uzma Chandigarh, November 28:The two-day annual Chandigarh carnival got off to a bright start Saturday as a parade comprising folk dancers from Punjab, drummers and colourful tableaux snaked its way through the city’s roads. Organisers are expecting around 300,000 visitors to the carnival at which several foreign countries are participating as well.
This carnival was flagged off at the sprawling Leisure Valley grounds.
New Delhi, Nov 28 (IANS) Six people have been arrested for stealing over 100 motorbikes in the national capital region, police said Saturday.
Mohammad Anees, 22, Sajid Hussain, 25, Arif, 19, Mohammad Arif, 21, and Mohammad Arshad, 22, were arrested Friday for stealing motorcycles in the national capital and its suburbs. They used to pass on the stolen vehicles to their accomplice, Mohammad Qayum, 25, who has also been arrested.
All the six belong to the Palwal area of Haryana. Police have recovered 13 of the stolen motorbikes from them.
New Delhi, Nov 28 (IANS) The Congress Saturday reacted positively to reports of Smita Thackeray, daughter-in-law of Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray, planning to join the party, but said she would be admitted only after the Maharashtra unit’s nod.
“I am happy to learn that like the common people of the country, members of the Thackeray family are also expressing faith in the party’s policies and in its leaders,” Congress spokesman Shakeel Ahmed said.
He said Congress policies were inclusive and the party wanted to carry everyone along.
Chandigarh, November 28:The Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM), a youth wing of the BJP, Saturday announced it would launch a week-long protest to condemn the “leak” of the Liberhan Commission report on the Babri Masjid demolition.
Amit Thaker, national president of BJYM, said here: “Justice Liberhan has plainly denied leaking any part of the report, which clearly shows that the report was leaked by Home Minister P. Chidambaram himself as a well-charted conspiracy against the BJP.”
Panaji, November 28:The official website of a contest called T20, floated at the 40th edition of the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) here in Goa, with the intention to rank top 20 films of Indian cinema over the last 96 years, continues to be ridden with factual errors.
www.t20ofindiancinema.com which contains hastily uploaded pictures and descriptors accompanying the 100 films suggested by the T20 jury has mixed up Pattabhi Rama Reddy’s 1970s Kannada movie “Samskara”, with “Samsara”, a film shot in Ladakh.
Panaji, November 28:The story of “Red Alert”, a film based on Maoist violence in India, was inspired by a news report published in a leading national daily, says its director Anant Mahadevan.
“Actually I was inspired by a true story that appeared in The Hindustan Times about a farmer who got inadvertently trapped with a group of Naxalites,” Mahadevan told reporters during a media interaction here Saturday.
“Red Alert”, which stars Suniel Shetty, Seema Biswas, Naseeruddin Shah, premiered at the 40th edition of the International Film Festival of India.
Shimla, November 28:Himachal Pradesh-based companies have done good business during the India International Trade Fair (IITF) held in New Delhi Nov 14-27, an official said here Saturday.
“During the IITF, Himachal Pradesh-based companies received orders worth Rs.5 crore from dealers,” R.R. Patyal, director of the Himachal Pavilion, said in a statement.
As many as 15 leading companies including Spice Digital, Sonalika Group, Skyline and Marksons displayed their products during the IITF.
Port of Spain, November 28:India Saturday reaffirmed its commitment to organising the best Commonwealth Games ever next year.
At the Sports Breakfast during the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) here, Commonwealth Games Organising Committee Chairman Suresh Kalmadi and Sindushree Khullar, secretary, sports ministry, outlined Delhi’s preparations for the Games.
Khullar gave a detailed presentation on the progress made on various aspects of the 2010 Games scheduled Oct 3-14.
Kochi, November 28:Kerala Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan Saturday asked Smart City Dubai, the developer of a proposed IT park here, to stick to the framework agreement or else the government would “look for other options”.
“In case they (Smart City Dubai) are unable to go by the agreement, we will have to look for other options,” Achuthanandan said after laying the foundation stone for the second phase expansion of the Infopark near here.
Jeddah, November 28:Saudi Arabia’s civil defence authority Saturday raised the toll from this week’s flash floods caused by heavy downpours to 106.
An official with the authority said crews were still searching for survivors from the flooding that hit the western part of the country, including the area where many enter the kingdom for the ongoing Haj pilgrimage.
Health authorities have warned people to stay away from the water to avoid further casualties and the spread of diseases.
Hamburg, November 28:At the recent Frankfurt Motor Show you could catch a glimpse of what the future holds for the sports car that will pass you on the motorway with a silent swoosh of electric-driven power rather than with the throaty roar we know from a Lamborghini or a Ferrari.
Several car makers are showing the world that it is possible to produce high-powered sports cars with clean-drive alternative power concepts and that motorists can combine an eco-conscience with all the fun that comes with a sports car.
Mumbai,November 28:Neha Dhupia has been around for more than six years now and has done films as diverse as “Mithya” and “Julie”. But she neither believes in boasting about her body of work nor is she keen to approach leading actors and filmmakers to rope her in for their films.
“This is the way I have been throughout my career. I am not the type who would go and tell everyone what I have done in the past,” Neha told IANS.
After having debuted opposite Ajay Devgn in “Qayamat” (2003), she has worked in close to 30 movies.
Mumbai, November 28:The Shiv Sena Saturday literally switched to silent mode as party chief Bal Thackeray’s daughter-in-law Smita Jaidev Thackeray said she planned to join the Congress.
