Month: August 2013

Comedy is lighter: Soha Ali Khan

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Actress Soha Ali Khan, who has featured in films like “Rang De Basanti”, “Khoya Khoya Chand” and “Soundtrack”, will now be seen in a comical movie, “War Chhod Na Yaar”. She says the genre is lighter and also great fun.

“I am doing comedy for the first time and it has been great fun. I have done films where to get into a role, you have to bring back all these depressing memories before a shot. Comedy is much lighter, you can improvise, you can have fun, and you can let yourself go,” Soha said in a statement.

PM has no ideas to counter economic slowdown: Jaitley

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Continuing his attack on the government for its failure to arrest the rupee’s slide and the economic slowdown, BJP leader Arun Jaitley Saturday said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was without ideas to revive the economy and such a situation did not bode well for the country.

Picking up from his Friday’s duel with the prime minister in parliament, Jaitley, the leader of opposition in Rajya Sabha, told the BJP’s legal and legislative cell that the prime minister’s response on reversing the slowdown and free fall of rupee clearly showed that he had run out of the options.

Verdict gives juvenile a chance to reform, say activists

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The decision of the Juvenile Justice Board to send the minor accused in the Dec 16, 2012 gang rape here to a special home for three years was Saturday welcomed by lawyers and activists, saying it will give him a chance to reform.

“This is not the first time that a juvenile has committed such a crime. The people are demanding the gallows for him, but I appreciate the decision given by the board as the juvenile should be given a chance to turn into a good human being,” said Kavita Srivastava, general secretary of People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL).

Asaram not absconding, is unwell: Son

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Spiritual guru Asaram Bapu’s son Narayan Sai said Saturday his father was not absconding but that he was unwell and was undergoing treatment here.

“It is wrong that Asaram has fled or is hiding. He is not absconding, he is unwell,” claimed Sai in a press conference here Saturday evening.

Sai claims his father has neurological and heart problems.

“Bapuji will depose before police when he feels better. I welcome the Rajasthan Police who want to question my father. He had helped police investigation earlier and will continue this process,” said Sai.

Petrol, diesel prices hiked by Rs 2.35 and .50ps

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Petrol and diesel will cost Rs.2.35 and Rs.0.50 more per litre, excluding state taxes, from midnight Saturday, state-run Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) announced.

The IOC said that it had to hike prices due to sharp depreciation of the rupee and hardening of crude prices in the international market due to the volatile situation in Syria.

The Indian rupee has lost more than 25 percent against the dollar since the beginning of the financial year. On Aug 28, 2013, the partially-convertible rupee touched a new record low of 68.80 against the dollar.

Obama says Syria situation poses threat to U.S. security

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President Barack Obama has said the crisis in Syria is a threat to national security and poses a challenge to the world to stop chemical weapons proliferation.

Obama said Washington has an obligation as a ‘world leader’ to punish the Assad regime for breaching international rules of war and using chemical weapons on their own people, including children, Politico reports.

Meanwhile, Americans showed exhaustion towards the U.S. military efforts and engagement in wars on other soils.

Two districts in Punjab declared smoke-free

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The Punjab government today declared Hoshiarpur and Kapurthala as “smoke-free” districts in the state.

While informing this, state Health Minister Madan Mohan Mittal said “a study conducted by PGIMER found the absence of active smoking in more than 96.4 per cent of public places in Kapurthala and 91.3 per cent in Hoshiarpur districts.”

The PGIMER was entrusted with the task of conducting a compliance survey and opinion poll to verify the compliance of Cigarettes & Other Tobacco Products Act, 2003.

Minor raped, killed by ‘sadhu’

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A minor girl was allegedly strangulated to death after being raped by a ‘sadhu’ in Atariya village in the district, police said today.

The incident took place last night when the accused Manoj Kumar (40) abducted the eight-year-old girl from her residence while she was sleeping with her parents and took her to a nearby cane field, where he raped and later murdered her, DSP Ram Aasrey Singh said.

The body of the girl was recovered this morning from the field, he said.

