Month: April 2010

NATO soldier killed in Afghanistan: ISAF

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Kabul, April 30: An improvised explosive device killed a soldier serving with NATO’s International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan, the military announced Friday.

The death occurred in southern Afghanistan, but NATO did not specify the soldier’s nationality, in line with policy.

A total of 172 foreign soldiers have died in the country this year.

In 2009, according to an AFP tally using data from icasualties.org, 520 foreign soldiers died fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan, making it the deadliest year for them since the war began in 2001.

DU staff ‘miscalculated’ Cobalt-60’s radioactive time

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New Delhi, April 30: A day after the origin of Cobalt-60 was traced to Delhi University’s Chemistry Department, the University authorities on Thursday said it was a ‘miscalculation’ that the material had outlived its radioactive time, following which it was auctioned.

Vice-Chancellor Prof. Deepak Pental also said the University takes “moral responsibility and was very “apologetic” for what happened and the damages caused.

Exposure to the radioactive material has led to the death of a scrap shop worker in west Delhi.

Kareena Kapoor’s Negative Role In ‘Agent Vinod’

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Mumbai, April 30: Bollywood actress Kareena Kapoor, who gave two duds ‘Main aur Mrs. Khanna’ and ‘Kurbaan’ in 2009, set the box office afire with her megahit ‘3 Idiots’ opposite Aamir Khan during the same year.

Now, Bebo has already started work on her next projects, which comprise ‘Golmaal 3’, ‘Stepmom’ remake and ‘Agent Vinod’.

Miss Kapoor is very thrilled at the prospect of starring with beau Saif’s ‘Agent Vinod’. Directed by Sriram Raghvan, the film is a spy thriller.

Beauti – Katrina Kaif has the ‘hottest body’

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Mumbai, April 30: Who in Bollywood is the favourite of the netizens? The answer is loud and clear: Katrina Kaif! So.

When a poll is conducted on the web for the ‘Hottest Body of the Decade’, no brownie points for guessing who’s going to top it.

The oh-so-beautiful, pristine, gorgeous Bollywood babe Katrina Kaif has won the online battle for the hottest bod by getting 33 percent votes.

She pipped to the post hotties like Bipasha Basu (13 percent), Aishwarya Rai (10 percent) and Priyanka Chopra (9 percent).

Maid abuse is institutionalized in Gulf

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New Delhi, April 30: Employers in the Gulf may be hiring maids just to abuse them, says a rights group.

A leading international rights group says reforms undertaken by governments in the Middle East to protect female domestic workers from abuse are insufficient.

The Human Right Watch says millions of Asian and African women working as house maids in the Mideast remain at risk of exploitation and violence.

J-Lo desperate to work with Johnny Depp

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London, April 30: Singer-actress Jennifer Lopez is eager to work with actor Johnny Depp.

“I’ve been seriously lucky with my roles. I’ve worked with a lot of hot leading men, but I’m desperate to get Johnny. Working with him would be out of this world,” the dailystar.co.uk quoted her as saying.

“I’d even be a pirate with no teeth and wear an eyepatch if it meant I could work with him. I want him that badly,” she added.

Meanwhile, Lopez said she’s busy recording a new album which she hopes will be released in August.
–IANS

Scientists to create largest laser to try end earth’s energy woes

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Livermore, April 30: Scientists at a government lab in Livermore, California are trying to use the world’s largest laser – the size of three football fields – to set off a nuclear reaction so intense that it will make a star bloom on the surface of the earth, according to a report. The ambitious experiment will be tried for real, and for the first time, late this summer.

BJP withholds decision to pull out of Jharkhand government

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New Delhi, April 30: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Friday said that its decision to withdraw support to the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) government in Jharkhand was on hold for the moment.

The BJP would hold talks with alliance partners the JMM, Janata Dal-United (JD-U) and All Jharkhand Students Union (AJSU) as well as the BJP state unit and take a “further decision, BJP general secretary Ananth Kumar said in a press conference in the capital.

