Month: August 2010

Shashi Tharoor Weds Sunanda Pushkar

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Palakkad, August 23: In a typical Malayali wedding, former Union Minister Shashi Tharoor on Sunday tied nuptial knots with Sunanda Pushkar at the ancestral home of the bridegroom at Elavanchery village near here .

Tharoor, a former UN under secretary general and now a member of Indian parliament, tied the ‘thali’, symbolising the marital bond as per the Hindu custom, amid accompaniment of percussion and windpipe orchestra’nadaswaram’ at the auspicious moment shortly before 8.30.

Iran unveils unmanned aerial bomber

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Tehran, August 23: Iran unveiled an unmanned bomber jet Sunday that will probably fail to tip the region’s strategic balance but suggests Tehran continues to invest in shoring up its conventional weapons capabilities.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, speaking during annual Defense Industry Day ceremonies, described the Karrar drone as “a messenger of honor and human generosity” before also terming it a “messenger of death for the enemies of humanity.”

Shooting with Gauri makes Shah Rukh nervous

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Mumbai, August 23: He may have faced the camera for numerous brand endorsements and films, but superstar Shah Rukh Khan is feeling jittery as he prepares to shoot with his wife Gauri for the first time for a television commercial.

“Preparing for a “big shoot” 2maro. No it’s not ra.one with ten cameras. it is with Gauri for D decor brand furnishings….very nervous (sic),” SRK tweeted last night.

Jackson’s family compound haunted by ghosts

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London, August 22: Michael Jackson’s brother Jermaine has spoken out about his family’s darkest secret – the clan’s famous compound in Encino, California, is haunted by ghosts.

The singer revealed that the estate was built on a burial ground and he has encountered many spooks there over the years, reports femalefirst.co.uk.

Jermaine said ghosts have been spotted roaming the grounds of the estate and he once woke up to find two in his bedroom, when he was a child.

“I opened my eyes and there were two older people,” he said.

It cost more than Rs 11 lakh to fly files for Mamata

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New Delhi, August 22: Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee’s prolonged absence from her ministry has cost the exchequer more than Rs 11 lakh over a one-year period.

Expenses for travel of five officials between Delhi and Kolkata to meet Mamata for clearing files have cost the Railways Rs 11,23,550.

The officials in question are Officer on Special Duty to Railway Minister Gautam Sanyal, Private Secretary Santanu Basu, Executive Director (Public Grievance) J K Saha, Additional PS S Ashok and APS Ratan Mukherjee.

Babri verdict: Plans afoot to deal with law and order

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Faizabad, August 22: With the verdict in the Ayodhya case expected to be pronounced next month, the district administration is now busy with finalising plans to deal with any law and order problem in the district.

Civil and police officials are meeting for the last two days to prepare a blueprint on managing communal harmony among the cross section of the society.

District magistrate M P Agrawal and SSP R K S Rathore yesterday held meeting with all police officers and magistrates in this regard.

Pawar denies shortage of fertilisers

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Solapur, August 22: Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar today refuted the allegations of short supply of fertilisers in the country.

Pawar, who was here to inaugurate some development projects, said his ministry has increased the quantity of fertilisers as compared to last year.

The Centre has sent sufficient stock of fertilisers to Maharashtra, but black-marketeering had led to its shortage in the state, he said.

“Delhi has done its duty perfectly. Now it is the duty of the states to bring the things in order,” he said.

–Agencies

BJP women members to send rakhi to Shah in jail

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Ahmedabad, August 22: All members of the state BJP women’s wing Mahila Morcha will send ‘rakhi’ on occasion of Rakshabandhan to former Gujarat minister Amit Shah, who is behind bars in connection with the Sohrabuddin fake encounter case.

“All our members will be sending rakhi to Amit Shah for his good health, his well-being and security,” BJP Mahila Morcha President Jayshriben Patel told PTI.

“Members from all districts will be sending rakhis, some have already sent it,” she said.

Sehwag remains second in ICC Test rankings

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Dubai, August 22: Dashing opener Virender Sehwag is the highest-ranked Indian batsman at the second spot in the latest ICC Test rankings issued today.

