Month: May 2010

25 killed in N Afghanistan air raid

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Kabul, May 30: US-led forces in Afghanistan say they have killed 25 Taliban gunmen, including two militant commanders, in an airstrike in the northern province of Baghlan.

“At least 25 Taliban were killed in the airstrike” carried out in Baghlan’s Dana Ghori district on Friday night, the Times of India quoted provincial police officials as citing an intelligence report on Saturday.

In a separate operation on Friday night, four militants were reportedly arrested by Afghan police forces in the Doshi and Khenjan districts, also in Baghlan.

West is unfair to Iran: Erdogan

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Ankara, May 30: Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan says that the approach the West has taken over the Tehran declaration is not fair and sincere.

Speaking to the Anatolia news agency on the sidelines of the UN Alliance of Civilizations Forum in Rio de Janeiro on Saturday, Erdogan criticized Western leaders for backpedalling from conditions they had set for Iran after Turkey and Brazil secured those terms in the declaration and for their silence about the undeclared nuclear arsenal of Israel.

Jessica Simpson flashes in restaurant

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London, May 30: Singer-actress Jessica Simpson stunned diners in a restaurant when she almost flashed her breasts while trying to retrieve a morsel of food that had fallen down her top.

Simpson was eating a meal with friends at a lounge when a morsel of food accidentally flew off her fork and disappeared down her low-cut top, causing her to scream out in surprise, reports contactmusic.com.

Then Simpson dug around to retrieve the food stuff, “ruffling up” her top in such a way that fellow diners in the restaurant had to look away.

Angelina Jolie performs stunts to impress kids

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London, May 30: Hollywood actress Angelina Jolie wants to impress her kids by performing daring stunts in her movies.

The Oscar-winning actress who raises six children with partner Brad Pitt has acted in action movies like “Lara Croft: Tomb Rider”, “Mr. And Mrs. Smith” and “Wanted”. She says she feels motivated when her children likes her stunts, reports contactmusic.com.

“The funny thing about having children is that now I am twice as motivated to do a cool stunt because my kids will like it,” she said.

Kate Moss needs a new house

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London, May 30: Supermodel Kate Moss is looking for a new house as she thinks her current home is unlucky for her.

The 36-year-old took the decision after a flood and a burglary happened within a week at her London property, and now she started looking for a new house, reports thesun.co.uk.

“The flood then the burglary has left her shaken and upset. She wants a fresh start,” a friend of her said.

Still waiting for right script after ‘3 Idiots’: Sharman Joshi

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New Delhi, May 30: After the super success of “3 Idiots” last year, Sharman Joshi says he is still waiting for a script that he would love to work on. The boyish-looking actor also hopes that filmmaker Vidhu Vinod Chopra would approach him for his next “Ferrari Ki Sawari”.

“Post-’3 Idiots’ I haven’t signed on anything,” said Sharman. “I am reading scripts and I’m yet to sign and seal a deal for any particular film. I’m not finding the one that I would love to work on,” Sharman told IANS in a telephonic interview from Mumbai.

Suspected militants kill three policemen in Lahore

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Lahore, May 30: Suspected militants opened fire at a police picket killing three policemen in this eastern Pakistani city, officials said today.

A sub-inspector and two constables were killed instantly when two armed men riding motorcycles sprayed a volley of bullets at the picket in Samanabad area at around midnight.

The attack occurred a day after heavily-armed terrorists stormed two mosques of the minority Ahmedi sect, killing 95 people and injuring over 100.

Husain, Raza works to go under hammer

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London, May 30: Works by M F Husain, S H Raza, Bhupen Khakhar and Sadanand Bakre will go under the hammer at a Bonhams auction here on June 2.

Husain’s ‘Horses Head’, acrylic on canvas, has an estimate of 40,000-60,000 pounds, while another of his acrylic work ‘Saraswati’ is expected to fetch 50,000 pounds at the sale of Modern and Contemporary Middle Eastern and South Asian Art.

