Aishwarya gets Karate training

Mumbai, July 01: Aishwarya gets Karate training Rajnikant’s mega budget next Endhiran starring him along side Aishwarya Rai seems to have garnered a lot of curiosity as the makers are keeping the production a close guarded secret.

But the audience interest about it seems to be multiplying day by day as inside details are being leaked out. We managed to find out one such inside info about Aishwarya Rai’s character in the film.

I’m not going to stop hanging out with Soha: Kunal

Mumbai, July 01: “Just because people are talking, I’m not going to stop going out with Soha,” says the new defiant Kunal Khemu

Kunal who has just delivered a reasonably successful film 99, at a time when the movie business is seriously recession -hit, is in an incredibly defiant mood.

“What do people mean by going on and about me and Soha? We’ve done two films together. We get along well. We enjoy each other’s company. There’s nothing more to it. If people choose to put 2 and 2 together and make 22, we can’t stop being friends.”

H1N1 flu scare at Wimbledon; 3 players infected

London, July 01: The H1N1 influenza scare casts some dark clouds over the All England Club that even the retractable roof may not be able to keep out. There are reports emerging that three players featuring in this year’s grand slam have caught swine flu.

The news surfaced after four ball-boys and girls were told to stay away from the tournament as they were suffering ‘flu-like’ symptoms.

‘Most private colleges are money-spinning factories’

Bangalore, July 01: The proposed oversight body for higher education is a “welcome development”, says Pushpa Bhargava, former vice-chairman of the Knowledge Commission. According to him, the present regulatory system is so inept that it is easy for anybody to set up a private professional college in India and fool regulators by hiring professors for three days.

India will reject greenhouse gas emission targets

New Delhi, july: India will not sign up to targets to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions but will instead focus on fighting poverty and boosting economic growth, the environment minister said on Tuesday.

India is one of the world’s biggest emitters alongside China, the U.S. and Russia, and the second most populous nation. But India’s per capita emissions lag far behind rich countries and it feels the developed world should take the lead on tackling climate change.

Congress also responsible for Babri demolition: Mayawati

Lucknow, July 01: Asking the central government to make public the Liberhan Commission report, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati on Tuesday alleged that the Congress was as much responsible as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for the 1992 demolition of the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya. “Timely intervention by the Congress, which was ruling at the centre at that time, could have prevented the demolition of the Babri Masjid,” Mayawati told reporters here.

California, other states face tough budget choices

California, July 01: The California Senate has shut down for the night after failing to approve a stopgap plan to stave off the need for IOUs and ease the state’s $24.3 billion budget deficit.

Lawmakers there were among many around the nation who went up against a midnight deadline as the fiscal year ended for many states.

Legislators in more than a half-dozen states met in around-the-clock budget sessions as they struggled to avoid government shutdowns and other painful cuts, with the most dramatic negotiations unfolding in California.

Hyderabad no hub for terror: Chidambaram

Hyderabad, July 01: Union Home Minister P Chidambaram today asserted that Hyderabad was no hub for terrorist activities in the country.

”Hyderabad cannot be branded as a hub for terrorists. No city can be branded in that manner,” he told a press conference after dedicating to the nation the country’s third National Security Guard (NSG) regional hub here. ”As a regular briefing, the central intelligence agencies had shared inputs with the Andhra Pradesh police three weeks ago.

PC confirms security threat on western coast

Hydeabad, July 01: Home Minister P. Chidambaram on Wednesday confirmed a security threat on the western coast.

Speaking in Hyderabad while inaugurating the country’s third regional NSG hub , the Union home minister said there were intelligence inputs of a threat along the western coast.

He said the coastal states in the western region do face an imminent security threat and admitted that there were intelligence inputs regarding a potential threat to Gujarat, Maharashtra and Goa.

Chidambaram said all the respective states have been informed and asked to be alert.

First conviction in India’s anti-Christian riots case

New Delhi, July 01: An Indian court sentenced a man to two years in jail for the first conviction in the anti-Christian violence in the eastern state of Orissa, media reports said Wednesday.

A special court at Phulbani, seat of the communally sensitive Kandhamal district, sentenced a 58-year-old man for setting fire to a house and threatening to murder a man from the minority Christian community, the reporters reported.

Indefinite curfew continues in Baramulla, Sopore, four dead

Baramulla, July 01: An indefinite curfew continued in this and Sopore town of north Kashmir for the third day today as fresh violence erupted, in which a youth was killed and a woman was injured critically.

With this, a total of four youth were killed in security force and police firing.

Official sources said Aamir Rashid, who was injured in security force firing on June 28 evening, died in Sher-e-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKMIS) at Soura this morning.

Indian paramilitaries withdrawn from Kashmir town

Srinagar, July 01: India withdrew paramilitary forces from a curfew-bound town in Kashmir on Wednesday in an apparent bid to defuse tensions after clashes with protesters left four people dead.

An official statement said the federal Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) was being pulled out of Baramulla, north of Srinagar, and replaced by the armed wing of the Kashmiri police.

“The step has been taken to prevent further deaths,” said a senior police officer who declined to be named.

Sarkozy urges Israel to sack Foreign Minister

Jerusalem, July 01: The French President, Nicolas Sarkozy, has advised the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, to fire his Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, according to two senior Israeli government officials.

M. Sarkozy said “you must get rid of that man” and replace him with the more moderate former foreign minister Tzipi Livni.

