Month: April 2012

Major fire guts 34-floor residential building in Sharjah

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A massive fire broke out at around 2:30 am on Saturday morning on the north side of Al Tayer buliding in the Al Nahda area of Sharjah.

Panic spread among the residents living in the building when fire broke out but they managed to escape unhurt.

But residents fear many pets left behind by them in the 34 floor residential building may not survive the fire.

The reason for the blaze is still unknown.

Click here to read: Families face homeless night out

Rajesh Khanna discharged from hospital

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Yesteryear actor Rajesh Khanna, who was admitted to Mumbai’s Lilavati hospital after he reportedly felt uneasy and weak on Monday night, has been dischaged.

“Rajeshji was admitted two days back. He had gone for a normal checkup, nothing serious. He is back home. He was discharged yesterday afternoon,” the 69-year-old’s manager Ashwin told IANS.

“Dimple Kapadia is taking care of Rajeshji. She is always by his side. She took him to the hospital. He is doing perfectly fine now. Nothing to worry,” he added.

Cong has selfish agenda behind nominating Sachin: Bal Thackeray

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Stating that every step that Congress takes has a selfish agenda, Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray on Saturday said there was a need to check the ‘motive’ of that party in nominating cricket icon Sachin Tendulkar to Rajya Sabha.

“Nothing that Congress does is straight and in no work of theirs, the motive is clean,” Thackeray said in an editorial in party mouthpiece Saamana in Mumbai.

“Crores of Sachin’s fans would have liked to call him Bharat Ratna Sachin Tendulkar. Alas, he would now only be Sachin Tendulkar, MP.

Briton who sold fake Indian Viagra told to pay back

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A Briton who made millions of pounds and led a lavish lifestyle by selling online counterfeit and unlicensed medicines including fake Viagra sourced from India, has been asked to pay back 14 million pounds.

Investigators found that Manchester-based Simon Hickman, who ran the online ‘pharmacy’, made 15.4 million pounds from his dealings.

The Southwark crown Court has now asked him to return 14 million pounds within six months.

He has been given six months to pay, with a default sentence of 10 years if he does not pay in time.

Handwritten ‘death memo’ that got Osama

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US President Barack Obama’s order to “ go in and get ( Osama) Bin Laden” was made public on Thursday, as recorded in a memo scribbled by then- CIA chief Leon Panetta shortly after the decision was made.

Published by Time magazine as the first anniversary of the Al- Qaeda leader’s killing in Pakistan approaches, the succinct memo dated April 29, 2011, 10: 35 am was written by hand and signed by Panetta.

Sri Lanka Muslims Strike Against Intolerance

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Angered by a recent decision by the Sri Lankan government to relocate a Muslim mosque, the religious minority called for a strike on Friday, April 27, uniting to preserve their depleting rights in the Buddhist-majority country.

35 killed, 179 injured in Oman road accidents

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Thirty-five people were killed and 179 injured in 156 traffic accidents across Oman last week, according to statistics released by the Royal Oman police on Saturday.

More than half of the fatal accidents or 18 deaths were recorded from Batinah region in north of Oman. Six people reportedly died in Dhofar and five others in the eastern parts of the country.

The worst accident was reported in Batinah region when eight members of a family were burnt alive after their SUV hit a parked truck while they were travelling from Khaboura towards Suwaiq in the early hours of Friday.

Egyptians protest amid fears over Mubarak old guard

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Hundreds of Egyptians protested in Cairo yesterday against what they said was a bid to bring back deposed President Hosni Mubarak’s old guard after his last prime minister was allowed to stand in the presidential election.

But exposing divisions less than a month before an historic vote that marks the final step in a turbulent transition from army rule, youth movements and other activists who led the anti-Mubarak revolt last year did not join the demonstration.

Israel backtracks on settlement demolition pledge

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The Israeli government on Friday asked the Supreme Court for a three-month delay in the demolition of five apartment buildings in a Jewish settlement on the West Bank, backtracking on a previous pledge to clear the site by May 1.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition government agreed last year to remove the houses at Ulpana, on the edge of the Beit El settlement, after a court ruled they were built on private Palestinian land. Officials say 30 families live in the buildings.

