Actor Imran Khan says he has no reason to worry about the release his upcoming film ‘Once Upon A Time in Mumbai Dobaara’, which will be hitting the theatres a week after Shah Rukh Khan starrer ‘Chennai Express’.
Imran’s next film ‘Once Upon A Time in Mumbai Dobaara’ (August 15), which is releasing a week after ‘Chennai Express’ (August 9).
Uttar Pradesh BJP today alleged that government postings in the state were being made on caste and religious lines, and institutions like UP Public Service Commission were made “political battleground”.
BJP alleged that there was “misgovernance” in UP and honest officials like Durga Shakti Nagpal were being harassed.
Nagpal, who had clamped down on illegal mining in Noida, was suspended barely 10 months after she got her first posting in the state.
The Middle East Quartet — comprising of the United Nations, Russia, and the European Union – today welcomed the resumption of direct talks between Israel and Palestine.
In a statement, Quartet commends both the Israeli and Palestine leadership “for taking this courageous decision” in the interest of their peoples, and expressed its determination to lend its effective support to the efforts of the parties and their shared commitment to achieve a negotiated two-state solution within the agreed timeframe of nine months.
Emphasising on the need to protect the secular fabric of Indian culture, External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid today said the country “survived” the demolition of Babri Masjid and learned to “overcome” though certain elements tried to create a rift between communities.
“For us as Indians, as society and civilisation, we have so much that others don’t have…. When we were worrying about what had happened in Ayodhya, in Babri Masjid and everybody was wondering whether India will survive that moment or not.
‘Dabangg’ director Abhinav Kashyap is ready to work with Salman Khan for his next venture, contrary to the reports that all is not well between him and the actor.
Abhinav made his directorial debut in 2010 with superhit action film ‘Dabangg’, casting Salman in lead role and launching Sonakshi Sinha.
Gossip mills were abuzz that all was not well between Abhinav and Salman and hence the director might not direct him in the second instalment.
Andhra Pradesh Police today stepped up security across the state saying they were well prepared to maintain law and order particularly in coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema regions in the wake of the decision to create separate Telangana.
Sufficient number of security forces have been deployed to deal with any situation arising out of the historic decision, they said.
A festive spirit pervaded the Andhra Pradesh Bhawan premises here no sooner the Congress Working Committee formally endorsed the creation of Telangana.
A huge contingent of ministers, MPs and MLAs from the Telangana region led by Andhra Pradesh Deputy CM Damodara Raja Narasimha arrived at the AP Bhawan to celebrate the much awaited announcement on the new state.
Even as “Jai Telangana” slogans rent the air, ‘ladoos’ were distributed and a sense of happiness and triumph was writ large on the faces of supporters of Telangana at the AP Bhawan that became the centre of celebrations.
A 44-year-old man was today arrested for allegedly molesting a woman near a Metro station here, police said.
Subrata Ganguly was arrested by officials of Charu Market police station on charges of molesting the middle-aged woman who was coming out of the Rabindra Sarobar Metro station in the evening.
After Ganguly “misbehaved and tried to molest” the woman, she raised an alarm following which locals caught hold of him and handed him over to the cops.
–PTI
Telangana, which is expected to be become the 29th state of India, consists of ten districts, including Hyderabad and is rich in mineral resources.
It is spread over an area of 1,14,840 sq km and has a population of 3,52,86,757 (as per 2011 Census).
Besides Hyderabad, which is the capital city, the other districts of the region are: Ranga Reddy, Medak, Mahbubnagar, Nalgonda, Khammam, Warangal, Karimnagar, Adilabad and Nizamabad.
Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) leader KT Rama Rao on Tuesday welcomed the UPA’s decision to unanimously endorses a separate state of Telangana, but added that the Centre must come forward and announce a date as well as to when a bill will be introduced in the Parliament and when it will be passed. “If it is Telangana that we have been demanding for –Telangana with 10 districts and with Hyderabad as a capital. If the UPA has decided for that, we will definitely welcome it,” said Rama Rao.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Tuesday alleged that the UPA Government gave its nod for the formation of a separate Telangana state under pressure, and said that it would very closely monitor whether the intention is to backstab or really give the people of the region a separate state. BJP spokesperson Prakash Javadekar said this government has lost its credibility on the issue of Telangana, but still it had to declare due to public pressure, pressure of the movement and pressure built upon by pro-telangana parties.
As Mamnoon Hussain was declared the new president of Pakistan Tuesday evening, residents in Agra, the city of Taj Mahal, erupted in jubilation.
Hussain was born in Agra March 3, 1940.
As the news reached localities of this old city, particularly Nai ki Mandi area, Mantola, and Dholi Khar residents began celebrating the occasion by bursting firecrackers and distributed sweets.
Also, groups of people came on the streets with drums and greeted one another.
Gujarat Chief Minister and Chairman of the BJP National Election Committee Narendra Modi told state BJP workers today to effectively use the media to spread the message ‘development’ and ‘good governance’ to the masses.
