Paris, June 24: French President Nicolas Sarkozy has cancelled the annual garden party for the first time since the French Revolution, as part of austerity measures.
Government spokesman Luc Chatel called on ministers and the government to set up examples in implementing austerity measures. Sarkozy has decided not to hold the garden party, French media quoted source of the ruling party, Union of a Popular Movement, as saying.
London, June 24: A masterpiece from Picasso’s “blue period” sold for 34.7 million pounds ($51.8 million) at a major auction of Impressionist and Modern Art at Christie’s in London Wednesday.
The 1903 painting, Portrait of Angel Fernandez de Soto, had been expected to fetch between 30 and 40 million pounds at the evening sale, which Christie’s said could yield a total of 230 million pounds.
However, the price for the Picasso, formerly owned by Andrew Lloyd Webber, Britain’s foremost musical composer, remained well below expectations.
Kochi, June 24 :T Nazeer, a key accused in the 2008 Bangalore blasts case, on Wednesday denied any role in implicating People’s Democratic Party(PDP) leader Abdul Naser Madani as accused in the case.
“I have not given any statements implicating Madani in the Bangalore blasts case. Media should find out about it,” Nazeer told a Malayalam television channel as he came out of the Special CBI court here after appearing in a case relating to twin blasts at state transport corporation and private bus stations in Kozhikode on March 3, 2006, that left two persons injured.
Mumbai, June 24: Imran Khan looks every bit a chocolate boy, a tag that he has been given and lived up to in his first film “Jaane Tu…Ya Jaane Na”. Up next is another romantic comedy “I Hate Luv Storys” and the actor says he loves doing love stories as they are great fun and also provide greater scope to showcase his acting skills.
Barcelona, June 24: At least 12 pedestrians were killed in a train accident on the Spanish coast near Barcelona, rescue workers said early Thursday.
The victims were killed by an express train near the coastal town of Castelldefels, officials said. They were trying to cross the tracks on their way to the beach to participate in a summer solstice celebration.
Eyewitnesses said the victims, who were mostly quite young, had just arrived on a local train at the Castelldefels station. They crossed the tracks instead of using a tunnel or a bridge available for pedestrians.
New Delhi, June 24: The mercury is steadily climbing the Celsius scale. And a book is the best coolant if you are stuck indoors thanks to the harsh sun. Here are five new books to add to your reading list this week:
1. “Indian Dreams”; Written by Roshwitha Joshi; Published by UBS Publishers’ Distributors Pvt. Ltd.; Priced at Rs.250
This is a tale of a tender inter-continental love. A long-distance telephone call shakes up Norma in her Bavarian home in Germany. The voice on the other end belongs to her former lover Akash, who begs to reunite with him in India.
Toronto, June 24: In a historic step on the 25th anniversary of the Air India bombing Wednesday, Canada formally accepted blame for the tragedy and apologised to the victim families.
“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.
“This was not act of foreign violence. This atrocity was conceived in Canada, executed in Canada by Canadian citizens and its victims were themselves mostly citizens of Canada,” the prime minister admitted.
Washington, June 24: The 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy did not cast a shadow on the deliberations of the India-US CEOs Forum to enhance India-US business ties, according to Commerce and Industry Minister, Anand Sharma.
“The subject never came up,” he told reporters Wednesday. “It’s a matter which is sub judice back home. And it’s not a subject to come up at these forums.”
Mumbai, June 24: Cricketers Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Yuvraj Singh, reportedly, had been approached for NDTV Imagine’s reality show Swayamvar Season 3. However, the Cricketers didn’t nod their head in affirmative, resulting in Vivek Oberoi gaining the opportunity.
The show started with drama queen ‘Rakhi Sawant’ promising to marry Elesh Parujanwala but then ending up single once the show got over. The second season had Rahul Mahajan marrying Dimpy Ganguly and if things work out, Vivek Oberoi might be the next groom!
Hyderabad, June 24: India’s first Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) facility in jail will become a reality with the Andhra Pradesh government giving its nod to the proposal.
As part of jail reforms and to provide income generating opportunities to prisoners, the government decided to allow private industry including BPOs to set up their units in prisons.
Chief Minister K. Rosaiah gave the green signal for the proposal at a meeting called to discuss a draft bill to use the services of convicts for social activities.
Hyderabad, June 24: Is it the failure of the GHMC officials to construct a speedbreaker and mark zebra crossings at the Uppal crossroads that has led to the death of two Kendriya Vidyalaya students, Akhila and Srinithya in an accident there on Monday evening? Authorities of the Kendriya Vidyalaya- 1 allege that despite several representations to the deputy commissioner of Uppal circle for speedbreakers and zebra crossing marks on the main road and the ring road, in view of the safety of school students, no action has been initiated.
Hyderabad, June 24: One more positive case of swine flu was detected here today, taking the total of positive cases to five in the state since the start of the year.