Sri Lanka captain Kumar Sangakkara leads the batting table with Michael Clarke of Australia on the third spot.

In the bowling list, Pakistan’s fast bowler Mohammad Amir has rocketed to a career-best 17th after playing a leading role in his side’s four-wicket victory over England in The Oval Test which concluded on Saturday.

Kerala honours Kamal Haasan

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Thiruvananthapuram, August 22: Veteran actor Kamal Haasan today said he was greatly indebted to Kerala as it was Malayalam cinema that spotted the artiste in him, nursed and helped him come up,”forgiving” his “shortcomings” as an actor.

He was speaking as the chief guest at the inaugural of the ‘Onam (state’s harvest festival)-Tourism’ week celebrations organised by the state government, where Chief Minister V S Achuthanandan honoured the actor by presenting him a ‘ponnada’ (shawl) and paid glowing tributes to him as an artiste and socially-concerned individual.

Tunisia cereal production nosedives by 50 percent

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Tunis, August 22: Tunisia’s cereal production has halved this year due to dry weather, the agriculture ministry said Saturday.

Yields of wheat and barley were hit by a lack of rainfall at the time of sowing, and reached just 1.2 million tonnes this season compared with 2.45 million tonnes in 2009 for a country, half of which is arid.

The agriculture ministry said Tunisia would import over two million tonnes of cereal this season from countries including the United States, Canada and Europe, to meet local needs.

Five years on, Hamas aims to make Gaza settlements bloom

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Gaza, August 22: Dozens of coffeeshops and tiny eateries have popped up along this stretch of Gaza’s southern coastline which was once a popular swimming beach for the Jewish settlers of Gush Katif.

Once upon a time, this beach and the surrounding area was totally off-limits to the 1.5 million Palestinians now living in Gaza — and reserved exclusively for their Jewish neighbours.

10 Africans arrested in Hyderabad

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Hyderabad, August 22: At least 10 Nigerians and Ugandans were arrested in Hyderabad Sunday for illegally overstaying in the country, police said.

The police action follows the arrest of two Nigerians earlier this month for drug peddling.

Police raided the homes of the 10 Africans here and took them into custody. Their passports were also seized, sources said.

Raids were conducted in areas like Humayun Nagar, Mehdipatnam and Toli Chowki. The police also launched a drive to verify passports and visas of the foreigners, most of whom are students.

Stolen Van Gogh’s fate unclear in Egypt

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Cairo, August 22: Egypt’s culture minister Sunday backtracked on a claim that two Italians were arrested with a stolen Van Gogh painting, blaming a subordinate for giving “inaccurate” information.

“The information … came from … Mohsen Shaalan. Despite Shaalan receiving confirmation that the painting was retrieved, the information was inaccurate,” the ministry said in a statement.

Kuwait monitors pro-Iran sleeping cells

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Kuwait, August 22: Kuwait is closely monitoring “sleeping terror cells” that would resort to violence if Iran came under a military strike, a newspaper quoted a security source as saying on Sunday.

“The security agencies have been monitoring those cells for a long time and are aware of their moves and sources of funding,” the unnamed Kuwaiti source told Al-Qabas newspaper.

They are “closely monitoring these sleeping terror cells through various methods and means,” the source said without elaborating.

Iraqis stage violent demo over power rationing

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Nasiriyah, August 22: Dozens of Iraqis violently protested in the southern city of Nasiriyah to demand better power supplies, wounding 16 people including 10 policemen, witnesses and officials said on Sunday.

The Saturday evening demonstration involved dozens of people who shouted “Where is the electricity?”, with several of them hurling stones and beating policemen with sticks, in a repeat of similar protests two months ago.

In response, officers in the city, 305 kilometres (190 miles) south of Baghdad, fired water cannons to disperse the crowd and arrested 40 people.

LRA spreads reign of terror in south Sudan

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Sudan, August 22: When the dreadlocked gunmen burst out of the jungle at night firing AK-47 assault rifles, the men of the village took up bows and arrows to defend their families.

