Month: March 2010

Superman comic sells for record 1.5 million dollars

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New York, March 30: Superman became the 1.5 million dollar man Monday, when a rare copy of the first comic to feature the superhero smashed all previous auction records for a comic book.

The 1938 copy of Action Comics, in which Superman debuted, easily bested the 1.075 million dollars record set at auction in February for a comic book giving Batman’s first outing, online auctioneers ComicConnect.com said.

The same issue of Superman’s Action Comics debut sold for one million dollars in February, but that was not in as good condition as the copy sold Monday, said ComicConnect.com.

Pak to get F-16s, shadow drones from US

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Washington, March 30: Pakistan is scheduled to get 18 of the Block 52 F-16s, Oliver Hazard Perry Class frigate by fall and is expected to receive Shadow Drones within a year, a Pentagon official has said.

Islamabad is set to receive all this military help under the enhanced US-Pakistan strategic cooperation.

“I would like to think that we would get them (Pakistan) within the year,” the official said yesterday.

Hindu-Muslim clashes injure scores in India

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Hyderabad, March 30: Authorities fired tear gas and warning shots and swung batons Monday to disperse crowds of angry Hindus and Muslims who attacked each other with stones and clubs in southern India, where more than 75 people have been injured.

Communal rioting broke out Saturday in Hyderabad, capital of southern Andhra Pradesh state, and about 1,600 paramilitary soldiers and police have been deployed to calm the situation, A.K. Khan, city police commissioner, told reporters.

Aishwarya Rai needs help to wear skin-tight dress

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Mumbai, March 30: In an industry where actresses are known to gather flab and flesh as soon they tie the nuptial knot.

It’s a wonder that Aishwarya Rai has been able to maintain that killer figure even.

After years of her marriage to Abhishek Bachchan. Totally understandable then that fashion designers still give.

The doe-eyed beauty the skin-hugging garments to slip into. But Jeez! we couldn’t believe our ears when we heard that.

Aishwarya had an attitude to throw when asked to wear a skin-tight outfit by a designer.

Katrina Kaif’s head starts bleeding on sets of ‘Tees Maar Khan’

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Mumbai, March 30: Katrina Kaif is the lady whose stars are all in the wrong directions, it seems. Diseases, illnesses and accidents have become a daily bread for Katrina Kaif who is having hectic as well as vulnerable phase these days.

Not in the pink of health (she passed off last week on a film set), she met with an accident again and this time her co-star Akshay Kumar was responsible.

Its o happened that during a song for which the sexy hotties were waltzing, Akshay’s jaw struck Katty’s head and she started to bleed. Next.

26/11: I was duped by Headley, says Rana

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Chicago, March 30: Pakistani-Canadian terror suspect Tahawwur Hussain Rana, charged with conspiring in the Mumbai attacks, will not change his ‘not guilty’ plea and will go ahead with the trial, his lawyer said Tuesday.

Rana, dressed in an orange-coloured jump suit, appeared before a US court here for a pre-trial conference to discuss classified information relating to his case.

US attorney in Chicago Patrick Fitzgerald was also present during the hearing before Judge Harry Leinenweber in the District court, Northern District of Illinois.

Aishwarya Rai-A natural stunner in the age of fake beauties

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Mumbai, March 30: Even though Aishwarya has often been termed as ‘plastic’ by some, there is no iota of doubt that Aishwarya’s beauty is all natural and god-gifted.

It has often been claimed that Aishwarya is probably the only actress who has got best features and that too, perfect.

She has often been termed as the most beautiful woman of the world. Fellow actress Priyanka Chopra once commented that.

She thinks god was on a vacation when he made Aishwarya, whereas we, the mortals, were made in a day.

‘Moscow bombers could be linked to Af-Pak terror network’

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Moscow, March 30: Plotters of the twin suicide blast at Moscow subway stations that killed 38 people could have links with the terror network based in the Afghanistan-Pakistan border region, Russia said Tuesday.