Urdu University Irregularities – Dharna on 3rd May

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Hyderabad, April 28: Struggle and Action committee of Urdu University got strength when the A.P. High Court heard its plea. Convener of Action Committee Comrade Nusrath Mohiuddin in a statement told that the programme of action is being finalized by the committee.

As a first step of the protest, Dharna Programme has been organized on Saturday 3rd May 2012 which has the support and encouragement of various political,non-political,social and educational organizations. A large number of lovers of Urdu will also participate in the Dharna Programme.

Urdu Academy Revokes Publication of Urdu Manuscripts

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Urdu Academy has started its function with the appointment of its dynamic and enthusiastic Director, Prof. Syed Abdul Shukoor, Head of the Dept of Urdu, at Nizam College, Osmania University.

He immediately revoked the scheme of old Urdu manuscripts.

Urdu Academy provides financial assistance partly for the publication of such manuscripts.

Authors get Rs 10 to 12 thousand under this scheme to meet publication expenses.
Giving the details of the previous expenses, he told that the Academy had provided

TRS assures Telangana by Political Stability

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Hyderabad, April 28: Two Party System in India failed and in national politics also, reginal parties are playing an important role. BJP is no longer a national party. It has now turned into a party of the beggars. Mr. K. Chandrasekhaar Rao President of Telangana Rashtra Samithi expressed these thoughts in a function at Vikarabad to commemorate 11th year of its inceptors. He dismissed the merger of TRS with any political party. Future is bright both for Telangana and TRS. He predicted the vanishing of Congress from Telangana.

‘Shaukeen’ oldies to woo hottie Bips

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BIPASHA Basu will be essaying the role of the sultry seductress who robs three old men of their senses in Rohit Roy’s remake of the 1982 Basu Chatterjee hit comedy, Shaukeen.

While Bipasha steps into Rati Agnihotri’s shoes in the remake, Naseeruddin Shah, Rishi Kapoor and Boman Irani will play the three older men out to have some fun with the girl on a vacation.

Rishi is said to be essaying the role played by Ashok Kumar in the original, Naseer plays A. K. Hangal’s character while Boman’s is based on Utpal Dutt’s hilarious character from Chatterjee’s film.

Indian Activists Decry Burqa Ban

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Indian activists have warned that a recent decision by a Mangalore college to ban full face-veil in classes would force Muslim students to quit education, a move that could increase dangerous illiteracy rate among Muslim women.”The burqa is a cultural symbol for Muslim women,” Ruth Manorama, president of the National Alliance of Women, told the Times of India on Friday, April 27.“I don’t see any point in educational institutions putting a ban on it,” he added.

US and Taliban resume talks: Report

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The Afghan Taliban have resumed talks with the US in Qatar to find a political solution to the decades-old conflict in Afghanistan though the two sides have been unable to make any headway in the parleys, according to a media report on Saturday.

The two sides are sticking to “hard conditions” during the initial rounds of the talks, senior unnamed Taliban leaders were quoted as saying by The News daily.

The Taliban had opened an office in Qatar on January 03 and named it their “diplomatic office” for talks with the US.

HC orders Tiwari to go for DNA test in paternity case

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AFTER years of legal battles, Rohit Shekhar ( 32) appears to have succeeded in getting what he sought: A few drops of Congress veteran N. D. Tiwari’s blood.

On Friday, a division bench of the Delhi High Court ordered a DNA test to be carried out on Tiwari so that it could settle the paternity suit of Shekhar, who claims to be the Congress leader’s son. The bench of Chief Justice A. K. Sikri and Justice Rajiv Sahai Endlaw set aside a single- judge order that had stated the high court couldn’t force Tiwari to give his blood.

Yousuf Raza Gilani is still Pakistan PM: US

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The US has said it continues to work with Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani as it believes that he remains leader of the democratic government there.

“There was a court decision. He was given a 30-second sentence, I believe, and he remains the Prime Minister of Pakistan,” State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland told reporters at her daily news conference.

“And as such, we continue to work with him, and (Special US Representative for Pakistan and Afghanistan) Ambassador (Marc) Grossman did meet with him in Pakistan,” Nuland said in response to a question.

