Month: June 2010

CIA hires notorious Xe in Afghanistan

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Washington, June 24: A report indicates that the US has hired a notorious private security contractor to guard its facilities in Afghanistan and elsewhere despite Washington’s rejection of the claim.

An unnamed source told the Washington Post on Thursday the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) signed a USD 100 million contract with Xe Services, formerly known as Blackwater Worldwide.

“It’s for protective services… guard services, in multiple regions,” the source said.

My Hindi is very good, says Trisha Krishnan

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New Delhi, June 24: South Indian actress Trisha Krishnan who makes her entry in Bollywood with Akshay Kumar starrer ”Khatta Meetha’, is fluent in Hindi but the actress has used a dub in the new film.

Trisha’s voice is being dubbed by a professional in this Priyadarshan directed film because the actress, who plays collector, was required to have a perfect diction.

“I actually did want to dub for my lines in ‘Khatta Meetha. I can read and write Hindi very well; my spoken Hindi is quite good too,” Trisha, who is in Europe shooting for her new Tamil film, told PTI.

Former Union minister Digvijay Singh dies

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New Delhi, June 24: Former union minister and Lok Sabha MP from Bihar Digvijay Singh passed away in a hospital in London, a member of his personal staff said here on Thursday. He was 54.

“He died at the St Thomas Hospital London,” his aide SK Mishra said.

Digvijay Singh, a former Janata Dal-United (JD-U) leader, won the 2009 Lok Sabha election from Banka constituency as an independent candidate.

He had served as minister of state for external affairs in the National Democratic Alliance government of prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

——-Agencies

‘Firing McChrystal hints US war crisis’

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Washington, June 24: The decision by US President Barack Obama to sack Army General Stanley McChrystal in Afghanistan points to America’s deepening war policy crisis, a report says.

The White House was clearly unhappy with the controversial comments by McChrystal and his aides which appeared in the Rolling Stone magazine, Inter Press Service (IPS) revealed in a June 23 report.

General David Petraeus replacing McChrystal was the result of dissatisfaction with the general’s handling of the war, IPS wrote.

Kangna surprised short kites role

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Mumbai, June 24: Kangna Ranaut, Kangna Ranaut bollywood actress, Kangna kites role, Kangna short kites role

Kangna Ranaut says she didn’t expect her role in Kites to be as short as it was in the final version. Kangna, who had worked with director Anurag Basu in Life In A Metro and Gangster before Kites, said that while they had not discussed the length of her role in minutes before she signed up, she had felt her role would be longer than it ended up being.

Jaswant Singh to rejoin BJP today

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New Delhi, June 24: Jaswant Singh, who was expelled from the BJP in August last year, will rejoin the party today in the presence of senior leader L K Advani and party president Nitin Gadkari, BJP sources said here.

There had been speculation about return of 72-year-old Singh, who was summarily expelled from the BJP at its Chitan Bhaitak in Shimla in August 2009 for penning a book praising Pakistan founder M A Jinnah, after he recently said that BJP was in his blood and he missed the party.

Rahman cancels North American leg of ‘Jai Ho’ concert

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New Delhi, June 24: Music maestro A.R. Rahman has cancelled the North American leg of his “Jai Ho Concert: The Journey Home World Tour” after a lighting rig collapsed in Detroit before the show.

“Dear friends, fans and well-wishers, as you may know, members of our tour miraculously escaped a big disaster in Detroit this past Saturday, when part of the Pontiac Silverdome infrastructure collapsed on our set. All the artists, singers, musicians, dancers, technicians (myself included) have been almost given a second life,” Rahman wrote on his Facebook page.

Saina zooms to career-best third in badminton rankings

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New Delhi, June 24: Ace Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal today took a giant stride towards realising her goal of becoming the world’s numero uno player as she jumped three places to a career-best third in the latest international rankings.

Saina’s rise follows back-to-back title triumphs at the India Open Grand Prix and the Singapore Open Super Series respectively.

By virtue of the consecutive titles earlier this month, Saina, with 64791.2637 points, made a significant upward movement in the chart and is just behind Chinese duo of Yihan Wang and Xin Wang.