State chief coordinator for Swine Flu Dr K Subhakar confirmed the detection of one more case of swine flu saying in all eight samples received today one sample was tested positive.
The positive case, a 27-year-old woman from Mahbubnagar, was admitted to Corporate Hospital, he said.
Presently, two patients of swine flu are under treatment at Corporate Hospital and Chest Hospital each, he said.
-Agencies
Hyderabad, June 24: The Andhra Pradesh capital will host eINDIA 2010, India’s biggest event on Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), from Aug 4 with Sri Lanka as the partner country.
The three-day international conference and exhibition will be held at Hyderabad International Convention Centre (HICC). Hyderabad is hosting the event for the second time in a row.
Tehran, June 24: A semi-official Iranian news agency reported yesterday that Israel Air Force helicopters recently landed at a Saudi Arabia airport and unloaded equipment intended for attacking targets in a Muslim state.
This follows last weekend’s reports of an American fleet passing through the Suez Canal, triggering fears that the United States and Israel were preparing for an attack on Iran, with Egypt’s cooperation, the Arabic language newspaper Al-Quds Al-Arabi said.
Mumbai, June 24: Mehraj Shaikh, a convict and ‘former’ husband of Manyata, wife of Sanjay Dutt, has written a letter to the Bombay high court from Arthur Road jail alleging that the actor kidnapped his son in December last year.
Shaikh complained that although he wrote to NM Joshi Marg police station, there was no response from them.
New Delhi, June 24: It’s the season for dinner diplomacy. In a move which should gladden the hearts of Congress, senior leader Pranab Mukherjee is hosting Trinamool Congress leader Mamta Banerjee for a “private family dinner” this Saturday .
London, June 24: Freedom of speech includes freedom to offend but when a preacher’s words incite violence, there has to be some sanction
What do Dr Zakir Naik, Russian skinhead Pavel Skachevsky, far-right US talk show host Michael Savage, former Kahane Chai leader Mike Guzovsky and Kansas Baptist pastor Fred Phelps have in common? They are all on the list of people who have been banned from entering the UK.
Islamabad, June 24: Amid increasing pressure from the Obama administration to blacklist the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), Azam Tariq, the militant organisation’s key spokesperson has said that “it makes no difference if the Americans blacklist the TTP or not, our war against the Jews and their ‘friends’ will remain forever”.
Four American senators on Tuesday said that they would introduce a bill requiring to the state department to designate the TTP as a foreign terrorist organisation.
Islamabad, June 24: A Pakistani court has reportedly ordered a ban on nine leading websites, including Google and Hotmail, for allegedly posting blasphemous material though officials said they had not received any instruction to block the sites.
Media reports said the Bahawalpur bench of the Lahore High Court yesterday directed the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority to immediately block nine websites, including Google, Yahoo, MSN, Hotmail, YouTube, Bing and Amazon, for publishing and promoting sacrilegious and blasphemous material.
Mumbai, June 24: Naxalites have decided to train their guns against Multinational Companies (MNCs) operating in India.
In a statement sent to select media houses on Wednesday, the CPI-Maoists have declared that they would “rise up as a collective fist to drive out MNCs” from the country. The statement also reiterates that their mission is to wipe away the “treacherous rotten regimes” at the Centre and the states.
London, June 24: Buoyed by strong stock markets, the net wealth of Asian millionaires is now more than that of their European counterparts for the first time while the number of millionaires in India has increased by 50 percent in 2009, according to a new survey by Merrill Lynch Wealth Management and Capgemini.
In India, the number of millionaires has risen more than 50 percent to 126,756 in 2009. China, with 477,000 millionaires is fourth in the list of countries with maximum millionaires, after the US, Japan and Germany.
Canberra, June 24: Australia has its first female prime minister after the ruling party dumped Kevin Rudd and installed his deputy as the leader.
New leader Julia Gillard will lead the government to elections due within months.
Gillard stood unopposed at a vote of the Labour Party’s 112 lawmakers at a meeting today, hours after a revolt against Rudd.
Rudd didn’t even stand for reappointment in today’s vote – a signal that he knew his support had collapsed.
Since she is leader of the majority party in Parliament, Gillard’s swearing in as prime minister is a formality.
Hyderabad, June 24: As part of jail reforms and to provide income generating opportunities to prisoners, the government decided to allow private industry including BPOs to set up their units in prisons.
HYDERABAD: India’s first Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) facility in jail will become a reality with the Andhra Pradesh government Wednesday giving its nod to the proposal.
As part of jail reforms and to provide income generating opportunities to prisoners, the government decided to allow private industry including BPOs to set up their units in prisons.
London, June 24: Converting to Islam would have saved the life of pop legend Michael Jackson, his brother Jermaine said in an interview.
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 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.
Hyderabad, June 24: The poor residents of Ghousnagar Bandlaguda opens their eyes on Sunday morning to witness the destruction of their hardly earned property. This demolition has left over one hundred persons without roof on their heads. Still there are no sign of relief is favouring them.