Andhra CM’s Chennai visit cancelled

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Hyderabad, August 07: Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy’s scheduled visit to Chennai Friday was cancelled due to a technical snag in the flight he was to travel.

Reddy was scheduled to leave for the Tamil Nadu capital at 1.30 pm to participate in ‘SUMINFRA- 2009’ being organised by the M S Swaminathan Foundation.

The visit was, however, cancelled as the executive jet he was to travel developed a technical snag, CM Office sources here said.

The Chief Minister attended the annual event in Chennai last year also, they added.

–Agencies–

I-Day high alert for Hyderabad, Kolkata, Delhi

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New Delhi, August 07: With nearly a week to go for Independence Day celebrations, Delhi, Kolkata and Hyderabad are said to be facing high level threat perception from Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Toiba, sources in the Home Ministry said on Thursday.
“Matter of concern”

The sources said it was a “matter of concern” for the Ministry as well as the security establishment as specific intelligence inputs suggested that the three cities, including the National Capital, were high on the Lashkar’s radar ahead of Independence Day.

Angelina Jolie is again featuring in “Kung Fu Panda 2

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London, August 07: The most known glam hot girl of Hollywood Angelina Jolie will be seen in her forthcoming movie “Kung Fu Panda 2” which is the sequel of previously made “Kung Fu Panda”.

Here, the moviegoers have to wait till 2011 for this comedy sequel of ravishing actress. The other performers like Dustin Hoffman and Jack Black will also featured in this movie with Angelina Jolie.

According to the sources, this movie is going to be released on 3rd June 2011 on silver screen for the fans world wide.

Ojha hopes to remain in fray

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New Delhi, August 07: Left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha hopes to retain his berth in the ODI squad for the tri-series in Sri Lanka but says his ultimate aim is to play for the country in the longer version of the game.

A regular member in one-dayers since he was drafted into the side after an impressive performance in the IPL’s inaugural season, Ojha made his debut against Bangladesh in June last year. He is yet to feature in a Test match.

Eng student held for harassing woman lecturer

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Hyderabad, August 07: A final year student of an engineering college was arrested and remanded to 14-days judicial custody by a local court here for harassing a married woman lecturer of the college today.

On a complaint by the lecturer, the police arrested the accused Nitish Kumar and produced him in the court, police said.

Police registered a case against the accused student about six months back. The lecturer subsequently withdrew the case with the intention of not spoiling the student’s future.

AP govt not taking measures to control price rise:Opposition

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Hyderabad, August 07: Opposition parties, including Telugu Desam Party(TDP), Telangana Rastra Samithi (TRS), Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Praja Rajyam Party (PRP), today alleged that the Andhra Pradesh government was not taking any measures to control the prices of essential commodities, leaving the common people to suffer.

During the debate on price rise of essential commodities in the State Assembly, opposition TDP member M Narasimhulu claimed that the prices of essential commodities were increasing due to lack of Government’s commitment.

Minister to meet floor leaders on Bhoodan land issue

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Hyderabad, August 07: Andhra Pradesh Revenue Minister Dharmana Prasada Rao today told the Andhra Pradesh Assembly that he would conduct a meeting with all the floor leaders of the House to discuss alleged encroachments of Bhoodan lands in the state.

Replying to a question, raised by P Shankar Rao (Cong) during Question Hour, he said the Andhra Pradesh government has constituted the Bhoodan Yagna Board in the year 1965 to monitor distribution of lands to landless poor.

Will Malaika be a part of Arbaaz’s first film?

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Mumbai, August 07: Arbaaz Khan will soon be coming up with his first film Dabangg under his own banner. This will be directed by Abhinav Kashyap and the cast will consist of Salman, Sonakshi Sinha and he himself.

Will Malaika also be a part of the project was a common question asked to him?

Mugdha’s Scary Tales!

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Mumbai, August 07: After receiving rave reviews for her acting skills in “Fashion’, Mugdha Godse is definitely set to explore her talent!

After venturing into drama, dark serious cinema and comedy with Fashion, Jail and Rohit Shetty’s “All the Best’ respectively, Mugdha seems to be exploring new avenues with every film!

The latest entrant in the list happens to be the genre of horror! The lady is all set to scare the audiences in a horror flick produced by Sanjay Ahluwalia and Rajeev Virani of Rupali Om Entertainment Pvt. Ltd.

Muslim women avoid reporting racism

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London, August 07: Shouts of ‘Terrorist’ and ‘Osama Bin Laden’ on the way into an Eid party. Being chased out of a park crying because a man thinks the way you dress is a danger to children. Both racism. Both to Muslim women. Neither reported to the police.

Workers take around five to six calls a day, sometimes for hours at a time, and they say approximately half the women who call will have suffered hate crime of some sort. Of those, only one in four will go to the police.

Flintoff out as Harmison returns

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London, August 07: England’s wicketkeeper, Matt Prior, has been passed fit after a last-minute injury scare that led to the toss being delayed by ten minutes ahead of the fourth Test at Headingley, but Andrew Flintoff has been ruled out after failing to overcome the damage to his troublesome right knee.

Twenty killed in Mosul mosque attack

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Baghdad, August 07: An explosive-laden vehicle has been detonated near a mosque in the troubled city of Mosul in Iraq’s north, leaving at least 20 people killed.

The explosion took place outside a Shia mosque in the northern part of the city as worshippers were leaving the weekly Friday prayers, AFP cited hospital officials as saying.

Last Friday, multiple blasts targeted a number of mosques in Baghdad’s Shia dominated neighborhoods and claimed almost 30 lives.