“Today, when people are frustrated with this corrupt and direction-less Congress-led government, we have to spread the message of development and good governance to the masses by effective and positive use of the media,” Modi said during his address to the BJP state-level media workshop at Gandhinagar.
At least 17 people were killed and several injured when a bus had a head on collision with a truck in a town in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province Tuesday evening, Xinhua reported.
The accident occurred when a passenger bus, with over 30 people on board, hit a truck coming from opposite direction at Indus Highway in Karak town.
It was a head-on collision which caused fire in the bus, killing 10 people on the spot. Seven others succumbed to their injuries later at the hospital.
The cause of the accident was investigated.
–IANS
US is against the “zero option” for the number of troops that would remain in Afghanistan after 2014, arguing that the mission is still not yet accomplished, said a Pentagon official.
However, it would have no other option except for the “zero option”, if the United States didn’t successfully negotiate a security deal with Kabul that will give it a legal basis for having forces in Afghanistan after 2014, said Peter Lavoy, Acting Assistant Secretary of Defence for Asia Pacific Security Affairs.
A United Nations investigator called on Chile’s government to stop using an anti-terrorism law against Mapuche Indians who are fighting to recover their ancestral land.
Violence from the Mapuche struggle escalated last year with a string of arson attacks, including one that killed an elderly couple. Their deaths shocked Chileans and raised questions about the inability of President Sebastian Pinera’s government to meet the demands of Chile’s largest indigenous group and his administration’s vow to continue using tough dictatorship-era measures to curb the violence.
Security at the luxury Carlton hotel in the French Riviera town of Cannes is under the spotlight in an investigation into a jewel heist at the weekend worth USD 136 million, police said.
“At the very least, the managers were a little careless,” said a police source yesterday, adding that the security system in place at the Carlton — a hotel popular with film stars — was “a bit out of date”.
Police said they had not been alerted that the “Extraordinary Diamonds” exhibition, put on by a group owned by Israeli billionaire Lev Leviev, was taking place.
Kuwaiti Emir Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah pardoned all those who have been sentenced to jail for insulting him.
“On the occasion of the last 10 days of (the Muslim fasting month of) Ramadan, I am pleased to issue an emiri pardon for those who have been handed jail terms on charges of insulting the emir,” he announced in a televised speech yesterday.
Several opposition members have been jailed and dozens more are on trial on charges of undermining Sheikh Sabah’s authority and insulting him.
Human Rights Commission of Pakistan has termed the country’s paramilitary Pakistan Rangers as an agent of fear instead of providing security to citizens.
In a special report about extra judicial acts by the Rangers in Karachi, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) has said that the Rangers have on many occasions abused their power and not disclosed charges against abducted persons.
The report was based on the study of 11 cases of abduction, extra-judicial killings and torture by the paramilitary force.
Violence in Iraq killed 22 people, among them seven police, officials said, as an Al-Qaeda front group claimed a wave of attacks that killed dozens the day before.
The country is witnessing its worst violence since 2008, when it was emerging from a bloody sectarian conflict.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon called on Monday for Iraqi political leaders to bring the country “back from the brink,” and the interior ministry warned of civil war.
India and Pakistan fears that any instability in the war-torn Afghanistan following the withdrawal of US troops could result in “surplus terrorism” in both the countries, a top US official has said.
At the same time he added that the US believes both India and Pakistan will play significant roles in Afghanistan in the coming years.
“I think both Pakistan and India will play and ought to play very important, significant roles going forward in Afghanistan” said Peter Lavoy, Acting Assistant Secretary of Defence for Asia Pacific Security Affairs.
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange called US soldier Bradley Manning a “hero” and said he expected him to appeal after a military judge convicted him of espionage.
Assange said the verdict had set a “dangerous precedent” and was an example of “national security extremism” from the Obama administration.
He told journalists at a small press conference in London’s Ecuadorian embassy that he “expects that the case will be appealed”.
“Bradley Manning’s alleged disclosures have exposed war crimes, sparked revolutions and induced democratic reforms,” he argued.
A woman charged with defacing the Washington National Cathedral was carrying a soda can containing green paint when she was arrested, and she has been linked to at least four other incidents of vandalism, including at the Lincoln Memorial, according to prosecutors and court documents.
Jia M Tian, 58, appeared in court yesterday alongside a Mandarin translator. Police had previously identified her as Jiamei Tian. She has a Chinese passport. A judge ordered her held pending a hearing later this week.
Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday accused the Congress-led UPA government of playing “vote bank politics” over food security.
“Instead of providing food to the poor, the Congress government is playing vote bank politics by establishing different standards for different states to decide beneficiaries of the food security scheme,” he said in his address to Gujarat Co-operative Congress here.
Maharashtra government will install CCTV camera systems, scanners and jammers in state prisons under an ambitious modernisation plan, state home minister R R Patil said here today.
The minister who reviewed security and management in jails, ordered speeding up of ongoing modernisation work in several prisons and an increase in manpower as early as possible.
The ratio of prisoners-to-guards is low and must be brought to a guard each, for at least six prisoners, he said.