IPL 2012 Live Score: Chennai Super Kings vs Kings XI Punjab

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Over 12.4: Saha out! David Hussey got the wicket. Short and quick, Saha pulled across the line and got a bottom edge and onto the stumps. Chennai 88/4 (13.0 Ovs). CRR 6.77 RR 9.86

Saha b David Hussey 8(14)

Live Score »

Over 11.3: Jadeja dropped by Chawla at mid wicket. Right after scoring a boundary. Jadeja tried to pull a short ball to mid wicket but Chawla failed to hold on to it. Chennai 83/3 (12.0 Ovs). CRR 6.92 RR 9.25

US-Pak talks fails as America angry over attacks in Kabul

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High level US-Pak talks to break a diplomatic deadlock have ended in failure after Washington refused to tender an apology to Pakistan over a recent cross-border raid as it was angered by new Taliban attacks on Afghan capital Kabul.

Marc Grossman, the US special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan left Islamabad yesterday with no agreement after two days of discussions aimed at patching up the damage caused by American airstrikes last November that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers, the New York Times reported.

IPL 2012: Delhi too good for Mumbai

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Delhi Daredevils demonstrated their might in all departments yet again as they trounced Mumbai Indians by 37 runs in an Indian Premier League match at the Feroz Shah Kotla on Friday.

Scorecard »

Captain Virender Sehwag shone with the bat scoring a 39-ball 73. He shared a scintillating 135-run opening stand with Mahela Jayawardene (55). This was Sehwag’s third consecutive half century in the tournament.

Model Aparna Sharma arrested for rash driving

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Model and ex-Miss India contestant Aparna Sharma was arrested in a case of alleged rash driving in which a couple was injured in Mumbai early this morning, police said today.

The model was later granted bail.

Sharma was driving her Maruti SX4 car at a “very high speed” in Lokhandwala area in suburbs at about 1 am and lost control over her vehicle and rammed it into a moving Honda City car, a motorcycle and a parked auto-rickshaw, they said.

Laddoos & paan for Aamir in Benaras

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Quite contrary to his earlier camouflaged visit to Varanasi during the promotion of film 3 Idiots, Aamir Khan was in the city on Wednesday amidst great media glare.

He was the special guest at the wedding of son of Ram Lakhan, the autorickshawwallah who drove him around the city and helped him locate his ancestral home when he had previously gone there for the promotion of his film. So overwhelmed with this gesture, the actor could not decline the wedding invitation that the autorickshaw driver had personally handed over to him in Mumbai.

Guardiola in Abramovich radar for Chelsea

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When the coach of the most successful club in recent times announces his departure from the club he is bound to be engulfed by the speculations of ‘where to next’ and in Josep Guardiola’s case, the first club to jump into the Bandwagon is Chelsea.

According to a newspaper Chelsea representatives will be meeting with Pep to discuss further on the matter. In fact, speculations have been ripe that Cheslea boss Roman Abramovich has been in talks with Josep Guardiola for past several months to persuade the Spainard to become the manager at Stanford Bridge.

Top four seeds enter semis at Stuttgart WTA Grand Prix

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Top-ranked Victoria Azarenka had to exert every ounce of her energy to beat German wild card Mona Barthel 6-4, 6-7 (3-7), 7-5 in a match that lasted nearly three hours at the Porsche Grand Prix in Stuttgart, Germany.

With Azarenka, Maria Sharapova, Petra Kvitova and Agnieszka Radwanska all in Saturday`s semi-finals, this is the first time since the Wimbledon Open in 2009 that the world`s top four players have reached the last four at a WTA tournament, reports Xinhua.

Yahoo adds two more patent theft charges against Facebook

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Embattled Internet firm Yahoo has expanded its legal fight with Facebook by including two more charges of intellectual property theft against the social networking giant.

Yahoo has now claimed that Facebook is infringing on 12, rather than ten, of its patents.

“Today’s filing underscores the breadth of Facebook’s violation of Yahoo”s intellectual property,” The Los Angeles Times quoted a Yahoo spokesman, as saying.

Last month Yahoo claimed Facebook had infringed on ten of its patents, including systems and methods for advertising on the web.