Ghaziabad, January 01: A branch of a nationalised bank in Hapur town of Ghaziabad district was burnt down in a major fire, police said Friday.
The blaze in the branch of Vijaya Bank on the National Highway-24 under Hapur Kotwali police station was noticed by morning walkers, who informed the police.
Although the fire brigade were promptly dispatched to the scene, the entire building had already been gutted by the time they arrived.
Dhaka, January 01: Ahead of Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s visit to India, opposition leader Khaleda Zia Friday warned of “a tough movement” against “any deal with India against the interest of the people”.
Zia also alleged that the country was “being governed from somewhere else”.
“We don’t know who is now running this country. What I know is the government is not governing the country. The country is being governed from somewhere else,” Khaleda Zia told a rally of Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal, the student wing of her Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP).
Noida, January 01: Bollywood producer Vidhu Vinod Chopra lost his cool at a press conference here Friday and asked a reporter to shut up after being questioned whether his hit “3 Idiots” was lifted from author Chetan Bhagat’s book “Five Point Someone”.
Asked whether the film, which has grossed over Rs.100 crore in the first four days, was 70 percent taken from the book as claimed by Bhagat, Chopra queried whether the journalist had seen the movie and read the book.
The scribe said that while he had seen “3 Idiots”, he had not read “Five Point Someone”.
Hyderabad, January 01: Senior leaders of the Congress party from Telangana region Friday warned Chief Minister K. Rosaiah that they would not keep quiet if any action was taken against state minister K. Venkat Reddy, who has accused the chief minister of opposing the Telangana demand.
Rosaiah has already complained to the party’s central leadership against Venkat Reddy, the information technology minister, for alleging that he was acting in a partisan manner on the Telangana issue.
Former minister and legislator R. Damodar Reddy defended Venkat Reddy.
Mumbai, January 01:The Maharashtra government Friday served show cause notices to eight officers of the Indian Police Service (IPS) over missing files pertaining to the purchase of 110 bullet-proof jackets by the Mumbai police in 2002.
State Home Minister R.R. Patil told reporters that the officers have been asked to give their replies within a month to Director General of Police A.N. Roy.
Additional Chief Secretary (Home) Chandra Iyengar told IANS that the details of the issue were not available with her.
Sydney, January 01: Pakistan leg-spinner Danish Kaneria is eager to put his team’s campaign back on track in the second Test against Australia beginning Sunday.
Kaneria has vowed to revitalise his team after recovering from a finger injury which robbed him of a place in the first Test that Pakistan lost by 170 runs.
While former captain Younus Khan is now highly unlikely to be rushed from Pakistan in time to play in the second Test, because of continuing confusion within the Pakistan Cricket Board, Kaneria has declared himself a certain starter.
London, January 01: England all-rounder Stuart Broad has denied Sunil Gavaskar’s claim that he gets preferential treatment because his father is an International Cricket Council match referee.
In the first Test, at Centurion last month, Broad confronted the umpires when he was given out after a delayed decision by the South Africa players to call for the new review system. Broad however escaped punishment.
Washington, January 01: Earlier bedtimes may help protect adolescents against depression and suicidal thoughts, says a new study.
Published in the Jan. 1 issue of the journal Sleep, the research found that adolescents with bedtimes that were set earlier by parents were significantly less likely to suffer fromdepression and to think about committing suicide, suggesting that earlier bedtimes could have a protective effect by lengthening sleep duration and increasing the likelihood of getting enough sleep.
Melbourne, January 01: If you’re glued to Twitter and Facebook you may soon find a job, suggest media experts.
According to consultant Laurel Papworth there were nearly 350 million Facebook users across the world, which made the social networking site the best way to find a job.
If someone wanted a job with a particular company they could make an ad on Facebook targeting that company and offer their services to the corporate network.
“It’s easy, cheap and accessible,” the Couriermail quoted Papworth, as saying.
London, January 01: The controversy surrounding 3 Idiots has taken a new turn with Chetan Bhagat, the author of Five Point Someone, accusing the filmmakers and actor Aamir Khan of not giving him due credit.
Bhagat said that 70 per cent of the film 3 Idiots is based on his novel Five Point Someone, contradicting Aamir’s claim that he was trying to take away the credit from the film’s scriptwriter, Abhijat Joshi.
New Delhi, January 01: Its that time of the year again when the holiday season hits one and all. But more than others, it is the political class that needs ‘a break’; having worked hard to first create problems — and then to resolve them.
While Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh will be in Delhi to welcome the New Year, Congress President Sonia Gandhi appears to have opted to leave the cold of Delhi this year around.
London, January 01: The pesky buzz of mosquitoes may just bug you, but the much-maligned insects “sing” in perfect harmony only to identify their sex partner, says a new study.
Researchers, led by University of Greenwich at Medway, have got the new insight into the sex lives of the mosquitoes — those tones are produced and varied based on frequency of their wing beats in flight, the ‘Current Biology’ reported.
“Everyone must be familiar with the maddening whine a mosquito makes as it hones in for a bite.
Hyderabad, January 01: Maintaining that AICC President and UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi had never ”conceded Telangana”, senior Congress leader and Andhra Pradesh Endowments Minister Gade Venkata Reddy today favoured constitution of Second States Reorganisation Commission (SRC) to address the concerns of various stakeholders.
Addressing a press conference here, he said in the alternative, Experts Committee comprising eminent jurists should be constituted to look into all issues relating to Telangana with suspicion and mistrust running high in the state in different regions.
