Month: May 2011

Rajnikanth in ICU in Singapore hospital

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Singapore, May 30: Tamil superstar Rajnikanth, who was flown in here from Chennai for treatment, has been admitted to intensive care unit of the city-state`s Mount Elizabeth Hospital and is stated to be in a stable condition.

The 61-year-old actor is in stable condition, the Channel News Asia reported last night quoting Dhanush, Tamil actor and the mega star`s son-in-law.

Rajnikanth had suffered from exhaustion on April 29, the first day of the shoot of his latest venture `Raana`, and was admitted to the Isabel Hospital in Chennai.

‘Did not attend funeral of Headley’s father’

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Chicago, May 30: LeT operative David Headley has told a jury in the Tahawwur Rana trial that Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani attended his father’s funeral, but the latter’s office rubbished the claim.

Headley, 50, made the claim during his testimony in the trial of the Mumbai attack co-accused Rana in Chicago.

Headley told jury during the course of questioning on Thursday that Prime Minister Gilani attended the funeral of his father Syed Saleem Gilani and also offered condolences to the bereaved family.

India, Pakistan talks today, Siachen on agenda

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New Delhi, May 30: Setting the tone ahead of the India and Pakistan defence secretaries talks that start on Monday, Pakistan Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani reiterated Islamabad’s stand that it would not allow its soil to be used to plot terror strikes against any country.

This statement come just hours before his defence secretary General Syed Athar Ali meets his Indian counterpart Pradeep Kumar for talks after a gap of three years.

Their prime focus will be Siachen – But can they reduce the trust deficit between the two countries?

Sarah Palin sets tongues wagging on Presidential run

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Washington, May 30: America is abuzz with plain Palin talk. Using the Memorial Day on Sunday, Sarah Palin, the former Republican vice-presidential nominee, was all set to roar into Washington with a pack of war veterans on their motorcycles and then head off on a bus tour of American landmarks before turning up in the electorally-significant New Hampshire on Friday.

Gunmen attack Zardari’s chief security officer

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Karachi, May 30: President Asif Ali Zardari’s chief security officer has been attacked by unknown gunmen in the Pakistani port city of Karachi.

The armed men hurled grenade at Bilal Shaikh’s vehicle and opened fire on it last night, Geo TV reported.

The assailants fled the scene leaving behind their car and weapons when Bilal’s bodyguards retaliated. Two bodyguards of Bilal were injured in the incident.

Police have seized the vehicle and weapons.

Bilal said he had been receiving death threats for sometime.

——–PTI

I hate the ‘Telephone’ video: Lady Gaga

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London, May 30: Singer Lady Gaga hates her ‘Telephone’ video that she collaborated with Beyonce Knowles.

Gaga admits that while she and Knowles looked ‘great together’ in the video released in 2010, she wishes she had been able to put her own stamp on the video.

‘I can’t even watch the ‘Telephone’ video, I hate it so much. Beyonce and I are great together. But there are so many f***ing idea in that video and all I see in that video is my brain throbbing with ideas and I wish I had edited it myself a little bit more,’ contactmusic.com quoted the 25-yaer-old as saying.

My son is over-protective: Christian Aguilera

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London, May 30: Singer Christina Aguilera says that her three-year-old son Max is so ‘protective’ about her that he refuses to let anyone touch her without his permission.

‘If he was here right now, when you shook my hand (to greet me) he’d be like, ‘No! Don’t touch my (mummy’s) hand.’ He doesn’t get the whole thing yet that like mummy is a public personality. So he’s very protective. When I’m getting my make-up done and things like that, he’s like, ‘No! Don’t touch!’ And then he cuddles with me,’ dailystar.co.uk quoted Aguilera as saying.

Political opponents conspiring to run down BSP: Mayawati

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Chandigarh, may 30:The BSP today accused its political opponents of hatching conspiracies to weaken the party and asserted that it would not bow down to any such tactics.

“After BSP came to power in Uttar Pradesh, the opposition parties with caste-based mindset tried to inflate minor incidents to make the party instable,” BSP supremo and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati said at the North Zone convention of the party here.

She alleged that the opposition was causing hindrances in the pro-poor policies adopted by her government in Uttar Pradesh, by taking issues to courts.

Farooq supports Navlakha’s detention, criticises Arundhati

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Pahalgam (JK), May 30: As he backed the Jammu and Kashmir government over preventing a rights activist from entering the Valley, Union Minister Farooq Abdullah today sought to clarify that he doesn’t interfere in the
administrative matters of the state.

Defending the state government’s decision to turn back Navlakha, who is known to have separatist views on Jammu and Kashmir, he said: “It is all right. For safety of Kashmir, we will do anything. It should be done. We want tourism, we do not want tragedies.”

Rs 10,000 supari for husband’s murder

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Ghaziabad, May 30:A woman along with her paramour were arrested here today for allegedly getting her dentist husband killed, police said.

Mubarak, a Meerut based dentist, was allegedly kidnapped on the night of May 23 and next day his body was found near jungles of Newari area in Ghazaibad.

“The dentist was killed by hired killers and his body was thrown in Painga village under Niwari police station,” Raghubir Lal, Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) said.

Shaina, wife of the dentist, her paramour Wasid and one more person were arrested for killing Mubarak, Lal said.

‘No Israeli ship docked in Iran’

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Jerusalem, May 30: A senior Iranian official refutes fabricated reports that Israeli ships have docked in Iran during recent years, saying no ship belonging to Israeli shipping lines had entered the Iranian ports.

“Ships belonging to shipping lines of the United States and particularly the Zionist regime (Israel) have never entered Iranian ports during recent years,” deputy managing director at Iran’s Port and Maritime Organization, Mohsen Sadeqifar, told IRNA on Sunday.

