Month: August 2013

North Korean dictator’s ex- girlfriend executed over porn scandal

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The North Korean dictator’s former girlfriend has been reportedly shot by firing squad over alleged involvement in a porn scandal.

Kim Jong-un’s singer ex- girlfriend Hyon Song-wol was gunned down in front of her family just three days after being arrested for breaching North Korean pornography laws.

According to News.com.au, Hyon, was among a dozen well-known performers executed with machineguns as they were accused of filming themselves having sex and selling tapes.

Models complain of being underpaid in India

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Fashion models feel their profession is underpaid in India and working in the fashion industry comes with lot of pressure.

Most of the models say they keep representing collections of various designers out of passion for their job.

“Lot of people think that being in the world of glamour we are treated like goddess, but nothing is true. It is a life of glamour but it comes with lot of weightage and pressure. Our job requires us to be in shape, our skin and hair go for a toss, we work at odd hours,” model Nethra Raghuraman told PTI.

Men feel worse about themselves when female partners succeed

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Men’s subconscious self-esteem may be bruised when their spouse or girlfriend excels – even when they are not in direct competition – a new study has found.

Researchers found that men were more likely to feel subconsciously worse about themselves when their female partner succeeded than when she failed.

However, women’s self-esteem was not affected by their male partners’ successes or failures, according to the study published in the American Psychological Association Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.

New at-home pregnancy test tells how far along you are

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A new at-home pregnancy test that not only tells women if they are expecting but also informs them with 93 per cent accuracy how far along they are in their pregnancy is being launched in the US.

Already popular in Europe, the Clearblue Advanced Pregnancy Test with Weeks Estimator has been given the green signal by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

All home pregnancy tests are designed to detect the human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) hormone, that women produce when they are pregnant, in the urine.

It’s ‘love-all’ for Serena at frenetic Flushing Meadows!

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Serena William was reportedly spotted enjoying a romantic date with her boyfriend, coach Patrick Mouratoglou, at Bagatelle.

According to sources, the pair, whose relationship was made public in June by Maria Sharapova after Williams called her “boring” in an interview, was “very private” but seemed to be having a “very nice, intimate time”, the New York Post reported.

Though the 31-year old American professional tennis player stayed till almost midnight, she reached early morning for practice in Queens . (ANI)

Abhishek longed to work with SRK

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They did “Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna” in 2006 and, after a gap of seven years, Abhishek Bachchan has got a chance to work with Shah Rukh Khan again in “Happy New Year”. He says SRK took “too much time” to work with him again.

“Happy New Year” is being directed by choreographer-director Farah Khan, who had directed SRK in “Main Hoon Na” and “Om Shanti Om”.

“I am very excited to work with Farah. Farah is a dear friend and I am very excited to be part of ‘Happy New Year’ and I love Shah Rukh,” said Abhishek here.

Landmark Land Acquisition Bill gets LS nod

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The path-breaking Land Acquisition Bill, which seeks to provide just and fair compensation to farmers while ensuring that no land can be aquired forcibly, was passed by the Lok Sabha with overwhelming majority today.

“The Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Bill, 2012” stipulates mandatory consent of at least 70 per cent for acquiring land for Public Private Partnership (PPP) projects and 80 per cent for acquiring land for private companies.

Son steals father’s body to bring him back to life

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A man in the US stole his 93-year-old father’s corpse from a local cemetery because he wanted to resurrect him.

Vincent Bright, from Detroit, pleaded guilty to the charge of disinterring his father’s body.
He claimed, he only did it in the hope that the deceased man would be resurrected.

Vincent, 48, allegedly stole the casket of his father, Clarence, from Gethsemane Cemetery on January 14 this year and stored the body in a freezer, ClickOnDetroit.com reported.

Sangakkara not to play for Sunrisers in the Champions League

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Kumar Sangakkara has preferred Sri Lankan champion team Kandurata over his IPL team Hyderabad Sunrisers for the upcoming Champions League Twenty20 tournament.

“I will play for the Kandurata team in the champions league”, the star left-hander said today.
The Kandurata team qualified in the recent Sri Lankan Super 4 league which was cobbled out as a result of the cancellation of this year’s SLPL.

US, UK back down from immediate strike, Assad vows “victory”

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The US and UK today appeared to have backed down from an immediate punitive military strike against Syria, even as embattled President Bashar al-Assad vowed that his country would emerge “victorious” in any confrontation with America and its allies.

A strike by Western forces had appeared imminent but US allies were increasingly reluctant to act before hearing the results of a UN probe into the alleged poisonous gas attacks in the war-torn country on August 21.

My son should be punished if found guilty: Yasin Bhatkal’s father

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The father of Indian Mujahideen co-founder Yasin Bhatkal today said his son should be punished if found guilty after the due proces of law.

Zarar Siddibapa said his family has complete faith in the judicial process and his son should be punished if found guilty after a due process of law. “The cardinal principle is that every person is innocent until proven guilty should be followed,” he added.

In a statement, he expressed relief over the arrest of his son, saying their fears about his “elimination” in a fake encounter had been put to rest.

2006 Malegaon blasts: 9 accused set to walk free

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The NIA on Thursday told a Mumbai court it has found no evidence to link nine Muslims arrested in the 2006 Malegaon blasts case to the terror attack, a move that could see them walk free.

The National Investigation Agency did not object to the discharge applications filed by the arrested accused, saying evidence collected by it were “not in consonance” with those obtained earlier by Maharashtra Anti-terrorism Squad and CBI, which had recommended their prosecution.

