Month: August 2013

Antony to head committee to pacify leaders from Seemandhra

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As a protest continues over the Telangana decision, Congress is making attempts to pacify the leaders from the Seemandhra region by setting up a high-level committee headed by AK Antony to talk to them.

Sources said that Antony and AICC general secretary in-charge for Andhra Pradesh Digvijay Singh have been tasked to pacify the agitating members of two regions.

Party spokesperson Meem Afzal said, “We are talking to them (MPs). Antony ji has talked to them. Our effort is to pacify all those including our MPs, who have reservations against the decision.”

Modi asks youths to join Yuva Morcha for national building

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Wooing the youths with an eye on next general elections, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi on Monday urged them to join Bharatiya Janta Yuva Morcha (BJYM) saying their entry would change India.

The BJYM, which has launched a membership drive, also plans to make use of modern technology in fulfilling its aim at making one crore members.

At the meeting of its national office-bearers held under the chairmanship of Anurag Thakur, the Morcha said its membership forms would be available through mobile phones and youth can fill up the same online.

President Shankar Dayal Sharma knew of Babri Masjid demolition: Mulayam

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In a sensational claim, Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav alleged on Monday that the then president Shankar Dayal Sharma was aware of the fact that Babri Masjid would be demolished on December 06, 1992.

Addressing a public function here, Mulayam said that they had conveyed the plan to the then president, when he along with his partymen had met him to seek his intervention in stopping the impending act.

Shinde to be discharged from hospital in 3 days

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Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde, operated upon for a lung ailment in a Mumbai hospital, is responding to treatment well and is likely to be discharged in three days.

Shinde, 72, who underwent the surgery in Mumbai’s Breach Candy hospital yesterday, should be discharged from hospital in three days, a statement issued by his office said on Monday.

Centre’s proposed DA hike too little too late: BJP

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Delhi BJP on Monday termed hike in dearness allowance (DA), proposed to be announced by the government, as ‘too less and too late’ and demanded its merger with the employees’ basic pay.

“In the wake of rising prices of all essential commodities, inflation has been hurting not only government employees but also the poor and the middle class. The latest DA hike proposed to be announced by the government is too less and too late,” said Delhi BJP President Vijay Goel.

Self-confidence key to overcome poverty: Rahul Gandhi

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Hailing the role of self-help groups in advancement of marginalised section of society, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi on Monday said they provide the poor with “self-confidence to overcome poverty”.

The Congress leader made this comment while participating in a discourse on ‘Culture, Deepening Democracy and Most Marginalised Communities’, organised here by noted social scientist Badri Narayan.

I’m not a party girl, Miley Cyrus justifies

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Singer Miley Cyrus has emphatically denied being a “ratchet white girl” who loves to party, saying that she works really hard for the fame she has achieved.

The 20-year-old, who came into limelight with ger show “Hannah Montana”, has belted out songs like “When I look at you”, “The Climb” and “Stay” in her career, but she is unhappy with the way she is perceived, reports dailymail.co.uk.

“People have this misconception of me that I’m just one of these kids on TV and that now I go off and party and I’m just this ratchet white girl, and I’m not,” Cyrus said.

Masterchef back with its junior edition this time

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After three seasons of “Masterchef” being liked by the audience, its junior edition – “Junior Masterchef Swaad Ke Ustaad” – is coming soon and will showcase the cooking abilities of children between the ages of eight to twelve.

Talking about how the children are different, judge Vikas Khanna said that nowadays kids have many more resources than what children had earlier.

“These are today’s children. They can do anything. They have access to so many resources today. Their level is way higher than what ours had been,” he said during the launch which was held here Monday evening.

Shoojit narrated ‘Madras Cafe’ to me seven years back: John Abraham

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Model-turned-actor and producer John Abraham Monday said that director Shoojit Sircar narrated the script of “Madras Cafe” to him seven years back but could not get around to beginning it.

“The story was with Shoojit for seven years and he had approached me with the script. It was very close to his heart and we were speaking about making it into a film all these years, but in the middle ‘Vicky Donor’ happened,” John told reporters here.

