Month: March 2010

IPS officer deposes before CBI court in Babri case

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Rae Bareli, March 26: A senior IPS officer today deposed before a special CBI court as a prosecution witness in the 1992 Babri Masjid demolition case in which L K Advani and other Sangh Parivar leaders have been accused of inciting violence.

Anju Gupta, a 1990-batch IPS officer who was posted as the personal security officer of senior BJP leader Advani during the period of convergence of lakhs of ‘Kar Sevaks’ at Ayodhya as well as the demolition of the mosque, testified as the ninth witness in the case.

Fifth Man of the Match award for Sachin in IPL

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Mumbai, March 26: Mumbai Indians skipper Sachin Tendulkar’s match-winning knock of 72 off 52 balls against Chennai Super Kings fetched him the fifth Man of the Match award in the Indian Premier League.

Subramaniam Badrinath’s unbeaten 55 off 45 balls is his fourth 50 and, in the course of his innings, he has completed 500 runs in the IPL, aggregating 519 (ave.27.31) in 36 matches.

Freight rates of Bangalore, Mysore rises

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New Delhi, Mar 26: Freight charges for the ten metric tonne pay load section for Bangalore and Mysore rose by Rs 500 in the local truck transport market today on pick up in cargo movements against tight availability of trucks.

Transporters said pick up in cargo movements in view of marriage season against less availability of trucks mainly led to rise in Bangalore and Mysore freight rates.

Shatrughan takes a dig at BigB for his endorsements

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Bhopal, March 26: Taking an apparent potshot at megastar Amitabh Bachchan, actor-turned-politician Shatrughan Sinha wondered why the veteran appeared in candy and hair oil advertisements.

“I do not understand the need for him (Amitabh) to appear in endorsements and ads for things like ‘Hajmola’ and various hair oils. I would advise him to refrain from this,” Sinha said here at a function yesterday.

The BJP MP was in the city for the promotion of his son Luv Sinha’s Bollywood debut vehicle ‘Sadiyaan’, starring yesteryear actors like Hema Malini, Rekha and Rishi Kapoor.

Refined soya oil futures dip on sluggish demand

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New Delhi, March 26: In restricted trading activity, refined soya oil futures prices eased by Rs 1.85 to Rs 456.40 per 10 kg today owing to slackness in demand against adequate stocks position.

At the Multi Commodity Exchange counter, refined soya oil lost Rs 1.85, or 0.40 per cent, to Rs 456.40 per 10 kg with an open interest of 806 lots.

Traders said slackness in demand against adequate stocks position mainly led to fall in refined soya oil prices at futures trading here.

—–PTI

Samsung moves in

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New Delhi, March 26: South Korean electronics and consumer durables giant Samsung Electronics introduced its 3D (three dimensional) televisions here on Thursday. The 3D TVs will be available across the LED, LCD and plasma platforms.

The company has brought 10 models in screen sizes ranging from 40 inches to 65 inches that are priced from Rs 1,29,000 to Rs 4,35,000. The 3D TVs would be produced at the Noida manufacturing unit of Samsung that has a production capacity of around 1.5 lakh units per year.

Not eyeing records, says India’s youngest Everest challenger

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Kathmandu, March 26: Unlike other teens, his heroes are not cricketers or movie stars. He hardly watches cricket matches and films don’t interest him. Instead, Arjun Vajpai, 16 years and eight months old, is pursuing an unusually lofty interest – Mt Everest.

The son of a former Indian Army commando, the 12th grader from New Delhi starts his quest from Kathmandu Sunday when his mettle will be tested with a run up to the 8,848 m peak.

Mahindra Ugine to spend 366.5 mln rupees on new plant

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New Delhi, March 26: Mahindra Ugine Steel Company Ltd said on Friday its board approved investing 366.5 million rupees to set up a stamping unit at Pantnagar in Uttarakhand.

The unit would meet the demand for stamping components from major Indian auto firms, it said.

—-Agencies

Teens are risk takers, say scientists

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London, March 26: Risk taking peaks in adolescence, according to scientists.