Police clueless about Asaram’s whereabouts

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Police were today clueless about the whereabouts of Asaram Bapu, who is believed to have fled his Bhopal ashram, as Jodhpur Police was on his trail for arresting him in connection with the charge of sexual assault of a minor girl.

A large number of his supporters gathered outside his ashram at Khandwa Road in Indore while his whereabouts are not known after he left Bhopal in a vehicle last evening.

Bhatkal wooed Bihar youth for terror attacks

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Indian Mujahideen co-founder Yasin Bhatkal, who was arrested Thursday, was the brain behind recruitment of youth in Bihar to carry out terror attacks across the country, a police official said Saturday.

Bhatkal, wanted by police in 12 states for bombings and other terror activities in the last five years, was arrested in Raxaul in East Champaran district Thursday. He was arrested along with Asadullah Akhtar, his terror accomplice.

Diesel price may be hiked by Rs 3-5 a litre, LPG by Rs 50

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Diesel prices may be hiked by Rs 3-5 per litre, kerosene by Rs 2 and LPG by Rs 50 per cylinder as Oil Minister M Veerappa Moily urged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to take steps to tackle a record Rs 180,000 crore of losses arising from dipping rupee and surging oil rates.

Moily, who had on Thursday met Finance Minister P Chidambaram on the issue, on August 30 wrote to Singh saying without a price increase the government will have to shell out a record Rs 97,500 crore to subsidise diesel and cooking fuel.

Digvijay targets BJP over convoy attack

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Senior Congress leader Digvijay Singh has pinned blame on BJP for the attack on his convoy last evening and said the ruling party was “frustrated” over growing support for his party in the poll-bound State.

The former Chief Minister’s car was pelted with stones near Kukshi in adjoining Dhar district. The vehicle was damaged but Digvijay and Leader of Opposition in Assembly Ajay Singh, who was travelling with him, escaped unhurt.

BJP, however, denied any role in the incident.

Cyber crime cases in India rose by 61% in 2012: Deora

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Cyber crime cases in the country registered under the IT Act last year rose by about 61 per cent to 2,876 with Maharashtra recording the most number of cases, Parliament was informed yesterday.

The country had witnessed 1,791 cases registered under the Information Technology (IT) Act in 2011, Minister of State for Communication and IT Milind Deora said in a written reply to Rajya Sabha.

I don’t have right bikini body: Parineeti Chopra

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Bollywood actresses are readily flaunting a bikini on the big screen, but curvaceous actress Parineeti Chopra says she is overweight to flaunt the two-piece garment.

Asked if she will be okay wearing a bikini for a film, she said: “If I have a hot body, then why not? But right now I don’t have the right body. I am still overweight, so there’s no way I can wear a bikini.”

As such, the vivacious actress doesn’t have any limitations or restrictions as an artist.

Doctors forcibly break Jagan’s fast in hospital

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Doctors at a hospital here Saturday forcibly administered intravenous fluids to YSR Congress party president Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy, who was on indefinite fast for seven days to oppose bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh without justice to all regions.

On the direction from Chanchalguda Jail officials, doctors at Nizam’s Institute of Medical Sciences (NIMS) forcibly gave intravenous (IV) fluids to Jagan as his condition was deteriorating, a hospital official said.

Delhi gang rape: Minor accused to spend three years in reform home

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Eight-and-a-half months after a young paramedical student was gang-raped in a moving bus here, the first punishment was handed out when a juvenile court ruled that an 18-year-old, who was claimed by the police to be the “most brutal” of all the six accused, be confined to a reform home for three years.

The youth, who was then a minor but turned 18 in June, was not named. The first judgement in the case, however, left the family members of the victim angry, who said they wanted harsher punishment for him.

3 killed in drone attack in Pakistan

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After a brief lull, a CIA- operated drone today struck a house in Pakistan’s North Waziristan tribal region, killing at least three suspected militants.

A Pakistani security official confirmed the death of three persons in the strike on a house in Mir Ali area of North Waziristan Agency.

