Month: November 2009

BJP’s gateway to south, or highway to disaster?

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Bangalore, November 05: The ongoing power struggle in the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) first government in Karnataka threatens to shatter the party’s dream to make the state a launch pad for ruling southern India.

The turmoil in Karnataka, proudly proclaimed as the party’s gateway to the south, is sure to have a debilitating impact on BJP’s future in the state, whatever be the compromise hammered out at Delhi to save the government from going under.

Killed by the enemy within

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Kabul, November 05: The killings were sudden and savage. There was no escape from the raking bursts of machine-gun fire for the soldiers hemmed in by the walls of the police checkpoint.

The British troops at Blue 25 had no chance to defend themselves, and a terrible price was paid. Four men lay dead, and seven others were injured, one of them to die later. Their attacker, an Afghan policeman, was also wounded, but managed to escape on a motorcycle under covering fire from his accomplices.

Sunil Shetty bags the Best Actor award at SAIFF in New York

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Mumbai, November 05: Sunil Shetty has only won one award in his 17 years in Bollywood. But that dry run ended when he went international.

For his performance in the upcoming Red Alert, he has bagged the Best Actor award at the South Asian International Film Festival (SAIFF), New York.

Shahid goes on an all-India search for a heroine for his dad’s film

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Mumbai, November 05: It’s final. Pankaj Kapoor’s first directorial venture Mausam, starring beta Shahid Kapoor will now have a new leading lady selected from an all-India talent hunt that begins on 26 November.

The talent hunt will take Pankaj and Shahid on a six-city tour through Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Kolkata, Chennai and Hyderabad. But contestants from other smaller cities around these six metropolitan centres can also participate.

Shilpa to announce her wedding date on Bigg Boss 3 tommorrow night

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Mumbai, November 05: Shilpa Shetty has finally set her wedding date. She and Raj Kundra will announce the D-Date (November 22) on Bigg Boss 3 tomorrow night. Subsequently, her sister Shamita will leave the show.

Says a source close to the actress reveals, “Shilpa wants Shamita to be present during all the wedding preparations, not just on the big day. So she is going on the show, where she will announce the date, and then get Shamita to come back with her to Mumbai.”

Hong Kong gangster back in court for pen attack

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Hong Kong, November 05: One of Hong Kong’s most notorious criminals, who was jailed for 36 years for a series of jewellery heists involving 20 million Hong Kong dollars ($2.5 million), was due back in court Thursday after assaulting a prison officer with a pen.

Yip Kai-foon is alleged to have assaulted the officer with a pen in April after he was transferred to a hospital for treatment to an infected wound.

The court was told Yip had tried to stab the prison officer, a trained nurse, with a ballpoint pen as he was cleaning the wound. The officer suffered abrasions to his neck.

‘Only a thin line between Indian and Pakistani fashion’

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Mumbai, November 05: There is very little difference between Indian and Pakistani fashion, says Pakistani designer Huma Adnan, who has carved out a niche for herself in her country’s fashion industry, having moved out of the shadow of designer husband Amir Adnan.

“If you look closely at the garments of the two countries, you will realise that there is not much of a difference in the craft. It’s just the colours and threads that are different. After all the region is the same,” Huma told IANS during a recent visit here.

Passengers stranded as airline suspends Himachal flight

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Kullu (Himachal Pradesh), November 05: The decision of MDLR Airline authorities to suspend their operations in Himachal Pradesh without any notice has left many passengers stranded.

The airline announced Wednesday that its scheduled operations would be suspended till Nov 14.

“The decision of the airline to suspend its operation without any notice is not justified. A large number of tourists, especially from abroad, are finding themselves grounded,” president of the Travel Agents Association of Kullu, Subhash Sharma, told IANS.

Warm days continue in Delhi

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New Delhi, November 05: The capital had another warm day Thursday, with above-average temperatures, a met official said.

The minimum temperature recorded by the India Meteorological Department (IMD) at 8.30 a.m. Thursday was 15.5 degrees Celsius.

