Month: February 2013

The cabinet Thursday approved new rail line projects worth over Rs.2,300 crore, Railway Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal said.

“The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs approved the three projects…we hope to complete the projects in five years,” Bansal told reporters after the cabinet meeting.

Two projects are in the virgin coal belt in Chhattisgarh and will help bridge the gap between demand and supply in western parts of the country, the minister said. The third is in Gujarat.

Stressing that the quality of education in the nation’s schools and colleges rested on sound teaching, Human Resource Development Minister M.M. Pallam Raju Thursday said the government would soon launch a national teacher’s mission.

“Even with tremendous advances in technology, good teachers are needed to provide quality education,” Raju said, addressing the One Globe Education Summit, focusing on South Asia, in the national capital.

Pop star Justin Bieber hopes his new `Believe Acoustic` album will make people focus on his music and appreciate him as an artist.

The 18-year-old hopes his fans talk about his music rather than his personal life and thinks the record will prove his real talent to critics, reported Daily Star.

“It`s just good music. It just shows that I wasn`t made, I was found on YouTube and it shows people music is music. That`s what you need to focus on – listening to the music. I`m an artist. I`m not – I`m a singer and I want to show people what I love to do,” he said.

India’s per capita income is estimated to increase by a sluggish 2.9 percent to Rs.39,143 in the year ending March 31 as compared to Rs.38,037 in the previous year, government data showed Thursday.

According to data released by the Central Statistics Office (CSO), the per capita income in real terms (at 2004-05 prices) during 2012-13 is likely to remain at Rs.39,143 as compared to the Rs.38,037 registered in 2011-12.

“The growth rate in per capita income is estimated at 2.9 percent during 2012-13, as against the previous year’s estimate of 4.7 percent,” the CSO said.

Content comes before anything else for actor Prabhas Raju, says debutant Telugu director Koratala Siva, who is awaiting the release of his action-drama “Mirchi”.

“He agreed to work with me because he was extremely satisfied with my story. If he doesn`t believe in the content, then why would he agree to work with a debutant of all directors? He even pushed dates for his next film to begin working on my film,” Siva said.

“He may be a star actor, but he is very particular about the story he chooses for his films,” he added.

Sonakshi Sinha has signed up her debut Telugu project Mahesh Babu-starrer ‘Shivam’ to be directed by Krish. She says the project and its crew takes her back in time when she forayed into Bollywood with ‘Dabangg’.

Sonakshi will play a character named Meenakshi in the movie, director Krish aka Radhakrishna Jagarlamudi told reporters.

“The character is called Meenakshi. She has the most beautiful eyes, and it is so ironic it happens to be Sonakshi, a name which means golden eyes.

People who eat a large variety of food have the healthiest sleep pattern, say American scientists.

Now, a new study from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania shows for the first time that certain nutrients may play an underlying role in short and long sleep duration.

“Overall, people who sleep seven to eight hours each night differ in terms of their diet, compared to people who sleep less or more. We also found that short and long sleep are associated with lower food variety,” said Dr. Grandner of the research team, Science Daily reported.

London, February 07: Earth-like planets could be all around us the nearest just 13 light years away, and some may harbour life more advanced than on Earth, astronomers believe.

A space telescope has found that six per cent of red dwarf stars are circled by potentially habitable worlds.

The closest red dwarf stars and their planets, which we could potentially inhabit are in our astronomical backyard of just 13 light years’ distance.

Minister for Roads and Buildings Dharmana Prasad Rao has attended a review meeting held under the chairmanship of Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy at the Secretariat here on Thursday.

The minister had quit following his name being mentioned by CBI in the YS Jagan Mohan Reddy’s Disproportionate assets case. His resignation was not accepted and CBI wanted to prosecute him the cabinet has decided not to allow any prosecution against him and the Governor ESL Narasimhan has sent back the letter for reconsideration.

A 24-year-old woman was allegedly gang-raped by four people, including one known to her, in west Delhi’s Swaroop Nagar, police said Thursday. All her attackers have been arrested.

The incident came to light Wednesday night when a Police Control Room (PCR) van tried to flag down a car which had tinted glasses, in north Delhi’s Burari area.

The car sped away, was chased and overtaken, and all the accused were arrested, said a police officer. The victim was then rescued.

Fourteen diploma students at a polytechnic college in Eluru town of West Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh were on Thursday arrested for allegedly ragging their juniors, police said.

Three second-year diploma students at the college approached Town Police station in Eluru and complained that as many as 14 seniors “ragged” them yesterday by asking them to remove their shirts before tying their hands and legs, they said.

Following the complaint, a case was booked against 14 senior students under Anti-Ragging Act and they were today arrested and produced before a court.

–PTI

Actress and DMK leader Khushboo today escaped unhurt when some unidentified persons threw stones and footwear at her while she was coming out of a hotel here, police said.

The miscreants shouted slogans, ‘Khushboo is anti-DMK, anti-Stalin (party chief M Karunanidhi’s son)’ before fleeing the spot, police sources said.

Khushboo was here to attend the wedding of DMK Rajya Sabha MP Tiruchi N Siva’s daughter, where Karunanidhi and
Stalin were also present.

Speaking to reporters here, Khushboo said her house in Chennai was also attacked.”I am in panic now since I got a

Eight people, including a woman, were killed and 20 others injured today when a mini-truck carrying labourers hit a tree at Jharkhand’s Hazaribagh district, police said.