But the brave defence was futile. The rebels from the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) simply shot the men and dragged off others into the forest to join their force.

“Two of us were killed, and three more wounded,” said Vanetta Tamenda, who fled as the rebels began their work, torching his small farming village of Basukangbi, on south Sudan’s remote border with the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

Buddhadeb blasts MP’s salary hike

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Kolkata, August 22: The massive salary hike for MPs came in for sharp criticism today by West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee who described it as shameful move amid people’s suffering due to food price inflation and asserted his party MPs did not support the move.

“My head goes down in shame. When the country’s people are reeling under huge food price inflation, their representatives are busy getting themselves such massive salary hike,” he said in a memorial meeting for a departed party leader while blaming the Congress for allowing the huge raise in salaries and perks.

Manama: Arrested activists back violent groups

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Manama, August 22: Several activists arrested in Bahrain over the past week have admitted to receiving funds to support groups which “incite violence,” a security official said on the state news agency BNA.

The suspects have “admitted to receiving funds and donations from religious scholars and businessmen under various covers, which they allegedly used to help … groups commit heinous acts,” the official said late on Saturday.

Kosher wine sets sights on the wider world

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Ramat Raziel, August 22: The wines produced at Domaine Du Castel near Jerusalem have turned the world of Kosher wine on its head, winning accolades from around the world, and now this small, family-owned winery has set its sites on the broader market.

A long climb through the winding hills to the southwest of Jerusalem leads to the vineyards of Tzuba, a nearby kibbutz where most of the winery’s grapes are grown. Since before dawn, workers have been picking white Chardonnay grapes.

Iran transfers fuel into its first nuclear power plant

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Tehran, August 22: A defiant Iran on Saturday began loading fuel into its Russian-built first nuclear power plant in the face of stiff opposition from world powers to its controversial atomic programme.
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Despite leading Western opposition to the Islamic republic’s project to enrich uranium in defiance of four sets of UN sanctions, the United States said it saw no “proliferation risk” from the new plant.

Western nations suspect that Iranian uranium enrichment masks a weapons drive, a charge strongly denied by Tehran.

Expensive, powerless Ramadan for Egyptians

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Cairo, August 22: Power and water cuts, soaring costs, scorching heat and anxiety over the country’s supply of wheat are causing frustration in Egypt during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

Angry villagers cut off a highway in the Fayoum governorate in protest at power cuts last week. The police were sent in to quell the demonstration, but the problem of power outages has not been resolved.

Elsewhere a young man with a heart condition was reported to have died amid a crowd jostling to buy bread. Independent newspapers called him “the first victim of the bread queues in Ramadan.”

Expensive, powerless Ramadan for Egyptians

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Cairo, August 22: Power and water cuts, soaring costs, scorching heat and anxiety over the country’s supply of wheat are causing frustration in Egypt during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

Angry villagers cut off a highway in the Fayoum governorate in protest at power cuts last week. The police were sent in to quell the demonstration, but the problem of power outages has not been resolved.

Elsewhere a young man with a heart condition was reported to have died amid a crowd jostling to buy bread. Independent newspapers called him “the first victim of the bread queues in Ramadan.”

Mosquitoes breeding at Games’ dug up sites: Azad

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New Delhi, August 22: With the number of dengue cases rising by the day in the national capital ahead of the Commonwealth Games, Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad today said mosquitoes breeding at unfinished venues of the event was one of the reasons behind the spread of the menace.

“The presence of dengue and water is strongly related.

Delhi is already dug up because of the Games and it is also raining very heavily.

“Since water remains accumulated in many places, it becomes a breeding place for mosquitoes,” Azad told reporters here.

One lakh people evacuated in China

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China, August 22: Rarely do we see such a massive evacuation of population as seen in China. At least four people were killed and more than 94,000 evacuated on Sunday from the flooded Dandong City in northeast China’s Liaoning Province after the Yalu river breached its banks.

Danger of a flooded Yalu River, a border river between China and North Korea still looms large as a new round of rainstorm is forecast to lash Dandong City, official media reports here said today.