Month: March 2010

Sania Mirza, family apply for Pakistan visa

by

New Delhi, March 30: Sania Mirza, her parents and sister have applied for a visa to Pakistan, a day after news broke that the Indian tennis star plans to marry Pakistani cricketer Shoaib Malik.

An official at the Pakistan High Commission here confirmed that visa applications of 23-year-old Sania, her parents and younger sister were received Tuesday.

“They are being issued their visas,” he said.

Meanwhile, reports indicate that Shoaib’s family has also applied for Indian visas and will be travelling to India in the first week of April.

Sania’s decision to marry Shoaib Malik baffles people

by

Hyderabad, March 30: The decision of Indian tennis star Sania Mirza to tie the knot with Shoaib Malik has baffled people in her home town and triggered a debate on her move in view of the controversy involving the Pakistani cricketer.

The people, especially youngsters, were heard discussing the possible impact of the wedding on India-Pakistan relations, on her tennis career and whether Sania would remain an Indian citizen or become a Pakistani.

There is also speculation that the 23-year-old would stop playing tennis after the 2012 Olympics.

No differences with RJD: Paswan

by

Patna, March 31: LJP president Ramvilas Paswan today said that his party’s alliance with the RJD stood like a “rock” and there were no differences between the two parties as speculated in the media.

“There have been no differences between the two parties and the alliance between LJP and RJD stands like rock,” Paswan told reporters here.

He also ridiculed media speculations over the possibility of break in alliance of the two parties.

National Commission for Minorities to send probe team to Hyderabad

by

Hyderabad, March 30: “We have sought a comprehensive report from the state government over the incidents. We want to know what is the latest situation there, the reasons for the communal flare-up, actions taken by the state government so far and their plan of action to stop the communal clashes,” NCM chairman Md Shafi Qureshi told PTI.

Pak’s Shaoib Malik’s family applies for visas to India

by

Islamabad, March 30: Six members of Shoaib Malik’s family have applied for visas to travel to India for the Pakistani cricketer’s much-anticipated wedding with tennis star Sania Mirza.

“Six members of the Malik family have applied for visas but Shoaib himself hasn’t submitted his application so far.

But he is expected to do it soon,” official sources said.

The applications were submitted by Shoaib’s uncle Zafar Malik.

Poor denied treatment at private hospital despite court order

by

New Delhi, March 30: Bhram Pal Singh, a horse-cart puller in Uttar Pradesh’s Saharanpur town, was in for a shock when a private hospital here denied him treatment for lack of money, despite the Delhi High Court’s direction to give free treatment to the economically weaker sections of the society.

“The doctors at Venu Eye Institute and Research Centre asked me to pay Rs.10,000 for the treatment of my eye ailment,” Singh told IANS, stating that he earns even less than Rs.4,000 a month.

Iraqi vice president ‘worried’ by coalition talks in Iran

by

Baghdad, March 30: Iraqi Vice President Tariq al-Hashimi is “worried” by talks in Iran on forming a new Iraqi government, he told a leading regional daily published Tuesday.

Intense political jockeying has followed last week’s announcement that former prime minister Ayad Allawi’s Iraqi List had narrowly won March 7 parliamentary elections.

Aides to incumbent Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, whose State of Law bloc placed a close second in the polls, on Monday met with Shiite preacher Moqtada al-Sadr in the Iranian city of Qom to discuss forming a coalition government.

Parents need not lose sleep over cry-babies

by

Sydney, March 30: It’s official: letting a baby cry itself to sleep is neither cruel nor bad for the mental health of the child or its parents.

According to researchers at the Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne, what they call the controlled crying technique helps resolve sleeping problems and wards off depression in mothers.

Rather than immediately tending to a crying child, parents steeled themselves and waited for it to settle back to sleep. Babies under 6 months were not left alone because they needed to be fed during the night.

