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Ajay’s act in ‘London Dreams’ modelled on Bono

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Mumbai, August 25: Ajay Devgan as a rock star strumming away the heated strings on stage is a hard act to swallow. Not for Vipul Shah who has modelled the Bollywood star’s act on the Irish singer Bono in his forthcoming movie “London Dreams”.

“So far we’ve only seen him in a sedate or comic image, never as someone who can cross the frontiers and do something outrageous,” Shah, who hasn’t quite converted the actor in an outrageously punky rock star, told IANS.

Robo-touch eases delicate cancer surgery

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Toronto, August 24: Scientists have designed a touchy-feely robot that can detect tougher tumour tissue in half the time, and with 40 percent more accuracy than a human.

Researchers from the University of Western Ontario and Canadian Surgical Technologies and Advanced Robotics (CSTAR) in Ontario came up with the robotic option in minimally invasive surgery (MIS).

Canadian surgeons had developed new MIS techniques earlier to drastically cut down the size of the incision to just a tiny one cm.

CBI to approach Interpol seeking RCN against LeT founder

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New Delhi, August 24: The CBI will soon approach the Interpol seeking a Red Corner Notice against the founder of Lashkar-e-Taiba Hafiz Muhammad Saeed for masterminding the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks.

Mumbai under attackThe investigating agency has collected all the papers from Mumbai Police which include the non-bailable warrants issued by trial court against Pakistan-based Saeed. The warrant will become the basis for seeking the Red Corner Notice from the Interpol.

HIV positive student turned out of school

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Lucknow, August 24: A nine-year-old HIV positive student was turned out of a government-run primary school in Uttar Pradesh’s Allahabad district as the principal mistakenly feared he would spread the virus among other children, officials said Monday.

A complaint was Monday filed against the principal of Belmonda Primary School in Allahabad for “humiliating” the the Class 4 student, a resident of Jasra locality, an official said.

World emerging from deep slump but can it last?

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London, August 23:Turnabouts in European and Asian economies, along with recent gains in the U.S., are raising hopes that the worldwide recession is drawing to a close. That’s not to say the coast is clear.

The brightening outlook in Europe and Asia and the improvement in U.S. credit markets and indicators reflect heavy government stimulus spending. Many analysts question whether the top economies can sustain recoveries after stimulus measures and easy-credit policies have run their course — and in the absence of significant new consumer spending, especially among Americans.

Ponting steadies Australia in Ashes decider

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London, August 23: Australia captain Ricky Ponting held firm after England struck two early blows in the fifth and decisive Ashes Test at the Oval here on Sunday.

Australia, at lunch on the fourth day, were 171 for two in their second innings, still needing a further 375 runs to reach their record victory target of 546 in a match where a win for either side would give them the series 2-1.

Ponting, who’d shed blood in Australia’s cause Saturday when hit in the mouth while fielding at silly point, was 44 not out and Michael Hussey unbeaten on 31.

Over 100 dead in Yemen after ceasefire call

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Yemen, August 23: Government forces reported more than 100 rebels killed on Sunday as battles intensified in north Yemen two days after the government urged a ceasefire.

Although a spokesman for the Muslim Shia rebellion disputed the claim.

Yemen, an impoverished state of some 23 million people on the tip of the Arabian Peninsula, is battling Al Qaeda militants and secessionist discontent in the south, as well as the rebellion in the mountainous north bordering Saudi Arabia.

Woman roughed up for advising youth to drive slowly

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New Delhi, August 23: Giving advice to a 22-year-old man to drive slowly turned into a nightmare for an elderly woman, as she was beaten and dragged by her neck some distance by the angry motorist in the national capital.

Kiran Anand, 57, was riding pillion with her daughter, Aneesha on a two-wheeler, when they stopped at a red light in Pashchim Vihar area in west Delhi Saturday evening. A speeding black Alto car stopped very close to them, scaring her as the driver braked suddenly, a police officer said Sunday.

