‘Fluorescent lamps will help Punjab save 500 MW power’

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Chandigarh, October 21: If the Punjab government has its way of providing 1.92 crore compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) in 48 lakh households by Dec 31 this year, the state will be able to save nearly 500 MW of power annually.
Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal Wednesday announced the ambitious plan to save power in the state.

“The PSEB (Punjab State Electricity board) has taken a series of low-cost maintenance measures to install 1.92 crore CFLs in 48 lakh households in the state under the ‘Bachat Lamp Yojna’,” Badal told reporters here.

Seven swine flu deaths take India’s toll to 427

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New Delhi, October 21: Seven swine flu deaths were reported in India Wednesday, taking the toll due to Influenza A (H1N1) virus to 427, a health ministry statement said here.

Three deaths – one each in Delhi, Goa and Kerala – were reported Wednesday while four deaths reported from Maharashtra had occurred earlier but the laboratory confirmations of the viral infections came Wednesday, officials said.

Also, 61 new cases were reported in the country, taking the total number of people affected with the flu to 13,030.

Soumya murder: Court asks Police to handcuff Ravi Kapoor

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New Delhi, October 21: A city court Wednesday asked the Delhi Police to handcuff Ravi Kapoor, main accused in the murders of TV scribe Soumya Vishwanathan and IT executive Jigisha Ghosh, after he tried to escape from judicial custody.

Kapoor, who was arrested March 24 this year in connection with the sensational murders, had tried to escape Oct 19 by throwing chili powder on the policemen during his visit to Safdarjung Hospital for a check-up.

Government should frame guidelines for deciding parole plea

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New Delhi, October 21: Expressing its deep concern for the inmates who are languishing in Tihar jail here, the Delhi High Court Wednesday asked the government to formulate new guidelines so that parole pleas of convicts can be heard early.

“Most of the parole pleas become invalid as the convict has already spent more time (in jail) than his offence demanded, which is not fair,” observed a division bench comprising Chief Justice Ajit Prakash Shah and Justice S. Muralidhar.

Lawyer fined Rs.25,000 for filing false affidavits

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New Delhi, October 21: Delhi High Court Wednesday fined a lawyer Rs.25,000 for misleading the court by filing false affidavits and also directed the Bar Council to initiate proceedings to cancel his licence.
Justice Shiv Narayan Dhingra ordered the fine on advocate Raj Kumar Panigrahi and directed the registrar general of the high court to file a complaint against him and his client for trying to defraud the Court.

15-year-old killed by minister’s car in Uttar Pradesh

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Lucknow, October 21: A 15-year-old boy was killed and two others were injured when the speeding car of a Uttar Pradesh minister ran over them Wednesday on the Rae Bareli-Allahabad highway, officials said here.
Minister of State for Stamps Nand Kishore Nandi, who was in the car at the time of the accident, hastily shifted into his escort vehicle and sped away from the scene.

After running over Saurabh, who was on a bicycle, the car knocked down two other boys walking down the road, before ramming into a shop, eyewitnesses said.

No bailout for Air India unless it cuts costs: Patel

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New Delhi, October 21: The Group of Ministers (GoM) on Civil Aviation, which met here Wednesday, did not take any decision on equity infusion into the cash-strapped national carrier Air India.

Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel told reporters after the GOM meeting that the employees and the management of Air India should first come up with a proper cost-cutting plan.

“No decision has been taken by the GoM. Unless employees of Air India come out with a workable plan for cost cutting and revenue enhancement, the government cannot offer any help,” Patel said.

After IIT, Sibal now wants changes in AIEEE exams

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New Delhi, October 21: After he spoke of changes in the Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT) entrance exam, Union Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal Wednesday set up a committee to scrutinize the All India Engineering Entrance Exam (AIEEE).
The decision was taken during a meeting of the National Institutes of Technology (NIT) Council chaired by Sibal here.

Katrina Kaif to tickle your senses with laughter in Hera Pheri-4

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Mumbai, October 21: Bollywood’s very own actress Katrina Kaif is going to feature in one of the legendary comic movie’s sequel i.e. Hera Pheri.

