Month: August 2009

Seven arrested for dealing in fake currency in AP

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Rajahmundry, August 30: Seven persons have been arrested for allegedly dealing in fake currency in Eluru town in West Godavari district, police said today.

The gang, which was arrested last evening, used to exchange Rs one lakh fake currency for Rs 40,000. Rs 19 lakh worth fake notes have been seized from them,” they said.

The accused have been identified as Md Ameer Hussan, Ameer Mubarak, Hussain (all from Maladha District, West Bengal), Vikky Sharief and Pavan Sharif (Patna), Konala Venkata Sathyanarayana Reddy (Puducherry), and Oleti Kamaswara Rao (West Godavari, Andhra Pradesh).

Youth booked for rape in Nanded

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Nanded, August 30: A youth who eloped with a 19 year old girl was booked under the rape charges.

Police have also registered a case against the parents of the accused for helping him in committing the crime.

Police said Sunil Parasram Aade (25) eloped with a 19 year old girl.

He lured her of marrying and raped her at his residence in city.

His father Parasram and mother Renukabai also helped him in the crime, police said.

—Agencies

Akshay Kumar does 2-hour car journey by cycle

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Mumbai, August 30: Stunt-freak Akshay Kumar has emerged out with a rolling idea of achieving fitness.

The actor is currently in London for the shoot of his film “Housefull” which is being directed by Sajid Khan.

Akki’s schedule is going so busy that he is not able to hit the gym. Now, that he is not able to devote time to his body, he has decided to cycle his way to the locations of the set which is 2 hours away by car.

It seems like he is not just a stunt-freak but fitness-freak as well. Also, the Bollywood superstar Salman Khan is known for his cycling habits.

—Agencies

MLA hopes for cabinet berth in Karna

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Bellary, August 30: Ruling BJP MLA in Karnataka, M P Renukacharya, who has been in the news recently for an act of spat with one of his colleagues, now wants to be a Minister in the state government and hopes to get the berth soon.

“I am one of the strong contender to get cabinet berth after the cabinet reshuffling, which is likely to happen after the special session in September,” he said.

Antony and Pawar likely to meet

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Mumbai, August 30: With the announcement of assembly polls in Maharashtra imminent, senior Congress leader and Defence Minister A K Antony and NCP chief Sharad Pawar are likely to meet in the next couple of days, UPA sources said tonight, amid uncertainty over seat sharing between the ruling allies.

The Congress which is heading the ruling Democratic Front(DF) coalition government in Maharashtra in alliance with NCP has so far kept its cards close to chest and remained ambivalent on its strategy for the elections.

We’ve delivered on promise: Mallya

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New Delhi, August 30: A huge monkey off Force India’s back, team chairman Vijay Mallya today said the Formula One outfit has actually delivered on its promise of a podium finish one year before the 2010 deadline it had set.

“If you remember, we had promised to be among points in 2009 and be on the podium in 2010. So we have actually delivered on our podium promise in advance,” Mallya told from Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium after Giancarlo Fisichella drove a fairytale race to finish second in the Belgian Grand Prix to score the team’s first points.

128 fresh cases reported as country battles swine flu

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New Delhi, August 30: The country continued to battle swine flu with a UK national among 128 persons testing positive today for the deadly virus, taking the number of such cases across the country to 3881.

The 28-year-old woman, a permanent resident of UK, along with four others tested positive for the virus in Chandigarh, where confirmed cases of the pandemic swelled to 17.

Boy found dead in lock-up; probe ordered after protests

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Jammu, August 30: The death of a 17-year-old boy in a lock-up, which police termed as a suicide, triggered protests here prompting the authorities to order a probe into the incident.

Police said Billoo of Ludhiana in Punjab, committed suicide by hanging in police lockup located en route to cave shrine of Mata Vaishnodevi at Adhkuwari, 58 Kms from here.

He was picked by police in a case of theft and pick-pocketing and taken to Adhkuwari police lockup for questioning in the morning.

The boy, as police said, hanged himself in the lockup.

A post-mortem was conducted.

