Nandita Das files divorce from second husband

New Delhi,May: The Bollywood actor and director Nandita Das filed for a divorce from her second husband Saumya Sen in the Patiala House Court on
Saturday.The two were married in Delhi on December 22, 2002.

Das, known for her offbeat roles in award winning movies, approached the court seeking divorce from her second husband Sen, a Kolkata based advertisement professional.

Kids bring mom home after 20-yr jungle stay

Mumbai,May 24: In the hospital ward in the western suburbs where Laxmi Baraskar is being treated, the staff call her “Jungle Laxmi” — an apt moniker for the wiry woman who spent the last two decades in the jungle near Guhagar taluka in Ratnagiri.

Thackeray family feud now out in the open

Mumbai, May 24: The Shiv Sena and the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena have both been electorally routed in Mumbai and in parts of Maharashtra in the recent General Elections, but this has not stopped the Thackeray family from bringing its internal bickering out into the open.

Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray has blamed his cousin and MNS chief Raj Thackeray for the Shiv Sena’s poll debacle. But Raj has wasted no time in hitting back at Uddhav.

China bigger threat than Pakistan

New Delhi, May 24: India faces a greater threat from China than Pakistan because New Delhi knows little about Beijing’s combat capabilities, Air Force Chief told a newspaper in an interview published on Sunday.

The world’s two most populous nations fought a brief but brutal war over their 3,500 km (2,200 mile) Himalayan border in 1962, and both sides claim the other is occupying big but largely uninhabited chunks of their territory.

India has also been pursuing closer relations with the United States, something that worries China.

Deccan, Challengers turn jeers to cheers

Durban, May 24: After 36 days of scintillating action and 58 dazzling encounters, the penultimate stage of the Indian Premier League (IPL) could not have been more exciting as the two bottom-placed teams of the inaugural edition Deccan Chargers and Bangalore Royal Challengers made it to Sunday’s title clash.

Bangalore Royal Challengers and Deccan Chargers have risen like a phoenix from the ashes of the inaugural season, where they respectively finished seventh and eighth in the tournament, and have been a revelation in South Africa.

Assembly to meet on June 1

Hyderabad, May 24: The newly-formed 13th State Legislative Assembly will meet for its first session for five days from June 1.

All the 294 elected members will take oath on the first day.

The election of the new Speaker will take place on June 2 and governor N D Tiwari will address the joint session of assembly and the council on the same day.

Later, from June 3 to June 5, the House will take up the debate on the motion of thanks to the governor. The budget session of the assembly is expected to begin at the end of the month.

Rs 80 cr real estate fraud in city

Jaipur,May 24: In a major jolt to the depressed real estate market in the city, more than 1,000 investors were allegedly duped of at least Rs 80 crore by a big-time city realtor, the Narayan Group. Some others were also duped by Subhash Sindhi co-operative society and Mahaveer Nagar housing co-operative society.

MBBS student kills self in hostel room

Chennai,May 24: Police on Saturday recovered the dead body of a third-year MBBS student of the Madras Medical College, as well as his handwritten letters addressed to his mother and a girl he loved. Police identified the student as P Arivarasan (23), from Pernampet near Vellore.

Singer Abhijeet insulted ISLAM & NAMAZ

One of Bollywood’s most popular singers, Abhijeet Bhattacharya, finds himself embroiled in a communal controversy for badmouthing the Muslim practice of namaaz and terming a reputed Indian advocate “a member of Taliban”.

The singer, who owns three flats at the Versova Breeze building in Andheri, Mumbai, has apparently been letting out his flats to a large group since more than two years, with about 40-50 people staying in them at a time and without obtaining the mandatory permission from the society or getting a police verification done.

The birth and death of terror

When Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakasa announced the military defeat of LTTE, saying the troops have “freed the nation from three decades of terror”, his words meant only one thing: Velupillai Prabhakaran was dead. For his ardent followers, this 54-year-old was a freedom fighter who waged an unrelenting struggle for Eelam the Tamil homeland free from the Sinhalese-majority island-nation.

For his adversaries, he was a blood-thirsty terrorist and a megalomaniac who detested even an iota of disagreement with his idea of Tamil homeland and undisputed leadership.

21-year-old from Pune scales Everest

Mt.Everest, May 24: On top of the world: That’s how Ranjana Patil felt as her 21-year-old daughter Krishna Patil stood there on Thursday. Krishna, a resident of Aundh in Pune, became the second woman from Maharashtra to climb the world’s highest peak, Mount Everest.

Her merchant navy father Madhav was out of the country when the phone rang at 7.30 am on Thursday. Stephen Sherpa, leader of Krishna’s mountaineering team, was at the other end.

Man held for girl’s rape, murder

kolkata, May 24: More than a month after four-and-a-half-year-old girl’s body was found in a drain on the outskirts of Ranaghat town in Nadia district, the police claimed to have arrested her murderer from another town in the district.

Officers investigating the case said Kartick Roy (35) was arrested from Shantipur on charges of raping and killing the child — his neighbour’s daughter — when she had come to his house to watch cartoons on his TV.

Neetu Chandra in trouble for her ‘Lesbian’ photoshoot

Mumbai, May 24: Recently, when actress Neetu Chandra (of Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye! fame) agreed to do a bold photo shoot for a men’s magazine, she hardly realised it would spark controversy and outrage from political affiliates.

Neetu, who had agreed to do hot and sexy cover for ‘The Man’ magazine, was shooting along with model Krishikha Gupta outside the lobby of a 3-star hotel, when a group of the hotel’s regular male customers watching it by the pool, suddenly started raising strong objections, by indiscriminately shouting at her and the magazine crew.

