Mumbai, March 25: Talk about aliens in a Hindi film and the first thing that comes to mind is whether the film would end up narrating a tale of super heroes and super powers. However, once an alien turns out to be a beautiful and gorgeous young woman like Jacqueline Fernandez, you know that the story would be taking an altogether different route.
Hyderabad, March 25: It’s a crisis-ridden hospital. Always in the news for the wrong reasons. But amid all the tension-packed drama that unfolds here everyday, Niloufer Hospital is turning a new leaf. It is shortly going to have the world’s largest paediatric intensive care unit.
A 450-bedded block named after Rajiv Gandhi is coming up fast right at the entrance of the hospital. The Rs. 27-crore five-storeyed block will have sophisticated equipment to deal with all critical cases.
Mumbai, March 25: Minissha Lamba, the sizzling hot sexy babe of bollywood who plays lead in veteran filmmaker Shyam Benegal’s upcoming flick.
Well Done Abba’, is all set to wow the audience with her simple rural belle character in stark contrast to her bikini clad modern sexy avatar in ‘Kidnap.’
Minissha Lamba is very excited about the flick and hopes that the Midas touch of director Shyam Benegal would be able to provide her bollywood career the much needed boost.
The movie also features veteran bollywood actor Boman Irani in the character of Minissha Lamba’s father.
Hyderabad, March 25: Taking objection to the Supreme Court’s observation that live-in relationships and pre-marital sex could not be considered as offences and for pointing out that even Lord Krishna and Radha had lived together according to mythology, Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) general secretary G Niranjan today urged the Central Government to take immediate steps for bringing in required laws to protect the `family system’ in the country.
Kadapa, March 25: Police set free a dangerous stalker, that too after he had created mayhem at a poor girl’s house at Bhakrapet village in Siddhavatam mandal, Kadapa district on Wednesday.
Their callous act prompted villagers to hold up traffic on the Tirupati-Badwel- Kadapa junction demanding his immediate arrest.
Hyderabad, March 25: Telangana protagonists continue to `haunt’ TDP Chief N Chandrababu Naidu after a group of slogan-shouting pro-Telangana leaders tried to corner the TDP Chief at the Cherlapally Central Prison Wednesday
when he went to meet the party leaders who were lodged there after being arrested for the alleged attack on Telangana advocates a few days ago.
Mumbai, March 25: Someone up there is sure smiling on Bollywood. For it has given the B-town a budding star in Luv Sinha, who debuts with Raj Kanwar’s SADIYAAN on April 2nd. And that someone up there has made sure that the film will be a special treat what with Hema Malini and Rekha also acting in it along side Luv! Of course, Luv is super excited about this opportunity and thanks God for this honor.
New Delhi, March 25: The Andhra Pradesh government today received a major boost with the Supreme Court, in an interim order, upholding the validity of four per cent reservation provided to backward members of Muslim community in the state.
A bench of Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan and Justices J M Panchal and B S Chauhan, however, referred the issue to a Constitution bench to examine the validity of the impugned Act since it involved important issues of the Constitution.
Hyderabad, March 25: Not only are the patients being put to severe inconvenience but even medical services face the threat of disruption due to acute water scarcity at the Nizam’s Institute of Medical Sciences (NIMS) and Gandhi hospital. Alarmed at the water crisis and the possible disastrous consequences if it continues for some more time, the managements of both hospitals have decided to take up the matter with the GHMC and Hyderabad Water Supply and Sewerage Board (HMWS&SB) to ensure regular supplies to the institutions.
Hyderabad, March 24: A tiff over one rupee with a grocer that later led to an attack, drove a woman to suicide out of humiliation at Moinabad on Tuesday night.
Police said T Venkatamma (35), a resident of Kanakamamidi, made a phone call from a coin box at a kirana store in the village. Later, she asked the store owner, J Vantiha, to give her back one rupee as she gave two rupees but made a single call. Vanitha, however, insisted that Venkatamma gave her only Re 1 coin. A heated argument ensued between the two that later turned into a scuffle.
Karachi, March 25: Pakistani cricketers will be working hard on fielding during a preparatory camp for the ICC World Twenty20 championship which gets underway from April 30 in the West Indies.
Ijaz Ahmed, Pakistan’s assistant coach entrusted with the responsibility of helping the team to improve fielding, said Thursday that he and fellow coaches will mainly focus on fielding during the training camp that starts March 29 in Lahore.
Mumbai, March 25: Aishwarya Rai leaves Kareena Kapoor behind, In the world of glitz and glamour, the rat race is constantly on, even if the stars accept it or they don’t. The latest winner in such a race seems to be Aishwarya Rai Bachchan. Ash has apparently been offered.
London, March 25: Judicious use of oil resources and development of alternative energy is the need of the hour as fuel capacity to meet future demand is at tipping point, an Oxford University research paper has said.
The age of cheap oil has now ended as demand starts to outstrip supply. The current reserve estimates should be downgraded from 1,150-1,350 billion barrels to 850-900 billion barrels, the research said.