CERN Big Bang machine hoping for first high energy collisions

by

Geneva, March 30: The Large Hadron Collider (LHC), also known as the Big Bang machine, was being ramped up Tuesday morning for its first collision at the highest energy levels ever recreated.

With everything in place, scientists were hoping it was just a matter of time before the historic collision – expected to simulate the moment just after the Big Bang – takes place, with optimists expecting the moment to occur within hours or days.

Minority panels’ conference to be held Wednesday

by

New Delhi, March 30: The annual conference of minority commissions is being held here Wednesday to ascertain the needs of Indian minority communities, identify solutions for the issues related to their socio-economic problems and facilitate focus of governmental action towards them.

Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram will inaugurate the day-long state minorities commissions’ conference organised by the National Commissions for Minorities.

Shoot-At-Sight orders for defying curfew in old city Hyderabad

by

Hyderabad, March 30:Shoot-at-sight orders have been issued in the localities under 17 police station limits in the Old city on Tuesday as miscreants armed with stones attempted to defy curfew and converge on the roads to foment trouble again in the strife-torn areas.

WATCH VIDEOS on HYDERABAD RIOTS:

https://archive.siasat.com/video/hyderabad/curfew-old-city

https://archive.siasat.com/video/hyderabad/violence-musharabad

Cheerful Amitabh, Amar Singh share dais

by

Pune, March 30: Bollywood star Amitabh Bachchan and former Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh shared a dais here Tuesday though the latter has criticised the mega star’s wife Jaya Bachchan’s decision to remain with the Samajwadi Party.

The duo – who have always described themselves as ‘family friends’ – seemed to enjoy the limelight as they came together at the famed Symbiosis Institute of Media & Communications on the city’s outskirts.

The occasion was the inauguration of a studio complex in the institute campus at Lavale, around 25 km from here.

I’m not scared of Sachin: Warne

by

New Delhi, March 30: Australian spin legend Shane Warne today said Sachin Tendulkar is the best batsman he has ever bowled to but he is not scared of the Indian master batsman.

Warne clarified that his statement that he had nightmares about Tendulkar after the Sharjah One-day series was a joke and it wasn’t meant to be taken so seriously.

“I want to clarify that this nightmare thing was a joke.

Inhuman Jayanthi

by

Hyderabad, March 30 (Siasat News): It has come to the knowledge of the media that on the pretext of celebrating Hanuman Jyanthi in twin city, youths from saffronised parties of Maharashtra and Gujrarat have allegedly reached here and being put in various hotels of the twin cities.

It is feared that youths are brought here to create communal trouble in those areas where curfew is not imposed. Thus turning the entire twin cities, a hot bed, when the reports last came in.

Tension in Musheerabad, Old City remain peaceful

by

Hyderabad, March 30: Violence broke out in Musheerabad area of Hyderabad when a group of people took out rally on the occasion of Hanuman jayanthi, started pelting stones. Several people reported injured and vehicles were also damaged.

But the situation in riot-hit old city of Hyderabad on Tuesday remained peaceful even as the indefinite curfew imposed on Monday night continued, police said.

Festival of riots

by

Hyderabad, March 30: With the conclusion of Id-e-Milad celebration, the atmosphere of the entire old city was uneasy as it was felt somewhere that something unusual was bound to happen.

Let me recall the festivities practiced during Id-e-Milad where the entire old city was decorated like a new bride. Even Muslims who belong to the old generation were seen asking the reason of the lavish decoration where money was flowing like water.

Kuwait’s jealous wife face Death sentence

by

Kuwait City, March 30: A court on Tuesday sentenced a Kuwaiti woman to death for starting a fire that killed 57 women and children at the wedding party of her husband who married another wife.

Judge Adel al-Sager read out the verdict against Nasra Yussef Mohammed al-Enezi, 23, at the court of first instance. The sentence will have to be upheld by the appeals court.

The woman was found guilty of “premeditated murder and starting a fire with the intent to kill.”

The Aug. 15 inferno engulfed the women-and-children-only tent in minutes and triggered a stampede.

