Two members of inter-state gang arrested

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Ballia, October 21: Two members of an inter-state gang duping people in name of providing them jobs in army were arrested here today.

Superintendent of Police, Chandra Prakash said that one Satish Thakur alias Satish Kori of Jabalpur (Madhya Pradesh) and Jitendra Kumar Singh of Mirzapur were arrested in a joint operation of special operation group and police.

Those arrested have confessed having duped five people luring them to provide jobs in army in Ballia and taking over rupees seven lakh from them, the SP said.

Winter session of Parliament from Nov 19

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New Delhi, October 21: The winter session of Parliament will commence from November 19 and end on December 22.

A decision to this effect was taken at a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Parliamentary Affairs (CCPA) chaired by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee.

The session in all will have 24 sittings, Parliamentary Affairs Minister P K Bansal told reporters after the meeting.

At the end of the budget session this year, both the government and the opposition had favoured at least 100 sittings of Parliament in a year and the winter session to be a six-week affair.

Neha Dhupia Indian face of Jessica Simpson’s TV show

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New Delhi, October 21: Hollywood actress singer Jessica Simpson has chosen Bollywood star Neha Dhupia as the Indian Beauty ambassador for her TV show “Price Of Beauty”.

She zeroed in on Neha after spotting her on American mini series “Bollywood Hero”, said a press release. Neha will now feature on a special segment on Bollywood on the show.

The shooting for the segment is scheduled to start next week in Mumbai.

196 Indian languages endangered, experts to mull revival

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New Delhi, October 21: Some 196 Indian languages are endangered, according to a recent Unesco study, and a worried lot of linguists, scholars and policy-makers are meeting in a two-day international seminar here no Thursday to discuss how to save these language.

“According to the ‘Unesco Atlas of the World’s languages in Danger, 2009’, India has around 196 endangered languages, among the highest in the world,” said Kamalini Sengupta from Intach Intangible Heritage Division, which is organising the seminar.

Two-year-old abducted girl rescued

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Haryana, October 21: A two-year-old child, who was kidnapped from outside her house in this Haryana town on Tuesday evening, was brought back on Wednesday but police and family remained tight-lipped on how the child was rescued.

Amitabh Dhillon, district police chief, said: “We cannot divulge anything as of now because it may hamper our investigation.”

According to police, four men, in their early 20s, allegedly kidnapped Jia from the garden outside her house here in Sector-7.

Boy murdered schoolmate over sharing girlfriend’s phone No

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Lucknow, October 21: In a testimony to the diminishing value of human life for the highly ambitious young minds, a boy murdered his schoolmate for refusing to share the telephone number of his girlfriend in Azamgarh district of Uttar Pradesh. The fine planning and execution of the murder left the cops on a wild-goose chase for nearly 48 hours before they could nail the accused.

Southern actress Sonia’s fee hike shocks producer

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Chennai, October 21: Southern actress Sonia Aggarwal shocked a producer by asking for Rs.600,0000 to work in the remake of Tamil hit film “Manmathaleelai”.

Director K. Balachander’s “Manmathaleelai” starring Kamal Haasan, Srividhya and Vadivukkarasi was released in the early eighties and became an instant hit with the youth.

“Manmathaleelai” is a female-centric movie and Srividhya’s role was pivotal to the film’s success, so the producers of the remake zeroed on Sonia for more than one reason.

Tharoor starts official visit to Benin

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New Delhi, October 21: Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor is in West Africa for the second time in a month as he starts a three-day official visit to Benin on Wednesday.

The visit of Tharoor also comes after President of Benin Bon Yayi’s successful visit in March this year.

He will have a packed schedule in the capital, Cotonou, where he will be co-chairing the first India-Benin Joint Commission along with Benin Foreign Minister Jean Marie Ehouzou Wednesday.

Amir Khan set to host small screen project?

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Mumbai, October 21: Small screen seems to be favourite station for big stars. After Shahrukh Khan and Salman Khan, who is next to land on small screen?