“The minimum temperature today (Thursday) is a notch above the average. The weather will remain clear throughout the day,” an IMD official told IANS.

The maximum temperature is expected to be around 29 degrees Celsius.

HC restrains police from narco test on Ghandy

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New Delhi, November 05: The Delhi High Court today restrained the city police from conducting narco analysis test on top Maoist leader Kobad Ghandy.

Justice Indermeet Kaur stayed the trial court’s order which had on October 31 allowed conduct of the test on the 63-year-old top Maoist leader.

The court passed the order after Ghandy’s counsel Rebecca M John submitted that until and unless Constitutional validity of narco test is decided by the Supreme Court, an accused cannot be forced to undergo such a test.

Tension in Bhopal after VHP leader’s murder

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Bhopal, November 05: Tension simmered in a Bhopal locality Thursday with hundreds of radical Hindu activists gathered outside a temple, where a Vishwa Hindu Parishad office-bearer was murdered the night before.

Heavy security was deployed in Bhopal’s Bhanpur area with police fearing an outbreak of trouble when the body of Deen Dayal Sharma, who was also the priest of the temple as well as a member of the Bajrang Dal, is handed over to the family after the autopsy.

Sharma, 35, was killed late Wednesday inside the temple when a group of armed men attacked him.

Injured Pakistani Taliban leader surrounded: Minister

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Islamabad, November 05: Taliban leader and radical cleric Maulana Fazlullah has been wounded and has been surrounded by security forces, a minister has said.

North West Frontier Province Minister Bashir Ahmed Bilour said the head of the banned Tehrik-e-Taliban (TTP) in Swat, Fazlullah, was injured and has been surrounded, Online news agency reported Thursday.

Bilour told a TV channel that top leadership of TTP Swat has either been arrested or killed and the situation in 80 percent of Swat was normal.

Four killed in US drone strike

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Islamabad, November 05: At least four people were killed and four injured in a suspected US drone attack in North Waziristan, a media report said Thursday.

The attack was carried out by a suspected US unmanned spy plane on Norok tehsil of Mir Ali in North Waziristan Agency (NWA) late Wednesday night, Geo News reported.

According to sources, the identity of the dead and the wounded was yet to be ascertained.

Injured Pakistani Taliban leader surrounded: Minister

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Islamabad, November 05: Taliban leader and radical cleric Maulana Fazlullah has been wounded and has been surrounded by security forces, a minister has said.

North West Frontier Province Minister Bashir Ahmed Bilour said the head of the banned Tehrik-e-Taliban (TTP) in Swat, Fazlullah, was injured and has been surrounded, Online news agency reported Thursday.

Bilour told a TV channel that top leadership of TTP Swat has either been arrested or killed and the situation in 80 percent of Swat was normal.

Delhi High Court stays Kobad Ghandy’s narco test

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New Delhi, November 05: The Delhi High Court Thursday put on hold till Dec 14 a planned narco test on Communist Party of India-Maoist leader Kobad Ghandy.

Justice Indermeet Kaur said the narco-analysis test would not be conducted, at least till Dec 14, the next date of hearing.

Ghandy had filed an appeal Wednesday challenging the Oct 21 order of a lower court that he undergo a narco test.

Ghandy was arrested Sep 21 and is in judicial custody.

–Agencies

BJP’s gateway to south, or highway to disaster?

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Bangalore, November 05: The ongoing power struggle in the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) first government in Karnataka threatens to shatter the party’s dream to make the state a launch pad for ruling southern India.

The turmoil in Karnataka, proudly proclaimed as the party’s gateway to the south, is sure to have a debilitating impact on BJP’s future in the state, whatever be the compromise hammered out at Delhi to save the government from going under.

Injured Pakistani Taliban leader surrounded: Minister

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Islamabad, November 05: Taliban leader and radical cleric Maulana Fazlullah has been wounded and has been surrounded by security forces, a minister has said.

