Month: December 2012

In the wake of senior BJP leaders backing Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi for the job of prime minister, Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad Monday threw a challenge at Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, asking him to make clear his stance.

Leader of opposition in the Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj, leader of opposition in the Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley and senior BJP leader Gopinath Munde had earlier made statements that Narendra Modi was a fit candidate for prime ministership.

A teacher at a Chinese university has become an internet sensation after photographs showed him carrying real guns, including an AK-47, to a class, a media report said Monday.

Wu is from the Nanjing University of Science and Technology in East China and the photographs were clicked Nov 28 when he taught the structure of automatic weapons to his students with over 30 real assault rifles, reported People’s Daily citing news portal ifeng.com.

The students were studying weapon production.

City Police Commissioner Anurag Sharma on Monday imposed Section 144 in the city in view of anniversary of demolition of Babri Masjid on December 6.

In the notification, the Commissioner claimed that reliable information has been placed before him that certain groups were trying to create disturbances affecting public peace and order in Hyderabad City and inciting communal animosity between different communities in connection with the anniversary of demolition of Babri Masjid.

The Supreme Court on Monday directed the SIT, which probed 2002 Gujarat riots cases, to apprise it on whether documents relating to the closure report of the case of killing of Congress leader Ehsan Jafri can be supplied to his wife Zakia Jafri.

“We direct the SIT (Special Investigation Team) Chairman to peruse the special leave petition (SLP) filed by the complainant (Zakia Jafri) and apprise us on whether the documents which are part of the closure report in the case can be supplied to the complainant or not,” a bench comprising justices D K Jain and Madan B Lokur said.

India recovered from conceding an early self-goal to prevail 4-2 over New Zealand and move to the top of Pool A in the Champions Trophy hockey tournament here on Sunday.

The victory gave India six points from two matches and also made them the only unbeaten team in their pool following England`s surprise 4-1 win over Olympic champions Germany earlier in the day.

Goals from Akashdeep Singh (10th min), Gurwinder Singh Chandi (14th), V R Raghunath (25th) and Danish Mujtaba (65th) gave India their second win in successive days.

Telecom regulator TRAI has initiated debate on the issue of operators arbitrarily disconnecting services of customers on the grounds of ‘non-usage of numbers’ or ‘inactive SIM connections’.

According to information provided by telecom operators to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, around 20 crore SIMs were inactive for over a certain period of time and the total balance on that account stood at Rs 128.9 crore.

TRAI has said that telecom subscribers at various forums have represented that their mobile connections were being disconnected arbitrarily by telecom operators.

Global discharge of green-house gases are growing three times faster than in the 1990s, which could produce a temperature rise of 4-6 degrees by 2100, a leading Australian scientist has warned.

Pep Canadell, one of the lead authors of a new paper warning of the growth of emissions, claimed their analysis showed that by the end of 2012, global emissions from fossil fuels would reach the unprecedented level of 36 billion tonnes.

Astronomers have detected that the outer region of a dusty disc encircling a brown dwarf – a star-like object, contains millimetre-size solid grains like those found in denser discs around newborn stars.

The surprising finding challenges theories of how rocky, earth-scale planets form, and suggests that rocky planets may be even more common in the universe than expected.

“We were completely surprised to find millimetre-sized grains in this thin little disc,” said Luca Ricci of the California Institute of Technology, who led a team of astronomers from the US, Europe and Chile.

Actor-filmmaker Farhan Akhtar says playing sprinter Milkha Singh in ‘Bhaag Milkha Bhaag’ has been an exciting challenge.

“It was definitely a challenge, but it was a challenge that was a very exciting one to accept,” the 38-year-old said here in an interview.

The biopic is directed by Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra.

Asked if he had to learn Punjabi for his character, Farhan said: “In bits and pieces. I mainly focussed on dialogues and certain improvisations within scenes. But of course I had to, because there is a very distinct Punjabi flavour to the whole film.”

Rowdy sheeter held
(Siesta News): A notorious rowdy sheerer from Kulsumpura police station limits B Parvesh Singh has been arrested and a dagger is seized from his possession.

According to the details, Parvesh’s brother was killed by Srikant and Ashok some ten years ago.

Parvesh wanted to avenge the murder of his brother and sought the help of Vicky and Sandeep. The required weapons were also purchased.

After giving powerful performances in ‘Hey Ram’, ‘Chandni Bar’ and ‘Rang De Basanti’, actor Atul Kulkarni says he has no regrets that despite his 15-year-old career he is yet to do a solo film.

“I have no regrets for not having a solo career in Bollywood because when I joined the film industry I was 35 years old. No body gets solo leads when they start their career at this age,” he told reporters.

Atul, 47, rather said he finds himself lucky to be a part of the industry when directors are experimenting with new genre of films.

Longer hours of snoozing for those who are mildly sleep deprived helps promote daytime alertness and reduces pain sensitivity, says an American study.

“We were surprised by the magnitude of the reduction in pain sensitivity, when compared to the reduction produced by taking codeine (cough suppressant and pain killer),” said Timothy Roehrs, director of research at the Sleep Disorders and Research Centre of Henry Ford Health System and principal study investigator who also led the study.

Post-menopausal women, treated with epidural steriod shots for relief from backache, suffered significant bone density loss in their hip, says a study.

Bone density loss after six months was six times greater when compared to the typical bone density loss seen in a year in a post-menopausal woman who doesn`t receive steroid injection, according to researchers.