The fourth part to the Hera Pheri series is finally set to be made. Now you must be wondering that, when was the third part made!! So, we would like to tell you that Hera-Pheri has been done here as well actually Hera Pheri 3 has been skipped.

The fourth part will have Akshay Kumar, Sunil Shetty and Paresh Rawal coming together yet again and along with them will be sizzling Katrina Kaif doing the laughter tricks.

Social factors inhibit immunisation in India: Report

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Washington, October 21: Even as a record 106 million infants were vaccinated last year against life-threatening diseases, nearly 24 million babies went without full protection with social factors inhibiting immunization in India, according to a new global health assessment.

To get the full round of first-year vaccinations to children in the poorest countries will take another $1 billion a year, said a report released Wednesday by the World Health Organisation (WHO), Unicef and the World Bank.

Six killed in Sharjah air crash

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Dubai, October 21: Six people were killed on Wednesday when a Sudanese cargo plane crashed while taking off from Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the head of the emirate’s aviation authority said.

Sheikh Khalid al-Qasimi, director of the Department of Civil Aviation in Sharjah, told DPA that the Boeing 707, registered in Sudan, had crashed in the desert shortly after taking off from the Sharjah airport.

Al-Qasimi said the plane had arrived in Sharjah from Khartoum earlier Wednesday morning and was returning to Sudan when it crashed.

Four killed, three injured in attacks in Iraq

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Baghdad, October 21: At least four people were killed and three injured in fresh violence in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul on Wednesday, police said.

Armed men burst into a family home and fatally shot a man and his wife in southern Mosul. Soon after, in the east of the city, gunmen fatally shot a man and his daughter in the district of al-Jazair, police said.

The same morning, three policemen were injured when a bomb detonated as their patrol passed through the neighbourhood of al-Kokjali.

Court rejects Kobad Ghandy’s bail plea

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New Delhi, October 21: Rejecting the bail plea of Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist) leader Kobad Ghandy, a city court Wednesday directed the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) to ascertain whether he was fit enough to undergo a narco-test as required by the police.

Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Kaveri Baweja directed the medical superintendent of AIIMS to constitute a medical board to ascertain the health condition of Ghandy and asked him to file a report by Oct 29.

Salman Khan sets to work with Sohail Khan in the remake of “Satte Pe Satta”

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Mumbai, October 21: The macho man of Bollywood Salman Khan has recently delivered a blockbuster hit ‘Wanted’ on the silver screens under the direction of well known Indian dancer Prabhu Deva who is well known by “Michael Jackson of India” has got a big hit through this flick in the tinsel world.

This time the actor is going to work with his own younger brother and actor Sohail Khan in his upcoming segment which is the remake of Amitabh Bachchan’s old super hit flick “Satte Pe Satta”. In this flick Big B and gorgeous actress Hema Malini worked in the lead role.

….when Katrina Kaif was asked to bell the cat

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Mumbai, October 21: Katrina Kaif got into some real funny trouble!! Courtesy: Ajay Devgan, Manoj Bajpayee and Arjun Rampal.

Few days back, on the sets of Rajneeti Ajay took Arjun Rampal and Manoj Bajpayee into confidence and pulled a joke on the movie’s lead actress i.e. Katrina Kaif.

The trio told the actress that it was Nana Patekar’s birthday so they asked Katrina that since Nana was in a disposition; Katrina should wish him with a present.

Unbeaten Trinidad and Tobago can’t take Cobras lightly

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Hyderabad, October 21: Trinidad and Tobago, the only unbeaten team in the Champions League Twenty20, cannot afford to be complacent when they meet highly rated Cape Cobras in the semifinals at the Rajiv Gandhi stadium here on Thursday.

The young spirited team from the West Indies, led by Darren Ganga, has turned out to be the surprise package of the tournament and are now the favourites to win the title.

