Senior BJP leader Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, who raised the banner of protest against entry of expelled JD(U) MP Sabir Ali, today expressed satisfaction over the annulment of the induction of the “controversial” figure and said the matter is closed for him now.
Naqvi, who had tweeted “Terrorist Bhatkal friend joins BJP…Soon accepting Dawood…” yesterday soon after Ali’s induction, has now removed the tweet.
Myanmar President U Thein Sein Saturday urged political parties to cooperate in moving forward the country’s peace process to achieve the common goal of stability, peace and unity.
In a meeting with representatives of 63 registered political parties in the Parliament building here, Thein Sein said a nationwide ceasefire agreement is the priority for boosting the peace process which is based on political dialogue between the government and ethnic armed groups, according to Xinhua.
Disc jockey and record producer Avicii cancelled his headlining performance Saturday at the EDM-extravaganza ULTRA Music Festival in Miami to undergo gall bladder surgery.
He was hospitalised in Miami Friday night after falling ill. This led to last-minute cancellation of the show he had scheduled at AVICII Hotel at the SLS South Beach.
His immediate commitments, including his performance Saturday at ULTRA Music Festival, have been cancelled, reports eonline.com.
But Avicii was feeling well enough to tweet a detailed update on his condition.
Ten new cases of Ebola with seven deaths were reported Friday in Guinea, bringing the total number of cases to 112 and 70 deaths since the declaration of this deadly epidemic, a source from the health ministry said.
To develop a harmonised fight against the disease, the health ministry organised a forum bringing together all senior officials of health institutions, to provide them with necessary tools to report any relevant information in real time for a quick response, Xinhua reported Saturday.
Likening the BJP’s election campaign to a series of films which keep failing, Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi Saturday said voters will reject the party in the upcoming general elections like in the past.
Addressing an election rally here, he noted that in 2004, the BJP sought to show the entire country that India was shining but this failed to convince the voters.
“People looked around and consulted their families, asked which India was shining and decided that their India was not shining. On the day of the elections, they pressed the button and burst the bubble,” he said.
Former England cricketer Andrew Flintoff has reportedly revealed that his cycling trip across the Amazon, in his latest TV venture, was amazing.
Flintoff reportedly went cycling for his latest TV show, ‘Flintoff’s Road to Nowhere’, to learn more about deforestation.
According to the Daily Express, Flintoff, who is also a team captain on Sky 1 panel show ‘A League of Their Own’, said that he did a show on the Amazon rainforest because he had heard a lot about the Amazon and the show provided him the chance to learn more.
US President Barack Obama has sought to allay Riyadh’s criticism of his policies on Syria and Iran, telling the Saudi king their two countries remain in lockstep on their strategic interests.
He also assured King Abdullah that the US “won’t accept a bad deal” with Iran, as global powers negotiate a treaty reining in Tehran’s controversial nuclear programme.
“The president underscored how much he values this strategic relationship”, a senior US administration official said, after Obama met for some two hours with the king on a royal estate outside Riyadh.
Superstar Shah Rukh Khan was in a nostalgic mood Saturday as he missed his parents, who he feels “went too early”
“Talking to boys on the sets…we talked of our parents. Miss my parents now on the drive back from the shoot. They went too early,” the 48-year-old posted on his Twitter page early Saturday morning.
The actor’s father Taj Mohammed Khan, who came from Peshawar, had died of cancer when SRK was all of 15, while his mother passed away in 1990 after prolonged illness.
After infecting the bloodstreams of people in coastal areas, drugs now appear to have infiltrated the DNA of Goa’s politics.
The politics of narcotics has cast its shadow over the fight for the North Goa Lok Sabha seat, home to many drug joints and narcotics economy-powered coastal villages which fuel the beach tourism industry here.
One of the two key contestants here is Congress’s Ravi Naik, a former home minister who, along with his son Roy, has been indicted in a legislative committee report for helping the drug trade in north Goa.
The BSF has handed over two Pakistani nationals who had inadvertently crossed into Indian territory to the Pakistani authorities, an official said Saturday.
Mushtaq and Shahid, were nabbed by the Border Security Force (BSF) troopers in the Abohar and Ferozepur areas along the India-Pakistan border in Punjab Friday.
“During questioning, both these Pakistani nationals were found to have crossed the border inadvertently. Nothing objectionable was recovered from their possession,” the BSF Punjab Frontier spokesman said.
The Bharatiya Janata Party Saturday cancelled the membership of Sabir Ali, a day after he was accepted in the party fold, amid protests from within.
“The membership of Sabir Ali stands annulled from the BJP,” party leader Ravi Shankar Prasad said, adding party president Rajnath Singh took the decision after holding discussions with party leaders and workers.
Ali joined the BJP after being expelled from the Janata Dal-United.
BJP leader Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi Friday openly expressed dissent over BJP’s decision to accept him in the party.
BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi Saturday tore into the foreign policy of the UPA government and accused it of neglecting national interests. He also tweaked the “Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan” slogan.
Alluding to the alleged incursions by the Pakistan army and beheading of Indian soldiers in 2013, the Gujarat chief minister said while all this was happening, the Congress government was serving chicken “biryani” to the visiting Pakistan premier.
Six persons from Uttar Pradesh have gone missing after a boat capsized in Karmanasa River near Khajuri Ghat under Nuwaon block, official sources said on Saturday.