Brad Pitt set to marry Angelina Jolie?

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London, May 30: Actor Brad Pitt says there are chances of him marrying girlfriend Angelina Jolie soon, as they are being pressurized by their children to do so.

Pitt – who raises Maddox, nine, Pax, seven, Zahara, six, and biological kids Shiloh, five, and two-year-old twins Knox and Vivienne with Jolie – admits that the children are putting pressure on the couple to tie the knot.

‘The kids ask about marriage. It’s meaning more and more to them. So it’s something we’ve got to look at,’ femalefirst.co.uk quoted Pitt as saying.

‘Revolt’ done to save party & Andhra: Chandrababu on TDP split

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Hyderabad, May 30:Sixteen years after he dethroned his father-in-law N T Rama Rao to become the chief minister of Andhra Pradesh, TDP president N Chandrababu Naidu today broke his silence and said the “revolt” was only made to save the party and the state.

I never imagined even in my dreams that I will revolt against NTR. For me, NTR was not just a father-in-law but a God whom I worshipped. But he was facing problems having come under the influence of an ‘evil force’ (NTR’s second wife Lakshmi Parvati) and hence we were left with no other option

I’m not retiring, says Lata

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New Delhi, May 30: A media report claiming that octogenerian Lata Mangeshkar is planning to retire has upset the singing legend who is surprised how a reputed newspaper could have published such an item.

‘Today, I read a news in DNA newspaper that said that I am retiring. This is absolutely wrong. And I am surprised a reputated newspaper like DNA has published wrong and irresponsible information about me,’ Lata Sunday posted on her Twitter page.

The 81-year-old says that she has come into this world to sing and will keep singing till her last breath.

Due recognition demanded for Muslim freedom fighters’ role

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Hyderabad, May 30: Speakers at a one-day seminar on the lives and times of the first Muslim freedom fighter Allama Fazl-e Haq ‘Khairabadi’ to mark his 150th anniversary of his martyrdom for the cause of the country’s independence unanimously demanded his sacrifice be recognised properly.

Air strike kills 14 civilians, mostly children Afghan

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* Afghan president warns NATO over ”big mistake”
* Anti-Western sentiment rising in Afghanistan
Lashkar Gh,Afghanistan, May 30: An air strike called in by NATO-led troops in southern Afghanistan killed 12 children and two women, Afghan officials said today, one of the worst civilian death tolls by foreign forces in months.

Hyderabad was on 26/11 plotters radar

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Hyderabad, May 30: The plotters of the 26/11 Mumbai attacks and David Headley, who is a witness in the case against Tawwahur Rana being heard in a Chicago, US, court, had discussed Hyderabad along with other cities in the country as possible targets, sources said. After training with the LeT, Headley was asked to visit India by his handlers in Pakistan and on the possible itinerary were Hyderabad, Kolkata, Delhi, Bengaluru, Pune, Nagpur, apart from Mumbai.

Jagan a Mafia Leader, KCR a Political Broker

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Hyderabad, May 30: The former Home Minister and TDP politburo member, Mr T Devender Goud, has described the Telangana Rashtra Samithi president, Mr K Chandrasekhara Rao, as a political broker and the YSR Congress chief, Mr Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy, as a mafia leader.

Relations between ISI, CIA have improved

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Islamabad, May 30: Relations between Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and US spy agency CIA – that were strained after the secret mission in Abbottabad that killed Osama bin Laden – have now improved, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said Sunday.

Talking to journalists, Gilani said Pakistan has made it clear to US that Abbottabad-like operation was not acceptable to it, The Nation reported.

Pakistan asks India to rectify ‘Most Wanted’ list

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Islamabad, May 30: Pakistan has returned to India its list of “Most Wanted” terrorists and asked New Delhi to recheck it, saying some of those named were in India, a media report said Sunday.

The list handed over to Pakistan by India contained names of 50 alleged terrorists who, according to New Delhi, were involved in subversive activities in the country. India demanded that Pakistan hand over the wanted people.

“But after taking a thorough review, Pakistan has objected that one terrorist out of the

Keep a tab on kids’ phone use

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Illustration – P. K. JobDr B. Ekbal, former Vice Chancellor of Kerala University, said teachers and parents should keep vigil on the use of Internet and mobile phones by minor students.

However, he did not see any need for giving user guidelines to adults on the use or misuse of mobile phones and Internet.

CPM MLA commits suicide

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Kolkata, May 29: CPI(M) MLA from Basirhat North constituency, Mostafa bin Quasem, on Sunday allegedly leapt to his death from the third floor of the MLA’s Hostel building in Kolkata. “The MLA jumped from the third floor and fell on a tin shed. He is dead,” police sources said. He was 80. Following the incident, c hief minister Mamata Banerjee visited the spot.

Sania-Elena book quarter-final berth, Bhupathi ousted

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Paris, May 29: Sania Mirza on Sunday reached her first ever French Open women’s doubles quarter-finals with partner Elena Vesnina but Mahesh Bhuapthi’s campaign ended after suffering a second round defeat in the mixed doubles along with Jie Zheng. Seventh seed Sania and Elena quelled a late challenge from 11th see d Spanish duo of Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez and Anabel Medina Garrigues 6-1 6-4 in the third round.

The Indo-Russian pair now have a tough task at hand as they face top seeds Gisela Dulko of Argentina and Flavia Pennetta of Italy.

Slight intensity quake hit Rajasthan-Haryana region

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Jaipur, May 29: A slight intensity earthquake measuring 3.2 on the richter scale hit the Rajasthan-Haryana border region on Sunday.

The tremor occurred around 5.35 am this morning, a Met department official said here.

The epicentre of the quake was monitored at the Rajasthan-Haryana border region, he said.

There was no immediate report of any loss to life or property.

-Agencies