Tehran, July 05: Iranian parliament speaker Ali Larijani has met with President Ahmadinejad on Saturday to congratulate his re-election as the country’s president.
Parliament members congratulated Ahmadinejad’s re-election and renewed their support for him in an earlier meeting with the president on June 22.
Larijani did not participate in the meeting.
Mumbai, July 05:Katrina Kaif has bid adieu to Sanjay Gadhvi’s 7 days in Paris but her connection with Paris is far from over. In fact, Katrina’s romance with Paris is about to begin.
She recently saw a French film and was so impressed, that she has not only bought the remaking rights of the film, but is also producing it herself. And that’s besides starring in it, of course.
London, July 05: Graham Onions will compete with Monty Panesar for England’s final bowling spot in the first Test at Cardiff on Wednesday, after he and Ian Bell were named in a 13-man squad that includes all 11 of the players who took part in England’s three-day warm-up against Warwickshire last week.
Mumbai, July 05: Currently living in Goregaon, Irrfan Khan has decided that Mumbai’s melee is too much for him to handle. And so, a new house at Madh Island comes into the picture.
Being built and designed since the last year, Irrfan and his family are ready to move into it within the next two weeks, after the last few pieces of the puzzle fall into place. Says Irrfan, “With the malls coming up in Goregaon, it’s almost become impossible to live there. Too much congestion and pollution is harmful for health. My wife and I want our sons to grow up in surroundings with clean air.”
Uttarakhand, July 05: The body of Ranbir Singh, gunned down by Uttarakhand police in an alleged fake encounter, bore 12 marks of bullets fired from close range and 27 other injuries showing that he may have been tortured, according to an autopsy report.
Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhariyal Nishank had on Saturday ordered a CB-CID probe into the killing of 22-year-old Singh, an MBA qualified from Uttar Pradesh who police claimed was shot dead on Friday in an encounter after he fled with a sub-inspector’s revolver, but his family on Sunday demanded a CBI inquiry into the incident.
Moscow, July 05: Russian President Dmitry Medvedev says imposing additional sanctions on Iran would only increase tensions between Tehran and the West.
In an interview with Italy’s Rai television, Medvedev explained that Moscow supports what he called the new US administration’s policy to pursue reconciliation with Tehran.
“If I understand correctly, the United States would like to establish more open and more direct relations with Iran,” Medvedev said during the interview, which was aired on Saturday.
Johannesburg, July 05: Increased access to the internet via cellphones has increased the risk of being targeted by the viruses and hackers that prowl the internet. Security experts today all concur that cellphones are the least protected devices in the entire computing arena leaving them at the mercy of internet evils.
The need for cellphone protection has jolted security software companies such as Moscow-based Kaspersky Lab into action to focus aggressively on mobile security development for both consumers and businesses using cellphones as an internet source.
Mumbai, July 05: Recently, we bumped into Fardeen Khan in Goa.He has moved on after the unfortunate demise of his dad Feroz Khan. But what really surprised us was bumping into his cousin, Zayed Khan as well.
Apart from the Goa trip, we hear, that the brothers have been spending a lot of time together. Now if only this off-screen bond would also translate into some much-needed success for the duo on the big screen as well. We hear, Fardeen, who had taken a break to look after his dad, is now back to reading new scripts and signing new projects. We wonder if bro Zayed will follow suit.
Tehran, July 05: Iran takes a swipe at the Baghdad government, saying it has failed to secure the release of the Iranian diplomats taken hostage by US forces in Iraq two years ago.
Iranian Foreign Ministry, Manouchehr Mottaki, said Sunday that Iraqi government is not doing nearly enough to fulfill its promises regarding the fate of the abducted Iranian diplomats.
“We are seriously disappointed with Iraq’s failure in freeing the Iranian diplomats and facilitating their immediate return to their country,” said Mottaki.
Mumbai, July 05: Bollywood films have come under the scanner for ripping off story ideas from Hollywood films, other foreign films and even regional movies.
So, it was surprising that there were no reports of the plot of Sabbir Khan’s Kambakkht Ishq being similar to that of Pammal K Sambandham.
Brussels, July 05: Researchers are using bluetooth technology to observe the meanderings of tens of thousands of festival-goers at a top European rock festival, hoping their findings will launch a new generation of tracking devices.
The team from the University of Ghent in Belgium believes the research could yield new satellite navigation applications for the retail and security sectors.
Washington, July 05: The warming of the tropical Pacific Ocean has long been known to affect weather around the world, but researchers now say it may come in two forms with different impacts.
The traditional El Nino tends to reduce the number of Atlantic hurricanes. But a form Georgia Tech University scientists call El Nino Modoki can lead to more hurricanes than usual in the Atlantic Ocean. Modoki, from Japanese, refers to something that is “similar but different”.
Jerusalem, July 05: The United States has forced an Israeli defence firm to back out of a multi-billion dollar tender to sell new multi-role fighter planes to the Indian Air Force, a newspaper has claimed.
Under pressure from the Pentagon, the Israeli Defense Ministry has ordered Israel Aerospace Industries to back out of the deal as America expressed concern that its technology, used by Israel, would be integrated into the Gripen jets to be offered to India, ‘The Jerusalem Post’ reported.
Attari, July 05: The possibility of Pakistan-based terror groups being behind a ‘rocket’ attack on Saturday night near an Indian village is not being ruled out by Indian security officials.
