Mumbai, July 07: Critics as well as the paying audience have hailed Katrina’s role as Maya in the Kabir Khan directed NEW YORK, as one of her best performance till date. The film has turned out to be the first universal success of the year, ending a pathetic first half on a bright note, grossing 55 crores worldwide during its opening week.
Johannesburg, July 07: Mobile technology and broadband need to be considered to latch onto “first class, real time” service delivery, KwaZulu-Natal Finance MEC Ina Cronje said on Monday.
Speaking at a breakfast meeting in Durban, Cronje stressed that the utilisation of technologies was paramount to maximise benefits from services for government planning.
“In order to utilise the mobile platform, we as KwaZulu-Natal need to ensure that there is a pipeline of appropriate skills to develop the required mobile applications,” Cronje said.
Cardiff, July 06: Brett Lee will miss the first two Ashes Tests owing to a rib injury, media reports said here today.
Battling a lower side strain, Lee missed today’s training session and had to be rushed to a hospital here for scans, according to a ‘Cricinfo’ report.
Apparently, Lee stretched himself in the warm-up match against England Lions in Worcester, taking six for 76 in that game.
“He has a sore left rib, but we won’t know the extent of it until the scans are back,” an Australian team spokesman was quoted as saying.
“We’re in a holding pattern until then,” he added.
Seoul, July 06: North Korea has spent over $700 million on rocket and nuclear tests since April, a South Korean newspaper estimated Monday.
The seven rocket tests Saturday alone cost an estimated $43 million, South Korean daily Chosun Ilbo reported citing government figures.
The launch of a long-range rocket in early April cost around $300 million and the country’s second nuclear test, carried out May 25, cost as much as $400 million, the report said.
New Delhi, July 06: India today termed as “internal matter” the Pakistan Supreme Court rejecting petitions challenging the release of Jamaat-ud-Dawah chief Hafiz Saeed, a key accused in Mumbai terror attack, but said it will closely monitor the case.
“I think that is an internal matter of Pakistan and specially when courts are involved, normally we do not comment on those developments. But we are closely monitoring the events in Pakistan,” External Affairs Minister S M Krishna told reporters who sought his reaction on the issue.
Cape Town, July 07: Convicted serial rapist Tsediso Letsoenya, a former able seaman in the navy, was “touched” by the tears of victims who testified in his Western Cape High Court trial on multiple rape charges.
Letsoenya, 38, was called to the witness stand on Monday by his defence counsel Nehemia Bellem to testify in mitigation of sentence.
His trial was before judge Abe Motala and two assessors, who found him guilty on 28 counts of rape and eight of aggravated robbery.
Mumbai, July 07: Here are some updates on Salman’s upcoming film VEER, which is being directed by Anil Sharma.
Now, reports are that Salman is furious with the director’s approach to the project. Buzz is that Anil Sharma goofed up with the UK schedule of the film and everyone was complaining about the levels of productivity he displayed while shooting there.
Though Salman has already conveyed his displeasure at the director’s attitude but nothing much seems to have changed on ground. Reports are that Salman’s growing fury against the director might be bad news for the film.
Johannesburg, July 06: Protest action by half of the SABC workforce will only start on Wednesday, the Media Workers Association of SA (Mwasa) said on Monday.
Earlier, it was reported that lunchtime picketing in a wage dispute would start on Monday.
But Mwasa spokerperson Ernest Dlamini said a media release announcing the labour action contained the wrong date.
“The picketing is going to start on Wednesday during lunchtime and continue on Thursday and Friday,” said Dlamini.
“Next week, Tuesday, we will be having a march,” he added.
Mumbai, July 07: Release of KAMBAKKTH ISHQ has made one thing for sure that Bollywood leading ladies, won’t be fixated with the concept of Size Zero. That’s because the biggest advocator of this ‘body killing’ phenomenon, Kareena Kapoor, has clearly sworn off it and is now ‘back in shape’.
New Delhi, July 06: Under criticism from Mulsim groups, Supreme Court judge Justice Markandeya Katju today apologised for his controversial comments that Muslim students cannot insist on sporting beards as it would lead to “Talibanisation” of the country.
A bench of Justices R V Raveendran and Markandeya Katju also withdrew the order passed by it on March 30 in which it had dismissed the petition filed by a student challenging the directive of a convent school in Madhya Pradesh that Muslims cannot sport beard.
Pretoria, July 06: A man was found assaulted and locked inside the boot of his car in Carlswald, Midrand after a house robbery on Monday, police said.
Inspector Mmakgomo Semono said a domestic worker found the house ransacked and heard the man screaming from the boot of a car in the garage, when she reported for work.
Semono said details of what had happened were not yet clear as the man was in shock.
He said household appliances and a white Golf were stolen.
A case of house robbery and car theft had been opened.
—Agencies
Mumbai, July 06: Recession has hit hard world over & Bollywood is no exception. Not only has it hit small-time production houses; even big producers are now hesitant about investing their money in exceptionally exorbitant projects.