Bopara confident of comeback to England Test side

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London, August 23: England batsman Ravi Bopara has vowed to return a better player after being dropped for the Ashes decider against Australia at the Oval.

His place was taken by Jonathan Trott, who marked his Test debut with a century.

“I usually take things on the chin and get on with it,” Bopara was quoted as saying in the Guardain Sunday. “I am not a massive guy for making too much of a fuss.”

The Essex batsman certainly responded to being dropped in style, hitting a double-century last week in his county’s win against Surrey.

Swine flu: Who will get vaccinated first?

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London, August 23: Governments bracing for a second, possibly more lethal, wave of swine flu are all grappling with the same unforgiving dilemma: with not enough vaccine to go around, who is going to get jabbed first?

Any lingering hopes that pharmaceutical companies could rapidly fill orders for more than a billion doses from northern hemisphere countries alone were quashed this week by the World Health Organisation (WHO).

“We need to gather advice on priority groups for initial protection,” WHO head Margaret Chan said Friday.

President orders release of 604 prisoners

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Abu Dhabi, August 23: President HH Shaikhh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan has ordered the release of 604 prisoners on the occasion of the advent of the holy month of Ramadan.

The President also sponsored to pay the financial liabilities of these prisoners serving terms after being sentenced by competent courts in various cases.

The release of prisoners, both citizens and expatriates of various nationalities, comes as part of the President’s keenness to give them opportunities to begin a new life and alleviate the hardships of their families.

Outbursts disrupt Baghdad bank robbery trial

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Baghdad, August 23: Five members of Iraq’s security forces accused of robbing a bank and killing security guards stood trial Sunday in a session disrupted by angry outbursts from relatives of those killed.

One relative attacked a defendant and another was dragged from the courtroom screaming obscenities.

Iran to investigate US allegations

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Tehran, August 23: ranian state radio says parliament plans to debate a bill to allocate $20 million to investigate alleged US human rights abuses against prison detainees.

The decision is seen as a reaction to US criticism of Iran’s violent crackdown against protesters following the disputed June presidential election.

Twin blasts kingpins still evade police dragnet

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Hyderabd, August 23: Even as the trial in the most terrifying twin blasts case of Lumbini Park and Gokul Chat Bhandar is awaited, manhunt for Indian
Mujahideen founder Riyaz Bhatkal and his associates continues across the country.

Bhatkal, Abdul Subhan Tauqueer and a few other kingpins in serial bomb blasts in Hyderabad,
Mumbai and a couple of other places are on the run. They have been hit hard by the arrest of their key players in different parts of the country. “We expect to catch them soon”, a senior intelligence officer told.

Jaswant calls on Vajpayee to ‘seek his blessings’

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New Delhi, August 23: Jaswant Singh Sunday called on former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee to “seek his blessings”, four days after his expulsion from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Singh refused to divulge details of the meeting with Vajpayee, who is away from active politics owing to health reasons.

“I met him to wish him on Ganesh Chaturthi and inquire about his health,” Singh said.

‘Satyam scam has scared small investors off stock markets’

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Hyderabad, August 23: India has a huge potential to involve retail investors in the stock markets but they are not coming out to invest because they have learnt a lesson from the Satyam Computer fraud, feels Madhav Mehra, president of the London-based World Council for Corporate Governance.

“The stock market participation of Indians is barely two percent while in the US it is 45 percent,” Mehra told during a visit here.

“Indians have no problem with money. They are just holding it somewhere. They are not coming because they have learnt from Satyam,” he added.

Supreme Court clears deck for GHMC polls

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New Delhi, August 21: The Supreme Court on Friday cleared the deck for holding of elections to the civic body of Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation without debarring the ‘creamy layer’ within the backward classes from contesting from reserved constituencies.

A Bench comprising Chief Justices K G Balakrishnan and Justice P Sathasivam vacated the interim stay granted by the Andhra Pradesh High Court on holding the municipal polls.

