Rawalpind, December 03: Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) commander Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, who has been named the mastermind of the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, on Thursday failed to get a reprieve from the Lahore High Court, which rejected his two petitions challenging his indictment in the carnage.
Mumbai, December 03: Reliance Media World, part of the Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group, will make its debut at the National Stock Exchange and the Bombay Stock Exchange Friday, the company said in a statement.
The company runs businesses like leading radio station BIG 92.7 FM, out of home media business BIG Street, digital content provider BIG Digital, and BIG Reach — the activation division.
‘The radio division of Reliance MediaWorks Ltd has been demerged into Reliance Media World,’ the tatement said.
Mumbai, December 03: India’s openers Virender Sehwag and Murali Vijay pounded Sri Lanka’s attack with a 221-run partnership in the third and final cricket Test here on Thursday. Sehwag slammed double ton in just 168 balls.
He has become the first Indian to hit six double centuries in Test cricket and also the first ever to score fatest 250, which he did in just 207 balls.
The pair made light of the bounce and turn on the Brabourne stadium wicket to lift India to 260-1 by tea on the second day in reply to Sri Lanka’s first innings total of 393.
Mumbai, December 03: This victory chant has no end in sight. AR Rahman has done it again for India as his illustrious song Jai Ho has bagged another international acclaim in a nomination for the highest musical honour in world- the Grammy award.
The multi-talented composer has bagged two Grammy nominations for the Oscar winning ‘Slumdog Millionaire’. The versatile composer has been nominated in the category of ‘Best Song Written For Motion Picture’ along with Gulzar and Tanvi Shah.
New Delhi, December 03: Senior industry executives looking to “broaden their perspective” and “leadership qualities” can now do so at the premier Indian School of Business — by paying a whopping Rs.2.5 million for a 60-day course spread over 15 months.
“We are launching the executive MBA (EMBA) for senior executives with 10 to 25 years of experience. The course will be world class and the fee is Rs.2.5 million plus travel expenses,” Ajit Rangnekar, dean of the Hyderabad-based ISB announced here today.
New Delhi, December 03: The government has received several representations regarding misuse of an Indian Penal Code (IPC) provision that deals with dowry harassment and an advisory has been issued to state governments to prevent its misuse, the Lok Sabha was informed today.
In a written reply, Minister of Law and Justice M. Veerappa Moily said: “A number of representations have been received from various quarters regarding the misuse of the provision of Section 498A of IPC. Information regarding its misuse is not collected by the National Crime Records Bureau.”
Johor Bahru, December 03: India’s Saina Nehwal defeated Canadian Reid Charmaine 21-14, 21-9 for her first victory in the World Super Series Masters Final badminton here today.
Top seeded Saina lost her opening round Group A match to Malaysian Mew Choo Wong Wednesday, but came back strongly against Charmaine taking just 32 minutes to wrap up the match.
Saina, however, will have to beat Thailand’s Porntip Buranaprasertsuk in her last Group match Friday to book a semi-final berth.
Brussels, December 03: The crew of a Dutch warship has arrested 13 suspected pirates following an attack by fast boats on a cargo vessel in waters south of Oman, the EU naval mission said in a statement on Thursday.
“In total there were 13 pirates and two of the original crew on board. Ladders, grappling hooks, and nine automatic weapons, one RPG (rocket propelled grenade) with three grenades and cases with ammunition were found,” it said.
“The suspected pirates have been detained.”
Mumbai, December 03: Virender Sehwag clobbered a breath-taking unbeaten 284 as India rode on his brutal assault to take complete control of the third and final cricket Test against a hapless Sri Lanka here today.
Replying to Sri Lanka’s first innings total of 393, the 31-year-old Sehwag set the Brabourne stadium ablaze with a stunning display of strokeplay as the hosts raced to a record score of 443 for one at close on an extraordinary second day’s play.
Tehran, December 03: A blast ripped through a bus carrying Iranian pilgrims near a major Shi’ite religious shrine in Damascus on Thursday killed six people, witnesses said.
“Body parts are still scattered around the bus,” one of the witnesses told Reuters. Several more people were wounded in the explosion in the Sayyeda Zainab area in Damascus.
The witnesses said the rear part of the bus was ripped opened. Buildings around the scene of the blast sustained damage and glass from broken windows littered the street.
Mumbai, December 03: The city’s water woes today claimed a life and left several injured when police baton charged demonstrators protesting the cut in water supply to residential areas in front of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) headquarters.
Vishal Dholakia (43), one among the few hundred protesters, allegedly died of head injuries at the G T Hospital in south Mumbai, close to the police headquarters, though the authorities attributed his death to heart attack.
Pune, December 03: Four more people, including a two-year-old infant who was suffering from congenital heart ailment, succumbed to the deadly Swine flu in last five days here, taking the H1N1 toll in the city to 117, officials said today.
Officials said Azad Mustafa Tarique (two) died on November 28 at Deenanath Mangeshkar Hospital, however, his swab tests reported positive for Swine flu only today.
Tokyo, December 03: Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama and his brother haven’t agreed on much since going separate ways in politics, but they have one thing in common: both say they were in the dark about a recent funding scandal.
“The news hit me like a bolt from the blue,” Kunio Hatoyama, a veteran lawmaker in the opposition Liberal Democratic Party, said this week after media reports that he had received tons of cash from his mother without proper accounting.
