Month: July 2013

Keep Mandela’s legacy alive: South African government

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The South African government has called on all people in the country to keep Nelson Mandela’s legacy alive as the world celebrates the anti-apartheid icon’s 95th birthday later this month.

July 18 was declared the Nelson Mandela International Day in 2010 by the UN in honour of Mandela’s dedication to the national reconciliation and freedom, Xinhua reported.

People have been urged to do something good to uplift the standards of people, including dedicating 67 minutes to do community work to assist the society.

Susan Boyle to kiss on big screen

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Scottish singer Susan Boyle will feature in a kissing scene in her forthcoming film “The Christmas Candle”.

The 52-year-old, who makes her film debut as church warden’s wife Eleanor Hopewell in the movie, will be seen locking lips with on-screen husband James Cosmo. The singleton admits she “wasn’t complaining” about the steamy scene.

“I have my very first husband, which is very exciting. It’s been a long wait. I had to kiss him, too, as we had a kissing scene. It was my first on-screen kiss. It was lovely,” contactmusic.com quoted Boyle as saying.

Pope to visit migrant landing point in Italy

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Pope Francis will visit Italy’s southernmost island of Lampedusa July 8 and celebrate mass there with migrants, who arrive there from North Africa after a perilous sea voyage.

“The Pope has been profoundly saddened by the recent news of of shipwreck of a migrant boat from Africa, the latest in a series of similar tragedies,” the Vatican said in a statement.

“He intends to pray for those who have lost their lives at sea and meet survivors and other refugees on Lampedusa,” the statement said.

Funds released for payment of Scholarships and reimbursement of fees – Minister

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Mr. Mohammed Ahmedullah, Minister for Minorities Welfare told that Rs. 185.62 crore have been released towards the payment of Scholarships and tution fees to the students for the year 2012-13. Since there is no bank account of the Department of Minorities Welfare hence Pay and Accounts Office returned the bills. Mr. Ahmedullah wrote to the PAO for relaxing this condition at the moment. He instructed the officials to finished the work as early as possible.

——Siasat News

US spying report could harm ties with Italy: Minister

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Reports that the US spied on the European Union and Italian diplomats must be verified but if proved to be true, they will “compromise” bilateral ties, Italian Defence Minister Mario Mauro has said.

“If we are allies, it is unacceptable that someone inside the relationship acts as the Soviet Union did with its satellites,” Mauro told La Repubblica TV in a reference to the Cold War era.

“But our institutions must authenticate the information and the US’s explanations. Perhaps for the first time we’ll see if such a thing as European foreign policy exists,” he said.

Telangana should be constituted with 10 districts – TJAC

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Convener of Telangana Political Joint Action Committee, Prof. Kodandaram led a delegation and presented a memorandum to Mr. Digvijay Singh demanding for the formation of separate Telangana state consisting of 10 districts of the region including Hyderabad. Mr. Digvijay Singh was busy till 10 pm yesterday meeting various delegations and leaders. Various leaders inform him that Telangana movement has been continuing for the past so many years in which hundreds of students sacrificed their lives.

Complaints received against Waqf Board and MFC

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The weekly Minority Grievance Cell for redressal of grievances pertaining to Minority Welfare institutions was held on Monday at Hajj House. Secretary Director Urdu Academy Prof. S A Shukoor monitored the grievance cell. General Manager Minority Finance Corporation Vilayat Husain besides officials of Waqf Board, Finance Corporation, Hajj Committee and other institutions attended the meeting.

‘Jadoo Ki Jappi’ phrase belongs to Sanjay Dutt: Jacqueline

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Jacqueline Fernandez, who has done an item number ‘Jadoo Ki Jappi’ in Prabhudeva’s ‘Ramaiya Vastavaiya’, is hoping to hit the bullseye with the song, which is inspired from the line popularised by Sanjay Dutt in the ‘Munnabhai’ series.

“I don’t think that anyone can take away the phrase from him. He is the original and first person to have created this line. We are hoping our song will become as popular as his (Sanjay Dutt) line,” Jacqueline told reporters here at the song launch.

Career Counseling and Job Mela organized by Minorities Commission

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A.P. State Minorities Commission is holding a career counseling session for two days for resolving the matters pertaining to admissions in Engineering, Medicine, Management, MCA, B.Ed, D.Ed, Pharmacy and other professional courses. The session would be held on 4th July at Shah Manzil Function Hall in Khilwath and on 5th July at Urdu Ghar, Moghalpura from 10 to 5 p.m.

Noted career counselors and other professionals will provide guidance. A Job Mela is also being organized in which on the spot selection for jobs would be made. Many reputed companies are participating in this Job Mela.

Hajj House should be constructed on Govt. land- Hajj Committee

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A meeting of Hajj Committee was held yesterday under the chairmanship of its president Mr. Syed Khaleel Uddin Ahmed. It was decided to make a representation to abandon user charges at Hyderabad Airport. The members of the Hajj committee opined that the matter should be taken up with the civil aviation ministry so that a permanent solution could be brought out. It was also felt that Hajj House should be constructed on Govt. land The Committee requested the Govt. to allot Govt. land with in the Municipal limit of Hyderabad city. Mr.

Would act for fun but not as a career option: Kiran Rao

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She did a minute role in 2001 release ‘Dil Chahta Hai’ before going on to become a producer-director but Kiran Rao does not rule out the possibility of acting again.