The attack came a day after the Advisor to the Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs and National Security Sartaj Aziz told Pakistan’s National Assembly that the government will take up the issue of drone strikes with the US in September.

Gunmen kill 5 Sunni worshippers in Iraq

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Iraqi authorities say that gunmen have stormed a Sunni mosque in Baghdad, killing five people.

Police officials said the attackers entered the building in Baghdad’s southeastern neighborhood of New Baghdad and shot at Sunni worshippers who were performing today’s dawn prayers.

Police said the gunmen used weapons fitted with silencers. They said two other worshippers were wounded.

Medics in a nearby hospital confirmed the casualty figures. All officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.

Ammonia leak in China’s Shanghai kills 15

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At least 15 people were killed and 26 others fell sick today following liquid ammonia leak at a refrigeration unit in China’s commercial hub of Shanghai.

The accident took place at the refrigeration unit in Baoshan District, the municipal government announced in a posting via its official account on Sina Weibo, the Chinese Twitte, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

Photos on the website of a local newspaper showed fire trucks at the scene with hoses on the ground.

—PTI

Soha Ali Khan launches Glamour Style Walk in Mumbai

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A ‘radiant-looking’ Soha Ali Khan recently unveiled the Glamour Style Walk 2013 in Mumbai.

The ‘Rang De Basanti’ star, who donned a stunning royal blue gown for the event, said that there were around 40 to 50 different stalls of jewelry from tradition to modern to fusion.

The brunette beauty asserted that diamonds are her favourite gems.

“They have showed me a beautiful 8 carat diamond ring and I am in love with it a little bit and I think I will dream about it in my sleep,” she said.

Asaram Bapu case: Probe those who attacked journalists, says Tewari

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Information and Broadcasting Minister Manish Tewari on Saturday criticized the supporters of the spiritual leader Asaram Bapu who assaulted journalists outside his Jodhpur ashram, and said that the people involved in attacking media personnel should be investigated. “It is very condemnable that the followers of a religious person have attacked media. Nothing could be as despicable as this. Whenever incidents like these takes place, all the facts and evidences are produced before the court.

Juvenile should be hanged, demands victim`s mother

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“We are not bothered about minority or majority status of the accused. All we want is justice,” the mother of the 23-year-old December 16 gang-rape victim said on Saturday, ahead of the Juvenile Justice Board’s verdict in the case involving a minor.

“Like the four adult accused are expected to get death sentence, he (juvenile) should also be hanged,” she said.

She was asked if the maximum sentence of three years under the Juvenile Justice Act, if awarded, is commensurate with the crime.

Syrian Electronic Army hackers warn of ‘many surprises’ to come

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The pro-Assad ‘hacktivist’ group Syrian Electronic Army (SEA), who recently attacked major news website New York Times and Twitter has reportedly warned of further attack on media companies.

The SEA has not only warned of attacks but also suggested that media companies should ‘expect’ them as they have ‘many surprises’ to come.

A spokesman for the group said that UK parliament’s vote against military intervention in Syria is the right thing adding that such intervention had many consequences and will affect the whole world, BBC reports.

6.0-magnitude quake hits Kathmandu

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An earthquake measuring 6.0 in rector scale jolted Kathmandu Friday night.

According to Dr Somnath Sapkota of National Earthquake Information Center, the quake was felt in Kathmandu at around 2330 local time.

According to him, the epicenter is believed to be 80-85 kms away from Jiri, a hill district north of Kathmandu.

So far no casualties have been reported.

He denied reports of the various American websites, which said the epicenter was in Xiang in China. “The quake cannot be felt so strong 400kms away from the epicenter,” he said.

Syria denies Kerry”s accusation

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Syrian Foreign Ministry slammed on Friday the recent statements of U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, saying Kerry used “fabricated” narratives circulated by armed rebels to frame the Syrian government regarding the chemical weapons use.

Kerry on Friday said that the Syrian government forces killed 1, 429 people in a chemical weapons attack near Damascus last week. He branded the alleged attack as “inconceivable horror.”