Greek Muslims Want Justice Over Qur’an Insult

Athens, May 24: As protests continued unabated over the desecration of the Noble Qur’an by a Greek policeman, Muslim immigrants are calling for bringing the officer to justice for insulting the Muslim holy book.

“We want to live here in peace,” an Egyptian immigrant, who identified himself as Said told. “We don’t want trouble but we want the policeman to be punished.”

Hundreds of Muslim immigrants took to the streets of the capital Athens for the second consecutive day to protest the destruction of the Qur’an by a policeman.

People with English names more likely to get jobs: Study

Columbia, May 23: People seeking jobs are more likely to succeed if they have English names, according to a Canadian study, which suggests that immigrants from India, Pakistan or China face discrimination by employers.

The new University of British Columbia study, which sent thousands of resumes to Canadian employers, found those with English names like Jill Wilson or John Martin received interview callbacks 40 per cent more often than identical resumes with names like Rajan Pillai, Sana Khan or Lei Li.

Salman officially ‘accepts’ playboy playmate Claudia Ciesla

Mumbai, May 23: Heart throb and the darling of millions of women, Bollywood badshah Salman Khan has officially acknowledged German supermodel and Hollywood actress Claudia Ciesla as his “special friend”.

According to a report in a national Kolkatta-based newspaper, Salman Khan has ‘confirmed’ to the Indian press his friendship with Claudia and has even introduced her to his family’.

Asin New House / Apartment in Green Acres

Mumbai, May 23: Asin Thottumkal is finally ready to live independently. She recently moved out of her parents’ Lokhandwala apartment and has shifted into her own house at Green Acres, which is in the same locality. The actress permanently shifted base from Kerala to Mumbai once she made her mark in Bollywood with Ghajini after which she bagged films like London Dreams and The 19th Step among others.
A close friend of Asin said, “She has been house hunting since 2007. It took her two years to move out of her parents’ house. She decided to stay by herself the day she turned 21.”

City CBSE topper is also national No 1

Mumbai,May 23: In a rare double feat, Mumbai has thrown up both the ICSE (class X) and CBSE (class XII) all-India toppers this year.

Mumbai’s Mrittika Sen from Rajhans Vidyalaya, Andheri, emerged the joint topper for the CBSE (class XII) exams along with Tannvi Aggrawal from Apeejay School, Faridabad. Both students scored 98.4%. Mumbai boy Rishi Mehta joined the party, topping the ICSE examination nationwide with 99% (for English plus best four subjects).

Woman arrested for robbing men

Mumbai,may 23: The Dahisar police have arrested a 21-year-old woman for stealing cellphones and cash from men. The accused, Devi Ambedkar, used to befriend men who wore gold jewellery or owned vehicles, said the police.

A few days ago, she met a Mira Road resident and persuaded him to accompany her to a hotel.

While he was in the bathroom, Ambedkar allegedly robbed his wallet and chain. The man approached the police, following which Ambedkar, who is a Borivli resident, was arrested.

–Agencies

Gaddar to launch new party to fight for Telangana

Hyderabad, May 23: Accusing Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) president K. Chandrasekhara Rao of defusing the Telangana movement, revolutionary balladeer Gaddar Friday said he would float a party to achieve separate statehood through a people’s struggle.
The Maoist sympathiser told reporters that this would not be a mere vote-based party like the TRS but would try to achieve its goal through a people’s struggle, including a cultural campaign.

Gaddar said he would make an announcement after his surgery to remove a bullet from his body.

A moment to savour for Gandhi family

New Delhi, May 23: It was a moment that said it all for the first family of Indian politics.
As the swearing-in ceremony at the majestic Ashoka Hall of the Rashtrapati Bhavan concluded on Friday evening, Congress president Sonia Gandhi and her son, general secretary Rahul walked out and were joined by her daughter Priyanka who gave her a hug and then the three smiled at one another.

Sania to open her French Open campaign against Voskoboeva

Paris: India’s Sania Mirza has been drawn to play Kazakhstan’s Galina Voskoboeva in her opening round of the French Open.

The two players have met only once, in hard courts of San Diego in 2005, where Sania currently, ranked 91, beat Voskoboeva, ranked 95.

However, the winner between the two, in the next round is likely to meet seventh-seeded Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova who has got an easy opponent in local girl Claire Feuerstein, according to the draw released here today.

Big B has less money than King Khan

Mumbai, May 23: Bollywood actor Amitabh Bachchan might be a big fan of Indian Premier Legue but the actor says that he does not have enough money to buy a team.

“I dont have as much money as Shahrukh. He has money and so he owns a team,” the actor said in an interview to Zee news.

Like the millions of Indians, the mega star too loves cricket as he never misses IPL matches.

“I watch almost all the matches of IPL,” Bachchan said.

Israelis may leave if Iran gets bomb

Almost a quarter of Israel’s seven million citizens would consider leaving the country if Iran becomes a nuclear military power, according to a new poll.

The poll also shows that over 40 per cent of Israelis believe that their military forces should strike Iran’s nuclear installations without waiting to see whether US President Barack Obama’s plans for diplomatic engagement with Tehran work or not.

Soft Porn Film Titled Aishwarya

Mumbai, May 22: To apparently cash in on the popularity of top Bollywood actress Aishwarya Rai , the makers of a soft porn film have titled it ‘Aishwarya’ and given it the catchy punchline – ‘Based on true rumours’.
Apart from the mainstream Hindi film industry, there also thrives an industry of soft porn films starring struggling girls from towns and cities. At times the makers of these films rope in girls who have facial resemblance to Bollywood actresses.