Month: November 2012

Former cricketer Navjot Singh Sidhu is the first contestant to enter the panic room in the Bigg Boss house this season in the form of a punishment. The panic room is the replacement for the jail that is usually used to punish those who either break Bigg Boss’s rules or get punished for failing a task. The room has walls that come closing onto the housemate causing panic and fear. Other forms of punishment inside the room are freezing the housemate till minus 5 degrees approximately or restraining him/her in a strait jacket that will not allow arm movements.

A brand ambassador himself for decades, Telugu superstar K Chiranjeevi on Thursday took charge of the Tourism Ministry and began selling ‘Incredible India’ by promising to increase the number of tourist arrivals and easing restrictions for film shooting in the country.

It was action from the word ‘start’ for the 57-year-old actor, who resolved to use his “glamour quotient” and decades of experience in the tinsel world to improve tourism infrastructure and increase to one per cent the total number of tourists to India worldwide.

Pakistan cricket team will begin the much anticipated India tour with a Twenty20 clash in Bangalore on December 25, the BCCI announced today. The Indian Home Ministry had cleared the Pakistan cricket team’s upcoming tour of India yesterday. The team will touch down at Bangalore on December 22 and will kick-off their campaign against the hosts with a T20 international at the city’s M Chinnaswamy Stadium. The visitors will then move to Ahmedabad for the second T20 game (December 27) before heading to Chennai for the first of the three-match ODI series on December 30.

It will be mandatory for sleeper- class train passengers to carry identity proof from December 1, this year, Railways announced today, in a bid to facilitate travel by bonafide people and reduce the scope for misuse of tickets by touts. “Earlier it was mandatory for AC-class passengers to carry I-cards. Now, we have decided to make sleeper-class passengers also to carry I-card. This has been done to facilitate genuine passengers to avail confirm tickets,” said a senior Railway Ministry official here.

Former Prime Minister of Bangladesh Begum Khaleda Zia today offered prayers at Ajmer Sharif, the shrine of Sufi saint Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti. The Leader of Opposition and president of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party arrived at the shrine in afternoon from Jaipur by road. She stayed at the Dargah for about 20 minutes. A ten-member delegation, including former State Minister for Foreign Affairs Reaz Rahman and BNP Vice Chairman Shamsher M Chowdhry, was accompanying her during the visit. She did not talk to the media.

Four persons were killed in the state today as rain continued to lash various parts of Andhra Pradesh under the influence of cyclone ‘Nilam.’ Three of the deaths were on account of electrocution, while another person was killed after a wall collapsed, in the districts of Prakasam, Nellore and Anantapur, officials said. Incidents of house collapse and cattle loss were also reported. ‘Nilam’ crossed north Tamil Nadu coast near Mahabalipuram, south of Chennai, between 4 pm and 5 pm yesterday. Contrary to fears, the cyclonic storm has not caused much damage so far.

Fasih Memhmood, a suspected Indian Mujahideen terrorist and an accused in Delhi and Bangalore blasts, was today remanded by a court here in judicial custody and was then ordered to be handed over to Karnataka police. Additional Sessions Judge (ASJ) Asha Menon sent Fasih to 14-day judicial custody after Special Cell of Delhi Police, which had arrested him at IGI Airport after his deportation from Saudi Arabia recently, said it no longer needed his custody for interrogation. The court ordered for handing Fasih to Bangalore police in response to its plea for his custody.

Jharkhand Pradesh Congress Committee’s (JPCC) secretary S R A Rizvi Chhabban today charged the BJP-led Jharkhand government for “indifferent” approach to promote languages including Urdu in the state. “It is really ridiculous that the government has granted second official language status in the state to various languages including Urdu, Bengali, Santali, etc but did nothing for its promotion,” Chhabban, who is also the president of the Anjuman Taraqque-e-Urdu, East Singhbhum chapter, told newsmen.

The Supreme court today dismissed a plea for setting up an independent body for regulating the radiations arising out of mobile phone towers saying that the issue was already being looked into by the government. The court said it can only step in if authorities fail to address the issue raised in the PIL. A bench of Justices H L Dattu and Justice C K Prasad said the petition cannot be entertained “at this stage”, as more information was required on implementation of the telecom department’s directives.

India is likely to issue 5,000 visas to Pakistani spectators to watch the Indo-Pak cricket series beginning December 25 but after framing stricter guidelines this time as several of them did not return home after watching such matches in the past. A high-level special committee, comprising officials of Home Ministry and security agencies, will meet on Monday and frame visa guidelines, finalise types of visa to be given to Pakistani cricket fans, whether to give the visa for one match or for multiple matches, official sources said.

The KMC will keep ready personnel of Rapid Action team for vector-control at all the 15 boroughs of the corporation area to check mosquito-borne diseases like dengue in Kolkata. KMC Mayor-in-council member Atin Ghosh said the vector-wing of the civic body will put in place the mechanism to curb outbreak of such diseases. While there are six rapid action team presently in as many boroughs, similar teams will be deployed in rest of the places for quick response in the event of a crisis.PTI

The Shiv Sena today said it will organise a rally tomorrow to demand extension of the deadline for cable TV digitisation in the city till December 31. “The morcha will be taken to the district collector’s office in suburban Bandra tomorrow to demand the extension of cable TV digitisation,” Shiv Sena MLC Anil Parab said in a meeting organised by cable operators. He also said that cable operators were not against digitisation, but have sought extension of deadline to December 31.

