Month: June 2009

Dhoni apologises for T20 WC loss, promises to bounce back

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London, June 15: India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni apologised to the thousands of disappointed fans who watched their side exit the Twenty20 World Cup at Lord’s on Sunday and promised to make amends in the West Indies next year.

The defending champions were eliminated after they lost by three runs to England in their Super Eight clash on Sunday. They also lost to West Indies on Friday.

“We are sorry for what happened but we can say we gave our best,” Dhoni told a news conference. “I think we have the guys who can handle the pressure, it was a day when nothing really worked for us.”

Kajol not part of Ajay Devgan’s next venture

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Mumbai, June 15: Kajol, who is busy shooting for her friend Karan Johar`s upcoming film ‘My Name Is Khan’, will not be a part of her actor husband Ajay Devgan`s new directorial venture.

“I`m directing a film in mid-2009. There is no role for Kajol in my next film. The leading lady`s role in that film doesn`t suit her,” Devgan told reporters.

His directorial debut ‘U Me Aur Hum’ was critically praised for its brave portrayal of the ravages of Alzheimer`s.

Maoists shut down Kathmandu valley after cadre’s death

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Kathmandu, June 15: Hopes that the political crisis gripping the three-week-old government of Nepal would be resolved Monday with the much-awaited expansion of the fledgling cabinet receded as the opposition Maoist party went on the warpath again, shutting down Kathmandu valley without prior intimation to protest the death of a cadre.
Rajendra Phuyal, an area in-charge of the former rebel group, had been missing for nearly a week and was declared dead Sunday.

Out of Guantánamo, Uighurs Bask in Bermuda

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Washington, June 15: Almost exactly seven years after arriving at Guantánamo in chains as accused enemy combatants, and four days after their surprise predawn flight to Bermuda, four Uighur Muslim men basked in their new-found freedom here, grateful for the handshakes many residents had offered and marveling at the serene beauty of this tidy, postcard island.

Tides stymie fuel removal from sunken vessel

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Anchorage, June 15: Divers began removing fuel from a sunken oil field supply ship in Alaska’s Cook Inlet Sunday, but the work was soon halted when the inlet’s notorious tides started rocking a vessel being used as a staging area.

Divers pumped out about 1,000 gallons (3,800 liters) of an estimated 30,000 gallons (114,000 liters) of diesel on board the sunken Monarch, according to a spokesman for the owner of the 166-foot vessel.

Saif Ali Khan and his partner disagreed about their film’s promo

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Mumbai, June 15: Saif and his partner disagreed about their film’s promo. Guess who eventually had his way…

Saif Ali Khan and his Illuminati Films business partner Dinesh Vijan might share a common vision and mindset on most subjects. But they could not come to an agreement on the first promo of Love Aaj Kal.
The film directed by Imtiaz Ali and starring Saif and Deepika Padukone releases on July 31.

Not cool

No flowers, donate cash to party, Raj Thackeray

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Mumbai, June 15: Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray refused to accept gifts or flowers from the thousands of his partymen who turned up to greet him on his 41st birthday Sunday. Instead, he appealed for cash to be donated to the party coffers.

The appeal was ‘official’ and the monies collected would be ‘fully accounted’ for, according to MNS vice-president Vageesh Saraswat.

Amrita Rao has finally shed her girl-next-door image

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Mumbai, June 15: Amrita Rao has been the girl-next-door. She has a sweet, seedhi-saadhi image which she now wants to shed along with her inhibitions for ShortKut-The Con is On. For the first time, the actress will be seen in an ultra-glam mode in the film.

Amrita is already accepted as a good actress but looks like she now wants to be accepted as part of the bikini brigade Priyanka, Bipasha, Kareena…

From simple to sizzling

Here’s what Amrita had to say about exposing before she decided to go the Wet ‘N’ Wild way…

Kiran Rao was rushed to Breach Candy hospital with high fever

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Mumbai, June 15: A phone call on Friday night announced, “Kiran Rao has been rushed to Breach Candy hospital.

