Month: January 2013

Actress Shilpa Shetty, who is currently judging the fifth season of ‘Nach Baliye’, got extremely emotional while shooting for the reality show.

It happened when a video was shown in which TV actor Karan Mehra`s parents spoke about his childhood days and how he has grown up to be where he is today.

Later Karan`s newly-wedded wife actress-model Nisha Rawal`s grandmother, who happened to be present during the shoot, said she was extremely proud to have him as son-in-law for her granddaughter.

Filmmaker Ekta Kapoor along with the cast of ‘Ek Thi Daayan’ is set to perform a yagna at the Maha Kumbh in Allahabad.

HH Pujya Swami Chidanand Saraswatiji, founder of Ganga Action Parivar and president of Parmarth Niketan Ashram, has invited Ekta and her ‘Ek Thi Daayan’ team for the grand yagna Feb 9 at the Maha Kumbh.

She said she will be attending to get rid of all the negative energy.

After minting money at the Indian box-office, director duo Abbas-Mustan`s ‘Race 2’ has got an overwhelming response in the overseas market too. The film has already collected $3.5 million.

The movie is a sequel to 2008 film ‘Race’.

Made at Rs.60 crore, the film released Jan 25 across 3,200 screens. The action thriller earned Rs.51.35 crore in its opening weekend at Indian box-office.

In its weekend, the movie collected $1 million in the Gulf market and $1 million in the US and Britain.

Bollywood`s desi girl Priyanka Chopra has flown off to Toronto to attend Anokhi magazine`s 10th anniversary event in Toronto, Feb 2.

“En route to Toronto to attend the Anokhi 10th anniversary event on Feb 2. Have some fun things planned… See you guys there!!” Priyanka tweeted Wednesday.

The event, which takes place in association with Johnnie Walker at Queen Elizabeth Theatre in Toronto, is being hosted in honor of reaching an incredible milestone: 10 years of publishing Anokhi magazine, with the launch of the 10th anniversary collector`s edition releasing in January 2013.

The body of Indian student Souvik Pal, who died under mysterious circumstances at Manchester in the UK about a month ago, was cremated here on Thursday.

Souvik’s father Santanu Pal brought the body to the city this morning and it was kept at his house for some time.

Later the body was taken to the Hebbal crematorium and the last rites were performed.

19-year-old Souvik, a student of Manchester Metropolitan University, was missing since a New Year’s Eve party in Manchester.

Minister for Roads and Buildings Dharmana Prasad Rao on Thursday appeared in the CBI Special Court in connection with the Disproportionate Assets Case of Kadapa MP Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy.

Dharmana Prasada Rao was named as accused number 5 in the charge-sheet filed by the CBI in the Vanpic projects affair connected to the Jagan’s case. A former Minister Mopidevi Venkataramana is also an accused in the case and he is now under judicial custody and lodged in Chanchalguda Jail.

Telangana protagonists received a shot in the arm on Thursday with Union Minister NCP President Shard Pawar supporting the demand for the formation of a separate Telangana State.

Sharad Pawar held discussions with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and urged him resole the Telangana state issue without any further Delay. Stating that NCP was fully supporting the demand for a Telangana State, he urged the Prime Minister to set up a UPA coordination committee to deliberate on the issue and resolve it without any further delay.

Even as the high drama on Telangana is continuing, youngsters are ending their lives for the cause. On Wednesday alone, three youngsters ended their lives.

In Karimnagar district, Tadagona Ajay (21) a degree student of Gatla Narsingapur village under Bhimadevarapalli mandal committed suicide. He was watching TV at around 10 pm with his parents Srinivas and Lakshmi.

In an unusual incident, the Assistant driver of the Madurai-Shencottah passenger train was injured when a peacock entered the engine’s cabin and attacked him, officials said today.

The train was delayed for more than an hour following the incident last evening, they said.

“This is the first time a peacock has held up a train. We have experienced wild animals crossing the track and holding up the train. Probably, the peacock got irritated and panicked by the noise of the engine,” an official of the Railway Protection Force (RPF) said.

Majlis Bachao Tahreek (MBT) Chief Amjed Ullah Khan has criticized the Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy for allowing screening of Kamal Hasan-starrer ‘Vishwaroopam’ film in the State.

Talking to the media at the NSS news center here on Thursday he said Tamilnadu Chief Minister Jayalalitha, had not allowed screening of the film in that state, despite being a firm believer of Hinduism. He alleged that Kiran Kumar Reddy had no minimum knowledge like his counter part Jayalalitha.

While the Telangana Congress MPs asserted that there was no differences among them, the very fact that one of them did not attend a meeting held today belied this claim.
A meeting of the T Congress MPs was held this morning at the residence of former Rajya Sabha member K. K. Kesava Rao to chalk out their future course of action in the wake of the central Congress leadership delaying the formation of Telangana sate on the plea of some more consultations.

After it emerged that prostitutes have been using Facebook to advertise their services, fears about the effect it could have on kids have risen.

Social media has been flooded with hundreds of pages operated by sex workers, visible to any web user.

