Mumbai, May 01: A 60-year-old man jumped off the terrace of a 26-storey building at Malad Link Road at 8.30 pm on Friday.
“On Friday night, he told the watchman he wanted to meet someone in the building. After a few minutes, he jumped off the terrace,” said a resident, who did not want to be named. The police have registered a case of accidental death.
—-Agencies
Washington, May 01: The landmark India-US civil nuclear deal giving New Delhi access to nuclear technology despite its refusal to sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) would not weaken the pact, says a top US official.
“We don’t believe we weakened the NPT in our peaceful civilian nuclear deal with India,” Ellen Tauscher, Undersecretary of State for Arms Control, said in a tele-conference with reporters Friday ahead of the NPT review conference Monday.
Kolkata, May 01: Rice, dal, brinjal fry, vegetables, fish or mutton curry, with some chutney thrown in…sounds just like home food? That’s what Kolkatans are loving about the many new services that promise healthy, homely and reasonably priced food.
Working couples, the elderly, bachelors – basically anybody unable or unwilling to spend time in the kitchen and at the same time loathe to eating out because of rich and oily food – are part of this new trend in Kolkata. A few people like it so much that they have practically shut down their kitchens!
Washington, May 01: India’s software tycoon Azim Premji plans to set up a world-class university to train teachers who will fan out to the teacher training institutes in India’s 600 districts.
“It will be a world-class university with a large endowment,” 64-year-old Premji told Forbes magazine noting, “Most of these institutes are a complete mess with the teachers leading the classes worse than the teachers that come to get trained.”
United Nations, May 01: UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has appointed Atul Khare, a former Indian Foreign Service officer, as Assistant Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations.
Khare, a former Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Timor-Leste and head of the UN Integrated Mission there (UNMIT), replaces Edmond Mulet of Guatemala, who was last month appointed as the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Haiti for one year.
Announcing the appointment Friday, Ban said Khare served the UN with distinction in Timor-Leste from December 2006 to December 2009.
Washington, May 01: Two US citizens have been indicted for providing Al Qaeda with computer expertise and other technical support to help modernise the terrorist outfit.
Prosecutors identified the men as Wesam El-Hanafi, 33, an American citizen, and Sabirhan Hasanoff, 34, a dual citizen of the US and Australia.
According to an indictment unsealed Friday in Federal District Court in Manhattan, both the men, former residents of Brooklyn, have been charged with conspiring to provide Al Qaeda with computer advice and other assistance.
Srinagar, May 01: Indian troops exchanged heavy gunfire with Pakistani forces overnight Saturday and foiled an infiltration bid by militants trying to cross the Line of Control (LoC) that divides Jammu and Kashmir between the two countries, officials said.
The Border Security Force (BSF) retaliated to the gunfire from Pakistani rangers at Ballad post in Samba sector, about 45 km southwest of Jammu at 11 p.m. Friday.
Islamabad, May 01: The US said Friday it will provide two transport helicopters to assist the Pakistan military in its counter-insurgency operations.
A US embassy spokesman said the two enhanced-performance Bell 412 EP utility transport helicopters, valued at $24 million, will support Pakistan’s counter-insurgency operations.
The US will also provide $20 million in associated spare parts, special tools and other equipment to support the aircraft, Online news agency reported.
Mumbai, May 01: Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray made a public appearance Friday evening after a break of nearly two years at a function at Shivaji Park here to mark the golden jubilee of the formation of Maharashtra.
The last time he was seen at a public function was during the 2008 annual Dussehra rally of the party at the same venue.
At that time, he had made his famous statement that he had “grown old and tired” and needed a walking stick, which signalled the passing of the baton to his son Uddhav, who is the party’s executive president now.
New Delhi, May 01: A 28-year-old driver has been arrested on charges of stealing his former employer’s car in Feburary this year, police said Friday.
Sunil was arrested from Mukarba Chowk of outer Delhi Wednesday.
“Sunil was angry as his employer scolded him for stealing petrol. He was also fired from the job. He wanted to teach a lesson to his employer, so he stole the car,” a police officer said.
On Feb 11, Sunil drove away his former employer Sanjay Verma’s car from Rohini. Sunil was arrested after police received information which linked the theft to Sunil.
–IANS–
Hyderabad, May 01: Gun-totting policemen kept a tight vigil in Hyderabad for the third consecutive day Friday in view of warnings by intelligence agencies of possible terror attacks. P olice also cracked the whip on some shopping malls for poor security measures.
Police continued large-scale searches in the city amid warning of possible terror attacks. Armed security personnel maintained a tight vigil at busy traffic intersections and around major shopping malls, hotels and public places.
Mumbai, May 01: Rahul Mahajan, who married Bengali girl Dimpy Ganguly on a TV show, is now keen to extend his family and says he can’t wait to have children. But as a husband he feels he should wait for a while.
‘I want children. But when I give it all a thought, I feel that as a husband I must wait and it will all come with time. On the contrary, as a father, I want children to come quickly. I can’t wait!’ Rahul told IANS.
Hyderabad, May 01: Security has been beefed up in the city following intelligence inputs about a possible terror attack, police said.