The 39-year-old wife of superstar Aamir Khan says she has never thought of acting as a career option but would not mind doing it for fun.

“I don’t know If I can act in a film. I used to enjoy acting on-stage in college, it’s a great experience, good fun. I would love to do it for the fun of it if there is an opportunity at some point but it is certainly not a career option,” Kiran told PTI.

Shooting intimate scene was easier, thanks to director: Ranveer

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Actor Ranveer Singh thanks director Vikramaditya Motwane for making him and his fellow actor Sonakshi Sinha comfortable while canning an intimate scene on them in “Lootera”.

Giving details about the scene, the “Band Baaja Baaraat” actor said: “Sonakshi is so cool that I never felt awkward. We all are professional actors and this is our work.

“Vikramaditya made a closed set for our comfort where there was only cameraman, Vikram, me and Sonakshi. He gave us our own space and was very supportive.”

Woman accuses husband of throwing her and her four kids into a well

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In her dying declaration made before the police, a woman alleged that her husband Kishan Rathwa threw her and their four kids including a son and three daughters, into a well at Moti Zer village in Chhota Udaipur taluka on June 28. All four kids are dead and she was injured, alleged the woman, who is under treatment in a hospital at Chhota Udaipur.

Need to have sophisticated radars in critical areas, says APJ Abdul Kalam

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Former President Dr APJ Abdul Kalam on Monday stressed the need for having sophisticated radars installed in critical areas to predict exact rainfall and forewarn about the calamity of Uttarakhand magnitude. “We must have polarimetric radar and Doppler radar in critical areas such as Uttarakhand as they will help forecast heavy rainfall,” Kalam said. He was speaking after visiting the Centre of Excellence for Minimal Access Surgery Training (CEMAST) in suburban Mumbai.

Pakistani girl injured with Malala gets British visa

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A Pakistani schoolgirl injured in the Taliban attack against Malala Yousafzai last year has been granted a British student visa after receiving death threats in her home country, it emerged today.

Shazia Ramzan, 15, had a joyful reunion with her friend Malala when she flew into Birmingham airport in central England on Saturday night, their first meeting since they were shot on their school bus on October 9.

Both girls are being supported by the office of Gordon Brown, the former British prime minister who now serves as United Nations special envoy for global education.

Violence surges in Iraq as rows persist

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More than 2,500 people were killed in Iraq in the past three months, UN figures showed today, a surge of violence that has fanned fears the politically-deadlocked country is slipping back into all-out bloodshed.

The toll comes as the country grapples with months of protests among the Sunni Arab minority, tensions in a swathe of territory in northern Iraq disputed by the Kurds, and a protracted political deadlock that has blocked key legislation.

The violence showed no signs of letting up today as new attacks, including a suicide bombing, killed 19 people.

Saudi court jails 18 ‘extremists’ for fighting abroad

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A Saudi court sentenced 18 men, some of them foreigners, to jail terms of between seven months and 15 years today after convicting them of fighting in foreign conflicts on behalf of Sunni Muslim extremist groups, state media reported.

The official SPA news agency did not specify which foreign conflicts they were found guilty of participating in but in recent months Saudi officials have expressed growing concern about Saudi volunteers fighting in the war in Syria, and Saudis have also been active in Iraq.

Iraq attacks on Shiites kill 33: officials

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Bombings targeting Shiite Muslims, including a suicide bombing against the funeral of an Iraqi soldier, killed at least 33 people today, officials said, updating an earlier toll.

Both the attacks struck in confessionally divided Diyala province, north of Baghdad, with the suicide bomb at a Shiite religious hall killing 23 people, and another blast at a cafe in provincial capital Baquba killing 10 more.

20 students injured as bomb explodes in classroom

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At least 20 students were injured when a low intensity crude bomb exploded inside a class room of a government-run school on the outskirts of Cuttack city on Monday, police said.

The blast took place in a room of class IX of Ayatpur Government High School shortly after the prayer.

Of the 58 students present in the class, the 20 injured were taken to SCB Medical College and Hospital here.

All the students had suffered from temporary deafness while five of them have received bruises and burn injuries in their legs, the sources said.

India’s first ever dedicated navigation satellite launched

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In a landmark journey into a new era of space application, India today successfully launched its first dedicated navigation satellite using the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle which blasted off from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre here.

The country’s workhorse PSLV blasted off at 11.41 PM last night and it ejected IRNSS-1A satellite and placed it in orbit a little past midnight, technically on Tuesday.

Wants good relations between India and Pakistan: US

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The United States wants good relationship between India and Pakistan, a State Department official has said, adding that its diplomacy is focused on that direction.

“We want Pakistan and India to have a good relationship, we want Pakistan and Afghanistan to have a good relationship, and we focused a lot of our diplomacy in that direction,” the State Department spokesperson, Patrick Ventrell, told reporters at his daily news conference yesterday.

Telangana: NBW issued against MLA for not attending court

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A non-bailable warrant was issued against Nagarkurnool MLA Nagam Janardhan Reddy and ten others on Monday for not attending court proceedings in connection with a 2011 case of stopping trains during Telangana agitation.

Reddy, who was with TDP before joining BJP recently, along with leaders of various political parties, had resorted to ‘rail roko’ in Mahabubnagar district as part of the pro-Telangana agitation and was subsequently booked by Secunderabad Railway Police Force (RPF) for disrupting rail traffic among other charges.