Month: March 2010

Modi’s questioning a big step forward: SIT chief Raghavan

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Gandhinagar, March 28: The questioning of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi in connection with the Gulbarg riots post-Godhra is a “very big step forward” in trying to understand and unravel the mysteries in the case and the SIT will submit its report to the Supreme Court on or before April 30, its head R K Raghavan said today.

Declining to go into details of the questioning of 59-year-old Modi, he maintained that former CBI DIG A K Malhotra, who grilled the Chief Minister in two sessions yesterday, “looks relaxed” and said he has confidence in the officer’s abilities.

‘Tendulkar’s absence from WC good for other teams’

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Karachi, March 28: Pakistan’s Twenty20 captain Shahid Afridi has joined the list of advocates supporting Sachin Tendulkar’s inclusion in India’s Twenty20 World Cup squad, saying the champion batsman’s absence from the next month’s event is a blessing in disguise for other teams.

Tendulkar, who quit the format along with Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid in 2007, has been in red hot form in the Indian Premier League III and it forced former as well as present cricketers, including Afridi to ask the right-hander to change his decision and play in the upcoming T20 World Cup in the West Indies.

Manipur’s first gay marriage ends in two days

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Imphal, March 28: The first-ever same-sex marriage in Manipur between two men in their 20s ended in a whimper two days into their wedding following stiff opposition from their families.

Sandip, the 25-year-old ‘groom’, and Nikhil, the 28-year-old ‘bride’, who exchanged marriage vows Thursday in the presence of a modest gathering at a community hall here, decided to end their marriage late Saturday.

Their families Saturday filed a complaint with the local police station at Singjamei, seeking help to get the marriage annulled.

Anand Sharma likely to continue as Rajya Sabha member

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New Delhi, March 28: Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma is likely to continue in the post despite his Rajya Sabha tenure coming to an end on April 2.

Highly-placed Congress sources said Sharma was likely to be asked to continue in the post for a few more months, signalling that the leadership may accommodate him from any other state other than Himachal Pradesh when the next round of elections to Rajya Sabha will be held by middle of the year.

The party, this time, cannot get him re-elected from his home turf Himachal Pradesh, which is under BJP rule, due to lack of numbers.

Kutcher, Moore launch campaign to save Haitian children

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Los Angeles, March 28: Hollywood couple Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore have launched a new campaign to put an end to child slavery in Haiti.

In an interview with social media site Mashable, they spoke out against the Haitian system of “restavec,” in which a child is sent to work as a servant for another family – which the couple said prevents them from obtaining an education and other opportunities during their developing years, reports accesshollywood.com.

India developing winged reusable rocket : ISRO

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Bangalore, March 28: India is developing a winged reusable rocket and the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has configured a Technology Demonstrator as a first step towards realising it, the space agency said in a report.

India’s space scientists have already configured a winged Reusable Launch Vehicle Technology Demonstrator (RLV-TD). This is a first step towards realising a Two Stage To Orbit (TSTO) fully re-reusable launch vehicle, according to Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).

Oscar-nominated ‘Nine’ inspires show at WIFW

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New Delhi, March 28: Bollywood actress Deepika Padukone may have been the showstopper in G. Pia Fleming’s collection at the Wills Lifestyle India Fashion Week (WIFW) but the designer’s show itself was no less than a broadway musical.

And rightly so, as Fleming was inspired for her red carpet collection by Oscar nominated movie “Nine”, a vibrant musical.

Modi says it is over

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Gandhinagar, March 28: Chief Minister Narendra Modi, who submitted himself to marathon questioning by the Supreme Court-appointed SIT in a Gujarat riots case, has claimed his quizzing, the first since the communal violence eight years ago, has concluded.

“I have been told by SIT that your work is over”, 59-year -old Modi said at 0100 hours today emerging from the second round of his questioning at the SIT office at the old secretariat building.