Don’t send me gifts during the festival season, donate to the Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund. This is Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s simple message to scores of people who send him gifts and greetings during the festival season every year. In a statement here, the Prime Minister thanked all those who have been sending him greetings and good wishes this festival season. He appealed to his well wishers to make donations to the Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund instead of sending gifts for him, a PMO statement said. PTI

Major political parties today vehemently opposed any move to bring them under the ambit of the Right to Information Act saying that facilities and subsidised buildings given for their offices do not constitute funding from the government. A Full Bench of the CIC comprising Chief Information Commissioner Satyananda Mishra and information commissioners Annapurna Dixit and M L Sharma was convened to decide on whether political parties come under the RTI Act or not.

The Andhra Pradesh State Human Rights Commission today sought a report from the Hyderabad Police Commissioner and Central Board of Film Certification in connection with the “attack” on members of Brahmin community, allegedly carried out by supporters of Telugu actor-producer M Mohan Babu. Organisations representing Brahmin community have sought ban on the recently released film “Denikaina Ready” starring Babu’s son Manchu Vishnu, for allegedly derogatory references to the community.

Scams under the UPA government have tarnished the image of the country globally and eroded the democratic system, BJP leader L K Advani alleged today.

Maharashtra minister and senior NCP leader Chhagan Bhujbal today went to see ailing Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray to enquire about his health. Bhujbal called a few hours after MNS president and Thackeray’s estranged nephew Raj Thackeray and his wife Sharmila visited the Sena patriarch’s residence ‘Matoshree’ in suburban Bandra, Sena sources said. “Learning about Balasaheb’s ill-health, Bhujbal rushed to meet him,” a source close to the Thackeray family said. However, he could not speak to the Sena chief as the latter was asleep. “Bhujbal met Uddhav Thackeray.

Tension prevailed in some pockets of Ramanathapuram district which witnessed sporadic violence by Thevar and SC community people yesterday but the situation was fully under control, police said today. Police said two groups clashed at Valandharavai village around mid-night last night hurling stones and petrol bombs. Three houses were damaged in the violence. A 16 year-old boy lost his hand in the clash.

A girl student of a primary school was stabbed to death while another boy was critically wounded allegedly by a knife-wielding man within the school premises at Diggilota in West Singhbhum district today, police said. The students were attending classes when Madan Gope, who lives a little distance away from the school campus, suddenly rushed into the building brandishing a knife and lunged towards Simnath Diggi and six-year-old girl Jasmine Murmu, both students of the primary school, the sources said.

Bollywood actress Aishwarya Rai Bachchan was honoured by France with a prestigious civilian award for her contribution to art today on her birthday. Francois Richier, Ambassador of France to India was present to confer the honour of ‘Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters’ (Chevalier dans l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres), the second highest civilian French honour on her. “I want to thank the French government for honouring me with this award. It is truly overwhelming,” Aishwarya told reporters here.

A bulletproof Rolls-Royce used by Princess Diana on her first trip to the US is expected to fetch more than 1.2 million pounds at an auction.

The Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow was bought new in 1979 by the British embassy. But it didn’t come into service until 1982 after engineers spent three years and USD 200,000 armouring the luxury car to repel bullets, grenades and even small bombs, the Daily Mail reported.

The silver limousine was used by the UK embassy in Washington and was the car which transported Princess Diana and Prince Charles on their state trip in November 1985.

In an deliberate attempt to pollute the peaceful atmosphere in city communal elements stabbed two Muslim youths at Afzalgunj tonight.

According to the sources Majeed Ali Khan and Md Azeemuddin both resident of Bandlaguda,were on their way back home,while a group of unknown miscreants suspected to be communal elements stopped the duo and stabbed with a sharp edged weapon.

On commotion the miscreants fled from the scene.The injured were shifted to Princess Esra Hospital in Shahalibanda. The police have registered a case and taken up investigation.

–Bureau Report

A plea was filed Thursday in the Delhi High Court seeking initiation of contempt of court proceedings against veteran Congress leader N.D. Tiwari for allegedly not paying Rs.25,000 as fine and expenses incurred on his DNA test.

The DNA test of the 87-year-old politician was conducted on the court’s order linked to a paternity suit filed by Rohit Shekhar, 32, who claimed to be Tiwari’s biological son.

Shekhar filed the suit in 2008. The court in July, going through the DNA report, said that the report confirmed that Tiwari was the biological father of Shekhar.

Eight out of 10 likely voters believe US President Barack Obama has done an “excellent” job dealing with the super storm Sandy, according to a poll.

The Washington Post/ABC poll is the first evidence that Obama has received a significant boost from his response to Sandy despite being forced to cancel his campaign events.

The poll was taken Tuesday night before his visit to scenes of devastation in New Jersey where he was photographed comforting a victim, the Daily Mail reported Thursday.

Shortly after Janata Party president Subramanian Swamy levelled corruption charges against Rahul Gandhi, the Congress general secretary hit back Thursday, terming the allegations “baseless and defamatory” and saying legal action would be taken.

“The allegations made by you are utterly false, entirely baseless and defamatory. We are committed to pursuing legal action against the scandalous abuse evident in your so called press conference,” said a letter from Gandhi’s office to Swamy Thursday.