In research published in the journal Cognitive Development, children, adolescents and adults aged 9-35 years chose between risky and safe options in a computer gambling game.

Scientists at the University College London (UCL) found that the teenagers took the most risks compared with the other groups, with the most risky behaviour was seen in 14-year-olds.

HR executive murdered

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Noida, March 26: A Human Resource head of Intra Arch, a company located at Udyog Vihar, was found murdered at a Sector Delta house on Thursday. The police suspect his driver, who was missing till this evening, was involved in the murder.

SSP A.K. Singh said, “The body was found from an under-construction house in Sector Delta. He was identified as Pawan Upadhaya.”

Films making parkour a craze among youngsters

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Mumbai, March 26: Hrithik Roshan used it in ‘Krrish’, Akshay Kumar used it in ‘Singh is Kinng’, and even Bond movie ‘Casino Royale’ had it.

That’s the art of parkour, an urban adventure sport that empowers the nimble action hero to take down the bad guys by leaping from building to building, sliding down handrails, scaling walls effortlessly and dropping down from great heights.

The relatively lesser-known physical discipline of French origin involves moving from one point to another as efficiently and quickly as possible, using the reflexes and agility of the human body.

Bihar welcomes Muslim reservation in Andhra Pradesh

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Patna, March 26: Muslims in Bihar welcomed the Supreme Court decision to uphold the validity of four percent reservation for backward members of the Muslim community in Andhra Pradesh.

“It is a historical decision,” chief of a Patna based influential Muslim body Imarat Shariah Maulana Syed Nizamuddin said.

The Supreme Court’s order will have a long term effect for the development of Muslims, the most backward and poorest community in India, Nizamuddin, who is also the general secretary of the All India Muslim Personal Law Board, told IANS.

Advani ‘euphoric’ on Dec 6, 1992, says eyewitness cop

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Rae Bareli, March 26: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader L.K. Advani “looked euphoric” when he declared in Ayodhya on Dec 6, 1992, shortly before the demolition of the Babri Masjid, that a Ram temple would be built on the site, police officer Anju Gupta testified before a court here Friday.

Gupta, who was then posted as assistant superintendent of police (ASP) in the temple town, was deposing before a special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court in this town, about 85 km from the state capital Lucknow.

Rahul Gandhi meets officials to review projects

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Amethi, March 26: Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi Friday met officials and public representatives to review developmental projects funded by the central government in his constituency here in Amethi.

He is on a two-day visit to Amethi in Uttar Pradesh, about 150 km from Lucknow.

Congress spokesperson Akhilesh Pratap Singh told IANS that Gandhi’s meeting began around noon and was likely to go on for four to five hours.

According to Congress activists, Gandhi might go for surprise inspections in villages to know the state of development projects.

—–IANS

I will take opposition head on: Shatrughan

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New Delhi, March 26: Unhappy at not being given an official position in the party, Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) MP Shatrughan Sinha said differences with party president Nitin Gadkari would be resolved soon and added that he was also facing “opposition from within”.

“In politics there are two kinds of opposition. One the real opposition and the other the opposition from within, the opposition from your own people,” Sinha said in an interview to television channel CNN-IBN.

B”day gift goes up in flames

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Mumbai, March 26: It was a birthday gift Satish Sawant gave himself after years of hard labour, but saw the treasured possession–a Tata Nano– go up in flames within minutes of purchasing it.

When the software company employee took delivery of Tata”s dream car Nano last Sunday from its showroom at Prabhadevi near Mumbai”s landmark Siddhi Vinayak temple, he had no inkling of how nightmarish the drive back home to Mulund would be.

Caste verification procedure to be reviewed: Pachpute

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Mumbai, March 26: Maharashtra Tribal Welfare Minister Babanrao Pachpute today said caste verification process and powers vested in the verification committee would be reviewed.

“We would reconsider procedure of the caste verification and the powers vested in the committee,” Pachpute informed the Legislative Council.

