Gali Nagaraja

Smita Patil award has made me believe in my choices: Deepika

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Actress Deepika Padukone is honoured to receive the Smita Patil Memorial Award, and says such awards make her feel confident about her choice of work.

“She’s (Smita Patil) someone whose work I admire a lot and the fact that I have got this award at such an early stage of my career, definitely makes me feel like I must be doing something right,” Deepika said here at the award event.

“It gives me the confidence to go ahead and choose the kind of films I have been doing and believe in the kind of roles that excite me,” added the 26-year-old, who received the award Tuesday.

PM should seek fresh mandate: Trinamool

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The Trinamool Congress Wednesday asked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to resign and to seek a fresh electoral mandate to know if people supported the government’s economic policies.

A day after Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee announced withdrawal of support to the Congress-led government, a party MP said Manmohan Singh should himself quit before the Trinamool central ministers resign.

Agni-IV tested in Odisha

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The nuclear-capable Agni-IV missile was tested from a defence base in Odisha Wednesday, official sources said.

The 4,000-km-range surface-to-surface missile was tested from a launch pad at Wheeler Island near Dhamra in Bhadrak district, which is 112 km from here, official sources said.

This was the third trial of Agni-IV. The two-stage solid fuel propelled missile is lighter than Agni-III because of the composite rocket motor casings.

Congress core group meets after Trinamool’s quit decision

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A day after key ally Trinamool Congress announced it was exiting the UPA government over its demand for roll-back of major economic decisions, the Congress Core Committee met here Wednesday to discuss the political developments.

The Congress Core Committee meeting was held at 7, Race Course Road, the residence of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Congress chief Sonia Gandhi was present at the meeting that began at 10 a.m.

Chinese vice president meets Panetta

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Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping, who has appeared in public after a fortnight’s disappearance, Wednesday met US Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta here.

Xi reviewed his visit to the US in February and Panetta’s meetings and talks with other Chinese leaders in Beijing Tuesday, reported Xinhua.

Xi, also vice chairman of the Central Military Commission, said Panetta’s visit will help to further advance the relationship between the two militaries as well as the two nations.

Israel the flavour of Kovalam litfest

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Israel will be the flavour of the fifth edition of the Kovalam Literary Festival Oct 3 at the India International Centre in the capital followed by a two-day session at the Kanakakunnu Palace in Thiruvananthapuram Oct 5-6.

Two writers – Sarai Shavit and Dorit Rabinyan – and musician Tal Kravitz will bring slices of Israel’s culture and their observations of India in three literary sessions at the festival, a communique from festival founder Binoo John said.

Every marriageable girl will identify with my ‘Aiyyaa’ role: Rani

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In forthcoming film “Aiyyaa”, Rani Mukerji plays a girl whose parents are desperate to get her married. The actress says all girls who are in this soup, including her, can identify with her character, Meenakshi Deshpande.

“I think ‘Aiyyaa’ character Meenakshi Deshpande is such that every girl, whose parents are trying to get her married, will identify with her. Even I, to some extent, identify with this character,” the 34-year-old said here.

Rani plays a Maharashtrian girl in the movie, in which she falls for a man who smells good.

Samajwadi Party to decide on strategy on Thursday

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Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh on Wednesday said his party would decide on its strategy on Thursday in the wake of Trinamool Congress withdrawing its support to the UPA government.

“On Thursday, there is a meeting of the Samajwadi Party’s Parliamentary Board. We will take a decision there,” Mr. Mulayam said while speaking to reporters outside his residence in New Delhi.

The SP chief made clear that his party would go ahead with its plans to hold demonstrations to oppose the decisions taken by the government.

Pakistani electricity firm bills consumers for power not used

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A Pakistani electricity supply company has billed its customers for power that was neither supplied nor used, prompting a daily to note that “bill-paying customers were effectively being defrauded by their electricity supplier in an effort to cover its own negligence and deficiency”.

An editorial in the News International Wednesday said there appears to be “no limit to which unscrupulous power companies will stoop to fleece their long-suffering customers”.

Swiss letter saga must end: Pakistani daily

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The saga of the Swiss letter must end, said a leading Pakistani daily Wednesday, a day after Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf told the Supreme Court that the government has decided to withdraw a letter sent to Swiss authorities during Pervez Musharraf’s tenure to close corruption cases against President Asif Ali Zardari.

An editorial in the Dawn said that the “middle way appears to have been found”.

Andhra Pradesh to beef up its coastal security

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In a bid to beef up security along the 974-km long coastline of Andhra Pradesh, the state government has decided to set up 15 marine police stations, in addition to the existing six ones and also appoint special police officers in coastal villages.

“In order to strengthen the infrastructure for the coastline patrolling and surveillance, six marine police stations had been established in 2006 in the first phase,” Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) of Marine police C M Naidu said.

Mamata’s intolerance thrusting celebrity status on commoners

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One can call it Mamata Banerjee’s Midas touch. The maverick West Bengal chief minister’s intolerance is making heroes out of faceless people in the crowd.

After a chemistry professor, a scientist and a college student, it was the turn of a poor marginal farmer, Shiladitya Choudhury, to face the chief minister’s wrath, leading to his arrest and subsequent celebrity status as sympathy poured in from all quarters for the “injustice” done to him.

Government doesn’t protect whistleblowers: Activists

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On Sep 2, Nandi Singh, 40, was hacked to death in a remote village in Assam. His crime: he blew the whistle on misappropriation in the local public distribution system (PDS).