Congress biased against Maharashtra: Thackeray

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Mumbai, April 30: Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray said today that the Congress has been biased against Maharashtra since Motilal Nehru’s time, and that the Samyukta Maharashtra movement was primarily a struggle against the Congress.

In the second part of an interview in Saamna, Thackeray said Motilal Nehru always hated the state and so did Jawaharlal Nehru. “The movement was against the Congress but they called our fight native colonialism. Where was this view when Andhra Pradesh was made a separate state on a linguistic basis?” he said.

BJP & Soren may cut new deal

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New Delhi, April 30: The Jharkhand potboiler took a curious turn on Thursday as the BJP, egged on by an “apologetic” Shibu Soren, began a rethink on its decision to withdraw support to his government in Ranchi. Although a final decision could be taken only on Friday, the repeated cancellation of the party’s appointment with governor MOH.

Farook indicated the BJP was banking on a new arrangement to rule Jharkhand. Party insiders did not rule out a BJP leader heading the next government in the state.

HCL Infosystems Q3 net up 3 pc

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Mumbai, April 30: IT firm HCL Infosystems today said its consolidated net profit rose by 3.44 per cent to Rs 60 crore for the quarter ended March 31, 2010, over the same period last year.

Net sales of the company declined to Rs 2,814.50 crore for the third quarter ended March 31, from Rs 2,990.63 crore in the same period last year, HCL Infosystems said in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange.

The board has proposed a third interim dividend at Rs 2 per share on the face value of Rs 2 each for the year 2009-2010.

Suzlon office in Pune gets US certification

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Washington, April 30: The newly built global headquarter of wind turbine maker Suzlon Energy Limited in Pune was today certified as an eco-friendly building by the US Green Building Council.

The headquarter named One Earth received the Platinum certification of Leadership in Energy and Environment Design (LEED), a green environment rating system that complies with the standards of the US Green Building Council.

LEED standards specify stringent norms to be met for the greenest, most energy-efficient and high performance buildings.

Rajasthan ATS arrest Ajmer Dargah blast suspect

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Ajmer, April 30: A man having alleged links with a Hindu militant outfit has been arrested by Rajasthan police in connection with the 2007 Ajmer Dargah bomb blast, in which three people were killed and over 30 injured.

He is expected to be produced before a local court today, police sources said.

The accused, Devendra Gupta, a resident of Bihari Ganj in Ajmer, was arrested by the Rajasthan Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) on Wednesday night when he had gone to meet his ailing mother, the sources said.

20-yr-old NRI goes missing in Malad

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Mumbai, April 30: A 20-year-old non-resident Indian (NRI), who came to the city for her cousin’s wedding, went missing from Malwani in Malad on Monday. Guninder Chehal had been living in Mumbai with her maternal uncle since December 2009.

RBI deputy sees no immediate need for policy action

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New Delhi, April 30: A deputy governor of the Reserve Bank of India on Thursday said he did not see any immediate need for any policy action before a scheduled quarterly review in July.

“As of now, no,” K.C. Chakrabarty said when asked if a mid-cycle policy action was needed.

Wholesale price inflation in March touched a 17-month high of 9.9 percent, prompting the RBI to raise rates in April for the second time in as many months.

RBI Governor Duvvuri Subbarao said rising prices for food, fuel and wages have made inflation more of a generalised and demand-side problem.

Phone tap uproar in Rajya Sabha

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New Delhi, April 30: The Opposition parties pushed the government on the backfoot in the Rajya Sabha with an all-out attack on the alleged phone-tapping of four politicians and on Telecom Minister A Raja. Led by Leader of the Opposition Arun Jaitley, the opposition MPs charged the government with “political espionage” in a heated debate marked by angry exchanges between rival parties.

Jaitley said the government statements were merely “limited denials” which were “economical” with the truth. “The government did not say that no tapping had taken place.

Shanghai shuts down financial district ahead of Expo

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Shanghai, April 30: Shanghai all but closed down the main Pudong financial hub on Friday for a show that will kick-off its multi-billion dollar Expo, lining the roads with police and taking no chances with security.