The deadly blasts in the subway could have been organised with support from abroad, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said.

“I do not rule this out, nothing can be ruled out here,” he said.

Hyderabad peaceful, curfew continues

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Hyderabad, March 30: The situation in riot-hit old city of Hyderabad Tuesday remained peaceful even as the indefinite curfew imposed Monday night continued, police said.

No untoward incident was reported since Monday night from any of the 17 police stations in south zone, where indefinite curfew was imposed at 7 p.m. following communal violence for the third consecutive day.

Dravida Nadu demand ended after advocacy ban

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New Delhi, March 30: Legendary Tamil politician C N Annadurai, who championed the cause of a separate ‘Dravida Nadu’ for over a decade, gave up his demand in 1963 only in the face of a Constitutional amendment which proscribed secessionist advocacy though he cited the Sino-India war the previous year for his decision, a new book suggests.

Tahawwur Rana not to change his ‘not guilty’ plea: lawyer

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Chicago, March 30: Pakistani-Canadian terror suspect Tahawwur Hussain Rana, charged with conspiring in the Mumbai attacks, will not change his ‘not guilty’ plea and will go ahead with the trial, his lawyer said.

Rana, dressed in an orange-coloured jump suit, appeared before a US court here for a pre-trial conference to discuss classified information relating to his case.

US attorney in Chicago Patrick Fitzgerald was also present during the hearing before Judge Harry Leinenweber in the District court, Northern District of Illinois.

Israeli leak suspect held in secret house arrest

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Jerusalem, MArch 30: For the past three months, a 23-year-old Israeli journalist has been under a secret house arrest over charges that she leaked classified information to suggest that the Israel military violated a legal ruling on killings of militants in the West Bank.

An unusual gagging order preventing reporting of the case by the media in Israel will be challenged next month by Channel Ten TV and the newspaper Haaretz.
–Agencies

‘LK Advani didn’t give speech prior to Babri demolition’

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Lucknow, March 30: BJP today termed as “false” the statement of senior IPS officer Anju Gupta in a court against L K Advani over Babri Mosque demolition and said the veteran leader did not give any speech on the day the structure was razed down.

“I was present on the dais on that day (December 6, 1992) and as per my knowledge Advaniji or even Murali Manohar Joshi never gave any speech on that day. The statement given by Gupta is prejudiced, one-sided and false,” BJP vice-president Kalraj Mishra told reporters here.

Premarital sex is fine now: Khushboo

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Chennai, March 30: There’s more a sense of relief than triumph at Bollywoood child-star turned Tamil superstar Khushboo’s residence in Chennai. Her much misconstrued comments on pre-marital sex in 2005 provoked 22 criminal cases against her, but were finally defended by a special bench of the Supreme Court last week, which ruled that there was nothing illegal about live-in relationships and premarital sex

I want to study, not marry, Muslim girl tells high court

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Mumbai, March 30: The 14-year-old girl, whose family members were arrested by the police in December 2009 for trying to get her married, told the Bombay high court that she wanted to study and pursue a career in medicine.

Justice DB Bhosale and justice AR Joshi seemed impressed after talking with the girl. “We found her to be very intelligent,” Bhosale said. “It is unfortunate that the parents wanted to marry her off.”

Nityananda duped firangs in the US

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Bangalore, March 30: Infamous sex swami would charge a hefty fee for workshops, which he claimed would help people attain instant enlightenment

Douglas McKellor, an American national and once a disciple of Swami Nityananda, has registered a case with California State Attorney General against the self-proclaimed godman.

In his complaint, McKellor has accused Nityananda of sexually exploiting the devotees at the ashram, fraud and financial irregularities.

A resident of San Jose in California, McKeller came in contact with Nityananda in 2007.

Inadequate policing has hurt the poor, says COVA

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Hyderabad, March 30: The Confederation of Voluntary Organisations (COVA) has said policing in the riot-affected areas of the Old City was inadequate and that the poor feared for their safety.