—–Agencies

Israel to equip tanks with new anti-missile system

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Jerusalem, August 07: The Israeli army is planning to upgrade its tanks with a new anti-missile system capable of intercepting incoming missiles, military officials say.

The system dubbed Trophy, an active protection system, uses radars to track incoming missiles and fires a projectile to explode missiles before they reach their target, AFP reported.

The system, which costs around $350,000 per unit, has been successfully test-fired and will be installed on the latest generation Merkava IV tanks, one of world’s strongest tanks.

Open more branches in rural areas: RBI tells banks

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Shillong, August 07: Underscoring the need to improve banking facilities in rural areas, RBI today asked the banks to open more branches in the villages.

“There should be greater money supply to the hands of the rural people so that they can avail the services in the priority sectors,” RBI deputy governor KC Chakraborty said after a State Letel Bankers Committee meeting here.

Katrina Kaif only Akshay Kumar’s Arm Candy

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Mumbai, August 07: Even though Katrina Kaif is fed up of posing as arm candy, she agreed to star in De Dana Dan only because of close friend Akshay Kumar. Ask her why exactly did she agree to star in the film, and Katrina replies honestly, “My reason for accepting this film is only because Akshay asked me if I would do it.”

Pak claims Indian dossier ‘inadequate’: report

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Islamabad, August 07: Pakistani authorities have claimed that the latest dossier provided by India on the Mumbai attacks is “inadequate” to prosecute several Lashker-e-Taiba operatives being tried by an anti-terror court, according to a media report today.

“Our security agencies, who have studied and analysed the latest dossier from India, have concluded that New Delhi has not provided enough information required by us,” an unnamed senior official was quoted as saying by the Dawn newspaper.

Kareen Kapoor Says No To Gurinder Chadha Again

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Mumbai, August 07: All the talk of an international career is just talk for Kareena. As far as she is concerned, she has no intentions of going international. Not even for Gurinder Chadha.

Apparently, Aishwarya Rai who did Gurinder’s Bride & Prejudice and her husband Paul Berges’s The Mistress Of Spices, won’t work with her…not after Chadha apparently went around blaming Ash for the failure of her husband’s film.

Salman’s Gym-house for his dogs

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Mumbai, August 07: Salman’s pet dogs are seen more often in his gym these days; not that they are working out there, but they seem to have got cozy in the Gym!

Salman who is said to have a fully equipped personal gym in his Galaxy Apartments is still a regular member at a popular gym near his residence, the reason being that he has given away his gym to his dogs to get comfortable in.

Shahid Priyanka-the confused duo

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Mumbai, August 07: On Monday night, Shahid Kapoor and Priyanka were seen watching Love Aaj Kal together. The duo were spotted for the night show at a suburban multiplex and seemed like they were having a great time together.

They walked into the theatre 15 minutes prior to the show and had booked not two but four seats in the last row.

All through the movie they were seen holding hands sitting cozily and giggling away.

Chitrangada Singh endorses Frito-Lay’s new snack

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New Delhi, August 07: After Kareena Kapoor and Juhi Chawla, Frito-Lay India has roped in critically acclaimed Bollywood actress Chitrangada Singh as the brand ambassador of its new snack – Aliva.

“I am extremely excited to be a part of the new communication campaign for Aliva. This product has really great spicy flavours and the delightful part is that it’s baked with wheat and daal.

Opposition condemns US-Somalia talks

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Nariobi, August 07: The Somali opposition leader has condemned the recent meeting between Somalia’s President Sharif Sheikh Ahmed and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys who is also the Chairman of Hisbul Islam said that the meeting would not help resolve the differences between the opposition and the government which have been involved in a bloody fight against each other, Press TV correspondent reported on Friday.

Orissa IPS officer booked for torturing wife

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Bhubaneswar, August 07:A criminal case has been registered against a state cadre Indian Police Service (IPS) officer for allegedly torturing his wife for dowry in Nayagarh district of Orissa, police said Friday.

Meenal Agarwal, 24, in her complaint at a police station in Nayagarh, 87 km from state capital Bhubaneswar, alleged that her husband Jai Narayan Pankaj tortured her physically and mentally for dowry.

The mother of a one-year-old child also alleged in her complaint filed on Thursday that her parents gave Rs.40 lakh cash as dowry during their marriage about two years ago.

Sensex takes another plunge, drops over 353 points

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Mumbai, August 07: The Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex today dipped by over 353 points as investors pulled out money to invest in issues in primary markets.

The Sensex, which had lost 390 points in the previous day’s trading, dropped further by 353.79 points at 15,160.24, after touching the day’s low of 15,104.

Similarly, the wide-based National Stock Exchange index Nifty went below 4,500 and settled with a huge loss of 104.10 points at 4,481.40. It touched the day’s low of 4,463.95.

IPL cannot make up for Ashes pleasure: Flintoff

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Leeds, August 07: Star all-rounder Andrew Flintoff rates the Ashes rivalry against Australia as the ultimate for an Englishman, which could not be compensated by playing in any number of IPL or World Cup matches.

“The Ashes is like nothing else. You can have your World Cups and IPLs, but as an Englishman, to be able to play in the Ashes is the ultimate,” said Flinotff, who has decided to prematurely quit Test cricket after the series owing to his recurring injury worries.

UK to help B’desh in 1971 war crimes trial: Report

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Dhaka, August 07: Britain will share crucial records with Bangladesh to facilitate the controversial trial of the 1971 “war criminals”, as Pakistan was asked to prosecute those involved in the “genocide” by its Army during Bangladesh’s “Liberation war”.

As Bangladesh moves ahead to kick start the trial of those accused of collaborating with the Pakistan Army during the 1971 “War of independence”, sources in the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office said the Labour government was willing to share its old records and provide legal assistance.