He was in the city promoting the Tamil-dubbed version of “Madras Cafe”, set to release simultaneously with its Hindi version on Aug 23.

Audiences find me most suitable for action flicks: John Abraham

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Even though actor-producer John Abraham personally likes doing films in different genres, he strongly believes audiences find him most suitable in the action space.

“Back home, I’m called ‘action’ Abraham. I love that phrase audiences have coined for me. The rom-com space didn’t work for me. I worked really hard in ‘Jhoota Hi Sahi’, but it didn’t work because audiences mostly perceive me in the action space,” John told reporters Monday here.

Indigenous aircraft carrier made of special steel

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Over 24,000 tonne of specially designed steel capable of withstanding “high impact load shock” has gone into the construction of India’s first indigenous aircraft carrier, officials said Monday.

Commodore Saibal Sen, additional principal director, Naval Design, said here that DMR-249A and DMR-249B were among the qualities of steel that have been developed in the country and used in the aircraft carrier, which will be launched at Kochi Aug 12.

He said while DMR-249A was at least twice in strength than normal steel, DMR 249B was thrice as tough.

Delhi gets notice on BCCI’s plea against entertainment tax demand

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The Delhi High Court Monday issued notice to the city government on a plea of BCCI challenging its demand for payment of entertainment tax on the money received so far from the sponsors for the IPL and T20 matches held here since 2008.

A division bench of Acting Chief Justice B.D. Ahmed and Justice Vibhu Bakhru sought the response of Delhi government by Nov 12.

The court also stayed the tax demand notice till further orders.

The BCCI moved the high vourt seeking quashing of the Delhi government notice and subsequent proceedings against it.

Explosives-laden vehicle seized in Pakistan

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A terror bid was foiled in the Quetta city of Pakistan’s Balochistan province when police seized an explosives-laden auto rickshaw, parked near a petrol pump, Monday.

There was about 200 kg explosives in the vehicle, reported Geo News citing Deputy Inspector General of police (operations) Fayyaz Sumbal.

He said a police patrolling team noticed that an auto rickshaw had been parked near petrol pump in the city’s Hazar Gunji area near Western bypass.

Eshaq Jahangiri appointed Iran’s first vice president

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Iran’s new President Hassan Rouhani has appointed reformist politician Eshaq Jahangiri as his first vice president, state media reported.

The 56-year-old has been the country’s minister for industries and mines in the administration of ex-reformist president Mohammad Khatami from 1997 to 2005.

Rouhani referred to Jahangiri’s “competence and his successful track record” in different executive positions, expressing hope that he would fulfill his future duties in accordance with law and principles of “moderation,” Xinhua reported Monday.

Jeremy Renner in fifth ‘Bourne’ film

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Actor Jeremy Renner will reprise his role as Aaron Cross in the fifth film in the “Bourne” franchise.

Universal Studios has shown a green signal to another movie in the spy thriller franchise, as they have hired screenwriter Anthony Peckham to pen a script for the movie, reports deadline.com.

The 42-year-old’s first brush with the franchise came with the 2012 film “Bourne Legacy”, in which he starred alongside Rachel Weisz.

Kelly Brook to pen autobiography?

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Actress Kelly Brook is reportedly planning to pen down her autobiography, through which she will reveal facts about her love life.

The 33-year-old, who is currently dating footballer Danny Cipriani, has struck a $300,000 deal with publishing house Pan MACmillan.

“Kelly has kept quite guarded over the details of her past heartbreak and now, finally, she’s ready to share her feelings with the world,” mirror.co.uk quoted a source as saying.

In the past, Brook has dated celebrities like Thom Evans, Jason Statham and Billy Zane.

—–IANS

Man trafficking in minor girls arrested

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A man involved in trafficking of minor girls from West Bengal to Delhi has been arrested and at least 14 minor girls rescued from the city and the National Capital Region, police said Monday.

Raju was arrested from West Bengal July 21.

