TDP, TRS reach seat sharing agreement in Andhra

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The leaders of the two parties reached the agreement in the evening. However, a formal announcement is likely to be made Wednesday.

TRS leaders claimed that the TDP has agreed to leave 48 assembly and nine Lok Sabha seats for the party, which is spearheading the movement for separate statehood to the Telangana region.

On a day of dramatic developments, the TRS had set a deadline for the TDP to accept its demands and had even threatened to walk out of the alliance, which also has the two communist parties as the other constituents.

Kashmir on alert amid fears of militant incursion: Police Chief

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Director General of Police Kuldeep Khuda said after a brief ‘deceptive lull’, Pakistan has restarted pushing infiltrators into the state.

Security forces ‘have been asked to be on highest alert on the Line of Control (LoC) and the international border’ after reports that militants are grouping to infiltrate to this side, Khuda told IANS in an interview.

He said Pakistan continued to support militancy and push terrorists into Kashmir though there had been a drop in infiltration and ‘terrorist activities after the Nov 26 Mumbai attacks’.

Blind can vote without help at the polls

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New Delhi, March 25: It is aimed at giving the blind voter dignity and secrecy. For the first time, Braille-facilitated electronic voting machines (EVMs) are being introduced on a large scale for the 15th Lok Sabha polls.

‘A total of 1.05 million EVMs are being used, of which 450,000 are Braille-enabled. These EVMs are spread across the country in many states,’ an Election Commission official told IANS.

He said earlier the rule was that one person would accompany the blind voter. ‘Now, the blind persons can cast their vote without any help.’

IPL move was hardest BCCI decision ever: Modi

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Johanesburg, March 25: The decision to move the India Premier League 2009 to South Africa was “one of the hardest decisions that the BCCI ( Board of Control for Cricket in India) has ever had to take”, Lalit Modi, chairman and commissioner of the IPL, told a press conference in Johannesburg as he jointly announced the decision with Cricket South Africa chief executive Gerald Majola.

“But I am equally confident that staging it here will be a massive success for us,” Modi said on Tuesday evening.

Nano tanks up for road test challenge

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New Delhi, March 23: Capping a journey full of admiration but not bereft of controversies, the Tata Nano is all set to steer India into automotive history. Tata Nano is all set to launch today.
The small yet innovative car, revered for its tag of being the worlds cheapest, is ready to fuel up, promising an affordable and comfortable vehicle to millions of Indians for whom a car was far out of reach.

Our marriage depends on Ash and Bipasha

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Mumbai, March 11: John Abraham says the best thing to happen to him in 2008 was his brother’s marriage. And the most unusual happening in his life in 2009 could be his first stage performance, thanks to the success of his Desi girl number in Dostana.

“My brother’s marriage in Romania was beautiful. Standing there at his wedding as his best man as he took the vows with his wife in a beautiful old church I felt so content. I was never happier. And I liked being the best man. Because I’m the best. People ask me where I’m going from here. And I tell them, I’m only going to get better.”

Lahore attack: TV footage shows terrorists escaping

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Islamabad, March 05: The Geo news channel – a Pakistani TV – has aired what it claims is footage of the terrorists escaping the site of Tuesday’s dastardly attack on the Sri Lankan cricket players in Lahore. The dramatic visuals show the gunmen fleeing on motorcycles and on foot.
The edited footage of Geo TV were captured on CCTV cameras in the streets around Liberty chowk and Gaddafi stadium where a group of gunmen, said to number 14 killed six policemen and injured five members of Sri Lankan cricket team.

Woman cuts husband’s genitals after fight

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Ahmedabad, March 02: In a fit of rage, a woman allegedly castrated her husband’s genitals while he was asleep in his home in the Amraiwadi area of the city, police said on Monday.

The incident occurred late yesterday night when Kailashben Mackwana (23), who had a fight with her husband Kanusinh (23) earlier in the day, in a fit of anger, cut his genitals with a knife, they said.

Kanusinh, who had lost lot of blood, was admitted to the civil hospital where he was operated for over two hours, they added.

Woman arms smuggler arrested in Uttar Pradesh

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“The woman was arrested Sunday night from the Civil Lines locality in Aligarh, but one of her accomplices managed to escape,” Additional Director General of Police (Law and Order) Brij Lal told reporters here on Monday.

“The woman has admitted that she works for a man named Sheru in Madhya Pradesh and that she came to Aligarh to hand over the consignment to Dinesh Singh. All the pistols are of 32 bore,” the police officer added.

The woman also confessed to supplying arms in Aligarh earlier.

Post ‘Slumdog…’ Freida Pinto is India’s ultimate cover girl

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London, March 01: Just months ago she was a virtual nobody, but with the eight Oscar sweep by her debut film “Slumdog Millionaire”, Indian model-turned-actress Freida Pinto is now hot property for magazine covers. Being the obvious new darling of Hollywood, Freida has also become a much in-demand magazine cover girl back home for obvious reasons, reports dailymail.co.uk.

The actress will dominate the newsstands across India in March, with men’s magazine Maxim opting to put her face and knock-out body on its cover, as will women’s magazines Cosmopolitan and Vogue.