Govt to have one stand on RIL-NTPC and RIL-RNRL issues: Moily

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New Delhi, August 20: In the midst of controversy over gas pricing, the government on Thursday said that it would strive for identical stand on litigation between power PSU NTPC and Mukesh Ambani-led RIL, and that between the group firms of two Ambani brothers.

“We will try to see that the government is one on NTPC-RIL and RIL-RNRL (group firms of Mukesh and younger sibling Anil) issues,” Law Minister Veerappa Moily told reporters emerging from the meeting of group on ministers on the gas issue.

CIA hired others to try to hit al Qaeda: Report

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Washington, August 20: The CIA hired private contractors at Blackwater USA in 2004 as part of a secret program to kill top-level members of al Qaeda, a person familiar with the program said on Wednesday.

The contracts, which were unsuccessful, were cancelled several years ago, the person said. He spoke on condition of anonymity because the program remains classified.

The New York Times, first reported the program late Wednesday on its Web site.

Vijender punches to World No. 2 spot

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New Delhi,August 20: Olympic bronze medal winner Vijender Singh achieved a career-high second spot in the International Boxing Association’s (AIBA) official rankings in which three other Indians made the top-10 of their respective categories.

The Khel Ratna awardee, who also won bronze medals at this year’s European Grand Prix event in Czech Republic and the Asian Championships in China, sits behind Olympic silver medallist Emilio Correa Bayeux of Cuba with 1700 points. Vijender (75kg) had lost to Bayeux (2500 points) in the Olympic semifinals.

Karzai calls on Afghans to defy Taliban and vote

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Kabul, August 20: President Hamid Karzai called on Afghans to defy Taliban threats and vote, hours before polls opened in an election on Thursday that could prove the toughest test yet of his own mandate and his nation’s fragile democracy.

Nearly as much as it is a test for Karzai, the election is also a high political hurdle for US President Barack Obama, who has ordered a massive troop build-up this year as part of a strategy to reverse Taliban gains.

Three more swine flu cases in West Bengal, total 64

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Kolkata, August 20: Three more people tested positive for swine flu in West Bengal Thursday, taking the total number of affected cases in the state to 64, health officials said.

“Today (Thursday) we have only three positive swine flu cases. With this the figure goes up to 64 so far,” state’s nodal officer for swine flu Tapas Sen told IANS.

Meanwhile, a two-and-a-half year old boy, who was on ventilator support, was moved out of the intensive care unit Thursday as his condition further improved.

I’ll be last person to privatise Indian Railways: Mamata

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Kolkata, August 20: Rubbishing talk that efforts are on to privatise the Indian Railways, Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee Thursday said she would be the last person to do so.

“In some quarters there is mischievous talk that we are trying to privatise the railways. I’ll be the last person to privatise the Indian Railways. There will be no privatisation or commercialisation of the railways,” Banerjee said at the 54th Annual Railways National Award Function here.

Afghans vote despite sporadic violence

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Kabul, August Two Taliban insurgents were killed in a gunbattle in the Afghan capital on Thursday as millions voted in an anxiously awaited presidential election marked by sporadic violence across the country.

The Kabul attack, coming after the Taliban said 20 of their fighters had infiltrated the capital, was the worst of several on polling stations and voters, mainly in the south and east.

Despite the violence, the United Nations said there were encouraging signs of high turnout.

Sonia Gandhi, Kochhar, Nooyi in Forbes 100 powerful women list

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New York, August 20: Congress party president Sonia Gandhi, PepsiCo chief executive Indra Nooyi and ICICI Bank’s new head Chanda Kochhar have been listed among the world’s 100 most powerful women by Forbes magazine.

All three of them have been ranked higher than US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on the list, which has German Chancellor Angela Merkel at the top, followed by US Federal Deposit Insurance chairperson Sheila Bair.

Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, chairperson of Bangalore-based Biocon, is another Indian woman to make the list.