Aruna’s nudity made it hard for Prashant to concentrate

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Mumbai, June 24: Director Pravesh Bhardwaj’s film Mr. Singh Mrs. Mehta, shows a nude Aruna Shields and actor Prashant Narayanan was a bundle of nerves when he faced her. Prashant kept fumbling and fluffing, while Aruna was cool about it. According to Aruna, Prashant found it very hard to concentrate.

“I remember Prashant blushing and blundering a couple of times; it was harder for him to concentrate than it was for me! Funny! The only pain was we were shooting in England in winter so I was freezing,” she is quoted to have said in an interview.

Islam could saved Michael: brother

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London, June 24: Converting to Islam would have saved the life of pop legend Michael Jackson, his brother Jermaine said in an interview to be aired Thursday.

Speaking ahead of the first anniversary Friday of the death of the “King of Pop” at the age of 50 from a prescription drug overdose, he told the BBC that his brother should have left the United States.

“I felt that if Michael would have embraced Islam he would still be here today and I say that for many reasons,” Jermaine Jackson, who is a Muslim, told BBC World Service radio.

Lara’s New BFF!

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Mumbai, June 24: Mallika Sherawat is no stranger to the Hollywood circle, and we are no strangers to her exploits in Hollywood. A recent dinner hosted by TV presenter, model, journalist and restaurateur Alexus Chung in London, though, did not see Mallika as the only Indian present.

Instead, Lara Dutta was fortunate enough to be invited, and she also found herself a new best friend in Hollywood, none other than beauty Gwyneth Paltrow!

Vidya’s Cousin makes her Bollywood Entry

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Mumbai, June 24: Another southern actress is gearing up to make her presence felt in Bollywood. And as far as reviews go, she is already well on her way.

This is none other than Vidya Balan’s cousin Priya Mani. The actress recently was cast in a small but important role in Mani Ratnam’s much hyped “Raavan”.

And she has caught the attention of Bollywood with her small role, in which she describes her gang rape by cops. Her powerful acting has already raised eyebrows.

Why women reject certain kind of sperms?

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Sydney, June 24: Some sperms fail to ‘communicate’ with the female reproductive tract and while a man may appear to be fertile, his semen can be rejected by a woman if it’s not compatible, says a study.

This is more likely to happen if a woman has not been previously exposed to his sperm over a long period of time, says study author Sarah Robertson, professor at the University of Adelaide’s (UA) Robinson Institute.

Koda associates invested Rs.225 crore in Dubai’

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Ranchi, June 24: Former Jharkhand Chief Minister Madhu Koda and his associates invested Rs.225 crore in Dubai through illegal money transfers, a lawyer of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) said here Thursday.

A PMLA (Prevention of Money Laundering Act) court Wednesday issued a Letter Rogatory (LR) to Dubai on a petition by the ED.

Woman beaten to death for dowry, husband arrested

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Muzaffarnagar, June 24: A woman was allegedly beaten to death by her in-laws over a dowry-related dispute, following which her husband has been arrested, police said today.

The authorities registered a case against the victim Punam’s husband and his three family members yesterday based on a complaint filed by her brother.

Police is on the look out for the others accused in the case.
–PTI

Sorry, says Canada 25 years after Air India bombing

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Toronto, June 24: Accepting “institutional failings of 25 years ago”, Canada Wednesday formally accepted blame for the Air India bombing tragedy and said sorry to the families of the victims for the treatment meted out to them by successive governments.

“We are sorry… your pain is our pain… as you grieve so we grieve,” Prime Minister Stephen Harper told the victim families at a memorial service here.

Pattinson defends Stewart over rape comments

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Los Angeles, June 24: “Twilight” star Robert Pattinson has defended his co-star and girlfriend Kristen Stewart for her “rape” comments blaming Internet journalists for blowing her statement out of proportion.

Stewart was recently excoriated for an interview with a magazine where she likened her encounters with paparazzi to “being raped”. However, she apologised after her comments caused outrage among fans and rape victims’ advocacy organisations.

