Month: November 2011

Sagardighi, November 11: Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Friday slammed BJP for criticising Prime Minister Manmohan Singh who described his Pakistan counterpart Yousuf Raza Gilani ‘a man of peace’ and said former premier Atal Behari Vajpayee had also visited Pakistan and signed pacts to counter terrorism in 2004.

”All countries recognise that there is a need to talk to Pakistan to counter terrorism,” Mukherjee told reporters on the sidelines of the inauguration of a school building, here.

New Delhi, November 11: Anna Hazare is not allowed to take his own decisions or lead the anti-corruption movement on his own as some members of his core team “control” and “exploit” him, his former blogger Raju Parulekar has alleged.

Parulekar, who fell out with Hazare recently after the Gandhian distanced from him after a controversy erupted over restructuring of the core team, also alleged that key team members Arvind Kejriwal, Kiran Bedi and Prashant Bhushan had no respect for the Gandhian.

Tehran, November 11: Hezbollah Secretary General Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah says any attack on Iran will start a full-scale war in the Middle East region.

—–Agencies

Balarampur, November 11: Warning Maoists who have rejected her ultimatum to surrender, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday hoped that ‘good sense’ would still prevail and warned that her patience was wearing thin.

Banerjee on her third visit to Junglemahal said “I have given lot of time and if good sense prevails I have no objection. I will give you food, jobs, houses and roads and consider your cases.”

New Delhi, November 11: India’s nuclear regulator on Friday said the Kudankulam nuclear plant was “very well protected” but it had recommended additional safety features, including one to tackle instances of a prolonged loss of power.

“The Kudankulam nuclear power plant is very well protected from a possible tsunami. It is very safe,” S S Bajaj, Chairman of the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) said.

Srinagar, November 11: Shri Mata Vaishnodevi Shrine Board (SMVSB) will set up a new helipad for ferrying pilgrims to the famous cave shrine in Jammu district.

A new helipad is being built by the Board in Katra to cater to the needs of increasing number of pilgrims flying every day to the cave shrine, 61 km from here, SMVSB officials said today.

The holy cave shrine is perched at a height of 5,200 feet above the sea level in the Trikuta Hills of the Shivalik Range, and nearly 88 lakh pilgrims have visited it so far this year, surpassing all previous records.

New Delhi, November 11: Team Anna member Arvind Kejriwal has alleged government was spending crores of rupees and planting stories in media to separate Anna Hazare from him and other prominent team members Kiran Bedi and Prashant Bhushan.

Accusing the government of trying to defame Team Anna with charges that would not stick, he told a news channel that “there’s a conspiracy to separate Anna Hazare from Kiran Bedi, Arvind Kejriwal and Prashant Bhushan.

New Delhi, November 11: Dalit leader Udit Raj, who has been pushing for a Bahujan Lokpal bill, has termed as “half hearted” Anna Hazare’s intention to involve Dalits, tribals and minorities in the Lokpal institution.

Udit Raj claimed Hazare changed his stance after the massive rallies organised by him. He has been asking for reservation for Dalits and minorities in the anti-graft ombudsman through his Bahujan Lokpal bill.

“Anna’s call to rope in Dalits and minorities in the Lokpal is half hearted. Hazare changed his stance after we built up pressure,” said Udit Raj.

Dearborn, November 11: A reality show about Muslim families in America carried by TLC cable channel will premier next Sunday, aiming at breaking religious stereotypes and misconceptions about the diverse religious minority in the US.

“Ultimately, our shows are about telling the stories of the families featured in them,” a program producer, who declined to be named, told World Net Daily (WND) on Thursday, November 10.

Melbourne, November 11: A Sydney escort agency that is selling the virginity of a teenage girl for thousands of dollars has sparked outrage among community groups

The group claims that this move is “putting women’s liberation back centuries”.

According to The Daily Telegraph, an investigation by sex industry consulting firm Brothel Busters has found MyOutCall Australia is offering the Chinese 19-year old student for four days in exchange for the 15,000 dollars sum, News.com.au reported.

Hyderabad, November 11: A delegation of Movement for Peace and Justice (MPJ) reached Krishna Super Specialty Hospital to visit two Muslim youth injured in an attack made by miscreants and enquired about the details of their treatment.

President MPJ Hamid Mohammad Khan strongly condemned targeting the Muslim youth in a planned manner by the miscreants in different areas of the city and said that these kind of incidents shows laxity of administration. He said ‘had the police administration been active these kind of incidents would not have happened.’

London, November 11: A study has shown that women can seem younger just by smiling and looking happy.

The German study showed more than 1,000 photographs of faces to 150 men and women of different ages and asked them to judge the ages of the people in the photos.

Older female faces were estimated on average to be three years younger than their male counterparts.

Researchers said that it’s likely that people who are smiling look attractive in different ways, which includes looking younger than they actually are.

Nagpur, November 11: A mob protesting the desecration of statue of Mahatma Gandhi today in the city, shouted slogans and tried to block vehicular traffic in north Nagpur area.

According to police, the statue was found damaged in Vinoba Bhave Nagar area of North Nagpur this morning.

Some local resident of the area, who were on morning walk, found that some miscreants had desecrated the statue of the Father of the nation. Soon, a mob gathered there and shouted slogans that the statue be replaced wih a new one, police said.

