Month: January 2010

Ragging incident: Maharashtra govt to ask for 3 Idiots script

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Mumbai: Amidst reports that the nature of the ragging incident in a medical college here was similar to a scene in Aamir Khan-starrer 3 Idiots, Maharashtra government today said it would go through its script.

“We will ask the movie’s producer to submit its script, as there are media reports that the Seth Medical college ragging incident nature was similar to the one shown in 3 Idiots,” state medical education minister Vijaykumar Gavit told reporters here.

Ashamed of failure, 12-yr-old in Mumbai hangs himself

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Mumbai, January 05: The youth are under pressure to perform. Be it academically, socially or otherwise, but stress — a byproduct of popular culture and expectations — is killing them. Literally.

A day after an 18-year-old physiotherapy student committed suicide after failing in three of six subjects in her second semester examinations, 12-year-old Sushant Patil — a seventh standard student of Shardashram School (Marathi medium) at Dadar — also chose to forget failure by ending his life.

‘Chance Pe Dance’ not biopic on Shahid Kapoor: Ken Ghosh

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Mumbai, January 05: “Chance Pe Dance” is not a biopic on Shahid Kapoor, clarifies director Ken Ghosh even though it does reflect the actor’s real life struggle.

“When the idea to make the film came, Shahid’s real life struggle was at the back of the mind. He is one of the very few actors who actually struggled to make it where he is. He didn’t have any godfather to launch him,” said Ghosh, who gave Shahid his first break with his directorial venture “Ishq Vishk” (2003).

‘Rann’ is a men’s film: Ram Gopal Varma

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Mumbai, January 05: Director Ram Gopal Varma describes his forthcoming movie as a “men’s film” and says it was natural for Amitabh Bachchan to spearhead the show in the promos of the movie.

“Isn’t that obvious? With the kind of personality and the stardom that he enjoys, it is but natural that Amitabh Bachchan would be spearheading the entire film,” Varma told IANS.

Iraq has filed case against Blackwater: PM Maliki

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Najaf, January 05: Iraq has filed a lawsuit against private security firm Blackwater in a US court and will file another in Iraq, Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said on Monday, amid fury over an American court dropping charges against five Blackwater guards.

“The US justice department has protested against this decision,” Maliki said, referring to the ruling last week to dismiss criminal charges against the guards, who were accused of killing 14 Iraqi civilians in an unprovoked attack in September 2007.

Afghan attacks kill 4 US troops, British soldier

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Kabul, January 05: A roadside bombing killed four US service members, the first American combat deaths of the year in Afghanistan, while a British soldier died during a foot patrol elsewhere in the volatile south of the country, officials said Monday.

A statement from NATO’s International Security Assistance Force said the explosion that killed the US service members took place Sunday in the south, but did not give further details on the location or the victims’ branch of service.

16 labourers killed in Maharashtra tempo tragedy

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Mumbai, January 05: In a gruesome tragedy, 16 people, mainly farm labourers from Karnataka, were killed and another 28 injured when the tempo in which they were travelling overturned near Sholapur early Tuesday, police said.

The incident occurred on the Solapur-Akkalkot highway around 1.30 a.m. when the driver of the tempo suddenly lost control and the vehicle overturned, an official of the Sholapur police control room said.

As the vehicle overturned, many of the victims got trapped under bags of grain and their luggage which prevented them from escaping and caused their death.

B’desh to ban religion-based political parties: Minister

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Dhaka, January 05: The government will ban all religion-based political parties in Bangladesh, a decision that will force Islamic parties here to drop Islam from their name following a court ruling, the law minister said on Monday.

The top court upheld a 2005 ruling by the High Court throwing out the fifth amendment of the constitution, which had allowed religion-based politics to thrive in the last three decades.

Student shoots girl, kills himself in Bhopal

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Bhopal, January 05: An engineering student fired shots and seriously injured a girl before shooting himself dead, police said Monday.

The shooting occurred at Khajuri Sadak area of the city when the girl, Chhaya, an engineering student too, was returning home from her college after an examination. A youth — an enginering student identified as Vinay Pachori — stopped her and talked to her for some time, police said, citing eyewitnesses.

Sensex closes above 17,500 mark

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Mumbai, January 05: The Sensex provisionally ended up 97.03 points at 17,561.84 with 22 components gaining.

Equities provisionally closed 0.56 per cent higher on Monday, with auto makers leading the gains after posting strong sales in December.

The 30-share BSE index provisionally ended up 97.03 points at 17,561.84 with 22 components gaining.

The 50-share NSE index provisionally closed up 0.7 per cent at 5,235.65.

-Agencies

Israeli Man gets a record 11th divorce

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Jerusalem, January 05: A 50-year-old Israeli man has been granted his 11th divorce and in doing so, he has set a new record of sorts. This is said to be a new Jewish Israeli record. The man said that he likes to get a new wife about every two years.

Telangana gets Naxal twist

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Hyderabad, January 05: Ahead of the all-party meeting on the Telangana issue tomorrow, the security establishment is learnt to have made it known to the political leadership that smaller states have so far only benefited the Maoists and this should be factored in while taking any such step in Andhra Pradesh.

In discussions at the highest level over the past couple of days, top government sources said the assessment from security agencies is that carving out Telengana would help Maoists regroup in the Andhra region.

Instructions issued for state legislative council polls

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New Delhi, January 05: The Election Commission Monday issued instructions to chief electoral officers (CEO) of six states to conduct free and fair biennial elections to state legislative councils.

