Month: April 2010

Strike continue against ESMA

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Srinagar, April 06: The Jammu and Kashmir government on Monday invoked the Essential Service Maintenance Act (ESMA) against the government employees as they continued their strike for the third consecutive day.

The decision was taken at a cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Monday evening.

The government employees have been observing strike in support of their demand for release of sixth pay commission arrears and enhancement of retirement age from 58 to 60.

Suzlon bags 18 MW wind energy project from GSFC

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Mumbai, April 06: Wind turbine manufacturer Suzlon Energy Tuesday said it has bagged a contract from Gujarat State Fertilisers & Chemicals (GSFC) for setting up a wind energy project in Gujarat.

The company has bagged a repeat order from GSFC for setting up, operating and maintaining an 18 MW project at Adodar in Porbandar district of Gujarat, Suzlon Energy said in a filing to Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).

Asian stocks up, market readies for Yuan move

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Singapore, April 06: Asian stock markets rose to three-month highs on Tuesday, extending a two-week rally fuelled by strong U.S. economic data and a seeming thaw in U.S.-China tensions over the Yuan.

The dollar held near 7-month highs against the yen, supported by a surge in U.S. Treasury yields, while the Australian dollar was largely firm ahead of a central bank interest rate decision which looked too close to call.

CCS teams investigate Shoaib-Ayesha case

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Hyderabad, April 06: Five teams of the Central Crime Station, a special unit of the Andhra Pradesh police department, have been formed to investigate into the Shoaib Malik-Ayesha Siddiqui controversy. The officials will be grilling a number of people involved in the case and gather new evidence as the Pakistani cricketer is barred from leaving India till he can clear his name off any malice against him.

Rupee falls by 6 paise against dollar in early trade

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Mumbai, April 06: The Indian rupee turned somewhat weak today after climbing to a 19-month high yesterday and depreciated by 6 paise to 44.50 a dollar in early trade in line with the dollar’s gain overseas.

Dealers said that firm domestic stock markets, however, prevented any major fall in the rupee.

Dollar’s gain overseas and demand for the US currency mainly weighed on the rupee sentiment, they said.

The rupee closed at 44.44/45 a dollar in the previous session, a level last seen on September 4, 2008.

Coal India plans to launch IPO In July

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New Delhi, April 06: Coal India Ltd, the world’s largest coal producer by output, expects to launch its initial public offer (IPO) in July and list its shares in August, the state-run company’s chairman said.

The IPO will be part of the Indian government’s plan to raise funds for social-welfare and infrastructure projects by selling stakes in state-run companies. It proposes to sell 10 percent of Coal India, including 1 percent to the miner’s employees, to raise about Rs 120 billion (USD 2.7 billion).

Salary accounts to attract 25 per cent more interest

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New Delhi, April 06: Salary account holders could see their interest income rise by up to 25 per cent on the back of a new RBI rule from this month, under which banks will compute 3.5 per cent savings interest on daily basis instead of taking the lowest deposit during a month, Crisil Ratings said on Monday.

Crisil said the new method of interest computation will increase the effective interest rate on savings balances, particularly for salary account holders.

Kangna’s injury delays her dubbing for Once Upon A Time In Mumbai

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Mumbai, April 06: Kangna Ranaut’s recent injury has not only affected her shoots but also her dubbing schedules. The actress was slated to dub for Milan Luthria’s Once Upon A Time In Mumbai this week. With a fractured leg, there is no way the actress can do the studio rounds.

Anything can happen
Informs Luthria, “Obviously, her health is most important. Anything can happen to anyone at any time. She was to begin dubbing from April 10. Her part was to start first followed by co-stars Emraan Hashmi and Prachi Desai. But now, Emraan will dub first in stead of her.”

Vivek Oberoi gets much love from the Dalai Lama

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Mumbai, April 06: At a recent international faith conference in Rishikesh, Uttarakhand, Vivek Oberoi was overwhelmed by the warmth showered on him by the Dalai Lama.

Vivek fills us in on the details, “It happened on April 3. It’s a beautiful exercise conducted by Swami Chidanand Saraswati. The Swami has been bringing together leaders from all religions for years to promote peace, love and harmony amongst various faiths. The Dalai Lama attended as the leader of Buddhism.”

Karzai threatens to join Taliban

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Kabul, April 06: Afghan President Hamid Karzai has reportedly threatened to join the Taliban if he continues to come under “outside pressure” to reform, a media report said Tuesday.

Karzai made the unusual comments at a closed-door meeting Saturday with select lawmakers, just days after kicking up a diplomatic row with remarks alleging foreigners were behind the fraud in the 2009 disputed elections, the China Daily website reported.

Big names lend their voices for Paathshaala

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Mumbai, April 06: It is rare to see four of Bollywood’s talented music composers come together to be a part of a film. But this was what Hanif Shaikh, the music composer of Eros International & Shaira Khan’s Paathshaala, did while creating the music for the Shahid Kapoor starrer.

With his beautiful compositions and touching lyrics, Hanif was successful in roping in some of the greatest talents such as Lucky Ali, Salim Merchant, Vishal Dadlani and Kailesh Kher to sing for the movie.

Shahrukh finally says yes to 3 Idiots maker

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Mumbai, April 06: After a number of hurdles, Shahrukh Khan will finally be working with Vidhu Vinod Chopra on a film.

Vidhu has wanted to do a film with Shahrukh for years now and each time, things didn’t fall into place. Vidhu wanted SRK in Kareeb, then in 1942 – A Love Story, and even Munnabhai MBBS and 3 Idiots but something or the other went wrong each time. They even had a fall out after SRK couldn’t do 3 Idiots.

21 killed in Colombia accident

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Bogota, April 06: At least 21 people were killed when a bus plunged into a ravine in Colombia, officials have said.

