Ekta Kapoor To Party In Parents’ Home(But They Are Not Invited)

Mumbai, June 07: As usual, Ekta Kapoor plans to host a big birthday bash a month after her actual birthday.

Though she turns 31 on June 7 the birthday bash will be held on July 11. This is the partying procedure followed by the capricious queen of soaps every year.

But this time there’s a difference. The party will be held in Ekta’s parents’ home. But her parents are not invited.

India beat Bangladesh by 25 runs

London, June 07: Yuvraj Singh dazzled with the bat before Pragyan Ojha spun a web around Bangladesh as India thumped the minnows by 25 runs to begin their title defence with a bang in the Twenty20 World Cup on Saturday.

Ojha’s four-wicket haul in his maiden Twenty20 International broke Bangladesh’s back as the minnows finished at 155 for eight, a total they owe to Junaid Siddique (41) and Naeem Islam (28).

Earlier, Gautam Gambhir (50) and Rohit Sharma (36) gave India a rollicking start but it was Yuvraj’s violent 18-ball 41 that propelled them to 180 for five in the Group A opener.

CBI arrests NCP MP Padamsinh Patil

Mumbai, June 07: Padamsinh Patil, a Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) MP and a former Maharashtra home minister, was arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) late Saturday night in connection with the murder of a Congress leader in 2006, official sources said here. Patil, who represents Osmanabad in the Lok Sabha, was earlier detained after being questioned till late into the night, the sources said.

He is likely to be produced before a court in Panvel Sunday, the sources added.

Frog marriage to please rain gods

Ghawhati, June 07: Fed up with the prolonged dry spell in the region, villagers in Assam married off frogs in a unique custom to please the rain god, asking for an early monsoon.

Residents of the entire Chipoha village turned out to witness the unconventional marriage ceremony of the two frogs, caught by the villagers themselves.

The frogs were decked up with fine clothes. The female frog was even gifted a necklace by the village women for the marriage, which was conducted by a priest according to traditional Hindu rituals.

Now, Hamas gets into matchmaking business

Gaza City, June 07: At 29, Tahani is considered a spinster by the standards of deeply conservative Gaza. So in her search for a husband, she turned for help to the best in the marriage business: the Islamic militant group Hamas.

“I gaze at all the men on the street and think, ‘Oh God, isn’t there just one for me?”, said the young woman with dark skin and honey-colored eyes, set off by a maroon headscarf. Her application is among 287 from single women in the files of the Tayseer Association for Marriage and Development in Gaza.

Marijuana worth Rs one cr seized at Khammam

Hyderabad, June 07: Personnel of Forest and Police department today seized about 2,360 kg of dry marijuana worth Rs one crore from a lorry at Khammam district, police said today.

The marijuana stuffed in gunny bags was concealed below other items in the lorry which was loaded from Orissa and was intercepted near Bhadrachalam town of the district, during a joint search operation by Forest and Police department.

Govt wants to acquire land cheaply, farmers up in arms

Hyderabad, June 07: Farmers are up in arms against the land acquisition for the proposed National Security Guards (NSG) regional centre, 65 km from the city in the Greater Hyderabad area. The NSG centre is to be located in 1182 acres at Chandanvelli village of Shabad mandal.

The centre was proposed in the city after the terror attacks in Mumbai on November 26, 2008. This was part of the plan of the Union home ministry to have regional centres in cities like Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata and Hyderabad. The state government had also promised to allot the land on a priority basis.

Fish prasadam tomorrow

Hyderabad, June 07: The Bathini fish prasadam will be distributed from 10.30 am on Monday to 10.30 am on Tuesday non-stop at Exhibition Grounds in Nampally.

Briefing the media, Hyderabad collector Navin Mittal said 1.5 lakh murrel fingerlings would be kept ready for the prasadam. In all, 32 counters, including one for VIP, physically handicapped besides separate queues for men and women, would be set up.

District officials said three ambulances would be on standby to meet any medical emergencies.

Former MLA quits TDP

Hyderabad, June 07: TDP former MLA and former government whip Gadde Babu Rao resigned from the party on Saturday. The two-time MLA from Cheepurupalli, Babu Rao (69) lost the election to Botsa Satyanarayana twice, once in 2004 and again in 2009.

The senior leader in the district cited his age and wife’s ill health as the reason for bidding adieu to politics. However, party sources said internal disputes in the party were the reason for his resignation. After the election results were announced, Babu Rao had alleged that some TDP leaders had colluded with the Congress to plot his defeat.

Hyderabad turning swine flu capital

Hyderabad, June 07: Hyderabad is fast gaining the dubious distinction of becoming the swine flu capital of the country with three more cases getting confirmed on Saturday. Of the 8 cases of swine flu reported in India, six are from Hyderabad with Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu accounting for the other two.

Now, bride and kin in dock for dowry

New Delhi, June 07: In the first such order in the capital, a trial court has asked the police to register an FIR against six members of a family, including the bride, for giving dowry to the groom’s family.

Pak used US aid to fight India

New Delhi, June 07: The Pentagon has confirmed one of South Asia’s worst kept secrets – that Pakistan has used billions of dollars of US aid to buy a mind-boggling array of conventional American weaponary to use against India.

Fresh cases of swine flu: Hyderabad reports two cases

Hyderabad/New Delhi,June 06: India Saturday reported three fresh cases of swine flu, including a woman and her four-and-a-half-year old daughter, in the Andhra Pradesh capital, taking the total confirmed cases to eight so far.