Considering the “various complaints” it received in the biennial elections, the Election Commission asked the CEOs of Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Jammu & Kashmir, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh to videograph the “poll proceedings.”

An Election Commission official said the commission is “now in process” to fix the date of polls.

Clash of the beauty queens at the box office

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Mumbai, January 05: Four former Miss Indias Sushmita Sen, Priyanka Chopra, Neha Dhupia and Celina Jaitely are ranged against one another in a different contest to top the box office as each of their films hits the screens this month.

While Neha’s “Raat Gayi Baat Gayi” and Celina’s “Accident On Hill Road” hit theatres Friday, Priyanka’s “Pyaar Impossible” and Sushmita Sen’s “Dulha Mil Gaya” are slated for release next Friday.

Aamir Khan is a very powerful man: Chetan

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Mumbai, January 05: Those multitudes who have read Chetan Bhagat’s book novel Five Point Someone would agree there are uncanny resemblances between the novel and Raj Kumar Hirani’s 3 Idiots.

Smoking might cause blindness

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California, January 05: The ophthalmologists at the University of California-Los Angeles have done a study related to smoking and its effects on the eye. They say that after 80 years there is an increased risk of age-related macular degeneration, due to smoking and this can cause damage to the center of the retina, which in turn, even cause blindness.

Sweta doesn’t find Mumbai wild enough

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Mumbai, January 05: Sweta Keswani who is currently seen on Star Plus’s ‘Baa Bahu aur Baby’ had a blast while partying on New Year’s Eve but when everyone loves to flock to Mumbai to do crazy things Sweta thinks differently.

“I think if anyone wants to do wild stuff then they have to go out of Mumbai because Mumbai is the place to party but not to do crazy things. Like I went Bungee Jumping in Goa on Millenium New Year and I also got a certificate that we went 80 feets high at the stroke of millennium night” shares Sweta.

Rathore stripped of police medal

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New Delhi, January 05: It took over 24 years for the Centre and the Haryana Government to de-list the tainted former director- general of police S P S Rathore from ”the roll of honour.”

A committee of the Union Home Ministry on Monday decided to take back Rathore’s police medal, awarded to him for meritorious service in August, 1985. The issue was taken up by the medals committee of the Home Ministry headed by Home Secretary G K Pillai. The recommendation to take back the former IPS officer’s medal has been sent to President Pratibha Patil.

Sai Baba temple gets Rs 10 crore in 9 days

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Kopargaon, January 05: The Saibaba temple at Shirdi has received nearly Rs 10 crore as “dakshina” in the last nine days of 2009, temple sources said.

“The Shri Sai Baba Sansthan’s ‘dakshina pethi’ (donation box) received a donation of Rs 9.9 crore from December 23-December 31. The box was opened yesterday (Sunday),” they said.

Rs.400,000 stolen from a car in Noida

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Noida, January 05: A bag containing Rs.400,000 was stolen from the car of a businessman in Noida Monday afternoon, police said.

According to police, Amit Kansal of Ghaziabad had gone to The Nainital Bank in Sector-2 to deposit a cheque. His driver had parked his car some distance away from the bank premises and he had walked on foot towards the bank.

Universe may be seen in a new light by 2012

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Thiruvananthapuram, January 05: In another three years, the world will see the Universe’s splendour and its inherent majestic patterns from a completely new window when the Planck microwave observatory comes out with its results.

“It will be a complete surprise. I dare not to even imagine,” Nobel laureate physicist James C Mather who first saw those grand designs two decades back, told Deccan Herald on the sidelines of the 97th Indian Science Congress here.

World’s tallest building, renamed as Burj Khalifa

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Dubai, January 05: The world’s tallest building is an amazing 828 meters tall and it was inaugurated today by His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai.

He also named it as Burj Khalifa Bin Zayed. When he unveiled the nameplate, Shaikh Mohammad said: “We built the high rise for people with strong will and determination. The highest point in the world should be linked to the big names and I announce today [Monday] the opening of Burj Khalifa Bin Zayed.”

Clinton greets UAE on opening of Burj Dubai

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Dubai, January 05: US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton Monday sent a special message of felicitation to Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, vice-president of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), on the occasion of unveiling of Burj Dubai, the world’s tallest building, WAM news agency reported.

“Your efforts to create international cooperation in our global economy are an important endeavor. I applaud your commitment to sustainable development,” Clinton said.

UAE vice-president opens world’s tallest building

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Dubai, January 05: United Arab Emirates (UAE) Vice-President Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum inaugurated the world’s tallest building Burj Dubai here Monday, WAM news agency reported.

Sheikh Mohammed unveiled the commemorative plaque at the site announcing the official opening of the world’s tallest building.

The gleaming glass and steel tower of more than 160 floors extends more than 800 metres into the sky, making it some 300 metres taller than Taipei 101, currently listed as the world’s tallest inhabited structure.

Landslide kills 10 in Pakistan

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Islamabad, January 05: At least 10 people were killed when a massive landslide hit a remote village in Pakistan’s mountainous northern areas Monday, media reports said.

The incident occurred at Attabad in Hunza, a picturesque valley in the country’s Gilgit-Baltistan region, 720 km north of the capital, Islamabad.

Local Geo TV quoting hospital officials said that so far 10 bodies had been transported to their emergency and casualty department.

The landslide also destroyed 26 houses, and injured a number of people.