Mumbai, June 23: Shilpa Shetty is becoming self indulgent. The diva is succumbing to her taste buds more often than before.
We hear, the actress, who is more of a business woman now, has lost her diet discipline of late. Well, it’s not entirely her fault at the first place.
Mumbai, June 23: The war between SRK and Salman has been a much reported affair. But, this cold war between the two leading Khan’s seems to have changed the loyalties of many of SRK’s friends.
Now, the buzz doing the round these days is that SRK’s close pals are gradually moving to Salman’s territory. Many of SRK’s trusted pals are switching loyalties in favour of Salman.
–Agencies
Mumbai, June 23: Sartaj Singh Pannu directed film SOCH LO is getting critical acclaim not only from the domestic audiences but from the international viewers too.
Now, in the latest development, the film opened to some heart warming response in LA recently. The filmmakers of SOCH LO had organized a special screening of their film in LA and as per latest reports the film has been praised for its different narrative and powerful performances.
—Agencies
Mumbai, June 23: Over the last few weeks, the promotion of KRANTIVEER – THE REVOLUTION has (rightly) been centred on Jahan Bloch. Since she plays the daughter of Nana Patekar and Dimple Kapadia in this sequel to KRANTIVEER, it was but obvious to have her being the focal point of the film.
Russia, June 23: One person was killed and 24 injured in an ammunition blast at a military training facility in central Russia.
The blast occurred around 9 a.m. GMT on Wednesday when old ammunition was being unloaded from two trucks.
Col. Alexei Kuznetsov said the blast at the Ryazan Artillery School, about 200 km southwest of Moscow, could have been caused by the spontaneous combustion of gunpowder.
—Agencies
Mumbai, June 23: The monsoon session of Parliament is likely to be held from July 26 to August 27.
Parliament sources said a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Parliamentary Affairs is soon expected to finalise the dates of the session, which is expected to be a month-long affair.
The session by all indications could be stormy in view of the fact that a number of issues including safe passage to the then Union Carbide chief Warren Anderson are likely to generate heat.
New Delhi, June 23: As a rise in honour killings dominate the headlines, National Commission for Women on Wednesday made a plea to avoid the term “honour” and coin another suitable term highlighting the heinousness of the crime.
At a meeting with the News Broadcasters Association and the Broadcast Editor’s Association, NCW Chairperson Girija Vyas made a strong plea for avoiding the term “honour” killing and coining another suitable word which highlights the heinousness of the crime without any element of “honour”.
Mumbai, June 23: CBI on Wednesday arrested SN Sharma, suspended Chairman of the Railway Recruitment Board, Mumbai.
Sharma was arrested for his role in the job scam in which his son and seven others had earlier been apprehended.
G Sethi, senior divisional personnel officer at Raipur, was also arrested on Wednesday by CBI in connection with the same case. The two will be produced in the CBI Court in New Delhi on Thursday, CBI DIG V V Lakshmi Narayana said.
He said both Sharma and Sethi were called from Mumbai and Raipur for questioning into the leakage of question papers.
Britain, June 23: The Chancellor George Osborne revealed his first budget on Tuesday evening. He announced the long expected plans to slash the public spending on everything except health and overseas aid.
The VAT has been increased from 17.5% to 20% with a view to eliminate nearly all the UK’s budget deficit within five years.
Osborne said that the budget represented a progressive agenda that deals with the country’s record debts. He described the budget as “tough but fair”.
Mumbai, June 23: Taxi fare was increased by Rs 2 in Mumbai after a hike in auto rickshaw fares.
A decision to this effect was taken at a meeting of Mumbai Metropolitan Regional Transport Authority (MMRTA) in Mumbai on Wednesday.
“The base fare has been increased from the present Rs 14 to Rs 16,” Mumbai Taximen Union president A L Quadros, who was present in the meeting, said.
“For every subsequent kilometer, the fare will increase from Rs 9 to Rs 10,” he added.
Quadros said the fares will come into effect from the midnight of June 27.
Mumbai, June 23: McDonald’s Happy Meals is very popular in many countries, especially with children who are mainly attracted by the free toys. But, an American NGO has threatened to sue the fast-food chain dubbing the offer a deceptive marketing practice.
According to the US-based non-profit group Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), toys to lure small children into McDonald’s is an unfair and deceptive marketing and is illegal under various state consumer protection laws.
Abu Dhabi, June 23: The Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage (ADACH) is organizing the sixth Liwa Ratab (Date) Festival in the city of Liwa in Al Gharbia (the Western Region). The Festival will be held between July 17th – 26th.
Netherlands, June 23: Tural Koç is feeling rather pleased with himself. The administrative head of the Islamic University of Rotterdam (IUR) has just taken a major step towards gaining state approval for his university. Following close consideration of content and formal requirements, the Dutch accreditation authority has now granted official recognition to the first IUR course.