Mr Netanyahu replied that in private meetings Mr Lieberman “sounds differently” but M. Sarkozy retorted that in private talks, Jean-Marie Le Pen – the far-right French politician – is “a very nice man”.
–Agencies

Yash Raj steals ‘New York’ script, claims Suchitra

Mumbai, July 01: Scriptwriter Suchitra Bhatia claims that ‘New York’ was her story which she has penned three years back and even narrated the script to Yash Raj Films Arjun Sablok.

Suchitra expressed her shock that Yash Raj has made a film on the script written by her without her knowledge. Her story titled, Osama – A Love Story.

TVS Motor June sales up 5.83 pct at 115,448 units

Mumbai, July 01: TVS Motor Co Ltd, India’s third largest two-wheeler maker, said on Wednesday vehicle sales in June rose 5.83 percent to 115,448 units from 109,082 units a year ago.

Domestic sales of the company registered a growth of 12 percent, clocking 105,361 units in June as against 94,072 in the year-ago period.

Sales of scooters jumped 21 percent to 25,945 units in June compared with 21,466 units, while total motorcycle sales stood at 46,048 units versus 51,409 units.

However, exports for the month slumped 32.8 percent to 10,087 units, the company said in a statement.

New AIDS vaccine ready for trials

Toronto, July 01: The Canadian University of Western Ontario has developed a new HIV/AIDS vaccine that is ready for human trials.

The vaccine called SAV001H has been developed by the university at London, about 160 km from here, in collaboration with Sumagen Canada, a subsidiary of the Korean pharmaceutical company.

In a statement Tuesday, Sumagen Canada said it has submitted an application to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to begin the first phase of trials of the vaccine on human beings.

Reliance starts 2nd CDU at new plant – sources

Mumbai, July 01: Reliance Industries Ltd has started its second crude unit at its 580,000 barrels a day new refinery in Gujarat this week ahead of planned maintenance shutdown at its old plant, trade sources said on Wednesday.

Reliance plans to shut almost half of its 660,000 bpd old refinery this month for maintenance for about two weeks.

The second refinery has two crude distillation units (CDUs) of equal capacity. The first CDU was commissioned in December and commercial production from the plant began from March 15.

H1B petitions: Over 20,000 vacancies still left

Washington, July 01: Nearly three months after the US immigration agency started accepting petitions for the H-1B visas for highly-skilled foreign professionals, it is still looking for more than 20,000 applications to fill the Congressionally-mandated cap of 65,000.

Amid the economic downturn and protectionist provisions in the US stimulus package, the demand for the visas, which is mostly availed by Indian professionals, has slowed down.

LeT leader Madni grilled by Special Task Force

Kolkata, July 01: Mohd. Omar Madni, an alleged aide of Pakistan-based LeT founder Hafiz Saeed, who was brought to the city from Delhi, has been interrogated by the Special Task Force of the Kolkata police.

Madni, brought on a transit remand to Kolkata yesterday in connection with a case relating to seizure of fake currency notes with a face value of Rs 60,000, would be produced before Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate at Bankshal Court here later today.

Large number of IPS posts lying vacant in UP

Lucknow, July 01: Even when law and order is on top of the priority of Chief Minister Mayawati in Uttar Pradesh, the majority of the posts directly related to internal security of the state are lying vacant.

Not only this, out of 84 posts of IPS cadre which are lying vacant at present, a large number were created by Ms Mayawati herself to improve the policing and give security to the citizens.

Israeli minister, US envoy in ‘constructive’ talks

New York, July 01: US envoy George Mitchell and Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak held a ‘constructive’ meeting Tuesday on the ailing Middle Peace process, the pair said afterwards in a joint statement.

Mitchell and Barak were meeting in New York as President Barack Obama’s administration and the right-leaning government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu clashed over US demands for a freeze on Jewish settlements in the occupied territory.

The discussions covered the ‘measures needed to create a climate conducive to peace,’ the statement said.

Murray feeling pumped up for shot at glory

England, July 01: Andy Murray was in recovery mode yesterday after his heroics of the night before, but the 22-year-old Scot was far from satisfied. As he prepared to face Juan Carlos Ferrero here this afternoon, with a place in his first Wimbledon semi-final at stake, Murray made it clear that he regarded his five-set victory over Stanislas Wawrinka on Monday as a mere stepping stone on the route to greater glory.

Australia’s tour of India confirmed by BCCI

New Delhi, July 01: BCCI have finalised the venues for the ODI series between India and Australia towards the end of this year. The seven-match series will be played between October 25 and November 11.

Australia, who are to tour India shortly after the ICC Champions Trophy in South Africa, would contest in the 7 ODIs to be held at Guwahati, Mumbai, Jaipur, Hyderabad, New Delhi, Mohali and Baroda.

Life in Kashmir remains crippled due to strike

Srinagar, July 01: Life remained crippled for the second day today’s due to a three-day strike called by the breakaway Hurriyat Conference (HC) in the Kashmir valley.

The HC had appealed to people to observe a complete strike from yesterday, for three days, to protest the killing of two youth in a security force firing on peaceful demonstrators at Baramulla, the government’s failure to arrest those involved in the Shopian incident of rape and murder of two women, and other alleged human rights violations in the valley.

Jaya slams Sibal’s proposals

Chennai, July 01: Reacting to HRD Minister Kapil Sibal’s proposal to scrap the 10th class examinations and conduct 12th standard exams under one board, AIADMK leader Jayalalithaa today said the plan appeared to have been made “unilaterally” and without “proper application of mind”.

“His (Sibal’s) announcement that the system of Board Examinations at the 10th standard level would be withdrawn and the 12th standard examinations would be a common examination for the whole country appears to have been made unilaterally and without proper application of mind,” she said in a statement here.