‘Tum Milo Toh Sahi’ about timeless love

by

New Delhi, March 30: Love knows no age or time – this is the theme of director Kabir Sadanand’s romantic comedy “Tum Milo Toh Sahi”, which is releasing Friday.

Produced by Nikhil Panchammiya, the film is about three couples played by Dimple Kapadia-Nana Patekar, Suniel Shetty-Vidya Malvade and Anjana Sukhani-Rehan Khan.

“‘Tum Milo Toh Sahi’ is a film about human victory, when ordinary people come together to combine their strengths and stand by what they believe in,” Sadanand had been quoted as saying.

Moily, CJI, Vahanvati decide against going to US

by

New Delhi, March 30: Law Minister M Veerappa Moily, Chief Justice of India K G Balakrishnan and Attorney General G E Vahanvati have decided against going to the United States following the Ministry of External Affairs contention that the programme does not merit presence of so many higher ups.

They were planning to attend a three-day programme at the Dean Rusk Center for International Legal Studies at University of Georgia beginning April 2.

V-P Ansari’s wife’s views on reservation bill

by

Agra, March 30: Vice President Hamid Ansari’s wife Salma has said that measures like the Women’s Reservation Bill will not be of much help unless awareness is created among women at the grassroot level.

“I have just one problem with this bill. The government comes up with a lot of schemes and many projects but how many women are able to take advantage of these,” she told reporters on the sidelines of a function here yesterday.

Unless awareness is created among women at the grassroots and they are educated, such legislations will not be of much help, Salma said.

Naked run: Four Australian policemen fined

by

Melbourne, March 30: Four police officers have been fined after one of them ran naked while returning from a bachelor party, a media report said.

The off-duty police officers, who were returning from the party, stripped off in their mini-van and at least one of them did a naked lap of the van at an intersection in Australia’s Brisbane city in full view of passing motorists, Herald Sun reported.

The four officers were each slapped with $300 fines but escaped convictions that could have ended their policing careers.

Love turns fatal as jumbos clash over female

by

Raipur, March 30: A tragic love story played out in the jungles of Chhattisgarh when two male jumbos clashed for several hours over a female elephant, eventually killing one of them, a forest official said Tuesday.

“Two male wild jumbos fought a fatal war in Gharghora forest circle of Raigarh district for several hours Monday to have a love-play with a female jumbo in which a 15-year-old jumbo was killed,” R.K. Sisodia, a divisional forest officer, told IANS.

The Gharghora area is located some 250 km northeast of state capital Raipur.

SAARC nations can learn governance from one another: India

by

New Delhi, March 30: Countries in South Asia should adopt ideas from one another on best practices for improving and monitoring government performance, Indian cabinet secretary K.M. Chandrashekhar said Tuesday.

“So many innovative things are being done by SAARC countries from which we can adopt ideas. We can learn from the best practices of each other,” Chandrashekar said at the inauguration of a two-day workshop for members of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC).

Rupee up 3 paise against dollar in early trade

by

Mumbai, March 30: The rupee appreciated by 3 paise to rise to a nearly 19-month high of 44.92 a dollar in early trade today on capital inflows by foreign funds and the US currency’s weakness against major currencies.

At the Interbank Foreign Exchange (Forex) market, the rupee strengthened by 3 paise to trade at 44.92 a dollar, the highest level since September 2008.

The rupee had closed higher by 28 paise at 44.95/96 a dollar in the previous session.

Priyanka Chopra comes between Ranbir Kapoor and Katrina Kaif

by

Mumbai, March 30: Now here’s a piece of news that is bound to end all speculation of an awaited love affair between Ranbir and Katrina on the sets of ‘Khamoshi’.

The gorgeous stars, who are often linked with each other, will have little chance to get up-close and personal on the sets of their forthcoming movie.

As the dainty Priyanka Chopra will be on location too. And no, Miss Piggy Chops is not playing any spy role but will be present on the sets as a part of the movie.