Sources in Bollywood say that Mr Perfectionist Amir Khan is likely to start his small screen innings with a project focused on famous personalities. The programme is being produced by Yashraj Films.

Amir will be hosting the new programme that is sure to blaze silver screen. The noted personalities will be shown living like common man.

—Agencies

Anger, relief as train crash survivors reach Delhi

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New Delhi, October 21: Relief was writ large on the faces of survivors of two Delhi bound passenger trains that collided early on Wednesday in Mathura city in Uttar Pradesh, killing 23 people. But many complained of delayed reaction by the authorities.

Two bogies at the rear of the Mewar Express were damaged after the engine of the Goa Express telescoped into one, but these were detached by the authorities and the train reached Nizamuddin railway station in south Delhi – its destination – seven hours behind schedule.

Mumbai terror attacks: Pak judge hearing case wants to quit proceedings

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Islamabad, October 21: In a possible setback to the trial of seven suspects arrested by Pakistani police for their involvement in the Mumbai terror attacks, the judge hearing the case has said he can no longer continue with the proceedings.

Citing “unavoidable reasons”, Judge Baqir Ali Rana of the anti-terrorism court, who has been conducting the trial within the high-security Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi, has asked the Lahore High Court to be excused from hearing the case.

Lily Allen makes fun of Elton John in her new video

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London, October 21: Singer Lily Allen has poked fun at Sir Elton John by featuring a look-alike of him in her new music video.

The two co-hosted the GQ Men of the Year Awards in London last year but John appeared to grow impatient with Allen, who reportedly drank champagne throughout the ceremony and was intoxicated while on stage. John seemed to lose his temper with Allen and she responded by telling him to “f**k off”.

They both brushed off the fall out, but Allen has since credited the incident with her decision to quit booze because it left her “upset and angry”.

Sensex ends 200 points down

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Mumbai, October 21: A key Indian equity index shut shop almost 200 points in the red Wednesday as selling pressure intensified during the last minutes of trade.

The 30-scrip sensitive index, Sensex, of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened at 17,229.72 points, closed at 17,023.18 points (provisional) — down 199.83 points or 1.16 percent from Saturday’s close.

The S and amp;P CNX Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE), too, closed in the red at 5,058.75 points, down 1.09 percent.

PCB issues gag orders in new code of conduct for players

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Islamabad, October 21: Pakistani cricketers will have to sign a new code of conduct before leaving for UAE to play in a limited-overs series, the country’s cricket chief announced Wednesday.

The new order will bar players from speaking to the media without the board’s permission.

Ijaz Butt, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chief, said the decision to ask the players to sign a new code of conduct has been taken to minimise the chances of indiscipline.

Researchers engineer proteins to help restore vision

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Washington, October 21:Engineered light-sensitive molecules, introduced into a blind rodent’s eye caused it to see, according to results from an interdisciplinary collaboration among labs.

The results could lead to treatment for people with inherited blinding eye diseases such as retinitis pigmentosa which affects one in every 3,000 individuals.

In past studies, researchers made a blind animal’s visual cells respond to light by introducing a light-sensitive algae protein into the eye.

No need to hike fuel prices, suggests PM’s panel

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New Delhi, Ocober 21:The Prime Minister’s economy advisory panel Wednesday said there was no need to hike fuel prices if global prices remained between $70 and $75 (Rs.3,150-Rs.3,375) a barrel, equal to 159 litres.

“I don’t see the need to raise prices if international crude prices remained around $70 to $75 a barrel,” said Govinda Rao, a member of the panel, on the sidelines of the release of the Economic Outlook for 2009-10.

“We expect global crude oil prices around $70 to $75 per barrel. If prices go beyond it consistently, then the numbers will have to change,” Rao said.

Some irresponsible states help cross-border terror: Meira Kumar

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New Delhi, October 21:Stating that some irresponsible states were “covertly helping the perpetrators” of cross-border terrorism, Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar has called for an internationally acceptable mechanism to counter the threat.

