Mumbai, November 13: Actress Deepika Padukone may have chosen films over sports as her career, but the Bolly star admits that sports is always close to her heart. And that’s also one of her fave indulgences if the actress manages to get a Sunday off. “Well, any day that I am not working is treated as a Sunday. I think, as actors, that’s one of the things that we let go — the luxury of a Sunday,” shares Deepika.
Mumbai, November 13: Shah Rukh Khan bonded well with the Chief Minister of West Bengal Mamta Banerjee at the inauguration ceremony of the 17th Kolkata Film Festival.
‘Awesome feeling of love in kolkatta…got to be in such august company…and mamta didi was so sweet…& the crowds at the airports,’ he tweeted.
——Agencies
Sanaa, November 13: Two people have been killed in separate clashes between revolutionaries and forces loyal to Yemen’s Ali Abdullah Saleh, Press TV reports.
On Saturday, regime forces shot dead a defected soldier in the capital Sana’a as he was guarding protesters in the city’s flashpoint Change Square.
Witnesses said two huge explosions were heard in the area following the shooting.
In a separate incident, a woman lost her life after a mortar shell hit her house in the restive Arhab district, a few kilometers northeast of Sana’a.
Mumbai, November 13: Just when we thought that the Pakistani starlet Veena Malik had pulled off quite a ‘costing’ coup by wangling Rs 3 crore for her appearance on the reality TV show based on the epic Indian tradition of Swayamvar, we heard that the lady has been offered an extra Rs 1.5 crore.
However, the extra monies will only be sanctioned if Malik agrees to tie the knot to one of the many suitors on the show itself.
New Delhi, November 13: Social activist Swami Agnivesh says his brief three-day stint in “Bigg Boss 5” has left him tempted to taste reality television once again for the mass reach that entertainment channels provide.
“After being in the show, now I will wait to watch ‘Bigg Boss’ whenever I can. In fact, now I feel like coming on more such reality shows. I don’t know the available options, but I will be happy to be on such shows and channels which have such mass reach,” Agnivesh spoke over phone from Mumbai, after coming out of the show Friday.
New Delhi, November 13: The government has taken serious note of the telecast of a CD purportedly showing nurse Bhanwari Devi and former Rajasthan minister Mahipal Maderna in a compromising position and issued showcause notices to two news channels.
Official sources said that the notices have been sent to news channels P7 and Sahara Samay who have been directed not to repeat the telecast of the same.
Islamabad, November 13: The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has condemned the alleged forced conversion of a young Pakistani Hindu woman to Islam, stating such a “malicious campaign is in full swing” in the country.
The woman named Anita, wife of Suresh Kumar and a mother of two children, was allegedly kidnapped April 27 from her house in Moro in Sindh province.
Baghdad, November 13: A rights group says that thousands of Iraqi women and girls have been forced into sexual slavery since the 2003 US-led invasion of the country.
The Social Change through Education in the Middle East (SCEMC) organization said as many as 5,000 Iraqi women and girls have been trafficked for sexual exploitation since 2003.
Syria and Jordan are the two main destinations for Iraqi females, the London-based group said in a statement.
The SCEMC accused Iraqi authorities of “failing to address the problem.”
Islamabad, November 13: Tehreek-e-Insaf chief Imran Khan said that terror groups will have no place in Pakistan if his party comes to power. Speaking to Media, he said that it is time to stop treating terror groups created during the Afghan jehad days as an asset.
“As a policy if Tehreek-e-Insaf government comes to power we will insist on there will be no militant groups operating from within Pakistan, because the world has changed. So the groups that were created during the Afghan jihad, this is now an outdated concept of having them as assets,” he said.
Rome, November 13: Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi has resigned after parliament’s lower chamber passed European-demanded reforms, ending a 17-year political era and setting in motion a transition aimed at bringing the country back from the brink of economic crisis.
A chorus of Handel’s “Alleluia,” performed by a few dozen singers and classical musicians, rang out in front of the president’s palace as thousands of Italians poured into downtown Rome to rejoice at the end of Berlusconi’s scandal-marred reign.
Ankara, November 13: Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu has criticized Israel over its recent threat to attack the Islamic Republic of Iran, Media reports.
Davutoglu said on Saturday that the creation of new tension in the region was unacceptable, noting, “We do not think that it is right to put any possibility of a military operation in the region on the agenda.”
“We are against this military action. It will create new instability in the region,” Davutoglu said, adding that “Everybody must behave with moral principles.”
Tripoli, November 13: Libya won’t turn into an extremist Islamic country, its interim leader assured the European Union’s top diplomat on Saturday, adding that the formation of a new government of experts is to be completed in the coming week.
Mustafa Abdul-Jalil, chairman of the National Transitional Council, caused a stir in the West last month when he said Islamic Shariah law would be the main source of legislation in the new Libya and that tenets violating it would be nullified.
New Delhi, November 13: After the warmth of his meetings with Pakistan’s Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani in the Maldives, the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is dealing with the cold realities back home, defending the resumption of the dialogue process 3 years after 26/11 attacks.