“Raju’s role came to light four months ago when his mother Jahanara Bibi and Laxman, owner of a placement agency situated in Chirag Delhi, were arrested for placing minor girls as domestic servants in different houses in Delhi and NCR. At that time he managed to escape,” said Additional Commissioner of Police Ravindra Yadav.

Young homeless girls at greater STD risk than male counterparts

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A new study has discovered that young homeless girls are more prone to sexually transmitted diseases than their male counterparts because of their social groups and friendships.

The new research from UC San Francisco found how the social networks of homeless youth can be highly influential, affecting their participation in risky and protective behaviors.

The study examined the relationship between STI rates and the characteristics of the social networks of 258 homeless young people ages 15 to 24 in San Francisco.

US couple make their dying toddler best man at wedding

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A 2-year-old boy, who is suffering from a rare blood disease and has only weeks to live, became the best man at his own parents wedding in Pennsylvania.

According to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, the toddler, Logan Stevenson, donned a tiny tan pinstripe suit and orange shirt, while his mother, Christine Swidorsky, carried him on her shoulder at the afternoon wedding in Jeannette, a suburb of Pittsburgh, the New York Daily News reported.

During a 12-minute ceremony, Logan stood by his grandmother, Debbie Stevenson, while his mum and dad Sean Stevenson got married.

Jackie Onassis feared Marilyn Monroe most out of JFK’s mistresses

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Author Christopher Andersen’s new book, tilted ‘These Few Precious Days: The Final Year of Jack with Jackie’, has revealed intimate details of John Kennedy’s fling with 1950s sex symbol, Marilyn Monroe.

According to the book, the 35th President of the US’ s wife Jacqueline, also known as Jackie, had confessed to Dr. Frank Finnerty, whom she trusted with all the personal details of her marriage, that her spouse was so promiscuous and his extramarital affairs were so many, that there was no way either she or he could possibly identify them all.

`I Never Want to See A Bottle of Booze Again` says LiLo

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Lindsay Lohan is reportedly determined to live alcohol free and is ridding herself of all traces of booze wherever she goes.

The ‘Mean Girls’ actress has made demands that her hotel rooms, dressing rooms and even her parents’ house are alcohol free when she”s present, TMZ reported. Sources reveal that prior to her check-in at the Beverly Hills Hotel, she ordered the staff to remove alcohol from her room, and insisted her dressing room be stocked only with non-alcoholic drinks.

Did Cowell”s pregnant lover have red-hot affair with married teacher in school?

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Simon Cowell”s pregnant gal-pal reportedly had an affair with a well-liked English teacher while studying in Miami Country Day School.

Lauren’s classmate revealed that the she was barely 16-years old at the time and the sexual affair with Steve Lewis, then 26, who was also the junior varsity football coach, lasted two months, the New York Daily News reported.

BJP ready to favour the Food Security Bill after amendments

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Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Monday said that they would suggest some amendments in the Food Security bill before getting it passed in both the houses. BJP leader Ananth Kumar said that the Centre’s ambitious Food Security Bill has to be debated before it is fully adopted. “The Bill needs to be debated and the Bharatiya Janata Party is going to put forward several suggestions and amendments in the existing Bill. Post this debate the house would adopt it,” he said.

Apple acquires communication chip developer for new prospects in wearable computing

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Tech firm Apple’s latest acquisition, Passif Semiconductor, is

going to give the company more ventures into wearable computing.

The Mashable reports that Apple has bought a small company that specializes in designing

communications chips that use very little power and work with the Bluetooth Smart

standard.

Bluetooth Smart devices, such as heart-rate monitors, can connect to smartphones and

tablets but consume power at a rate that their batteries can last months or even years on

a single charge.

Men’s footwear mantra to attract women revealed

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It’s a universal fact that women are obsessed with shoes, but do guys pay attention to what they put on their feet?

According to men’s footwear brand Allen Edmonds- which recently conducted a survey of 1,000 American men and women- women judge men’s shoes twice as much as men judge women’s.

The Huffington Post has suggested some simple tips that can help men to improve their shoe situation.

The first one is that a guy should avoid wearing sandals and always cover up his toes as it is usually not the most attractive part of a man”s body.