China’s business capital, playing host to world leaders including French President Nicolas Sarkozy and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, is swabbing travelers for explosives at its airports, x-raying bags on the subway and even warning people not to hang their laundry outside.

FM gives a relief packages for coffee growers

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New Delhi, April 30: Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Thursday announced changes in tax proposals that will benefit coffee growers, new hospitals and construction sector.

Finance Minister also made clear that service tax on domestic travellers would be Rs 100 per domestic journey and a maximum of Rs 500 for international travel

Love story of Delhi couple in new Jeffrey Archer book

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New Delhi, April 30: A Delhi couple falling in love while waiting for a traffic light to turn green in the capital will figure in one of the several stories of a new book by celebrated British writer Jeffrey Archer which will have a special India launch next week.

The story in question is about Jamwal and Nisha who fall in love while waiting at a traffic signal.

Thus begins one of the 15 stories Jeffrey has gathered from around the globe during the past five years in his sixth collection of enthralling short stories named “And Thereby Hangs a Tale”.

Thai protesters storm major hospital in Bangkok

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Bangkok, April 30: A major hospital in the Thai capital evacuated patients and suspended all but emergency surgery Friday after anti-government protesters who occupy a nearby zone stormed in to hunt for security forces they suspected were positioned there.

A group of so-called Red Shirts broke into Chulalongkorn Hospital late Thursday despite pleas from its director, then withdrew back into their enclave after not finding soldiers or police within the sprawling compound.

Three terrorists killed in Kashmir

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Srinagar, April 30: Three terrorists were gunned down early Friday on the Line of Control (LoC) in Machil sector of north Kashmir’s Kupwara district by security forces.

A defence spokesperson in Srinagar said troops noticed movement of separatist guerrillas near the LoC trying to infiltrate to this side.

“The terrorists were challenged following which they opened fire. The fire was returned, triggering a gunfight which ended after the group of three infiltrators were killed,” Lt. Col JS Brar told IANS in Srinagar.

‘Spanish climber dies on Nepal’s Annapurna’

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Madrid, April 30: Spanish climber Tolo Calafat, who suffered swelling on the brain while descending Nepal’s famed Mount Annapurna in the Himalayas, died Thursday before he could be rescued, a climbing partner said.

“He is dead,” veteran Spanish climber Juanito Oiarzabal, who reached the summit of Mount Annapurna on Tuesday along with a third Spanish climber, told Spain’s National Radio station.

Calafat, a 39-year-old father of two from Majorca on Spain’s Balearic Islands, was no longer answering the satellite phone which he had used to speak with his family and call for help, he added.

‘Will not spare those out to divide Maharashtra’

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Mumbai, April 30: Claiming that Mumbai was on the verge of being separated from Maharashtra, Shiv Sena Chief Bal Thackeray today said he would “personally join the battle to thwart any such attempt.”

“We will not spare those who are out to divide Maharashtra. We will pounce on them like tigers,” Thackeray said in an interview to party mouthpiece ‘Saamana’.

Thackeray also expressed staunch opposition to the movement for creating a separate Vidarbha state.

Government committed to privacy: Chidambaram

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New Delhi, April 30: The government is committed to privacy and is prepared to strengthen safeguards regarding phone tapping, Home Minister P. Chidambaram said Thursday.

He also said the government was examining a proposal to bring under “a ministry” the National Technical Research Organisation (NTRO), a highly specialised technical intelligence gathering agency.

We will surprise India: Afghan coach

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St Lucia, April 30: Afghanistan coach Kabir Khan has warned the Indians, saying his side were unperturbed by their reputation and will look to exploit the surprise element to dazzle Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s men in their twenty20 World Cup opener tomorrow.

“On the technical side it is good that they don’t know us because when they know about you they will plan. The coaches will watch the videos and work on our weakness. Luckily, we know everything about them. We have seen all their IPL games.

We will give them a surprise which will make them remember us after the game,” Kabir said.