The phones of top Sena leaders remained “unavailable”, “switched off” or “not reachable” since a prominent national daily broke the news, suddenly diverting the party’s attention from the election for a new Mumbai mayor to replace incumbent Shubha Raul.
London,November 28:Tony Blair could have delayed the 2003 invasion of Iraq and ensured better plans were in place for its chaotic aftermath by taking a tougher stance with President George W. Bush, Britain’s ex-ambassador to Washington said Thursday.
Christopher Meyer, Blair’s U.S. envoy from 1997-2003, told a panel investigating the Iraq war that Blair failed to use his influence with Bush to stall the frantic rush to invasion.
“We could have achieved more by playing a tougher role,” Meyer testified to the five-person inquiry.
St. Petersburg, November 28:Twenty-five people were killed and 63 were injured in the derailment of a train bound from Moscow to Russia’s second largest city St. Petersburg, prosecutors said Saturday.
Three cars of the 12-car Nevsky Express train that can travel at 200 km per hour went off the tracks Friday evening near the town of Bologoye on the border between Russia’s Tver and Novgorod regions.
Lucknow, November 25:Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati Wednesday alleged a Congress-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) “conspiracy” behind what she termed as a “systematic leakage” of the Liberhan Commission report that probed the 1992 demolition of the Babri mosque.
“It was this very Congress-BJP secret nexus that led to the demolition of the Babri Masjid and they are again active to play their respective politics in the name of the Ayodhya issue”, Mayawati told reporters here, a day after the Liberhan report was tabled in parliament.
Lucknow, November 25:Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati Wednesday alleged a Congress-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) “conspiracy” behind what she termed as a “systematic leakage” of the Liberhan Commission report that probed the 1992 demolition of the Babri mosque.
“It was this very Congress-BJP secret nexus that led to the demolition of the Babri Masjid and they are again active to play their respective politics in the name of the Ayodhya issue”, Mayawati told reporters here, a day after the Liberhan report was tabled in parliament.
Thiruvananthapuram, November 25:The Kerala government Wednesday gave its nod for setting up a new medical university in the state.
“The cabinet has cleared an ordinance to this effect and the governor’s assent has been sought. Once that happens, the Kerala Health University will come into existence and its headquarters will be at Trissur,” Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan told reporters here.
A 90-member senate and a 17-member governing council would run the affairs of the new university.
Bangalore, Nov 25 (IANS) India will soon embark on developing an indigenous unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV) for surveillance, detection and destroying specific targets, a top defence official said Wednesday.
“We will soon embark on designing and developing an unmanned combat aerial vehicle, which will not only do surveillance, but will also help detect the target and destroy the identified object,” V.K. Saraswat, scientific advisor to Defence Minister A.K. Antony, told reporters here.
Londaon,November 25:Following British Ambassador to Afghanistan Mark Sedwill publicly embracing Gen. Stanley McChrystal’s call for a massive escalation in the war, Britain’s Defense Secretary Bob Ainsworth hit out at the delay in Obama announcing his intentions.
Secretary Ainsworth hit out at Obama for his “period of hiatus,” the three month period between Gen. McChrystal’s request and now, as a major reason why the war in Afghanistan is so unpopular among British voters.
Karachi, Nov 24 (IANS) Pakistan’s cricket authorities have sought the government’s permission for players’ participation in the next edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL), but sports minister Aftab Jilani fears that it might be too late.
Jilani said in an interview Tuesday that the sports ministry has received a request from the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) for no objection certificates (NOCs) for players in the IPL.
New Delhi, November 24:India would be able to indigenously develop swine flu vaccine by June next year, Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad told parliament Tuesday.
“Three companies are working towards developing indigenous vaccine for the swine flu and it is expected that clinical trials would start in January 2010. If all goes well, indigenous vaccine would be available by June 2010,” Azad said.
In India, three pharmaceutical companies – Serum Institute of India, Bharat Biotech, and Panacea Biotech – are working on developing the vaccine.
Kanpur, November 24:Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir cashed in on winning a good toss by slamming explosive centuries to put India in command by stumps on the opening day of the second cricket Test against Sri Lanka at the Green Park here Tuesday.
Openers Sehwag (131) and Gautam Gambhir (167) laid the foundation for an imposing total with their 233-run stand and India ended the day at 417 for the loss of two wickets — India’s highest score in a day’s play in Tests, surpassing 385 in the previous Test at Ahmedabad.
Hyderabad, November 24:The accounting scam at Satyam Computer Services is to the tune of Rs.14,000 crore (Rs.140 billion/$2.8 billion)) and not Rs.7,800 crore (Rs.78 billion) as the company’s disgraced former chairman B. Ramalinga Raju stated earlier this year, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has said.
The federal agency Tuesday filed a 200-page charge sheet in the special court for CBI cases here that had details of properties acquired by Raju and other accused and their financial transactions abroad through fictitious firms.
New Delhi, November 24:Severely indicting the Uttar Pradesh administration under then chief minister Kalyan Singh for being “a willing ally and co-conspirator” in the razing of the Babri Masjid, retired high court justice M.S. Liberhan in his report said the demolition was carried out with “military precision”.
The report of the Liberhan Commission, which was tabled in parliament Tuesday, blamed senior police officials for toeing the line and acting as “uniformed karsevaks (supporters) rather than protectors” in allowing the demolition of the 16th century Babri Masjid.