Month: September 2009

Zero to hero: How Shah fired England to new highs

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England, September 29: To explain England’s bizarre exhibitions of the one-day arts, their captain Andrew Strauss often compares them to Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.

It is an easy, inexact shorthand, but it means that England can be useless one day and magnificent the next.

Mr Hyde, who had been overstaying his welcome and appeared resistant to desperate blandishments to shove off, has for the time being left. Dr Jekyll is in town. Owais Shah perfectly symbolises this dichotomy. In his case choose any antonymic extreme you fancy: chalk, cheese, lager, beer, day, night, beautiful, ugly.

Rupee weakens by 10 paise against dollar in early trade

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Mumbai, September 29: The Indian rupee weakened on Tuesday by another 10 paise to 48.07 against the greenback in early trade today on fresh month-end dollar demand amid strong equity markets.

The domestic currency resumed weak against its last close of 47.97/98 a dollar and later fell to 48.07 before being quoted at 48.01/02 a dollar in late morning deals.

Dealers at the Interbank Foreign Exchange market said oil refiners bought dollar at the current levels for their monthly import payments as the American unit surged against a basket of currencies in overseas markets.

UPA dilly-dallying over hanging of Afzal : RSS

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New Delhi, September 29: The RSS has accused Congress-led UPA of dilly-dallying over the hanging of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru to appease the minority community.

“Three years after the Supreme Court handed death sentence to Afzal in Parliament attack case, the UPA is dithering over carrying it out. By various implied statements the (UPA) government has conveyed that hanging him (Afzal) would hurt the sentiments of a section of the society and it is sitting over the mercy petition,” RSS mouthpiece ‘Organiser’ said in the editroial in its latest edition.

Now Israeli mobile jammers for Uttar Pradesh jails

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Lucknow, September 29: Jails in Uttar Pradesh will soon have high frequency mobile phone jammers imported from Israel as those installed 10 years ago now prove ineffective in checking cell phone use by inmates.

“The existing jammers were installed by two private mobile service providers about 10 years ago. But with new mobile service providers entering the Indian market, these jammers are not so effective as they block the frequencies of only two particular companies,” said Inspector General (Jail) Sulkhan Singh.

Kareena-Salman adorable couple in ‘…Mrs.Khanna’: director

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New Delhi, September 29: He is 43 and she is 29, but their age difference is no matter. Salman Khan and Kareena Kapoor make an “adorable” couple on screen in his forthcoming “Main Aurr Mrs.Khanna”, says debutant director Prem Soni.

“The age difference between Salman and Kareena was never a consideration. They make an absolutely adorable couple and complement each other on screen,” Soni told media over phone from Mumbai.

Anil Ambani group says gas marketing margin illegal

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Mumbai, September 29: The Anil Ambani group has called the marketing margin for the gas produced by Reliance Industries from the Krishna-Godavari basin illegal and asked the oil ministry to prevent the company from suspending supplies as threatened.

In a letter to Petroleum Secretary R.S. Pandey, Reliance Infrastructure, a part of the Anil Ambani group, has said Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries has not conducted any form of marketing for the gas from the Krishna-Godavari fields.

Brown reaches out to Middle England with new crime crackdown

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London, September 29: Gordon Brown will today make a final attempt to reconnect with Middle England by announcing a string of “tough love” measures to crack down on alcohol-fuelled crime and problem families who make their neighbours’ lives a misery.

In his speech to the Labour conference in Brighton, the Prime Minister will attempt to answer criticism that he is out of touch with ordinary people by saying that he understands their concerns about issues such as crime, antisocial behaviour and immigration.

Declares CM Modi, No Villages In Gujrat

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New Delhi, September 29: It is unimaginable in a predominantly rural, launched in India. However, there are villages in Gujarat, if one believes minister Narendra Modi.

This is recorded in the minutes of the “Conference of Chief Ministers of States and Chief Justices of High Courts. Although the conference was held last month, the report prepared by the judiciary and approved by the ministry of the law recently uploaded to the official website of the Supreme Court.

Betrayal by courier led to Kobad Ghandy’s arrest: CPI-Maoist

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Hyderabad, September 29: The Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist) on Tuesday claimed that its London-educated leader and ideologue Kobad Ghandy was betrayed by his courier, leading to his arrest in New Delhi on Sep 17.

While admitting that the arrest of the politburo and central committee member was a big loss to the Maoist movement in the country, the Maoist outfit said it was only a temporary success for the authorities.

Egypt anger over virginity faking

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Cairo, September 29: A leading Egyptian scholar has demanded that people caught importing a female virginity-faking device into the country should face the death penalty.

Abdul Mouti Bayoumi said supplying the item was akin to spreading vice in society, a crime punishable by death in Islamic Sharia law.

The device is said to release liquid imitating blood, allowing a female to feign virginity on her wedding night.

There is a stigma about pre-marital sex in some conservative Arab societies.

Rain spoils India’s semi-final hopes in Champions Trophy

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Centurion, September 29: Heavy rains spoiled India’s hopes of making it to the semi-finals of the Champions Trophy after their must-win Group A match against defending champions Australia was called of at the SuperSport Park here on Monday.

Australia were on course for a big total and were 234 for four in 42.3 overs with Cameron White batting on 35 and Callum Ferguson on two when heavy rains stopped the match.

AI cancels over 20 flights as agitation by pilots continues

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New Delhi, September 29: With the agitation by Air India Executive pilots entering the fourth day on Tuesday, the airlines cancelled over 20 flights, including 15 from the national capital, and suspended bookings for the next 15 days.

Talks between the management and the striking Executive pilots on Monday failed to break the deadlock over the issue of cut in perks.