20 kg hashish seized at Delhi airport

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New Delhi, October 21: At least 20 kg of hashish worth Rs.20 lakh (Rs.2 million) concealed in a consignment of religious books bound for Canada was seized at the Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport on Wednesday, a customs official said.

“The consignment was found during a search at IGI’s new courier terminal when the customs officials checked the courier packet containing 78 religious books,” said a customs source.

Mamata to reach Mathura accident site Wednesday night

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New Delhi, October 21: Railways Minister Mamata Banerjee will reach Mathura on Wednesday night to take stock of the situation after a speeding New Delhi-bound passenger train rammed into a stationary train there, killing 23 people and injuring 20 earlier in the day, railway officials said here.

“The minister is reaching Mathura from Kolkata tonight (Wednesday night) to take stock of the wellbeing of injured passengers,” the railway spokesperson said.

Manmohan, Wen to hold ‘very important’ meeting in Thailand

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New Delhi, October 21: Amid verbal sparring between their countries over issues like border dispute, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Chinese counterpart Wen Jiabao will meet on the sidelines of the ASEAN summit in Thailand later this week.

“The meeting with the Chinese leader we are planning. All subjects of mutual interest will be discussed,” N. Ravi, secretary (East) in India’s external affairs ministry, told reporters in New Delhi Wednesday ahead of Manmohan Singh’s visit to Thailand to take part in the India-ASEAN and East Asia summits.

Polanski may return to US to face charges, says lawyer

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Paris, October 21: Film director Roman Polanski, jailed in Switzerland, may consent to go to the United States to face a 32-year-old sex charge if the extradition procedure drags on, one of his attorneys said on Wednesday.

“If this becomes a drawn-out procedure, it is not completely impossible that Roman Polanski could choose to go and explain himself in the United States, where there are arguments in his favour,” Georges Kiejman told Europe 1 radio.

Be ready to tackle surprise attacks: Maharashtra DGP

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Mumbai, October 21: Maharashtra Police force should be fully prepared to tackle any kind of “surprise” attacks by terrorists or naxalites, Director General of Police (DGP) S S Virk said here on Wednesday.

“Forces should be ready to tackle surprise attacks. We should not be careless,” said Virk, when asked about lessons the police learnt after the Mumbai terror attacks last November.

In the year 2008-09, about 833 police personnels across the country have sacrificed their lives safeguarding the internal security duty of the nation. Among them 72 are from Maharashtra, he said.

Ties with India are on ‘very good term’: China

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New Delhi, October 21: Notwithstanding recent recriminations, China today said its relations with India were on a “very good term” and that the leaders of the two countries are committed to advance the ties in a “cooperative and mutually beneficial” manner.

“Nothing should be worried or concerned (about),” Chinese Ambassador to India Zhang Yan told reporters here when asked to comment about the recent war of words between India and China on Arunachal Pradesh and some other issues.

Dengue cases rise to 146 in Delhi

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New Delhi, October 21: With 11 more patients testing positive for dengue, the cases of the vector-brone disease in the capital today climbed to 146.

Dengue cases in the city have witnessed a sudden spurt over the last few days, but the figure is still far less than last year, when over 1000 cases and two deaths were reported.

“Eleven more positive cases have been reported since yesterday, taking the total number to 146. There is no report of dengue death this year,” Municipal Health Officer, MCD, N K Yadav told PTI.

I am a pessimist by nature, says Amitabh Bachchan

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New Delhi, October 21: He may have successfully completed four decades in the film industry, but Bollywood’s ‘Shehenshah’ Amitabh Bachchan says that he still faces pre-release jitters because he is a “huge pessimist” by nature.

The 67-year-old actor better known as the Big B, will be seen playing a flamboyant genie ‘Genius’, in his upcoming film ‘Aladin’ and said that the negativity sets in before each release.

Time to rebuild tourism infrastructure: Omar Abdullah

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Srinagar, October 21: Describing tourism as the backbone of the economy of Jammu and Kashmir, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah today said time has come to rebuild tourism infrastructure in the state and recover from losses suffered due to militancy.