New Delhi, January 29: In his first direct president Mulayam Singh Yadav, former general secretary and party MP Amar Singh said on Thursday that he resigned from his party posts not just because of “health reasons” – but because he felt “suffocated” in the SP, a party that, along with its leader, had a “natural bonhomie” with criminal-politicians and was opposed to “modernity.”
Baghdad, January 29: To hear Iraq’s prime minister tell it: the country’s future depends on purging its past links with Saddam Hussain’s regime.
And Nouri Al Maliki is saying it every chance he gets. He has become something of a one-man tribunal passing judgment on the reach of suspected loyalists to Saddam’s now-outlawed Ba’ath party.
New York, January 29: Authorities say Lindsay Lohan’s father has been arrested again.
Police on New York’s Long Island say Michael Lohan was arrested Thursday morning and charged with criminal contempt. Police did not provide further details.
Bryan Konoski, an attorney for Michael Lohan’s ex-girlfriend Erin Muller, has told the New York Post that Lohan allegedly phoned Muller at work Jan. 21.
That would violate an order of protection.
Lohan had been arrested on a similar charge in December.
Hyderabad, January 29: (Siasat News) As Assemblys budget session is going to be commenced, Rapid Action Force is deployed in and around the historical building to avoid any incident of disruption by TRS activists in view of the deadline moved one week further.
Hyderabad, January 29: While extending the deadline for forcing acceptance of resignation of elected representatives from Telangana region upto February seven, the all-party Telangana Joint Action Committee(JAC) has decided to intensify its stir to put pressure on the Union Government to come out with a clear-cut time schedule for formation of separate Telangana state.
Mumbai, January 29: Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray has attacked industrialist Mukesh Ambani over his recent statement that Mumbai belongs to all Indians.
“Marathi people have as much right over Mumbai as Mukesh Ambani has over Reliance companies,” Thackeray said in an article published in Sena mouthpiece ‘Saamana.’
“Mumbai is Maharashtra’s capital and will remain its capital. Don’t meddle in the path of Mumbai and Marathi manoos,” he said.
New Delhi, January 29: Abhishek Bachchan was left in awe of his father, veteran actor Amitabh Bachchan’s performance as a media baron in Ram Gopal Varma’s “Rann”, so much so that he says India doesn’t deserve a talent like him.
“We don’t deserve a talent like Mr. Amitabh Bachchan. Don’t think we can make movies to fit his talent,” Abhishek posted on his Twitter page.
Abhishek, who was in the capital Thursday for the premiere of “Rann”, is also all praise for his friend Ritieish Deshmukh’s performance in “Rann”.
Mumbai, January 29: It’s substance over numbers for Gul Panag. The actress, who will be seen in the forthcoming movie ‘Rann’, says she doesn’t want to be remembered just as a former beauty queen and that is why her career mantra has been to opt for fewer films.
‘I have my own criteria for choosing what I want to do in the film industry. There are some people who do 20 movies in three years and are remembered for not more than one year. I, however, wish to do fewer movies but maintain a much better strike rate,’ Gul told.
New Delhi, January 29: It is a film with the television news operations in the National Capital as its backdrop.
Not surprisingly, then, the premiere of ‘Rann’, maverick filmmaker Ram Gopal Varma’s take on the satellite news channels in India, was held in the Capital last night.
Lending glitter to the premiere was superstar Amitabh Bachchan, who stars in the film along with Riteish Deshmukh, Gul Panag, Paresh Rawal, South Indian actor Sudip and Rajat Kapoor. He was accompanied by wife Jaya Bachchan, son Abhishek and daughter-in-law Aishwarya.
New Delhi, January 29: In a surprise move, the government has postponed to the next fiscal auction of spectrum for 3G telephony which was expected to bring in Rs 35,000 crore to the exchequer.
According to senior officials in the Department of Telecom, Law Minister Veerappa Moily, who is member of the EGoM, has opined that the auction should he held when the spectrum is available.
New Delhi, January 29: He had to make faces and do somersaults to entertain Darsheel Safary on the sets of ‘Zokkomon’. Still, director Satyajit Bhatkal says that it was an amazing experience to work with the 13-year-old.
‘Darsheel was an obvious choice for ‘Zokkomon’ after ‘Taare Zameen Par’ because he showed the world what an extraordinary talent we have in this kid. He is a fantastically talented actor and was the right choice for the role,’ Bhatkal told here.
Mumbai, January 29: Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray has attacked industrialist Mukesh Ambani over his recent statement that Mumbai belongs to all Indians.
“Marathi people have as much right over Mumbai as Mukesh Ambani has over Reliance companies,” Thackeray said in an article published in Sena mouthpiece ‘Saamana.’
“Mumbai is Maharashtra’s capital and will remain its capital. Don’t meddle in the path of Mumbai and Marathi manoos,” he said.