I’m a huge fan of Salma: Sandler

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Los Angeles, June 24: Actor Adam Sandler says he always wanted to work with Salma Hayek and that teaming up with the Mexican actress in the upcoming comedy “Grown Ups” was a dream come true.

“We talked about doing a movie for a long time. I’m a huge fan of hers. She was almost in ‘You Don’t Mess with the Zohan’ and a bunch of my movies but it didn’t time out right,” hollywoodpulse.com quoted Sandler as saying.

“This one timed out great. It was fun being married to Salma (in the movie). She’s a great girl.”
–IANS

Afridi to decide his Test future after England tour

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Karachi, June 24: Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi will decide his Test future after the exhaustive tour of England that begins this month.

Afridi Thursday said he will review his personal performance in the six Tests Pakistan will play against Australia and England later this season, before deciding whether to continue playing in the longest format of the game.

“I will take a decision at the end of the England tour,” Afridi was quoted as saying in The News.

India asks US to remove ISRO, DRDO from banned list

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Washington, June 24: India has “very firmly” asked the US to ease export controls and remove top Indian agencies like the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) and the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) from the banned list.

“We have taken up export controls very firmly” Commerce and Industry Minister, Anand Sharma. told reporters Wednesday at the end of a three day visit asserting there was no justification for such controls “after elevating our relationship to a strategic partnership” and the signing of the India-US civil nuclear deal.

Crime In Hyderabad (24.6.2010)

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Youths turned violent in Bhavani Nagar

Hyderabad, June 24 (Siasat News): The scene at Bhavani Nagar turned tense following the clashes between some local youths and a rowdy sheeter.

According to the police, the former rowdy sheeter of Bhavani Nagar police station Ayub Khan, was running a fast food center at street No. 11.

Tonight, Faiyaz, Ghani and Basheer of Sultanshahi reached fast food center and started arguments with Ayub, which turned violent, in which two persons got injured.

Double-digit inflation is a worry but not surprising: RBI

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Mumbai, June 24: The RBI today said that high inflation is a cause of worry for the central bank and it is willing to take policy actions as per the changing economic environment.

“Double-digit inflation is a cause of worry more than the external factors…it is not out of our estimates. If things change fast, there will be more measures depending upon the environment…

“The message is already there that we are moving from the accommodative policy. I cannot say when this will happen,” RBI Deputy Governor K C Chakrabarty told reporters on the sidelines of a seminar here.

Man detained for rape, murder of three children

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Mumbai, June 24: The Mumbai Police have detained one person in connection with the kidnapping, rape and murder of three minor girls since February this year, in suburban Kurla in north-east Mumbai.

The Crime Branch department has detained a man who resembles the sketch of the alleged suspect released by the police on Sunday. Police said he is being questioned by investigators.

Police have been combing over 10,000 shanties at Vatsalyatai Nagar and Alidada Compound in the Nehru Nagar area of Kurla, from where the bodies were found.

Al Maliki grapples with power crisis

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Baghdad, June 24: The Iraqi electricity minister has resigned over power cuts that have sparked fatal protests. However, the move has failed to quell anger over what Iraqis widely describe as a war being waged against them by uncaring and corrupt politicians.

Electricity minister Karim Al Wahid, considered close to Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki, resigned on Monday night after violent protests in the southern cities of Basra and Nasiriyah killed one Iraqi and injured dozens of citizens and police. But Al Wahid criticised the “impatience” of the Iraqi people and excessive expectations.

Death for Heroin In Granny BRA

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Kuala Lumpur, June 24: An official says a 43-year-old Malaysian woman has been charged with smuggling heroin in her bra.

Drug trafficking carries the mandatory death penalty upon conviction.

Prosecutor Raya Hazeelia Mohammad says Harini Che Soh was charged in a court in eastern Terengganu state Wednesday. No plea was recorded.

Raya Hazeelia said Thursday that Harini was arrested last week at a bus terminal. She could not immediately give further details.

The Star reports 20 ampoules of heroin were found in Harini’s bra after police became suspicious of her “abnormal bust size.”