Samad

Priyanka honoured at Shanghai Film Festival

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Mumbai, June 27: Priyanka Chopra was invited by the Shanghai International Film Festival for their closing ceremony on June 21, where she was presented with the Festival’s top award – The Jin Jue Award. This award marks the tenth award for her in the past six months.

The award, a symbol of the traditional orient culture, is an ancient antique Chinese wine container which has a uniquely beautiful shape. Priyanka was the first Indian actor to be presented with this honour on an international platform for her contribution to cinema.

Rani Mukerji turns ‘sardar’ for Yash Raj’s next

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Mumbai, June 27: Rani Mukerji has not been seen on the big screen for a quite a while now. And she is set to surprise her fans with her new look in Yash Raj Films’ next ” Dil Bole Hadippa” – the actress will play a sardar complete with a beard and a turban.

In the romantic comedy, set in Punjab, Rani essays the role of a girl who has to don the garb of a man to fulfil her dreams, said a press release from the production house.

More Women Converting to Islam

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Dubai, June 27: As many as 1,365 people converted to Islam from January to June this year as compared to 878 over the same period last year, according to Huda Khalfan Al Kaabi, head of the New Muslims Section in the Islamic Affairs and Charitable Activities Department in Dubai.

“This is basically due to the tolerance, modesty, transparency and greatness of Islam which meet people’s needs in all places and times,” she said.

Eight quakes in 13 hours

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Wellington, June 27: A series of eight earthquakes in 13 hours rattled the central region of New Zealand’s North Island Saturday, seismologists at GNS Science reported.

The quakes ranged in magnitude from 2.6 to 4.4 on the Richter scale but all were shallow – one only two kilometres below the surface – meaning they were widely felt in the area.

All were centred within 5 to 10 km of the town of Turangi, situated halfway between capital Wellington and the nation’s biggest city, Auckland.

How Anupam Kher got two dancing superstars together

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Mumbai, June 27: You may have heard about Prabhudeva’s meeting with Michael Jackson in November 1996, the only time the King of Pop visited Mumbai. Anupam Kher told MiD DAY how the meeting was arranged.

At a party hosted by Bharat Shah for MJ at the Oberoi Hotel, Kher who was also present at the event broke the pop star’s security cordon and shouted, in excitement, “I love your music.”

Free spirit: Anupam Kher broke Jacko’s security cordon during a private party in 1996.

Awards eluded my father, says Madan Mohan’s son

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New Delhi, June 27: Madan Mohan, who created unforgettable Hindi film songs like “Aap ki nazron ne samjha”, “Dil dhundta” and “Lag jaa gale”, received much appreciation from fans and peers but this did not translate into awards, says the legendary composer’s son Sanjeev Kohli.

Why Simi Garewal’s role was cut out in ‘Short Kut’?

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Mumbai, June 27: Arshad Warsi was excited about his ‘Rendezvous with Simi Garewal’ in forthcoming film “Short Kut – The Con”, but he was disappointed when the entire sequence was chopped off from the final cut.

“It’s unfortunate but we had to let go of the sequence. This was done to keep the film’s length in check. We wanted the film to be as close to the two-hour running length as possible. The film is now two hours and seven minutes and we didn’t want to exceed it any further,” Anil Kapoor, the producer of “Short Kut”, told IANS.

India continues setting its women on fire

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Uttar Pradesh, June 27: Two women were burnt to death in separate incidents allegedly by their husbands in the district, police said here today.

In the first incident, Kishore of Barooki village set 30-yr-old Babita, his wife of eight years, on fire after she failed to arrange Rs. 50,000 he had been demanding from.

She was thrown out of the house by Kishore and his family members in serious condition and was rushed to a hospital by her neighbours where she was declared brought dead.

Delivery on rail tracks

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Indore, June 27: A woman gave birth to a healthy female infant this evening after labour pain made her fall unconscious on railway tracks here, Government Railway Police said.

Kala (24), a resident of this district’s Tarakhedi village, was en route to Indore to her husband Nanuram’s place. As she arrived late here, she began walking along the tracks in a hurry to catch her train at the station. After she swooned, some women in the vicinity came to the rescue and aided the delivery.

The mother and daughter were later conveyed to the district hospital.

–UNI–

Saina Nehwal bows out of Malaysian Open

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Johor Bahru, June 27: Saina Nehwal’s dream of pocketing back-to-back titles went up in smoke as Chinese qualifier Xin Wang stunned the second-seed Indian in the quarter-final of the Malaysian Open Grand Prix Gold badminton tournament here today.

Saina cut a sorry figure as Wang took just 26 minutes to tame her fancied opponent 21-14, 21-10 in a lop-sided affair.

Michael had started eating like a bird: Bappi Lahiri

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Mumbai, June 27: Bappi Lahiri, who’d gone to LA to meet the Jackson brothers, speaks about the anguish the family faced during Michael Jackson’s last few days.

Bappi Lahiri speaks about the anguish the family faced during Michael Jackson’s last few days.

During the last few months, Michael Jackson aka Mikaeel was on a toxic diet of financial worries and an ever-failing health. With all the tell-tale signs of acute depression, the Peter Pan of pop music had almost given up food according to his family.

Obama invites Manmohan Singh to White House

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New Delhi, June 27: US president Barack Obama has invited prime minister Manmohan Singh to visit Washington later this year to enable them to discuss the global economic situation and regional security issues.

US National security adviser James L Jones conveyed the invitation to Singh during a meeting here today.

