Hyderabad, February 03: An empty stadium greeted the players on the first day of the five-day Duleep Trophy final at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium on Tuesday. It was perhaps for the first time in the Indian cricket history that a first class match was played without spectators.
New Delhi, February 03: The Congress hit back at Bal Thackeray for his vicious attack on its general secretary Rahul Gandhi Wednesday, with one leader labelling the Shiv Sena chief a “paper tiger” and another saying that people should retire from public life after a certain age.
Senior Congress leader Digvijay Singh said in the Uttar Pradesh town of Varanasi that Thackeray was a “paper tiger” and his comments were aimed at only hogging the limelight in the media.
Karachi, February 03: Shahid Afridi is not the only one who thinks that all teams tamper with the ball.
Pakistan’s World Cup winning former captain Imran Khan and another ex-skipper Rameez Raja feel the same.
Afridi, who has been banned for two Twenty20 matches for tampering with the ball in a one-dayer against Australia in Perth, has claimed that all teams try such tactics to exploit the conditions to their advantage.
Backing Afridi’s claim, Imran said only the sub-continental teams are punished for the offence.
New Delhi, February 03: The Kirit Parikh Committee, set up by the government to draft a fuel pricing policy, on Wednesday made a slew of recommendations including sharp rise in the cooking gas and kerosene prices, besides freeing retail pricing from the government regulations.
In a joint press conference with Petroleum Minister Murli Deora, Parikh said the country’s subsidy-driven fuel pricing policy has to be drastically overhauled to help the petroleum industry stay competent in an uncertain market environment.
Mumbai, February 03: After Shahid Kapoor and Kareena Kapoor MMS scandal, another scandal featuring Bollywood Actress Katrina Kaif’s sister hit the internet.
The nude MMS has been hot searched item in UK and India these days.
Katrina Kaif’s sister Isabel Kaif’s look alike MMS has raised finger on her aspiring Bollywood career.
In the hot MMS video clip leaked on You Tube, shows that an Indian girl is having sex with a stranger. The 10 min long MMS clip girl is similar to Katrina Kaif’s sister Isabel Kaif.
New Delhi, February 03: A city court Wednesday sentenced two men, a Nepali included, to rigorous life imprisonment for killing a retired lieutenant general and his wife while committing robbery at their house in 2004.
Additional Sessions Judge Poonam A. Bamba also fined Rs.15,000 each on Bharat Bhandari, a Nepalese national who worked at the victims’ house, and his Indian accomplice Pradeep Dutta.
The judge rejected the prosecution’s plea for death penalty.
New Delhi, February 03: A government-constituted panel Wednesday suggested deregulation of prices of auto fuel, and hike in kerosene and cooking gas prices, noting that there was no clear direct relation between price rise of fuels and inflation.
The committee headed by economist Kirit Parikh suggested that for petrol and diesel, the price increase could be of Rs.3-4 per litre, kerosene Rs.6 per litre, and cooking gas Rs.100 per cylinder.
Bhopal, February 03: Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar Wednesday inaugurated an exhibition tracing the growth of Indian democracy from the ancient times till today through photographs, write-ups, charts, press clippings and audio-visual aides.
Titled “Democracy in India – from past to present”, the exhibition is spread over 13 sectors, traces the growth and development of democratic traditions in the country, beginning from ancient times to the modern parliamentary institutions.
New Delhi, February 03: The Delhi High Court Wednesday asked parents having problems with the ongoing nursery admissions in the capital to approach the grievance cell of the Directorate of Education.
Justice G.S. Sistani suggested that the parents approach the grievances
cell of the education department first regarding their complaints. The court posted the matter for hearing Feb 8.
New Delhi/Mumbai/Lucknow,February 03: Political discourse hit a new low Wednesday with Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray launching a vicious personal attack on Rahul Gandhi and saying the Congress MP was a “victim of the disease” that sets in when a person doesn’t get married “despite advancing age”.
While the Congress hit back saying the 84-year-old Bal Thackeray was a “paper tiger” and had probably turned senile, his son Uddhav Thackeray also called a press conference in Mumbai to say that Rahul Gandhi must “keep off Maharashtra”.
Bhubaneswar, February 03: The police arrested a hardcore Maoist in Orissa’s Rayagada district and seized five landmines and five guns besides a large quantity of explosives from his possession.
The ultra, who was identified as Purna alias Ramesh Mambalika, an explosive expert and a master in making landmines, was nabbed from his native village at Tubuni in the Gudari police stattion area last night on a tip-off, Rayagada SP Anup Kumar said.
Ammunition, including gelatines and 15 kilograms of splinters used in the making of landmines, were seized, the SP said.
Chandigarh, February 03: Nearly 2.75 crore saplings will be provided to people to plant by Haryana’s forest department till March 31 under its drive to make the state green and pollution-free.
‘2.75 crore saplings of shisham, kikar, eucalyptus, neem, pipal and amla species will be provided to people free of cost up to March 31,’ a forest department spokesman said here.
He said saplings of cloned eucalyptus and poplar trees will be provided at highly subsidised rates.
Islamabad, February 03: Three US soldiers were among the eight people killed in a roadside bomb blast Wednesday in Pakistan’s restive North West Frontier Province, the army said.
Up to 60 people, most of them school children, were injured in the blast which occurred near a school at Koto area in Balambat tehsil of Lower Dir district in NWFP, officials said.