No objection to separate Telangana, but consensus needed: Sonia

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Hyderabad, March 01: Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Saturday said here the party had no objection to carving out a separate state of Telangana from Andhra Pradesh but was trying to evolve consensus on the issue. Addressing a massive public meeting, she merely reiterated the party’s stand on the issue, leaving Telangana supporters disappointed.

Iran warns Iraq over prolonged presence of US forces

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Tehran, March 01: Iran’s supreme leader Saturday warned Iraq over the prolonged presence of US forces in that country, the Iranian media reported.

‘The occupiers are preparing grounds for a long and enduring presence in Iraq and this is a big danger of which the Iraqi officials should be aware,’ Ayatollah Ali Khamenei told visiting Iraqi President Jalal Talabani.

Hrithik, Priyanka declared best actors at Filmfare Awards, ‘Jodhaa Akbar’ best film

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Mumbai, March 01: Bollywood stars Hrithik Roshan and Priyanka Chopra were declared the best male and female actors respectively at the glittering 54th Idea Filmfare Awards ceremony here late Saturday night.
Hrithik won the award for essaying the role of Emperor Akbar in “Jodhaa Akbar”, while Priyanka walked away with the black lady statuette for her performance in “Fashion”.

“Jodhaa Akbar” pipped “Dostana”, “Ghajini”, “Jaane Tu.. Ya Jaane Na”, “Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi”, and “Rock On!!” to bag the best film trophy, while the best director award went to Ashutosh Gowariker for “Jodhaa Akbar”.

People say I need to get a boob job, but I’m comfortable the way I’m

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Mumbai, February 28: Indian actress Freida Pinto Made it to the U.S. without doing the same old song and dance.

Though the 23-year-old former model from Bombay auditioned for melodramatic Bollywood roles, she’s going Hollywood with her film debut, playing a child of the ghetto in Danny Boyle’s Slumdog Millionaire. Hood never looked so good.

How hard is it to break into India’s film industry?
It’s really difficult. You have to have a godfather or parents who can get you in. I got into modeling for the visibility factor, hoping that portals would open up for me to act.

Mom’s kiss killed 11-day-old

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London, February 28: An 11-day-old baby girl died after her mother unwittingly infected her with the virus which causes cold sores, probably through a kiss or breastfeeding, a coroner ruled.
An inquest on Thursday found newborn Jennifer Schofield died from Herpes Simplex Virus (HSV). Her mother Ruth, 35, probably caught it late into her pregnancy, the coroner said, most likely for the first time in her life, meaning she had not developed immunity and nor had her child.

The virus attacked the baby’s major organs and she died within days.

Court orders Andhra ACB to file case against CM

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Hyderabad, February 28: The Anti-Corruption Bureau here has been ordered to register a case against Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy, irrigation minister Ponnala Lakshmaiah and nine others for alleged misappropriation of public funds.
In a case related to the controversial Yellampalli irrigation project, a special court of the Bureau directed the ACB Director General on Friday to conduct a detailed investigation into the allegations and submit a report to it by March 26.

Rahman’s brush with death before the Oscars

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Mumbai, February 28: His double win at the Oscars has been celebrated and talked about. But not many know that A.R. Rahman had a close shave while rehearsing for his performance at the Academy Awards – a chandelier came crashing down seconds after the music maestro moved away from the spot.

Reaching 10,000 run mark means a lot, says Kallis

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New South Wales, February 28: South African cricketer Jacques Kallis has become the eighth player to join Test cricket’ 10,000-run club in the first Test against Australia at Wanderers.
‘It’s really important I think,’ Kallis said after Australia made 466 and South Africa went to stumps at 3-85 in reply, including 27 from Kallis.

‘Looking back at the career when I started if someone had said that I would have got 10,000 Test runs, I would have taken that with both hands and I probably wouldn’t have believed them.

Anonymous letter threatens terror strikes in Uttar Pradesh

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Lucknow, February 27: Days after a caller from Pakistan warned of terror strikes in Uttar Pradesh’s Saharanpur district, the police have received an anonymous letter naming sites where the attacks would take place, an official said Friday.

‘We received the letter Thursday night from a local journalist, who got a call on his mobile phone to collect the letter placed near a pole outside City Palace shopping complex in Saharanpur,’ district police chief Amit Chandra told IANS over phone.

Corporal punishment – and shattered dreams of children

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New Delhi, February 27: ‘I wish I could fly in the sky and come out in the light from this darkness,’ says 10-year-old Pradip, who left school last year after being beaten severely by a teacher, as tears swell in his eyes.

His father, a labourer, was not interested in sending him to school but Pradip’s mother supported him initially. In June 2008, Pradip was physically abused and thrown out of a local government school by his class teacher for not completing his class assignments.

Wages at IT multinationals start melting down

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Banglore, February 27: Software multinationals in India have begun freezing wage increases, slashing salaries and postponing merit-based hikes, a study by Indian consulting firm Zinnov has found.

‘Though Bangalore stands highest in its average salary for multinational R and amp;D firms, followed by Pune and Chennai, the economic slump is causing undue pressure on them to retain compensation levels,’ Zinnov director for advisory services C.S. Chandramouli, told IANS after the survey was made public.