The accident occurred Sunday about 78 km east of Medellin, capital of Colombia’s northwestern province of Antioquia, an official said Monday.

Five people were injured in the accident.

The bus, which was on its way from Puerto Nare to Medellin, went off the highway at La Josefina.

‘The tally we have is 21 dead and five injured,’ the official said.

Shilpa Shetty to judge ‘Zara Nach Ke Dikha’

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New Delhi, April 06: After “Jhalak Dikhla Ja”, actress Shilpa Shetty will again take the judge’s seat for STAR Plus’ new reality show “Zara Nach Ke Dikha”.

“Promised to tell u all first… Will be judging ‘Zara nach Ke Dikha’ on Star. It’s official so we are to start shooting soon,” the actress wrote on her twitter page.

While Shilpa confirmed her presence, grapevine’s abuzz that Arshad Warsi and Ganesh Hegde have also been finalised to judge the show.

BJP hints at snapping ties with AGP in Assam

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Guwahati, April 06: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Tuesday almost put an end to the year-long honeymoon with Assam’s main opposition Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) by hinting to fight the 2011 assembly elections on its own and take power in the state.

“If they (AGP) want an alliance we can talk, or else we are ready to fight the 2011 elections on our own,” BJP president Nitin Gadkari told journalists at the end of a two-day visit to Guwahati.

On Monday, the BJP president was even more vocal about snapping ties with the AGP.

70 CRPF personnel killed

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Raipur, April 06: At least 20 CRPF personnel were killed in an attack by Maoists in Dantewada district of Chhattisgarh early Tuesday.

The attack took place when a CRPF patrol party was returning from a road-opening duty in the Maoist—infested Mukrana forest in the district between 6 and 7 am.

“We have rushed helicopters to evacuate the casualties,” Chhattisgarh Director General of Police Viswa Ranjan told.

The death toll in the attack may rise as many of the personnel have been seriously injured.

Deepika Padukone shops around with Lara Dutta

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Mumbai, April 06: Shopping is something that can bring together the contemporary women who may be the Bollywood actresses. Recently Lara and Deepika were shooting in London for their upcoming film ‘Housefull’ and that often took off from work for some shopping.

Kajol paid a bomb for Rin

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Mumbai, April 06: She is one star who is a true star in the true sense of the word. But the very utterance of the word ‘Electrifying’ immediately brings her face instantly! Well, we are indeed talking about the one and only Kajol, who went onto recapture hearts galore with her startling performance in the recently released smash hit My Name Is Khan.

Katrina Kaif gets conscious in a tight skirt

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MUmbai, April 06: Though Bollywood’s hottest actress Katrina Kaif is born and brought up under British culture but her heart seems to be very much Indian!

While many a people must be having this preconceived notion about the pretty actress that.

She must be quite cool sporting hot revealing clothes. But that’s not so. On the contrary Katrina feels uncomfortable under skimpy clothes.

She loves wearing sarees. Recently in one of the interviews, the lanky lass revealed that while donning.

Akshay-Ash to come together for a romantic flick

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Mumbai, April 06: Akshay Kumar and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan have earlier been seen in the film Khakee but that was not really a love story.

So when Vipul Shah cast the two again in his film Action Replay, he was sure that he didn’t want it to be an ordinary affair.

The same brief went to Pritam too. Apart from the agreement the composer was asked to sign.

To give only original music, Vipul added that he wanted something “out of this world”

And his enthusiasm got rubbed on to the composer. “The music for the film will rock because I wanted to do something really good.

Gunmen kill 6 policemen in NW Afghanistan

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Kabul, April 06: At least 6 Afghan policemen have been killed and two others reported missing during a fierce firefight with suspected Taliban militants in Afghanistan’s Baghlan province.

Six policemen were killed before dawn on Tuesday when militants opened fire on a checkpoint in the Puli Khumri district of the northeastern Baghlan province.

The militants set two police vehicle ablaze and made off with three others, Bakhtar news agency reported.

The policemen were providing security on the main road through the province.

Netanyahu vows more settlement construction

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Jerusalem, April 06: Israel’s hawkish Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he is determined to push ahead with the construction of Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank.

“We will continue developing in the North and the South, and certainly in Jerusalem (al-Quds),” Netanyahu said at a ceremony marking the end of Passover.

Defying widespread international calls for a freeze, Israel has been refusing to halt settlement expansion on confiscated Palestinian land, including the illegally annexed East al-Quds.

Nasir Jamshed caught cheating in exam

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Lahore, April 06: In another rather embarrassing episode for Pakistan cricket, national team`s opening batsman Nasir Jamshed has landed up in police custody after being caught cheating in his secondary school examinations today.

Officials said that Nasir was caught red handed while cheating in the English paper of the class tenth examinations with the help of three of his friends, Habibullah, Ghulam Mustafa and Zia-ul-Haq.

Another bomb rocks Baghdad, one killed

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Baghdad, April 06: One person has been killed and five others sustained injuries in a bombing in central Baghdad a day after multiple bomb attacks near foreign embassies in the Iraqi capital left dozens of people dead.

The blast near Iraq’s national theater took its toll on pedestrians and commuters, AFP quoted an Iraqi Interior Ministry official as saying.

Back-to-back attacks on the embassies on Sunday killed at least 41 people and injured over 200.

Israel cites ‘Tactical error’ for killing Palestinians

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Tel Aviv, April 06: An Israeli military inquiry claims that the last-month killing of four Palestinians by Tel Aviv forces had been prompted by ‘tactical failure.’

An investigation launched into the March incidents claimed the deaths had been caused by lack of preparedness on the part of the forces, said the Israeli newspaper Haaretz on Monday.