Month: February 2011

Deepika is ready to take on Munni and Sheila

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Mumbai, February 28: Following the success of Munni and Sheila in the year 2010, this year it’s time for Deepika Padukone.

She is all set to steal the show with her hot and sizzling item number in her upcoming flick “Dum Maaro Dum”.

In the film, Deepika will be seen shaking her legs on the modern-day version of the song Dum Maaro Dum featuring Zeenat Aman.

She wants her item song to be hotter than that of Katrina’s Sheila. Buzz is in the air that no stone is being left unturned to give the item number the sexiest twist possible.

Shahid hosts birthday bash for his industry friends

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Mumbai, February 28: Much to everyone’s surprise Shahid Kapoor who is not much of a party person threw a lavish birthday bash this year for his industry friends.

Shahid had two purposes behind this. On the one hand he got a chance to hang out with his friends and secondly it was a good platform to discuss about his upcoming film.

The eye candy of the night was none other than Sonam Kapoor, Shahid’s co-star in “Mausam”.

At the party the lead pair of the film Shahid and Sonam gave interviews and discussed about the film to the media.

Dream girl Hema Malini is the latest addition in Aarakshan

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Mumbai, February 28: The latest buzz in tinsel town is that dream girl Hema Malini is the latest addition in Prakash Jha’s upcoming project “Aarakshan”.

In the film she plays a cameo role. Her character has recently been added in the script.

Despite having her hands full with the editing work of her home production “Tell Me Oh Khuda” as well as the direction of a television soap, Hema Malini accepted the offer as she found the character quite promising.

Amrita Rao in long-distance relationship with NRI!

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Mumbai, February 28: (Bollypatrika News): Amrita Rao is dating an NRI orthopaedic surgeon from San Francisco. Earlier there were rumours of her being dating Shahid Kapoor.

A source stated “Amrita was once in the news for being artist MF Hussain’s muse. Later, Bollywood was always abuzz with rumours about Amrita dating different men but most of the rumours fell flat after a point of time. But this time she seems to have finally found love.”

The source said further, “Amrita has been dating a certain Neil Kulkarni, an NRI orthopaedic surgeon based out of San Francisco.”

No sequel of Yamla Pagla Deewana!

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Mumbai, February 28: Following the success of “Yamla Pagla Deewana” starring father son trio Dharmendra, Sunny and Bobby Deol buzz was in the air that its sequel will soon hit theatres.

But this idea has been dropped following fallout between the director of the film Samir Karnik and the Deol family.

A source stated “The success of Yamla Pagla Deewana has gone to Karnik’s head. His behaviour and attitude towards the Deol family has changed.”

The source added further, “He has been close to the family for very long now but he is no longer in their good books.”

Budget leaves IT sector unimpressed

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Hyderabad, February 28: The information technology (IT) sector is disappointed at Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee’s union budget for 2011-12 for not extending tax incentives and hiking the Minimum Alternate Tax (MAT).

The IT sector in Hyderabad, a key IT hub in the country, feels the finance minister failed to meet its expectations, especially on the demand to continue tax incentives to small and medium enterprises under the Software Technology Parks of India (STPI) scheme.

Joker to take Akshay’s career to a new level- Shirish Kunder

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Mumbai, February 28: 2010 was not a good year for Akshay Kumar. Apart from “Housefull”, his remaining films “Tees Maar Khan”, “Action Replay” and “Khatta Meetha” were all box-office dismals.

So 2011 is indeed a crucial year for him. Shirish Kunder, the director of “Joker” claimed “Joker will take Akshay’s career to a new level and change his image.

He said further, “It’s a sure shot box office success.” The film has Akshay Kumar and Sonakshi Sinha in the lead role.

Highway reopens for passenger vehicles from both ways

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Srinagar, February 28: Traffic was resumed on the Srinagar-Jammu National Highway from both ways for passenger vehicles, after remaining suspended for two days due to snowfall and landslides.

Meanwhile, the National Highway, linking the Ladakh region with the rest of the state and a number of roads to border areas in north Kashmir remained closed due to snowfall.

We have allowed passenger vehicles from Srinagar this morning after the stranded vehicles were cleared till late last night, a traffic police official told UNI here today.