Indian women getting ’empowered’ with direct selling

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New Delhi, March 28: India’s $740-million direct selling industry, where products are sold directly to customers rather than through retail shops, is fast emerging as a viable career option for women, empowering them to earn some decent money from home.

“Most women are raised to believe that they have to be perfect homemakers,” said Chavi Hemanth, secretary general of the Indian Direct Selling Association (IDSA), which works to promote this segment of merchandise trade in the country.

Why was Abhishek dropped from Earth Hour event: Amitabh

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Mumbai, March 28: An upset Amitabh Bachchan is wondering why his actor son Abhishek Bachchan, who was appointed the World Wildlife Foundation (WWF) ambassador for Earth Day, was dropped from the function in New Delhi at the last minute. “Am I hallucinating, or is there a pattern in all this?”, he asked in his blog.

We are committed to close FTA with EU by Oct: Sharma

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Helsinki, March 28: Commerce and industry minister Anand Sharma said the government is committed to enter into market-opening free trade and investment agreement with the European Union by October, but without involving non-trade issues like environment and labour standards.

“We are working on it. As far as we are concerned, we have a commitment,” Sharma said here when asked whether the negotiations can successfully be concluded before the India-EU Summit in October in Brussels.

Barbara Bush hospitalised

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Washington, March 28: Barbara Bush, wife of former US president George H.W. Bush, has been hospitalised, a media report said Sunday.

Barbara was taken to hospital Saturday morning after “not feeling well”, Los Angeles Times quoted a family spokeswoman as saying.

Eightyfour-year-old Barbara was admitted to Methodist Hospital in Houston at 10 a.m. to undergo routine tests. She was accompanied by her husband.

“He’s (George H.W. Bush) concerned, but has great faith in the doctors,” Jean Becker, the chief of staff for the office of the former president, was quoted as saying.

Youth ‘murders’ parents

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Hyderabad, March 28: A 25-year-old person allegedly hacked to death his parents and attempted to portray it as murders for gain by stealing his mother’s jewellery, at Gundala village of Chevella in Ranga Reddy district, 40 km from here, on Saturday.

Malla Reddy, who was detained by the police, reportedly admitted to have killed his father, Yalal Reddy, 50, and mother, Pentamma, 45, by attacking them with an axe while they were asleep. The accused, of late, got into bad habits and was frequently quarrelling with his parents to give him more money and property.

Modi grilled for 9 hours by SIT

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Gandhinagar, March 28: Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi was grilled Saturday by a Supreme Court-appointed probe panel for over nine hours in two separate sessions that ended past midnight over his alleged complicity in not doing enough to stop the 2002 communal riots which claimed more than 1,000 lives.

The chief minister came out of the Special Investigation Team (SIT) headquarters at around 1.00 a.m. after a second round of questioning that lasted nearly four hours.

Tension in old city of Hyderabad after religious clashes

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Hyderabad, March 28: Parts of the old city of this Andhra Pradesh capital on Sunday remained tense after religious clashes between two groups, which left 13 people injured Saturday night.

Paramilitary Rapid Action Force (RAF) personnel and state police forces were deployed in Moosa Bowli, Hussaini Alam, Purana Pul, Begum Bazar and surrounding areas to prevent any untoward incident, police said.

Police Commissioner AK Khan, who visited the old city late Saturday night, Sunday said the situation was now peaceful with no fresh incident.

11,000 Muslims stand to benefit

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Hyderabad, March 28: The four per cent reservation provided to Muslims, which will continue now on the strength of the stay granted by the Supreme Court on the High Court order, will help over 11,000 candidates every year in getting admissions in various educational institutions to do professional courses.

PCB clears Rana of tampering charges

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Karachi, March 28: The PCB disciplinary committee has cleared all-rounder Rana Naved-ul Hasan of ball tampering charges that were brought against the bowler in a domestic tournament.

Rana Naved, who has already been banned for 12 months and fined two million rupees by the Pakistan Cricket Board for violating the code of conduct in Australia, escaped further punishment when the disciplinary committee found no evidence against him on charges of indulging in ball tampering during a recent domestic Twenty20 Championship.

