Month: January 2011

Missed me doing action? Coming back soon, says Suniel Shetty

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New Delhi, January 03: Suniel Shetty is taking a U-turn and returning to where he started in Bollywood – action. The macho actor, who is taking a sabbatical from producing movies after facing losses, is pumping his muscles to crush some bones on the big screen for a resurrection.

“There are plans to come back to action. I am working hard on my body and fitness for that. I will do something that is extra extraordinary. It will be a patriotic film,” Anna, as he is fondly called, told IANS in an interview.

Jagan’s supporters attacked

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Vijayawada, January 3: Supporters of the former Kadapa MP, Mr Y S Jagan Mohana Reddy, have alleged that they have been physically attacked by the Congressmen on Saturday.

Manmohan arrives on two day visit to Chennai

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New Delhi, January 03: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh arrived at the Chennai Airport on Sunday evening on a two-day visit to the city. The special aircraft of the Indian Air Force carrying the Prime Minister touched down at the airport at 7.40 p.m.

Mr. Singh was greeted at the latter point of the tarmac by Deputy Chief Minister M.K. Stalin, Mayor M. Subramanian, Chief Secretary S. Malathi, Director General of Police Letika Saran and ADGP (Law and Order) K. Radhakrishnan, Chennai Suburban Police Commissioner S.R. Jankid and Kancheepuram Collector Ashish Chatterjee.

I Was Not In Dubai With Salman: Kat

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Mumbai, January 03: Katrina is getting enraged with rumours that she went to Dubai to spend time with the Dabangg superstar, reports Media.Katrina is losing her cool. This year-end she gave up her annual family vacation in London for work. But the presumption that she might have taken off to Dubai to join Salman and his family for the New Year has driven her crazy.

Tendulkar, Dhoni in Chappell’s ‘2010 World XI’

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New Delhi, January 03: Batting icon Sachin Tendulkar and skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni were among the four Indian cricketers who found a place in former Australia captain Ian Chappell’s ‘2010 World XI’, which did not feature a single Aussie. Dashing opener Virender Sehwag and pace spearhead Zaheer Khan were the other two Indians in the XI, which features five South Africans.

Israeli soldiers kill another Palestinian

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Jerusalem, January 03: Israeli soldiers have killed the 24-year-old Ahmed Muslamani, from the village of Tubas in the occupied West Bank, Palestinian officials say.

Dozens of locals attended a funeral procession for Muslamani, who was shot dead at a West Bank checkpoint.

The victim was shot in the chest and leg, said a Palestinian medical worker, who collected the body at the Israeli military checkpoint near the West Bank city of Nablus.

Egypt top cleric accuses pope of meddling

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Cairo, January 03: Egypt’s top Muslim cleric criticised Pope Benedict XVI’s call for world leaders to defend Christians as interference in his country’s affairs, the official MENA news agency reported.

The call, following a deadly church car-bombing in northern Egypt, was “unacceptable interference in Egypt’s affairs,” Ahmed al-Tayeb, the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, the oldest Islamic seat of learning, told reporters.

US suffers first 2011 deaths in Iraq

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Baghdad, January 03: Two US soldiers have been killed in central Iraq to become Washington’s first fatalities in the violence-wracked country in 2011.

“Two US service members were killed in central Iraq Sunday night,” AFP quoted a Monday statement from the US military as saying.

“This was one incident resulting in the death of two US service members. These are the first deaths of any US service member in 2011,” a spokeswoman for the military said.

She declined further details about the identity of the soldiers and how they were killed.

Iran Gen. warns against ‘soft war’

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Tehran, January 03: A senior Iranian commander has warned against enemies’ plots to wage a soft war aimed at countering the Islamic Republic, stressing the importance of recognizing diverse aspects of such a war.

“It is an absolute necessity for the Islamic establishment in Iran, which has new words for the world, to identify various aspects of this soft war,” IRNA quoted Deputy Head of Iran’s Armed Forces Joint Chiefs of Staff Brigadier General Masoud Jazayeri as saying on Sunday.

‘US to stay in Afghanistan forever’

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Washington, January 03: A senior Republican senator has suggested that the US should devise a plan to permanently keep American troops in war-ravaged Afghanistan.

Lindsey Graham, the Republican senator from South Carolina, told NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday that Republicans would push for indefinite US stay in Afghanistan in the years ahead.

Indian scientists need to think big: PM

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Chennai, January 03: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday urged Indian scientists to “think big” and “out of the box” for scientific advancement and innovations in the country.

“The time has come for Indian scientists to think big, think out of the box. The time has come to produce Ramans and Ramanujans as we usher in the decade of innovation,” Manmohan Singh said in his inaugural address at the 98th Indian Science Congress here.

He was referring to eminent physicist CV Raman and renowned mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan both from Tamil Nadu.

Obama ignores India, signs 9/11 health bill

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Washington, January 03: Ignoring India’s concerns and veiled warning that it would drag the US to the World Trade Organisation, US President Barack Obama has signed into law a bill that would provide free health care to the first responders of the twin-tower terrorist attack in New York in September 2001.

Court questions CBI’s hurry to file closure report in Aarushi case

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Ghaziabad, January 03: A designated CBI court here on Monday took up the closure report filed by the agency in the sensational murder of Aarushi Talwar in which it has named her father as a suspect, but has expressed inability to prosecute him because of insufficient evidence.

The court, before which the agency filed the closure report on December 29, after two-and-a-half-years of investigation, is to decide whether or not the case should be re-investigated.