Desi girl Priyanka Chopra catches up with pop sensation Lady Gaga!

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Mumbai, February 28: The latest buzz in tinsel town is that desi girl Priyanka Chopra and videsi singer Lady Gaga were recently spotted together after Gaga’s Madison Square Garden concert.

Priyanka is an avid fan of Gaga for quite some time. Priyanka stated “I like her tracks, “Poker Face,” “Bad Romance,” and “Drag Queen,” so it was great to see her perform.”

“She is keen on doing something in India. I think she is going on an Asia tour soon and that’s really cool. I think it would be great for her to come down [to India].”

Social sector allocation increased to Rs 1,60,000 crore

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New Delhi, February 28: Following are the key highlights for the
social sector allocation in the Budget.

-Allocation for social sector increased by 17% to Rs. 1,60,887 crore.

-Allocation for Bharat Nirman programme increased by Rs. 10,000
crore.

-Plan allocation for education hiked by 24% and health by 20%.

-Eligibility for old age pension scheme reduced from 65 years to 60.

– Allocation for infrastructure increased by 23.3% to
Rs. 2,14,000 crore.

-Credit to farmers to be increased to Rs. 4,75,000 crore.

-Fiscal deficit pegged at 4.6% of GDP.

Gold, silver prices surge owing to Middle East crisis

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Hyderabad, February 28: As the ongoing crisis in the Middle East intensifies Gold prices are also gradually on the rise side by side. According to financial services institution SMC the rate of two metals is likely to soar till March. Gold rate will hit a peak of 21300 per 10 gms and the prices of silver will climb to its highest level of 52000 per Kg.

Till the beginning of the current month the rate of yellow metal was on fall but now due political turbulence in the Middle East the rates are on the rise gradually in the world market.

10 lakh aadhaar numbers to be generated every day

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New Delhi, February 28: The Union Budget for 2011-12
presented in Parliament today laid special emphasis on improving
governance through Unique ID (UID).

While presenting the Budget, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee
said the UID Mission has taken off and Aadhaar numbers were being
generated in large numbers. So far, 20 lakh Aadhaar numbers
have been given and from October 1, 2011, ten lakh numbers will be
generated per day.

The stage is now set for realising the potential of Aadhaar for
improving service delivery, accountability and transparency in

Katrina lends a helping hand to Pomila Hunter

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Mumbai, February 28: Barbie doll Katrina Kaif will be seen in a cameo in “Main Krishna Hoon” a film produced by Pomila Hunter, Katrina’s long-term hair dresser.

She will be seen in the second half of the film. Debutant director Pomila revealed that Katrina has signed the film for free.

This is not something new to Bollywood. Megastar Amitabh Bachchan too had made a special appearance in a Bhojpuri film titled “Ganga” directed by Deepak Sawant for free.

68 more Indians return from Libya, 600 to arrive Monday night

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Mumbai/New Delhi, February 28: The third batch of 68 Indians from violence-torn Libya landed in Mumbai in a Gulf Air flight Monday morning. Another 600 Indians will be brought back on two special Air India flights in the night.

With the fresh arrivals, the total number of Indians who have returned from Libya, where the revolt against the Muammar Gaddafi government has turned violent and claimed over 1,000 lives so far, has reached around 600.

Top honours crown ‘The King’s Speech’ at 83rd Oscars

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Los Angeles, February 28: The royal drama “The King’s Speech” made it big at the 83rd Academy Awards by winning Oscars for best picture, best director, best actor and best screenwriter. Also bagging four gongs was sci-fi thriller “Inception” at a glittering ceremony hosted by first timers Anne Hathaway and James Franco.

“I have a feeling my career has just peaked,” Colin Firth said Sunday night at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood after receiving his first Oscar as best actor for “The King’s Speech”.

Taibu, Ervine help Zimbabwe get challenging total

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Nagpur, February 28: Tatenda Taibu and Craig Ervine helped Zimbabwe set a challenging 299-run target for Canada in a Group A match of the World Cup at the Vidarbha Cricket Association (VCA) Stadium in Jamtha here Monday.