Karuna defends ‘freebies schemes’

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Chennai, August 30: Defending the ‘freebies schemes’, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi today said such sops, including the distribution of free land and colour TVs, were “absolutely necessary” till the economically weaker sections reached some level of social status.

Responding to reports in a section of media questioning the need for such sops and terming them as “vote bank politics”, he said “till the time there are people dependent on such schemes, we have to provide them.”

BJP will emerge from present crisis, says Nitish

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Patna, August 30: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar today said the BJP would come out of the present crisis and asserted that there was a strong bond between the party and JD(U).

“We have an old bond of relationship with BJP and I hope our ally will be able to emerge from the present crisis,” Kumar told reporters here.

“Though it is an internal matter of the BJP, I think the party leaders will be able to cope up with the situation,” he said.

Anil Ambani offers prayers at Jagannath temple

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Bhubaneswar, August 30: After his pilgrimage to temples in South India, noted industrialist Anil Ambani and his family today offered prayers at Sri Jagannath temple in Puri.

Accompanied by his mother Kokila Ben, sister Dipti and brother-in-law Dattaraj Salgaocar, the chairman of Anil Dhirubhai Ambani group visited the 12th century shrine, 60 km from here.

He arrived at Biju Patnaik airport here by a special plane in the afternoon and drove down to the holy town where elaborate security arrangements were made for the VIPs visit, police said.

Raje in Delhi,likely to meet Venkaiah tomorrow to end standoff

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New Delhi, August 30: Vasundhara Raje, who arrived here today along with some of her supporters, is likely to meet senior BJP leader M Venkaiah Naidu tomorrow in a bid to end the standoff in the party over her refusal to resign as Leader of Opposition in Rajasthan Assembly.

Raje is scheduled to meet Naidu at noon tomorrow to discuss the issue and end the stalemate. Naidu was appointed as the pointsman by the party high command when all attempts to pressurise Raje into resigning her post failed.

AIFF Gen Secy interview on Sept. 23-24

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New Delhi, August 30: Eight candidates for the vacant post of All India Football Federation General Secretary and five contenders for the I-League Chief Executive Officer will be called for interview either on September 23 or 24.

This decision was taken at an AIFF Executive Committee meeting under the chairmanship of its acting President Praful Patel here today.

Ten candidates for the post of AIFF General Secretary and five for the I-League CEO had been shortlisted by the Emergency Committee last month.

HCA announces teams for Moin-ud-Dowla Gold Cup

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Hyderabad, August 30: The Hyderabad Cricket Association (HCA) today announced the HCA XI team and President’s XI team for the Moin-ud-Dowla Gold Cup Cricket tournament to be held here from September 10-22.

HCA XI: Arjun Yadav (Captain), D B Ravi Teja, Abhinav Kumar, A T Rayudu, S Anoop Pai, Benjamin Thomas, Ahmed Quadri, P Pragyan Ojha, Ashwin Yadav, Alfred Absolom, P M Sarvesh Kumar, Shiv Prasad, Neeraj Bist, A Ashish Reddy, Sameer, Abhilash. Coach S L Venkata Pathi Raju. Manager-Jeevitesh Reddy.

MTV Rock On with Kailash Kher

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Mumbai, August 30: MTV is coming up with Rock On to give some good music in the form of Sufi singer Kailash Kher.

Sufiana Kailash Kher has donned a new role for a music reality show. He is in the role of a judge at ‘Rock On’ along with music composer Ram Sampath and stylish VJ Nikhil Chinappa.

MTV asserts that the show is going to rock on and will fathom deep the music talents in the country.

—Agencies

Katrina Kaif grows to be Numerologist-Palmist

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Mumbai, August 30: Bollywood’s sizzling actress “Katrina Kaif” is found rapidly developing these days along her spiritual side and is willing to learn more about palmistry, gemology, yoga, meditation and numerology.

The beautiful actress talks about gems in particular, “I guess the power that many of these gems enclose within can change your life for the betterment and also for your future.”