Indian American activist Mallika Dutt wins Courage Award

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Washington, September 29: Indian American civil rights activist Mallika Dutt will be honoured by the Asian American Justice Centre (AAJC), a leading US civil rights organisation, with the American Courage Award on Oct 1.

Dutt is the ex ecutive director of Breakthrough, an innovative, international human rights organisation using the power of popular culture, media and community mobilisation to transform public attitudes and advance equality, justice, and dignity.

Singapore’s GIC recovers after last year loss

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Singapore, September 29: Singapore state investment company GIC said Tuesday its investments fell more than 20 percent in the 12 months ending March, but have recovered more than half that loss as global stocks surged in recent months.

Government of Singapore Investment Corp., known as GIC, said in an annual report that the loss during its last fiscal year pulled down the fund’s 20-year nominal annual rate of return in Singapore dollar terms to 4.4 percent from 5.8 percent.

GIC, which manages more than $100 billion, didn’t disclosed details about the size of its portfolio.

No doubt about India’s nuclear deterrent: former Navy Chief

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New Delhi, September 29: Amid the controversy over the yield from the Pokhran-II nuclear tests, former Chief of Naval Staff Arun Prakash emphasised there was no room to doubt the credibility of India’s nuclear deterrent even as he advocated institutional checks and balances to take major decisions in this sphere.

Tendulkar injury a worry for India

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Centurion, September 29: Ahead of the must-win match against Australia here today, it is Sachin Tendulkar’s injury that is worrying India skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni.

Dhoni revealed after their 54-run loss to Pakistan on Sep 26 evening that India missed a part-time bowler. He said he couldn’t use Tendulkar since the batting maestro is suffering from a shoulder injury. The shoulder has troubled Tendulkar from a long time.

Dhoni looked uncomfortable when asked about Tendulkar’s injury.

11 bodies found, 14 missing after boat capsizes in Bihar

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Patna, September 29: Bodies of 11 persons, who drowned after an overcrowded country boat capsized at Baghmati in Bihar’s Khagaria district have been fished out, even as 14 others were yet to be traced, police said on Tuesday.

The bodies of 11 persons, including seven minor girls and two women have been recovered, Additional Director General of Police (Headquarters) Neelmani said.

The ADGP said the National Disaster Response Force personnel have been pressed into service to locate the bodies, he said.

Advani expresses desire to retire from politics

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New Delhi, Spetember 29: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader L.K. Advani today expressed his desire to retire from politics.

He made this remark during a visit to the Udupi Pejawar Math here, Swami Vishwesh Teerth, the spiritual leader of the math, told media.

But he advised him not to be away from politics.

The swami said: “He (Advani) came here on a religious visit. While chatting, he expressed his desire to retire from politics. But I suggested him not to take any hasty decision,” the swami said.

Shah Rukh will always be my idol: Priyanka Chopra

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New Delhi, September 29: Priyanka Chopra has thousands of fans, but who is the actress’s all-time idol? The man she admires most is adored by millions across the globe as well- who else but superstar Shah Rukh Khan.

“Shah Rukh Khan is my idol and has always been. He has been a favourite actor of course, but I really look up to him also as a person . Looking at where he came from and how he became who he is today, I find it extremely fascinating,” Priyanka told media in an interview.

US stocks rally on merger deals

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New York, September 29: US stocks rallied Monday as investors take the merger-and-acquisition deals as a sign of economic recovery.

Xerox said Monday it is buying the business processing company Affiliated Computer Services for about $6.4 billion in cash and stocks.

Johnson & Johnson, the world’s largest maker of health-care products, has bought an 18-percent stake in biotech firm Crucell NV for $444 million.

Moreover, Belgian drugs, chemicals and plastics maker Solvay said on Monday it would sell its drugs unit to US partner Abbott Laboratories for about $6.6 billion.

Scientists trying to identify ’sanjivani’ herb

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Lucknow, September 29: The ’sanjivani’ may not be just myth. Scientists are now busy trying to identify the magical herb, which according to the Indian epic Ramayana brought back to life Lord Ram’s dying brother Lakshman.

Having found a few Himalayan herbs that match the description of the sanjivani, a team of five scientists at the National Botanical Research Institute (NBRI) here is working on identifying the properties of each of these.

CBI gives clean chit to Pragya and Purohit in Nanded case

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New Delhi, September 29:In a relief to former Lieutenant Colonel Prasad Purohit and Sadhvi Pragya Thakur, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has given these Malegaon blast accused a clean chit in the Nanded case which the investigative agency is probing again.

A CBI officer on Monday revealed that the agency filed a supplementary chargesheet in the Nanded case last month, but only against Punebased antique arms dealer, Rakesh Dhawade.

Bollywood Hotttie Neha meets Hollywood Biggie Ed Norton!

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Mumbai, September 29: During the premiere of American mini series IFC’s Bollywood Hero, guess who was seated next to Neha Dhupia. None other than superstar Ed Norton. A source close to Neha said, “Neha did not know who was seated next to her during the screening of Bollywood Hero. She did not recognize him initially.”

When Neha looked closely she couldn’t believe her eyes. She kept pinching herself to make sure that it actually Ed besides her. “Ed’s presence took her by surprise. He had actually squeezed out time and attended Bollywood Hero’s premiere,” said our source.

Taiwan teen chops off father’s hands: report

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Taipie, September 29: A Taiwanese teenager has been arrested after chopping off his father’s hands, allegedly to avenge years of physical abuse, a report said Tuesday.

The victim, identified only by his surname Fan, was in critical condition at a hospital in central Taiwan’s Miaoli county after his son hacked at his wrists more than ten times while he slept early Monday, the Apple Daily said.

The 17-year-old showed no remorse, saying he could not care less if his father survived the attack, according to the report.