Addressing the first standing committee of the Inter Parliamentary Union (IPU) assembly in Geneva Tuesday, she said measures like law enforcement cooperation, mutual legal assistance, extradition and technical assistance were needed to help tackle all forms of organised crimes “more effectively in a collective manner”.

Pink taxis for women now on Mexico’s streets

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Puebla (Mexico),October 21:Thirty five pink taxis – driven by female cabbies and picking up only women as customers – travel back and forth in this central Mexican city, leaving residents astonished and curious.

“The people stop us on the street to congratulate us and the women ask us how they can request one of our units,” Lidia Hernandez, one of the cabbies with Pink Taxis, a company that says it’s the first of its kind in Mexico, told the Spanish news agency EFE.

Arrested NASA scientist worked on Chandrayaan-1

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New Delhi, October 21: A senior NASA scientist who has been arrested in the US for alleged espionage was one of the main investigators of an American scientific instrument that flew aboard India’s lunar craft Chandrayaan-1.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation Monday filed a criminal complaint against Steward David Nozette, 52, for ‘attempted espionage’.

Sensex ruling in volatile zone, down 0.22 percent

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Mumbai,October 21:A key Indian equity index was ruling on a volatile note Wednesday and was down 0.22 percent from its last closing figure, less than 90 minutes before the end of trade.

Profit booking was putting pressure on the indices with investors looking to exit stocks at current high levels.

At 2.16 p.m., the sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened higher at 17,229.72 points, was ruling at 17,184.64 points — 38.37 points or 0.22 percent down from Tuesday’s close at 17,223.01 points.

Dhaka to survey Bay of Bengal to fix maritime boundary

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Dhaka, October 21:Bangladesh has decided to conduct a seismic survey in the Bay of Bengal to gather data for delineating its maritime boundaries with India and Myanmar.

Dhaka needs the data to submit its claim to the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea to settle disputes with its neighbours, the New Age newspaper reported Wednesday.

A Dutch firm will conduct the survey at a cost of Tk 800 million ($11.77 million) and its report would be the basis of the detailed report to be placed to the UN by July 1011.

Hard to beat Sachin’s records: Ponting

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Mumbai, October 21: He is chasing the batting benchmarks set by Sachin Tendulkar but Australian skipper Ricky Ponting is not sure whether he would achieve them and wants to focus on playing match-winning knocks for his team.

“It would be nice if he retires some time,” Ponting quipped.

“I was asked about this (chasing Tendulkars records) in South Africa. He’s been the benchmark for international players in the world,” he said at a media conference here today.

“I think he’s going into his 20th year in international cricket which in itself is a remarkable feat within itself.

ULFA-LTTE links come to light

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Guwahati, October 21: Links between a leading Indian militant group and the Tamil Tigers have for the first time been confirmed by a rebel leader Wednesday, two days after the army seized documents stating payments made towards weapons bought from the Tigers.

There were several reports in the past quoting intelligence reports that the outlawed United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) had direct links with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

State govt appoints ad-hoc committee to run RCA affairs

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Jaipur, October 21: With Rajasthan cricket in shambles due to the infighting between the two factions of the Association, the state government has formed an ad-hoc committee to look after the work the RCA executive committee.

In his order dated October 20, Registrar of Co-operative Societies, Rajasthan, Mukesh Sharma appointed a nine-member committee with former Ranji player Ratan Singh as its convener.

Ponting is happy with security arrangements in Mumbai

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Mumbai, October 21: Happy with the heavy sceurity cover around the Australian cricket team here, skipper Ricky Ponting today said he is impressed with the arrangements put in place for his side as it prepares for a gruelling seven-ODI series against India from October 25.

“We have been very impressed about the level of security we have had since we arrived. From the moment we stepped off the plane yesterday we have had excellent security,” Ponting told a media conference here today.