London, January 29: Senior Iranian opposition figure Mehdi Karoubi predicted in an interview published on Thursday that President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad would be ousted before the end of his four-year term.
Karoubi said the weakening economy and popular opposition would lead moderate forces to remove Ahmadinejad before he completes his second term in office.
Ranchi, January 29: Jharkhand Government has told the High Court that a CBI probe into corruption charges against former Chief Minister Madhu Koda was not needed as investigations by Vigilance Bureau were satisfactory.
Filing an affidavit through a government official before the bench headed by Chief Justice Gyan Sudha Mishra yesterday, the state government said the vigilance probe was progressing satisfactorily.
Gaza, January 29: The Palestinian Energy and Natural Resources authority announced Wednesday that it would be forced to shut down the last remaining power station in Gaza on Thursday if fuel wasn’t delivered to the Strip.
The announcement follows a period of several months’ electricity interruptions during daylight hours. A severe shortage of cooking gas and other types of fuel also added to the situation that many residents and humanitarian workers are calling a “power crisis.”
Ramallah, January 29: Israeli forces on Thursday arrested 10 Palestinians including the leader of the Palestinian Peaceful Protest Against the Separation Wall.
Palestinian security sources said that the 10 were arrested in the Jordan Valley and the villages of Bil’in and Ni’lin.
Ratib Abu Rahmeh, member of the Bil’in Popular Committee Against the Wall, told Arab News that the Israeli forces arrested Mohammad Abdulkarim Al-Khatib from his home in Bil’in.
Kuala Lumpur, January 29: Malaysian government prosecutors have charged three men with allegedly attacking a church with a firebomb.
They are the first suspects to be taken to court in connection to a string of assaults on places of worship amid a dispute over whether non-Muslims can use the word “Allah” to refer to God.
Government lawyer Anselm Charles Fernandis says the three suspects pleaded innocent in a Kuala Lumpur district court on Friday to starting a fire that partially gutted a Protestant church on January 8.
New Delhi, January 29: Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman K. Rahman Khan Wednesday said India can learn from the innumerable success stories of Islamic banking and this would be discussed at the Indo-Arab economic conference to be held here Feb 3-4.
The conference is being jointly organised by the Indo-Arab Economic Co-operation Forum and the Institute of Objective Studies.
Mumbai, January 29: Fardeen Khan continues weight training despite ankle pain because he’s eager to lose the flab.
Fardeen Khan had a little accident while working out yesterday. It left him with a sprained ankle. The actor has been working out with his Australian trainer John Reynolds for a week now to build awesome abs. Says a source, “Fardeen has been working out religiously and rigorously .
He’s very keen to lose the extra weight and get a lean, mean physique. He is also on a controlled diet.”
Panchkula (Haryana), January 29: It was a proud moment for 209 new constables Friday as they became the first batch of women to be inducted into the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) at an impressive passing out parade at the ITBP training centre at Bhanu near here.
Home Minister P. Chidambaram flew in to take the salute from the new troopers at the passing out parade.
Melbourne, January 29: Australia, the home of cricket legend Don Bradman, singing sensation Kylie Minougue, is also the land of world’s top sinners, a new study has claimed.
Envy is the biggest weakness of people down under in a study of the seven sins – lust, gluttony, greed, sloth, wrath, envy and pride.
A team of British researchers number-crunched the global differences in the deadly sins and found, when you add up the wrongdoings, Australia is at the top.
Washington, January 29: The US strongly condemned Iran’s execution of two dissidents Thursday, saying the murderous act was a “low point” in the Islamic state’s repression of political speech.
“The US strongly condemns these unjust executions,” White House deputy spokesman Bill Burton said. “We see it as a low point in the Islamic Republic’s unjust and ruthless crackdown of peaceful dissent.”
Hyderabad, January 29: The all-party Joint Action Committee (JAC) of Telangana has decided to wait till Feb 7 for the central government to constitute the committee with a time-bound programme for carving a separate Telangana state out of Andhra Pradesh.
In a meeting Thursday night, the JAC also extended by 10 days the deadline for all legislators to quit over the demand for the formation of the separate state.
Mumbai, January 29: First it was Shahrukh Khan and now Amitabh Bachchan has become the latest Bollywood stars to come in support of Pakistani players for the Indian Premier League.
Bachchan who was a Guest Editor at CNN-IBN to promote his latest movie Rann said “At some stages, it does look disappointing. For many people who admire cricket and since, there are so many good players in Pakistan, this should not have happened,”
Toronto, January 29: Magnesium plays an important part in improving memory, says new international research.
The research by Canadian, Chinese, American and Israeli universities shows that an increase in magnesium levels in brain can boost learning and memory.
After their study on old and young rats which were administered higher levels of brain magnesium, the researchers said they have come to the conclusion that increasing magnesium intake can play be vital for those complaining of fading memory.