Mumbai, February 02: Vishal Bhardwaj has done it again. After the success of “Kaminey”, his rustic “Ishqiya” has beaten the Amitabh Bachchan starrer “Rann” at the box office, thanks to its appealing content.
Both movies released Friday and had star-studded red-carpet premieres in the capital Thursday, but “Ishqiya” took the cake with almost 80 percent collections in the opening weekend. “Rann” got only around 30 percent collections.
New Delhi, February 02: Foreign secretary Nirupama Rao left for a four-day visit to Iran on Monday, even as US stepped up efforts to encircle Tehran for curbing its nuclear aspirations.
Ms Rao’s first visit to Iran as foreign secretary coincided with revelations that Washington has deployed warships in the Gulf against possible Iranian missile attacks and had speeded up sales of anti-missile systems to Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Bahrain.
Mumbai,February 02:The Sangh-Sena rift over identity politics in Maharashtra moved a step closer to rupture on Monday after the BJP threw its weight behind the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) on the issue. Amid hardening positions on both sides, BJP president Nitin Gadkari backed the RSS view articulated by its chief, Mohan Bhagwat, even as Sena executive president Uddhav Thackeray launched a broadside against the RSS, asking it to keep off the Mumbai-for-Marathis issue.
MUSIC maestro A.R. Rahman’s dream run continues on the global front. The ‘Mozart of Madras’ scaled a new high on Monday by winning two trophies at the 52nd annual Grammy Awards for his music in last year’s Oscar-winning film, Slumdog Millionaire.
Rahman won the best compilation soundtrack album (for a motion picture, TV or other visual media) for Slumdog Millionaire. His song Jai ho, from the same film, got a trophy in the best song (written for motion picture, TV or other visual media) category.
Lucknow, February 02: An accused in the 2008 serial blasts in the national capital was on Monday arrested by the Anti-Terror Squad of the Uttar Pradesh Police from Azamgarh district, a senior officer said here.
Shahzad alias Pappu, who was an accused in September 13, 2008 serial blasts in Delhi and carried a cash reward of Rs five lakh on his head, was arrested by the ATS from Khalispur village this evening, Additional Director General of Police (law and order) Brij Lal told reporters here.
He alleged Pappu was member of the Indian Mujahideen (IM).
New delhi,February 02 :The Home Minister said the government was on the job of drafting the Terms and Reference of the Committee and would announce it. “Terms and reference can’t be kept in secret. When we will draft it, we will announce and circulate it”, he said.
Last week, Chidambaram had said the Committee to examine the demand for separate Telangana will be announced this week.
Mumbai, February 02: Nooriya Haveliwala, arrested for mowing down two persons when she was allegedly under the influence of alocohol, on Monday claimed she lost control of her car when she sped on seeing another car chase her.
27-year-old Nooriya, a beautician by profession, meanwhile said she would “apologise” for the death of a traffic sub-inspector and a biker in the accident.
“I would of course, I would apologise,” she said from her police vehicle when asked by newsmen whether she would plead guilty for the accident.
Mumbai, February 02: A puppy dog that Salman Khan had acquired last month has now been named Veer, after his new release and the character he plays in it.
The little pup’s naam-karan happened on Monday evening, when pleased with the collections of Veer (it’s doing well in the single theatres) Salman impulsively turned to his family and pointed to the nameless pup saying, “Let’s call him Veer.”
Baghdad, February 02: A group of sixty-five Iraqi women last Wednesday began a basic combat training course to learn fundamental military skills such as basic weapons handling and marching.
These women are just the third group of trainees to participate in the 45-day course, which begins with significant amounts of administrative processing, issuing of uniforms, and other essential equipment – just the same as their male counterparts would experience.
New Delhi, February 02: The Supreme Court on Monday ruled government does not have the powers to seize or attach the properties of criminals who commit offences within the territory of India.
A bench of Justices V S Sirpurkar and S S Nijjar held in a judgement that the forefiture of such ill-gotten property can be done only in cases where the same has been accumulated in crimes having international ramifications.
Such a seizure can be done provided there is a treaty between India and the contracting country, the apex court said.
Bhopal, February 02: The activists of the Shiv Sena Monday burnt posters of Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan in this Madhya Pradesh capital to protest his remarks on exclusion of Pakistani cricket players from the Indian Premier League-3 (IPL-3).
The activists held a demonstration at the busy Roshanpura Square and said his upcoming movie “My Name is Khan” would not be allowed to be screened in Madhya Pradesh.
Kolkata, February 02: Former Indian cricket captain turned Congress MP Mohammad Azharuddin Monday supported reservation of government jobs for the Muslims, saying it was necessary for their welfare.
“Reservation is a must. I have raised this issue in parliament,” Azharuddin told media persons while addressing a rally organised by a minority organisation here.
Azharuddin hoped the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) regime in New Delhi will ensure job reservation for the community.