More districts under LPG direct benefit transfer

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The cabinet Thursday approved a scheme to expand the direct benefit transfer scheme for domestic cooking gas cylinder consumers to 269 more districts Jan 1.

According to Finance Minister P. Chidambaram, the pilot of the scheme was started in 20 districts and the response was encouraging.

Hence, the cabinet decided to expand it which will be covered in a staggered manner starting Sep 1. “I hope people will be more efficient in using LPG,” Chidambaram said.

The minister said false cases were being weeded out due to the DBT scheme in 20 pilot districts.

Chidamabaram justifies food, land bills

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The government Thursday defended the landmark food security bill and the land acquisition and rehabilitation bill saying the markets couldn’t be “spooked or ethused by them”.

“Both the bills have been in public domain for many months and have been debated enough. It is wrong to say the markets are spooked or enthused by them,” Finance Minister P. Chidamabaram told reporters.

The food bill was passed by the Lok Sabha Aug 26, the land bill was taken up Thursday.

The stock markets tanked the day after the food bill was passed. Critics said it was so because it involved a huge subsidy.

Mamata announces fresh sops for industry

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Announcing the West Bengal industrial policy, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee Thursday said industries would be provided incentives based on production and job creation.

The new system would replace capital subsidies.

“We have decided to give tax benefits and other incentives on production basis. The more is the production and job creation, the industry would be entitled to get tax sops and other incentives,” Banerjee told mediapersons here.

Digvijay steps up attack on BJP on Asaram issue

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Congress leader Digvijay Singh today kept up the attack on BJP on the Asaram Bapu issue saying it wanted death penalty for rapists living in slums, but pardon for “fake godmen who molest or rape”.

“BJP defeats itself always! Wants death penalty for rapists living in slums, & pardon for fake God men who molest or rape. What logic?!?!?!?!”, the Congress General Secretary said on the microblogging site Twitter without directly mentioning Asaram.

Yesterday also, Singh had accused BJP of having double standards on the issue.

British Sikhs to oppose any Modi visit to UK

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British Sikhs have expressed opposition to any proposed visit by Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi to the UK.

The Sikh Federation (UK) has joined Muslim groups like the Council of Indian Muslims UK (CIM-UK) in their boycott following an invitation for Modi to visit Britain by some Indian groups of the country’s two main political parties earlier this month.

Hefty salary hike for Himachal legislators, ministers

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Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh Thursday introduced four amendments to a bill that proposes the biggest hike in salaries and allowances of legislators and ministers and pensions of former legislators.

The fund-starved government is already reeling under an ever-swelling wage bill.

The proposed hike would put an additional annual burden of Rs.5.49 crore on the state exchequer, say government officials.

Punish him if guilty, says Bhatkal’s father

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Arrested Indian Mujahideen (IM) co-founder Yasin Bhatkal’s father Zarar Siddibapa Thursday said he was relieved that his 30-year-old son was alive and not killed in any staged shootout as feared earlier by his family.

“We are extremely relieved to know through the media that our son Ahmed Siddibapa is alive and in police custody as we feared earlier that he would have been eliminated in a fake encounter long ago,” Siddibapa told IANS from Bhatkal, a small town on the west coast of Karnataka, about 400 km from Bangalore.

Delhi cops to question Bhatkal

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The Delhi Police will seek the custody of arrested Indian Mujahideen co-founder Yasin Bhatkal in connection with three cases, including the 2008 serial blasts in the city.

“His involvement has surfaced in the 2008 serial bombings, firing on a stationary bus in Jama Masjid and running of an arms factory in Nangloi,” a Delhi Police officer told IANS.

Did former ISI chief Lt. Gen. Pasha facilitate Raymond Davis” release?

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Former Director General Inter Services Intelligence (ISI), Lt. Gen. (retired) Ahmed Shuja Pasha is reported to have sent text messages to the U.S. Ambassador Cameron Munter as the Raymond Davis drama was unfolding in a court. According to reports filed by Dunyanews.tv and the reportersdairy.com web site, at least two sources, one of them now a retired two-star general of the Pakistan Army, said that revelations contained in Mark Mazetti”s book, “The Way of the Knife” regarding Lt.Gen.

NIA gets three day transit remand of Yasin Bhatkal

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The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Thursday got a three-day transit remand of Indian Mujahideen (IM) co-founder Yasin Bhatkal and Asadullah Akhtar alias ”Haddi”. The latest development in this regard took place after Bhatkal was produced before a Motihari Court.

Rajasthan assembly awards woman inspector one year jail

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The Rajasthan assembly Thursday sentenced a woman police inspector to one month’s rigorous imprisonment after finding her guilty of breach of house privileges, officials said.

Inspector Ratna Gutpa has been accused of misbehaving with the members of state assembly’s woman and child development committee that went to inspect a police station where she was posted in 2010.

The committee members complained about the officer’s alleged misbehaviour to the speaker following which the matter was referred to the assembly’s committee on privileges.

Meira Kumar not for punitive action

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Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar Thursday said though ample powers were vested in her, she does not believe in “punitive action” to run the house.

Speaking to students from the Maharani Gayatri Devi School of Jaipur who met her in parliament, Meira Kumar said debates and discussions were necessary for meaningful legislative process.

She said parliamentary democracy had empowered people across the country, irrespective of the innumerable challenges encountered during the last six decades.