Gali Nagaraja

A construction worker has fallen to his death at the site of a 2018 World Cup stadium, Russia’s Investigative Committee said.

The 43,000-capacity Spartak Moscow arena was one of 12 stadiums awarded matches in an announcement by FIFA and Russian organisers Saturday.

“A pre-investigation check is under way into the death of a worker who fell from a height at the Spartak stadium building site in Tushino,” the Investigative Committee said Friday.

The man was a 48-year-old steel worker from Russia’s central Saratov region, the statement said, adding that he died at the scene.

Actor Vivek Oberoi, who is paired with Mallika Sherawat in Sanjay Khaduri’s “Kismat Love Paisa Dilli” (KLPD), has tried to challenge his acting skills in the film and says that he is ready to bear the consequences.

“Some of my films are challenges, and some are safe bets. With KLPD, I wanted to step out of my comfort zone. I knew it might not work and people might laugh at me, but I was ready for it,” the 36-year-old told IANS.

In ‘KLPD’, releasing Friday, Vivek plays a Delhi guy and says that it was not easy.

Two brothers were shot dead over a water dispute Thursday in the ancestral village of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, police said.

The incident came hours before Akhilesh Yadav and his father and Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav were to reach Saifai village to give away cheques on unemployment allowance and Kanya Vidya Dhan.

The killings took place when the brothers were in their field. The assailants have been identified, police said.

—IANS

“Vicky Donor”, a film made with an unique concept, was a runaway success and its lead actor Ayushmann Khurrana says even though the film was not sent for the jury’s consideration for the Oscar shortlist, he is glad the movie was talked about.

Shortly after Anurag Basu’s “Barfi!” was announced as India’s official entry for the Oscar’s best foreign film category this year, “Vicky Donor” director Shoojit Sircar had loudly expressed his displeasure at its producers not sending it for the jury’s consideration.

Is former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Kalyan Singh set to return to the BJP?

Both the Bharatiya Janata Party and the saffron face of the Ram temple movement of the 1990s are quiet about his comeback. But close aides say it is near certain that “Babuji”, as Kalyan Singh is known, will be in the BJP again.

A leader privy to the confabulations told IANS that the only thing to be decided was the timing and the role for the octogenarian leader.

Kalyan Singh has reportedly had fruitful meetings with the BJP brass in New Delhi, including party president Nitin Gadkari.

With a surprisingly strong showing, Republican challenger Mitt Romney today shook the race to the White House by worsting incumbent Barack Obama in the first high-stake US presidential debate by calling into question his track record on the economy, health care, jobs and fiscal deficit.

Using the first of the three debates, 65-year-old Romney regained momentum by aggressively standing up to 51-year-old Obama and accused him of failure to lead the country out of the deepest economic downturn since the great depression.

Key 26/11 suspect Abu Jundal was Thursday sent to Tihar Jail by a Delhi court here.

Sending Jundal to judicial custody, Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (CMM) Vidya Parkash directed jail authorities to present him in two different courts on Oct 8 and Oct 12.

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) told the court that Jundal was required to be present in a special NIA court Oct 8.

The CMM’s court had Sep 28 issued a fresh warrant for Jundal for Oct 12.

School children might have to go without mid-day meals, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said Thursday, a day after the hike in the price of non-subsidised cooking gas cylinders.

“Now the real impact of restriction of subsidised LPG cylinder is unfolding,” she said.

“Common people have been burdened with additional Rs.127 per cylinder. The price is likely to go up further in the coming months,” Banerjee posted on Facebook.

At 62, Mithun Chakraborty, who is enjoying the work he is getting as an actor, feels nowadays it is easier to make films than to release them in theatres.

“Aajkal picture banana aasaan ho gaya hai aur release karna mushkil (Today it’s easy to make a film, but difficult to release it). That’s unfortunate. If you have money, then you can do anything, but if you don’t, you have to suffer,” Mithun told IANS in an interview.

“I really can’t say anything else on this,” he added.

Actor Arjun Rampal likes those characters that challenges his skills as an actor.

“I like a role when initially it scares me, when the character scares you that, whether I can do it or not. Every character I thought can be easily done, went wrong,” the 39-year-old said here Wednesday at the music launch of his forthcoming film “Chakravyuh” at a radio station.

“But Prakash (Jha) has always given me characters which allow you to push yourself and go beyond,” added Rampal.

Meanwhile, Arjun also revealed that “Chakravyuh” director Prakash Jha has also acted in a scene of the film.

Move over saas-bahu sagas, episodic shows are back. “Adaalat”, “Teri Meri Love Stories” and “Hum Ne Li Hai Shapath” are ruling the weekend slots and mark a comeback on the small screen after two decades. The makers say the switch was inevitable.

In a bid to sustain viewers’ interest in TV shows, channel bosses have to do a lot of brainstorming and rigorous research, says Vivek Bahl, chief creative director, Sony Entertainment Television.

As many as 18 students were buried Thursday in a landslide that slammed into a primary school in southwest China’s Yunnan province, authorities said.

The incident happened around 8 a.m. in the village of Zhenhe, located in Yiliang county, reported Xinhua.

The landslide engulfed a primary school building, trapping 18 students, said authorities.

Two houses near the school were also hit by the landslide, with one villager being buried. A family of three managed to escape.