Hauritz caned and Sinclair’s shoelaces

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Melbourne, March 28: Nathan Hauritz went for 25 runs off the 54th over of New Zealand’s innings and it was the equal-most expensive over ever bowled by an Australian in a Test. Hauritz was in the dressing-rooms when the previous record was set, when AB de Villiers launched Andrew McDonald for four sixes and a single in Cape Town last year. This time it was Ross Taylor who did the damage in an over that finished with three sixes, all heaved over the on-side.

Taylor blazes hundred but can’t burn off Australia

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Wellington, March 28: Ross Taylor raced to New Zealand’s fastest Test century but the hosts failed to support their red-hot team-mate and the sides finished almost level after two days. New Zealand earned a slender 33-run advantage after Taylor’s 138 off 104 balls took them towards 264, a first-innings total which could have been so much stronger.

Shane Watson, who survived a reviewed lbw appeal from Brent Arnel, drove well to be 28 while Simon Katich was 6 as Australia went to stumps at 35 for 0. Bad light ended play 24 overs early and the visitors will begin day three two runs ahead.

Sangakkara banned for slow over-rate

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Banglore, March 28: Kumar Sangakkara, the captain of Kings XI Punjab, has been banned for one match after his side was found guilty of not completing their overs on time, for the third time in the IPL. The latest instance was on Saturday, in the defeat against Kolkata Knight Riders in Mohali.

“KXIP slow on over rate again tonight. Sanga (Sangakkara) banned for 1 game,” IPL chief executive Sundar Raman said on his Twitter page, shortly after the completion of the match.

Pakistan has more stake in Afghanistan than India: Qureshi

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Washington, March 28: Arguing that it shares cultural, linguistic and ethnic commonalities with Afghanistan, Pakistan has claimed that it has more stake in the war-torn country than India.

“Obviously, their (India’s) interests (in Afghanistan) cannot be the same as ours because we share a border,” Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi told the popular Charlie Rose Show telecast on PBS news channel.

“They (India) do not share a border (with Afghanistan).

IGNOU plans ICT education cluster for five countries

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New Delhi, March 28: The Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) is planning to start an Information Communication Technology (ICT) cluster in five South Asian countries for capacity building in education sector.

The varsity, has already given a presentation outlining the details of the plan to parliamentarians of Bangladesh, Bhutan, the Maldives, Nepal and Sri Lanka at the first ever contact group meeting of parliamentarians on education organised by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco).

Private schools in Chandigarh under scanner for flouting rules

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Chandigarh, March 28: Private schools of this union territory (UT) are up in arms against the Chandigarh administration over the surprise inspections being conducted of their premises. But the education department says it is determined to crack down on private schools that “function like business units”.

Based on its surprise checks, the UT administration is sending recommendations to the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) in New Delhi, apprising it about errant private schools here.

Kingfisher crude bomb case solved, accused in custody: Police

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Thiruvananthapuram, March 28: The Kerala police have taken into custody an employee of a private cargo firm here for his alleged involvement in placing an explosive device on a Kingfisher flight to Thiruvananthapuram March 21. The arrest is likely to be recorded later in the day.

“Right now, I will not be able to divulge the details but the case has been solved and the person who did this crime has admitted to it. The recording of the arrest and other things will take place shortly,” a senior police official, who did not wish to be named, said here Sunday.

Sallu makes Zarine tongue-tied!

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Mumbai, March 28: Zarine Khan, the newbie from Veer is tongue-tied in her mentor Salman Khan’s presence.

While Salman is taking an active interest in her career (he takes an interest in everyone’s career his brothers’, his brother-in-law’s, his wards’) and getting her the best of people to guide her, the actress is said to be petrified of him.

There are those who say, this utterly butterly heroine doesn’t utter a word in his presence. Instead, she stares hard at her own feet whenever Salman is around.