Month: June 2009

Celebrity deaths: The conspiracy theories around them!

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New York, June 30: Conspiracy theories have often sprung up around the deaths of celebrities, be it pop legend Michael Jackson, actor Marilyn Monroe, singer Elvis Presley or the former Beatle John Lennon.

In case of Jackson, who died of a cardiac arrest five days back, it took hours for the first conspiracy theories to start circulating. The most popular is that he faked his death to escape the media glare and impending bankruptcy, despite medical reports blaming an overdose of prescription drugs.

Well, Jackson’s death was not the only one.

Why is Akshay scared of Kareena?

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Mumbai, June 30: The hilarious dialogue promo of KAMBAKKHT ISHQ doing the rounds on almost all the television channels has the audience in splits, as it shows a very scared (but really funny) ”Khiladi’ on the bed of a hospital and Kareena Kapoor entering the OT (operation theatre) in the get-up of a surgeon.

Akshay is visibly horrified as he protests – This woman is a model (and not a surgeon) and that she is going to kill him.

CPM supporters protest against Lalgarh operation

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New Delhi, June 30: The reverberations of Operation Lalgrah were on Monday felt in the national capital, as the CPI(M) supporters gathered outside the party headquarters to voice their protest against the anti-Naxal operation in Lalgarh.

Members of the Naujawan Bharat Sabha, Revolutionary Democratic Front and Pragitisheel Mahila Sangathan gathered in huge numbers raising slogans against Operation Lalgarh.

They alleged that tribals were being made vulnerable targets in the operation. According to the protestors, security forces were committing atrocities on tribals.

ICC chief suggests four-day Tests

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London, June 30: David Morgan, the ICC president, has hinted that Test cricket may be reduced to four days to protect and enrich the game’s oldest format in the face of lucrative Twenty20 leagues like the IPL.

The suggestion comes in the wake of a few other changes that are being mooted, including a two-tier format and day-night Tests to attract more crowds.

Paes-Black Advances As Bhupati-Sania Crashes Out

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New Delhi, June 30: India’s Leander Paes and his Zimbabwean partner Cara Black advanced into the quarterfinals of the mixed double event of the Wimbledon after defeating Indian pair of Mahesh Bhupati and Sania Mirza in London on Monday.

Paes-Cara duo has defeated the 13th seeded pair of Bhupati-Sania by 6-2, 6-7(2), 6-3 in the third round of the mixed double event of the Wimbledon championship.

The first set was easily won by the top seeded pair of Paes-Cara but in the second set Bhupati-Sania came back strongly as they won the second set which went to tie-breaker.

J-K: Separatists’ call for 3-day bandh

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Srinagar, June 30: Baramulla remained on the edge on Tuesday after the death toll in the recent spate of violence in the Jammu and Kashmir valley town reached two.

Curfew continued in the town after violent clashes between protestors and police on Monday. One person was killed and 12 others injured in the clashes of which one died later on Monday.

A magisterial inquiry has been ordered into the incident.

Suleiman passes good wishes to Ahmadinejad

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Tehran, June 30: Hours after the Guardian Council confirmed the results of the June 12 poll; Lebanese President Michel Suleiman congratulated Iran’s president on his re-election.

Iran’s electoral watchdog late Monday said the recount of 10 percent of the ballot boxes had shown no irregularities.

The recount was done after defeated presidential candidates, Mir-Hossein Mousavi, Mehdi Karroubi and Mohsen Rezaei rejected the result of the election as “fraudulent”.

New timings in place, employees in govt depts report late for work

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Ludhiana, June 30: As the Punjab government’s order of introducing early and reduced timings in its offices came into effect on Monday, several employees reported late to work on the first day of the changed schedule.

Many of the employees were seemingly happy and hailed the decision aimed at saving power, saying they would now be spending less time in the office and also the reduced working hours would be able to save energy for the government. Some, however, said it was difficult to start work so early in the day which generally follows a night interspersed with power cuts.

