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Saif to team up with ‘The Dirty Picture’ director

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Filmmaker Milan Luthria, set to reunite with actor Saif Ali Khan 13 years after they worked together in 1999 film ‘Kachche Dhaage’, will start shooting his new film from April 2013.

The movie will be produced by Bhushan Kumar of T-Series banner.

“The film will go on floors by April 2013. Milan is busy with `Once Upon A Time In Mumbai 2`, so as soon as he finishes shooting for that film, our film will go on floors,” Kumar told IANS.

The movie will be basically shot in Mumbai, but the shooting of some songs will take the crew to “some European countries”, he added.

Now, a case filed against Raj Thackeray in Bihar

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A case has been filed against Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray in a court in Bihar, a report said on Saturday.

On Thursday, Thackeray had threatened to brand Biharis in Maharashtra as “infiltrators”, fuelling a controversy with leaders from various political parties slamming the MNS chief over the issue.

Meanwhile, a report said that an advocate has filed a case against Thackeray in a court in Muzaffarpur district.

Vipul Mehta wins as the best singer in `Indian Idol 6`

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It was a tough call – three boys, all from Punjab, all excellent singers with a great audience connect. But it is Vipul Mehta from Amritsar, who bagged the ‘Indian Idol 6’ title here Saturday night at a glittering grand finale.

The 21-year-old pipped Devendra Pal Singh, 17, and Amit Kumar, 20, for the winner`s trophy, a cash prize of Rs.50 lakh from Sony channel, a Nissan Micra car, a Suzuki Hayate bike, Rs. 3 lakh from Max Life Insurance and a contract to record his own music album.

Over 270 government websites hacked till July

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Over 270 government websites were hacked till July this year, Minister of State for Communications and IT Sachin Pilot informed parliament.

“A total number of 201, 303, 308 and 273 government websites were hacked during the year 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012 (till July) respectively,” Pilot said in a written reply to the Lok Sabha this week.

Asked if computer security analysts have issued alerts for internet users, the minister said the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) regularly issued alerts for users and operators on vulnerabilities.

Gold zooms to all-time high at Rs 31,725 per 10 gms

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Surpassing all previous records, gold skyrocketed to an high of Rs 31,725 per ten grams in the national capital Saturday on frantic buying by stockists, sparked by a steep rise in global prices.

Delhi led the rally, rising the most by Rs 550 to Rs 31,725 per ten grams followed by Kolkata with Rs 540 to Rs 31,715. The metal in Mumbai spurted by Rs 520 to Rs 31,400 and in Chennai by Rs 540 to Rs 31,575.

Growing number of Saudi women excelling in science

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More and more Saudi Arabian women are earning global recogniton in the field of science and medicine, according to a report.

As Samar Fatany wrote for a Saudi daily, she cited a report by UNESCO and said that the percentage of women graduating from the universities in the country, who hailed from the branch of science and medicine, was higher than that in western countries.

IAEA report on Parchin void of technical significance: Iran

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Iran’s Foreign Minister Ali-Akbar Salehi said on Friday that the report of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on the country’s Parchin military base lacks “technical significance”.

“Such claims are void of any technical significance. Anybody, who is an expert in the field, knows that such claims are excuses and (the traces of) issues like that (explosive experiments) cannot be removed by cleanup,” said Salehi on the sidelines of the ongoing Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) Summit here, reported Xinhua, citing the semi-official ISNA news agency.

‘No classified information leak in Osama book’

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A former US Navy SEAL, who gave a first-hand account of the Osama bin Laden raid in a new book, has denied leaking any classified information.

Robert Luskin, an attorney representing the author with the pen name Mark Owen, said his client “has faithfully fulfilled his duty” and didn’t violate any non-disclosure agreements with the Pentagon, reported Xinhua.

SC directs fresh trial of Delhi 1997 blast accused

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The Supreme Court on Friday directed a fresh trial of a terror accused whose conviction and sentencing had been set aside by a court bench on grounds that the accused was not provided with legal assistance but was split on the future course of action.

Directing the de novo trial of Mohammad Hussain alias Zulfikar Ali, accused in 1997 bomb blast in Delhi, the court said: “The nature of the incident and the circumstances in which it occurred speak volume about the very grave nature of offence.”

Obama names Bombay IIT graduate to key post

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President Barack Obama has appointed Romesh Wadhwani, an Indian American founder of several software and IT companies, on board of trustees of the John F Kennedy Centre for the Performing Arts.

Announcing his intent to appoint Wadhwani and nine other general trustees of the centre, Obama said, “These dedicated men and women bring a wealth of experience and talent to their new roles and I am proud to have them serve in this Administration.”

Congress has created record in corruption: Ramdev

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Amidst the raging row over the coal blocks allocation issue, yoga guru Baba Ramdev hit out at Congress on Saturday saying it has created a record in corruption.

Seeking the resignation of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Ramdev told a press conference, “If the PM is honest then who is dishonest?”

Ramdev further said that a conspiracy is being hatched against his ashram and trust. He said that an FIR in this regard has been lodged by him.

Reinvigorated by Tehran, Manmohan seizes the momen

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He left on Tuesday as an embattled prime minister with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) baying for his blood over the presumptive loss to the nation in alleged irregularity in the award of lucrative coal mining blocks.

But, by the time he returned on Saturday, Manmohan Singh was completely reinvigorated, serving notice that he was ready to take on the BJP, or for that matter, any other political party – but on his own terms.

The clearest indication of this came during his customary meeting on board his special aircraft while returning home.