The police began frisking operations in various areas this evening particularly in Begam Bazar, Osmangunj, Madina, Mozamjahi Market and Mangalhat localities in old city.
“We have taken up general preventive measures and security has been tightened to check criminals or traffic violators, ” City Police Commissioner A K Khan told PTI.
New Delhi, May 01: India on Friday hoped that it will get direct access to Lashkar-e-Taiba operative David Headley, arrested by American authorities in connection with the Mumbai terror attacks.
“We have been assured that Indian investigators would be given direct access to David Headley. This is a significant achievement and should put an end to the doubts expressed in certain quarters,” Home Secretary G.K. Pillai told reporters here while presenting the monthly report of the Ministry.
New Delhi, May 01: Senior Congress leader and party in-charge of West Bengal K. Keshav Rao met Trinamool Congress chief and Railways Minister Mamata Banerjee here Friday to seek seat-sharing “adjustment” between the two parties ahead of next month’s Kolkata civic body elections.
“I conveyed to her what the party wants. There is need for adjustment,” Mr. Rao told reporters.
New Delhi, May 01: Senior Congress leader and party in-charge of West Bengal K. Keshav Rao met Trinamool Congress chief and Railways Minister Mamata Banerjee here Friday to seek seat-sharing “adjustment” between the two parties ahead of next month’s Kolkata civic body elections.
“I conveyed to her what the party wants. There is need for adjustment,” Rao told reporters.
Raipur, May 01: Maoists opened “random firing” Friday night near a camp of the paramilitary Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) at Errabore in Chhattisgarh’s violence-hit Dantewada district, police said.
“It was just a one or two rounds of random firing from distance in an area in Errabore that has a SSB camp besides a police station,” Dantewada Superintendent of Police Amresh Mishra told IANS over phone.
He described it a “very minor” incident and said the troopers and police personnel at Errabore, some 500 km south of capital Raipur, were on high alert to deal with any situation.
Raipur, May 01: A district and sessions court awarded life imprisonment to a constable in Chhattisgarh’s Korea district Friday for shooting dead a Maoist leader in judicial custody.
Justice T.K. Jha, gave the ruling of life imprisonment for constable Shyamlal Chauhan, who shot dead Ramdhan alias Dhanraj in October 2007 when he was handed over to Korea police for weeklong judicial custody.
–IANS–
Kolkata, May 01: Days after the Income Tax raid, service tax department sleuths of the West Bengal government Friday swooped down on the Eden Gardens to check papers relating to the alleged financial wrongdoings related to the Indian Premier League.
Five service tax officials raided the Cricket Association of Bengal headquarters at the stadium, and scrutinised papers and vouchers pertaining to the cash-rich league, which has become the subject of a multiple-agency probe with allegations flying thick about irregularities.
New Delhi, May 01: The Bharatiya Janata Party on Friday announced its intention to start serious negotiations for the formation of a government in Jharkhand minus current Chief Minister Shibu Soren.
The former Chief Minister Arjun Munda is emerging as the front runner for the Chief Minister’s job, that is, if the BJP were indeed to get the promised support of Jharkhand Mukti Morcha to lead the government.
But so far there has been no direct word from the present incumbent that he is ready to resign to make way for a new government.
New York, May 01: Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will hold the top position of speakers when the UN opens nuclear non-proliferation talks Monday.
But the US said Friday it definitely won’t be meeting him during the talks, even though US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton will attend Monday’s opening.
She will be the highest-ranking US diplomat to attend the talks in 10 years.
London, May 01: Children of women who smoked during pregnancy are more likely to be obese in their teenage years, a new study has found.
Researchers found that those who were exposed to cigarette smoke while in the womb had significantly higher quantities of fat than their non-exposed peers later in life.
These teenagers had a third more fat around their internal organs and 26 percent more fat directly under the skin.
According Zdenka Pausova, one of the study’s two principal investigators, the findings provide another reason for expectant mothers to give up smoking.
Mumbai, May 01: Former IPL commissioner Lalit Modi, who is under scanner of Income Tax department for suspected financial irregularities in the bidding process, is facing death threat with the underworld allegedly conspiring to bump him off, police said.
Modi was on the target list of underworld don Dawood Ibrahim even before IPL season III had begun, police said, adding Dawood’s men had plotted to eliminate him either in Mumbai or Bangalore.
Angeles, May 01: A die-hard Robert De Niro fan paid $8,500 to go for a coffee with the actor.
The “Raging Bull” star offered up an outing to a coffee shop as a lot for a star-studded charity auction in New York Thursday night – and an unnamed bidder pounced on the prize and paid thousands of dollars for a meeting with the movie star, reports imdb.com.
The sale, which raised money for the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights, also saw a pair of tickets to Sir Elton John’s next Oscars party auctioned for $52,500.
–IANS–
Mumbai, May 01: An Indo-Pak romance has always created a hype at the box-office. A la Veer Zaara, Pakeeza ,Heena etc! Looks like the celluloid saga has happened in real life as well.
The recent Sania Mirza-Shoaib Malik marriage created quite a hype on both sides of the border. The dust hadn’t quite settled on it when another rumours of another cross-country alliance surfaced. According to the Pakistan Media, speedster Shoiab Akhtar is set to wed Indian beauty queen Dia Mirza!