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Jaya Bachchan elected to RS unopposed

        Lucknow: Samajwadi Party leaders Bachchan Jaya Amitabh and Amir Alam Khan were elected to the Rajya Sabha unopposed on Thursday. This was announced by the Uttar Pradesh Principal Secretary (Legislative Assembly) and Returning Officer, Rajendra Prasad Pandey. There were only two candidates in the fray for the two seats as the Opposition did not to field anyone against the Samajwadi Party leaders. Pandey said that Uttar Pradesh Revenue Minister Ambika Chaudhary collected Jaya's certificate of election in her absence, while Khan personally received his certificate. This will be Jaya's second term in the Rajya Sabha after 2004 while Khan is entering the Upper House for the first time. Kahn had, however, been the Member of Lok Sabha twice from Kairana in Muzzafarnagar district of West Uttar Pradesh. Jaya had resigned from the Rajya Sabha in March in the wake of office-of profit controversy.

Filmmaker Hrishikesh remains critical (Go To Top)

        Mumbai: The condition of veteran filmmaker and former Censor Board chairman Hrishikesh Mukherjee continued to be critical but stable. Mukherjee, known for his blend of populist and offbeat themes was admitted to the the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of Lilavati Hospital following chronic renal failure on Saturday. According to hospital sources, Mukherjee is still on ventilator support. A host of film personalities including yesteryears' heroine Jaya Bachchan and character actor Anupam Kher visited Mukherjee on Wednesday. Kher said Mukherjee showed signs of slight improvement. "I met him (filmmaker Hrishikesh Mukherjee) today. His son-in-law said he is better than yesterday. He smiled, recognised me. And he wrote to me I love you. He can only write. He doesn't talk. And he is better I hope that he recovers day by day. But certainly the doctors said to me that today he was better than yesterday. Still he is weak and hopefully he should be Ok," Kher said.

     Mukherjee, 84, has been facing serious health problems since 2004. He had been coming to the hospital frequently for dialysis. Hrishikesh Mukherjee started his independent film career in 1957 with "Musafir". Most of his films turned out to be box-office hits, combining elements of tragedy and comedy and appealing to middle class sentiments. His films are noted for being realistic. Some of his memorable films are Anand , Abhimaan , Chupke Chupke and Khubsoorat . He was honoured with the Dadasaheb Phalke award In 1999. Mukherjee's last work was Jhooth Bole Kauwa Kaate starring Anil Kapoor and Juhi Chawla. Without being overtly experimental or superfluously avant-garde in form, most of Mukherjee's 40-plus films have enchanted audiences and critics alike because of their literate sensibilities.

MIG-29 crashes in Gujarat (Go To Top)

        Jamnagar (Gujarat): A MiG-29 (Trainer) fighter jet of the Indian Air force (IAF) crashed near here on Thursday afternoon during a routine sortie. Both the pilots of the aircraft managed to eject safely before the plane crashed. The aircraft crashed about 30 Kms north of Jamnagar into the Arabian Sea at 12.10 p.m. (IST) after it got airborne from Bhuj air base and was ferrying back to Jamnagar. The pilots, Wing Commander Nautiyal and Squadron Leader Mahal ejected safely over the sea and were rescued. According to a defence release, no individual was injured or killed as a result of air crash. Meanwhile, an inquiry has been ordered to investigate the cause for the accident.

Zaheera's sister sentenced to jail (Go To Top)

       Mumbai: Saheera Sheikh, sister of Zaheera Sheikh on Thursday was sentenced to three months imprisonment for giving false evidence in the Best Bakery case. A Sessions Court Justice Abhay Thipsay also asked Saheera to pay a fine of Rs. 500. The court hearing the Best Bakery verdict and remarks passed against Zaheera and her family members by the judge in the retrial judgement suspended the sentence till July 10 while granting bail for a sum of Rs. 5,000. The judge also found Zaheera's brother Nasibullah guilty of giving false evidence in the case. However, no sentence was pronounced against him as he was awaiting reports from the probation officer. Thipsay on Wednesday pronounced them guilty after Sehrunissa admitted she had made some false statements in the Best Bakery case. Interestingly, Nasibullah did not admit making any false statement.