His killing in Dhemaji village came even as a bill for protection of whistleblowers was listed in the Rajya Sabha both during the budget and monsoon sessions but could not be taken up as parliament was continually disrupted during both sessions. The entire monsoon session, in fact, was washed out by BJP protests over the allocation of coal blocks.

Obama leads Romney nationally: Poll

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Amid a political row caused by Mitt Romney’s controversial remarks that 47 percent of Americans looked themselves as victims, a new poll showed President Barack Obama leading his Republican challenger nationally by 5 points.

While a NBC/WSJ survey released Tuesday showed Obama leading Romney by 50 percent to 45 percent among Americans judged “likely” to vote nationally, a Washington Post poll indicated he had an eight point lead over Romney in the crucial battleground state of Virginia.

Ex-army man guns down Delhi doctor, held

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A cardiologist at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital in the national capital was shot dead here early Wednesday by a former army man who claimed to be the husband of the doctor’s maid, police said. The accused has been arrested.

Dr. Sanjeev Dhawan, 51, who was working in the hospital for the past 20 years, was shot at around 2.45 a.m. at his Rajinder Nagar residence in central Delhi. He died on way to hospital, police said.

USAID to shut down mission in Russia

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The US State Department said Tuesday that it will shut down the USAID mission in Russia.

The announcement was made after Moscow informed Washington of its decision to end the activities of USAID in Russia, Xinhua reported.

Noting that Washington was proud of what USAID has done in Russia over the past two decades, State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said the US wanted to continue its cooperation with Russian NGOs although the USAID’s physical presence there would end.

Dubai Police busts prostitution racket

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Dubai Police have busted a prostitution racket that forced young girls into the sex trade, authorities said Tuesday.

The network was led by a woman, Xinhua reported. A 15-year old girl was rescued during a police raid. A file containing names and phone numbers of customers was also seized.

—IANS

16 rescued from collapsed tunnel in China

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Sixteen workers have been rescued from a collapsed expressway tunnel in China, more than 40 hours after they were trapped, authorities said Tuesday.

The under-construction tunnel collapsed around 10 p.m. Sunday in Longnan county of Jiangxi province. The tunnel is part of a 3,400-km expressway, Xinhua reported.

The rescued workers were in stable condition.

—IANS

26 die in Mexico gas plant fire

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At least 26 people died in Mexico Tuesday when a huge fire broke out at a gas plant, authorities said.

The plant is owned by state-run energy giant Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex), and is located in Tamaulipas state, Xinhua reported.

The fire, which broke out at 11 a.m., was doused about an hour later, Pemex said in a statement. Dozens of people were injured.

About 700 people were working at the facility when the fire broke out.

Residents living within a five-kilometer radius of the plant were evacuated.

—IANS

Harrased by youth, UP college girl hangs self in classroom

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A college-going girl, allegedly harassed by a local youth for a year, Tuesday hanged herself in her classroom in Sitapur, 88 km from here, police said.

The girl, identified as Prateeksha, was a Class XII student and was being harassed by a youth from the same locality. A spokesman of the local police told IANS that a school peon when locking rooms spotted the girl hanging from the ceiling of her classroom.

The incident took place at the Arya Inter College within the Kotwali police station jurisdiction. The principal of the college called the police and later the family was informed.

Embarrassment piles on ruling BJP in Karnataka

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The faction-ridden, scam-scarred ruling BJP in Karnataka Tuesday faced embarrassment as a senior leader demanded the resignation of state party chief and another of a deputy chief minister.

The Bharatiya Janata Party’s first Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa, who has been angling for state party chief’s chair, said incumbent K.S. Eshwarappa should quit as he was unable to do a good job as he held the important portfolio of revenue.

Mumbai attacks case: Kasab pleads for mercy

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Mumbai terror attack convict Mohammed Ajmal Amir Kasab has moved a mercy petition before the President, over a fortnight after the Supreme Court upheld his death sentence in the 26/11 case.

“We have sent a mercy petition to the President filed by Kasab,” a senior official at the high-security Arthur Road Jail where Kasab is lodged, told PTI.

However, the officer did not reveal as to when he had filed the petition.

Kasab had been given a certified copy of the Supreme Court verdict confirming his death sentence last week.

Mob torches vehicle in Srinagar

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A mob torched a government vehicle here Tuesday as security forces used batons and tear smoke to disperse a crowd denouncing an anti-Islam movie made in the U.S.

The demonstrators were intercepted by police about half a kilometre from the city centre Lal Chowk.

The infuriated mob set fire to the vehicle which was passing through the area, a police officer said.

A shutdown called by traders and transporters and supported by the separatists and the Kashmir Bar Association paralysed life in the Kashmir Valley.

Auction illegal mines: Goa Congress

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All illegal mining sites in Goa should be divided into blocks and auctioned to the highest bidder, Congress leader and former union minister of state for law Ramakant Khalap said Tuesday.

The Congress leader’s demand came in the backdrop of Justice M.B. Shah Commission report which has identified a mafia-like nexus between officials, politicians and the mining companies, responsible for an estimated Rs.35,000 crore illegal iron-ore mining scam in the state.

Girl hacked to death over affair

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In a shocking incident of honour killing, a minor girl was allegedly hacked to death by her family in West Bengal for having an affair with a they did not like, police said Tuesday.

The incident took place in Nadia district. The mother has been arrested while the others are in hiding.

Mampi Ghosh, 17, was killed by her family members including her father and brother. We have arrested the mother and a search is on for the other offenders, Additional Superintendent of Police Arindam Chowdhury said.

The Class X student reportedly had an affair with a daily wage labourer.