The Border Security Force (BSF), India’s paramilitary force that guards the 553-km fenced border between India and Pakistan in Punjab, is investigating two blasts that occurred near Dande village Saturday night.
BSF officials said one shell landed on the Indian side of the border in paddy fields of Dande village near the Attari-Wagah land border joint check post, 30 km from Amritsar city.
Washington, July 05: Madonna paid tribute to Michael Jackson as she described him as one of the greatest performers the world has ever known.
A huge picture of Jackson as a child was beamed above the stage during a short dance melody dedicated to the star as the Queen of Pop performed at the O2 Arena in London.
One of her dancers dressed in Jackson’s trademark black hat moonwalked across the stage to the delight of the huge crowd packed into the arena.
Short versions of two of Jackson’s greatest hits, Billie Jean and Wanna Be Startin Somethin, were also performed.
New York, July 05: Cassy Hayes and Jasmine Coleman were among the first fans to arrive outside the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Centre in Los Angeles where Michael Jackson was brought and later pronounced dead.
How had Hayes, 25, and Coleman, 21, heard the news so quickly?
Twitter.
The two young women had learned about Jackson’s health like so many who get their news nowadays: by reading the ever-flowing feed of real-time information on the microblogging service.
London, July 05: A rare pygmy hippopotamus has been born at Edinburgh Zoo, officials said on Friday.
Leishan, a West African word meaning “gift”, was born to Otto and Ellen on May 9, the zoo said.
Pygmy hippos are found only in West Africa, where they are now critically endangered.
Their primary threat is the loss of their forest habitat due to the timber industry and they are hunted extensively for their meat.
“Ellen is proving to be a great mum to Leishan,” said Darren McGarry, animal collection manager at the zoo.
Tehran, July 05: An advisor to Iran’s president says twenty three new Special Economic Zones (SEZ) will be inaugurated across the country this week.
“The plan to establish the Special Economic Zones was presented to the parliament last year and it was approved by lawmakers last month,” Mahmoud Salahi, who advises President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on SEZ affairs, said.
“Most of these zones are located in the less privileged areas of Iran such as Mehran in the Western province of Ilam and Namin in Ardebil Province,” IRIB quoted Salahi as saying.
New Delhi, July 05: A draft of a new immigration law has been prepared by the ministry of overseas Indian affairs, which will now initiate consultations with law and home ministries to finalise the document before tabling it in Parliament.
The draft was prepared after a need was felt to have a new immigration regulation law in the wake of changing global circumstances and growing incidents of Indians being exploited in absence of a more regulative legislation with strictpenal provisions.
London, July 05: An NHS doctor from east London who was held hostage and forced into marriage has spoken for the first time about her four-month ordeal, during which she feared for her life.
Dr Humayra Abedin, who was freed from her vows on the orders of a Bangladeshi court soon after The Independent on Sunday highlighted her plight, described the humiliation and pain she suffered at the hands of her parents, some members of her extended family and nurses and doctors in a private psychiatric hospital in Bangladesh last year.
New Delhi, July 05: Concerned over the threat to son Varun Gandhi’s life, BJP leader Maneka Gandhi on Sunday wrote a letter to the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, asking him to provide more security to son Varun.
Her letter comes in the wake of arrest of six sharp shooters of the Chota Shakeel gang, who were in the capital reportedly on a mission to kill Varun
On Saturday, the Delhi Police arrested 6 underworld shooters. It is believed that they had come to the capital to target VIPs and BJP leader Varun Gandhi was suspected to be on their hit-list.
Sydney, July 05: Australia on Saturday welcomed the first elephant ever born in the country with the arrival of a 100kg male calf at a Sydney zoo, keepers said.
The calf, yet to be named, was born at the harbourside Taronga Zoo just after 03:00 (17:00 GMT) to a 12-year-old Asian elephant named Thong Dee, the zoo’s director Guy Cooper said.
“(Staff) were with her throughout the night and have been sleeping at the barn to support Thong Dee the instant she went into labour,” Cooper said.
Johannesburg, July 05: Sewage as well as animal blood and offcuts are apparently being dumped into the Vaal River, The Weekender reported on Saturday.
An abbatoir in Frankfort was pumping animal blood and offcuts into its evaporation dam which was in turn seeping into the Vaal River, Freedom Front Plus Mafube municipality councillor Peter van der Westhuizen said.
“We saw a large area of red in the water.
“We are conducting tests to establish exactly what is causing it”.
Tehran, July 05: Iran has hailed the formation of a national unity government in Lebanon, expressing its full support for improving relations between all Lebanese rival parties.
In a meeting with Lebanese prime minister-designate Saad Hariri on Saturday, the Iranian envoy to Beirut Mohammad Reza Sheibani said Tehran has always supported the establishment of a national unity government in Lebanon.
During the one-hour meeting in Qoraytem, the two sides discussed Lebanon’s internal political developments along with a whole range of regional and international issues.
Tegucigalpa, July 05: Honduras headed toward international isolation on Saturday after the country’s coup leaders said they would pull out of the Organisation of American States, amid fears of a violent showdown here.
OAS Secretary General Jose Miguel Insulza – who warned of increasing tension and polarisation during a brief visit to Tegucigalpa – dismissed the threat to withdraw from the body, underlining the interim government was not recognised internationally.