An epidural shot involves the passage of painkilling drugs into the small of your back via a fine tube, numbing the concerned part and providing you with effective pain relief, the journal Spine reported.

Scientists have discovered the origin of intelligence after identifying a `genetic accident` 500 million years ago when the genes that enabled humans to think and reason evolved.

Researchers led by the University of Edinburgh have discovered how humans – and other mammals – evolved to have intelligence.

They found that intelligence in humans developed as the result of an increase in the number of brain genes in our evolutionary ancestors.

Scientists also believe that the same genes that improved our mental capacity are also responsible for a number of brain disorders.

Around 25 BJP activists tried to burnt the effigy of MIM floor leader Mr. Akbaruddin Owaisi at Shahalibanda area after his controversial remarks against the disputed Bhagya Laxmi Temple near Charminar in the AP Assembly.

However, the situation brought under control and the activists were arrested by Police and shifted to Falaknuma Police Station.

Details awaited.

The Shiv Sena Monday announced that all powers of party president would now vest with executive president Uddhav Thackeray.

An announcement in party mouthpiece Saamna said the decision had been taken at a meeting of top party leaders at the Thackeray residence Matoshri.

“All the powers of Shiv Sena Pramukh (chief) shall be with executive president Uddhav Thackeray. This has been decided in a meeting of Shiv Sena leaders,” the statement said, in a development that was anticipated.

The BCCI has sought an explanation from the Mumbai Cricket Association for hosting England’s Performance Programme squad’s practice session at its D Y Patil Sports Academy in Navi Mumbai without seeking the parent body’s permission.

The BCCI has also written a letter to the England and Wales Cricket Board asking why they did not follow the correct protocol of asking its permission to have ECB’s second-string squad practising in India, it was learned.

The AP high court has rejected the fresh bail petition of the former minister Mopidevi Venkata Ramana arrested and lodged in the Chanchalguda jail in connection with the Vanpic case.

The high court has upheld the contention of the counsel of the CBI that if he gets bail at this crucial juncture, he might tamper with the evidence. This is the third time that Mopidevi’s bail petition is rejected.

–Agencies

The high court has posted the statutory bail petition of the YSR Congress chief Y S Jaganmohan Reddy to December 11, for further hearing.

Jagan’s statutory bail petition in which he has contended that he deserved bail as it has been more than 90 days since he was arrested was rejected by the CBI court earlier. He has again filed the statutory petition in the high court. The high court has issued notice to CBI to file counter to the petition. Further hearing of the petition was posted to December 11.

The suspense of “Talaash” has taken everyone by surprise. But little do people know that the climax of the film takes its cue from a real-life incident involving writer Zoya Akhtar.

Zoya reveals it was this experience that gave birth to the idea of “Talaash”.

“I had an experience which I could not explain to myself and to others while I was on my way back from a south Mumbai party spot,” Zoya said in a statement.

Having returned from New York with UN statehood recognition for Palestine on Sunday, Mahmoud Abbas received a rhapsodic welcome by an ecstatic Palestinian crowd of thousands who greeted him with chants a huge national flag made of balloons.

“Now we have a state,” Abbas told cheering crowds at his headquarters in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.”

“The world has said loudly, ‘Yes to the state of Palestine,Yes to Palestine’s freedom, yes to Palestine’s independence, no to aggression, no to settlements, no to occupation,” Abbas told the ecstatic audience.

Both houses of parliament were adjourned for the day Monday after paying tributes to former prime minister Inder Kumar Gujral, who died Nov 30.

Members of both houses paid tributes to Gujral, who breathed his last at a private hospital in Gurgaon, Haryana. He was 92.

He was cremated Dec 1 in Delhi with full state honours in the presence of the country’s top leadership, including President Pranab Mukherjee and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

He is survived by two sons, Naresh and Vishal, and brother Satish Gujral, a prominent painter and architect. His wife Sheila died in 2011.

Actor-filmmaker Farhan Akhtar says playing sprinter Milkha Singh in “Bhaag Milkha Bhaag” has been an exciting challenge.

“It was definitely a challenge, but it was a challenge that was a very exciting one to accept,” the 38-year-old said here in an interview.

The biopic is directed by Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra.

Asked if he had to learn Punjabi for his character, Farhan said: “In bits and pieces. I mainly focussed on dialogues and certain improvisations within scenes. But of course I had to, because there is a very distinct Punjabi flavour to the whole film.”

Superstar Shah Rukh Khan has been conferred Morocco’s prestigious Medal of Honour.

The ongoing Marrakech International Film Festival paid a tribute to Hindi Cinema’s 100 years and a bevy of Bollywood stars, including Amitabh Bachchan, Hrithik Roshan, Sridevi and Shah Rukh were among its guest list.

After the tribute, Prince Moulay Rachid hosted a dinner for Indian delegation of Bollywood actors. At the royal dinner, Rachid presented Shah Rukh with Medal of Honour of Morocco.

Shah Rukh also tweeted his picture with the medal.

A village panchayat in Bihar has prohibited women from using mobile phones and imposed heavy fines on them if they violated the diktat, an official said Monday.

The self-styled social reformers of Sunderbadi village panchayat in Kochadham block of Kishanganj district Sunday issued the orders banning women from using mobiles, a district official said.

“The villagers have issued an order to impose a fine of Rs.10,000 if a girl is found using a mobile phone, while a married woman will have to pay a fine of Rs.2,000 if found talking on a mobile outside her house,” the official said.