In a press release, COVA members Mazher Hussain, Vithal Rao, Ambica, Manotosh Mandal, Mohammad Afzal, Sandhya, Mohammad Habeebuddin, Srinivasa Reddy and Noor Jahan noted that the disturbances had come at a time when the SSC examinations were under way, and that areas long-unaffected by such strife had also been gripped by its tentacles.

Rosaiah asks police to probe role of outsiders

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Hyderabad, March 30: Chief Minister K Rosaiah today wanted the police to find out if any outside elements were involved in the communal riots that gripped the Old City since Saturday night.

He directed the officials to probe into the allegations over the role of outside elements and also not to spare those involved in the incidents.

Riots only to divert attention from Telangana

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Hyderabad, March 30: Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) Politburo today felt that the trouble in the Old City was nothing but to divert the attention of the public from the Telangana issue.

Briefing reporters later, TRS leader N Narasimha Reddy alleged that the trouble in the Old City was a result of intelligence failure.

He said that one could easily knew who were behind the present trouble in the Old City, if one goes by the statements issued by some Congress leaders. He urged the Government to see that normalcy restored in sensitive areas in the Old City.

Intel clueless on who engineered clashes

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Hyderabad, March 30: A survey report of the riot-affected areas in the Old City by Cova, a citizen activist group, has thrown light on the fact that the clashes were orchestrated.

“Armed mobs were brought in and the whole thing was planned. What we could gather was that the various localities were first surveyed by a group of 30-40 youths who left after initiating chaos. Then the armed mobs followed and attacked each other,” a member of the group said.

Mirzas granted Pak visa, wedding on Apr 11

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Islamabad, March 30: The families of Sania Mirza and Shoaib Malik applied for visas to travel to Pakistan and India respectively for the pre and post-wedding ceremonies.

The Indian tennis player is all set marry the Pakistani cricketer on April 11, an announcement that has created much hype in both the countries.

The Mirza family applied for visa to visit Pakistan and conduct a few ceremonies there. The applicants for this are Sania, her parents and sisters.

Ensuring a trouble-free event, Pakistan authorities have issued the Visas for the family without any delay.

Hyderabad slides into Back time

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Reviving the 1989 nightmare that sent parts of Hyderabad near the river Musi back into the stone age, the communal riots that erupted on Saturday night continued for the third day running on Monday, forcing police to impose curfew in the entire Old City.

I felt like a princess walking the ramp: Minissha Lamba

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New Delhi, March 29: Bollywood actress Minissha Lamba says she felt like a princess as she walked the ramp for fashion designer Ranna Gill on the concluding day of Wills Lifestyle India Fashion Week (WIFW) here Monday.

“Those 40 seconds on the ramp made me feel like a princess,” the actress, who sported a beige colour long silk gown with brown panel in the front, embedded with Swaroski crystals and hand embroidered from below.

Although Minissha walked the ramp with poise and confidence, she admits that she was nervous.

Government to take steps to maintain peace: CM

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Hyderabad, March 29: Chief Minister K Rosaiah has sought the cooperation of City legislators to bring back normalcy in the City.

Rosaiah held a high-level law and order review meeting with senior police officials in view of the communal clashes that erupted in the city soon after he landed here from Krishna district. Rosaiah ordered the police to ensure peaceful conduct of Hanuman Jayanthi to be observed in the next couple of days.

Was it an intelligence failure?

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Hyderabad, March 29: Did the City police and its intelligence network failed to smell the impending communal trouble in the Old City? This question is arising after the violent clashes between people belonging to two different communities leading to widespread damage to property and injuries to several persons.

Though City Police Commissioner A K Khan himself suspected ‘organised attempt’ behind the trouble, no adequate steps were taken to prevent any flare up of yesterday’s clash between two groups at Moosabowli in the Old City.