Vienna, June 23: When I made the decision to move to Vienna, I was unprepared for the repercussions my attitude, behaviour and opinions would have in forming and influencing European perceptions of women from Saudi Arabia, a country that is at a crossroads between modernity, globalisation, liberation, empowerment, heritage and cherished traditions.
Berlin, June 23: Legendary pharaoh Tutankhamun was probably killed by the genetic blood disorder sickle cell disease, German scientists said Wednesday, rejecting earlier research that suggested he died of malaria.
The team at the Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine in the northern city of Hamburg questioned the conclusions of a major Egyptian study released in February on the enigmatic boy-king’s early demise.
Tel Aviv, June 23: Israel’s Supreme Court on Tuesday backed down from an earlier ruling that 22 ultra-Orthodox Jewish mothers must go to jail for disobeying a court order on school integration.
In a fresh decision, seeming meant to avoid a showdown with the voluble and sometimes violent ultra-Orthodox community, the court exempted 13 of the mothers from serving jail time to care for their children.
Khartoum, June 23: Fighting on Tuesday between government troops and rebels of the Justice and Equality Movement killed 50 people and wounded 101 in Sudan’s Darfur region, an army spokesman said.
Soldiers attacked JEM positions in Uzban, southeast of El Fasher, after they had moved in recently and “sown chaos and instability,” Sawarmi Khaled Saad was quoted by the Sudanese Media Centre as saying.
Saad said 43 rebels were killed and 90 wounded, while seven soldiers died and 11 were wounded.
A JEM source confirmed the fighting and claimed victory.
Tel Aviv, June 23: Israel on Tuesday launched a spy satellite from a base in the south of the country, the defence ministry said, with the device reportedly capable of monitoring arch-foe Iran.
“A few minutes ago the State of Israel launched the Ofek-9 (Horizon-9) satellite from the Palmachim base,” the ministry said. “The results of the launch are being examined by the technical team.”
It gave no details on the satellite, but public radio said it, like its predecessors in the Ofek series, were cable of taking high resolution pictures and aimed at monitoring Iran’s nuclear programme.
Sanaa, June 23: British minister for the Middle East Alistair Burt said in Sanaa on Tuesday that tackling Yemen’s economic and social challenges is the best way to defeat terrorism in the poor nation.
“Working together to address (the economic and social challenges that Yemen faces) is the best way to defeat terrorism within Yemen’s borders,” Burt said after meeting Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh, during his first tour of the region since his appointment.
Gaza City, June 26: The Hamas-run Al-Aqsa TV station in Gaza said on Tuesday it was in negotiations over a French ban and would continue to broadcast to Europe through Thursday.
“We are still in negotiations with the French government and the broadcasting union and the European Union in order to reverse the decision,” station deputy head Mohammed al-Thuraya said.
“We have appointed lawyers to lodge an appeal with the broadcasting union, and based on this we will continue broadcasting until Thursday.”
Tehran, June 23: Iran’s atomic chief Ali Akbar Salehi said on Wednesday that Tehran has produced more than 17 kilograms of 20 percent enriched uranium.
“We have so far produced more than 17 kilograms of 20 percent enriched uranium and we can potentially produce five kilograms per month,” Salehi told the ISNA news agency.
Enriched uranium can be used as fuel to power nuclear reactors as well as to make the fissile core of an atom bomb.
Iran started producing 20 percent enriched uranium from February following an order from hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Stockholm, June 23: The Swedish Dock Workers Union on Wednesday launched a week-long blockade of cargo to and from Israel to protest the Israeli raid on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla last month, a union representative said.
The blockade, which also applies to Israeli ships, was launched “because of the assault on the Ship to Gaza (flotilla), that we supported before they took off … and the blockade of the Gaza strip, which affects the civilian population,” union spokesman Rolf Axelsson said.
Cairo, June 23: Egypt’s oil minister Sameh Fahmi has said the government is considering reducing drilling in the Gulf of Suez after crude washed ashore for several days, a state-owned newspaper reported on Wednesday.
Environmental groups sounded the alarm last week after oil began to appear on the shores of the popular Red Sea diving resort Hurghada.
“The minister said a decrease in the number of oil rigs in the Gulf of Suez was under consideration,” the Al-Akhbar newspaper reported.
Damascus, June 23: Award-winning Syrian human rights lawyer Muhannad al-Hasni, charged with “spreading false information,” has been sentenced to three years in prison, Syrian rights groups said on Wednesday.
“The criminal court in Damascus today condemned the lawyer Muhannad al-Hasni to three years in prison after charging him with the crime of spreading false information likely to weaken the morale of the nation,” the groups said in a joint statement.
Dubai, June 23: The number of millionaires in the Middle East rose 7.1 percent to some 400,000 last year, returning to levels last seen in 2007 before the global economic meltdown, a report said Wednesday.
The annual World Wealth Report said the combined wealth of the Middle East tycoons stands at around 1.5 trillion dollars.
It said the number of millionaires rose in Saudi Arabia and Bahrain but declined sharply in the United Arab Emirates due to the Dubai debt crisis.