Taibu (98) and Ervine (85) with their 181-run stand for the third wicket helped Zimbabwe recover from a poor start of two for seven. For Canada, leg-spinner Balaji Rao was the most successful bowler with four for 57 while seamers Khurram Chohan and Harvir Baidwan claimed two wickets each.

After arrest in U.S., fresh attempt to extradite Avtar Singh

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London, February 28: The Jammu and Kashmir government has begun a fresh attempt at the extradition from the United States of a former Army Major, involved in the kidnap and murder of Jaleel Andrabi, a human rights lawyer, here in 1996.

Major Avtar Singh of the Territorial Army was arrested in California on the charge of domestic violence on Saturday and released later.

India will not offer unsolicited advice to Arab nations: Krishna

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New Delhi, February 28: “Our focus is on bringing back Indians who want to return from states in turmoil”

Although India wanted peace and stability to return to Arab countries, its “basic proposition” was that it would not offer unsolicited advice. The government’s immediate focus and attention was on bringing back Indians who wanted to return from countries in turmoil, External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna told journalists while returning from a three-day visit to Kuwait.

‘5-fold strategy to deal with black money menace’

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New Delhi, February 28: Expressing “serious concern” over the generation and circulation of black money, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee today said the government has adopted a five-fold strategy to deal with the menace.

“The generation and circulation of black money is an area of serious concern. To deal with this problem effectively, the government has put into operation a five-fold strategy which consists of joining the global crusade against black money,” Mukherjee said in his Budget speech.

Delhi Police gets Rs 3,340.75 crore; Rs 504 crore more

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New Delhi, February 28: Delhi Police today got a Rs 504.22 crore increase in the budget allocation for the next fiscal with Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee allocating Rs 3,340.75 crore for its functioning.

In the 2011-12 budget presented in Lok Sabha by Mukherjee, the city police was allocated a total of Rs 90 crore in plan head while Rs 3,210.75 crore was earmarked for non-plan expenditure.

Another Rs 10 crore has been allocated for constructing residential buildings for policemen while Rs 21 crore has been earmarked for building offices.

England fined for slow over-rate during tied match

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Bangalore, February 28: England captain Andrew Strauss was fined 20 per cent of his match fee while his teammates lost 10 per cent of their earnings for maintaining a slow over-rate during the tied World Cup match against India here.

“The fines were imposed by (match referee Roshan) Mahanama after Andrew Strauss’s side was ruled to be one over short of its target at the end of the match when time allowances were taken into consideration,” the ICC said in a statement.

16 school children injured in bus-truck collision

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Ballia (UP), February 28: Sixteen students were today injured when their school bus overturned after being hit by a speeding truck here, police said.

The accident occurred near Bharsauta village in Haldi area when the truck hit the bus, carrying students of a private school.

The injured students, in the age group of 8-12 years, were rushed to a hospital, where they were discharged after first-aid, they added.

The driver of the school bus was stated to be drunk, they said, adding the truck driver, however, managed to escape from the spot.

-Agencies

J-K highway re-opened after two days

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Jammu, February 28: The Jammu-Srinagar National Highway, which connects the Kashmir Valley with the rest of the country, was today re-opened for vehicular traffic, two days after it was closed following heavy snowfall and rains.

“The highway has been reopened for one-way traffic from Srinagar to Jammu,” police said.

Over 400 vehicles, which were stranded due to the closure of the highway, were cleared this morning, they said.

Court notice to Union Carbide on compensation hike

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New Delhi, February 28: The Supreme Court Monday issued notice to the Union Carbide Corporation on a petition by the central government seeking enhancement of compensation by Rs.7,844.22 crore for the 1984 Bhopal Gas Tragedy victims.

The five judges of an apex court bench headed by Chief Justice S.H. Kapadia said it will hear the matter from April 13. The court said the hearing will take place for three days every week.

Four beheaded bodies found on railway track

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Kaushambi (UP), February 28: Beheaded bodies of four persons, including a woman and two girls, were today found on a railway track in Saini area here, police said.

The beheaded bodies of a man, a woman and two girls were recovered on the track in Ghumai village here.

The bodies were not yet identified, they said, adding a probe is on in the case.

-Agencies