Hyderabad, November 11: Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy today launched the “Rashtra Vidya Chaitanya Uthsavalu-2011” on the occasion of the 123rd birth anniversary of Maulana Abul Kalam Azad at the People’s Plaza, Necklace Road here. He told the large gathering of students, teachers and parents that Knowledge is power and hence it is our bounden duty to see that every child goes to school and are educated.

Hyderabad, November 11: Police has solved the case of mysterious death of a woman in Falaknuma last week and declared the death, which was earlier thought to be a suicide case, as a murder.

Police arrested 5 people in this connection including the victim’s husband.

London, November 11: A US teacher is facing a 60 year jail term after being charged with having sex with 11 of her students.

According to prosecutors, Cindy Clifton allegedly plied her 14 to 17-year-old victims with alcohol and then had sex with them in her home, the Sun reported.

Many are the 41-year-old’s victims are thought to have been friends of her teenage daughter, who was at the parties.

Clifton’s lawyer in Covington, US, said that the accused was a “devoted wife, hard-working teacher and faithful member of her church.”

—–Agencies

Hyderabad, November 11: Urdu language has been declared the 2nd language in 13 districts of Andhra Pradesh but constant injustice is being meted out towards Urdu. In the exams which are conducted for the Urdu teachers neither the exam papers are written correctly nor is standard paper used for their printing.

Mumbai, November 11: Taking a cue from Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, who got actor Amitabh Bachchan to be the brand ambassador of Gujarat, Mamata Banerjee approached actor Shah Rukh Khan to be the face of West Bengal.

Shah Rukh, who also owns the IPL team Kolkata Knight Riders, is a frequent visitor to the state. Recently, while at the opening ceremony of 17th Kolkata International Film Festival, he was the chief guest at the opening ceremony. It is believed that after the ceremony Mamata approached the superstar wooing him to become the brand ambassador of Bengal.

Mumbai, November 11: A call from Arbaaz Khan saw Sonakshi Sinha bidding a hasty adieu to Race 2.

Apparently Sonakshi was all set to be a part of the film when Dabangg 2 came her way.

Also, buzz is that Arbaaz Khan believes all those who opted out of the sequel actually were going to be a part of Abhinav Kashyap’s next.

Abhinav, who directed Dabangg, later had a fallout with the Khan camp. Naturally, the actress had to make her choice quickly.

Mumbai, November 11: Hindi movies are Brazilian model Moufid Aziz’s aspiration. He is debuting in Bollywood with “Rockstar” as an Indian and says he feels at home in the country and has no plans to go back.

After Giselle Monteiro, Moufid is another Brazilian discovery by director Imtiaz Ali.

“My plan of staying here was only for three months, but I could not leave because I liked it so much. India is home for me. I have no plans of going anywhere else. I do wish to get more Bollywood roles and I’m very glad to play an Indian in a movie, ” Moufid told in an e-mail interaction.

Mumbai, November 11: Filmmaker Anurag Kashyap says Ranbir Kapoor is “awesome” in “Rockstar” and describes the film as Imtiaz Ali’s best work.

“Rockstar is easily Imtiaz Ali’s best. This is how a love story should be told. Soul stirring. Still assimilating,” Kashyap wrote on microblogging site Twitter.

“‘Rockstar’ is unlike most films…no cacophony of sounds…quiet…no unnecessary background to propel it forward…Ranbir is just awesome.

It is not ‘Jab We Met’…its come from somewhere with in Imtiaz. It’s his labour of love,” he added.

Mumbai, November 11: World- golf champion Gary Player, regarded as arguably the biggest star of the game with 9 championship victories under his belt, is all set to celebrate his birthday in style over the coming weekend in Durban. Handpicked guests from all over the world have been invited for the 4-day binge this weekend in Durban

And the only invitee from Bollywood and apparently from India, on the guest list is Neha Dhupia.

The sultry actress was pleasantly surprised to receive the invitation and has begun preparing for the event.

Mumbai, November 11: Arch rivals Shah Rukh Khan and Salman Khan are constantly in news for their films competing against each other. Since the formers dream venture ‘RA.One’ was released two weeks ago, the Box Office battle is back between the two once again.

Buzz has it that the trade pundits are analyzing that ‘RA.One’ could beat Sallu’s ‘Ready’ in terms of collections in the domestic market.

Mumbai, November 11: Vidya Balan’s sexy avatar, itsy bitsy clothes, cleavage-showing blouses and raunchy dance numbers in “The Dirty Picture” are receiving jaw-dropping reactions.

Fans and trade pundits say the masala movie is expected to beat the musical treat “Rockstar”, the fun-filled “Desi Boyz” and the action thriller “Don 2”.

Directed by Milan Luthria, “The Dirty Picture” is said to be the tragic tale of a southern sex symbol`s rise and fall and Vidya is playing the voluptuous woman who was loved and desired in the 1980s and 1990s.

Mumbai, November 11: When you put a Baba in a Bigg Boss house full of babes, there are bound to be fireworks.

And Swami Agnivesh’s entry into the reality show’s premises on Wednesday, had all of that alongwith a bunch of hilarious gaffes, when some of the inmates failed to recognise the man, who until recently was ubiquitous on news media on account of his association with Anna Hazare’s crusade.

Take former Splitsvilla contestant Siddharth Bhardwaj for example. The MTV VJ actually mistook Agnivesh for a palmist.