New Delhi, July 06: Arch political rivals, RJD President Lalu Prasad and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar today slammed the union budget for “ignoring” the demand for a special package to the state.
“How can the country progress when Bihar is ignored.
There should be attempts to bring backward states like Bihar on a par with other developed states,” Prasad said.
He said a special package for the state to the tune of Rs 1.86 lakh crore was made during the NDA regime and it is still pending.
Seoul, July 06: North Korea has spent over $700 million on rocket and nuclear tests since April, a South Korean newspaper estimated Monday.
The seven rocket tests Saturday alone cost an estimated $43 million, South Korean daily Chosun Ilbo reported citing government figures.
The launch of a long-range rocket in early April cost around $300 million and the country’s second nuclear test, carried out May 25, cost as much as $400 million, the report said.
Abu Dhabi, July 06: The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has signed an agreement with the UN to support humanitarian operations in Pakistan, WAM news agency reported Monday.
Under the agreement, UAE will provide basic relief items such as tents, blankets, sleeping mats, plastic sheeting and mosquito nets for the internally displaced people in Pakistan.
London, July 06: Italian authorities have readied an evacuation plan for G8 leaders attending a summit in the earthquake-hit city of L’Aquila in the event of a tremor of a 4.0 magnitude or higher, a source close to organisers said.
The source said the civil protection agency had prepared plans to evacuate leaders to Rome by air if needed. Summit meetings and events would then continue in the Italian capital.
Tehran, July 06: Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned Western countries on Monday against interfering in Iranian affairs after its disputed presidential election, state television reported.
Iranian authorities accuse the West, particularly the United States and Britain, of inciting unrest in the Islamic Republic following the June 12 vote in which hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was re-elected.
“We strongly warn leaders of some Western countries not to interfere in Iran’s internal matters … The Iranian nation will react,” Khamenei said.
New Delhi, July 06: A 25-year-old journalist working with a news channel was found dead in the national capital Monday. Police suspected he might have killed in a road accident.
The body of Durgesh Shrivastava, who worked with the Sahara Samay Hindi news channel, was found near a canal in New Ashok Nagar area in east Delhi, bordering Noida, police said. His motorcycle was found badly mangled near his body.
“Prima facie it seems that Durgesh died after he met with an accident. It seems he had hit a divider and sustained severe head injuries,” a police officer said.
Paris, July 06: French President Nicolas Sarkozy and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown Monday harshly criticized the Iranian government for its arrest of British embassy workers following controversial presidential elections there. “The Iranian people deserve a better government,” Sarkozy said after talks with Brown in the French resort of Evian.
The French president also expressed his country’s support for Britain and said the French were “shocked” by what he called Iran’s “attacks” on Brown’s government.
Srinagar, July 06: Five persons including four policemen and a civilian were injured in a grenade attack at Maisuma Madina Chawk in Srinagar.
Earlier in the day too five persons were injured here as police fired teargas shells and used batons to disperse a crowd protesting against the alleged failure of authorities to locate a student who went missing four days back.
Regensburg, July 06: German Interior Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble praised religious values as an antidote to the world economic crisis, at a meeing with Muslim leaders Monday.
“The crisis has demonstrated what happens when values are no longer followed,” he told the seminar in the town hall of the southern German city of Regensburg.
The meeting was a continuation of three years of official consultations between the government and Islamic leaders on how to ease friction and offer Islam classes in public schools to Muslim pupils.
Bhopal, July 06: Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan today ordered a magisterial inquiry into the blasts in two explosives-manufacturing factories in the state’s Singrauli district in which 10 people were killed on Sunday.
“A magisterial inquiry has been ordered and an ex-gratia of Rs.1 lakh each has been announced for the next of the kin of those killed in the incident. The financial assistance of Rs.10,000 is also being given to those seriously injured and Rs.5,000 to other injured in the incident,” Chouhan told reporters.
Hyderabad, July 06: The national gas grid proposed in the union budget by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee today triggered fears in the Andhra Pradesh industry that the gas found in the Krishna-Godavari (KG) basin might go out of the state, starving the local units.
An industry leader urged the state government to ensure the requirements of the local industry were met while building a national gas grid.
New Delhi, July 06: Seeking to address what he described as triple challenges, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee today presented a revival-oriented budget with more funds for welfare schemes and infrastructure, a promise to restore India’s high economic growth and better delivery mechanisms to reach the fruits of development to the poorest.
New Delhi, July 06: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh leaves on a visit to Italy tomorrow for attending a Summit of G-8 leaders with five Outreach countries in which global economic downturn and steps to correct will dominate.
During the four-day visit to Coppito, Singh will also hold bilateral meetings with US President Barack Obama and some other world leaders who would be assembling there.
This will be the third meeting of the leaders of the eight developed countries and five major developing nations since the outbreak of global financial crisis last year.