Month: August 2013

Ganguly brought toughness to Indian cricket: Steve Waugh

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Days after criticising Sourav Ganguly, legendary Australian cricketer Steve Waugh today hailed the former India skipper, saying he brought toughness to the Indian side.

In his latest visit to the city in connection with Udayan, a rehabilitation home for children suffering from leprosy in colonies near Barrackpore which the Australian support, Waugh praised the retired Indian skipper and said he was a brilliant cricketer.

“I mean this is Kolkata and Sourav you know is a great captain. Sourav brought that toughness to the Indian side,” Waugh said.

Seemandhra, Rayalaseema leaders meet Sonia

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Amid continuing protests over the creation of a separate Telangana state, Union Ministers from the Seemandhra region on Tuesday met Congress president Sonia Gandhi in the national capital and expressed the “sense of deprivation” prevailing in Andhra and Rayalseema regions.

During the meeting, Sonia told them that a committee of three senior leaders would be formed, which would look into their grievances, as the ministers told her about apprehensions among people in their constituencies.

Four held for gang-raping pregnant housewife

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A 20-year-old pregnant woman was allegedly gang-raped by four persons in front of her husband in Chotta Gondia locality here, police said today.

The victim and her husband was on their way back home from one of their relatives house last night when they were stopped by four youths near the Dr Ambedkar Library in the locality.

They beat up the woman’s husband and gang-raped her on the library premises, they said.

The youths had also looted their belongings after the incident.

13 bus passengers killed in Balochistan

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Bodies of 13 bus passengers, who had been abducted Monday night and later killed, were found in a mountainous region of Pakistan’s Balochistan province Tuesday, the Geo News reported.

The coach, heading from Punjab to Quetta city, was carrying 15 passengers when they were kidnapped near Mach town of the province’s Bolan district. Thirteen bodies were recovered from nearby mountains, a senior police official said.

The Baloch Liberation Army has claimed responsibility of the killings, the report added.

Excited Anushka Sharma looking forward to ‘Bombay Velvet’

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Actress Anushka Sharma will join the cast of upcoming movie “Bombay Velvet” in Sri Lanka and is looking forward to the experience.

Directed by filmmaker Anurag Kashyap, “Bombay Velvet” brings actor Ranbir Kapoor and Anushka together on the silver screen for the first time.

Last seen in director Vishal Bhardwaj’s “Matru Ki Bijlee Ka Mandola”, Anushka said: “I am really excited and looking forward to joining the crew of ‘Bombay Velvet’ in Sri Lanka.”

Steve Waugh praises Sourav Ganguly

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Australian cricketing legend Steve Waugh Tuesday praised former Indian skipper Sourav Ganguly, crediting him with having instilled toughness in the national side.

Calling Ganguly a “great captain”, Waugh said: “He brought toughness to the Indian side”.

However, Waugh parried a query on comparing Ganguly and Mahendra Singh Dhoni as captains.

Man gets life term for wife’s murder

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A man who had consumed poison with his wife to seek justice for her alleged gang-rape was Tuesday convicted by a court in Haryana and sentenced to life imprisonment on charges of her murder.

A court in Rohtak town, 250 km from here, sentenced Sunil to life imprisonment after police, which had initially booked him for attempt to commit suicide, charged him with murdering his wife.

Punjab ready to take back Durga Shakti

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Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal Tuesday said that the state government was willing to welcome suspended Uttar Pradesh IAS officer Durga Shakti Nagpal back to Punjab if she opted to come back.

A 2009-batch IAS officer, Durga Shakti was allotted the Punjab cadre and had even trained in Mohali, adjoining Chandigarh, from June 2011 to August 2012.

She got her cadre changed to Uttar Pradesh after getting married to an Uttar Pradesh cadre IAS officer Abhishek Singh.

“If she is willing to come back and serve in Punjab I have no objection to it,” Badal told media here.

Bengal to create one lakh jobs in education sector

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The West Bengal government will provide one lakh new jobs by the year end in the education sector, a minister announced here Tuesday.

“We are in the process of providing about 35,000 jobs of primary teachers. In secondary schools, 36,000 teachers are being appointed. The remaining jobs are in Group C and Group D category of employees,” said Higher Education Minister Bratya Basu.

Basu, who was speaking to the media while announcing results of the West Bengal School Service Examination, conceded there was a shortage of eligible candidates for teaching science subjects.

Minor girl shot at in Delhi

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A 13-year-old girl was shot and critically wounded in her house here Tuesday night, police said.

Two unidentified men barged into her house in south Delhi’s Dakshinpuri area and fled after shooting her in the neck. She was rushed to AIIMS Trauma Centre where her condition is critical.

Police suspect personal enmity to be behind the attack.

—IANS

Banned outfit claims it abducted Gilani’s son

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Three months after former prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani’s son went missing from Pakistan’s Punjab province, a proscribed militant group has claimed responsibility for Ali Haider Gilani’s abduction, the Geo News reported Tuesday.

Ail Haider Gilani was kidnapped May 2 during an election campaign in Multan city.

Abu Yazeed, a spokesperson for the outfit calling itself Al-Mansooreen Brigade, said Ali Haider Gilani was in their custody and safe.

The group would soon release a video of Ali Haider Gillani shortly after Eid and apprise about their demands, he added.

—–IANS

Bieber be a nice boy, says Mark Wahlberg

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Actor Mark Wahlberg has asked pop singer Justin Bieber to be a nice boy and focus on his career.

The 42-year-old-singer-turned-actor, who was jailed for assault as a teenager, also warned the “Baby” hitmaker to stop smoking weed, reports contactmusic.com.

“Justin are you listening? Don’t be so naughty, yeah?” he said during a web chat with The Sun newspaper.