New Delhi, December 03: Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief and former railway minister Lalu Prasad was seen in parliament today limping and walking with the help of a stick.
The Bihar leader, who is out of power both at the centre and state, said he suffered a minor fracture after a stage collapsed at Arrah in Bihar.
“I was attending a public meeting. There were a lot of party workers on the stage and it collapsed,” Lalu Prasad, who came to the House on Wednesday after campaigning for his party in Jharkhand, told media outside parliament today.
New Delhi, December 03: As the debate over the minority status for Jamia Millia Islamia rages, the Human Resource Development (HRD) ministry today said the institution is not a minority central university.
“Among the central universities, Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) which has been defined as ‘the educational institution of their choice established by the Muslims of India’ has been so recognised by the central government,” HRD Minister Kapil Sibal said in response to a Lok Sabha question on the number of universities located in the country for minorities.
Vienna, December 03: In a defiant speech, Iran’s president declared on Wednesday that his country will enrich uranium to a much higher level — a fresh rejection of an international plan to curb Tehran’s nuclear program.
Experts said that could put Tehran on the road to making the material needed to arm a warhead within months.
“I declare here that with the grace of God, the Iranian nation will produce 20 percent fuel and anything it needs itself,” Ahmadinejad told a cheering crowd in the central city of Isfahan.
New Delhi, December 03: Groundwater in areas around the Bhopal gas tragedy site contain almost 40 times more pesticides than allowed under the Indian standards, the Centre for Science and Environment has claimed.
The Pollution Monitoring Lab of the NGO tested water and soil samples from in and around the Union Carbide factory, and found high concentrations of pesticides and heavy metals.
All 11 groundwater samples collected from colonies around the UCIL factory were found to be contaminated with chlorinated benzene compounds and organochlorine pesticides, the test results showed.
Mingora, December 03: Pakistani security forces killed at least 15 Taliban militants, including a commander, in clashes on Thursday in the volatile northwest near the Afghan border.
Nuclear-armed Pakistan is under growing U.S. pressure to crack down harder on militants in border areas to help it fight the Taliban in Afghanistan, where President Barack Obama plans to send 30,000 more troops to try to put down an insurgency.
Los Angeles, December 03: Taylor Swift has won just about every top music award there is this year, but the possibility of winning not just one, but eight Grammys, had the 19-year-old screaming for joy as the nominations were announced.
“I started freaking out and jumping up and down,” Swift said in a telephone interview Wednesday night after learning of her nominations, which included album of the year for her sophomore CD Fearless and mentions for song and record of the year.
Brussels, December 03: America’s NATO allies have been strongly supportive of the administration’s plans for the war in Afghanistan despite its unpopularity in Europe, President Barack Obama’s envoy said Thursday.
Richard C. Holbrooke, the U.S. special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan said he expects European governments soon to contribute more forces to join the 30,000 fresh U.S. troops that will be deployed to Afghanistan under Obama’s new strategy.
Somalia, December 03: An explosion ripped through an upscale hotel in Somalia’s capital Thursday during a university graduation ceremony, killing nine people, including three Cabinet ministers and two journalists.
More than three dozen medical, computer science and engineering students had gathered to receive their diplomas at the ceremony at the Shamow Hotel, which sits in the small patch of Mogadishu that is held by Somalia’s weak central government.
London, December 03: Popstar Rihanna finally seems to get over her troubled past after she advised that all females should be brave enough to flash the flesh in nude pictures. The 21-year-old singer is back on the chart trail with steamy photo shoots and stage outfits and a sexy, strong, “don’t mess with me” image, The Sun reported online.
“Every woman should have naked pictures taken. In five years my body might not look like this! I’ve always been borderline raunchy and a little sexy. But sexy at 19 and sexy at 21 is two different things. I’m just having fun,” Rihanna said.
Washington, December 03: A deeply skeptical Congress on Wednesday resigned itself to President Barack Obama’s escalation of the Afghanistan war, even as the president’s chief military and diplomatic advisers sought to cool any expectations that the war would end in two years.
Leading Democrats said they had serious misgivings about the deployment of 30,000 more troops but would not try to block it — or the $30 billion it will cost. Republicans said they support the force increase even as they doubted Obama’s July 2011 deadline to start bringing troops home.
New Delhi, December 03: ULFA Chairman Arabinda Rajkhowa has indicated that the banned militant outfit is ready for peace talks.
“I want to clear my stand that I still stand for the cause of the Assamese people. We are against the domination of Assamese community by mainstream India.”
“We do not want our revolution to end but there should be a peaceful solution to it, preferably in a constitutional way. I want peace talks to restart and conclude…That is why I have come forward to carry on my agenda,” he was quoted as having told North East TV channel.
Hyderabad, December 03: TRS President K Chandrasekhar Rao, who is on a fast-unto-death for a separate Telangana state, was admitted to a government hospital here today after being shifted from Khammam.
Rao was brought to the Nizam’s Institute of Medical Science (NIMS) this morning from the Khammam Government Hospital, where he was undergoing treatment for the last four days.
The former Union Minister is being treated in the Acute Medical Care (AMC) ward of NIMS by a special team of doctors, official sources said.