Month: September 2012

Hina Rabbani Khar and Bilawal Bhutto appear to be on a collision course with their families over their desire to turn their love affair into marriage.

As per Bangladeshi tabloid, The Blitz, Hina’s husband Firoze Gulzar had called up his wife, who is New York for the UN summit with Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari, to seek clarification on the “scandal” being tossed around by the media.

The tabloid claims that Hina told her husband to send the link of the news story that he was referring to and Gulzar subsequently sent the same to his wife.

Thousands of Muslims gathered on the road leading to the American Centre in Kolkata on Thursday to protest against the anti-Islam film that has triggered anti-US protests worldwide.

The protestors were seen marching forward on the Chowringee Road, in the heart of the city, towards the American Centre. They are demanding a ban on the film and an official apology from the US government.

The protestors shouted slogans against the US government and sought action against those who made the anti-Prophet movie.

US President Barack Obama mocked rival Mitt Romney, comparing him to a “fox guarding a chicken coops,” when it comes to China on trade, saying the Republican is just doing the talking and have personally benefited from the country.

“He’s been talking tough on China. He says he’s going to take the fight to them; he’s going to go after these cheaters.

New Zealand won the toss and elected to bat against Sri Lanka in the first Super Eight match of the World Twenty20 Championship here at Pallekele International Stadium Thursday.

Teams:

New Zealand: Rob Nicol, Martin Guptill, James Franklin, Brendon McCullum, Ross Taylor (captain), Jacob Oram, Daniel Vettori, Kane Williamson, Nathan McCullum, Tim Southee, Kyle Mills

Sri Lanka: Tillakaratne Dilshan, Mahela Jayawardene (captain) , Kumar Sangakkara, Lahiru Thirimanne, Angelo Mathews, Jeevan Mendis, Thisara Perera, Kumar Kulasekara, Lasith Malinga, Ajantha Mendis, Akila Dananjaya

Responding to a presidential reference following the verdict on the 2G spectrum allocation, the Supreme Court Thursday said the auction route was not the only method for allocating natural resources.

The five-judge apex court bench headed by Chief Justice S.H. Kapadia said auction could be a better option where the aim is maximisation of revenue, but then “every method other than auction of natural resources cannot be shut down”.

Don’t touch any colleague’s feet in order to go up the party ladder, BJP president Nitin Gadkari said Thursday.

Concerned over a culture of patronage, Gadkari declared at the party’s National Council meeting here: “There will be no protocol in the party… I am ordering it.”

Citing his own example, Gadkari said if an ordinary worker like him could become the party president, others too had hope of moving up the ranks.

“If you deserve it, you will get it… Work hard and add to your weight,” he told the meeting, including leaders and some 1,200 delegates.

“Let the dark days of violence and conflict be left behind and a let a new dawn emerge,” President Pranab Mukherjee told the people of Jammu and Kashmir, promising to ensure that every Kashmiri lives with dignity.

Reaching out to people who have suffered decades of violence, Mukherjee candidly acknowledged that they have grievances.

“Many important issues need deft handling and speedy resolution,” he said, adding that both the Central and state governments were determined to ensure that people of Kashmir live with dignity having equal rights and equal opportunities.

Southern actress Nidhi Subbaiah, who makes her Bollywood debut with “Ajab Gazabb Love”, aspires to be a singer one day.

“Yes, after everyone’s convincing I’m planning to take training in singing sometime in the future. Hopefully, someday I’ll sing my own songs,” Nidhi said in a statement.

The actress was introduced to her hidden singing talent during the shooting of the film that also features Jackky Bhagnani, Arjun Rampal, Kirron Kher and Darshan Jariwala.

If Ajay Devgn rode horses and Sanjay Dutt drove powerful jeeps for their forthcoming Diwali release “Son Of Sardaar”, leading lady Sonakshi Sinha couldn’t have been left behind — she tried her hand at riding a bike.

Portraying a Sikhni look, Sonakshi held her breath and balanced herself perfectly on the two wheels to perform a few stunts for the action comedy, which releases Nov 13.

The actress is said to have been a tad apprehensive when she was told that her entry scene would be on a bike and she also had to do some antics on the mean machine.

President Pranab Mukherjee said Thursday that he looked upon the youth of Kashmir to forge the future of India in every field.

“The India of tomorrow achieved through inclusive growth offers enormous opportunities for the youth of Kashmir,” Mukherjee said at the convocation address at the Kashmir University here.

“I am aware there are grievances. Many important issues need deft handing and speedy resolution.

“The government of India and the state government are determined to ensure that every Kashmiri lives with dignity having equal rights and equal opportunities,” he added.

Actor Varun Dhawan, who was an assistant director to Karan Johar while “My Name Is Khan” was under production, says he learned a lot from superstar Shah Rukh Khan during that time.

“During that film, his script used to be scribbled with notes. I used to take the scripts to him and asked him what it is? It was all his references, his homework. So we could just learn by looking at him,” the 24-year-old said here Wednesday during a promotional event for “Student of The Year”.

Researchers have ruled out snoring as a factor in mortality or cardiovascular disease risks, especially for those who don’t suffer from sleep apnea.

Previous work by the same group from the Woolcock Institute of Medical Research had found that apnea (dangerous pauses in breathing during sleep) ups mortality risk, but until now it was not known whether snoring by itself might increase heart risks.