She has been diagnosed with high fever and some lung infection.”

This news was exactly a week after reports of Mrs Aamir Khan expecting her first child.

The following day, a source from the hospital confirmed on condition of anonymity.

“Yes, Kiran was brought in, and is under care here. The doctors suspect tuberculosis. She is undergoing treatment.”

Ronaldo millions mask debt-laden English football

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London, June 15: Manchester United may be receiving a world-record fee of 80 million pounds (94 million euros, 130 million dollars) for the sale of Cristiano Ronaldo, but the amount is dwarfed by the club’s huge debt.

“It’s no wonder they’re getting this sort of money” from Real Madrid for arguably the world’s best player, said Philip Long, football industry specialist at British accountancy firm PKF, recalling that United’s parent company spent almost 69 million pounds on interest repayments in 2007/08.

Don’t worry, it’s just a pandemic

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Paris, June 15: Now it’s official: We have a flu pandemic. But what does it mean? For many, the term may be tinged with fear. It evokes folk memories of three influenza pandemics that erupted last century and claimed tens of millions of lives.

The worst was the 1918-19 “Spanish flu.”

The greatest plague of the 20th century killed as many as 50 million people, particularly the young and healthy, who could be dispatched to their grave in just a few days, their ravaged lungs filled with blood.

Nepal’s Maoists grow angry amid fears for peace

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Dastratpur, June 15: They pass their days on an old research farm now set behind a tall barbed-wire fence, a place of flimsy wooden buildings, weed-filled roads and laundry strung from the volleyball net.

Or they wander through the dusty two-street town, where there’s little to do but sit on benches in front of ramshackle general stores. Some walk with limps that tell of battlefield injuries, of years spent fighting in the mountains. Many still wear jungle camouflage.

They are bored, frustrated and increasingly angry.

Pakistan orders army to go after Taliban chief

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Islamabad, June 15: Pakistan ordered its army to go after the country’s top Taliban commander, a feared al-Qaida-allied militant whose remote stronghold could prove a difficult test for troops but whose demise would remove a major threat to the country’s stability.

Shiney Ahuja arrested for alleged rape

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Mumbai, June 15: Popular Bollywood actor Shiney Ahuja was arrested here late Sunday for allegedly raping his maid, police said.
The 19-year-old maid lodged a complaint with the Oshiwara police station in Andheri (West) Sunday evening, and police summoned Ahuja for questioning, a police official said.

The actor was arrested and investigations were on, the official said, adding that he would be produced before a court in Andheri Monday morning.

The maid had been working at Ahuja’s apartment for nearly a year, police said.

—IANS

From Gitmo Hell to Welcoming Bermuda

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Bermuda, June 15: Freed after long miserable years in America’s notorious Guantanamo detention center, four Chinese Muslims are enjoying the taste of freedom in the Atlantic island of Bermuda, though Guantanamo still haunts them.

“Eating together like this, gathered around a table together that’s what freedom is all about for me,” Abdulla Abdulqadir told, sitting in a guesthouse along with his three Guantanamo fellows.

Seated around a table with sweeping views of the Atlantic Ocean, they looked relaxed, happy and most of all relieved to know their seven years of hell were over.

No fraud in Iranian elections: Ahmadinejad

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Tehran, June 15: Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Sunday rejected the opposition’s claims of electoral fraud, saying his re-election was “real
and free” and could not be questioned.

In his first press conference since the interior ministry announced he won a landslide victory in Friday’s balloting, the hardline president said: “The election was free (transparent) and there is no document proving these charges.”

A dry Friday for Bollywood

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Mumbai, June 15: After two months of a movie drought that bled both sides – the Bollywood producers and the multiplexes – dry, you’d have thought the
Kambakkht Ishq first weekend after the end of the strike would bring big bucks back to the 70 mm screen.