Pachpute also announced expulsion of Karve, an officer on the committee, following complaints by some members of the Council against him.

No bee buzzes at Rahul’s meeting venue

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Sultanpur, March 26: Stung by the bee episode at a BSP rally in Lucknow, the district administration and security agencies have taken great pains to remove all beehives near the venue of a meeting here to be attended by Congress MP Rahul Gandhi.

Civil and police officials, along with Horticulture Department staff were on the job since past two days to clear the Vikash Bhavan campus of the two massive beehives which were there since last several years.

Angelina Jolie shows daughter Venice sights from balcony

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London, March 26: Hollywood actress Angelina Jolie took a break from busy shooting schedule to show her 20-month-old daughter the sights of Venice from balcony.

The 34-year-old star enjoyed a spot of bonding with her daughter Vivienne Wednesday during a break from filming her new movie “The Tourist”.

The duo oohed and aahed as they took in the sites of Venice from the balcony of the 15th century palazzo the family are renting during their stay in Italy.

Jennifer Love Hewitt loves stationery

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London, March 26: Actress Jennifer Love Hewitt has a weakness for stationery stores.

Hewitt, who recently split from Jamie Kennedy after a year together, says her idea of a great date would be to go shopping for pens, paper and folders, reported femalefirst.co.uk

“I love office supplies. I love being organised. It’s the folders and the tech. Staples is a place to take me if you want me to get hot and bothered,” said the 31-year-old.

——-IANS

Vinay in Ishant, Kohli out

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Mumbai, March 26: Karnataka pacer R Vinay Kumar was on Friday rewarded for his consistent domestic performance as he was named in India’s 15-member squad for Twenty20 World Cup starting in the West Indies next month.

Vinay Kumar, who has been in superb form in the ongoing Indian Premier League, was the only new face in the squad to be led by Mahendra Singh Dhoni.

The BCCI senior selection panel under the chairmanship of Krishnamachari Srikkanth met here on Friday to pick the squad.

Sonam Kapoor amused at being called ‘Mrs’

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New Delhi, March 26: “Delhi 6″ actress was very amused when she was addressed as Mrs. Sonam Kapoor at the Wills Lifestyle India Fashion Week (WIFW) here.

Sonam, who came to attend designers Anjana and Ankita Bhargav’s late night show Thursday, burst out laughing when she was called “Mrs. Sonam Kapoor” by the comperer to announce her association with Spice mobile.

The young actress, looking chic in formal jodhpur pants and a blazer, is the new brand ambassador of Spice Mobiles, which is the gold sponsor for WIFW.

But the faux pas was rectified immediately.

Rahul Bose keen to work again with ‘Antaheen’ director

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New Delhi, March 26: Actor Rahul Bose is keen to team up again with “Antaheen” director Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury.
“Aniruddha and I are going to discuss on a film this July,” Rahul told IANS.

“Antaheen” is about love and loneliness and also stars Radhika Apte, Mita Vashisth, Aparna Sen and Sharmila Tagore along with Rahul.

At the 56th National Awards, “Antaheen” was declared the best film. It also bagged two other honours for Shreya Ghosal and Avit Mukhopadhyay who got the best female playback singer award and the best cinematographer award respectively.

Natasha files police complaint against stalker

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Mumbai, March 26: Mumbai-based model and actress Natasha Sikka has filed a complaint with the Mumbai Cyber Crime cell against a former friend who has allegedly been sending out false and defamatory emails to various professional acquaintances of the model.

Priyanka Chopra on her new role as a host for Khatron Ke Khiladi

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Mumbai, March 26: Yes, I guess so. I have been offered many shows in the past but I wasn’t really looking at doing TV. So, what appealed to you about Fear Factor Khatron Ke Khiladi?

It was my favourite show on TV. I think it perfectly blends with my personality, which is why when it was offered to me I didn’t think much before accepting the show.

Are you a daredevil in real life? Yes. I am a complete adventure freak. Bungee-jumping, skydiving from 20,000 ft, water-rafting, name it and I have done it.