Month: September 2013

Ordinance to protect convicted lawmakers is ‘complete nonsense’: Rahul Gandhi

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Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi on Friday dubbed the ordinance to negate the Supreme Court verdict on convicted lawmakers as ‘complete nonsense’, and said it should be torn up and thrown away.

“I personally think what the government is doing on the ordinance is wrong. It was a political decision, every party does it, and there is a time to stop this nonsense,” said Gandhi.

“It is about time that political parties mind and stop making these type of compromises. If we actually want to stop corruption then we cannot make these compromises,” he added.

‘Is this a Govt. or drama company’: BJP on Rahul ordinance comment

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The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Friday criticized Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi after he described the government’s controversial ordinance to negate the Supreme Court verdict on convicted lawmakers as ‘complete nonsense’.

BJP Vice-President Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi questioned whether the UPA is a government or a theatrical production.

Is this a government or a theatrical production? With such drama, the Congress will not be able to hide the government”s failures…,” said Naqvi.

‘Rahul’s rejection of ordinance indicates differences between Congress and UPA: Rajnath Singh

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Reacting to Rahul Gandhi”s description of the ordinance on convicted politicians as ‘complete nonsense’ and a document that needed to be torn and thrown away, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Rajnath Singh on Friday said such statements clearly indicate that there are differences between the Congress Party and the UPA Government.

“I would like to ask Rahul Gandhi then what is his comment on the action of the Congress-led UPA Government,” Singh told media here.

Pak SC rejects Musharraf’s request for release in Bugti murder case

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The Pakistan Supreme Court has rejected former president General (retd) Pervez Musharraf’s verbal request for release in the Akber Bugti murder case. A two-member bench of the apex court, headed by Justice Nasirul Mulk, led the hearing on a bail request of Musharraf. According to Dawn News, during the hearing, the bench rejected Musharraf’s verbal request for release, saying that the complainant must be present in person before the court for its judgment.

`Womaniser` James Bond seeks relationship over casual sex in new novel

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William Boyd, who has penned the latest James Bond novel, ‘Solo,’ has revealed that he thinks that the spy is now looking for a relationship.

Boyd told the Guardian that Bond’s endless conquests were in pursuit of a steady relationship, Metro.co.uk reported.

He added that the spy is not after just casual sex anymore in the new novel. (ANI)

BJP meets Muslim clerics to seek support for Modi’s rally

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Leaders of BJP’s Delhi unit Friday met the city’s ulema (Muslim clerics) to garner support for the first-ever public rally of their prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi in Delhi Sunday.

According to Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Vijay Jolly, the “exclusive” meeting took place in Delhi BJP headquarters.

“The ulema have expressed their full support on behalf of their society and have promised to educate everyone about how the Congress is just using the minorities as vote banks,” he said.

“They acknowledge the good work done by Modi,” he added.

World’s most wanted woman ‘White Widow’ loves wearing sexy lingerie

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The sexy secrets of Kenyan mall terrorist, Samantha Lewthwaite, dubbed the White Widow, have been exposed as she joined Interpol’s most-wanted woman in the world list.

It has been emerged that the Britain’s White Widow loves wearing lacy lingerie under her black burka. British anti-terror police found a stash of sexy knickers during a raid on one of her Kenyan safe houses, the Daily Star reports.

John Abraham to do Aamir’s ‘Rangeela’ act in ‘Welcome Back’

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Actor John Abraham would be playing a ‘tapori’ in his upcoming film ‘Welcome Back’ and the role has been loosely modelled on superstar Aamir Khan’s popular character in 1995 blockbuster ‘Rangeela’.

He was captured in ‘tapori’ (vagabond) avatar wearing printed floral shirt with funky sunglasses while shooting for ‘Welcome Back’, a prequel of comedy flick ‘Welcome’, here.

Sharif says his govt stands for peaceful resolution of all issues with India

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Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has said his government stood for peaceful resolution of all issues with India, including Kashmir.

In an interview with the Wall Street Journal during his visit to New York, Sharif said he will be meeting with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in the next few days to talks about a peaceful resolution to all the issues between the two countries.