US forces to free Iranian diplomats

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Washington, June 30: As part of its security accord with the Baghdad government, the US military will release the Iranian diplomats it took hostage in Iraq two years ago.

Iran’s ambassador to Iraq, Hassan Kazemi-Qomi, said the diplomats would be released under the terms of the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) — which requires the US military to deliver more than 1500 prisoners, including the non-Iraqi nationals, to the Baghdad government.

‘Natural gas find at Krishna Godavari basin can cross 20 tcf’

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Gandhinagar, June 30: The Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation (GSPC) has found 10.8 tcf (trillion cubic feet) of natural gas in the Krishna Godavari (KG) basin off the Andhra Pradesh coast, as against the 20 tcf earlier announced by Chief Minister Narendra Modi.

Minister of State for Energy and Petrochemicals Saurabh Patel announced this during Question Hour in the state Assembly on Monday. He said the GSPC has successfully drilled 11 of the 15 wells in the KG basin, and the gas find could be over 20 tcf.

Senior congress leader Rahmath Ali passed away

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Hyderabad, June 30 (Siasat News): Senior congress leader and former MP Syed Rahamth Ali passed away at his residence last night. He was 78 and survived by his three sons and three daughters.

Namaz-e-Janaza would be conducted today at Madina Masjid, Dilshadnagar, Mehdipatnam after Namz-e-zohar and burial will take place at Ahata-e-dargah hazrat Baghdadi Sahib at Langar Houz.

CM Rajasekhar Reddy has expressed his deep condolence over the demise of the senior leader.

Unidentified car passengers harass women in Sola

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Ahmedabad, June 30: Residents of Ajanta-Ellora Park Society in Sola have registered a complaint with the police that the women in the society are being harassed by some miscreants who deliberately pass by the area in a white coloured car. The police have now decided to deploy a patrolling van in the area from Monday night onwards.

In parched city, even tankers thirst for water

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Pune, June 30: With water supply badly hit because of delayed monsoons, the parched city is praying for rain, or even a water tanker. But this time around, even the water tankers, particularly those operated by private ones are being scarcely seen, even though people are ready to pay more.

The reason, many tanker operators say, is that Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) has restricted tankers from getting water from their refilling stations, as water availability is poor. However, private water tankers having access to borewells are making a killing.

progress made but long way to go in Pak: US

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Washington, June 30: The United States on Tuesday said that there has been “some progress” in the war against terrorism in Pakistan, but there is still a long way to go to eliminate the threat from extremists groups.

“I think we have seen some progress,” White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs told reporters at his daily press briefing.

“I think there seems to be, I think the events that have happened in Pakistan over the past several weeks have united many in the cause against extremism,” he said.

Polish engineer’s refusal to convert costs him his life

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Islamabad, June 30: Piotr Stanczak did not exhibit the slightest hint of hesitation when the Pakistani Taliban asked him to choose between execution and conversion to Islam.

Whether the Polish geologist acted out of pride or religious conviction, he decided to pay through his blood to save his faith, a choice that bewildered his killers and keep them talking about him with respect after his murder.

Pak “will not” shift troops from Indian border

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Islamabad, June 30: Pakistan has ruled out any possibility of shifting its troops from the eastern Indian border to the western border with Afghanistan.

Addressing a joint press conference with the ISPR spokesman Major General Athar Abbas here, Information Minister Qamar Zaman Kaira said Pakistan will not remove its military from the Indian border and deploy it along the western border with Afghanistan.

“We cannot and will not do it. Pakistan could not remain oblivious to the conventional threat,” The Dawn quoted Kaira, as saying.

9-year-old girl with swine flu dies; UK toll rises to three

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London, June 30: A nine-year-old girl, infected with swine flu, has died, taking the death toll due to the H1N1 virus influenza in the UK to three.

The girl, who was undergoing treatment at the Birmingham Children’s Hospital, died Friday, the hospital authorities said, adding she had already suffered from what was described as an “underlying health problem”.