A college student in China sent a parcel to her 74-year-old grandmother containing a pile of dirty clothes, which she wanted to be cleaned and sent back.

The 74-year-old woman in Dalian in Liaoning province recently received the parcel containing a pile of clothes and socks from her granddaughter who had just entered college, reported China Daily citing China Youth Daily.

The young woman sent the clothes to her grandmother as she couldn’t wash them and wanted her grandmother to do it and send them back.

Nigeria has registered a protest with Saudi Arabia over detention of about 1,000 Nigerian women at Saudi airports who wanted to undertake the Haj pilgrimage to Mecca.

Hundreds of these women have been held since Sunday at the airports in Jeddah and Medina, BBC reported.

Nigeria’s ambassador to Saudi Arabia Abubakar Shehu Bunu said the authorities were stopping women under the age of 35 despite a previous understanding over it. Nigerian women are exempt from travelling with a male relative — a requirement for women on the Haj.

Slain al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden was blind in one eye after an accident during his youth and was a one-time member of the Muslim Brotherhood, his successor has claimed in a new video tribute to the terror mastermind. Ayman al-Zawahiri, made the claim in an hour-long account of the life of bin Laden, who was killed in a US Navy Seal raid on his compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, last year.

In the video entitled ‘Days With The Imam’, uploaded to an radical Islamist website, al-Zawahiri also reveals that bin Laden was a one-time member of the Muslim Brotherhood.

On the basis of intelligence reports received, Director General (Law and Order) S A Huda, on Wednesday, feared that the properties of Seemandhra leaders and businessmen would be attacked during the Telangana March scheduled to be held on September 30.

Talking to media persons at his office, Huda said that it has been warned in the Intelligence reports that the march might not only create law and order problems but would cause damage to properties of Seemandhra people who have settled in the Telangana region for a long time.

After Congress, the UPA today endorsed government’s recent tough economic decisions and discussed the need “to do more reforms”.

At a meeting of constituents of the UPA, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh underlined the need for economic reforms to ensure flow of foreign investment. A fortnight after the announcement to allow FDI in retail, cap cooking gas subsidy and hike diesel prices, the leaders of the ruling coalition today expressed “general satisfaction” over the decisions, which saw the exit of Trinamool Congress– the second largest UPA constituent.

Army soldiers shot dead two “heavily armed” infiltrators Thursday while they were trying to sneak into India from Pakistan across the Line of Control (LOC) in Poonch district of Jammu and Kashmir, an army official said.

Troops deployed on the LOC in Krishna Ghati sector, about 250 km from here, “noticed a group of armed infiltrators late Wednesday. They (troops) tracked the intruders and challenged them around 3 a.m. Thursday,” an army spokesperson told IANS.

Students at a university in China reach their library before it opens at 4 a.m. so that they can grab a seat and study.

A series of photographs in China Daily show students at Weifang University in east China’s Shandong province outside their library, waiting for it to open at 4 a.m.

The caption says that the students want to get a seat in the library, which is the best place to study.

Students have to get up really early because the library does not have enough seats for all the students.

The students are preparing for the graduate school entrance examination.

State Telugu Desam Party is going to organize a Minority Convention for the party leaders today at 10 am, at NTR trust Bhawan.

Antibiotics may replace invasive surgery in the treatment of acute appendicitis involving the removal of the appendix and could be just as effective, a new Swedish study suggests.

Appendicitis is a serious condition involving the appendix (a tube-shaped sac attached to and opening into the lower end of the large intestine), which becomes inflamed and painful, causing abdominal pain, loss of appetite, nausea, vomiting and fever.

Opening batsman Chris Gayle says he remains confident the West Indies can advance to the finals of the ICC world Twenty20 tournament currently underway in Sri Lanka.

Gayle sounded upbeat as the West Indies prepared to take on defending champions England in their first game of the super eight phase of the competition Thursday, CMC reports.

“We are very confident. Our main worry was to cross this hurdle which was actually to make it to the super eight so I am pretty much confident we should do well. I am very confident we can go straight to the end,” said Gayle Wednesday.

The Hyderabadi youth Obaidur Rahman (who was arrested for having links with the Karnataka terror module) and others will be produced before local court in Bangalore today after the completion of their police custody. Arresting Obaidur Rahman from Gulshan Iqbal colony Hafiz Babanagar, the teams of counter intelligence cell and Bangalore police had implicated him in Bangalore terror plot.

City crime branch of Bangalore police had interrogated Obaid after taking him in 15 days police custody after completion of the custody, custody of further 15 days was sought.

The Tea Trade Association (TTA) of Cochin has decided to set up a state-of-the-art tea trade centre (TTC) here with the backing of the Tea Board of India, an official said.

The proposed centre will come up on 10 acres of land provided by the Cochin Port Trust.

“The port trust will provide the land to the TTA to create facilities with international standards of productivity and automation and manage operations. The Tea Board of India has assured support,” Paul Antony, chairman, Cochin Port Trust, said.

After Congress, the UPA today endorsed government’s recent tough economic decisions and discussed the need “to do more reforms”.

At a meeting of constituents of the UPA, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh underlined the need for economic reforms to ensure flow of foreign investment.

A fortnight after the announcement to allow FDI in retail, cap cooking gas subsidy and hike diesel prices, the leaders of the ruling coalition today expressed “general satisfaction” over the decisions, which saw the exit of Trinamool Congress– the second largest UPA constituent.