The accident took place when the driver lost control over the vehicle while negotiating a turn and it hit the tree after falling in a ditch at Fataf forest in Pelawal area,Sub-divisional Officer (Hazaribagh Sadar) Rajiv Ranjan said.

Six people, including a woman, died on the spot while two others succumbed to their injuries in Hazaribagh Sadar
Hospital.

The Communist Party of India (Marxist) on Thursday slammed TRS for playing election politics.

CPM State secretary BV Raghavulu said that TRS President K Chandrasekhar Rao is more interested in electoral politics than in Telangana movement. “If he believes that Telangana can be achieved by electoral politics why should he be leading a movement for a separate state,” he said. KCR has been resorting to double talk on the issue, he said.

The case against Minister Ponnala Lakshmaiah pertaining to his election from Jangaon constituency is adjourned to Friday.

His election was challenged by his opponent Kommuri Prathap Reddy in the High Court, which heard arguments from both sides and adjourned the case. Ponnala won the 2009 election from Janagoan with a majority of 236 votes. This was challenged by his opponent. (INN)

Some unknown miscreants attacked the house of film star Khushboo here on Thursday.

It is believed that Kushboo’s comments on DMK’s future leader must be the reason behind the attack. Kushboo has started a new innings as anchor in a popular Telugu channel and her reality show has been getting good response. (INN)

St Francis College for Women, Begumpet here is conducting a UGC-sponsored two-day national seminar on “Recognizing Holistic Learning for Quality Enhancement-Integrating Curriculum with Co-Curriculum” on February 8 and 9 on the college premises in collaboration with Mak Projects Pvt. Ltd.

In a pressnote here today, St Francis College Society organizing secretary Dr Uma Joseph said Osmania University Vice-Chancellor Prof. Satyanarayana will be the chief guest and UGC Southern region deputy director G. Srinivas will be guest of honor.

Actress Kareena Kapoor, who tied the knot with actor Saif Ali Khan four months ago, will be busy shooting for Prakash Jha`s film, “Satyagraha”, in Bhopal on Valentine`s Day (Feb 14).

“This year, my Valentine`s Day will be with Amit-ji (Amitabh Bachchan), Ajay Devgn and Prakash Jha. So it`s not bad,” Kareena told reporters at an event Wednesday.

On what gift she give to Saif on V-Day, she said: “This year, Saif will have to gift me, I gave him the biggest gift in October. I have transformed myself into a `begum` (wife). He should come and give me a gift.”

Indo-Canadian porn star Sunny Leone has filed a complaint with the Cyber Crime Investigation Cell of the Mumbai Police against actor-filmmaker Kamaal Rashid Khan for misquoting her.

Kamaal had claimed that the actress had made the controversial statement – “Rape is not a crime, it`s just a surprise sex”.

“I have filed a complaint with cyber crime investigation cell against KRK asking them to take action,” Sunny, who filed it on Monday, told reporters.

Actress Kareena Kapoor Wednesday said she would think about writing her autobiography one day.

“I don`t want to write about my struggles. People know about that and I don`t think that`s interesting,” she said at the release of her book, “The Style Diary of a Bollywood Diva”, here.

“This style diary is something that reflects my style personality. I don`t know what my next book would be but if at all I write will an autobiography. Autobiography definitely but not now,” she told told reporters.

She also admitted she had lost weight and said she was practicing a new style of yoga.

Teen pop star Justin Bieber allegedly had an affair with Rihanna, according to a report.

The teen idol is said to have cheated on his on-off girlfriend Selena Gomez towards the beginning of their relationship with the `Umbrella` hitmaker Rihanna, reported Radar online.
“It has devastated her,” a friend of Gomez and Bieber said.

The source alleges that 18-year-old Bieber got together with Rihanna after flirting with each other at a basketball game in Los Angeles back in February 2011.

Aid workers struggled to reach remote, tsunami-ravaged villages in the Solomon Islands on Thursday, as the death toll rose with more bodies found in wrecked homes and debris in the South Pacific island chain.

At least nine people, including a child, were killed when a powerful earthquake set off a small tsunami that sent 1.5-metre waves roaring inland on Santa Cruz Island, in the eastern Solomons, yesterday. Around 100 homes across five villages were damaged or destroyed.

MIM Floor Leader Akbaruddin Owaisi who was arrested and lodged in the Adilabad jail for his controversial remarks, was brought here amid tight security for production in the district court.

The MLA is also facing a hate speech case here. He was remanded in that case. As his remand is concluding on Thursday, he was brought to Nizamabad. Family members also met him in Nizamabad District Court.

Senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Murli Manohar Joshi on Thursday lashed out at the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) after the Supreme Court asked it to explain the delay in filing an appeal against the Allahabad High Court”s order for dropping the conspiracy charges in the Babri Masjid demolition case.

Joshi, however, said that he would like to comment on the judgement of the apex court.

Fiery cleric Tahir-ul-Qadri, who recently led a protest against the Pakistan government to push for electoral reforms, on Thursday, approached the Supreme Court to seek the restructuring of the Election Commission.

Talking to reporters after filing a petition on the issue, Qadri said his stance was based on constitutional provisions which stated that the Election Commission could be reconstituted.

According to the Constitution, he said, the poll panel would consist of five members, and the names of 15 candidates should be presented before parliament for appointing these members.