Miley Cyrus’ fans wait 36 hours for free concert

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New York, August 30: Teen sensation Miley Cyrus woke up sleepy fans who waited for more than 36 hours in rainy weather to see her perform a free concert in New York City.
The 16-year-old, her back-up dancers and live band rocked fans with a spectacular show at Manhattan’s Rockefeller Center, causing hundreds of screaming girls to swarm the stage and Cyrus admits she was stunned at the turnout because she would only “camp overnight” to see a true rock ‘n’ roll legend, reports hollyscoop.com.

UAE to set up high-tech swine flu test centre

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Dubai, August 31: The health ministry of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has said it will set up a high-tech laboratory that would quickly deliver swine flu test results, WAM news agency reported.

Currently, the swine flu tests are done abroad and patients and doctors are required to wait over a week to get the results. The new facility would give the test results within 24 hours, the report said.

The laboratory will be built in Al Qasimi Hospital in Sharjah and would be ready within 60 days, the report said, citing officials.

State level weightlifting championship

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Orissa, August 30: The state-level junior and sub-junior weightlifting championship was held here today.

Altogether 120 boys and girls from 12 districts participated in the competition, organised by the Ganjam district unit of Orissa Weightlifting Association (OWLA).

Several noted weightlifters including international Ranu Mohanty attended the event to boost the moral the young talents.

—PTI

Dirk Nannes to play for Delhi

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New Delhi, August 30: The Champions League T20 (CLT20) governing council has clarified the rules relating to players who have qualified for multiple teams for the inaugural tournament starting October 8.

Under CLT20 rules, if a player qualifies for more than one team, all those qualifying teams can nominate that player.

“If the player then decides to play for an ‘away’ team rather than his ‘home’ team (the team from the country he is eligible to represent in international cricket), the ‘away’ team must pay USD200,000 compensation to the ‘home’ team,” an official statement said.

Junior doctors’ strike “anti-people”: Nitish

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Patna, August 30: Terming as “anti-people” the indefinite strike by junior doctors at Patna Medical College Hospital and Darbhanga Medical College Hospital, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar today urged them to withdraw their stir immediately “in larger interests of the people”.

“The strike by junior doctors at the two hospitals are anti-people. I appeal to them to withdraw the stir immediately in the larger interests of the people,” Kumar told reporters here.

Kumar said he had asked the state Health minister to look into the matter.

Orissa off-spinner suspended for criticising OCA

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Bhubaneswar, August 30: Orissa Cricket Association (OCA) suspended right arm off-spinner Sanjay Satpathy for one year and issued show notice to show to him as to why stringent disciplinary action to the extent of permanent ban would not be imposed on him, OCA secretary Ashirbad Behera said today.

Satpathy, who is the second successful bowler of the state after India discard Debasish Mohanty, had raised voice in the media against the OCA recently after being ignored in the short-listed probables for the upcoming domestic season.

Landslide poll win brings opposition to power in Japan

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Tokyo, August 30: The opposition Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) made history Sunday with an overwhelming victory in the general election, ending half a century of Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) rule.
Exit polls indicated that the DPJ was headed toward winning more than 300 seats in the 480-seat House of Representatives, the lower chamber of the parliament.

Of the over 434 seats decided so far, the DPJ had won 293, already a comfortable majority. The LDP and the coalition partner New Komeito party suffered an historic defeat, winning only 68 seats.

Soothsayer, husband arrested for poisoning six children

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Salem, August 30: A “soothsayer” and her husband have been arrested for allegedly poisoning six children in the last one and a half years by feeding them pesticide-mixed food at a village in Attur near here in a bid to gain fame and money, police said today.

The duo were arrested yesterday following an investigation into the ‘mysterious deaths’ of healthy children, aged between three and seven years, during this period, they said, adding postmortem reports confirmed that the children were poisoned.

Sugarcane production & its acreage may decline in Bihar

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Patna, August 30: Sugarcane production and its acreage in Bihar may decline in the current sugarcane season, a Sugarcane department official said.

“It is estimated that sugarcane production in the current season may decline to 1,38,05930 tonne from last year’s 1,59,50388 ton,” State’s Sugarcane Commissioner Jai Mangal Singh told PTI.

Similarly, sugarcane cultivation area could also witness a decline of nearly 2,000 hectares of land in comparison to last year, Singh said.