Khakhar’s oil on canvas ‘Republic Day’ has an estimate of 30,000-40,000 pounds and Raza’s oil work ‘Hill Station Road’ 10,000-15,000 pounds.

‘I don’t want my film to be driven by headlines’

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Mumbai, May 30: Ananth Mahadevan’s film Red Alert that’s slated for a July is based on the Naxal movement; Vinod Khanna plays a Kobad Gandhy-like character

When Mumbai filmmaker Ananth Mahadevan started work on his Naxal film, Red Alert-The War Within nearly three years ago, the idea came to him after reading a real-life report in a newspaper.

New US National Security Strategy

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The Obama administration released its National Security Strategy Thursday (May 27) which is consistent with president Obama’s approach on issues of international cooperation, terrorism, and nuclear policy. The document is largely an internationalist approach by an internationalist president who seeks cooperation with the world’s economic powers and international institutions in order to ensure continuity of American economic prosperity and its position as the world’s only superpower.

India rubbishes Pak charges on water theft

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New Delhi, May 30: Peeved at Pakistan’s oft-repeated allegation that it is being deprived of its share of common waters, India on Sunday said such charges were aimed at diverting the attention of their people from their “own inefficient” use of the vital resource.

On the eve of the bilateral talks on water here, India asserted that it has never deprived Pakistan of its share of water, not even during wars and had no intention to do so ever.

Appeals judge lifts ban on Malik, says he’s a changed man

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Lahore, May 30: A Pakistan Cricket Board-appointed appeals judge today lifted the one-year ban on former captain Shoaib Malik, saying the all-rounder, accused of being a “negative influence” in the past, is a changed man now.

Former High Court judge Irfan Qadir’s decision came at the National Cricket Academy where he held his hearing in which Malik was represented by his lawyer.

The judge also reduced a fine on Malik from Rs two million to Rs one million.

Krishna to address US high-powered industry meet

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Washington, May 30: Indian External Affairs S. M. Krishna will deliver a keynote address at the US-India Business Council’s (USIBC) 35th Annual General Meeting to share India’s vision for the US-India strategic partnership.

Recognizing the vital role industry plays in shaping the policy of governments, Krishna will be calling on US industry on June 2 in advance of the bilateral, government to government US-India Strategic Dialogue, scheduled for Thursday.

US explores surgical stikes against Pak-Taliban

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Washington,May 30: THE FAILED Times Square bombing plot on May 1 has come back to haunt Pakistan.

Senior Pentagon officials were quoted by The Washington Post on Saturday as saying that the US military is looking at options for a unilateral strike in Pakistan if a successful terrorist strike on US soil were to be traced back to the country.

“ Planning has been reinvigorated in the wake of Times Square,” the paper quoted an unnamed official as saying.

A reformed convict’s poems give birth to play

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Shimla, May 30: Put behind bars for nine years for rape, Sudhir Sharma underwent the agony of prison life – an emotional journey that found vent in 153 poems. Written on bits of paper and handed over to an NGO each time, the reformed convict’s poems will now be staged as a play in Shimla.

The play, “Toote Armano Ki Aawaz”, will be staged by eight local artists June 4 with the active participation of the Himachal Pradesh government, the Delhi-based NGO Delhi Kala Karam and the National School of Drama.

Muslim women get married for free

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Mumbai, May 30: In its fifth year, the Hazrat Shah Saqlain Academy of India sponsored the weddings of 31 underprivileged couples

A mass marriage of 31 poor Muslim girls took place at the YMCA grounds near Mumbai Central on May 29, arranged by Hazrat Shah Saqlain Academy Of India. The trust has been organising marriages for five years, to help underprivileged families.

They distribute forms (Rs 250 each) and later conduct a survey before picking families whose marriages they’ll sponsor.

When Tony Blair did not want to fight Gordon Brown

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London, May 30: Former British prime minister Tony Blair was reluctant to take over as leader of the Labour party and said he did not want to fight Gordon Brown.

“I really don’t want to fight Gordon,” Blair told Alastair Campbell, director of communications and strategy for the Blair regime.

