Month: July 2012

Saudi Arabia threatens to quit Olympics

by

Saudi Arabia has threatened to withdraw from the Olympics unless a female judo athlete was allowed to wear her headscarf in competition, The Telegraph reported Friday.

The Saudis said the women could compete only if they were allowed to wear appropriate Muslim clothing.

On Thursday night the International Judo Federation president Marius Vizer said Wujdan Shahrkhani could not fight with a headscarf.

He said the decision was a result of safety concerns and also “according to the principles and spirit of judo”.

Anushka, John top sexiest beach body list in India

by

Bollywood stars Anushka Sharma and John Abraham have topped the list of best bikini and beach body in India while Jessica Alba and David Beckham dominated internationally, according to a survey.

The ‘Band Baaja Baraat’ actress received 11 per cent votes to top the list. ‘Jism 2’ star Sunny Leone and actress Deepika Padukone came in second with 9 per cent votes each.
Bipasha Basu and Priyanka Chopra shared the third spot by receiving 7 per cent of the total votes while Kareena Kapoor, Katrina Kaif and Nargis Fakhri rounded off the best five list, said the survey by Hotels.com.

Suspended jailer kills wife, self in Lucknow

by

A suspended jailer shot dead his wife and then killed himself here Friday, said police.

R.K. Kesarwani was under suspension after riots broke out in the prison in Basti in March where he was the jailer.

Police said that after a spat with her husband, Kesarwani’s wife Sunita had consumed pesticide to commit suicide.

When Kesarwani insisted on taking his wife to the hospital, she refused. He took out his service revolver and shot her on the temple. He then turned the gun on himself, said an official.

Mamata, Left clash over Assam refugees

by

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee Friday attacked the Left after it disputed her claim that the state had taken every possible step to provide relief to refugees coming from Assam.

“We were aware about the riots in Assam and the influx of refugees in Bengal for the last 10 days. But we didn’t say a word about it. Because as responsible human beings we didn’t want the violence to spread,” she said.

She said the state government had taken all measures to provide food and relief materials to the refugees.

‘Jism 2’ will be my ‘Arth’, says Pooja Bhatt

by

Actress-turned-director Pooja Bhatt says what ‘Arth’ was for her father Mahesh Bhatt, ‘Jism 2’ would be on the same lines for her.

“I think and hope that ‘Jism 2’ will be my ‘Arth’. It is a coincidence that I am at the same stage like my father. Even he had four films like ‘Naya Daur’, ‘Manzilein Aur Bhi Hain’ and others before ‘Arth’ but none of them did well,” Pooja told reporters here last night, at the promotional event of ‘Jism 2’.

Six students killed in UP school roof collapse

by

Six class 5 students were killed Friday when a portion of their school’s roof collapsed, burying them under the debris, in Uttar Pradesh’s Bijnor district, police said.

The incident took place at a private school, Meenakshi Junior High School in Jalilpur Chandpur area of the district, 440 km from Lucknow.

Court demands criminal action in school girl’s death case (Lead)

by

The Madras High Court Friday asked the Tamil Nadu government to take criminal and civil action against those responsible for the death of a six-year-old girl who was crushed under her school bus after she slipped down a hole under her seat.

The court, taking suo moto notice of the accident, asked the government to come out within a week with draft safety guidelines on buses used to transport students with provisions such as prohibiting vehicles more than five years from carrying school children.

Sonia wraps up 2-day visit to Rae Bareli

by

Congress President Sonia Gandhi on Friday wrapped up a two-day visit to her Lok Sabha constituency by meeting people’s representatives who highlighted various problems of the area and sought her help in resolving them.

Local MLAs belonging to SP – Ram Lal Akela and Devendra Pratap Singh – apprised their MP of problems of drainage, canal and power supply which were causing immense hardships.

Marine life under threat from UV radiation

by

Ultraviolet (UV) radiation, the latest threat to seas and oceans besides global warming and atmospheric carbon, is causing an alarming spike in deaths of marine animals and plants, according to an international research team.

The team, which included researchers from the Oceans Institute of the University of Western Australia (UWA), synthesised 1,784 published experiments on marine organisms around the world to evaluate the magnitude of impacts caused by increased ultraviolet B radiation (UVB).

Crowds swell as Ramdev comes to Team Anna’s fast site

by

There were thin crowds at the venue as Team Anna’s fast at Jantar Mantar entered its third day Friday but the scene changed dramatically after yoga guru Baba Ramdev joined in with a huge group of supporters.

The empty areas of the stand at Jantar Mantar overflowed with people as Ramdev arrived at around 4 p.m. after inspecting the Ramlila ground – the site for his agitation starting Aug 9 – and vowed support to Team Anna’s protest action.

“We will support whoever fights against corruption. This fight is to protect the country,” he said.

Hunt for tent rapist in Russia

by

Police are searching for a man accused of raping women in forests throughout western Russia and recording the acts on video, reported RIA Novosti.

The man has allegedly made a series of videos throughout the Vladimir, Tver and Yaroslavl regions, in which he bound the women with ropes and chains in an effort to choke them into submission.

No fresh violence in Assam’s Bodo areas, toll 45

by

Normalcy is slowly returning in Assam’s violence-hit Bodo areas, where week-long communal clashes claimed 45 lives, with no reports of any fresh incidents of violence being reported from anywhere in the affected areas since Thursday, the government said.

“There are no reports of any fresh incidents except for the two incidents in Baksa district Thursday. The situation is coming back to normal,” said Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi Friday.