At the start of the proceedings today, the Special Court registered the agency’s closure report in the Aarushi murder case.

India freezing weather ‘kills 24’

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New Delhi, January 03: The capital, Delhi, has been hit worst by the cold snap, along with Indian-administered Kashmir, Haryana, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh.

In Leh in Kashmir, temperatures dropped to -23.6C – this winter’s lowest – on Sunday, weather officials said.

Delhi, which is experiencing one of its coldest winters in years, has been hit by thick fog which disrupted flights.

Sunday was Delhi’s coldest day this winter with temperatures dipping to 7.8C.

The cold wave is being felt most intensely in Kashmir with the summer capital, Srinagar, recording sub-zero temperatures.

Bin Laden’s best friends, 30 years ago

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London, January 03: Britain’s National Archives last week released restricted materials from its underground vaults from the Cold War era, declassified after 30 years.

The papers provide insider accounts of how key western powers secretly decided to pit Afghan fighters against the Soviets. Many of them would go on to become the founders of al-Qa’eda.

In December 1979, Russia invaded Kabul to rescue a Marxist-Leninist puppet regime under threat from the mujahideen, an Islamist opposition.

Muslim Telangana outfits unite

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Hyderabad, January 03: Various organizations claiming to represent the Muslim community in Telangana joined forces today to form the Muslims Minority Front to fight for achieving a separate state.

Talking to media persons after a meeting of the various constituents, the newly formed Muslims Minority Front ad hoc committee convener Shahbaz Ali Khan said that Muslims in Telangana region were educationally and economically backward.

Muslims in America are in need of help

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Since 9/11 hundreds if not thousands of Muslims have faced “preemptive prosecution,” where Muslims who are deemed “dangerous” are prosecuted before they commit a crime.

No DJs, dowry display at nikah: Clerics

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Muzaffarnagar, January 03: The Muslim clerics of Jamiat Ulema Hind have called for a ban on using Disc Jockeys (DJ) and display of dowry goods by community members during weddings’ saying it is against Islamic law.

The clerics also appealed the ulemas to avoid performing nikah in such marriages.

The decision came during a meeting held yesterday in which several Muslim clerics were present.

The clerics decided to ban DJs and exhibition of dowry goods during marriage saying that it is against the Shariat law.

Pakistan, India cannot afford war: Gilani

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Islamabad, January 03: Pakistan and India cannot afford a war, Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani has said, stressing that dialogue is the only way to resolve outstanding issues between the nuclear-armed neighbours.

Responding to a question on the Pakistan-India relationship during his maiden appearance in a live television show, the prime minister said dialogue is the only way forward because both the countries cannot afford a war.

CM vows to change dal-roti into biryani

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Hyderabad, January 03: In a bid to woo deprived sections of society, chief minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy celebrated New Year Day at a tribal colony in Hayatnagar on the outskirts of the city.

The chief minister made a surprise visit at Banjara colony near Hayathnagar on Saturday and sanctioned infrastructure facilities. When he visited one of the houses, the women offered him roti and dal. Kiran Reddy said he would come back after infrastructure facilities are put in place and “have biryani at the same house.”

TRS, BJP to skip all-party meet on Telangana report

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Hyderabad, January 03: In a setback to the Centre’s consultation process, the TRS and the BJP have decided not to attend the January 6 meeting in New Delhi to discuss the Justice Srikrishna Committee report on Telangana.

Announcing its decision, the TRS Sunday said, “It was a deliberate attempt to seek divergent opinions on the issue.”

Echoing similar feelings, the BJP also said it will not participate in the meeting called by Home Minister P Chidambaram on Thursday.

Egypt’s minister pelted, fears of sectarian unrest

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Cairo, January 03: Angry Christian demonstrators pelted an Egyptian minister with stones on Sunday, as fears rose of sectarian unrest after a bombing at a church that killed 21 people.

Hundreds of Coptic Christians gathered inside the gates of Cairo’s St Mark’s Cathedral where the Coptic pope, Shenouda III, has his headquarters and heckled officials who came to pay condolences.

Salman would be dear to me: Katrina

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Mumbai, January 03: Katrina Kaif is in a foul mood and it’s all owing to baseless rumours about her and Salman doing rounds in the industry as of now. The actress who was tied up with her work commitments is fuming on reports that she flew to Dubai to make a cosy New Year with Salman.

Enraged and peeved Katrina wants to know who is making all these claims. “I’m here in Mumbai rehearsing for my performance at an awards function next week,” said Katrina.

Jagan to rake up Sonia’s Italian connection for votes

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Hyderabad, January 03: Former Kadapa MP Y. S. Jaganmohan Reddy is confident his new political party will decimate the Congress in the next assembly elections in Andhra Pradesh in 2014. He has said he is not keen to contest the byelections to the Pulivendula assembly seat in Kadapa district and, instead, intends to contest for the Kadapa Lok Sabha seat again.

J. Prabhakar Rao, a Jagan loyalist, has said Vijayalakshmi, Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy’s widow, will seek re- election to the assembly on a ticket of Jagan’s party.

Israel extends ban on immigration through marriage

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Jerusalem, January 03: Israel on Sunday extended for six months a ban preventing Palestinians married to Israelis to immigrate to the Jewish state, the Premier’s office said in a statement.

“The ministerial committee for security affairs decided tonight (Sunday) to extend for six months a text on family unification, which expired December 31,” said a statement from the office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

That extension until June 30 denies Palestinians the right to acquire Israeli citizenship or resident status through marriage.