Month: February 2014

Women protest against ‘miniskirt’ ban in Uganda

by

Ugandan women reportedly gathered outside capital Kampala ‘s national theatre to protest against the state’s recent ban on wearing miniskirts.

The protest came as women were reportedly forced to remove their skirts in public after President Yoweri Museveni signed an anti-pornography bill in December, banning ‘indecent’ clothing.

According to the Independent, around 200 women had gathered outside the national theatre as police prevented them from marching through the streets of the capital.

Volvo Buses deny Andhra accident caused by faulty design

by

Volvo Buses has disputed the finding of Andhra Pradesh CID that the accident at Mahbubnagar which claimed 45 lives was the result of a faulty bus design.

A day after Crime Investigation Department (CID) claimed that the mishap was caused by poor design and lack of safety measures, the company Thursday came out with its clarification.

Cumberbatch and Oldman offered same role in Star Wars Episode 7

by

Benedict Cumberbatch and Gary Oldman have reportedly been approached for the same role in Star Wars Episode 7.

According to MarketSaw, JJ Abrams has approached both the British stars for the same undisclosed part but ‘The Dark Knight’ star has revealed that the deal isn’t done yet, Metro.co.uk reported.

Star Wars Episode 7 is set to release in 2015. (ANI)

Hyderabad revenues will go to Telangana

by

Union Minister for Rural Development Jairam Ramesh Thursday said the revenues from Hyderabad would go to Telangana state after bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh formally takes effect.

He told reporters here that while Hyderabad would serve as common capital of Telangana and Seemandhra for 10 years, the revenues from the city would go to Telangana.

Philip Hoffman’s pal settles libel suit against US tabloid

by

Philip Seymour Hoffman’s close friend has settled a libel lawsuit against The National Enquirer by creating a playwriting foundation to be initially funded by the tabloid.

According to the New York Post, the tabloid has sent out a one-page ad in The New York Times “responsibly acknowledged its error”, which was a part of the agreement, for a story that claimed to be an exclusive interview with David Bar Katz, Fox News reported.

The Enquirer has also apologized to the playwright, who discovered Hoffman’s body after he died of an apparent heroin overdose. (ANI)

Vajpayee’s niece Karuna Shukla formally quits BJP, joins Congress

by

Karuna Shukla, a niece of former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, formally announced on Thursday that she has quit the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and joined the Congress Party.

Shukla announced her formal resignation from the BJP in the presence of Congress general secretary Janardan Dwivedi and former Chattisgarh chief Minister and senior party leader Ajit Jogi.

She claimed today that she was quitting the BJP because of being “continuously neglected” by senior party leaders.

Competent people crucial in Lokpal panel: Arun Jaitley

by

Commenting on eminent jurist Fali Nariman’s refusal to join the Lokpal search committee panel, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Arun Jaitley on Thursday said that it was crucial to bring in the most competent people for the Lokpal panel, and added that the government was not making any efforts in this direction.

“We are creating an institution of Lokpal for the first time, and we are doing this after 40 years of long struggle. So, we must bring in the most competent people for the Lokpal panel,” said Jailtey.

Jail video shows Bieber ‘unsteady’ during sobriety test

by

The video of Justin Bieber in jail shows him walking unsteadily during his sobriety test.

The 10 hours of video of the 19-year-old Canadian pop musician, which was released by Miami-Dade County prosecutors, shows him waving as he walks heel to toe, then stumbles slightly as he turns and appears to have his arms out for balance, Fox News reported.

The footage, in which Bieber is seen wearing a hoodie and baggy shorts, was sought by a group of media organizations under Florida’s public records law.

Posh makes two day trip to South Africa to raise HIV awareness

by

Victoria Beckham jetted to South Africa on Sunday to lend her support to a new health initiative to prevent the spread of HIV, it has been revealed.

The designer teamed up with officials from Born Free, a charity which aims to end the transmission of HIV from mothers to their kids, and spent time with medics at the Desmond Tutu HIV Foundation in Cape Town to educate herself and witness their efforts in providing treatment for sufferers of the disease first-hand, Contactmusic reported.

Tata Motors to set up Jaguar Land Rover plant in Saudi Arabia

by

India’s largest automobile company Tata Motors is exploring the possibility of setting up a manufacturing plant for Jaguar and Land Rover in Saudi Arabia, the Gulf kingdom’s industry minister said Thursday.

Addressing an India-Saudi Arabia Business Forum meeting here, Saudi Arabia Commerce and Industry Minister Tawfig Fawzan Alrabiah said the proposed plant would be the third largest for manufacturing of high-end Jaguar and Land Rover cars.

Country’s first post office savings bank ATM in Chennai

by

The country’s first Post Office Savings Bank ATM was inaugurated here today by Finance Minister P Chidambaram as a part of the government’s Rs 4,909 crore IT modernisation scheme for the Department of Posts.

After launching the ATM service at Thiyagaraya Nagar Head Post Office (HPO), Chidambaram said that Rs 4,909 crore had been allocated for the IT modernisation of Department of Posts in the interim budget for 2014-15.

David Warner fined for inappropriate comments

by

Australia opener David Warner has been fined 15 per cent of his match fee after pleading guilty to a charge of making inappropriate comments about South Africa player A B de Villiers ahead of the third and final Test which starts in Cape Town on Saturday.

Majority of Americans disappointed in Obama’s presidency

by

A majority of Americans are disappointed in Barack Obama’s presidency, a new poll has found.

The CBS/ New York Times Poll found that 59 percent of Americans said they are disappointed in Obama’s presidency, including 37 percent who are very disappointed.

Only 40 percent of Americans said they were satisfied with the way Obama was leading the country.