But the June 12 weekend did fairly thanda business, and multiplexes say it’s because the movies released weren’t any good. They also, however, say that there are bigger, better releases lined up for the next few weeks.
No Friday night fever

Aamir’s wife in hospital again

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Mumbai, June 15: Aamir Khan’s filmmaker wife Kiran Rao (Dhobi Ghat) was admitted to a South Mumbai hospital for the second time in a matter of days.

Kiran, who has been suffering from a fever for almost a month now, was earlier hospitalised, treated and discharged. However, the fever recurred and a source close to the Khans indicates that Kiran has now been diagonised with a lung infection.

Doctors treating her, and Aamir himself, are reportedly relieved because now that the diagnosis has been made, there will be quick progress in Kiran’s treatment and subsequent recovery.

Fishing season begins from today

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Hyderabad, June 15: After a two-month break, the fishing season will resume in the east coast on June 15 midnight. On Sunday, the Vizag harbour was a
beehive of activity with fishermen swarming the area, while boat operators carried out last-minute repairs of their vessels.

B Com student commits suicide

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Hyderabad, June 15: A B Com III year student committed suicide by hanging at her house in Bolarum on Sunday.

Sumapriya, 20, of Dovten Bazar in Bolarum was a student of Bharat Degree College in Kacheguda.

On Sunday evening, Sumapriya locked herself in a room of her house and hanged herself from the ceiling fan with a stole.

As her family members did not get any response even after calling her for a longtime, they grew suspicious and force opened the door, only to see her hanging from the ceiling fan.

Cops clueless on missing student

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Hyderabad, June 15: An engineering student has gone missing ever since he left his hostel on June 4, with police too unable to find any clues about
his whereabouts.

Srikanth Reddy, 19, of Nalgonda is a first year engineering student of V R K College of Engineering in Bachupally. According to police, for the past one year, Srikanth has been staying at Kavya Sri Boys’ Hostel in Addagutta Society of Kukatpally.

He was reported missing after he left the hostel at 5 am on June 4.

Heavy vehicles banned on Golconda route

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Hyderabd, June 15: Henceforth, heavy vehicles plying between Golconda and Langer Houz junction and Langer Houz police station to Golconda will not be
allowed.

A decision to this effect was taken as a result of frequent traffic jams at the junction.

A flyover was planned to ease vehicular congestion on the narrow stretch, but with the construction getting delayed for more than two years, it has made the situation worse for road-users.

CM seeks central funds for Arogyasri

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Hyderabd, June 15: As part of the tight rope walk, specially since the chief minister has decided not to levy any new taxes or increase the water or
power tariff, the state government is now trying to find new ways to cut down on its expenses.

As part of this exercise, the chief minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy on Sunday wrote a letter to the Centre, asking it to advise the Planning Commission to provide financial support to Aarogyasri scheme and take it up as a centrally-sponsored scheme, on a 70:30 cost-sharing basis as a special case.

Ragging: Lax varsities risk cut in funds, fine

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Hyderabad, June 15: Universities in the state can no longer afford to spare the rod in ragging cases. They will now have to put a stop to it in affiliated
colleges with an iron hand or else risk their funds being slashed.

At the recent vice-chancellors’ conference, chief minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy had squarely put the onus of preventing ragging on universities. Now, the chief minister’s recommendation has been taken up by the department of higher education and instructions would be given accordingly to the vice-chancellors.

Man dies after boarding aircraft

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Kolkata, June 15: A Bangladeshi air passenger on Sunday died of heart attack in a Dhaka-bound flight, minutes after boarding it at Kolkata airport.

“From preliminary investigation it appears that 75-year-old Gobinda Lal Saha died of heart attack after taking his seat in the plane at about 4.45 pm,” Medical officer at NSC Bose International Airport, Dr S E Dey, said.

The body has been handed over to police for postmortem, he added.

Saha along with his wife and son had came to India for treatment and was due to return today through an Air India Express flight, sources said.