New Delhi, July 28: As he began his maiden Indian visit Wednesday, British Prime Minister David Cameron singled out Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan, food and cricket as among the cultural bonds that tie Indians and Britons.
“We share so much culturally, whether it’s watching Shah Rukh Khan, eating the same food or watching cricket,” Cameron said in an article entitled “A stronger, wider and deeper relationship” in The Hindu, an Indian daily.
New Delhi, July 28: The softspoken S.Y. Quraishi, who will take charge as chief election commissioner (CEC) Friday, says he will uphold the “immense trust the nation has in the Election Commission”.
“I am honoured. I feel very proud. I request the cooperation of all stakeholders to discharge my duties,” Quraishi, who will be the first Muslim to hold the prestigious post, told IANS over phone.
Islamabad, July 28: Five people survived the passenger plane crash in Margalla Hills close to this Pakistani capital city Wednesday morning, a minister said. Some media reports, however, said that 40-45 people may have survived the air disaster.
The Airblue flight 202, flying from Karachi to Islamabad, suddenly lost contact with the airport here and crashed near the popular Damanekoh resort in the Margalla Hills at about 9.45 a.m.
Interior Minister Rehman Malik said five people had survived the crash.
Mumbai, July 28: Suspected underworld don Dawood Ibrahim’ aide Mustafa Dossa, who allegedly attacked extradited gangster Abu Salem inside the Arthur Road jail, today alleged that the injuries on Salem were “self-inflicted”, a crime branch source said.
“During the preliminary questioning, Dossa alleged that Salem, with the help of his associates, had injured self to falsely implicate him,” said the source, probing the attack on the gangster.
“Salem had tried to extort Rs 30 crore from me for a property deal he had struck, Dossa alleged,” the source said.
Ahmedabad, July 28: Arrested former Gujarat minister of state for Home Amit Shah had entrusted the job of eliminating Sohrabuddin Sheikh to three senior IPS officers, the chargesheet filed by CBI in a court said.
According to the chargesheet filed in a special court on July 23, “elimination of Sohrabuddin was being used for extortion by the accused persons to establish an element of fear in the minds of the businessmen and others.”
Kabul, July 28: It is good news for Intelligence chiefs, who have spent months tracking meetings between Osama Bin Laden and his henchmen, as reports on the WikiLeaks website, suggest that dreaded terrorist Osama Bin Laden has finally been tracked down.
They were of the opinion that Osama and his top men would definitely communicate with each other, to plot suicide bomb attacks inside Afghanistan, and hence tracking them would be easy.
What is shocking is that according to the leaked intelligence documents, they even knew that each bomber was then handed £32,000 to plan the attacks.
Jakarta, July 28: Indonesia’s highest Islamic body has issued a fatwa banning Muslims from watching gossip shows or having sex-change operations, an official said Wednesday.
The increasingly assertive Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) said gossip shows about the intimate details of people’s private lives – a popular genre on Indonesian television – were immoral and threatened society.
“We considered it important to pass the fatwa as infotainment programmes may contain immoral material and violate the journalistic code of ethics,” MUI official Asrorun Niam Soleh said.
Mumbai, July 28: Salman is known to be hooked withnewcomers rather than established actresses. Interestingly the actor is now hooked to Veer costar Zarine Khan.
Initially Salman helped her in losing weight. Zarine also accompanied him to Aamir’s bollywood bash for Argentina musician Gustavo Sanataolla.
Zarine also performed with him in Salman Khan at IIFA.
And on top of that Salman follows Zarine on his twitter account. He does not even have good friends like Preity and Aamir.
Zarine seems to be lucky.
–Agencies–
Colombo, July 28: Virender Sehwag threw his wicket to fall on 99 as India lost three quick wickets to reach 173 for three at lunch on the third day of the second cricket Test against here today.
India resumed its strong reply to Sri Lanka’s massive first innings 642 for four declared but lost way towards the close of the first session.
By lunch, India had lost Sehwag, Murali Vijay (58) and Rahul Dravid (3) with Sri Lanka spinner Suraj Randiv striking twice.
India still trail by 469 runs with Sachin Tendulkar (2) and VVS Laxman (0) to resume to the innings.
Washington, July 28: The Greater Los Angeles Area office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-LA) denounced a planned anti-mosque protest by California Tea Party supporters who are being told to bring dogs to harass Muslim worshippers during a Friday congregational prayer, or “Jummah.”
CAIR-LA called on local officials and interfaith leaders to show support for the Islamic Center of Temecula Valley, the target of the July 30 protest by the Southwest Riverside County (SWRC) Tea Party group. The protest is in opposition to a proposal for a new mosque in the area.
London, July 28: A 26-year-old man strangulated a former porn star, assaulted her with a potted plant and later slit her throat at her home in the outskirts of London.
Shohidul Islam turned up at the home of porn star-turned-escort Savannah Gold, 26, in Lambeth area near London, throttled her with a rope and bashed her with a potted plant.
Her neighbours heard screams and found the woman naked, with blood pouring out from her slit throat, the Sun reported.
Mumbai, July 28: Shahrukh Khan recently wore lungi. Yes, you heard it right, King Khan for one of his scenes in Ra. One has worn lungi. This is second time SRK has worn lungi; it was on the sets of Kaun Banega Crorepati 3 when SRK experimented with the attire. But the super star was quite apprehensive about the whole idea of wearing the attire. And why, read on.