Putting the spotlight back on Indo-Pak ties, the Prime Minister had a word of caution. He said another attack like Mumbai will hit talks.
He said that though the talks were on the right track, another 26/11 like attack would jeopardise the dialogue.
Johannesburg, November 13: Niger’s President Mahamadou Issoufou said on Friday he had granted Muammar Gaddafi’s son Saadi asylum on humanitarian grounds but did not know the location of another fugitive son Saif al-Islam, South African media reported.
The announcement will strain already troubled relations between Niger and Libya’s interim rulers, who overthrew Muammar Gaddafi after an eight month uprising and want both sons to stand trial for alleged atrocities.
Jaipur, November 13: Congress leader Digvijay Singh, referring to the Bhanwari Devi disappearance case, today alleged there were some CDs against BJP leaders also. “I am not in-charge of Rajasthan but at the same time what I have come to know is that there are some CDs against BJP leaders also,” he told a press conference here.
Tehran, November 13: A popular Tunisian daily says the recent Israeli threats of a military strike on Iran stem from the Zionist regime’s erroneous assessment of the regional and global conditions.
Israelis assume that since Arab countries are occupied with revolutions and their aftermath, they will not exhibit any serious reaction in case of a Tel Aviv attack on Iran, an editorial titled “A false and dangerous assessment” said as published in the Tunisian Assabah daily.
Dubai, November 13: The United States reportedly plans to provide thousands of advanced ”bunker-busting” bombs to the United Arab Emirates.
The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday these bombs were designed to demolish bunkers, tunnels and other thickly reinforced targets.
The proposed package to the UAE is to be formally presented to Congress ”in the coming days,” according to the newspaper.
The package includes up to 4,900 Joint Direct Attack Munitions (JDAM) and other weapons, the paper said.
Tehran, November 13: The commander of Iran’s Ground Forces says the damage Israel sustained during its offensives against Lebanon and the Gaza Strip has rendered it incapable of “opening a new front” against Iran.
On Saturday, Brigadier General Ahmad-Reza Pourdastan said Tel Aviv was still convalescing from the ‘indescribable blows’ it received from the 33-Day War of 2008 on Lebanon and the December 2008-January 2009 Gaza War, Fars News Agency reported.
“Today, the aggressor Israeli Army is a crippled one,” he asserted.
Islamabad, November 13: Pakistani opposition leader and Tehreek-e-Insaaf chief Imran Khan said he will rein in the Pakistani Army and the ISI if he becomes Prime Minister.
Speaking Media, Imran said that if and when he becomes Prime Minister then everything that happens in the country will be his responsibility and hence, the Army will be under him.
“Unless I can implement my agenda, which means that I take responsibility of everything that happens in Pakistan, it means that the Army is under me,” he said.
Hyderabad, November 13: International Secretary of Vishwa Hindu Parishad Praveen Togadia said that on the occasion of Eid Ul Azha Cow Slaughtering is not stopped in Hyderabad, Owaisi’s and AP CM kiran friendship is responsible for cow slaughtering and the Hyderabad is going second Pakistan,MIM is running on the rules of Huzur Nizam, said Praveen Togaida to Media.
New Delhi, November 12: Three prostitutes and two pimps were arrested as a sex racket operating in north Delhi was busted, police said Saturday.
The pimps — Pradeep Kumar Gupta, 52 and Saroj, 32 along with the three girls aged between 20 and 30 years were arrested from Sector 16 of Rohini.
“We received a tip-off that the racket was operating in the area. One of our officers posing as a customer negotiated a deal and gave four signed notes of Rs. 500 to Saroj. Once the deal was finalised, we raided the premises and arrested them,” said a police officer.
Ghaziabad, November 12: Team Anna on Saturday urged MPs to support its Jan Lokpal bill, claiming that 99.5% people in Rae Bareli, the Lok Sabha constituency of Congress president Sonia Gandhi, have said they wouldn’t elect her back if she doesn’t support it. They also claimed that 98.3% people in Amethi, the Lok
Sabha constituency of Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi, had the same view.
Cairo, November 12: The Arab League Saturday suspended Syria, Qatari Prime Minister Hamad bin Jassim Al Thani announced.
The regional body will impose harsh economic and political sanctions against Syrian President Bashar Al Assad’s government, Jassim said.
Syria, one of the Arab League’s founders, will be banned from participating in the regional body’s meetings.
The prime minster said that the suspension would come into force Nov 16.
Hyderabad, November 12: Nearly 20 members of Telangana Advocates Joint Action Committee were arrested when they tried to disrupt the book release function held by Vishalandhra Maha Sabha at Basheerbagh Press Club here on Saturday.
The advocates stormed into the auditorium while the book written by the author Chakravarty was about to be unveiled. Raising ‘Jai Telangana’ slogans, the advocates tried to go up to the podium to snatch the copies of the book. However, they were arrested by the police and were shifted to a nearby police station.
Hyderabad, November 12: Telangana Political Joint Action Committee chairman Prof M Kodandaram on Saturday stated that the Congress party would be wiped out if it resorts to delaying tactics on formation of Telangana state in the name of second States Reorganisation Commission or the regional councils.