North West Frontier Province Minister Bashir Ahmed Bilour said the head of the banned Tehrik-e-Taliban (TTP) in Swat, Fazlullah, was injured and has been surrounded, Online news agency reported Thursday.

Bilour told a TV channel that top leadership of TTP Swat has either been arrested or killed and the situation in 80 percent of Swat was normal.

Shatrughan Sinha shaves off moustache

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Mumbai, November 05: Ram Gopal Varma’s highly ambitious two part trilingual film Raktacharitra will have no other but politician superstar Shatrughan Sinha, essay the pivotal role which is based on the legendary superstar politician N.T Rama Rao.

This would be the first time in cinematic history of the world that a politician would have essayed the role of another politician.

EU’s trade ties with India, ASEAN worries Dhaka

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Dhaka, November 05: The European Union’s bilateral free trade agreements (FTAs) with India, Southeast Asian nations and South Korea may pose a potential threat to Bangladesh, a report quoting officials of the European Commission has said.

EU is the Bangladesh’s largest trade partner. Over half of the country’s total exports of $15 billion were destined for EU last fiscal year.

Hong Kong gangster back in court for pen attack

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Hong Kong, November 05: One of Hong Kong’s most notorious criminals, who was jailed for 36 years for a series of jewellery heists involving 20 million Hong Kong dollars ($2.5 million), was due back in court Thursday after assaulting a prison officer with a pen.

Yip Kai-foon is alleged to have assaulted the officer with a pen in April after he was transferred to a hospital for treatment to an infected wound.

The court was told Yip had tried to stab the prison officer, a trained nurse, with a ballpoint pen as he was cleaning the wound. The officer suffered abrasions to his neck.

No war crimes questions, Sri Lankan general returns from US

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Colombo, November 05: General Sarath Fonseka, who was Sri Lanka’s army commander when it defeated Tamil separatist rebels in May, returned home from US Thursday without being questioned by US authorities about alleged war crimes.

Fonseka, who is now chief of the defence staff, was on a private visit to the US to visit his daughters when the US Department of Homeland Security asked him to present himself for an interview Wednesday in Oklahoma City.

Not many interested in making children’s films: Nandita Das

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New Delhi, November 05: Lamenting that they could not find even 12 good children’s films made in India to make up an Indian section in the children’s film festival, actor and now the chairperson of the Children’s Film Society (CFSI) Nandita Das said that not many filmmakers are interested in making movies for children.

“Not enough filmmakers are interested in making children’s films. The main reason is that the economics affect the distribution of the film. Logistically, children’s films here are not very viable commercially,” Das said at a press conference in the capital Wednesday.

Yeddyurappa to meet Reddy brothers in Delhi

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New Delhi, November 05: Karnataka Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa said Thursday that he would meet Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders as well as the dissident Reddy brothers, both of whom are ministers, in a bid to resolve the intensifying political crisis in the state.

“I will be meeting the Reddys today (Thursday)… Will hold talks with the national leaders,” Yeddyurappa, the BJP’s first chief minister in south India, told reporters here.

He arrived here Wednesday night for talks with the party’s leadership.

War against terror drives away migratory birds: Pakistani official

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Islamabad, November 05: An unusual delay in the arrival of migratory birds this winter can be attributed to the war on terror, a Pakistani official has said, adding “their route has been disturbed”.

Delay has been noticed in the arrival of migratory birds which come to Sindh around this time of the year.

Sindh Wildlife Department (SWD) officials observed that the number of these migratory birds has been decreasing for the past few years and “the war on terror has been cited as the major reason for this”.

Sensex down over a percent in early trade

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Mumbai, November 05: A key index of the Indian equities markets started weak Thursday and was 1.11 percent in the red about ten minutes into trade.

The 30-scrip sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) opened higher at 15,926.13 points and, about 10 minutes after the opening bell, was at 15,735.25 points, 1.11 percent or 176.88 points below its previous close at 15,912.13 points.

The Sensex had gained 507.19 points or 3.29 percent Wednesday.