The boat carrying over 60 pilgrims was coming from Akhani village, where a religious Urs fair is going on, when it sank late night on Friday. Most of the people managed to swim to the river bank, but six remain traceless, the sources said.
All the pilgrims on the boat were from UP and had crossed the river to attend the fair.
Efforts are on the find out the mission persons, the sources said.
–PTI
A stunning fightback from Team Asia saw the inaugural EurAsia Cup presented by DRB-HICOM end in a 10-10 draw after a thrilling final day at the Glenmarie Golf and Country Club Saturday.
Trailing 3-7 overnight going into the singles session – and having been 0-5 behind after the first day’s fourball session – not many gave Thongchai Jaidee’s team much hope of turning matters around.
But they did just that, winning the session 7-3 to see the gleaming silver trophy shared at the end of the day with Miguel Angel Jimenez’s European troops.
As AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal is going to spend more time in this temple town from where he is contesting against formidable rival BJP’s Narendra Modi, a hunt has begun for a big house by the party volunteers.
“We are looking for a house for Arvindji as he will shift to Varanasi next month,” said party spokesperson Ramanand Rai.
Kejriwal has not been able to zero down on any particular house and has asked the local party leaders to look for one.
Actress Eva Longoria says she would like to have a child, but not all by herself.
The actress, who appeared on the cover of Parade magazine’s new issue, opened up about her future family plans, reports eonline.com.
“I’ve always wanted a family. I believe in family. But children are a product of love. So, I don’t think I’ll go off and have a baby by myself. I do not have that need to procreate,” she said.
The 39-year-old first got married in 2002 to actor Tyler Christopher. After two years, they split. She later got hitched to basketball player Tony Parker, but got divorced in 2011.
Congress President Sonia Gandhi will address an election rally here Sunday, kickstaring her party’s campaign in Delhi for the Lok Sabha polls.
Although Congress’ candidates are busy campaigning in their respective constituencies, party leaders say Gandhi’s rally will bolster the party’s flagging morale before Delhi goes to the polls April 10.
“Sonia Gandhi’s rally will resuscitate the Congress. There will be a huge crowd in the rally,” Delhi Congress chief spokesperson Mukesh Sharma said.
Superstar Salman Khan feels India should aim to produce medal-winning athletes by encouraging sports and help the talented ones to unlock their potential through coaching.
Salman was speaking here last night at the music launch of ‘Khwaabb’, a sports drama film showcasing the struggle of our athletes. The album is available on Junglee Music.
A case has been registered against two brothers in Pakistan’s Punjab province for screening a pro-Taliban documentary and preaching in the banned group’s favour.
Police said the two brothers – Shafiqur Rehman and Aneesur Rehman – of Mitranwali village in Sialkot district, some 90 kilometres from Lahore, had arranged the screening of the pro-Taliban documentary in their house.
The accused also preached “Talibanisation” in the area.
Some people reported the matter to the police.
Over his film career, Sunny Deol has been recognised as the ‘action hero’ with the ‘dhai kilo ka haath’, but the actor says these are merely tags, which he can do nothing about.
“My persona has become such because of the films, but I am not like that in real life,” the soft-spoken Sunny said here.
“I don’t like tags like action hero and ‘dhai kilo ka haath’, but we (actors) can’t do anything. The characters that I had portrayed were strong, so maybe because of that (I have been given these tags),” added the 50-plus actor, who featured in films like “Ghayal” and “Gadar – Ek Pram Katha”.
The BJP was today forced to eat the humble pie for a second time in a week when controversial former JD(U) MP Sabir Ali asked the party to put his induction on hold following strong objections from within and the RSS.
“I have written a letter to Dharmendra Pradhan to keep my membership on hold,” Ali, who was attacked by senior leader Mukhtar Naqvi as terrorist Yasin Bhatkal’s friend that set off a storm over admitting him into the party yesterday, said.
The next Indian Navy chief will be named soon, Defence Minister A.K. Antony said Saturday.
“If someone decides to resign, it’s that’s the individual’s choice. Normally it (selection of service chiefs) happens as a natural process and currently the selection process is in the final stages. The next naval chief would be announced soon,” Antony told reporters here.
The force has been headless since the resignation of Admiral D.K. Joshi following a series of accidents that clamimed a number of lives
Telugu film actor-turned-politician P. Babu Mohan, who recently quit the Telugu Desam Party (TDP), plans to contest for the Lok Sabha as Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) candidate.
The comedian Saturday met TRS chief K. Chandrasekhara Rao. He later told reporters that he would be joining the TRS in the first week of the next month. He said he wanted to contest the Lok Sabha election but did not say from which constituency.
Senior batsman Virender Sehwag today conceded that he had not scored enough runs in the last season to be in the India team but said he would hope to be back in the reckoning with a good performance in the IPL beginning next month.
Sehwag, who was bought by Kings XI Punjab in players’ auction early this year for Rs 3.2 crore, said he was looking forward to the IPL to come back to form and make his presence felt.
Haryana’s Hisar Lok Sabha seat has a peculiar issue. Every time a big name from former chief minister Bhajan Lal’s family contests an election here, they have to fight not only the main opponents. They have to slug it out with namesakes in the fray.
Sitting MP from Hisar and Haryana Janhit Congress (HJC) president Kuldeep Bishnoi is facing seven ‘Kuldeep’ namesakes in the April 10 Lok Sabha polls this time.