“I wore lungi for a scene. It kind of gets windy and cool inside after a while coupled with the fear that it may open. Tense and relaxed coexistence,” revealed SRK on the micro-blogging site.
New Delhi, July 28: S Y Quraishi, Election Commissioner, was today appointed the new Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) in the place of Navin Chawla, who demits office on Thursday.
He is India’s first Muslim CEC ever.
The notification elevating 63-year-old Quraishi as head of the three-member election body was issued today. He will have a little less than two years in the Constitutional post. Chawla, who took over in the middle of 2009 Lok Sabha polls, headed the Commission for a little more a year.
Mumbai, July 28: When director Milan Luthria decided to film his don drama, Once Upon A Time In Mumbaai, in real locations in the city, he did not anticipate a female don landing up at a seedy bar on Raey Road, on the last day of the schedule.
Reportedly, she had come to meet Ajay Devgn and strolled to his van that was parked some distance away. An attendant then informed her that the star had already packed up and left. Upset, she abused, and even slapped the guy.
Dubai, July 28: Al-Qaeda number two Ayman al-Zawahiri slammed France’s move to ban Islamic face veils, saying Muslim women must hold on to their veils at any cost, in an audio tape posted online Wednesday.
“In France, the pioneer of secularism, there is an overt and shameless war on hijab (veil) and niqab (face cover),” he said in the tape posted on an Islamist website.
Mosul, July 28: Members of al-Qaida in Mesopotamia have been holding up blood banks and hospitals at gunpoint, stealing blood for their wounded fighters rather than risk having them arrested at medical facilities, according to Iraqi doctors, employees at health centers and the Sunni insurgents themselves.
Gaza, July 28: The Islamic Hamas movement has condemned the Israeli regime for the demolition of tens of Palestinian houses in a Bedouin village in the Negev desert.
More than 1,500 Israeli forces attacked al-Araqib village shortly before dawn on Tuesday. They bulldozed all houses and uprooted hundreds of olive trees belonging to the villagers, AFP quoted activists who tried to prevent the demolition.
Israeli authorities claimed that the homes had been built without legal permits.
Kabul, July 28: A bombing attack has targeted a crowded bus in southwestern Afghanistan, leaving at least 25 people killed and wounding some 20 others.
The explosion took place early on Wednesday when a roadside bomb hit a civilian bus as it was travelling on a highway in the Delaram district of Nimruz province.
“The roadside bomb struck a civilian bus this morning. Twenty civilians were killed and another 27 have been injured,” AFP quoted provincial governor Ghulam Dastgir Azad as saying.
Washington, July 28: A top US General today said that senior military officers from India and Pakistan should jointly attend military classes in the United States and study American civil war together.Such a move, General James Mattis said, would create the much needed trust between the military leaders of the two countries, which is required in addition to the diplomatic efforts between the leaders of India and Pakistan.”As we all know, they (India and Pakistan) have fought several wars over a number of issues.
Mumbai, July 28: Arbaaz Khan is expanding his horizon. The actor debuts as producer with upcoming “Dabangg”, starring elder brother Salman Khan and introducing Shatrughan Sinha’s daughter Sonakshi, and says he might venture into direction one day.
Arbaaz says he was dilly-dallying with his next career choice of opening up a production company when he chanced upon the script of “Dabangg” and found it to be the right one to venture upon for his debut production.
Chattisgarh, July 28: Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh said Naxals have ambitions to capture power at the Centre through violent means.
Replying to an adjournment motion on Naxals issue in the state Assembly, Singh said the Naxals did not want to be bracketed in Chhattisgarh or some other states but want to capture Delhi.
He said the Naxal menace is a national issue and not a concern of ruling, opposition or a particular party.
“Naxals did not spare leader or activist of any party.
Hyderabad, July 28: Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister K Rosaiah today said he has requested Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to evolve a permanent mechanism for resolving inter-state disputes, particularly over sharing of river waters, as dispute resolution through courts was getting delayed.
“Courts are unable to resolve the disputes. It has been proven in the case of Babhli irrigation project built by Maharashtra government on river Godavari. Despite specific orders from the Supreme Court, the Maharashtra government went ahead with the installation of crest gates on Babhli barrage.
Hyderabad, July 28: Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister K Rosaiah today said he has requested Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to evolve a permanent mechanism for resolving inter-state disputes, particularly over sharing of river waters, as dispute resolution through courts was getting delayed.
“Courts are unable to resolve the disputes. It has been proven in the case of Babhli irrigation project built by Maharashtra government on river Godavari. Despite specific orders from the Supreme Court, the Maharashtra government went ahead with the installation of crest gates on Babhli barrage.
Motihari (Bihar), July 28: A police officer allegedly assaulted a constable which led to his death in East Champaran district, officials said.
Police sub-inspector Anil Kumar posted at Chakiya police station entered into a fight with constable Jagnarayan Mehta over a trivial issue.
The SI then assaulted 45-year-old Jagnarayan with a stick which left him fatally injured. The constable later died at a government hospital, they said.
The SI has been detained following the incident.
Mumbai, July 28: “Knock Out” director Mani Shankar had a tough time stonewalling Irrfan Khan’s insistent requests that he be allowed to throw some punches in the film, a la the leonine Sanjay Dutt. It was Sanjay who finally convinced Irrfan that the toughie look would not fit his role of an investment banker.