Sanaa, January 03: The United States, with the full support of the Yemeni government, led the recent ground and air strikes on suspected Al-Qaeda positions killing more than 60 militants, a television report says.
According to CBS television report broadcast on Saturday, the recent attacks on Al-Qaeda positions in Yemen, including cruise missile strikes, were led by the United States.
Tehran, January 03: Iran’s law enforcement forces have lost four more soldiers in a confrontation with drug traffickers in a desert area of eastern Iran, which lies on a major drug smuggling route from neighboring Afghanistan to Europe.
“In clashes between police and an illicit drug convoy headed from south to north, seven policemen were killed and four others were injured, who died later of their severe injuries,” Colonel Seyyed Kazem Hashemabadi was quoted as saying by the IRNA news agency on Saturday.
Washington, January 03: An already difficult situation for Democrats in Congress is worsening as the 2010 political season opens.To minimize expected losses in next fall’s election, President Barack Obama’s party is testing a line of attack that resurrects George W. Bush as a boogeyman and castigates Republicans as cozy with Wall Street.
Four House Democrats from swing districts have recently chosen not to seek re-election, bringing to 11 the number of retirements that could leave Democratic-held seats vulnerable to Republicans. More Democratic retirements are expected.
Tehran, January 03: Iran is producing a documentary television series about the life of the Founder of the Islamic Revolution, the late Imam Khomeini.
The TV series “116 days in Neauphle-le-Château” focuses on Imam Khomeini’s exile and the impact of the Imam’s conduct on the people of Neauphle-le-Château during his brief residence in the pristine village on the outskirts of Paris.
A total of 345 actors and actresses will appear in the eleven-episode series, with 25 of them in the main cast.
New Delhi, January 03: Fire-walking is drawing thousands of stressed corporate employees, students and householders as a way to beat meltdown and lifestyle blues. The latest urban stress reliever involves walking barefoot over a bed of hot embers or stones and is used as a modern motivational tool.
Usually, a combination of pine, ash and coal is burnt and crushed to a smooth red hot path of embers. The lane is 15-20 feet long and 2-3 feet wide. The temperature initially soars to over 650 degrees Celsius but is then brought down to 425 degrees before anyone is allowed to walk on it.
Mumbai, January 03: Despite working with Aamir in his latest release ‘3 Idiots’, but he don’t reckon the actor as perfectionist. He admitted that the perfectionist tag posted unnecessarily on him. What he thinks that a perfectionist, is almost irritating and in reverse character what Aamir has.
He asserts that Aamir is a fervent actor who likes to get his scenes correct.
–Agencies
Thiruvananthapuram, January 03: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has arrived in the state capital of Kerala to inaugurate the 97th edition of the Indian Science Congress by a special flight.
He was accompanied by his wife Gurusharan Kaur, Union Minister A K Antony and Principal Secretary T K A Nair. He received by the Kerala Chief Minister V S Achuthandan, Governor R S Gavai and Union Minister Vayalar Ravi, state Education Minister M A Baby and top officials at the airport.
Mumbai, January 03: Five Mumbai Police personnel, including an ACP and a DCP, were suspended on Sunday for allegedly attending a Christmas eve party thrown by a mafia don.
Mumbai Police Commissioner D Sivanandan had on Saturday recommended the five policemen’s suspension and Maharashtra Home Minister RR Patil cleared the suspension this morning after holding talks with Chief Minister Ashok Chavan.
The development came after television channels aired footage of the party showing the policemen partying with the don.
Hyderabad, Janaury 03: Blaming Union Home Minister Chidambaram for dividing Andhra, the opposition Telugu Desam Party (TDP) has criticised the minister that he is hatching a “conspiracy” to divide Andhra Pradesh into two States.
Hyderabad, January 03: Ahead of the all-party meeting scheduled for January 5, leaders from the Telangana region in Andhra Pradesh are preparing to take their campaign to the next level, while those supporting a unified state are girding up their loins to relaunch their agitation.
Vijayawada, Janaury 03: The opposition Telugu Desam Party(TDP) in Andhra Pradesh has criticised the Union Home Minister P Chidambaram for allegedly hatching a “conspiracy” to divide Andhra Pradesh into two States.
Noida, Janaury 03: UP Police killed one of the deadliest gangasters near the Phase II area of the Noida city on Saturday evening. The ganagaster named Salim said to be indulged in near about 200 murders in different places. A cash prize of Rs. 50,000 was announced on his head.
Hyderabad, January 03: Union Home Minister P Chidambaram was today criticised by two opposition parties in Andhra Pradesh Telugu Desam and Praja Rajyam which said he was ”adding fuel to fire” over the contentious Telangana issue.
Chidambaram also became the target of attack of BJP, with the party alleging that his statements on the separate statehood demand were only compounding the confusion.
Mumbai, January 03: Thousands of air travellers in India were fuming Saturday with little information forthcoming from the authorities on the status of their flights after dense fog and faults in the landing system at the national capital forced a spate of cancellations and diversions.