Don’t destroy education: Opposition

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New Delhi, June 27: A day after Union human resources development (HRD) minister Kapil Sibal’s grandiose announcement of a new education scheme for the country, the move has invited sharp reactions from not just the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Left, but also from a section of the Congress.

“These look like out-of-the-box ideas of an ambitious minister who has acted overenthusiastically and arbitrarily,” an All-India Congress Committee general secretary said.

Ban rape & murder on screen before smoking & drinking: Azad

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New Delhi, June 27: Toeing a different line from that of his predecessor, Union health minister Ghulam Nabi Azad said today that before banning smoking and drinking on screen there was a need to stop showing more objectionable things like “rape and murder”.

“Movies show much more serious things like rape, murder and dacoity. That is a very deep thing to go into. Before banning smoking and drinking, we have to ban rape and murder too,” he told reporters on the sidelines of a function to mark the international day against drug abuse here.

The Jackson-Thackeray connect

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Mumbai, June 27: Almost thirteen years after his only visit to this city, it must still seem remarkable that Michael Jackson came here at the behest of the Shiv Sena.

Just what was the meeting ground between an ultra-right party and a pop singer whose every gesture could be seen as culturally invasive is as much a conundrum today as it was then.

Be that as it may, Jackson’s concert became the talking point of the country before and after the event. En route to Oberoi at Nariman Point from the airport, for instance, Jackson stopped to meet street urchins against security advice.

Govt reviews law against homosexuality

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New Delhi, June 27: After years of procrastination, the government has finally decided that section 377 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) needs to be reviewed. The section bans sexual relationships among people of the same gender, terming it unnatural sex.

“There is a move from the government’s side. We are re-looking at the law. The Union home minister (P Chidambaram) has invited health minister (Ghulam Nabi Azad), home ministers of all states and me for consultations,” Union law minister M Veerappa Moily
said on Friday.

We need more Nilekanis in government

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Mumbai, June 27The UPA government’s decision to appoint Nandan Nilekani, co-chairman of Infosys Technologies, to head the Unique Identification Card mission is an inspired one.

If it works — and we must make it work — it should pave the way for the induction of competent private sector professionals of the calibre of KV Kamath at ICICI Bank, S Ramadorai at TCS, or Deepak Parekh of HDFC — to name just a few — for running gigantic public sector initiatives.

New leadership for Sunni Madrasa education board in Kerala

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Cochi, June 27: TK Muhyidheen alias Bava Musliyar is elected the new President of the Samastha Kerala Islam Matha Vidyabhyasa Board. PKP Abdussalam Musliyar Pappinisseri is the new General Secretary and Syed Hyderali Shihab Thangal is the Treasurer.

The Samastha Kerala Islam Matha Vidyabhyasa Board is the board of education under the major Sunni organization Samastha Kerala Jam’iyyathul Ulema (EK faction). The board deals with the education in the madrasas under the organization.

Muslims to get reservation in GHMC election

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Hyderabad, June 27: Of the 150 seats of the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC), 92 have been reserved for different categories and only 58 will be in the general categories on which every body will be able to contest.

50 seats have been reserved for the backward classes, four percent of which will be for the backward groups of Muslim community. In these 50 seats, 17 will be exclusive for women. 12 seats have been reserved for the scheduled castes and two for the scheduled tribes.

Transformers 2 Stars Megan Fox And Bumblebee

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New York, June 27: Transformers 2 Fans of the movie series “Transformers” are going to have a tough time deciding who to brand the ‘hottest element’ in the upcoming “Transformer” sequel; lead actress Megan Fox or the Transformer Bumblebee Camaro SS. These two stars of the just released “Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen” are going to fight it out among themselves for fan’s attention. Promotional pictures of the sexy actress and the absolutely stunning graphics of the alien robot is hogging the major part of the limelight among the movie’s cast.

India beat West Indies in the first ODI

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Jamaica, June 27: Powered by Yuvraj Singh’s cracking 131 runs, India defeated West Indies in the first of the four one-day internationals here at the Sabina Park Friday.

Yuvraj smashed one of his typically dazzling centuries and comeback man Dinesh Karthik struck a solid 67 as India set the West Indies a stiff 340-run target.

West Indies put up a brave fight with a 65-run 1st wicket stand between C.H Gayle and R.S. Morton and a 3rd wicket 51-run partnership between R.R Sarwan and S. Chanderpaul, though losing wickets at regular intervals.

Jackson’s children could become focus of custody battle

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Washington, June 27: Michael Jackson’s three children could face a complex custody battle in days ahead. Jackson died suddenly, leaving behind two sons and a daughter, aged 12, 11 and 7, who had lived with him practically since birth.

The mother of the oldest son, Prince Michael I, and daughter, Paris, is Debbie Rowe, a former nurse to Jackson’s dermatologist. They married in 1996, divorced in 1999, but reportedly remained friends.

The mother of the third child, Prince Michael II, has never been publicly identified.

Imran refuses to promote Luck on small screen

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Mumbai, June 26: Imran Khan, who is not a big fan of reality shows, has turned down a chance to appear on one to promote his film Luck. Imran Khan snubbed the producers as well as the channel, and now his co-star Shruti Hassan will appear with the second choice – Sanjay Dutt.

Karan refuses to shoot in Australia

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Mumbai, June 26: Karan Johar has shifted the outdoor shooting schedule of his untitled production, which is the remake of Hollywood film Stepmom, from Australia to US. The shift in schedule is his mark of protest against the attacks on the Indian students in Australia.