Meanwhile, the Department of Health announced a big jump in the number of patients in England confirmed with swine flu – up 1,604 since Friday, taking the UK total so far to 5,937, the ‘Telegraph’ reported.

Ram Gopal Varma hates Michael Jackson

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Mumbai, June 30: Ram Gopal Varma had gone of to sleep late at night keeping his TV set on. So when he woke up the next morning, the first thing he saw on TV was the banner head line ‘Michael Jackson is Dead’.

A fan of the great King of Pop like countless others, Ramu however has penned down in his unique manner why he hates Michael Jackson.

States Ramu, “I hate Michael Jackson. I hate him for dying and making me realize that he is finally only a human being. I hate that he too has to breathe to live.

Despite arrests, police fail to recover stolen cash and goods

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Panchkula, June 30: Even as the police make tall claims of cracking most of the recently committed robberies in Panchkula, recovery of the loot still eludes them.

While no recovery could be made in the Sector-20, Sector-6 and Sector-20 bank robbery cases, all that the sleuths could lay their hands on in the PC Jewellers case was a gold chain and a few grams of gold.

Sector-20 case
A gang of three people drugged Omkar Chand Rathaur (25) and Om Prakash Pandey (30), employees of Amritsar-based PS Seth and Sons, in AWHO Society on January 22.

Tusshar Kapoor to play double role in a comedy

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Mumbai, June 30: After playing the mute guy successfully in ‘Golmaal’ and ‘Golmaal Returns’, Tusshar Kapoor is all set to play a double role for the first time in his career. The film in question is a comedy and will be directed by Sagar Ballary (of ‘Bheja Fry’ fame).

Booked for ‘rash driving’, accident victim dies

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Chandigarh, June 30: Gagandeep (21), the accident victim who was allegedly dragged by a car driven by Sub-Inspector Jaspal Singh Bhullar on Saturday night, succumbed to his injures on Monday morning. He was admitted in PGI.

The only child of a poor farmer living a village in Moga, Gagandeep wanted to go to Canada for which he had completed all formalities. “He was waiting for the visa,” his father Balwinder Singh Dhaliwal said.

I will always be indebted to Karan Johar: Soham Shah

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Mumbai, June 30: He mysteriously disappeared after his debut film ‘Kaal released. But ‘Luck’ seems to have brought Soham Shah back.

“After parting from Dharma Productions, I had to start my struggle all over again. A lot of people took advantage of the situation, considering the controversy that followed our split [Karan Johar and Soham parted on a bitter note].

Something would always go wrong at the last minute and I was ‘out of work’ for almost four years, till ‘Luck’ happened,” Soham reminisces.

New York grosses 35 crore in first weekend

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Mumbai, June 30: Yash Raj films’ New York, which released worldwide on June 26, has grossed Rs 35 crore in its three day first weekend. The film has broken all earlier opening weekend collection records for 2009, a Yash Raj Films press release issued here said.

“Yash Raj Films ended 2008 with its highest grossing film Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi, and has started 2009 with a bang,” the release said. The movie has also had an impressive opening across all markets. New York has opened at the third slot on the Australian charts and at the tenth spot in the UK this weekend.

Pakistan rejects claims of US role in nuke arsenal

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Islamabad, June 30: Islamabad strongly rejects reports that the US has been spending millions of dollars to keep Pakistani nukes out of the reach of extremists.

A foreign ministry statement said on Monday that there was no truth whatsoever that any US money had been diverted toward developing or toward the maintenance of the nukes.

The ministry also emphasized that the control and command systems of nukes were completely indigenous.

Woman sets self, daughter ablaze, die

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Surat, June 30: Worries about the future of her three-year old deaf & dumb daughter, led a woman to set herself and the child, on fire. Both succumbed to burn injuries. According to information, Kajal Sanani, 24, a resident of Rang Avdhoot society, Lambe Hanuman road, doused kerosene on herself and her daughter Priyanshi, before setting themselves ablaze, at 8.30 am on Monday.