Sushma Swaraj to address pro-Telangana meet at Mahbubnagar

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Lok Sabha opposition leader Sushma Swaraj plans to address a public meeting in support of a separate Telangana state at Mahabubnagar near here tomorrow.

Swaraj, who voiced the demand for a separate Telangana state on many occasions earlier, is expected to highlight the BJP’s commitment to the cause during the Mahabubnagar meet.

The AP BJP hopes that the public meeting at Mahabubnagar, followed by a massive meet addressed here by the saffron party’s Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi last month, would help strengthen the party in the Telangana region.

NYSE began wooing Twitter 2 yrs. ago to gain IPO assignment

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The New York Stock Exchange reportedly began wooing Twitter nearly two years ago, for the microblogging site’s coveted IPO listing assignment.

The NYSE has been paying for sponsored tweets in order to build its brand and those of its publicly listed clients since November 2011.

An NYSE spokesman said that the exchange has had a positive experience as one of the thousands of companies using Twitter, the New York Post reports.

According to the report, forming alignment with Twitter may give the NYSE an edge over rival Nasdaq who handled the glitch-filled Facebook IPO in May 2012.

IM carried out test blast on outskirts of Hyderabad: Accused

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Three members of the banned Indian Mujahideen (IM) conducted a “test blast” on the city outskirts two days before carrying out the deadly February 21 Dilsukhnagar twin blasts here, according to a disclosure statement of one of the accused.

Asadullah Akhtar, an alleged close associate of IM’s co-founder Yasin Bhatkal, and two others planted the bombs on the instructions of Pakistan-based Riyaz Bhatkal, according to the disclosure statement of Akhtar that was recently submitted to a local court by the NIA, which is investigating the twin blasts case.

Declassified NSA files reveal US spied on Muhammad Ali, Martin Luther King Jr

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A recent revelation into declassified documents of cold war has showed that the United States National Security Agency (NSA) had spied on civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr and heavyweight boxing champion Muhammad Ali.

The researchers at George Washington University have revealed that NSA’s secret programme called ‘Minaret’ monitored the overseas phone calls and cables of several other leading figures of the Vietnam War, the Independent reports.

The six-year spying programme was deemed disreputable, if not outright illegal, by the people involved in it, the report added.

More than half of pilots globally admit they fall asleep on board: poll

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A recent poll has revealed that more than half of the pilots have fallen asleep on the flight deck.

The survey conducted by the British Airline Pilots Association (Balpa) showed nearly one-third of the pilots saw the other pilot asleep when they woke up, Metro.co.uk reports.

Most of the pilots said tiredness was the main reason for them to fall asleep on board, and stated sleep was the biggest threat to flight safety. (ANI)
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U.S. Attorney General questions al-Shahab’s capacity to attack America

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U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder has said the intelligence community has still not received any credible evidence on whether Al Qaeda-linked terror group, Al-Shahab, which claimed responsibility for Nairobi mall massacre, had the capacity to conduct a similar strike on American soil.

A senior law enforcement official said the terrorist group is focused on striking Western targets in Africa, like Kenya and Ethiopia, to drive the security forces out of Somalia, instead of striking the U.S. homeland, ABC News reports.

Mohit Raina in ‘The Bachelorette India’?

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Popular TV actor Mohit Raina, who plays the lead role in mythological drama series ‘Devon Ke Dev Mahadev’, has been reportedly approached as a wild card entry for Mallika Sherawat’s show ‘The Bachelorette India’.

‘Bachelorette India – Mere Khayalon Ki Mallika’ is an upcoming new reality TV show featuring the Bollywood actress who will find ‘The perfect bachelor’ for herself. It will go on air on Life OK channel from October 7.

A total of 1,27,000 men had sent in their entries of which 30 contestants have been shortlisted. It remains to be seen who among them wins Mallika’s heart.

Pak says `no MFN status` for India till LoC tensions exist

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Pakistan has said it will not grant Most Favored Nation (MFN) status to India until Line of Control (LoC) tensions are resolved through a composite dialogue process based on mutual interests.