Blair felt his leadership would be “too big a psychological step” for the party after the death of its leader John Smith.

Jet airhostess raped by lover?

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Mumbai, May 30: Varun Agarwal (32), a Jet Airways co-pilot, was booked for threatening and rape by his colleague and live-in partner, an airhostess (name withheld), at Powai police station on Friday.

They were in a live-in relationship since 2007 and lived at Military Road, Powai. Claiming that they had consensual sex on the promise of marriage, which Agarwal later refused to fulfill, she has registered a case of threatening and rape under Section 367 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) against him.

Sonia seeks Chiru’s help to tame Jagan

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New delhi,May 30 :Andhra BILLIONER politicians have become a headache for the congress high command specially Jagan who has earned Billions of dollars and very ambitious in becoming CM of andhra pradesh at any cost and bought over more than 50 plus MLAS .FACED with dissent in its ranks, the Congress is contemplating to use the ‘ Chiru weapon’ to deal with the ‘ Jagan factor’ in Andhra Pradesh.

Ban lifted from Shoaib Malik

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Karachi, May 30: A PCB appeals tribunal today lifted the one-year ban imposed on former Pakistan captain Shoaib Malik, clearing the decks for the controversial all-rounder’s return to international cricket.

Malik, who got married to Indian tennis star Sania Mirza last month, was banned for indiscipline during Pakistan’s disastrous tour of Australia.

The one-man tribunal comprising retired judge Irfan Qadir also halved the Rs2 million fine imposed on Malik by an inquiry committee of the Pakistan Cricket Board, PCB lawyer Talib Rizvi was quoted as saying in media reports here.

Pilot rapes Livein Airhostess?

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Mumbai, May 30: The Powai police arrested a 27-year-old pilot on Saturday for allegedly raping a 22-year-old airhostess. Both were in a relationship and had been living together for the last two years.

According to the police, the accused, Varun Agrawal, an Andheri East resident, works with Jet Airways as pilot. The victim had lodged a written complaint against him on May 10. Following this the police investigated the matter and registered a case against Agrawal.

Telangana bandh peaceful barring stray incidents

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Hyderabad, May 30: The bandh observed in districts of Telangana region to protest the firing on those supporting the separate statehood issue in Mahbubabad town passed off peacefully today, barring stray incidents of damage to public and private properties, police said.

Apart from resorting to road blockades and burning buses, pro-Telangana activists held dharnas, took out rallies and burnt effigies of Congress MP Jaganmohan Reddy, Parkal MLA Konda Surekha and her MLC husband K Murali at Osmania University campus and in Nizamabad district, they said.

Sending bodies to holy cities for burial banned

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Jeddah, May 30: The Interior Ministry has issued a circular ordering that bodies of Saudis or foreigners should not be sent to Makkah or Madinah for burial.

The statement said the issue was discussed with the Permanent Committee for Scholarly Research and Ifta, which said every Muslim should be buried in the area where he or she died.

“Under Shariah rules, the dead bodies should be buried without any delay before the corpse begins to decompose. This will also prevent unnecessary expenditure on transporting dead bodies,” the statement said.

BWA spectrum bid has gone up

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Mumbai, May 29: Private sector lender Kotak Mahindra Bank today opened 10 more branches across five states, taking its total branch network to 250 pan India.

The five states include Uttar Pradesh, Haryana,Rajasthan, Delhi and Maharashtra, the bank said in a statement
released here.With this, Kotak has now presence in three new states –UP, Rajasthan and Haryana.

“Expanding the branch network is an integral part of our consumer banking portfolio, which is aimed at increasing

Hollywood actor Dennis Hopper passes away

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Los Angeles, May 29: Legendary screen actor and Hollywood rebel, Dennis Hopper, has died at the age of 74, local media reported Saturday.

Hopper was best known for his role in the epoch-defining late 1960s film “Easy Rider”, although he also starred in “Apocalypse Now”, and “Blue Velvet”.

His death was reported by the Los Angeles Daily News, saying the actor died at home in Venice Beach, Los Angeles, with his family in attendance.

–Agencies