“Be a nice boy, pull your trousers up, make your mum proud, and stop smoking weed, you little b***h.

18 killed, 56 injured in Syria blast

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At least 18 people, including three children, were killed and 56 suffered injuries when a powerful blast rattled a pro-government district of the Syrian capital city Tuesday evening, state TV reported.

The initial information indicated that the blast was staged by a booby-trapped car that ripped through an intersection between al-Khidr Street and al-Soyouf Square, Xinhua reported.

Nina Dobrev says no to one night stands

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Canadian actress Nina Dobrev says she prefers to be in a settled relationship and does not believe in one-night stands.

The 24-year-old recently split from her “Vampire Diaries” co-star Ian Somerhalder.

“You either have chemistry or you don’t, but a lot of what attracts me is a guy’s mind and talent. I need to get to know all those things before I fall for someone. I’m not a one-night-stand kind of girl. I’m a relationship girl,” she told the Cosmopolitan’s US magazine.

One Direction members set for tell-all documentary

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One Direction band members will soon release a documentary titled “Going Our Way”, which will tell fans facts about their lives.

The band, which consists of Zayn Malik, Harry Styles, Louis Tomlinson, Niall Horan and Liam Payne, will release the documentary some time this month, reports contactmusic.com.

The band will give fans an idea about their life by enrapturing titbits as their formation, traits of the members, why they’re so famous and how they’re different to rival boyband, The Wanted.

The band has a huge fan following, specially the female ones around the world.

No deal with govt on passage of financial bills: BJP

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BJP on Tuesday said there was no deal with the government on financial Bills and insisted it has categorically told Finance Minister P Chidambaram that he should not bring the Insurance Bill in this session of Parliament as the opposition will not let it pass.

“There are reports that there is a deal between the government and BJP on passage of Financial Bills. No such deal has taken place on such Bills.

We are in no mood for any deal with this government,” BJP leader Yashwant Sinha told reporters.

Bombay HC to inaugurate e-court from Aug 15

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For the first time in its history, the Bombay High Court is introducing an e-court which would entertain petitions on e-mails and totally eliminate paper work, official sources said on Tuesday.

Being set up as a pilot project, the e-court, presided by Justice Nitin Jamdar, would be inaugurated on August 15 and take up company matters to start with.

Later, such court would also entertain other petitions besides hearing company matters, the sources said.

Ceasefire violations have gone up by 80 % than last year: Army

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Army on Tuesday claimed that there was 80 percent increase in the number of ceasefire violations by Pakistan and even the infiltration bids have doubled than the last year.

“The numbers of infiltration attempts have doubled this year in comparison to the corresponding period (1 Jan- 5 Aug) of 2012,” a defence spokesman said.

He said that there has also been 57 ceasefire violations by the Pakistani troops this year which is 80 percent more than the last year during the same corresponding period.

More than 1,100 CRPF personnel pledge their organs

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In a noble gesture, more than a 1,100 CRPF personnel on Tuesday pledged to donate their organs here to mark the world Organ Donation Day.

The troopers of the country’s largest paramilitary force took the oath in a joint action with the Organ Retrieval Banking Organisation (ORBO) of the AIIMS here.

A total of 1,184 personnel took the pledge that they would donate their organs for the needy after death, a senior force official said.

The troopers were administered the oath by CRPF Inspector General (Northern sector) A P Maheshwari.

SC reserves order on Lalu`s plea

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The Supreme Court on Tuesday reserved its order on a plea by Rashtriya Janata Dal supremo Lalu Prasad seeking transfer of trial of a fodder scam against him to another trial court.

An apex court bench of Chief Justice P Sathasivam, Justice Ranjan Prakash Desai and Justice Ranjan Gogoi reserved the order after Solicitor General Mohan Prasaran told the court that it would take the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) nearly 40 days to complete its arguments.

CBI can register cases arising out of Radia tapes on SC order

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CBI on Tuesday told the Supreme Court that it can register cases on its directions on certain issues as the records and the analysis of taped conversations of former corporate lobbyist Niira Radia with top corporate honchos, politicians and others, suggest criminality.

Senior advocate K K Venugopal, who was reading out the excerpts of ten items emanating from the report of the apex court-appointed six member team, said there is “prima facie” suspicion in some of the aspects requiring registration of preliminary inquiries by the CBI.

Attack on Indian Army jawans result of UPA govt`s weak policies: SAD chief

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Strongly condemning the unprovoked killing of five Indian Army jawans on Tuesday in firing by Pakistan soldiers, Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal alleged that such attacks were a result of the policy of appeasement followed by the Congress-led UPA government.

Badal, the Shiromani Akali Dal president, said it was a matter of great surprise how Pakistan soldiers repeatedly keep entering our territory to attack our soldiers.

LoC attack: Will take necessary steps in national interest: Salman Khurshid

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External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid Tuesday said India will take steps necessary in its national interest in the wake of the ambush by terrorists and men in Pakistani Army uniforms that killed five Indian soliders in Jammu and Kashmir.

The incident took place along the Line of Control (LoC) in the Poonch sector post midnight.

“Whatever we feel is necessary in the national interest, those steps will be taken,” Khurshid told reporters.

He said the government will seriously deliberate on the developments.

SC nod sufficient to probe corrupt officials: CBI

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The CBI Tuesday told the Supreme Court that it did not require the government’s sanction for a corruption probe against public servants in court-monitored cases but the government disagreed with this.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) told an apex court bench of Justice RM Lodha, Justice Madan B Lokur and Justice Kurian Joseph it would file an application seeking its go-ahead to begin investigating an officer suspected of wrongdoing in the allocation of coal blocks.