Mumbai, March 25: Bharti Airtel gained over three percent on the BSE amid reports that the board of Kuwait’s Zain Telecom has accepted the Indian firm’s USD 10.7 billion takeover bid for most of its African assets.
Shares of Bharti Airtel opened firm on the Bombay Stock Exchange and surged 3.22 percent to a high of Rs 316.70 from its previous close.
On the National Stock Exchange, the stock moved up nearly three percent to a high of Rs 316.
Over 14.68 lakh shares of Bharti Airtel changed hands in the early morning trade on the two bourses.
Bhubaneswar, March 25: An earthquake of slight intensity hit Orissa today.
The local Meteorological department sources here said the quake, having a magnitude of 2.4 on the Richter scale, occurred at around 1212 hrs.
The epicentre was 80 km away from the seismological observatory.
No reports of any damage was reported from anywhere.
—Agencies
Mumbai, March 25: The Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex shed over 61 points, or 0.35 percent, in the opening trade on Thursday on capital outflows by foreign funds, weighed by weakening trend on the global markets.
The 30-share index, which had gained 40.45 points in the previous session on Tuesday, fell by 61.16 points, or 0.35 percent to 17,389.86 points in the opening trade.
The wide-based National Stock Exchange index Nifty also declined by 18.60 points, or 0.35 percent, to 5,206.70 points.
New Delhi, March 25: The agriculture sector is likely to record an average growth rate of 3 per cent during the 11th Five-Year Plan (2007-12), up from 2.3 in the previous Plan, despite bad monsoon hitting the farm sector this fiscal.
The average growth rate of the farm sector during the five-year period, however, will fall short of the growth target of 4 per cent, said the Mid-Term Appraisal (MTA) document placed before the meeting of the full Planning Commission headed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh yesterday.
Mumbai, March 25: Actress Priyanka Chopra says she is going to be extremely nasty to the 13 cricketers participating in Khatron Ke Khiladi, the television show she is going to host.
“I will completely ruin them. I will be very nasty to all of them,” the actress says. She promises that just like Akshay Kumar used to perform stunts during previous seasons, she too “will perform lots of stunts, and do them in heels!”
About comparisons with Akshay, who hosted the previous two seasons, she says, “There is not a possibility of a comparison between us.
New Delhi, March 25: Stress levels of leaders of the privately held business have decreased to an extent, but still as many as 56 per cent are burdened with the pressure to perform post slowdown, says global consultancy firm Grant Thornton.
According to a survey of 7,400 business owners in 36 countries by Grant Thornton International, 56 per cent of Indian business owners feel they are stressed compared to figures of earlier years, where 76 per cent had reported high levels of stress.
Mumbai, March 25: The sensuously beautiful Kareena Kapoor is heading towards for a sturdy look as a tomboy in tapoori localitie style of Mumbai in ‘Golmal 3’ sequence.
Quite innovatively, Rohit Shetty has planned to make a ‘Golmaal 3’ impact with Kareena Kapoor in new look that suits her character. Rohit added, “I wanted to give Kareena a new image in ‘Golmaal 3’.
She’s ‘one of the boys’ in the film, and will sport minimal make-up. We are all looking forward to teaching Bebo some exciting language. She’s already become one goonda now!”
New Delhi, March 25: India’s annual food inflation fell marginally once again to 16.22 percent for the week ended March 13 from 16.3 percent for the week before even as prices of lentils, fruits and vegetables moved up over the past week.
According to data on Wholesale Price Index released by the Commerce and Industry Ministry on Thursday, the index for food articles rose 0.1 percent during the week under review, while that for non-food articles fell 0.2 percent.
New Delhi, March 25: Twenty-seven-year-old Priya, a devotee of Paramahamsa Nityananda Swami, can’t believe a video footage where the Karnataka-based spiritual guru is allegedly shown in a compromising position with a Tamil actress.
‘I still doubt whether it is swamiji or it is a graphic gimmick,’ a shocked Priya told IANS.
Nityananda Swami’s is not the first reported case of a person in religious garb being caught in a scandal. Of late, a number of swamis have been in the news for the wrong reasons.
New Delhi, March 25: Industry body Assocham on Thursday said it estimates the premium from general insurance to touch Rs 1 lakh crore in the next 5 years as awareness and income about insurance products among the rural masses are on the rise.
Currently, insurance premium collection is estimated at Rs 35,000 crore, the chamber said.
In rural areas, awakening levels (regarding insurance) are rising and their income is surfacing because of the various social schemes of the government, it said.
Islamabad, March 25: A trust deficit still haunts Pakistan’s ties with the US which is not entirely convinced of this country’s commitment to the war on terror, the media here said on Thursday, seeking sustained efforts to build on bilateral strategic dialogue to achieve goals like getting a civil nuclear deal.
Karachi, March 25: Younis Khan Thursday challenged Pakistan Cricket Board’s (PCB) decision to ban him indefinitely.
Younis, a former captain, has filed a plea against the ban, handed down by the PCB earlier this month in the aftermath of Pakistan’s disastrous tour of Australia, sources said.
Sources said Younis’s lawyer Ahmed Qayyum is confident the senior batsman will get a reprieve following his appeal against the ban.