Jerusalem, February, 02: Israeli President Shimon Peres on Monday urged Israeli youth to roll up their sleeves and begin to join politics.
President Peres gave his remarks at the opening of a special Knesset session, marking 61 years since its establishment. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Knesset Speaker Rueven Rivlin, and opposition leader MK Tzipi Livni participated in the session alongside hundreds of students, teachers, soldiers, and members of youth movements.
Washington, February 02: Problems with a radar system caused a missile defense test to fail, the Missile Defense Agency said Sunday.
At approximately 3:40 p.m., a target missile was successfully launched from the U.S. Army’s Reagan Test Site at Kwajalein Atoll in the Republic of the Marshall Islands in the Pacific Ocean. A Ground-Based Interceptor was also launched successfully from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California around six minutes later.
A Malaysian company launched, the world’s first high-tech machine to help Muslims make their pre-prayer ablution rite without excessively wasting water in line with their faith teachings.
“The (Automatic Wudu’ Washer) AWW will revolutionize the wudu’ in all Islamic countries making wudu’ cleaner, faster and above all saving millions of liters of water,” the company, Inventors AACE Technologies, said on its website.
The ornate, green-colored machine is fully computerized according to its inventors.
It comes with automatic sensors and basins to curb water usage during the rite.
Rafah, February 02: Standing in the long rows, Nazmi Al-Masri was starting to get an idea of how grueling his journey out of his besieged Gaza homeland would be.
All he wished was that he, his wife and children reunite with the rest of their family in Sweden soon.
But problems were haunting him from the first step he took towards the Interior Ministry in Gaza to register his name to leave.
“I found queues of people standing on the windows of the travel gate in the Interior Ministry when I wanted to register to leave,” Al-Masri, 55, told.
Panaji, February 02: The nine-year-old Russian girl and her mother on Monday identified Aman Bharadwaj as the accused who raped the girl at North Goa’s Arambol beach on January 26.
The identification parade was conducted today by state police, two days after the accused was arrested from Chembur in Mumbai.
A senior police officer said the mother-daughter duo identified the accused as the one who raped the girl in the sea.
Police had conducted identification parade of Anil Raghuvanshi, an alleged accomplice in the case, last week.
Washington, February 02: Barack Obama conducted the first interview of a sitting US President on YouTube Monday, answering text and video questions submitted by users and chosen in an online poll.
Obama last held court on the popular video site when he was running for president. Monday’s interview took place amidst a concerted White House effort to incorporate the latest communications technology.
Last month for instance it launched an iPhone app for White House events, and convened a panel of technology leaders to advise on overhauling the government’s use of technology.
Madrid, February 02: Spanish Muslims are opening mosques and Islamic centers across the European country to non-Muslims to build bridges with the mainstream society and clear misconceptions about their faith.
“The Cultural Open Day is the most important window for many mosques and centers to communicate with the mainstream society,” Dr. Alaa Said, chairman of the Islamic Union of Imams and Preachers in Spain (IUIPS), told.
Mosques and Islamic centers hold Open Days to educate the Spanish public about the Muslim culture and traditions.
San Francisco, February 02: Global sales of computer chips fell nine percent during 2009, the Semi Conductor Industry Association said Monday – but not as far as expected.
Annual sales fell from 248.6 billion dollars in 2008 to $226.3 billion in 2009, beating earlier estimates that the global recession would drive sales down to $219.7 billion.
New York, February 02: US stocks climbed by the most in nearly a month Monday, fuelled by upbeat economic news and gains in commodity producers.
Manufacturing sector gains in the US and Europe offered hope that a broad economic rebound was underway. In the US, the Institute for Supply Management said its factory index climbed the most in more than five years.
Washington, February 02: US space agency NASA Monday named five aerospace companies to come up with concepts for transporting humans into orbit under plans announced by the Obama administration to shift responsibility for transportation into space to private firms.
NASA awarded a total of $50 million to the companies to study human spaceflight alternatives after the retirement of the space shuttle later this year. The money comes from government stimulus funds authorized by Congress to jump-start the faltering US economy last year.
New Delhi, February 02: The sense of comfort over India’s food security is somewhat misplaced and both availability of produce and controlling prices remain challenges needing focussed attention on farm productivity, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has said.
“Our experience in the past two years has brought to the fore the importance of food security and the need for containing prices,” the prime minister told the first annual conference of chief secretaries here Monday.
Mumbai, February 02: 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 IANS in an interview here.
Mumbai, February 02: Bollywood megastar Amitabh Bachchan has finally said ‘yes’ to Gujarat. Putting an end to speculation over the entire hullabaloo surrounding his Gujarat visits, the state Chief Minister Narendra Modi finally confirmed that Mr Bachchan is the brand ambassador of Gujarat Tourism.
Amitabh Bachchan in his earlier interviews had made it clear that it is only for the promotion of a progressive state that he stands by and there is nothing political about it.