Awards eluded my father, says Madan Mohan’s son

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’?

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

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.

Woman yet to receive husband’s body from Kuwait

Tirunelveli, June 27: A young woman from Thanjavur district has been struggling for the past five months to get back the body of her husband who reportedly died in Kuwait.

Sameer Sherif (31) of Subramaniapuram in Tiruchy district had married Fathima Beevi (25) of Thirunagar in Thanjavur in August last year.

After spending two months with his wife, Sherif went to Kuwait to work as a driver.

Within four-and-a-half months, she was informed that her husband had died. All attempts by Fathima to get back Sherif ’s body and to find out the real story behind the death have been in vain.

Delay in revaluation marks worries students

Chennai, June 27: Even after a day of the release of Tamil Nadu Engineering Admissions rank list and with the Directorate of Medical Education releasing MBBS admission rank list on Monday, the Directorate of Government Examinations is showing no sign of easing the panic of students.

Over 1,700 students have applied for re-evaluation, with maximum requests in Chemistry and Physics subjects and though several of the students have been informed of their revised marks they are yet to get their marksheets from the department.

Delivery on rail tracks

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

Chidambaram wants police in Maoist belt to stick to procedures

Bhubaneswar, June 26: Home Minister P. Chidambaram Friday asked police forces in Maoist-hit areas to stick to standard operation procedures.

Referring to a string of setbacks the forces have faced in the Maoist-affected belt, he said: ‘There is a standard operation procedure for police to move in naxal-affected areas. If they follow these, such things will not happen.’

‘Please do not violate the standard procedure,’ he said citing recent incidents in different parts of the country including the killings of policemen in Orissa’s Koraput district.

Storm death toll rises to eight; 11 still missing

Manila, June 26: A tropical storm whipped up a tornado, triggered a landslide and overturned boats as it cut across the northern Philippines, leaving at least eight dead and 11 missing amid widespread flooding, officials said.

Storm Nangka, with winds of 34 miles per hour and gusts of up to 56 mph (90 kph), moved into the South China Sea west of Manila overnight and was expected to track northwest toward the Taiwan Strait this weekend, forecasters said Thursday.

Nearly 10,000 people were stranded aboard hundreds of ferries and motorboats, which were ordered to stay docked for safety.

5 new cases of swine flu in KSA

Riyadh, June 26: The Ministry of Health announced Thursday that five new cases of swine flu had been registered in the previous 24 hours in the Kingdom.

The new cases were detected in a 56-year-old Filipina nurse in Al-Baha, two Filipina nurses aged 54 and 37 in Riyadh, a Saudi nurse aged 24 in Riyadh, and a four-year-old Albanian girl, also in the capital.

The new instances of the virus bring the total number of confirmed cases in the Kingdom to 53.

22 new projects will solve Jeddah traffic woes: Mayor

Jeddah, June 26: The scheduled 2010 completion of 22 construction projects will render Jeddah’s crippling traffic congestion a thing of the past, according to Mayor Adel Faqih.
Faqih told Saudi Gazette Thursday that once the works worth some SR2 billion were finished, Jeddah would “have no traffic problems whatsoever”, and elaborated on the extent of the massive infrastructure overhaul, citing new bridges, tunnels, intersection underpasses as well as sizable expansions to existing thoroughfares.

Berri reelected Lebanon speaker

Beirut, June 26: Underlining improved ties between rival politicians in the war-torn country, Lebanon’s parliament on Thursday elected Nabih Berri as speaker for the coming four years, extending his 17-year leadership of the chamber.

Berri, an ally of the military and political movement Hezbollah, stood uncontested for the post, reserved for a Shiite according to a sectarian power-sharing system.
Ninety of parliament’s 128 members voted for the 71-year old, including the Future

Indian National Rally Championship begins Saturday

Coimbatore, June 26: The first round of the 2009 Indian National Rally Championship (INRC) under the aegis of the Federation of Motor Sports Clubs of India (FMSCI) will be flagged off here Saturday amidst high expectations with a new promoter and sponsor in place besides a touch of modernisation by way of GPS tracking and electronic timing.