The deceased Americans were military trainers for the Pakistani Frontier Corps. A Pakistani soldier and four school girls were also killed in the attack, Xinhua reported.
Colombo, February 03: Sri Lanka’s supreme court yesterday ruled President Mahinda Rajapaksa can begin his new term in November, giving him an extra year in power after he called polls two years before his first term was to expire.
Mr Rajapaksa won a new six-year term in a landslide victory last week, correctly gambling that his popularity after leading Sri Lanka to victory in a 25-year war with the Tamil Tiger separatists in May would carry him.
Islamabad, February 03: A bomb killed four foreign aid workers and three Pakistani children at the inauguration of a girl’s school in northwest Pakistan today, security officials said.
In scenes that have become familiar in the battle between Taliban militants and the state, a young girl trapped below the stones of a collapsed wall cried out for help as people tried to rescue her.
Police said 45 people were wounded in the explosion near Swat Valley, an area that the military had largely cleared of militants in an offensive nearly a year ago.
London, February 03: When the UK took the step of allowing gay men and women to serve openly in the armed forces 10 years ago, public opinion was in favour but the armed forces themselves were not.
An NOP poll in September 1999 found seven out of 10 Britons believed lesbians and gay men should be allowed to serve in the military.
At the same time General Sir Anthony Farrar-Hockley, a leading opponent of the change, told the BBC: “Two surveys have disclosed that the overwhelming majority of those in military service today find homosexuality abhorrent.”
Washington, February 03: They have become a must-have for excited parents-to-be, with their amazingly detailed depiction of unborn babies in three-dimensional realism.
But souvenir ultrasound scans offering parents keepsake pictures of their child in the womb could pose neurological risks, experts warned yesterday.
While ultrasound scans to check the child’s health were deemed justifiable, the Health Protection Agency (HPA) expressed concern over the rise of so-called “souvenir scanning”, when parents conduct ultrasound scans purely for the purpose of photographic mementos.
Muzaffarnagar, February 03: Three officials have been suspended on grounds of preparing an incorrect voter photo identity card of a woman here.
District Magistrate-cum-District Election Officer Amrit Abhijaat today said three officials — Brijpal, Tirathpal and Satish — have been suspended following a complaint by Baby of Budhana town.
According to Baby, her voter photo identity card showed one person Kamalnath as her husband much before she got married to Vikas.
Mumbai, February 03: Unlike many star kids who hit the box-office jackpot with their very first film, Saif Ali Khan was handed with a different fate. Though he easily got the big ticket to Bollywood by being Sharmila Tagore’s son but success did not follow and soon he was relegated to second lead of movies throughout the 90’s.
London, February 03: After senior Indian batsman Sachin Tendulkar turned down its offer, English county club Middlesex is now trying to sign his explosive teammate Yuvraj Singh for the domestic Twenty20 Cup later this year.
“We have been in talks with Yuvraj about the possibility of him playing Twenty20 cricket this summer,” Angus Fraser, Middlesex’s director of cricket, told ‘Cricinfo’.
“The contract is not in place at this moment in time, but we’re in communication, and it seems to be going quite positively,” he added.
Mumbai, February 03: For everyone who liked seeing Kareena Kapoor and Shahid Kapoor together, here’s some good news.
Their delayed film, Milenge Milenge, which is inspired by Hollywood’s popular film, Serendipity, is set for a March/April release. And that’s not all.
Producer Boney Kapoor and Satish Kaushik have planned to get the couple to shoot for a promotional music video together.
Mumbai, February 03: Abhinay Deo’s ‘Crooked’, which has been in trouble for various reasons, has finally steered clear of its problems; at least for now.
First Aishwarya Rai Bachchan dropped out of the project and Soniya Jehan was ushered in to replace her. Now, Kangana Ranaut will be playing the UK-based undercover cop in ‘Crooked’. However, there is just a week’s time left and that is how long Kangana has to pick up a British accent and learn the moves required to play an athletic cop onscreen.
Mumbai, February 03: Just two episodes after his debut TV show “National Bingo Night”, Abhishek Bachchan has taken a fancy to anchoring and says it is more enjoyable than acting.
Slamming reports that the show is “boring”, he says he is looking forward to a second season.
“If the rating is so high, it means something about the show is working. It can’t just be my face. If it was just my face then other artists who have been on shows earlier would have got the same rating, ” Abhishek told in an interview here.
Mumbai, February 03: Ameesha Patel has split with her NRI boyfriend Kanav Puri. The couple split after dating for three years over differences that have arisen between them. Kanav wanted to marry Ameesha while she wants to try her hand at acting one last time, which has led to their split.
According to sources, Kanav and Ameesha’s relationship has been troubled for about 8 months now.
Kanav proposed marriage to her in June when he came to India for her birthday. She has been unsure of what to do since then and didn’t give him a proper answer. Kanav grew tired of waiting.
Riyadh, February 03: A 12-year-old Saudi girl unexpectedly gave up her petition for divorce from an 80-year-old man her father forced her to marry in exchange for a dowry, Saudi media reported Tuesday.
Despite support from human rights lawyers and child welfare advocates, the girl and her mother, who originally sought the divorce, withdrew the case Monday in a court in Buraidah, in Al-Qasim province, newspapers said.
The girl told the court that her marriage to the man was done with her agreement, according to Okaz newspaper.