Nearly 75 domestic flights were delayed and around 10 cancelled as heavy fog engulfed the runways of the Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi, with the problem compounded by a fault in the instrument landing system.
Hyderabad, January 03: Facing fire from all opposition parties in Andhra Pradesh, as well as a rift in its own party in the State, the Congress is now cracking down on contention, issuing show cause notices to MPs at the helm of opposite camps of the Telangana issue.
Acting tough, Congress high command today issued show cause notices to two Andhra Pradesh MPs – L. Rajagopal and Madhu Goud Yashki – who are at the forefront of anti and pro Telangana campaigns respectively.
Mumbai, January 03: As the entire world is looking forward to the coming New Year, actress Priyanka Chopra looks back on the year 2009 and reminisces.
The actress reveals that it has been a good year in terms of movies and awards for her.
“2009 has been good for me. I won 14 awards this year as the best actress for a film like Fashion. So it has been weighed heavily on me. They say female centric films don’t do well but Fashion proved something else. I give the entire credit to my Fashion director Madhur Bhandarkar”.
Washington, January 03: In the eyes of U.S. movie theater owners, Sandra Bullock shined as 2009’s top Hollywood star at the boxoffice, as the actress scored with audiences after a two-year absence from screens.
Quigley Publishing Co.’s annual list released on Thursday of top money making stars, based on a poll of hundreds of theater executives, had Bullock beat out such stars as George Clooney and Denzel Washington, on the strength of her roles in “The Proposal” and “The Blind Side.”
New Delhi, January 03: Three Pakistani terrorists, who had completed their jail term for triggering blasts near Red Fort in 2000, escaped while being taken to the GB Pant Hospital in the national capital.
The incident took place on Friday while the three – Abdul Razzak, Mohammed Sadiq and Rafaqat Ali – were being escorted to hospital, official sources said here on Saturday.
The Meghalaya Police personnel, who were escorting the three, were being questioned by security agencies, the sources said.
Hyderabad, January 03: There is no respite in Andhra Pradesh from shutdowns and protests over the issue of statehood for Telangana as political parties and student groups have called for another shutdown in coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema Monday.
Tpolitical he parties and student bodies met in Vijayawada Saturday and formed a Joint Action Committee (JAC) to oppose the division of the state.
Kuala Lampur, January 03: A court ruling allowing Christians to use the word “Allah” to refer to God is sparking furor in Malaysia, amid warnings that the move would harm religious harmony in the multi-ethnic country.
“The court decision is not right,” Syed Hassan Syed Ali, secretary general of Malay rights group Pribumi Perkasa, told.
“We are planning to hold a major demonstration to protest this.”
The High Court on Thursday, December 31, overturned a government ban on the use of the word “Allah” by Christians in publications to refer to God.
Lucknow, January 03: Twenty-one years isn’t long enough time to forgive and forget. Salman Rushdie, the India-born novelist whose work about ‘‘migration, metamorphosis, divided selves, love, death, London and Bombay’’ Satanic Verses raised the hackles of Islamic hardliners, has once again run into rough weather.
The latest ‘provocation’ was his hush-hush visit to Taj Mahal last Tuesday. Rushdie, according to reports, roamed about admiring the monument of love, minus any police protection, in company of his son and an unidentified friend.
Copenhagen, January 03: A Somali man linked to al-Qaida tried to break into the house of a Danish artist whose cartoon of the Prophet Muhammad in 2005 triggered riots and outrage across the Muslim world but was apprehended, authorities said.
The 28-year-old intruder, who was armed with an axe and a knife has been charged with two counts of attempted murder.
London, January 03: Sean and Lisa Kelly can barely tear their eyes away from the four babies snuggled up together in the Moses basket beside them.
They describe the girls as their New Year miracles — and it’s easy to see why. For Heidi, Annabelle, Hannah and Jessica have made British medical history.
They are the first set of quads made up of two sets of identical twins born in Britain — the odds of this happening are ten million to one.
Hyderabad, January 03: Telugu Desam Party (TDP) senior leaders G Muddu Krishnama Naidu and S Chandramohan Reddy today demanded from Congress to clarify its stand on Telangana statehood.
The two senior TDP leaders told reporters here today, though the UPA headed by Congress included Telangana in its Common Minimum Programme in 2004, the home minister announced on December 9 the process of Telangana be commenced without consulting the UPA partners.
They said that all the UPA partners including DMK and NCP raised objections on the statement issued by home minister on December 9.
Mumbai, January 03: Wishing good luck to his colleague Shah Rukh Khan for his upcoming movie, noted actor Aamir Khan said he wished that Shah Rukh Khan’s movie achieved more success than his 3 Idiots.
“3 Idiots has done well at the box office, setting a new record. However, I wish that SRK’s My name is Khan does ten times more business than 3 Idiots,” said Aamir, who was here to promote his movie.
3 Idiots has set a new box office record. In just four days after its release on December 25, the film has grossed over an astounding Rs100 crore worldwide.