The Afghan presidential election will be held in 2014 in accordance with the country’s constitution, President Hamid Karzai said Thursday, denying reports that foreign troops’ withdrawal and insecurity will suspend the poll.

In what is a first since independence, the Who’s Who of India Inc, including Tata Group chairperson Ratan Tata and Aditya Birla Group’s Kumar Mangalam Birla, arrive in Kashmir Thursday to interact with university students along with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi.

Besides Tata and Birla, Bajaj Auto Managing Director Rajiv Bajaj, Wipro Group chief Azim Premji and HDFC’s Deepak Parekh will be amongst those interacting with students at Kashmir University Friday. This is the first time since 1947 that such a delegation of business leaders would be in Kashmir in a group.

She is just one film old in the industry but actress Huma Qureshi says she is focused about the kind of work she wants to do.

Huma came into limelight with Anurag Kashyap’s ‘Gangs Of Wasseypur’ and she has already completed her second film ‘Luv Shuv Tey Chicken Khurana’ and has signed her third project- Vishal Bhardwaj’s ‘Ek Thi Daayan’.

Thirty-four officials of the rural jobs scheme in Bihar have been dismissed from service for corruption Thursday, a minister said, adding that first information reports have been lodged against 43 others.

Bihar Rural Development Minister Nitish Mishra Thursday said that the government has sacked 34 officials of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), and lodged first information reports against 43 officials for involvement in alleged irregularities in the implementation of the scheme.

Japan’s troubled Sharp Corporation planned to reduce the production of liquid crystal display panels for televisions at its plant in Mie prefecture while considering shifting its focus to LCD panels for smartphones, media reported Thursday.

The Osaka-based electronics maker intended to end production at the Kameyama plant of 32-inch LCD panels for home-use TVs around 2014, as prices of such TVs have plunged amid a global supply glut, according to the Kyodo News.

Filmmaker Vishal Bhardwaj says he felt really bad at the delay in the release of Anurag Kashyap’s production venture “Chittagong”.

“I had already seen ‘Chittagong’ and I am very happy that it is releasing because it is such a beautiful film that it’s non-release used to hurt me (‘Chittagong’ toh meri dekhi hui film hai and I am very happy ki ye film release ho rahi hai kyunki ye itni khoobsurat film hai ki iska na release hona mujhe bahut bahut dukh deta tha),” the 47-year-old said here Wednesday at the premiere of the film.

The premiere of Anurag Kashyap’s “Chittagong” turned out to be star-studded with the presence of megastar Amitabh Bachchan and superstar Shah Rukh Khan. Both the actors feel the film falls in the league of ‘new cinema’.

“Anurag has been a great revolution in Indian cinema and the kind of films that he has been making and has been promoting, are creating a new audience and that is very exceptional and much appreciated,” Amitabh told reporters here.

(Siasat News)Telangana Rashtra Samiti President K. Chandrasekhar Rao who had stayed back in New Delhi for almost a month after attending the end of the Monsoon Session of Parliament said that he was invited by the Congress and said he has hope that the favorable decision on Telangana will be taken soon.

At Hyderabad the party activists shouting “Jai Telangana” slogans welcomed him.

TRS chief who also skipped Telangana March is now confident that favorable decision would be made for Telangana soon.

During his visit he also met many Union Ministers for Telangana.

(Siasat News)John Abraham who is in Nira, a town located near Satara district, for his upcoming film, ‘Shootout at Wadala’ when asked about his marriage replied that he has no time to think of anything beyond work.

When asked about the secret marriage in January this year, during his visit to New York, he said, “Oh, is it! What rubbish! I don’t know about it. If I get married, it should be, a dream marriage”.

John who has been a part of many multi-starrer including Desi Boyz and Housefull 2 praised Akshay Kumar and said that he is like his big brother.

Surgery to remove a cancerous tumor from Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos’ prostate was a complete success, his medical team said Wednesday.

Santos is recovering at Bogota’s Santa Fe Foundation hospital, where the operation was performed, urologist Felipe Gomez said.

In his first remarks to reporters, Gomez said surgeons found what they expected to discover based on previous tests and images and said the operation went entirely according to plan.

Myanmar President U Thein Sein will pay a state visit to South Korea soon, an official announcement from Nay Pyi Taw capital city said Thursday without specifying the date of his visit.

At the invitation of South Korean President Lee Myung-bak, Thein Sein will pay the visit as a follow-up of his recent trips to China and the US in September, reported Xinhua.

Ayman al-Zawahiri, who succeeded Osama bin Laden as the new chief of Al Qaeda, may be in Pakistan, says a new book.

Zawahiri, an Egyptian cleric, became the new Al Qaeda chief after the killing of Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad town May 2 last year.

Imtiaz Gul, a Pakistani defence and security analyst, in his book “Pakistan: Before and After Osama” says: “Just as the search for bin Laden has been a pre-occupation for the past decade, the whereabouts of Zawahiri are now likely to engage the US and Pakistan intelligence.”

A Pakistani judge granted bail to a brothel owner on the condition that she attends daily classes at a mosque for a month, a ruling that prompted a leading daily to note that “spiking the legal with the moral” was a “mixture too heady even for these times of most ingenious experiments”.

“Pure in name and known for its abstinence, Pakistan must nevertheless attract attention for the variety of cocktails it offers. But this one has the potency to send the whole bar into a spin,” said an editorial in the Dawn Thursday.