Those who tested positive for influenza A (H1N1) also include the 24-year-old brother of a techie who had returned from the US May 31 with the infection. Doctors and health officials said this is the first indigenous case of swine flu in India.

First case of human to human transmission

I’m not sexy: Katrina

Mumbai, June 06: Katrina Kaif has been voted the India’s Sexiest Woman yet again but this is one honour lovely lass is not ready to accept.

She says, “I would rather be thought of as pretty rather than sexy.”

Kat is also not bothered by men downloading pictures of her from the internet, she is not entirely comfortable with her racy image. What’s puzzling is that the lady has been covered up in most of her films and yet has been sparking men’s imagination more than those who’ve been stripping down.

Ash-Abhi follows Saif-Bebo!

Mumbai, June 06: After Saif Ali Khan and Kareena Kapoor, it is now Abhishek and Aishwarya Bachchan who will be seen in the role of a spy in super-slick espionage film called ‘Crooked’.

After wrapping Mani Ratnam’s ‘Ravaan’, the couple will kick start the shooting of ‘Crooked’. By stepping into the similar roles of Saif and Bebo who are playing spies in Sriram Raghavan’s ‘Agent Vinod’, Aishwarya and Abhishek Bachchan became follower of the trend set by Saif and Kareena.

Arab Prince bought £300 Million flying palace

London, June 06: Concert hall, garage for Rolls-Royce, elevator all part of Arab prince’s…
An Arab prince has bought a £300 million (Rs 2,300 crore) “flying palace”.

The unnamed royal rumoured to be Saudi Arabia’s Prince al-Waleed bin Talal has splashed out on the plane which, when completed in three years’ time, will be the world’s largest private jet.

Bring your guns to church on Independence Day: US priest

Kentucky, June 06: An American pastor has invited his parishioners to bring their guns to church to celebrate the US Independence Day (July 4), in a show of support for the right to bear arms.

Gun-g Ho: Ken Pagano, the man behind the idea.
A former US Marine, Pastor Ken Pagano of New Bethel Church of Kentucky has asked handgun owners to attend this service, on June 27, openly wearing their sidearm.

But the move will be symbolic. The firearms must be unloaded.

Bring your guns to church on Independence Day: US priest

Kentucky, June 06: An American pastor has invited his parishioners to bring their guns to church to celebrate the US Independence Day (July 4), in a show of support for the right to bear arms.

Gun-g Ho: Ken Pagano, the man behind the idea.
A former US Marine, Pastor Ken Pagano of New Bethel Church of Kentucky has asked handgun owners to attend this service, on June 27, openly wearing their sidearm.

But the move will be symbolic. The firearms must be unloaded.

Clinton dismisses Israel’s claims for settlements

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton dismissed on Friday arguments that Israel and the Bush administration had an understanding under which Israel could keep expanding Jewish settlements on the West Bank.

Dov Weisglass, chief of staff to former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, said in an op-ed piece published this week in the Israeli newspaper Yediot Ahronot that the Bush administration and Israel had an understanding under which Israel could expand settlements within their existing boundaries.

Obama Cairo speech ‘un-American’: Conservative senator

The senator who once famously declared that global warming was the “greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people” has now moved on to President Barack Obama.

In comments made to an Oklahoma news outlet, Sen. James Inhofe (R-KN) declared Obama’s speech in Cairo attempting to ameliorate tension between the United States and the Muslim world “un-American,” because he referred to the war in Iraq as a “war of choice,” “and didn’t criticize Iran for developing a nuclear program.”

Star-studded Haji Ali promenade revamp soon

Mumbai, June 06: After nearly a year-and-a-half of delays, the work on revamping the Haji Ali promenade with structures in the shapes of the zodiac signs will finally begin.

The BMC and state government are ready to invite architects and designers from across the world to recreate the Haji Ali promenade.

“We will soon call for global tenders for this project,” confirmed M K Srivastava, Secretary (special projects) who is one of the men behind the revamp.

As per this Rs 25 crore plan, the BMC will extend the existing promenade with semi-circular curves at 12 places.

Religion or Secularism?

In seminars abroad, especially in US and Europe when I say in India secularism is equal respect for all religions and harmonious co-existence of all religions, many express pleasant surprise. For them secularism has always meant being either a-religious or anti-religious. Secularism in Indian and western contexts has very different connotations. And there are historical reasons for this.

Akshay Kumar’s new look in Action Replay

Mumbai, June 06: We earlier saw Akshay Kumar donning a Chinese piggy tail for a song in Chandni Chowk To China and now he will be seen sporting long hair through out the film in Vipul Shah’s Action Replay. Both Aishwarya Rai and Akshay Kumar will be seen sporting the 70’s look in the film.

Islamists battle for Somalia

Nairobi, June 06: Chosen with the overwhelming support of clan elders in January and thought to be Somalia’s best hope for stability and peace, the government of Sheikh Sharif Ahmed now appears to be engaged in a fight for survival.

An unrelenting military assault by militant Islamist forces – coming just days after an international donors conference in Brussels promised some $213 million in direct aid to Mr. Sharif’s moderate government – has chased Sharif’s forces into retreat. The fighting has killed more than 150 since May 7 and has forced tens of thousands to flee their homes.

Zayed Khan excited about hosting IIFA Fashion Extravaganza

Mumbai, June 06: After walking the ramp at Inter International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) last year this year Zayed Khan is all set to be the show host for the IIFA 2009 Fashion Extravaganza along with Sophie Choudhary at the Venetian Macao.

Zayed tells us that he is not just excited but a little nervous as well. Why you may ask then well that’s because he hasn’t done anything like this before.