     Earlier on Tuesday, the Bombay High Court after hearing Zaheera's petition challenging the Best Bakery verdict and remarks passed against her and family members by the judge in the retrial judgement, postponed the case till June 16. The Sessions Court had earlier suo motu initiated perjury proceedings against Zaheera and others prime witnesses. Sessions judge Abhay Thipsay, in his judgement, which convicted nine persons for Best Bakery killings, had stated that Zaheera had intentionally lied at the retrial. The judge had reached the same conclusion regarding the testimonies of Zaheera's mother Sehrunnisa, her sister Sahira and brother Nasibullah. On the basis of this conclusion, he had initiated a summary trial against them for giving false evidence. Earlier, Zaheera's mother Sehrunissa was also sentenced to three months prison as she was found guilty of giving false evidence.

Zarqawi killed in Iraq air raid (Go To Top)

       Baghdad: Iraqi militant leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi has been killed, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki announced on Thursday. "We have eliminated Zarqawi," Maliki told reporters, adding that Zarqawi had been killed in a US air raid near Baquba. The head of US-led forces in Iraq, General George Casey, said Zarqawi was killed at 6.15 p.m. local time on Wednesday, in an air strike on an "isolated" safe house... approximately eight kilometres north of Baquba. Zarqawi was said to have been in a meeting with associates at the time. Several other people were reported to have been killed in the raid. General Casey said Zarqawi's body was identified through fingerprints, facial recognition and known scars. He promised to give more details on the raid later. The Jordanian-born leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq was considered the figurehead of the Sunni insurgency. The Al-Qaeda in Iraq has been blamed for hundreds of bombings that have killed thousands of Shias and US forces. Analysts, however, were quoted by the BBC as warning that his death did not mean the end of insurgency in Iraq.

Oxford University's female college to admit men

      London: St. Hilda's, Oxford University's last all- female college, has decided to open its doors to male students after 113 years. Fellows at St Hilda's yesterday voted by a narrow margin to admit men as students and academics for the first time. The decision follows years of dwindling applications as sixth-formers increasingly name mixed-sex colleges at the University as their first choice. College dons hope the move will attract talented applicants deterred by the single-sex environment. They were also concerned St Hilda's - founded in 1893 - was failing to attract leading academics in competition with other colleges. Many undergraduates and graduates have reacted to the decision with dismay, saying that the college's ethos of quiet study and reflection will be affected. The decision to admit men was taken by the teaching staff who make up the university's governing body, reports the Daily Mail.

Motorola to spend $100 m on Chennai plant

     Chennai: Motorola Inc., the world's second-largest handset maker, has announced it would spend 100 million dollars to set up a handset manufacturing plant in Chennai. The company on Wednesday said it would initially invest 30 million dollars to develop a unit making handsets and base stations in a special economic zone on the outskirts of Chennai, and added that the balance 70 million dollars will be invested in two stages. Motorola is following the footsteps of top handset maker Nokia, which has a handset manufacturing facility in India, adding over four million GSM and CDMA users every month. Another American tech giant, the world's largest computer services company IBM, said on Tuesday it would invest nearly six $6 billion in India over three years. Motorola's executive Vice President Stu Reed said the plant would initially manufacture a million handsets a month and then export to the Middle East and Africa.

Sehwag fined for excessive appealing (Go To Top)

     New Delhi: Indian opener Virender Sehwag was fined 20 per cent of his match fee for breaching the ICC Code of Conduct by appealing excessively during the first Test match against the West Indies in Antigua. ICC Match Referee Jeff Crowe found Sehwag to have breached 1.5 of the ICC Code which relates to "the practice of celebrating a dismissal before the decision has been given". The charge was brought by Umpires Asad Rauf, Simon Taufel and Billy Doctrove after which Crowe met Sehwag, Indian coach Greg Chappell and Umpires Rauf, Taufel and Doctrove together after the match ended on Tuesday evening and decided to fine the Delhi player.