While it has always been difficult to avoid adverts for prostitutes in sites such as phone boxes, the rise of social networking has made it even easier to access explicit content.

Citing that the decision to ban Kamal Haasan”s film ”Vishwaroopam” was a necessary measure to maintain law, order and public peace in the given circumstances, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa on Thursday rejected all allegations levelled against her, saying she has no personal enmity with the veteran actor.

Clarifying and defending the government”s decision to ban the film following a demand from the various Muslim organisations, Jayalalithaa also threatened DMK chief M Karunanidhi with legal action for issuing reckless statements and wild charges.

In 2011 the US Food and Drug Administration issued a warning against the use of popular antidepressant citalopram (Celexa), but it left many patients and physicians with more questions than answers.

Now an analysis of the medical records of more than 38,000 patients by Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) investigators clarifies the contribution of citalopram and other antidepressants to lengthening of the QT interval, an aspect of the heart`s electrical activity that – when prolonged – may increase the risk of dangerous arrhythmias.

Scientists have discovered that a gene improves the effect of chemotherapy, the most common treatment for cancer patients.

Researchers from the Biotech Research and Innovation Centre (BRIC) and Center for Healthy Aging, University of Copenhagen, found that the gene FBH1 helps chemotherapy to fight cancer.

Many cancer patients suffer from serious side-effects after undergoing chemotherapy and a large proportion does not respond to the treatment.

A new study from the University of Oxford has found that the risk of hospitalisation or death from heart disease is 32 percent lower in vegetarians than people who eat meat and fish.

Heart disease is the single largest cause of death in developed countries. The new findings suggest that a vegetarian diet could significantly reduce people`s risk of heart disease.

Babies as young as a year-and-a-half can guess what other people are thinking, according to new research.

Researchers studied almost all of the available children in three communities in China, Fiji and Ecuador from ages 19 months to about 5 years.

“The findings may shed light on the social abilities that differentiate us from our closest living relatives, chimpanzees,” said study author H Clark Barrett, an anthropologist at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Researchers have uncovered some of the neural mechanisms involved in cigarette craving.

Two brain areas, the orbitofrontal cortex and the prefrontal cortex, interact to turn cravings on or off depending on whether drugs are available, according to their study reported in the journal the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, CBS News reported.

Scientists have discovered that a unique hairpin-like structure of a protein is responsible for killing brain cells in Alzheimer`s, making it a new target for treatment of the neurodegenerative disease.

Alzheimer`s disease is the most common cause of late-life dementia. The disorder is thought to be caused by a protein known as amyloid-beta, or Abeta, which clumps together in the brain, forming plaques that are thought to destroy neurons.

Trying to lose weight? Your meal timings are as important as your diet!

Taking a late lunch makes it much harder for people to lose weight, according to researchers.

Researchers from Brigham and Women`s Hospital in Boston and the University of Murcia studied overweight people who followed a 20-week weight-loss treatment programme in Spain.

In a 420-strong group of people taking part in a 20-week diet, half of the group ate lunch – their biggest meal of the day – before 3pm, while half ate later.

Smaller snack portions are capable of providing similar feelings of satisfaction as larger ones, according to a Cornell University study.

Using chocolate chips, apple pie, and potato chips, researchers Ellen van Kleef, Mitsuru Shimizu, and Brian Wansink designed a study to determine if people who were given smaller portions of snack foods would feel hungrier or satisfied fifteen minutes after eating.

In a shocking disclosure, Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar told the Goa legislative assembly Thursday that a school headmistress oversaw the washing and cleaning of the private parts of the seven-year-old rape victim.

Parrikar was updating the house on the progress of investigations into the rape of a minor girl in a school toilet at the port town of Vasco, a crime which had stunned the state Jan 14.

“During investigation, it was revealed that the headmistress directed the class teacher to wash the private parts of the victim to avoid infection,” Parrikar told the assembly.

Three engineering students were arrested in Odisha Thursday for posting objectionable photos of a girl on networking site Facebook, police said.

The youths, who are doing diploma courses at a college in Tikiri in Rayagada district, were arrested on the basis of a complaint by the girl, Superintendent of Police Rajesh Pandit told IANS.

Rayagada town is about 400 km from here.

—IANS

After the ban in Tamil Nadu, Kamal Haasan’s ‘Vishwaroopam’ may be prevented from screening in Uttar Pradesh if it is found that the film ‘hurts the sentiments’ of Muslims and indulges in ‘character assassination’, the ruling Samajwadi Party (SP) said today.

“Officials concerned would see the film thoroughly; if it is found to be good and entertaining (then it is) fine, or else, it would not be allowed to run in UP,” Samajwadi Party general secretary Ram Asrey Kushwaha told reporters here.

A benchmark index for Indian equities markets was trading flat in the afternoon trade Thursday, even as several banks announced cuts in their lending rates.

Several banks, including the State Bank of India (SBI), cut the rates following the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) decision to lower key lending rates in its third quarterly review of monetary policy.

There was heavy buying in the interest rate sensitive consumer durables and banking stocks.

However, metal, oil and gas and information technology (IT) stocks came under selling pressure.