What babies eat determines risk of obesity

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Baby rats which get normal levels of dietary fat right after birth, even though their mothers were fed high-fat diets, avoid obesity and related disorders as adults, according to new research.

Conversely, rat babies exposed to a normal-fat diet in the womb but nursed by rat mothers on high-fat diets become obese by the time they are weaned.

`Chain smoking triples the risk of brain haemorrhage`

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Smoking more than 20 cigarettes a day almost triples the chances of suffering a potentially fatal brain haemorrhage, a new study has warned.

The study found that quitting reduces the danger but heavy smokers who give up tobacco are still twice as much at risk as people who have never smoked.

Korean researchers investigated 426 cases of subarachnoid haemorrhage (SAH) between 2002 and 2004, the `Daily Mail` reported.

Patients were compared with a group of 426 people and matched for age and sex who had never experienced a brain bleed.

Big B gets conscious when wife Jaya on the sets

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Megastar Amitabh Bachchan, who will be seen with his wife Jaya Bachchan in Bhojpuri film `Ganga Devi`, says there is lot of restriction when your wife is on the sets and he gets conscious in her presence.

“When your wife is on the sets with you, then your behaviour also changes, there are lots of restrictions, there is always a discipline on the sets or else when you go back home, the situation goes out of control,” a laughing Amitabh told reporters during the music launch of the film here Friday.

“I hope you all will promote `Ganga Devi` and the audience likes it,” he added.

Aamir Khan brings smile to Jalpari director

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Aamir Khan surely goes out of his way for causes that are close to his heart. The actor, busy with a shooting schedule in Chicago, made time to write to `Jalpari: The Desert Mermaid` director Nila Madhab Panda, expressing his desire to watch the movie on female foeticide.

As a subject, female foeticide is very sensitive for Aamir, who dealt with it in all its seriousness on his debut TV show Satyamev Jayate.

Ranbir mum on film with Zoya Akhtar

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Actor Ranbir Kapoor refused to confirm reports that he will be seen opposite Kareena Kapoor in Zoya Akhtar`s next film.

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`Barfi` was like dumb charades for me, says Ranbir Kapoor

“Nothing has been confirmed as of now. We are very close friends so we keep talking, but nothing is confirmed,” he told reporters at a promotional event of his upcoming film, “Barfi”.

The actor also said that he would love to direct and produce a film under the RK Films banner, but doesn`t have the time at the moment.

Review: ‘Joker’ is dumb and disappointing

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Owing to the technical challenges, the concept of weaving a story along aliens and UFOs has always been tricky for Indian filmmakers, but I would like to applaud Shirish Kunder just for the fact that he dared to make a film around extra-terrestrials, even though the success of the venture looks very bleak.

On day of plenty US wins, Andy Roddick says he`ll quit

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By turns a bit wistful and at his wisecracking best, Andy Roddick let the tennis world in on a little secret he kept for a couple of days: This US Open will be the last tournament of his career.

Roddick made the surprising announcement at a hastily arranged news conference Thursday, his 30th birthday, at Flushing Meadows, the site of his biggest triumph — the 2003 championship, the last time an American man won a Grand Slam singles trophy.

Kingfisher may face operational shutdown as losses hound KFA

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Beleaguered Kingfisher Airlines (KFA) may face pressure to shut down its operations temporarily owing to unremitting losses and pressure from lenders that have kept hammering the company for a long time now.

The debt-laden airline, which has reported a loss of Rs. 651 crore in April-June, compared with a loss of Rs. 264 crore in the year-ago period, has never made profit since it was founded in 2005.

India’s Q1 GDP growth at decade low of 5.5%

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Showing persistent sluggishness, economy grew by 5.5 percent in the April-June quarter this fiscal due to poor performance of manufacturing, mining and farm sectors.

The gross domestic product (GDP) had expanded by 8 percent in the April-June quarter of 2011-12.

During the quarter ended June 30, the manufacturing sector grew marginally by 0.2 percent, against 7.3 percent growth in the same period of 2011-12, according to the official data released today.

No breakthrough until Dalai changes stand: China

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Rebuffing the Dalai Lama’s remarks that there were “encouraging signs” about China changing its attitude towards Tibet, a top Chinese official has said there would be no breakthrough in talks until the Tibetan spiritual leader changed his stand on “some fundamental issues”.

Playing down expectations of any “new approach”, Xu Zhitao, an official with the United Front Work Department of the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CPC) Central Committee, denied any recent official visits to hold talks with the Dalai in his exile.

No question of my resignation: PM on coal issue

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On Board Air India One: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Friday hit back at the opposition for demanding that he step down over his alleged role in the coal blocks allocation issue.

Speaking to reporters on board Air India One while returning from the NAM Summit in Tehran, the PM said the BJP was resorting to diversionary tactics.

“There is no question of me resigning. I have to maintain the dignity of the office of PM,” Dr Singh said.

He added that “if I was resigning, I would not have been here”.

4 states declare drought in more than 390 taluks

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Four states Karnataka, Maharashtra, Gujarat and Rajasthan — have declared drought in over 390 taluks so far and central teams will visit these states to assess the situation, Parliament was informed today.

In a written reply to the Rajya Sabha, Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar said four states have declared drought so far. “The central teams have been constituted to visit these states for assessing the situation.”

Earphone noise can damage nerve cells

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Earphones or headphones on personal music players can reach noise levels similar to those of jet engines and can damage the coating of nerve cells, leading to temporary deafness, scientists from the University of Leicester have revealed.

Noises louder than 110 decibels are known to cause hearing problems such as temporary deafness and tinnitus (ringing in the ears), but the University of Leicester study is the first time the underlying cell damage has been observed.