Six students killed in UP school roof collapse

by

Six class 5 students were killed Friday when a portion of their school’s roof collapsed, burying them under the debris, in Uttar Pradesh’s Bijnor district, police said.

The incident took place at a private school, Meenakshi Junior High School in Jalilpur Chandpur area of the district, 440 km from Lucknow.

China-made fireworks to light up London Olympics

by

Fireworks made in China will light up the sky during the Opening Ceremony of the London Olympics Friday night.

“All the fireworks to be set off at the London Olympics are from China and three-fourths come from Liuyang city of central China’s Hunan province,” said Ye Xinglong, chairman of the supplier Liuyang Apple Fireworks Artist Display Co. Ltd, reports Xinhua.

The magnificent fireworks show at the Beijing Olympics resulted in more overseas demand for China-made fireworks, Ye said.

SC declines government’s plea on VIP Haj quota

by

The Supreme Court Friday declined to entertain the central government’s plea to defer, till next year, its July 23 order slashing the dignitaries quota of Haj pilgrims from 2,500 to a mere 300.

A bench of Justice Aftab Alam and Justice Ranjana Prakash Desai refused to entertain the plea by Attorney General G. Vahanvati seeking the deferment of the VIP quota cut order till next year.

“My instruction are to urge the court to postpone by a year the cut in the 2,500 seats earmarked under VIP quota,” Vahanvati told the court.

China-made fireworks to light up London Olympics

by

Fireworks made in China will light up the sky during the Opening Ceremony of the London Olympics Friday night.

“All the fireworks to be set off at the London Olympics are from China and three-fourths come from Liuyang city of central China’s Hunan province,” said Ye Xinglong, chairman of the supplier Liuyang Apple Fireworks Artist Display Co. Ltd, reports Xinhua.

The magnificent fireworks show at the Beijing Olympics resulted in more overseas demand for China-made fireworks, Ye said.

Six students killed in UP school roof collapse

by

Six class 5 students were killed Friday when a portion of their school’s roof collapsed, burying them under the debris, in Uttar Pradesh’s Bijnor district, police said.

The incident took place at a private school, Meenakshi Junior High School in Jalilpur Chandpur area of the district, 440 km from Lucknow.

Journalist Jigna Vora gets bail in J Dey murder case

by

Observing she has a child to look after and is a single parent, a special court on Friday granted bail to Jigna Vora, held under Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) for her alleged complicity in the murder of fellow journalist Jyotirmoy Dey. Special MCOCA court judge SM
Modak ordered Vora’s release on a surety of Rs. one lakh after observing that she had no criminal antecedents.

He also noted that the charge sheet had been filed and her custody was no longer required. Other grounds for granting bail to Vora were that she was unwell due to asthma.

Farah got kiss scene removed from ‘Shirin Farhad…’

by

Choreographer-turned-director turned actress Farah Khan agreed to make her acting debut with “Shirin Farhad Ki Toh Nikal Padi” only once its makers agreed to remove a kissing scene from the script.

The movie, directed by Bela Sehgal, narrates the story of two 40-plus lovers. The kissing scene would have involved Farah and actor Boman Irani. But neither was Farah comfortable, nor did she think it was important.

India, Bangladesh to set up more border markets

by

Dhaka and New Delhi are keen to set up eight more markets along the India-Bangladesh border in the northeastern states, Bangladesh Foreign Secretary Mohamed Mijarul Quayes said here.

Two ‘border haats’ (bazars) were set up in Meghalaya last year on a pilot basis and these are now operational.

“The Bangladesh government has already agreed to India’s proposal to set up four border haats along the border with Tripura. Study is on to set up four more border haats in Mizoram,” Quayes told IANS Thursday.

India, Indonesia upbeat on $25 bn trade by 2015

by

India and Indonesia, among the founders of the Non-Aligned Movement and two of the world’s emerging economies, Friday held talks to map the way forward for deepening strategic ties and voiced optimism about achieving bilateral trade target of $25 billion by 2015.

External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna held talks with his Indonesian counterpart Marty M. Natalegawa on a wide range of issues.

The two ministers discussed ways to expand cooperation in diverse areas, including energy, oil and gas, defence, counter-terrorism, agriculture, science and technology, education and culture.

What a blow! Mayawati gets a boost, Akhilesh defensive

by

A hammer blow on a statue of former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mayawati has not only boosted her sagging stocks but also brought the ruling Samajwadi Party (SP) to its knees and shown up the inexperience of Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav.

The government raced to restore the statue within 24 hours of it being vandalised much to the delight of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP).

Government trying to break Team Anna, says Hazare

by

Activist Anna Hazare Friday again accused the government of trying to break the unity of Team Anna by holding secret talks with him.

Talking to reporters here, Anna Hazare said: “V. Narayanasamy wrote a letter to me and gave it to my team so that they feel Anna is talking with government. They are trying to break our team.”

“It was their conspiracy to stop me from attending this agitation,” he said.

V. Narayanasamy, who is Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office, however, hit back saying he wrote only in response to Anna Hazare’s letter.

US varsity launches undergraduate certificate in India studies

by

One of America’s top research institutions, the University of South Florida’s World Centre for India Studies, is introducing an undergraduate certificate in India studies beginning end-August.

Offering a broad curriculum that focuses on history, geography, society, politics, language, culture, philosophy and religion in India, the certificate is designed to give students an informative introduction to Indian society, according to a university release.