laser beams being shot into cockpits, union leaders warned today.
The British Airline Pilots Association (Balpa) urged the Government to take action, claiming that passenger lives were being put at risk.
Balpa said the number of incidents across the country had increased from three in 2003 to 29 in 2007 and 206 last year.
Hyderabad, July 07: A software engineer from Andhra Pradesh has been shot dead by unidentified assailants in South Africa, his family members said today.
B. Kiran, 28, who was injured in the attack on Thursday, died at a hospital in Johannesburg early today. His family members in Andhra Pradesh’s Warangal district said a doctor hailing from the state told them over telephone that Kiran succumbed to the bullet injuries.
New Delhi, July 07: Dune Kossatz, Genna Cloud and Dunay Nortje – the three winners of the Indian Premier League (IPL) Miss Bollywood contest in South Africa – are set to make their debut in tinsel town with “24×7 Raftaar”.
All the three South Africans, who were chosen during the five-week Twenty20 extravaganza in April, will be seen together in Percept Picture Company’s (PPC) movie along with Indian actors Emraan Hashmi, Aditya Pancholi, Neha Dhupia and Sagarika Ghatge, said a press release from the film production company.