New Delhi, January 01: The Buses wound not allow in the heart of Delhi-Connaught Place, as the beautification has been begun ahead of the Commonwealth Games, and they have diverted from Friday.
New Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC) is constructing new subways in the Outer Circle, a service corridor in the Middle Circle, and is renovating the buildings and making other improvements.
In view of the construction work, all buses, except those to New Delhi railway station, will be kept away from Connaught Place.
Panchkula, January 01: SPS Rathore, who molested 14-year-old Ruchika Girhotra in 1990, was on Friday granted anticipatory bail by the sessions court in Panchkula .
Ruchika had committed suicide a few years after the incident, following the arrest of her brother on false charges and continuous harassment by the police.
Rathore is facing arrest after Ruchika’s father Subhash Chander Girhotra and her brother Ashu filed new FIRs against him, regarding alleged tampering of the post-mortem report by the police and harassment of Ashu, including an attempt to murder him.
Kolkata, January 01: An upset Aamir Khan has spoken out against author Chetan Bhagat, on whose novel the star’s latest blockbuster 3 Idiots is based, accusing him of trying to take away the credit from the film’s scriptwriter.
“He is trying to take away the credit from the film’s writer Abhijat Joshi, which I am very upset about. It is an attempt on his part to try and take the credit away from the person who has actually worked on the script. It’s very unfortunate. There should not be any confusion to anyone that Abhijat is our film’s writer,” Khan told reporters here last night.
New York, January 01: Scientists in the U.S. have developed a rapid and automated swine flu testing method that will enable quick and effective diagnosis decisions.
Researchers from the Wisconsin Medical College and Children’s Hospital have developed a rapid and automated system to differentiate strains of influenza, Journal of Molecular Diagnostics reported.
Zurich, January 01: Roger Federer is ready to skip Switzerland’s Davis Cup first round in Spain in March due to the difficulty of playing on clay during the midst of the spring hardcourt season, news reports said Friday.
The world number one’s absence might well be followed by that of Spain’s Rafael Nadal, who would face the same surface-related problems at the March 5-7 event. The location of the event has yet to be determined.
Federer told Swiss media heading into new year that he would not make himself available, marking the sixth time that he has missed a first round.
Jalandhar, January 01: Star off-spinner Harbhajan Singh came down strongly over the Motera pitch in Ahmedabad which hosted the first Test and termed it as unsuitable for international and Test cricket matches as well.
“The Ahmedabad pitch (which hosted the first India-Sri Lanka Test in November) was purely a batting pitch and bowlers — be it me, Amit Mishra or Muttiah Murlitharan — all were butchered by the batsmen, which was not at all justice to the bowlers,” Harbhajan said in an interview.
New Delhi, January 01: Gold prices fell by Rs 125 to Rs 16,815 per 10 gram in the bullion market here today on fresh selling by traders driven by weakening global trend.
Silver rates declined by Rs 100 to Rs 27,100 per kg.
Marketmen said fresh selling by stockists at existing higher levels amid weakening global trend mainly pulled down both gold and silver prices.
Gold in the US fell back from USD 1,106 an ounce to USD 1,096 an ounce.
Kolkata, January 01: After playing a 20-year-old student in ‘3 Idiots’, Bollywood superstar Aamir Khan will be seen in the role of a painter in wife Kiran Rao’s directorial debut ‘Dhobighat’.
The film, which also stars Smita Patil’s son Prateik Babbar, will be Aamir first project in 2010. The film will be released in the second half of this year.
“Dhobighat’s shooting is complete. Post-production is going on. We will release it in the last half of 2010,” Aamir said.
New Delhi, January 01: As many as 189 people were booked for driving under the influence of alcohol in the national capital on New Year’s Eve, police said today.
Delhi Police prosecuted 189 people for drunken driving Thursday night as a part of their drive to check violation of traffic rules.
“Several police teams – static and mobile – kept a tight vigil in the capital to check people driving under the influence of alcohol,” Delhi Police spokesperson Rajan Bhagat said.
Two magistrates were stationed at Parliament Street police station to fine the offenders.
Karachi, January 01: Having recovered from a finger injury, leg-spinner Danish Kaneria is taking heart from his happy memories attached to the Sydney ground where he is all set for a come back to the Pakistan team for the second Test against Australia commencing from Sunday.
Kaneria put up fine performance and claimed 15 wickets, including eight in Sydney, during Pakistan”s last tour Down Under five years ago when the hosts clinched the series 3-0.
Karachi, January 01: To bring improvement in the fielding front, the Pakistan Cricket Board has decided to appoint a specialist coach on permanent basis for the national team after the tour of Australia.
PCB chairman Ejaz Butt said today that a decision had been taken to have a permanent fielding coach and the choice could be between a local and foreign candidate.
“Our fielding standards have been reasonably fair in recent times. But there is room for improvement and that is why we have decided to have a permanent coach.
Zurich, January 01: Roger Federer is ready to skip Switzerland’s Davis Cup first round in Spain in March due to the difficulty of playing on clay during the midst of the spring hardcourt season, news reports said Friday.
The world number one’s absence might well be followed by that of Spain’s Rafael Nadal, who would face the same surface-related problems at the March 5-7 event. The location of the event has yet to be determined.
Federer told Swiss media heading into new year that he would not make himself available, marking the sixth time that he has missed a first round.