Much of this discontent comes from Republicans and independents, but a quarter of Democrats express at least some disappointment.

Target data breach costs more than $200mln

by

The cost of the Target data breach has crossed nearly 200 million dollars.

The revelation was made by as per data collected by the Consumer Bankers Association (CBA) and the Credit Union National Association (CUNA).

According to Enterprise Innovation, CBA estimated the cost of card replacements for its members to have reached 172 million dollars, up from an initial 153 million dollars.

Also, CUNA has stated the cost to credit unions has increased to $30.6 million from an original estimate of $25 million.

Twitter account @N restored to victim after high-profile hijack

by

The unusual single-letter Twitter handle ` @N` has been reportedly given back to the original user after it was hijacked as part of an eye-opening social engineering scheme last month.

Naoki Hiroshima managed to own the handle once again after the high-profile theft and tweeted “Order has been restored,” from his account on the microblogging site.

Google to teach people to build own smartphone parts

by

Google has reportedly announced that it would host its first Ara Developers’ Conference this April, in which it would show developers what they could do with the company’s modular phone project.

The first conference, in a series of three, would focus on the alpha release of the Ara Module Developers’ Kit that would give developers all the information needed to make an ‘Ara module’.

Lokpal selection process has started, won’t stop due to one member’s refusal: Narayanswamy

by

Commenting on eminent jurist Fali Nariman’s refusal to join the Lokpal search committee panel, Minister of State in Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) V Narayanswamy on Thursday said the process of selecting the Lokpal has started and will not stopped due one member’s refusal to join the panel.

“It is up to the person to accept whether they want to be on the selection panel or not. It does not mean that the procedure has not been followed. We can’t make it an issue out of it. Some members have given their consent. The communication has been issued by our department.

Man killed at Husaini Alam

by

A dead body was found near Husaini Alam Kaman in mysterious circumstances which created panic in the surrounding area. Sources said that unknown persons killed Santosh Kumar. According to police a motor cycle rider with number AP12G 5408 was found drenched in blood near Husaini Alam Kaman.

Locals informed police on which DCP south zone Sarvesh Tripathi and inspector Husaini Alam Ranvir Reddy reached the spot. Police called close team of forensic experts and inspected the spot. The body has been shifted to Osmania hospital and investigations are underway.

Siasat news

IT employee tumbles from 5th floor, die

by

Early in the morning on Wednesday, an IT employee of was found dead under suspicious circumstances at his hostel building. He fell down from the fifth floor of his hostel building and died on spot.

However, at first there were doubts that he may have committed suicide, cops later said, he could have accidentally fallen down.

According to Ranga Subbaiah, Sub-Inspector of Panjagutta, the deceased, Mahesh, 24year-old, a native of Pidugurallu, Guntur district used to stay at the hostel in Jaya Enclave in Dwarakapuri Colony.

Wife, children’s indifference drives man to suicide

by

Dejected over wife and children’s indifference a man committed suicide at Nacharam. 24-year-old Mitya who was driver by occupation resided in Nacharam. His wife and children left him a year ago. He tried hard to reconcile and bring wife and children back home but in vain. Failed in his effort he resorted to suicide. Investigations are underway.

Siasat news

We are reaching out to our Muslim brothers: Commissioner Satyapal Singh

by

In the run up to the general election, the BJP is “reaching out to the minorities”, especially Muslims who are “brothers”, in the hope of convincing them to accept Narendra Modi as the country’s next prime minister, former Mumbai Police Commissioner Satyapal Singh, who recently joined the party, has said.

In an interview, Singh said party workers and leaders, in their respective states, were focusing on neighbourhoods dominated by minorities and helping them form an informed opinion.

Girl knifed by stalker

by

A 14- year-old student of Class IX was attacked by the stalker, Jammishetti Ravo with a knife for rejecting his proposal in Kankur village at Jaipur mandal died in the wee hours on Wednesday. The girl identified as Kondapalli Anusha, was studying in government school in Mudigunta village.

According to sources, the accused Jammishetti Ravi of the same village had been harassing Anusha for the past six months to gave a positive response his love.

Muslim youth languishing in jails due to draconian laws

by

After the repeal of draconian laws namely POTA and TADA, the amended version of UAPA has become a new tool to falsely implicate innocents in cases. Nearly 80 thousand citizens are imprisoned under draconian laws across the country while punishments in such cases are just 0.8 pc. Mr. Kamal Farooqui former chairman Delhi Human Rights Commission and Convenor People’s Moment against UAPA, Messrs Dr. Marx Chennai, Prof. Koya and Maulana Hafeez Subhan told this while addressing a press conference.

Govt’s procedure to appoint Lokpal ‘highly improper’: Jaitley

by

Raising strong objections to the “highly improper” procedure adopted by Government in making key appointments to Lokpal, BJP leader Arun Jaitley has charged the Department of Personnel with diluting the role of the Selection and Search Committees.

Mr. Jaitley, who raised the issue with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh by writing to him twice earlier, has alleged that the procedure adopted by Department of Personnel and Training (DOPT) is violative of the Lokpal Act in order to rush through the appointments and “pack it”.

Can heartthrob Rahul turn these kisses into votes?

by

Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi, who is touring different parts of the country in order to revive his party’s fortunes, was welcomed with kisses on his cheek and on his head during his visit to Jorhat in Assam on Wednesday.

Rahul Gandhi was interacting with a huge gathering of women, when two women came closer to him, kissed on his cheek and forehead, slightly embarrassing the young Congress leader.

Despite the unprecedented but pleasant gesture, the Gandhi scion, however, sportingly met all the women supporters who came forward to shake hands with him.