Minister of State for Education Balighur Rehman revealed the government’s decision in a statement in the National Assembly, the Express Tribune reports.

The statement comes after Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) MNA Arif Alvi advised the government to work on new strategy for promoting business relations with India.

Nokia defends 27 million dollar payoff to ex-chief

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Nokia’s chairman Risto Siilasmaa has reportedly defended the company’s decision to pay 27.3 million dollars to former chief executive Stephen Elop as part of Microsoft’s takeover of its mobile business.

Siilasmaa said that he was proud of having changed Elop’s contract the day before the Microsoft deal was announced, so that the US company bore 70 percent of the cost.

He further said that without the change in contract, the sinking Nokia would have had to pay the entire cost to its outgoing CEO.

Man awarded death sentence for raping, killing minor

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A 50-year-old man was awarded death sentence by a sessions court here today in connection with a 2011 case of rape and murder of a minor girl.

The court convicted Saheb Kamble and awarded capital punishment for raping and killing the seven-year-old girl in Goregaon.

Kamble and the victim were neighbours residing in Goregaon. On October 28, 2011, he asked the girl to go to a local shop and get betel-nut. When the girl bought it, Kamble took her inside his house and raped her. After raping her, he strangled the girl and kept her body hidden beneath the cot at his house, police said.

eBay acquires Braintree to strengthen PayPal’s mobile presence

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Online shopping site eBay has reportedly purchased online payment firm Braintree for 800 million dollars in a bid to boost its PayPal unit’s presence on mobile devices.

Despite PayPal being dominant in the online payment platform, it faces competition from firms such as Chicago-based Braintree, whose Venmo app lets consumers make payments on smartphones and tablets.

According to the BBC, about 40 percent of eBay”s revenues come from PayPal, which has 120 million users.

Saudi Arabia women drivers’ online petition garners 11,000 signatures in four days

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Saudi Arabian women drivers’ online campaign has garnered close to 11,000 signatures in just four days to defy the longstanding ban on women driving in the kingdom.

The online petition entitled “October 26, driving for women” has urged Saudi females to stage a demonstration by driving cars on October 26, CNN reports.

The Oct26driving.com website read: “There is no justification for the Saudi government to prohibit adult women citizens who are capable of driving cars from doing so.” (ANI)

British lady found ‘not guilty’ of racist comment against Asian man

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A UK court has cleared off racial harassment charges levied against a woman, who was filmed telling an unidentified Asian man to ”f*** off back to your own country”.

Claire Moloney was brought to trial at the Snaresbrook crown court in East London after three years, since her rant recorded on the District Line train went viral on YouTube, Mirror reports.

The 40-year-old mother clarified to the jury that she was not a racist, and she lost control when the victim called her a slag for drinking with her colleagues.

Third year of marriage is `happiest` while fifth is `hardest`

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A new study has revealed that the fifth year of marriage is really the toughest, while the third year is the happiest.

The research by a British law firm found that most of the respondents described their first year as a `whirlwind of wedded bliss`, while the third year of marriage was said to be the happiest of all as couples, News.com.au reported.

The study of 2000 married people found that couples reported the fifth year as the most difficult to get through, due to factors such as tiredness and exhaustion because of soaring workloads.

Asad Rauf unlikely to appear in court over having no confidence in Mumbai police

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Pakistani umpire Asad Rauf has said that he would not be appearing in an Indian court after Mumbai police charged him for being involved in a spot-fixing scandal during this year”s IPL because he has no confidence in the state”s police.

According to the Dawn, Rauf”s legal advisor, Syed Ali Zafar said that the umpire had faith in Indian courts but no confidence in Mumbai police.

11,500-pound fine for book returned to library after 79 years waived

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Library staff have waived an 11,500-pound fine for a book that was not returned for an astonishing 79 years.

The novel ‘Master of Men’ was taken out from Leicester County Library in 1934 and never returned, the Mirror reported.

Keith Dolphin, 64, found the book during a house clearance and was amazed to see the library ticket still inside.

The date it had to be returned by – May 28, 1934 – was printed on the ticket but no return stamp next to it.